Taylor Knight
March 14, 2011
Writing for Journalism
Emma C. Holland, maiden name Scott and cousin of Coretta Scott, died at 82 of heart
disease yesterday at The University of Tennessee Hospital in Nashville, TN where she lived.
Holland was born October 3, 1928 to sharecroppers in Brainer, TN. She was the sixth
born out of 10 children.
She attended the Nashville College of Nursing and went on to work at various hospitals
before she devoted her life to the civil rights movement. "She was the most unselfish person I
know.", said her daughter Helen Holland.
Scott influenced Holland to join the civil rights movement. Holland was a part of the
marches to Selma, which included three marches in 1965 in Selma, AL in order to get equal
voting rights. On "Bloody Sunday", Holland was one of 600 civil rights marchers being attacked
by local and state police with tear gas and billy clubs.
On the night Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered, Holland was in Memphis. This
strengthened her commitment to the NAACP, where she worked for most of the 1970s in
Tennessee.
She wrote an article in 2004 that was published in American Times magazine detailing
her experience in the civil rights movement. In the article, Holland wrote, "The exhilaration of
accomplishment cannot be measured in words. The pain of tragedy cannot be verbalized without
tears. But looking back, I know I was blessed to be part of the movement.”
When her cousin died in 2006, Holland was one of several people to offer eulogies in the
funeral service that was nationally televised.
Because of her deep commitment to the civil rights movement, she did not marry until
she was 50. Sherman Holland, a widower with three teenage daughters, became Holland's
husband. She then legally adopted the three girls. Her daughter said, “My mother was an
amazing human being, full of concern for others and passion for justice. When she entered our
lives, she elevated our awareness that you can make a difference in the lives of others."
Julian Bond, an American social activist and leader in the civil rights movement said,
“Emma was astonishing to know. Everyone who came in contact with her came away better for
the experience.”
Holland is survived by her husband Sherman Holland, and three daughters Catherine
Beaston, Charlene Clover, and Helen Holland.
The funeral will be held at the Glory Day Baptist Church in Nashville on Thursday at 11
a.m. The burial will take place at St. Thomas Cemetery in Greensboro, TN.