By LINDSEY FEINGOLD and ROBBIE GREENSPAN
Capital News Service
ANDERSON, South Carolina — As a young teacher, Beatrice Thompson and her friend went to the local movie theatre – which at the time was segregated – and did the unthinkable: they strolled through the front door and sat on the first floor, instead of in the balcony with the rest of the African-Americans.
They were the first to rebel in this fashion in the theatre, Thompson said in an interview with Capital News Service. Instead of facing repercussions, the rest of the community followed suit.
“When people saw nothing happened to us, that it didn’t kill me, they started to ease on down, too,” said Thompson, a city council member.
Today, with an African-American population of 34 percent, Anderson has just three black members out of 16 seats in the county and city councils.
African-American Mayor Terence Roberts, in his fourth term, is one of them. Gracie Floyd, a member of the Anderson County Council, was the first African-American woman on the council and has served since 1999.
Thompson, is in her 80s, was the first black woman to graduate with a master’s in psychology from the University of Georgia. She has been a teacher, coordinator of psychological services for the school district and in 1976, the first African-American elected to the Anderson City Council.
She has kept her seat ever since. During that time, she helped create the Church Street Heritage Project and the Westside Community Center.The center houses a health center, several social service agencies, and programs for adult education, parenting, mentoring and neighborhood recreation.
Thompson was also the founder of the Dream Team, a law enforcement and community relations task force whose mission is to promote better relationships between law enforcement and the Anderson community.
“When kids see the police coming, they think, oh they are here to get me,” Thompson said. “We wanted to turn it around so they think, here comes a man to help me.”
Dream Team activities include local police officers giving out ice cream to school children and also going to community events to talk about their work, she said.
The task force, which began in 2015,, received a Municipal Achievement Award from the Municipal Association of South Carolina in 2016 and is recognized nationally, including by the FBI.
One year after the task force began operation, total crime in Anderson dropped about 16 percent, according to the city.
The Beatrice Thompson Municipal Park is named after her.
Gracie Floyd Steps In and Stays
Gracie Floyd’s husband, who was on the county council, died in 1999. Just days after his death people rallied around her to run for his seat and she won.
“Being on county council does not define who I am… It’s something the good Lord gave me to do when my husband died so I don’t have to sit home,” said Floyd, 74, a former principal. “I have a fantastic career right now because I go where I want to, and do what I want to do.”
On the council, she is the longest serving member and the only Democrat who holds an elected office in Anderson County. But being a councilwoman on a council that is currently majority white and male hasn’t always been easy for Floyd.
At a 2016 meeting, Floyd walked out after Chairman Tommy Dunn forbid her from continuing to ask questions on an allocation for recreation equipment for Anderson.
“I will not be bullied,” Floyd later said. “Bring it on. I refuse to be told to be quiet.”
She said that is just one event of many where the council has disregarded her opinion. Despite this, she has worked to help eliminate substandard housing and was instrumental in securing over $400,000 in grants to assist with the cleanup of old mill sites in the county.
Floyd also brought together county, state and federal officials to implement a bus transportation system from Anderson to other cities, including Clemson University.
“This is the first time in 80 or 90 years, because there used to be a trolley that went between Belton and Anderson and that went away, and now they are connected by transportation again,” Joey Opperman, a public defender in Anderson, said.
