Two Caucasian girls "threw a fit" when Bea-Moten Foster, a black woman from Selma, Ala., decided to sit at the front of a segregated bus on its way to Talladega, Ala. When Foster arrived at her destination, about half of Talladega's police force was ready to arrest her.
"That's frightening," Foster said. "You put on a big front as though you're not afraid."
Now, Foster is the owner and publisher of The Muncie Times -- a newspaper that serves the black communities of Muncie, Marion, Anderson, Richmond and New Castle -- but she still remembers the challenge of living in the segregated Deep South of the early- to mid-20th century.
"Living in the South was an experience," she said. "It was not a happy time, but I got through it."
Foster shared her struggles and triumphs with more than 40 Ball State students Wednesday afternoon in her Women's Week speech entitled, "From Selma to Muncie: I Could Have Been Rosa Parks."
Blacks in the South were forced to drink from porcelain water fountains marked "colored" and had to use separate bathrooms, waiting rooms and bus station entrances, Foster said. She said Selma's school system was also segregated, with one black school and another Caucasian school.
"Being in Selma, Ala., and being called 'nigger' every day was really something," she said, "but it hardened you and toughened you up, so you could face anything."
When she arrived in Muncie years later, Foster helped start the city's Black Expo and was the founder of the Muncie Coalition of 100 Women and a planner of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Program. She also serves on the MLK Dream Team, which promotes diversity throughout the Muncie community.
Foster, however, received strong opposition from Muncie residents and citizens of other counties while trying to rename Muncie's Broadway Avenue to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Boulevard. The racial controversy showed her that she still bore a wound from the injustices of her past -- a wound that had been opened back up, she said.
Nonetheless, her Christian background kept her strong in the face of adversity, she said. Foster even began The Muncie Times more than 14 years ago with only $50, when most black start-up papers lasted no more than six months.
"You shouldn't let anything or anybody hold you back," she said. "I know there are people that attempt to throw stones in your path, but I found ways to get around it."
Junior Jerry Reed, vice president for the University Democrats, said he met Foster last October while passing out flyers in her neighborhood to get more people to register to vote.
"Mrs. Foster has wit," Reed said. "She's strong. She doesn't let too much stop her, and that's the kind of person I want to be."
Julee Rosser, Women's Week chairwoman, said she was glad she chose Foster to speak this year, for she truly is a hero in the Muncie community.
"She's a driving force for social change," Rosser said. "I knew she could be a good influence on students and hopefully spark some fires."
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