The ‘Little Warrior” will miss her best friend, Rev. Addie Wyatt, Labor and Civil Rights Leader

Says Wyatt was tired and wanted to “go home” to heaven

 

By Chinta Strausberg

 

Known as the “Little Warrior,” Rev. Willie Taplin Barrow, who has been friends with Rev. Addie Wyatt for the past 50-years, Thursday said she is saddened at the death of her best friend who just last week told her she was tired and wanted to “go home.”

They were a threesome in the civil rights and labor movement, and now it’s just Barrow who said she was rushing to go see her physician. “Rev. Lucille Luckett passed last year. We were a three-some. I’m just trying to get over that and now here comes Addie.

Though rushing to get to the doctor, Barrow took a few minutes to reflect on her best friend and someone she would call every day sometimes several times a day.

In reflecting on Wyatt, who passed yesterday, Barrow said, “She was 88 years-old last Sunday. I am going to miss her very much. She was the one who mentored me in the labor movement, she and (the late U.S. Rep.) Charlie Hayes and (International Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, AFSCME,) Bill Lucy out of Detroit.

“Addie was the one who brought me into the labor movement. She was the top woman in the labor movement. We fought together,” Barrow said as she took a short trip down memory lane.

Asked what was her most memorable moment with Wyatt, Barrow said, “They wouldn’t give women a real position in the labor movement and Addie had the highest position. We fought for the right places in labor. She was the first lady in my church,” she said referring to the Vernon Park Church of God, 9011 South Stony Island that was founded by Wyatt and her late husband Rev. Claude Wyatt who passed in April of 2010 also at the age of 88.

“Addie had to fight that for the women in the movement. She was a movement person. She knew Dr. King, Rosa Parks and all of those people who couldn’t stay in hotels, and now most of them are all gone,” Barrow said.

“When we were working in the movement, we depended on Josephine Wade (co-owner of Josephine’s Hardtimes Cooking Restaurant, 436 E. 79^th St.,) to bring us food. She was who we depended on to feed us,” said Barrow.

Reflecting on Rev. Wyatt’s death, Barrow said, “It really hurts, but she was tired because she lost her husband. She just told me last week ‘I want to go home,’ but I told her ‘Child, I know you’re tired, but we are still here and most of our friends are gone. ‘” “Addie looked tired. After she lost Claude, she was very tired.”

When contacted, Wade said she too will miss Rev. Wyatt. It was just two-weeks ago that she asked Senator Jacqueline Collins (D-16^th) to introduce a resolution for National Women’s Month to honor Wyatt, Barrow and herself.  “She deserved to be honored,” said Wade.

In reflecting back on her life with Rev. Wyatt during the civil rights movement, Wade said, “I fed them all the time. Addie was my spiritual leader, my big sister and my hero. I never heard her speak above a whisper, and I saw her in go to board members and sit on the regulation board never compromising our positions.

“She would be in excruciating pain but she would get up and go anyway. Addie was a visionary who wanted to see everybody get an equal opportunity.

“She kept our community together in every way spiritually and politically, and she was a tremendous champion during the time when black churches were being burned in the South. She was a champion for civil rights, for equal rights and right-to-work for all women. Addie began the equal rights for pay movement for women,” said Wade.

Addie never lost her composure. She never waivered and she never compromised the African American community at large. I will miss her,” said Wade.

Father Michael L. Pfleger, who has known Rev. Wyatt for decades, said he too is very sadden by her death. “ She was a friend. She was a great civil rights leader who was not afraid to put her faith to fight.

“A lot of people just speak about faith but Addie Wyatt was one of those who used her faith to fight with. Her faith was her foundation for what she believed in…. It’s not about just you getting better. To her, it was about everybody getting better.

“She was a person who really cared for all people. We don’t have a whole lot of Addie Wyatt thinking, endurance, tenacity and faith rising up today. Unfortunately, Addie Wyatt is a dying breed and she will be a great lost,” Pfleger said.

Contacted in Springfield, Senator Jacqueline Collins (D-16^th) said the resolution was filed honoring women trailblazers. “It is a great loss to the nation and the city and particularly to the African American and civil rights community. She was a gifted advocate, activist and role model for all those who believe in and fight for justice, equality and freedom.” Collins said she will introduce a death resolution in honor of Wyatt.

Barrow added: “We are going to miss her.  We will miss her presence because no matter how sick she was; Addie came to church every Sunday. She never stop going right to the end….”

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.

Photo Caption: (From left) Rev. Willie Taplin Barrow, known as “The Little Warrior,” Josephine Wade, co-owner of Josephine’s Hardtimes Cooking Restaurant, 436 E. 79th St., and Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery who earlier spoke at Saint Sabina and later held a family reunion at Wade’s restaurant. Photo by Chinta Strausberg