Initial thoughts about what to write at the semi-quincentennial were eclipsed reading Betty Pearson’s obituary. Betty’s life demonstrated how exemplary Americans act.
“You’ve got to go along to get along” — maxim attributed to Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn from Texas — is the antithesis of those possessing the moral courage allowing America to become dominant internationally.
Mississippians recognize the reality. Those who went along to get along during Massive Resistance garnered the favor of those in power momentarily but found themselves on the wrong side of history ultimately.
The same was true of McCarthyites. New Orleans native, playwright Lillian Hellman famously wrote the House Un-American Activities Committee, on May 19, 1952, that, “I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions, even though I long ago came to the conclusion that I was not a political person and could have no comfortable place in any political group.” Hellman’s 1976 memoir recounting McCarthyism was appropriately entitled “Scoundrel Time.”
Betty Pearson did not compromise commitment “to let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24) to obtain temporary advantage. She appreciated that life is only worth living if one remains true to one’s convictions, steadfast in pursuit of eternal verities, focused on lodestars.
She passed away May 26, 2026, at 104 years of age. https://www.smith-funerals.com/obituaries/betty-pearson
“She credited her paternal grandmother with teaching her that all people are equal and deserve respect regardless of skin color. This belief became a guiding principle of her life.
“As a student at the University of Mississippi, Betty led a movement for better pay and working conditions for Black laundresses who labored in a basement with no air conditioning. In her senior year, she wrote an essay titled ‘Why the Schools Should Be Integrated,’ which won her a scholarship to Columbia University.
“The early years of [Betty’s] marriage coincided with pivotal events in the civil rights movement, including the 1954 Supreme Court decision to outlaw school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education, and - much closer to home - the 1955 trial for the murder of Emmett Till, which took place at the courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where [her husband] Bill had grown up. Bill’s uncle owned the local newspaper and gave Betty and her college friend Florence Mars press passes. They attended every day of the trial, and other than Mamie Till and the wives of the accused, were the only women present. After the defendants were acquitted, Betty said none of her white friends ever asked her about the trial.
“Betty continued her work for racial justice during the tumultuous 1960s. She joined the NAACP, and after passage of the Voting Rights Act, made sure [their] farm’s Black employees were able to vote. She and Bill also befriended many civil rights attorneys and others who had come from across the country to support the cause; many became lifelong friends.
“In 1965 Betty was named to the Mississippi Council of Human Relations, and three years later was appointed to the Mississippi State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. When her father questioned her decision to accept the appointment, she told him, ‘You have always taught me to stand up for what I believe in, and that is what I am doing.’
“In 2006, Betty was named co-chair of the biracial Emmett Till Commission, which was formed to recognize the miscarriage of justice in the Till trial and to pursue racial reconciliation. On October 2, 2007, she and co-chair Robert Grayson read a formal apology to the family of Emmett Till on the steps of the Sumner courthouse. Their work helped lead to the founding of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center and, later, the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, which invite visitors to learn about this history and its enduring significance.”
Betty Pearson was Exhibit “A” for how admirable Americans act, the virtuous and desirable qualities that citizens should model: Betty embodied the moral conviction taught students in religious school, in civics classes, and considering “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Jay Wiener is a Northsider
