Martinsville’s Lucy Manns defended her bus seat first

Six years before Rosa Parks, Martinsville had Lucy Manns.

In October 1949 Manns, who lived on Amy Avenue, boarded a Trailways bus from Martinsville to Mount Airy and took a seat near the front. Manns was black, and black people then were made to sit in the back of the bus.

The article “Woman Jailed, Fined for Bus Disturbance” in the Oct. 14, 1949, Martinsville Bulletin tells about it: Manns, 28, was asked to move to the back of the bus after a white passenger complained. She refused to change seats, and the driver said he cited regulations governing passengers occupying busses. Then he called city police, who took her into custody.

She was fined $20 and court costs and sentenced to 30 days in jail.

That is all we know about that incident, unless any area residents remember hearing stories about us and can share them with the MHC Historical Society. If you can, please call us at 276-403-5361 or email mhchistoricalsociety@gmail.com, and we will share them with the public.

Who was Lucy Manns? We scoured other editions of the Martinsville Bulletin to find out more about her. It seems that several area women have shared the name “Lucy Manns.”

In 1938, a marriage license was issued for Mack Manns and Lucy Alice Spencer, both of Ridgeway.

An obituary for Lucy Alice Manns says that she was born on April 20, 1920, in Henry County to the late Ben Spencer and Mandy Walker Spencer, and she was the widow of Mac David Manns. She died on Feb. 20, 1990. Her survivors were three sons, Carnell Manns of Martinsville, Calvin Manns of Raleigh, N.C., and Lesley Manns of Fayetteville; two sisters, Nancy Hodge and Mary Mullins, both of Martinsville; one brother, Robert Spencer of Martinsville; nine grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. She was a member of Mayo Missionary Baptist Church and had retired from the Chrysler Corporation. The family home was on Route 4, Martinsville.

The 2016 obituary gives another clue about Lucy Alice Manns. Her obituary listed her only as “Lucy Alice Manns,” and listed Carnell Manns as her son. His obituary lists Carnell Manns’ mother as “Lucy Spencer Manns” and his father as Mack Manns. (We know that now – but the marriage license giving her maiden name as “Spencer”, listed a few paragraphs up, was the very last article found in this search; her son’s obituary gave the first clue.)

We encounter Lucy Spencer Manns in a November 1957 article. Her car was hit by the car of another driver (whose fault it was). She was 37 years old and her address was 908 S St. That puts her at 29 years old in 1949. She could have been the 28-year-old at the time of the bus incident (and had a birthday after that).

In July 1963, a Public Notice lists Lucy S. Manns and Calvin L. Manns as trading as Manns Grocery & City Service Station State Route 684 (Mail Route 4) in Martinsville. A 1962 article shows that they were mother and son. He was listed as being a private first class in the army and the son of Mrs. Lucy S. Manns of 938 Brookdale Road.

A Lucy S. Manns and others bought land in Horsepasture in September 1963.

Lucy Alice Spencer Manns is the closest we came to the lady on the bus. The Lucy Manns on the bus was listed as 28 years old, though, and Lucy Alice Spencer Manns would have been 29 years old at the time of the incident. If the years matched exactly, we’d think we had the answer. Since they are off by a year, we think it’s a strong “maybe,” because it was not uncommon for the newspaper to list ages off by a year or two back then.

There also was a Lucy Manns Toomer, who died in 1998 at the age of 85. That probably isn’t the same Lucy Manns, because Lucy Manns Toomer would have been 36 years old in 1949. Lucy Manns Toomer was living at 519 Armstead Ave. at the time of her passing. In 1936, when she was still single, she lived in Washington D.C. and returned home to visit her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harden Manns of Fayette Street. She would end up marrying a Walter Toomer in Washington D.C.

In the 1950s, there were occasional classified ads in the Bulletin from Lucy Manns, 908 D St., who did sewing in her home (draperies, curtains, suits and coats for ladies). She must have moved, because by 1969 she (or another seamstress by the same name) was still advertising “the best in dress making, shirt making and alterations,” but her address was 921 Brookdale Road. Yet in 1952 Lucy Manns of 805 D St. offered a room for rent in her home. In 1954 was the ad “Colored Girl would like to do work by day. Cleaning, ironing, or any general house work. Lucy Manns. Dial 4726. (No phone number was given in the ads for sewing on D street.)

In September 1951, a Mrs. Lucy Manns was an attendant for Mattie Bell Hairston when she became the bride of Will Melchior.