Mary McLeod Bethune once said, “We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends.” No one can shape the minds, and in cases, even the hearts of our youngest citizens like a teacher.
For 37 years, Willola Brown helped to shape the minds of those who came through her classrooms when she taught at Patton Lane High School and Grenada Middle School. She taught in segregated classrooms, integrated classrooms, through the age of technology, and into the 21st century until her retirement in 2002.
She taught her students to always strive to work hard, persevere through life’s challenges, and most importantly, to never give up.
Brown said, while working as a teacher during the latter part of the Civil Rights Movement and through integration, it taught her how to be a stronger and better person.
Brown served on the National Educators Association and served as parliamentarian of the Omicron Alpha Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. for 12 years.
Brown is an active member of Duck Hill Missionary Baptist Church, where she’s served as a Sunday School Teacher, Sunday School Superintendent, choir member, and an organizer for the church’s annual women’s day program. She’s also an active member of the Montgomery-Carroll-Grenada County Chapter of Alcorn State University.
Brown was also an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She said she was a member up until she became immobile.
Growing up in Duck Hill, Brown’s parents taught her that she shouldn’t just think of going through the back door, to always try the front -- meaning never let anyone treat you as if you are a second class citizen.
“My granddaddy was almost lynched because he was telling people about social security,” Brown said. “He was very outspoken back then.”
This was risky for a black person to speak out for change, but her grandfather wasn’t afraid to take the risk. Brown saw the same attitude when her sister Loretta was one of the first few blacks to attend Binford High after schools in Montgomery County were integrated.
She took that same attitude and educated students in the Grenada School District during integration and onto 2002, when she retired.
Born in Duck Hill, Brown attended Spring Hill Vocational School. She earned a degree in Home Economics with a minor in Social Studies and Elementary Education.
She taught in Batesville her first five years at Patton Lane High School as a Home Economics teacher.
“At that time, didn’t always have the things that we needed, we had to improvise and work with what you had,” she said.
During that time, Brown said Panola County was an underprivileged county, which is vastly different to what Panola County is now.
“I worked with the Federal Housing Authority and the 4H Club to promote different things and worked with them on different projects. They try to work with the young people, and I went through the churches to promote them,” she said.
She said during the time she worked at Patton Lane High School, one of her co-worker’s homes was shot into. She said it was also challenging, but she worked to keep her students focused.
She then returned to Duck Hill and worked for the Grenada School District. Brown taught at Grenada Middle School and later taught special needs children at the alternative school until 2002.
“It was rewarding. I learned a lot working with them and being on committees with them,” she said. “You may not always be accepted. You were the minority. You were not the majority. But, during my teaching era, I never saw a child being mistreated. It may have happened, but I never saw it.”
She said working during that time pushed her to be the best she could be.
“I taught the children in my class, especially the black children, that they can compete with the best and they should never accept being in second class. They had the ability to do it, and you can do it when you apply yourself. You may study a little harder.”
She said one day, while she and her brother were headed to Lorman back to Alcorn, they were coming through Jackson, and she spoke her thought out loud as they passed a Mercedes-Benz dealership.
“I said ‘One day I’m gonna get me one of those.’ But, I never thought anything else about it. Well, Carl pulled into the lot and convinced me to get one. I didn’t have anything in my pocket, but I left there with that car,” she said, laughing. “I still have that car too. I can’t drive it anymore, but my sister does. I told them to take care of it because I know the parts of that car are expensive.”
She said if you set your mind on things can do whatever it is you want to achieve.
“I believe that we all have a higher call to answer to and a legacy that we will leave behind. My work and dedication to life, students, and God have molded me into the wonderful person and pristine character that I am today. Without Him, I couldn’t have walked through any of those things,” she said.
