NORTH CAROLINA -- More than six decades ago. a simple poem inspired more than six decades of history.
Henry Frye grew up in Ellerbe, North Carolina in the ‘30s and ‘40s.
“Those were the days of separate but unequal—blacks lived in one part of town, whites lived in the other,” said Frye.
He faced struggles, but kept working hard, met a girl in fact just hours before they tied the knot—he tried to register to vote—it was 1956—and he was forced to take a literacy test.
“But this guy had a book which he pulled out from under the table and started asking me questions about the 5th or 6th President of the United States and all kinds of questions that I knew were intended to keep me from being able to register,” said Frye.
The kicker — Frye had high school and college degrees, recently left the air force as a captain and was accepted into law school -- he could read and write.
Hours later he walked down the aisle and met his bride.
“Well it was on my mind and I said you know they wouldn’t let me register to vote—she said we can talk about it later. It’s funny now —it wasn’t funny then.”
Since then he has led a life of firsts: one of the first black assistant U.S. district attorneys and the first black state lawmaker since 1899.
The time that first day came I said my first bill was going to be to abolish the literacy test as a requirement for voting.
And it passed. In 1983 he became the first African-American State Supreme Court Justice and in 1999, the first Chief Justice.
This past fall, the man who was denied the right to vote, introduced another man who made his own history.
“It was probably somewhere near the top of my career to introduce the President of the United States —and the fact he has some African blood,” said Frye.
And it all started with a simple poem, more than six decades ago.
“Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing that cannot be done…and you’ll do it.