After a spontaneous change of plans in high school, a UTM alumna started down a path where she overcame challenges and worked to unite residents on “both sides of the fence” as Martin’s first African-American alderwoman.
About ten years ago, Natalie Boyd became the first black minority member on the Martin Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
“I saw a need for African-Americans in Martin to have a voice,” Boyd said.Boyd initially addressed that need by attending city board meetings. Shortly after that she ran for and obtained the position as alderwoman of Ward III. She thoroughly enjoyed serving as alderwoman and focused on serving through her motto.
“My passion is to serve people, and I always try to live by the motto that ‘I am my brother’s and my sister’s keeper,’” Boyd said. “That’s one thing that I keep before me every day.”
Boyd recalls one of her greatest achievements during her time as an alderwoman; it was a bill that addressed an age-old problem in this new era. The bill, which was passed in 2004, enabled the city to tear down a fence that divided Parham Cemetery and Martin Memorial Gardens down the middle with Euro-Americans buried on one side and African-Americans buried on the other.
The cemeteries are located east on Hwy. 22 towards Dresden.
“For years I always wondered why there was a fence, and then I began to ask questions to different older people who were a part of my church,” Boyd said.
Boyd would always inquire, “Why is there a fence down the middle of a cemetery?” not really knowing the purpose of it.
“I was told it just like this, ‘The blacks are on one side and the whites are on another,’” Boyd said.
Why? To separate.
“How do you separate people in death, because we all go back to dirt, so how do you separate us?” Boyd asked other locals. “If we are a city that says that we are building to unify, then why are we still living in the past?”
After hearing from the community, the board decided that the fence would come down. The fence is now down and the city grooms both sides.
“At first, the city only groomed the Euro-American side. There was no unity,” Boyd said. “Because of all of that and us as a board working together, it no longer exists. The fence is gone. It was definitely a step in the right direction for the City of Martin.”
Boyd’s story of how she arrived in Martin is interesting, to say the least. Boyd came to Martin as a student at UTM. Originally from Whitehaven, in Memphis, she was set to go elsewhere until current UTM Director of Admissions Judy Rayburn came to her school and gave a presentation to get students interested in coming to UTM.
Rayburn showed a picture of the dome pool that was between the McCord and Ellington dorms.
“I am not a swimmer, but when I saw that I thought ‘How neat,’” Boyd said. “I changed my mind and here I am.”
Before then, she had never heard of UTM but she decided to give it a try. She later graduated from UTM with a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work.
The first person she met on the campus was Roy Boyd, who was pursuing a degree in Education. They’ve been together since she was a freshman and will have been married for 25 years this May.
Upon graduation, Boyd landed a job with a nursing home where she completed her internship for her education with UTM. She later worked at a hospital with mentally ill patients, and now she works with students. After over 21 years of experience in social work, Boyd is currently the PSEPP Coordinator at UTM.
The Boyds have two children. Cameron is a senior Pre-Med student at UTM and Mariah is a freshman at the University of Memphis.
As a parent, Boyd didn’t have any issues raising her children in Martin and is glad she stayed in Martin; she sees it as a great place to raise children. With people moving in and out of Martin, she sees a lot of things coming into the city and a lot of potential for people to work together.
“Now is the time for people to come together, because no matter what we say outside of our houses, we all experience the same problems, we all have the same issues, and I think we all have the same dreams. In order to make our lives, our homes, our churches, our schools, our places of employment better, happier, we’ve got to work together. What better place to begin than by loving each other,” Boyd said.
“We don’t realize that as a parent, we are the first influence on our children whether it is positive or negative. Most of our children take on a parent’s beliefs,” Boyd said.
She always tells her children “no matter where you are, no matter what the situation may look like, always try to be a beacon of light, because even in your darkest moment, light can overpower darkness. Just keep shining. Whether it’s to speak kind words, whether it’s to help a stranger, whether it’s to feed the hungry. Because there is so much darkness in the world, we’ve got to try to drive it out.”
Boyd was strongly influenced by her parents, Napoleon Nelson and Ruby Jean Dickerson, as a child.
“The greatest gift you gave me was your love,” Boyd told her father recently.
“I always thought I was the richest girl in the world, not because of things, but because I had parents who instilled in me the richest of all values. The first was to love God, love myself and to love people. Because of that I’ve always had this strong desire to serve people,” Boyd said.
Boyd recalls watching her parents giving, caring for, providing for and serving as the example. She feels blessed for having a family as well as a husband with those values.
“You will find that the greatest thank-you your child can give you is when you see what you’ve taught them in action,” is one piece of advice Boyd’s father used to tell her.
Boyd noted two UTM professors, Betty Raspberry and Dr. Barbara Matí, who helped shape her to become the best social worker she could be. According to Boyd, for each chapter they went over in class, they shared a personal experience that the students could relate to.
“They taught with passion,” Boyd said.
She also noted having many other advisors and supporters during her time in Martin. Oak Grove Baptist Pastor Alvin Gerome Summers has also been a strong supporter of Boyd.
During her time at UTM, Boyd was a member of the Black Student Association and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She also served as a student worker in the McCord dorm and volunteered at various places, such as the library and a nursing home.
Boyd attributes characteristics such as accountability, determination and persistence to volunteering.
“Don’t be afraid to dream a dream; don’t be afraid of the obstacles that could stop you,” Boyd said. “Just know that each dream is achievable and anything worth having is definitely worth fighting and working for.”
She encourages students to become involved with organizations on campus in order to better prepare themselves for the real world. Boyd believes that there was more overall student unification during her time at UTM.
“I don’t think that there were more activities, just that there was a deeper bond among the students,” Boyd said. “It was like everyone cared for each other, took care of each other and looked out for each other.”
Boyd said that it was common for upperclassmen to approach younger students studying on campus and offer to help them with a study session.
Boyd is involved with Black History Month events on campus as well as in the community, but she thinks there needs to be more involvement in making sure we know history in general.
“I don’t understand why everything has to be divided,” Boyd said. “We take one month out of the year, February, to be Black History Month. Black history is black history, no matter if it’s January, March or April. It’s history. So, once again we’re separating things or celebrations that we should always be made aware of.”
Boyd recalled when her children were younger and they asked about why Black History Month was only celebrated in February. They also inquired about why it was only taught in schools in February.
“To them, it made them think [black history] was not important when all parts of history are important. If it were not for history, none of us would be where we are. We’ve got to honor those who have paved the way, not just for African Americans, but for all people,” Boyd said.
Despite all of the progress, she still sees some issues that need to be taken care of.
“As a country we have a long way to go,” Boyd said. “We say we’ve overcome but my question is ‘have we overcome?’ I think we’ve sugarcoated so much. We’ve sugarcoated racism so well that now it’s bursting out of the seams and coming out ugly. We all have prejudices, but there is a way that we can voice it that’s not going to say, ‘I’m the big guy and you’re the little one, and because of your beliefs, I have to ‘x’ you out.’ You’ve got to respect who you are and what your beliefs are. When you peel back the color of the outer skin, we are all still God’s creatures.”
Boyd cited a quote by her pastor that serves as encouragement.
“You’ve got to dare to be better, to be greater, to be smarter, to love more, to respect more; even if we’re looked at as the one who stirs up stink, we’re not stirring up stink– we’re trying to stir up love, we’re trying to stir up us getting along with each other, we’re trying to stir up unity, and we’re trying to stir up the opportunity for all of our children to have a chance at a good life.”
Boyd gives kudos to the Teen Center for reaching out to the young African American youth in the city, but she says that they can’t do it alone.
“It takes more help, not just from community leaders, but from parents. Moms and dads have got to be more responsible in the raising of their children, and because this is a college town, I feel like we can extend that hand a little bit farther in working with the community and with the churches,” Boyd said.
Boyd currently reaches out to the campus and community through being coordinator of PSEPP, or Personal Safety Empowerment Partnership Project.
PSEPP deals with education and training to incoming freshmen and focuses on sexual violence.
“We’ve seen that sexual violence is a silent crime that is now coming to the forefront on most of our college campuses, but here at UTM, we are striving to not just educate our students but the faculty, staff and community as well,” Boyd said. “The top goal, next to academics, is safety for the students.”
Right now PSEPP is a grant program, but Boyd feels that UTM will continue the services.
“I feel positive that UTM, being a campus that cares, will incorporate [PSEPP] into the system because of their deep concern for the safety of all of our students, both male and female,” Boyd said.
“Being a part of PSEPP is just another opportunity for me to serve, and I’m quite sure under the leadership of my director, Shannon Deal, we’re going to do just that. We’re going to serve a population of young men and young women here on this campus who may need the service of PSEPP,” Boyd said.
