NAACP Middlesex Branch presents play depicting arrest of woman defending her rights

This past Saturday, July 20, the Middlesex Branch of the NAACP honored the late Irene Morgan with a reenactment of her arrest on July 16, 1944. This arrest that happened in Saluda set the stage for Rosa Parks.

During the reenactment, Irene Morgan was played by Middlesex County resident Cynthia Beverley, the bus driver played by Locust Hill’s Michael Knez, the sheriff and deputy played by Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Ronald Hirtz, the person getting off the bus in Saluda was played by Middlesex Administrator Matt Walker, the white couple getting on the bus in Saluda was played by Hartfield’s Dr. Paul and Dr. Maureen Fairbrother, the reenactment was narrated by the Rev. Dr. Janel Pleasant and there were extras to fill in.

The reenactment took place on the lawn of the Middlesex County Historic Courthouse.

During special presentations conducted in connection with the program, the NAACP Middlesex Branch presented Irene Morgan’s daughter, Brenda Morgan Bacquie, and two granddaughters, Janine Bacquie and Aleah Vaughan, with a star named after Irene Morgan.

Organizers extended a thank you to Bay Aging for allowing them to use the “Pearl” trolley-like bus during the reenactment; Corrine Young for writing an original poem about Irene Morgan; Matt Walker, county administrator; and Wayne Jessie, Jamaica District supervisor, for putting up the tents and setting out chairs; Tech Master Greg Grichtmeier and his helpers, Imani Young and Dalaney Moore; A Flash in Time Photography; and Lou-Ann Lundy for taking photos to document the occasion.

History

Irene Morgan was a young Black lady who got on a Greyhound bus at the stop in Hayes. There were no seats on the bus and when the bus pulled into the Greyhound station in Saluda a seat became available up until a white couple boarded the bus right before it was due to pull off from the station.

Irene Morgan was charged with resisting arrest and violating a 1930 Virginia law requiring separation of white and Black passengers, a Jim Crow transit law.