“The Great Agitator”:
Golden A. Frinks
by Shir! Spicer
Soul Power! . . . Soul Power!
Black Power! . . . Black Power!
People Power! . . . People Power!
Right on! . . . Right on!
With fists raised, members of the
audience paid homage to "The
Great Agitator" on July 24,
2004, as North Carolina laid to rest one of
its greatest unsung heroes of the Civil
Rights movement — Golden Asro Frinks.
For most of his eighty-four years, Golden
Frinks led generations of young and old,
African American and American Indian
to take a stand and demand their "equal
part to enjoy the fruits of America."
Who was this "Great Agitator" and
"Mr. Civil Rights," as those closest to him
affectionately called him? Born in Horry
County, South Carolina, on April 26,
1920, Golden Frinks grew up in Tabor
City after his family moved to North
Carolina. When he was seventeen, he
moved to Edenton. Frinks was a United
States Army veteran who served during
World War 11 as a staff sergeant at Fort
McCullough, Alabama. Following active
duty, he returned to Edenton, eventually
married Ruth Holley, and began the fight
to obtain equal rights for the local popu¬
lation of African Americans.
Frinks's career as a civil rights activist
and organizer began in 1956 with a move¬
ment, which involved hundreds of people
in Edenton, to desegregate public facili¬
ties such as the movie theater, stores, and
restaurants
in town.
Over the
next six
years,
Frinks
spear¬
headed the
struggle in
Edenton to
defeat the
unjust prac¬
tices of Jim
Crow by
using the
tactics and
strategies
that would
become his
trademark.
Through
nonviolent
acts of civil
disobedi¬
ence, such as sit-ins, protests, demonstra¬
tions, and marches (led mainly by young
people), Frinks led dozens of communi¬
ties throughout North Carolina toward
Golden Frinks (second from left, wearing medallion) leads a Hyde County school boycott march in February 1969 Andrew
Young is beside him. Courtesy of the News and Observer Colled ion, North Carolina State Archives. Time line image shows
African American soldiers training at Camp Lejeune, ca. 1942. Image courtesy of the t.ihrary of Congress.
1910-30 In the most
active years of the Great
Migration, huge numbers
of African Americans
move away from the
South to escape Jim
Crow and search for
higher wages in the
Northeast and Midwest.
An estimated total of 3.5
million leave between
1890 and 1930.
1914-18 World War I.
191 5 The Supreme
Court outlaws the
“grandfather clause."
191 7 The nation enters
WWl. Many Indians and
African Americans serve
in Europe, the former in
white units and the latter
in segregated units.
1920 The 19th Amend¬
ment to the U.S. Consti¬
tution grants voting rights
to women.
1922 The Dyer Anti¬
lynching Bill passes in
the U S. House of
Representatives but fails
in the Senate.
1924 Federal law
declares all Indians to
be citizens
1 929 A stock market
crash begins the Great
Depression.
1 938 After a black stu¬
dent is denied admis¬
sion to the University of
Missouri law school on
the basis of race, the
Supreme Court rules in
Missouri ex ret. Gaines
v. Canada that the state
must provide equal edu¬
cational facilities for him.
1939-45 World War II.
1941 The nation enters
WWII following the
attack on Pearl Harbor.
Many African Americans
serve in the military in
segregated units. All
black marines train at
Montford Point, the seg¬
regated section of Camp
Lejeune.
A. Philip Randolph calls
for a march on
Washington to protest
the unfair treatment of
blacks in war industries.
Pres. Franklin D.
Roosevelt responds with
an executive order that
forbids employment dis¬
crimination in the
defense and government
contract industries.
1942 CORE, a civil
rights group dedicated
to direct action through
nonviolence, is founded
in Chicago.
1943 CORE stages the
first successful sit-in
demonstration in
Chicago.
1948 Pres. Harry
Truman approves
THjH, Full 2004
31
