Thomas and Willie Jervay’s locally run newspaper, Wilmington Journal, had a stated purpose that resonated deeply within the black community–to publish the news “without fear and without favor.”
It was a slogan that encapsulated the Jervays on their hard-fought path for racial equality and civil rights throughout their lives.
Fittingly, the now legendary couple is now the namesake of a walkway and plaza at 1305 N. Fourth St.
A crowd of family members and friends, along with officials, pastors and community leaders gathered at the plaza Friday for the City of Wilmington’s Commission on African-American History’s ceremony to dedicate a sign officially declaring the area the Thomas and Willie E. Jervay Freedom Walk.
“It’s quite appropriate that we name this area for these two freedom fighters,” city councilman Earl Sheridan, who also chairs the council’s naming committee, said. “And their reputations go way beyond our community to the state, and even on a national level, they are well known.”
As founder and publisher of Wilmington Journal more than eight decades ago, Thomas Jervay, who died in 1993, made it his mission to decry discrimination and fight against discrimination, according to the Commission on African-American History.
He and his wife, who was also his business partner, were actively involved in the black community in Wilmington and across the country, through involvement with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the United Negro College Fund and Wilmington’s Community Boys Club, among other organizations.
“Daddy loved Wilmington and was very grateful for his success, which he would say was due to this community,” the Jervays’ daughter, Mary Alice Jervay Thatch said. Thatch took over the Wilmington Journal after her mother died in 2012. “I know he and mama are in heaven smiling and are very thankful for this.”
Mayor Bill Saffo said the newly dedicated plaza was a continuation of efforts to recognize the city’s entire history, noting that the 1898 Memorial site was located just a couple of blocks away.
“The walk to freedom has not been an easy one, and we need to recognize that,” Saffo said. “Wilmington has some good history, and it has some bad history. But the important thing is that we remember of all of its history.”
It was a sentiment echoed by the Rev. Ben Chavis, a prominent civil rights activist, former head of the NAACP and leader of the Wilmington Ten, the group of local political activitists convicted of arson and conspiracy during tumultuous race relations in the early 1970s. After a decade in prison, their convictions were overturned.
The past, Chavis said, should serve as a stepping stone toward the continued pursuit of equal rights for all.
“This walk to freedom is more than just a couple blocks. We’ve been walking for freedom for a long time now in New Hanover County, a long time now in Wilmington, a long time now in the south, a long time now in America. The Jervay family represents that long walk,” he said. We must rededicate ourselves to raise up a new generation of freedom fighters. We must walk this journey together…Wilmington has a great legacy but it has an even greater future.”
Hilary Snow is a reporter at Port City Daily. Reach her at (910) 772-6341 or hilary.s@hometownwilmington.com.
