New Exhibit highlights the Career of Local Leader, D.D. Garrett Special to the Daily Reflector by John R.M. Lawrence
On November 4, American voters will be faced with a historic choice. Barak Obama, the Democratic Party nominee for president is African American. It was not so long ago that this prospect would have been unthinkable. Despite the lip service given to the dream that any American could grow up to be president, the reality was that a huge section of our society was excluded from that hope. In the wake of the Reconstruction, white, "redeemer" governments across the South took steps to restrict the political participation of freedmen. Residency requirements discouraged even registering to vote. Poll taxes and literacy tests were established as barriers to voting. If that did not suffice, violence and intimidation were often used to threaten black candidates and voters. Without a political voice, African Americans, watched helplessly as white governments legislated segregation. More often than not, the courts upheld such discriminatory legislation with a "separate but equal" doctrine.
This deplorable situation prevailed well into the second half of the Twentieth Century; so there are many alive who remember the difficulties of the Jim Crow era. At 94, that number includes Denison Dover Garrett. Born in 1914, D.D. experienced the limitations of segregation while growing up rural Pitt County, in the Flemings Chapel community. However, he never let that white dominated society define his choices in life. While a teenager, he was working as a groundskeeper at East Carolina Teacher's College, when he encountered a young student who was working his way through college. Armed with this example, Garrett returned to school and graduated from the Greenville Industrial School. He then hitchhiked to Durham where he worked in shoe repair while pursuing a college degree at the North Carolina College for Negroes, or what is now North Carolina Central University. By the time he enlisted during World War II, he had nearly completed his junior year of college.
Garrett's experience in the Navy taught the young man new ways to deal with prejudice. While stationed in Puget Sound, Washington, Garrett and 24 other African-American servicemen engaged in a strike of silence to bring attention to poor food and living conditions. Their success taught him the value of working with others as a group to bring about change. A firm belief in the political process would be fundamental Garrett's later career as a community leader.
Garrett returned to Greenville upon his graduation in 1946. Setting up shop at 102 East Second Street, D.D. offered insurance, real estate and notary services to Greenville's African American community. His leadership soon extended well beyond business. He first ran for election as alderman in 1949, earning a mere 44 votes in that election. However, his example encouraged black political participation. He stood for city council again in 1959 and 1965, gaining 720 votes and 1,058 votes respectively. In 1974, the Reverends John Taylor and Clarence Gray became the first African-Americans elected to the Greenville city council. A few years later an African American mayor would follow. In 1988, Garrett became the first African American elected to a county-wide office in Pitt County, when he won a seat on the Pitt County Board of Commissioners.
Though long frustrated at the polls, Garrett found other ways to serve his community. Over the years, he frequently volunteered to serve on task forces, committees and commissions for East Carolina University, Greenville, Pitt County, and the State. He also served as president of the Pitt County chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. for nearly twenty years. He consistently worked to improve the position of African Americans in his community. Mindful of the difficulties that blacks faced gaining clerical jobs in Greenville, Garrett founded the D.D. Garrett School of Business in 1950, as a way of teaching typing and secretarial skills. Though short-lived, the school encouraged the city to begin teaching typing at Eppes High School. In May of 1965, D.D. Garrett initiated the integration of the previously all-white neighborhood of Greenville Heights through the sale of a modest dwelling at 1112 Ward Street.
A new exhibit at the Verona Joyner Langford North Carolina Collection of East Carolina's J. Y. Joyner Library explores the contributions of this long-time community leader. "Patience, Persistence & Political Participation: The Life and Career of D.D. Garrett" opened on September 16, and will run through December 19. Hours are 8 a.m. -10 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 8-6 on Friday; 11-6 on Saturday; and 1-10 on Sunday. For further information please call 252-328-6601.
John R.M. Lawrence is the North Carolina Librarian at J.Y. Joyner Library.
