Mills speaks at Tusculum College about life under ‘Jim Crow’ laws and etiquette

Dr. Cecil Mills, above, describes how difficult life was for African-Americans in the segregated South on Thursday evening at Tusculum College. Dr. Mills, assistant district attorney general in the state’s Third Judicial District and pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Greeneville, spoke prior to the showing of the film, “The Great Debaters,” an event co-sponsored by the Andrew Johnson Debate Society and the Black United Students campus organizations. Dr. Mills shared the history of “Jim Crow” laws and described how Jim Crow extended into an etiquette dictating how the races interacted. It was difficult for the debating team from the African-American college depicted in the film to face teams from white colleges, he said, because according to “Jim Crow” etiquette, African-Americans were not show a superior intellect or knowledge over whites. As a youth growing up in Greeneville, Dr. Mills said there were not “white only” signs to be seen, but prior to integration, he knew that something was not right because his school textbooks were not in good condition and he and his friends always had to sit in the balcony of the movie theater. The struggle for racial equality was worth it, he said, as evidenced by the group of students of both races gathered to see the film. He encouraged the students to look for small acts of courage and heroism depicted in the film that show how individuals took steps toward seeking racial equality.