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Picture from the Oregonian,
August 20th, 1955 |
by John Lussier
August 8th, 1955 — Lizzie Sheppard, an expecting mother, and her four kids, were walking the 15 blocks home from the Well-Baby health clinic in North Portland after getting booster shots when they encountered Elbert Riddick, an Episcopal priest. Lizzie’s oldest boy, Jimmie was riding his bike ahead of the family, when Riddick, raking leaves on the sidewalk, told the boy and his family that they couldn’t go past him.
“I don’t want black people walking on my sidewalk.”
“What do you mean?” said Lizzie.
“I mean you black niggers,” replied Riddick.
“That’s not very Christian-like to say something like that… I don’t even know you and you don’t know me,” she replied.
“Get those kids and the bike off my sidewalk and into the street,” said Riddick.
Sheppard tried to push the bike around him and go on but Riddick began to hit her and her 5-year old son Charlie with the rake he was holding. The blows knocked her glasses to the ground, and left welts on her and her son even weeks later.
“I was hollering I guess, but when I saw he was hitting the child I decided I’d better have some help,” said Lizzie, courageously not backing down.
It was at this point a truck driver, having witnessed the scene, stopped and told Riddick to leave Sheppard alone. A neighboring household let Sheppard use their phone to call the police, having to lock Riddick out of the house after he gave chase.
The Rev. Elbert Riddick, 58 at the time, explained to a police office later that he had “…moved out of the colored district to get away from the Negroes.”
Riddick came to Portland in 1937, and had previously been ticketed by police for public disturbance. In 1953 he was the chairman of the Civil Freedom Committee, a local group that had tried unsuccessfully to get Oregon’s public accommodations civil rights law repealed. The law made it illegal for businesses like restaurants, hotels, etc. to discriminate against non-white customers. Riddick’s group believed that their civil freedom was being breached if public services had to cater to African Americans and others. He was part of a long line of white men and women who would seek to use public policy and opinion to enforce racist beliefs.
Riddick was angry at “Negroes,” because they “…sent their women and helpless ones to parade along the street to get people used to them… then they buy in.” Later at trial he would accuse the Urban League of “breaking down barriers so that Negroes could move into neighborhoods occupied by white persons.”
Despite an anonymous threat against her that she “…had better close up and get out of town” Sheppard brought Riddick to court. He was charged with assault and battery, given a bail of $250 (A little over $2000 now), and released.
At the trial Riddick claimed that the issue at hand was over whether “a white man in front of his own home should have to be crowded off his own sidewalk” and that Sheppard should not “parade in neighborhoods where she did not live”. After being found guilty of assault and battery he was fined $50 (about $436 now).
Riddick would later go on to appeal the decision. He said that,
“A man in my position should command some respect. I gave her as much clearance as possible but there wasn’t room for her and the bicycle to get by. When she saw that I would not give way, she apparently ran into the street to attract attention. Then she started dancing and screaming.”
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| Picture from the Oregonian, August 27th, 1955 |
He felt that Sheppard and her children should walk on the street since he was working on the sidewalk. “…when in front of my own home I do not feel I must be crowded off the sidewalk. I simply do not give ground!”
Riddick’s stroy was that the pregnant woman had shoved the bicycle against him, and then, seizing the rake from him, hit herself and her son.
“There was no intention on my part—after all, I am a clergyman and it would be difficult for me to strike anyone—to hit her son… His mother lunged at me for the rake. Quite frankly I have never before been attacked physically by a woman, and it was inconceivable a Negro woman would attack a white man. I was astonished.”
At each hearing a number of witnesses reported that Riddick had attacked Sheppard in an “unwarranted and vicious” manner.
After a retrial, and a number of delays by the defense, Riddick was again found guilty by a vote of 11 to 1. Sheppard later went on to sue the Rev. for $5000 in damages for emotional trauma and physical damage.
Riddick died in 1961 having lost this case and leading a dwindling congregation at his home. The Episcopal church eventually had denounced his actions and had removed their name from his church. Even after the trial Riddick continued to hold communion and officiate at local weddings.
Lizzie Sheppard passed away only recently. She went on to become a community worker at the Albina Neighborhood Service Center. There she and other community workers, like Otto Rutherford, worked to house, feed, and serve their community.
In her book
Dancing with God: The Trinity from a Womanist Perspective Dr. Karen Baker-Fletcher talks God’s presence in a world of crucifixion and suffering. The Triune God, Parent, Child, and Holy Spirit, dances in the world, overcoming evil through healing. Suffering isn’t something that God redeems, but overcomes. He opens this dance up to his people, asking that they join in on overcoming evil with good. They do so by healing the world, seeking justice in the power of resurrection, and fighting suffering with the courage of God. Lizzie Sheppard is an example of this courageous and healing dance.
The Oregonian reported heavily on this story and made this piece possible. Access was made possible through the Multnomah County Library. All quotes, photos, and accounts of the trial came from the following:
The Oregonian, Aug. 20, 1955, pg. 1, 6; Aug. 21, 1955, pg. 6; Aug. 27, 1955, pg. 1; Sep. 3, 1955, pg. 7; Nov. 11, 1955, pg. 6; March 22, 1956, pg. 28; March 23, 1956, pg. 1; April 30, 1961 pg. 35; April 15, 1966, pg. 6; Feb. 12, 1968, pg. 28
Connect with John Lussier by following him on Twitter: @JohnLuce.
Original blog post:
https://medium.com/theology-of-ferguson/lizzie-sheppard-81c82a6c52c9
