Overview: The murder of Issac Strayhorn in Trenton, NC in 1942 led his family to respond to God’s call to action. His son, Leslie “Dewey” Strayhorn, Sr., became the head of his family at the age of 10 and went on to become a successful farmer, community organizer, and politician. His wife, Betty Brown Strayhorn, was an active member of the NAACP and St. Matthew AME Zion Church. The family’s faith and belief in God helped them overcome the Jim Crow Laws of that era.
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I want to tell you some of the highlights of what happened to some of our family members after the murder of my uncle, Issac Strayhorn in Trenton, NC in 1942. They responded to God’s call to action.
I will begin with a story of the circumstances surrounding Issac Strayhorn’s death as told to his granddaughter, Doreen Strayhorn, by her father, Leslie “Dewey” Strayhorn, Sr., Isaac’s son. He was only 10 years-old when they pulled his father from the Brock Mill Pond on December 24, 1942. All of the family stories cannot be highlighted in one or two articles because there are too many who answered the call.
Doreen Strayhorn
Doreen Strayhorn submitted the following interview for publication in the 2012 Jonas and Mary Family Reunion booklet. She interviewed her father, Leslie “Dewey” Strayhorn, Sr., as part of a college class assignment.
Doreen Strayhorn’s interview began with questions about her father Dewey’s childhood.
The first thing Daddy told me was about the circumstances surrounding his father’s death. My dad’s father was murdered in a tragic case of mistaken identity. A group of rednecks wanted to procure Black women in Trenton, NC, and a man named Ralph Simmons agreed to supply them. However, he reneged on the deal. And the angry men decided to murder Ralph in retaliation. About the time that decision was made, my grandfather entered Luby Henderson’s store where the angry mob was gathered. My grandfather and Ralph Simmons wore similar leather jackets. The angry whites mistook him for Ralph Simmons, and they killed him.
My father was 10 years-old at the time. He was visiting his Uncle Mack and his Aunt Honey when he heard that something big had happened in Trenton. He went to investigate. He saw a crowd of people at the Millpond, but he couldn’t see what was happening. He saw his grandmother at the front of the crowd. He made his way through the crowd and crawled between his grandmother’s legs to see what was happening and saw his father’s dead body.
His mother was devastated. She reported the murder to Sheriff John Creel and asked him to investigate. His response to her was, “Bette, your husband is dead. Bury him.” There was no criminal investigation.
By that time, all of my father’s older brothers had fled Jones County for various reasons. My Uncle Pete and Uncle Gent had joined the army. My Uncle Big Stray had fled to New York City to escape the father of the girl he had impregnated. My Uncle Lloyd left town to escape his father’s fate after he beat up a white landowner who cheated him out of his share of the revenue from sharecropping. So at 10 years-old, my father became the head of his family.
Grandma and the remaining children moved in with her mother, Mary O. Brown. Daddy’s grand- mother taught him how to shine shoes. That was his first job. He’d shine shoes on the weekend and bring the money back to his mother to buy groceries. At 10 years-old, he knew how to plow, pick cotton, dig potatoes, and kill hogs from watching his dad. Granddaddy Isaac was a sharecropper, but he had never made a profit farming. Daddy made a deal with his Uncle Floyd to farm a portion of the land he sharecropped, and he made a profit his first year. The next year, he made a deal with his Uncle Mack to farm a portion of the land he sharecropped. He didn’t do as well as his first year, but he still made a profit. (End of the interview)
Isaac’s wife, Betty Brown Strayhorn as taken from her obituary
Betty lived a full and active life. Her early years were spent as a sharecropper after which she owned and operated Bettie’s Grocery. She gave herself extensively to helping others individually and through the many organisations to which she belonged. She was honored for her extended service with the NAACP. She also held active membership in the Eastern Star, the Council of Senior Citizens and the National Council of Negro Women.
She was a lifelong active member of St. Matthew AME Zion Church where she served in many positions including the choir, a class leader, a deaconess, church mother, lay council and supply captain for the New Bern District Missionary Society for whom she traveled extensively throughout the United States and the Caribbean Islands.
My recollection of her grocery store is that it was really a Juke Joint, which belonged to her younger brother, Harry and his wife, Lena Brown, who lived next door to the store, which is still standing today. Uncle Harry built another Juke Joint across the street facing her store. He entertained a faster crowd of people than Aunt Betty. I learned how to dance in Uncle Harry’s shop. He is listed in the 1950 U. S. Census as a Store owner. More about Uncle Harry in another story.
Floyd Brown came to the aid of his 10 year-old nephew, Dewey
My father, Floyd Brown, was born February 15, 1907, in Jones County, NC, to the late Jonas and Mary Brown. He attended public school in Jones County where he finished the 8th grade. He was reared in a Christian home and united with St. Matthews A.M.E. Zion Church in which he remained faithful until his death on December 1, 1987. (I might add that 12/1 is his oldest son’s birthday and the same day I was sworn in as the first African American male to be president of San Bernardino City Unified School District Board of Education.) The church is located in our backyard built on our property line.
My father lived a very full and active life. He held various positions in the church and at age 72 was called to the ministry and served as Associate Pastor. He was active in the Boy Scouts for 34 years. He appointed Dewey as Scoutmaster and every boy in Trenton was a member including me and my brother Donnie. He was a lifelong member of the Elks and was Past Exalted Ruler and Past State President of Zeno Council #16 (IBPOE); and a member of the Mason’s Standard Lodge #134; They built the two story Mason Hall next door to Uncle Harry’s house. Floyd was also past President of the Jones County Voters League. He told me during a conversation that the reason he named it Jones County Voters League was because the Black people, who were sharecroppers, would be kicked off the farms if they registered to vote by the NAACP. The NAACP was viewed as an anti-American organization during that time and a lot of white and Black people feel that way today. He also founded the United Tri-County Senior Citizens Group. This caught the attention of then North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt who appointed him a member of NC Governor’s Coordinating Council on Aging and a member of the State Federation of Senior Citizens. He was past secretary of Jones County Board of Elections; and Jones County Jury Commissioner.
You will understand why I am pointing out some of Issac’s brother-in-law’s background so you can see what Dewey did with his life.
Leslie “Dewey” Strayhorn
Leslie Dewey Strayhorn, Sr. was born to Isaac and Bettie Strayhorn on January 23, 1932. He attended school in Jones County. He met and married Edna Earl Brown of Trenton. Their union produced seven children, six surviving: Shirley Ann (deceased), Les Strayhorn, Jr. (Mary Ann), Kenneth (Lois), Toni, Gaydelle, Daryl (Alyssa), Doreen, and Joy. (Now if you know anything about football Dewey sons Les Jr. and Kenneth starred in East Carolina College football and played for the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL).
Dewey was devoted to his family and committed to his friends and to his community. During the Civil Rights Era, he worked with the neighborhood improvement organization, Coastal Progress. Following his service as a community organizer. Under the guidance of their mentor, Floyd Brown, Dewey and C. B.Chadwick became the first African Americans elected to the Jones County Board of Education. Following that, Dewey was elected to serve as a Jones County Commissioner. I would meet and talk with both of them on my daddy’s porch when visiting on summer vacation.
Dewey became actively involved in Smart Start through the Jones County Partnership for Children while serving as a County Commissioner. He also became a board member for Twin Rivers Opportunities, where his service continued even after his tenure as a commissioner ended and after his retirement from the Weyerhaeuser Paper Company.
Dewey was a faithful member of St. Matthew AME Zion Church for many years where he served as a member and Preacher’s Steward. Although inactive in his waning years, he always maintained his faith in God.
The power of faith
I bring you these life stories because after the horrible death of Aunt Betty’s husband, Dewey losing his father, Floyd and Harry losing their brother-in-law, they each found in their faith and belief in God, the courage and strength to move forward while overcoming the Jim Laws and racial attitudes of whites.
As you think of what we are facing today, remember where we came from and remember Psalm 124: “If the Lord had not been on our side—let Israel say—if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.”