Margaret Winonah Beamer Myers (September 10, 1941 – March 16, 2018) was an American political activist, who, in 1961 at the age of 19, became a

Freedom Rider Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions ''Morgan v. Virginia' ...

. Freedom Riders were

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated

southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

in 1961 and following years to challenge the non-enforcement of the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

decisions '' Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia'' (1946) and ''

Boynton v. Virginia ''Boynton v. Virginia'', 364 U.S. 454 (1960), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court.. The case overturned a judgment convicting an African American law student for trespassing by being in a restaurant in a bus terminal which was "whit ...

'' (1960). She was arrested in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...

and spent almost six months in

Mississippi State Penitentiary Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP), also known as Parchman Farm, is a maximum-security prison farm located in unincorporated Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region. Occupying about of land,prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

and the only maximum-security prison for men in the state of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. Of all the Freedom Riders, white or black, Winonah Beamer served the longest sentence and was the only Freedom Rider who served her full term. A white student at

historically black Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. ...

Central State University Central State University (CSU) is a public, historically black land-grant university in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Established by the state legislature in 1887 as a two-year program for te ...

Wilberforce, Ohio Wilberforce is a census-designated place (CDP) in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,271 at the 2010 census, up from 1,579 at the 2000 census. History After Wilberforce College was established in 1856, the community was a ...

, she joined the Freedom Riders in the summer of 1961. Winonah Beamer joined four other activists on a train from Nashville, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi, where they were arrested in the Illinois Central terminal on June 9, 1961. While in prison she refused bail and refused to file an appeal, later saying, "I didn't think it would be recorded if no one had done the time." Jailed on June 11, 1961, she was in prison system until Christmas Day of that year. She spent most of her time in prison near the men's death row and was able to talk to some of the death row inmates through the vents. Winonah Beamer was among 436 black and white activists who eventually and successfully broke the system. She said, "Our feeling at the time was, 'We're going to keep coming and we're going to flood your jails, cram your dockets and break you financially,' " David Myers and Winonah Beamer married in 1962. She spent most of her life working with people with

intellectual disabilities Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signific ...

at a number of places in Ohio, including 22 years with the Montgomery County Board of Mental Retardation. She lived in

Tampa Bay, Florida Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...

, with her husband until her death.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Myers, Winonah 1941 births 2018 deaths Freedom Riders African-American history of Mississippi Civil rights protests in the United States Conflicts in 1961 History of the Southern United States 1961 in American politics Bus transportation in the United States People from Cleveland History of racism in the United States Activists from Ohio