Arizona Fleming

Arizona Fleming (March 23, 1884 – January 18, 1976) was an African-American small business owner from Richmond, Texas who became part of the Civil Rights Movement by joining a lawsuit against an all-white political club that prevented black voters from participating in the Democratic Party Primary in Fort Bend County. While John Terry's name headed the legal petition, Fleming and Willie Melton provided much of the financial support and work behind the lawsuit. The case was won in United States District Court in 1950 and overturned on appeal in 1952. The case went before the United States Supreme Court in 1953 and African-Americans won full voting rights in the county. In 1994 Arizona Fleming Elementary School was opened in Fort Bend Independent School District.

Early life

On March 23, 1884, Arizona Fleming was born in Richmond, Texas of parents Beauregard and Laura Fleming. She went to segregated schools through the 12th grade. She attended all-black Guadalupe College in Seguin, Texas and then was employed as a bookkeeper at the Seagul Laundry in Houston. After four years she went back to her hometown of Richmond where she became a noted seamstress. She may have married in 1903 and a second time in 1912 but this is not certain. In 1927 she joined with several others to establish an undertaking company. After serving as secretary and manager for a few years she emerged as the sole proprietor. Her business survived the Great Depression with financial help from an uncle in Beaumont. Sometime afterward she became a homeowner.^[1]

Civil rights activist

Terry v. Adams historic marker in Kendleton mentions Fleming.

In 1889 a white political faction called the Jaybirds seized control of the Fort Bend County government by violence in the Jaybird-Woodpecker War. Since the passage of the Reconstruction Acts in 1867, the black population and their white political allies had consistently won county elections and blacks often held political office. After 1889, the Jaybirds passed Jim Crow laws to ensure that no blacks, Hispanics or Jews were allowed to participate in the nomination of local Democratic Party candidates. In 1950, a well-to-do African-American farmer, Willie Melton of Kendleton decided to challenge the restriction and vote in the Democratic primary. Melton enlisted NAACP attorney William J. Durham to notify the Jay Bird Democratic Association that they were violating the laws and that blacks wanted to vote in the primary. The Jay Bird Association countered that they were a private club and were within their rights to restrict membership.^[1]

Arizona Fleming Elementary School in Fort Bend ISD

Fleming and others soon joined Melton. She threw herself into the project and lent her name to local efforts to end racial discrimination. After unsuccessfully trying to interest Texas Attorney General Price Daniel in the case, Melton approached J. Edwin Smith of a Houston law firm. He was advised to enlist plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Jay Bird Association but this proved to be difficult because African-Americans feared retaliation. Finally a number of persons over 60 years old agreed to join the case, including 77-year-old John Terry of Beasley, whose name appeared at the top of the petition. In the end, Melton and Fleming paid the bulk of the legal fees although they were assisted by the NAACP, black churches and wealthy Houston blacks.^[1]

The United States District Court for the Southern District ruled in favor of their suit on May 1, 1950.^[1] The court determined that the Jay Bird Association operated as a political party and therefore came under federal statutes that protected voting rights.^[2] With Melton as president and Fleming as secretary, the Fort Bend Civic Club was set up and started getting out the black vote. In the subsequent primary, 400 of the 550 eligible African-American voters went to the polls and no incidents of violence were reported. However, on January 11, 1952^[1] the Jay Bird Association got the verdict overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.^[2] After more fund-raising efforts, the Fort Bend Civic Club scraped together $6,000 to pursue the case to the highest court. On May 4, 1953, the United States Supreme Court upheld the original District Court ruling in Terry v. Adams. Of the litigants, only Melton and Fleming were present at the high court session. The case determined that African-Americans in Fort Bend County had the right to vote. The cost of the litigation impoverished Fleming, though she announced, "I'd do it all over again". She died in Richmond on January 18, 1976, and is interred in the Mount Carmel Baptist Church cemetery. In 1994 an elementary school in the Fort Bend Independent School District was named after her.^[1]

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