She was a soldier for good. Erna Bryant had a knack for getting to the bottom of a problem, her childhood friend Eva Jaynes, said. “She would open her door to anyone that was wanting to do something peacefully.”
Erna Ballantine Bryant was born Aug. 29,1929 in Boston and passed away, surrounded by family and friends, Feb. 22. Services celebrating her life were held March 4 at the First Congregational Church in Atlanta.
Among her many life roles, Erna was an activist who fought for educational and civil rights. Her educational career took her abroad to the University of Havana in Cuba, as well as Northeastern University and Boston University, before she accepted an invitation to study at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.
At the time, she was the only black woman in her class at Harvard. She earned her doctorate in educational administration there in 1974.
Jasmine Idlett, one of Bryant’s granddaughters, said her grandmother put a strong emphasis on education and learning how to do things for yourself. Jasmine said her grandmother was instrumental in helping her seize an opportunity to take an educational trip to Washington D.C. while in middle school.
“When I told (my parents) the cost, they said they couldn’t do this,” she said, but they pointed her to her grandmother, who had a track record of helping out when it came to educational matters. Going to her grandmother, she said, taught her “the biggest life lesson” she’s ever learned. “If it’s something you want, you just have to figure out how to do it.”
Erna made Jasmine write letters. “It was almost like a grant proposal, but I was 12,” she said. “I had to write a letter explaining what I wanted to do, how it would help me achieve my educational and career goals, and what it was I needed and how I was going to meet that goal— that dollar amount — so I could go on this trip.”
With hardly any time to spare, Jasmine got a list of hundreds of her grandmother’s friends, sent her letters and ended up getting more than she needed, and realized there’s always a way around life’s obstacles. “I will always teach my kids, and anyone I come across, never accept no,” she said. That lesson got her through business school, nursing school, and a lot of life.
Writing, speaking, reading, researching, and listening were a few of the skills Bryant used to meet seemingly impossible goals. Jaynes said, “She had a way of finding out who was in charge. She had real knack for getting to the bottom of things.”
When she lived in Boston, Bryant was appointed chairman of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. She met with 22 unions and desegregated the workforce of the Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority. She was the youngest state chairman and the first African-American to serve in this capacity.
Jaynes and Bryant raised their children side-by-side, helping to feed and nurture both families.
If something wasn’t right, Bryant would always encourage people to pursue it. Jaynes said she believed “everyone should have a way of bringing things to the surface.”
“She clearly never accepted no,” granddaughter Idlett said. “It was not something she took and accepted. That’s the only way she achieved what she did when she grew up.” Erna’s daughter Candee Evans told the Boston Globe, “Her goal was to teach people and help as many people as she could in different organizations and different schools. That’s what she did 90 percent of the time. That’s what drove her.”
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