Raylawni Branch facts for kids

Raylawni Branch (born 1941) is an important figure from Mississippi who helped lead the Civil Rights Movement. She was also a nursing teacher and an officer in the US Air Force Reserve. She is famous for helping to peacefully integrate the University of Southern Mississippi in 1965. This was different from the violent events that happened when James Meredith enrolled at the University of Mississippi in 1962.

Early Life and Education

Raylawni Branch grew up in different towns in Mississippi, like Hattiesburg and Prentiss. She also lived in Chicago, Illinois. When her family moved to Chicago, they sometimes had no home and lived in a park. She did not have good memories of living in the North.

She went to schools where most students were white, and her teachers often did not speak to her. After her father passed away in 1955, her family moved back to Mississippi. By the time she finished eighth grade, she had moved many times and attended eight different schools.

Back in Mississippi, Raylawni went to Royal Street High School in Hattiesburg. She graduated in 1959. There, her history teacher, Marjorie Chambers, taught her about political action. She also felt inspired by listening to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches on the radio.

Joining the Civil Rights Movement

As a teenager, Raylawni worked at a restaurant in Hattiesburg. There, she met Clyde Kennard, who was trying to attend the University of Southern Mississippi. In 1959, she saw Kennard before his meeting with Dr. William David McCain, the college president.

Kennard believed in people's goodness, even Dr. McCain, who was known for supporting segregation. Kennard thought he did not need protection. Raylawni and others asked him to take someone with him, but he refused.

Kennard was later arrested on unfair charges. This led to a difficult time for him, and he passed away early. Raylawni attended his trial and saw how unfair the situation was.

After high school, she worked as a migrant worker on farms in Michigan. She lived in small shacks without basic services. She then returned to Mississippi again.

From 1959 to 1965, Raylawni was a homemaker and had three children. When civil rights activists came to Mississippi in the early 1960s, she became very active. She served as secretary for the Forrest County NAACP.

She was also a member of other important groups, like the Council of Federated Organizations. She participated in many events, including the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. There, she heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. give his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Raylawni helped integrate bus stations in Hattiesburg for Greyhound Lines and Trailways Transportation System. She was also the first African American hired at a local clothing factory. Later, she became the first African American offered a job as a switchboard operator at the local telephone company.

She knew civil rights leaders like Aaron Henry, Charles Evers, and Medgar Evers. On the night Medgar Evers was assassinated in 1963, Raylawni went to Jackson to support his widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams.

Integrating the University of Southern Mississippi

In 1965, when Raylawni was 24, the NAACP asked her to help integrate the University of Southern Mississippi. This was one of the last major universities in Mississippi that still practiced segregation. The NAACP offered to pay her tuition, but not her living costs.

On September 6, 1965, Raylawni (then Raylawni Young) and 18-year-old Elaine Armstrong became the first African American students at the university. By this time, other universities in Mississippi had already integrated. University leaders, like President William David McCain, understood that segregation could not last.

They made secret plans to help Raylawni and Elaine attend safely. Each student had a faculty member secretly assigned to help them. Campus police, who had previously caused trouble for Clyde Kennard, now had strict orders to prevent any problems. Student leaders were also asked to help keep things calm.

Because of these efforts, Raylawni had only one small negative experience during her year at the university. She studied Pre-Medicine and worked in the biology department. The two women attended classes with six bodyguards, including a local policeman.

Dr. Geoffrey Fish, a biology professor, was appointed as Raylawni's guardian and tutor. He was very kind and helped both women. Raylawni says she was treated like everyone else. She believes her grades were affected by her financial and family situation. Also, her high school education was not as good as it could have been due to segregation.

Attending the university was very challenging for her. In September 1965, she had three young children, aged three, five, and six, to care for. Her first husband made it difficult for her to study at night. The NAACP paid her tuition, but she had to earn money from her student job. She also received some help from groups like the Delta Ministry and from Vernon Dahmer.

Raylawni worked with Vernon Dahmer in the NAACP and on voter registration. She often attended meetings at his house. In January 1966, the night before Dahmer's home was attacked, he sent her boxes of groceries to help her family.

Later Life and Career

After separating from her husband in 1966, Raylawni moved to New York. She received a scholarship to study nursing at St. John's Episcopal School of Nursing. While in New York, she was active in the Anti-Vietnam War movement. In October 1967, she joined a large protest at the Pentagon.

She earned her bachelor's degree in Nursing from the University of Miami in 1969. In 1975, she joined the Air Force Reserves. She rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel at Keesler Air Force Base. She worked as a chief nurse and director of an operating room.

Raylawni Branch returned to Hattiesburg in 1987. In 1988, she began a Master's program at the University of Southern Mississippi. She earned her master's degree in Community Health Nursing in 1993.

She worked as an Instructor of Nursing at Pearl River Community College. She was also a Nurse Coordinator for the American Red Cross of South Central Mississippi. In March 2004, she retired from teaching nursing at the University of Southern Mississippi.

In 2003, she ran for the Mississippi State Senate as a Republican.