Louisville says goodbye to civil rights icon
Louisville bid farewell Friday to Georgia Davis Powers, the civil rights icon who became the first African American to be elected to the Kentucky State Senate, by celebrating a life well-lived that broke down barriers for both women and blacks.
"Mourn me not with apparel of black, but dress me in colors and rejoice with me," Powers' niece, Donna Montgomery Thomas, said, reading from a poem about death that Powers had written. "Talk not of my departure with sighs in your heart; Close your eyes and you will see me with you forever."
And, in fact, talk at the funeral service, held at St. Stephen Church, was not about Power's death, but her life.
The celebration included the reading of a letter from President Barack Obama, remembrances from religious leaders and then a motorcade on the Georgia Davis Powers Expressway. A nice final musical touch to the service was not a spiritual, but a recording of Ray Charles singing an old classic. "Georgia, Georgia, no peace I find, just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind."
Her three living brothers sat in the front row with grandchildren and nieces and nephews arrayed behind them.
U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, Lexington Mayor Jim Gray and Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes were among those who attended, as did Gerald Neal, who holds the Senate seat that Powers once held. Metro Council members Cheri Bryant Hamilton and David Tandy were also there.
State Rep. Darryl T. Owens, a close friend who had difficulty holding back tears at memorials throughout the past week, sat in the sanctuary as well.
Not only was she the first African American elected to the state Senate, she was the first woman elected to a full term. She helped organize civil rights marches in Kentucky, including the 1964 march in Frankfort to bring attention to the need for a law prohibiting discrimination in housing.
More than two decades in the Kentucky Senate, she fought for legislation that would open doors for African Americans and sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment. Below her portrait in the Capitol, it says that Powers wished to be remembered as "someone who cares."
In his remembrance of her, the Rev. Kevin W. Cosby, pastor of St. Stephens, contrasted Powers with a historical figure honored with a statue in the Capitol rotunda.
"It's interesting that our state will now be known for two Davises: One named Georgia Davis; one named Jefferson Davis," he said.
"One of them fought a civil war to keep black folk down; one fought for civil rights to lift black folks up. One sought to divide the nation; one sought to unite the nation," he said. "So I ask our state, which of the two Davises should be in the rotunda."
The sanctuary erupted with applause.
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The Rev. Regena Thomas, of the Allen AME Church in Atlantic City, N.J., recalled sneaking down to the Kentucky Senate gallery when she was an aide in the House of Representatives to hear Powers speak. She recalled seeing Powers in a chamber "amongst all of these white men, a woman that was clean, sharp, hair did up real good," and noted that Powers never left her desk.
"They all came to her," she recalled. "And she always had this big smile."
Carolyn Tandy, an aide to Yarmuth and a friend of Davis, read the letter from Obama.
"With courage and grace, Georgia helped advance our nation's unending journey toward becoming a more perfect union," Obama wrote.
Joseph Gerth can be reached at 502-582-4702 or jgerth@courier-journal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Joe_Gerth.