CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

~~ 'I ' . I~SIDE THIS ISSUE ~B : Editorial ______Page 4 iii:; From Burned Ruins ______Page 6 I 7 1111! 5 II ~i~~WD~t~~~~~_ ~~~~~~ ~~ ~ ~:: ;::: ~~l nQuote & Unquote ______Page 8 ~ Letters To SCLC ______. Page 5 Volume 2 November-December, ' 1963 Number 3 lli The Poet's Pen ______Page 8 I l:pitaph and ~hallrnyr By Martin Luther King, Jr. We stand just a few days removed from one of the It is a climate where men cannot disagree without most shocking and horrible tragedies that has ever be­ being disagreeable, and where they express dissent fallen our nation. Men everywhere were stunned into through violence and murder. It is the same climate sober confusion at an incredible assassination of John that murdered in Mississippi and six in­ F . Kennedy. It is still difficult to believe that one so nocent Negro children in Birmingham, Alabama. So in a saturated with vim, vitality and vigor is no longer in sense we are all participants in that horrible act that our midst. tarnished the image of our nation. By our silence, by As unreal as it seems to our senses, we must face our willingness to compromise principle; by our con­ the fact that John Fitzgerald Kennedy is dead. Dead, stant attempt to cure the cancer of racial injustice with physically, but the posture of his life has written an the vaseline of graduation; our readiness to allow arms epitaph that lives beyond the boundaries of death. to be purchased at will and fired at whim; by allowing The epitaph of John Kennedy our movie and television screens reveals that he was a leader to teach our children that the unafraid of change. He came hero is one who masters the art to th e presidency in one of the of shooting and the technique of most turbulent and cataclysmic killing; by allowing all of these periods of human history. A developments we have created time when the problems of the an atmosphere in which violence world were gigantic in intent and hatred have become popu­ and chaotic in detail. On the lar pastimes. international scene there was So President Kennedy has the ominous threat of mankind something important to say to being plunged into the abyss of each of us in his death. He has nuclear annihilation. On the do­ something to say to every poli­ mestic scene the nation was tician who has fed his consti­ reaping the harvest of its terri­ tuents the stale bread of racism ble injustice toward the Negro. and the spoiled meat of hatred" John Kennedy met these prob­ He has something to say to lems with a depth of concern, every clergyman who had ob­ a breadth of intelligence, and served racial evils and remained a keen sense of history. He had silent behind the safe security the courage to be a friend of of stained glass windows. He civil rights and a stalwart advocate of peace. The un­ has something to say to the devotees of the extreme mistakable cause of sincere grief expressed by so many right who pour out venomous words against the su­ millions was more than simple emotion. It revealed that preme court and the United Nations, and branded President Kennedy had become a symbol of peoples' everyone a communist with whom they disagree. He has yearnings for justice, economic well being and peace. something to say to a misguided philosophy of com­ Our nation should do a great deal of soul-searching munism that would teach man that the end justifies as a result of President Kennedy's assassination. The means, and that violence and the denial of basic freedom shot that came from the fifth story building cannot be are justifiable methods to achieve the goal of a classic easily dismissed as the isolated act of a madman. Hon­ society. He says to all of us that this virus of hate that esty impells us to look beyond the demented mind that has seeped into the veins of our nation, if unchecked, executed this dastardly act. While the question "who will lead inevitably to our moral and spiritual doom. killed President Kennedy?" is important, the question Thus the epitaph of John Kennedy's life illuminates "what killed him" is more important. Our late President profound truths that challenge us to set aside our grief was assassinated by a morally inclement climate. It is of a season and move forward with more determination a climate filled with heavy torrents of false accusation, to rid our nation of the vestiges of racial segregation jostling winds of hatred and raging storms of violence. and discrimination. Independence Comes To Africa's Kenya On Thursday, December 12th, the Union Jack was lowered in Kenya, East Africa, for the last time and in its stead was raised the black-red­ green flag of independence. Once Brit­ ain's most prosperous colony, Kenya is the 34th state to receive independence. With a population of 8,500,000 - 160,000 of them Asians and 65,000, Delegates from more than 100 counties in Georgia converged on Macon last month to map plans Europeans - it is the big test for for 1964. Shown at left and center are SClC's Fred C. Bennette, Program Director Andrew J. Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta. Ken­ Young and John H. Calhoun. Host for meet was Macon affiliate, William Randall, Pres. yatta was released only last year after spending nearly eight years in jail and Siale-wide Georgia Regislralion Meel under restriction of the British on a conviction of being involved in Mau Mau terrorism. Reveals 40,000 New Volers Added in '63 ---NationaLDebL- Under sponsorship of SCLC, the State-wide Registration Committee, headed With independence comes responsi­ ~y J. H. C:alhoun, of Atla~ta, . who also is SCLC state director of voter-registra­ bility. The new government of Kenya tIOn, held Its Annual Meetmg m Macon, Georgia on October 26. More than 300 will inherit a national debt of some youth and adult delegates from 50 counties, attended the sessions in First Baptist $190,000,000, with sterling reserves and Tremont Temple Baptist churches. The committee conducts a co-ordinated estimated at only $45,000,000. Popu­ state program and was organized by the Georgia Voters League under the late lation explosion, export commodities, Grand Master John Wesley Dobbs, in 1956. unemployment, and education are ma­ 16,990 Negroes Registered jor problems for the new nation. But U huru - the Swahili word for R.ev. ~ndr~v.: H. Young, SCLC Director of Citizenship Training and Voter­ independence and freedom has come ~eglstratlOn, ]omed Rev. Fred C. Bennette, Georgia , Mrs. Sep­ to Kenya. tllla Clark of the Dorchester Academy Citizenship School and other leaders in supervising eight Congressional Districts and one youth workshop. From these discussions Danville Shows Vote Gain it was revealed that an estimated 16,990 SCLC Hits Louisiana In Negroes have been registered in 36 counties which reported. An additional 830 have Determined Vote Drive Following reported from five more counties of the Faced with the very determinative guber­ Seeking to consolidate some of the gains 7th Congressional District, which was not natorial race in Louisiana and a sure run­ of the summer Direct Action Program, the represented at the meeting, making an esti­ off between the forces of racism and mod­ Danville Christian Progressive Association mated total of 17,820 from only 41 counties. eration, SCLC rushed a staff of 10 workers began to add voters to the registration rolls. 40,000 More Voters In 1963 into Louisiana to attempt to register voters Under the guidance of SCLC Virginia field From a reported 146,000 registered Negro in time for the December elections. secretary, Herbert Coulton, and aided by the voters in Georgia in 1954, 156,000 in 1958, Our task force of Birmingam students SCLC Birmingham task force, D CPA was the last year state records were kept by race, were joined by the local people of Louisiana able to add 783 voters to the rolls during it is estimated that the total now approaches and launched an intensive effort in Lake the past three months. This total represents 250,000, with some 30,000 being registered Charles, New Iberia, and Plaquemine, where a 30 per cent increase in the total of Negro ----illT902 a one. Mr. Call1oun, e Georgia SGbG-freld seeFe~ary- Majer -Johns-was a voters and was amassed against the obstacle director for SCLC, anticipates that when all candidate for the state legislature. of a poll tax of $4.84 per person. reports are in, the state will have an increase The project Wlj,S conducted in cooperation Poor Conununity of 40,000 additional Negro voters for 1963 . with CORE, which had maintained a team Danville is a poor community and many Atlanta, with its All-Citizens Registration of workers in Louisiana throughout the of the labor force is engaged only in sea­ Committee, Jesse Hill, Jr. and Dr. C. A. summer, and continued to spark the direct sonal work, so that it was necessary for Bacote, co-chairmen, added approximately action program there. DCPA and SCLC to raise funds to aid in 7,000 new Negro voters. Rev. Bennette, Place 1,000 On Rolls the payment of Poll Tax. Local Citizens Registration rolls in Lake Charles were SCLC field secretary, has been working full were encouraged to give poll tax as a gift increased by almost 1,000 Negro voters time with the program since April and the for Christmas, and almost $500.00 was during the month of November by a team of the Southern raised in the community for this purpose. of workers led by SCLC field worker Dan SCLC supplemented the poll tax fund by a Regional Council, made a direct grant to Harrell. Important ground work was laid in grant of $1,000. This is the high cost of the Atlanta committee. the surrounding parishes to enable us to Upwards of 200,000 Negro registered Democracy in Danville. continue our work for months to come. Elections To Be Crucial voters in Georgia for 1962 are said to Louisiana only recently has been the scene Elections this summer in Danville will have been the balance of power in electing of a legal victory by the Justice Department. be crucial in the determination of the di ­ the present governor, Carl E. Sanders, as which struck down as unconstitutional the rection of this community's life. Already, well as other state officers last year. literacy test which was being administered the City Council shows a new respect for to Negro voters in a discriminatory fashion. its Negro citizenry as a result of the com­ But the segregationists will not be a party bined approach of Demonstrations and Reg­ to Justice; they immediately began to crack istration. A City Fair Employment Practices down through a registration application Bill was recently enacted by the same City Register To Vote! which requires Negro registrants to give Council that a few months ago refused to their ages in years, months and days. talk with Negroes. Make Gains In Danville; With Fair Hiring Policy Danville, Virginia, scene of the most. brutal police action of the present year, continues its determined quest for self­ respect and human dignity. Under the aegis of the Danville Christian Progressive As­ sociation and supplemented by the forces of SNCC, CORE and NAACP, the siege for Freedom has been maintained since last May. This southwest Virginia textile center produced more legal chicanery than any other comparable situation in the South. One of the several city injunctions now under attack prohibited the singing of "," theme song of the Move­ ment. Yet, with no break-through at press time in public accommodations, some gains have been realized. Fair Hiring Policy Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson smiles happily as she receives plaque from Dr. King honoring her ------for her contribution to civil rights struggle. Award was made after her Dec. 1 concert in Atlanta. Most significant is the passage of a city Looking on are Rev. (I .) and (r.). ordinance establishing a fair hiring policy in city employment. Any person who feels he has been discriminated against in em­ 15 Northern Ministers ployment may appeal to the Circuit Court Mahalia Stirs Crowd, for relief. Tt is believed that the 5-3 vote of the council for the ordinance is the first Jailed In Williamston of its kind anywhere in the South. After four months of demonstrations in Accepts Rights Pia que T he chart below indicates breadth of Williamston, N. C., 15 ministers from the On the afternoon of December 1st, gai ns made during period spanning June Boston area joined local people in that The Southern Christian Leadership Con­ 10th - December 10* Eastern town of 6,000 in ference presented the third in a series of Downtown and Shopping their struggle for Human Rights. "Stars For Freedom" concerts by presenting Centers Jobs 7 30 On November 12, the Northern ministers, Miss Mahalia Jackson. Appearing with her City E mployment 0 1 headed by Reverends John Harmond and were tbe Gospel Harmonettes of Birming­ School D esegregation 0 2 ham, Alabama and the Pattersonaires of City Council 6-1 5-3 Paul Chapman, arrived in the town of Wil­ liamston to help, as Rev. Harmond put it, Atlanta. Miss Jackson's rendition of "Move Against Biracial Talks show the world that "no one can say they On Up A Little Higher" brought the audi­ For official talks*" are free unless every man can attest to it". ence to its feet. Registered Voters 1596 2976 The ministers participated in a mass Resulne Demonstrations Dr. King Presents Plaque on the City Hall on November 15, Prior to intermission, Dr. King presented The Central Committee of the Danville in an effort to again bring the problem a bronze plaque to Miss Jackson in recog­ Movement voted unanimously November before the city officials. Some fifty odd nition of her outstanding work in Civil 29th to' resume limited demonstrations if participants were jailed. needed, in order that the community's at­ Rights in which she has performed all over tention would be focused on the one single Refused Bond the country for the . area where no progress is yet recognizable. The ministers refused bond and subse­ * Eating facilities in variety stores and quently remained in jail for a week. During shopping centers previously desegregated this time t,hey fasted at intervals, in 1960. ** Employment ordinance result of series On the 18th of November, Golden Frinks of talks. was sentenced to a six-month term in a state prison. The ministers immediately be­ gan looking into the matter, two of them Two Kinds of Negroes­ withdrawing from the jail. Wallace In the two weeks following their release, the ministers were caught up in a program In his recent speech at Harvard Uni­ of confronting the Williamston towns people versity, Gov. Wallace of Alabama had with the reasons they had come in a door­ this unusual observation to make: to-door, person-to-person effort to help "When you speak of the Negro in establish lines of communication. the North, the image before your eye is probably the mulatto and he By December 3, the last of the ministers constitutes a very small per cent of returned to their parishes and congregations your population. When we speak of after setting the ground work for the Wil­ the Negro in the South the image in liamstonites to visit Boston for Christmas. our minds is that great residue of easy-going, basically happy, unam­ bitious, incapable-of-much-Iearning Supervisor's Meeting African, who constitutes 40 per cent of our population, and who the About 35 persons will attend a special white man of the South, in addition supervisor's workshop on January 3rd, 4th and 5th at Penn Community Center at FIRST IN PETERSBURG-Bernard Bland, first to educating his own children, ' has Negro driver of Petersburg, Va. Transit Co. is attempted to educate, to furnish pub­ Frogmore, S. C. This workshop is designed ready to roll after recent hiring through efforts lic health services and civic pro­ to train a person in each area who can help of rocal affiliate and determined work of Milton tection." organize, develop and supervise adult citi­ Reid, SCLC's Regional Representative and Field zenship schools. Secretary, Herbert V. Coulton.

3 Lee Oswald. This Nation is sick! Maybe this will shake us to our senses·. Perhaps now The Cartoonist's View we will realize that the spread of poison in our nation's bloodstream must be checked. 'Mr. President ... Only The Chair Has SClC#~ This must be the meaning of John Kennedy's Changed' death for the course of history. Publisher, SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN But it seems I was wrong. Scarcely had LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE Mr. Kennedy been entombed on the hillside at Arlington than the press echoed the 334 Auburn Ave., N.E. venom and hate of the two Senators from Atlanta, Georgia Georgia - Russell and Talmadge. They described the Civil Rights Legislation called Phone: 524-1378 for by the new President as "cruel" and "vicious." MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., President A minister in Dallas reported fourth F. L. SHUTTLESWORTH, Secretary grade children cheering at the news of Kennedy's death and then went into seclu­ RALPH D. ABERNATHY, Treasurer sion for fear of his life. But the coup de grace carne late Sunday night in Southwest WYATT TEE WALKER, Executive Director Georgia. Carolyn Daniels, a teacher in SCLC's Citizenship Program, and landlady WYATT TEE WALKER, Acting Editor of several SNCC workers was tumbled from bed by the staccato bursts of an automatic rifle. AIM~D YJJRP_OSES OLSCL - -+h·is-is-tbe-same-sectiofl of-Georgia-where­ 1. To achieve full citizenship rights, three houses of worship were leveled by and total integration of the Negro in racist arsonists. Now with the President as­ American life. sassinated only two weeks ago, how could Balely in the Atlanta Constitution 2. To stimulate non-violent direct mass we still be hell-bent with bombing and burn­ action to remove the barriers of segre­ ing and murder and mayhem? Does not the gation and discrimination. Deep South have any sensitivity at all to 3. To disseminate the creative philoso­ the impending tragedy that threatens to phy and techniques of non-violence destroy this nation internally? America through local and area workshops. needs to get down on her knees and pray 4. To secure the right and unhampered to God to save us from ourselves. use of the ballot for every citizen. - wtw 5. To reduce the cultural lag through the Citizenship Training Program. Much Ado About Nothing It seems shamefully pathetic at times Editorial when men of high appointment must spend their energies in pursuits that belie the lofti­ ness of the positions bestowed upon them. The 'nsensitive Deep South Alabama's Governor Wallace appears to be such a man. His great concern about Dr. This writer is convinced that the hard­ King's being transported to Selma, Ala. from core racist in the Deep South will remain Birmingham in a car rented by an employee inflexible in his social attitudes until death. of the Justice Department and the subse­ There were times previous to Mr. Kennedy's quent furor it has stirred up hardly seems assassination when I believed optimistically worth all the bother. The simple facts are that the evidence of harsh and vitriolic atti­ that Dr. King was driven a distance of tudes was for the most part, a sham, a about 100 miles in a rented car by a friend Burck in Chicago Sun Times facade, ingeniously devised to bide for a after his life had been threatened. little more time. HoweveI:, mLoptimis!Jl has_ The afTermafh- developed -into lliis: 1.) ---been considerably dimmed in the wake of bold and continued headlines in the press President Kennedy's murder. Lock Step after Wallace revealed that he had knowl­ I was on a plane to the West Coast, out edge of the trip; 2.) the firing of the justice of New Orleans when word came from the department employee who had rented the Captain that Mr. Kennedy had been shot. car; and 3.) a full grand jury investigation One-half hour later we were informed that of the entire matter. the President was dead. It seemed as if the whole plane was stunned into sober silence. Upon analysis it appears that all of this One man alone, spoke audibly. "Good God! is so ridiculously inconsequential when one You wouldn't think this could happen in considers that the trip in question could America." But it had. In my own heart, I hardly cost more than the munificent sum groped to grasp the factuality of the mes­ of $33. Yet, on the other hand it usually sage. In desperation, I thought: "If it is costs about $15,000 to convene a grand jury true (but it can't be) maybe it had to happen of some 23 persons who are paid $8 per to shake this country out of its moral de­ day for a period of two months. generacy." If $33 is a waste of the taxpayers' money, The words of my keynote address at the as Gov. Wallace would want to claim, such Annual SCLC convention drifted back to a waste is barely more than the scraps left me. I was trying to say then that if hatred over from a family dinner when placed and bigotry could snuff out the lives of four against the towering sum of $15,000. little black girls in Sunday School, then I now know how Shakespeare must have nobody is really safe. Now the President felt when he put his pen to these words: of the United States was slain by the same "Much Ado About Nothing." hatred and bigotry that twisted a tortured - ETC Maulelin in the Chicago Sun Times

4 with many others who, sensing a common guilt for the situation as it exists today, Letters want to do something, however small, to help assuage that guilt. What can be done here? The Southern To propensity to be oblivious to the obvious has hidden many wrongs from view, but even the most ardent civic supporter can Did You Know . that Frank Sina­ SCLC not overlook the fact that the lot of the Negro in Athens is hardly what could be tra staged a Benefit Concert for called satisfactory. C.O.R.E., N.A.A.C.P., and S.C.L.C. I want to be a part of changing this lot. which provided a $60,000 contribution The Image Of Birmingham What can I do? Whom should I contact to to the three groups on the night before find out? My first responsibility is, of his son was kidnapped? ... That Mrs. Dear Martin: course, that I discharge the duties of my Our hearts are heavy as once again profession . . But I do not intend that the Septima P. Clark, Birmingham looms back into the headlines security of my position be allowed to inter­ Supervisor of the of every newspaper in Central and Southern fere with my conscience. Citizenship Schools Africa, but this time the news is more Finally, I want to offer you the hospi­ for S.c.L.c. recently tragic than ever. If there is any doubt as tality of our home, should you ever be in to the image that is being conveyed to this Athens. I realize that others more highly was honored by the part of the world, I think it might be seen placed than I must have done so too, but National Council of in the words of a new neighbor. After even so, we would be honored to have you Negro Women for exchanging introductions she naturally in­ as our guest. her many years of quired as to where I came from. When T DR. THOMAS D . WALSH dedicated service in replied, "Birmingham, Alabama", a strange Athens, Georgia look came over her face. She reached over the field of Civil the fence, grabbed my hand, and while Rights? . . . That vigorously pumping it up and down, blurted Teach Racial Equality Mrs. Clark Wyatt T. Walker, out, "Shake hands, brother! Keep the nigger Dear Reverend King: executive assistant to Martin Luther down!" This is what Birmingham is now I want to write a letter of congratulations King, Jr., was elected to the executive known for. and encouragement to you, but I do not May the strength of the witness to justice know actually where to begin. board of the National Association of and peace which you and thousands of First off, I am a Jesuit novice in my sec­ Intergroup Relations Organizations at others there in Birmingham are making ond year here at Jesuit College. I have tried its annual conference in November? wipe out this picture of oppression and to follow "" as closely as . . . Or that Sammy Davis, Jr. will terror and establish in its place those prec­ I am able, and now I want to do my part. edents which we so desperately need in My part, however, can consist only in appear at Atlanta Municipal Audi­ places such as Southern Rhodesia. The small things, like this letter to you and torium on May 9th in a Benefit Con­ whole world is looking over your shoulders. my coming attempt to teach racial equality cert. REV. ROBERT E. HUGHES to fourth graders in a small, near-by town. Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia I plan to center my first class around the • • • parable of the Good Samaritan. I will change "a certain man who was robbed" Have You Heard? .. About the Professor Wants To Help to a Negro man, and the city of Jericho November 29th Issue of Life Magazine Dear Rev. King: to Birmingham or Minneapolis. which has the late President John F. Nevertheless, I think that I am helping Kennedy on the cover? The issue in its I am an Assistant Professor of Chemistry the most in a small, third way: I am in­ here at the University of Georgia, born and cluding your personal success and the suc­ entirety is a Memorial Tribute to our bred in Chicago, Illinois. In the past, my cess of the whole summer in my daily beloved late President. The Associated work has required about 60 hours per week, prayers. but I feel that some of this should be spent, Press also has produced a book that Hoping to join someday in this cause, covers the week's events evolving if possible, working for the cause which I remain you, and others like you, have brought to around the assassination of the late LARRY BRANCH, the forefront of the American Conscience. NOVICE S. J. President ... Jet Magazine, however, It is difficult to put down my feelings Jesuit College was the first major weekly magazine about the matter without making it appear St. Bonifacius, Minnesota either pompous or insincere, so I won't try to hit the streets with complete cover­ to do so. I know that you are acquainted age on the assassination from cover to Distance A Barrier cover. The issue was an excellent job. CONTRIBUTIONS Dear Sir: I wish to contribute to the work of I watched your very moving 'March on • • • SCLC and the social struggle in the Washington' on television. I know that Have You Seen? . The clever South. many people in Britain would like to , help you but distance is the barrier. Ho~ever, child's coloring book, Color Me Brown NAME ...... if you could get someone to send a list of by L. H. Giles. It's very picturesque, U.S.A. newspapers which would give a hear­ containing pictures of Negroes who ADDRESS ing to any letters from the British Isles have helped build America through (street) supporting your Equal Rights Campaign, outstanding contributions. The Chicago then perhaps we, in Britain, could be of some small help. Board of Education is evaluating it (city & state) Any information on your Campaign presently for its potential usefulness in would be useful as we have to rely upon the Public Schools. In addition to pro­ Amount of Contribution ...... press reports for information. Wishing you viding hours of stimulating recreational every success. Send to: S C L C activity for the child, it also points up 334 Auburn Ave., N.E. JOHN GARBUTT the accomplishments of many of Amer­ Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Newcastle upon Tyne England ica's most outstanding Negroes.

5 From Burned Ruins ~~~~ By Jackie Robinson ";~ From the charred remains of three l,.~ rural Baptist churches there now rise.f the concrete walls of fitting monu-m ments to the Negro community's de-l@ termination to be free. During them r late summer of 1962, three churches, !:::

I·.: :i.:[.. .:... two of which that had been SNCCm : .. centers for Voter Registration activ-iiii n ity in rural Terrell and Lee County,m ~il Georgia were tragically destroyed by ;::: I:! fire. The Shady Grove Baptist Churchm r in Lee County was bombed and/orm ·.:i:~:l. burned in the early morning hours 1 :~i .: ... Jackie Robinson of August 15. This was believed tom '1 be reprisal against the SNCC voter registration activityt @and the then enthusiastic . Two weeks ;~i: VANDALISM BEFORE COMPLETION- Although const.!..uctiCLn .9.! churches --;\:l latec on Sunday morning the -"Mt. Olive aoo Mf. Maryt\\ is still going on, vandals already have tried to halt their completion. r Baptist churches were burned to the ground. By coinci-f Thirty-foot pier like that shown above was yanked down recently during night at Mount Mary Church in Terrell County, Georgia. :\'1 dence, I happened to be enroute to Albany for a VoterI r Registration Rally. Wyatt Tee Walker met me in Atlantai::' mand we flew to Albany together, going by car immedi-{ @ately to the site of the churches. :::: t Let's Rebuild ~::~ ::'1 While I stood there, sick to my stomach, looking ad:~ Mthose burned churches, Wyatt suggested that we ought tot mshow the people who did this that burning our churches !:'\ nwouldn't stop us. Impulsively, I replied, that we ought l~:: \\po rebuild them and I'd start a fund with $100.00. LaterJ t that day Dr. King called from the West Coast and asked t~ ] would I serve as National Chairman for an SCLC Re-:\\\ m! building Fund. I readily accepted. @ :::1 Gov. Rockefeller Helps ( :iil Since that time, we have raised nearly $50,000. Bill II! J Black, my boss at Chock Full-O-Nuts contributed the~:i @first $5,000, Frank Shiffman of the Apollo Theatre inI ? New York gave another $1,000 and Governor Rocke-B iii feller gave $10,000. We received gifts from all over then VIEWING RUINS-Pastor of Mount Mary, Rev. William Boyd,views the ] nation and in every denomination from $1 .00 up. ~::: crumpled heap of rock and debris after learning of vandalism. Some who have viewed wreckage theorize that a bulldozer equipped with strong r Our work has been supplemented by the Atlanta Con-.f chains might have been used to pull down the towering pier. @stitution Fund and monies collected by the Georgia i~:~

] Council of Churches L the United Church of Christ_and;; _ t other-smaller groups. The Trappist Monks at the monas-W Mtery in Conyers, Georgia, have made the stained-glassm mwindows for all three churches. The Toombs Amisano l :~! @and Wells architectural firm in cooperation with Georgia !::i :i:l Institute of Architects have drawn, blue-printed and su-[ t pervised the rebuilding program. m :::1 Still Need $20,000 11: ]::1 We are anxiously looking forward to the completion!::: mof the churches. The cost of construction is $95,000H @exclusive of furniture and equipment. This means withH aapproximately $50,000 in SCLC's fund and another!::: n$25,000.00 in other funds and insurances, we are stillM f $20,000.00 shy of the funds needed to clear construction!::: t costs completely. We are hoping that our many readers @i ::~~ who may not have contributed to the church re-building lI: t fund will supplement the deficit we now face. Checks !:!: ::; may be made payable (tax deductible) to Mt. Olive !:; r Baptist Church Rebuilding Fund, c/o Jackie Robinson ~:i STILL INTACT- Mount Olive church, also in Terrell County, has not J- 425 Lexington Avenue, New York City or direct to i@ had its construction hampered (at least not at press time) and is an example of what stage of development construction has reached. Here, Ilt:':'=m~::~~»:!.:~;'0:::::';~::~~::":"~:::::::0:@":"~;:;":"~~:::;:!;:m~:x::w"~":"m,~1 SCLC's Wyatt Tee Walker studies the picturesque site. 6 YEP Assigns SCLC Four Key Areas The Southwide Voter Education Project of the Southern Regional Council, which seeks to administer Foundation Funds through the five major civil rights organizations recently granted SCLC funds to conduct projects in four key areas during coming months. Grants were made for Savannah and Albany, Georgia; Danville and Peters­ burg, Virginia. SCLC also provides staff help in other areas for communities which have received direct grants from VEP. Ben Mack of provides staff assistance for a VEP program in the First and Second Congressional Districts of that State, and Rev. Fred C. Bennette has given leadership to the VEP project in Atlanta. SCLC continues to work through its 150 affiliates in encouraging voter registration locally and aiding in the financial burden. SCLC PREXY IN DANVILLE- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and staff aide, , are shown being greeted by Danville's SCLC leaders; I-r, Reverends L. G. Cambell, Hildreth McGhee, L. W. Chase and A. I. SClC Worker Shot; Home Bombed Dunlap (behind Lee) . Aher Taking Group To Register A 36-year-old citizenship school teacher, trained and 'l'I'"'~o:" "~E':';;h':"A:iliN::;::::'M:i:;;i;';'~Y;'11 maintained by SCLC, was wounded on December 7, when m(Mrs. Boyle, a frequent contributor to SCLC's Newsletter is@ "night-riders" attacked her southwest Georgia home in "in­ @author of the book, "The Desegregated Heart.") r,ii famous" Terrell County. By Sarah Patton Boyle ttit Mrs. Carolyn Daniels was in her Dawson, Georgia home ;~ late on a Saturday night, when some 30 rounds from an ~, We are in the midst of what is now nationally and inter- iii: automatic rifle were fired into the house. Mrs. Daniel was struck } nationally recognized as a major American revolution. Let us t in the left foot and right leg by the barrage of rifle fire. i1 realize that marches, sit-ins and all the rest provide a construc- t When Mrs. Daniel went for medical attention, the house was ntive, harmless outlet for the revolutionists' mounting tension,f destroyed by a bomb blast. nfrustration and increasingly molten wrath. If the revolution isf That same weekend, Mrs. Daniels had accompanied 33 people t to remain a peaceful one, abundant peaceful demonstrationst\ to the voter registration office, 30 of whom completed registration. ) must be allowed. i::: Second Incident i:il In the South particularly, we fail to grasp the depth of Negro!::: it determination to win freedom and equality. Indeed few of us :::': This was the second time Mrs. Daniels' home had been fired on :::1 even know that colored citizens are not free. cannot sed: by night riders within 15 months. The first time was on September W~ over the segregation wall we have erected and into their hearts,t 6, 1962, and the blast wounded SNCC workers Jack Chatfield, n minds, lives. We view the wall only from the white side, whichti and C hris Allen. t It was in Terrell County, in July of 1962, that Sheriff Z. T. !::I is the outside. Prison Wall rt! Matthews and 12 armed whites broke into a church where a voter education meeting was in progress. This Sasser, Georgia incident ] We do not know that on the inside - the Negro side - idi brought national attention to the conditions which existed there. Mis a prison wall. Segregation has placed colored Americans in @ Cn September, 1962, three churches used for voter education meet­ III w~at to them amounts to a concentration cam.p - at best a ~ii ings were burned to the ground not long after SNCC workers were ::~ prIson, at worst a torture chamber - from which hundreds on: driven away from the area. :ii thousands are now willing to pay any price necessary to escape. iii: :1 We must realize that our nation's history is repeating itself. H :::; Negro Americans are feeling as Jeffersonian Americans oncef @did. We oppress Negroes much as the British oppressed oud! k colonists, and their inner reaction is like that of the colonists.t ::j; But, by God's grace, their tactics have not been the same. Negro ~i :iil Americans are achieving by legal and other effective but unde-t ~~ structive means .what white Americans achieved less nobly. Evenl: ~~ suffragettes used more violence than have colored demonstrators. t i:l I ncrease Demonstrations ji:i H It ill befits us, who boast of our Boston Tea Party and ce\e-M t brate our freedom won with swords and guns, to rebuke Negro ii: iii citizens for their orderly, controlled pressure to gain at last1* n rights and privileges which long ago we so dearly bought - @ t supposedly for every American. r Ii Pain and fear fill me when I see our foolhardy efforts to n ;:: reduce demonstrations which so innocently dramatize and pub-I r licize injustices that too long we have ignored. Far from hopingH iii: that they cease, let us pray that these valuable safety valves ~:: J increase in scope and number until they peacefully wrest theid::: ~i goals from a too-indifferent nation. ri: \1 Volcano May Explode ~: ii Else the rumbling volcano upon which we J t sit may explode and teach us through suffering W ••1; that colored .. Amencans can no. longer be 1:1• i:: thought of as our Negroes." On thiS contracted l@ r globe, they have become merely one segment m iii of a vast colored population which identifies ~:: _ :t:r .. ~1 with their plight. Perhaps only one more page r @ in history will be turned before we discover ii i1 the truth that on our little planet Earth, we :~ Mrs. Daniels points to bomb-wrecked ruins of her home after attack, ; whites are the minority. Mrs. Boyle m: but has vowed to keep on working in the freedom struggle. ~z<~~;:",".s:~~:"~~,:",~,@,<~,,,,,,:*:::,,;.;.,:,;.;.z<;.:~,::,~:;,;.:"":;,;",:::;.:=:'",<-:',,,,:';c.;c.:~,,.~,,;.,,,,,,,:,,,,:,,,,,,.:.,,",.'«-"""'"'':'''~:,J! 7 !~r:::::;:::::;:::::;::::::::::::::::::::::::=:: ::::::::;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:::::::::;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;::=;:;;:.:::::;:;:;!:::::::::::::::::.:::::::-..:.::::::::,::::::::::;:.:::::::;::W The SCLC [iJ I A Cal~r~e::~h and I

=rE=oo=k=Jk=el=~='~ Rev. Richard E. Matera of Berea, Ohio, Marlin LUI~~r King, Jr. in a sermon on "Racial Justice Now": "We I New & Current have kept the Negro out of everywhere » She Walks in Beauty by J. A. Rogers. from our pews to our pulpits .... He A first novel by the Negro historian and has been denied everything from banana I columnist is the story of Eva Langston, a splits to the study of Plato." 19th century Quadroon, and her rise to * * * II First-Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen of R. L. Mabe, leader of a newly-organized I France. The book won for Mr. Rogers branch of the in Winston Men, women and chilillen The Distinguished Author Medal, an award Salem, N. C.: "I can honestly say it is a I given to encourage significant contributions fine organization, and we don't go for to the literary field. Western Publishers. violence." IIII ~~~~h~e~~ s~~~~e:gri~~:~ir;t to I » Follow The Free Wind by Leigh * * * j:\ even to face death-for the ideals ~l Brackett. The life of James Beckwourth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at Yale legendary Negro hero of the Old West, is University, commenting on a recent attempt :'.1 ~~d{~:~~f: k~~~~h;:' ~oe~' :~~~ { the basis of this western. "Bloody Arm," by the school's administration to prevent as he was called by the Snake Indians, was Alabama's Governor Wallace from speak- respecte_ci for hiLJikill and ;QU[age and _ ing there: "We would even welcome him I :i~~~s;t~~Kr!~:~~:e! I feared for his bloody ruthlessness. Although at one of our mass meetings to present what £~ he was a half-breed, he favored neither side. I feel are his ridiculous views." Legend says that he had a hundred scalps in his Tee Pee, over half of which were Dr. Martin Luther* * King, * Jr., after being white. Publishers are Doubleday & Co. asked if civil rights for Negroes can be » The Ochre People by Noni Jabavu. achieved through legislation: "Perhaps mo­ The rich culture and traditions of the rality cannot be legislated, but behavior can author's South African Bantu background be regulated. Legislation cannot change the comes alive as the problem of the old heart, bllt it can control the heartless." ways versus the new ways arises. Within * * * her own distinguished, highly educated. James W. Silver, of the University of I westernized family are those who cling to Mississippi, discussing his home state in an I;:~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::~ HARPE:~$~~~:blishe": :::;:::::::;:;:::::;:;:::;:::::;:;:::;:::;:;:;:;:;:;:;:::::;::::::::~::::::::::::::::::: :~:::~-:::::: :::::~ :::::::::::::;:;.::; old customs. Now the wife of an English address before the Southern Historical As­ film director, and living in England, Miss sociation in Asheville, N. C.: "What respect Stride Toward Freedom Posses Jabavu describes visits to her father's home call there be for the legal process when Million Mark; Now Gold-Bound and to Transkei and also to Johannesburg one standard of justice prevails when a where the family matriarch "Big Mother" Negro commits a crime against a Negro, A gold-bound edition of Stride Toward lives. St. Martin's Press, Publishers. another when a Negro commits a crime Freedom was sent to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by the publishers, Harper and Ahdoolo! by Floyd Miller. This is a against a white, still another when a white » Brothers, indicating that the book had sold biography of Matthew A. Henson, the Ne­ commits a crime against a white, and a gro servant of Commodore Robert E. Peary, fourth when a white commits a crime over one million copies since it was first published in 1958. It was Dr. King's first explorer. When Peary became the first man against a Negro." book, and told the story of the successful to reach the North Pole, he was glorified * * * Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott. and praised while Henson remained un­ Bob Ingram, staff writer for the Mont- noticed. Because of pressures put upon gomery Advertiser, in an article on Ala­ i:t:"";':'K~:::;~:':':'~:'~i::;::;::'::~":'H:;;~;:::::m':w":::?;;:::::::Km:::t.:':m:;;~.'%;~~~1 Congress, Henson received a belated medal bama Governor Wallace's appearance at for "outstanding service to the government Harvard University: "More than two dozen of the United States in the field of science," students polled as they left the auditorium 1[1:\ V/"e Poet J Pen i; for his part in the expedition. Ahdoolo!, a expressed the almost identical sentiment that • $ word created by Henson, means hope and Wallace was substantially more intelligent courage which he personified. Publishers are than they had anticipated." Because I Have A Dutton & Company. * * * Colored Face Available At SCLC Louis Lomax, the author, in a speech at Atlanta University, urging Negroes to be Because I Have a Colored Face, » Strellgth To Love by Martin Luther prepared for new job openings: "We can't This very much is true, King, Jr. Publishers: Harper & Row. Price: find qualified Negroes for the jobs available All the millions of my race $3.50 flOW. Whatever else you do, stage a study-in Are judged by what I do. and be ready to do the . job." » Stride Toward Freedom by Martin Because I have a colored face, Luther King, Jr. Publishers: Harper & * * * Some think I should bow in shame Brothers Co. Price: $2.95 Mahalia Jackson. the gospel singer, dis- But, I am very proud » Crusader Without Violence by L. D. cussing r ace relations Of the Negroes' noble name. Reddick. Publishers: Harper & Brothers. during an appearance in Because I have a colored face, Price: $3.95 New Haven, Conn . : You wonder why I am so proud? "Some folks seem to Echo In My Soul by Septima Poinsette Because from the trampled dust my people » hate you on general Clark. Publishers: E. P. Dutton & Co. Price: rose principles. I can't under­ $4.50 Never, never more to bow. stand why white folks » The Desegregated Heart by Sarah Pat­ don't ever really talk to Because I have a colored face, ton Boyle. Publishers: William Morrow & Negroes. If they got to This I will try to do, Co. Price: $5.00 talking to us, then they Fight this racial hate that says "Slow your pace, Colored face." » The Day They Marched, edited by might be able to un­ Doris Saunders. Publishers: Johnson Pub­ derstand what we're all WILLIE L. JONES lishing Co. Price: $1.00 Miss Jackson about." BRONX, NEW YORK

8 ~ 'i By John Newman I ij Four days at the Southern Chris- i; t tian Leadership Conference's An-r 1 nual Convention taught me that\! ~ America may see greater reforms i:i i than the tangible ones of civil r i rights for Negroes. I believ.e that 1 ~ ~he SCl:C leaders know this and !{ 1 mtend It, but I doubt that many :,) 11 Americans, Negro or white, grasp m! ~i the full consequences of the i:ii :l Revolution. If I outline how my ;; ~1 understanding has changed, it iii 1i may clarify the thoughts of iii ~ others. ll. ~. John Newman Like typical Northern white f!. . students I backed the freedom rides, sit-ins, demonstrations and ~ i voter re~istration campaigns as methods of political and eco- m: ~ nomic coercion to knock down racial walls. I thought the move- ;:i ~ ment could accomplish two things. First, by the direct pressure r Ii on local merchants and politicians, local changes might be } ~i made. Second, national publicity would show the Federal Gov- ri t ernment, big business, educational institutions and other local, ~i t; state and national institutions that reform is needed and will ~: ~i be demanded. ~ii Wyatt Walker Photo 11 Results Not Significant t SIGN OF THE TIMES--Civil rights enthusiasts in Albany, Georgia are J All this has happened and will continue. In communities ( waging psychological warfare on their foes by stenciling "SEGREGATION" li where civil rights workers are active, desegregation of schools, t on nearly every Stop sign in sight. li lunch counters and other public facilities show some success in I.:: I ?pplying .local ~ressure . The civil rights package and general Ii Freedom Star Rises Higher ~~ mcrease m public awareness demonstrate the effect of national ~1 A member of Birmingham's Freedom Choir recently signed a I; publicity. On a national scale, the results are still not too signifi- I; lucrative singing contract with 20th Century Fox. She is Miss Cleo i1 cant, however. iii Kennedy, acclaimed as one of the great undiscovered talents of our ill But I was only looking at part of the picture. Men make a ;:: time, by officials of the contracting agency. Miss Kennedy has been ~j great America, not their institutions. Only when I listened, in t a member of the Alabama Christian Movements for Human Rights J: astonishment, to dedicated, competent leader after leader de- ii: choir for several months. Ii: ~~i:~~en~isis l~~~~gf~~il n~~h ~ffest ~~gf~~iv1~~aII ~:~I .iZ~nt~atw~~i~ t",~*""~"'~::::~:m~::"'::,:,',:;;,,:,:,:~::»>~:,,,,~,,:::::~:~:<:"':=;~;;;;:>:''''':'~;;'':::;''''':'::'':::'':::';'::''",;;:,::::",:,:,::,::":@,,,::,,:,',::::',,::;,,', ':,',':;":1:\1 j1 I he~rd" a ~ ~nschoole,? man from Greenwood ~ Missi~sippi , s~y I have believed too 10n;Oiliat the oa;l~ way to overcome the iii ;1 that It dl~n t. mat~er that h~ suffered m pnson, dId I .begl~ inertia produced by 300 years of training a group to think they i": ill: ~o . see a bhn~l~g lIght. All /hlS man had though~"a~out, m hIS are inferior is by many long years of re-training. I am slowly @ l,! JaIl cell,. was. . Are they go.ng to the court~~use . Are ot?ers seeing how vastly I have underestimated the strength of the :m t swallowmg theIr fear. and trymg to reglst.er. Only. the~ dId I human spirit _ the ability to throw off its past and say: ''I'm ii) \; s~e that t~e redeI?P.tlve power of un~er~ted suffe~mg In non- free now:' My devotion to the methods of non-violent resistance i* ,i1 VIOlent resIstance IS In~u.SIng a new spm~ Into men In ways that to evil is growing because I have seen that men rise to meet ii) ~ my college-style theonzmg about non-VIOlence could never de- the challenge of radical dedication to just action. l1 i scnbe. ~nly then dId I s~e that the people of Am~nca, ~lack But I'm not finished. America needs more than just freedom :* 1 and whIte, are ,the most Important targe~ , not. the InstItutIOns. from racial discrimination and segregation. She needs freedom M ~ Most of us don t understand the larger dImenSIons Of. the" free- from conformity and materialism ... a return to her revolu- ~1 ~ dom ~ovement, because we have. not asked the questIOn ?"How tionary traditions. As Wyatt Tee Walker said, keynoting the tl i,:, can t e movement change the mmds and hearts of men. conference: "Somewhere, we must fmd the courage and very, ;i, ~ New Dimension very soon, to substitute courageous morality for conventional t:1 g This movement, in the first place, symbolizes a broad attempt morality." 1; \1 to free black men from the "slave psychology" imposed upon 'A Nation Of Sheep' j ~ them by their white brothers. C. T. Vivian, SCLC staff member, I believe not only that this Revolution can free the Negro ;:: W: made clear to me this new dimension of the non-violent protests. from institutional and psychological handcuffs - and free the r i He argued that to get out and stump for Negro voters, important segregationist whites, but that it can free all Americans from t ~l as that may be, is not enough. The Negro who doesn't care the delusion that conventional morality is adequate for our i'~ ~ enough to register must get up and get moving. But, before he times. Too long we have been a "nation of sheep." Too long ;i } can do this, he must develop more respect for himself. He must we have acted as if our role in government is limited to an t ~ believe that he is worth more than his white boss says he is. unstudied vote, now and then. Too long the majority of Amer- iij 1The sit-ins, freedom rides and demonstrations have been dra- icans have not spoken publicly on controversial issues because r ~ matic examples of Negroes making their claim for their worth of the fear of criticism. The direct action campaigns can be a *1 i\ as men. This witness of a few gives every Negro a new sense shot in the arm for all of us. They can remind us that we are iii ~ of importance. understood this as he pronounced a country now, because in 1776, we refused to cooperate with r mthat the demonstrations in the South would free the Negro in unjust practices of the English Parliament. They can remind us ;i Ii the North. Because Negroes in Birmingham faced the police that peace and tranquility are only valuable so lon.g as our t Ii dogs and filled the jails, Negroes all over America took a new society is just. They can remind us that some men stIli believe *: ~ look at their skin and hair and said, perhaps for the first time: it is more important to do what is right than to be safe and r t1 "l'm proud to be a Negro." free of criticism. 11 th::t.m-;.::::~::;:::mM~:m.:0:m::.»:::::<:'::m:~::~::::~::::::::::::::::;::::::::::::::~::::;:::: ::::~:::::;~::~::::::::::::::~::::::::::::::::::::::~~:::~::::: :::::::;::::;:::::::::~::~:~~:~::::::::::::::~:~:~:~::::;::::=X~<:::~::::~:x~~:::::~:::~::~:::~:::~:m~:::;:;«-=::~~:$~::::::~::::::x~:::::::::::::::::::~::::::~~:::::::~:~~:::::::::::::::::::: : :::::::~::::::~:::::::::::::::::;:::~:~ ::::::::::::::::::~:::::::::::::$::::::::::::::::::::::::::}!! 9 90,000 Negroes Vote in

Mississippi Mock Election FREEDOM HOUSE AWARD SHARED By Annell Ponder WITH MARTYR - and Martin Luther King, both 1963 hon­ Over 90,000 disfranchised Negroes in orees of Freedom House in New York Mississippi voted for the first time this past City, look on as Dr. Harry Gideonse, November in the Council of Federated Or­ Freedom House president, makes post­ ganizations' Freedom Ballot Campaign. The humous award to Mrs. Myrlie Evers, Council, composed of local civil rights widow of Medgar Evers, Mississippi groups and the four civil rights organiza­ NAACP official slain lost summer by tions - SCLC, SNCC, CORE, NAACP - a sniper in Jackson. ran two native Mississippi candidates, Dr. (Negro) and Rev. Edwin King (White), for the office of governor and lieutenant governor respectively. The platform covered freedom, voting and justice for Negroes Birmingham Airport Motel and called special attention to the need for: 300 Demonstrate At -long-term, low-interest loans for farms Ordered Open To Negroes less than 300 acres in size. -government assistance in the creation The Rev. and the of cooperatives for small farmers. --Alabama Christian-Movement for Human VOA In N. Carolina -public works programs to relieve un­ Rights in Birmingham, an affiliate of SCLC, employment and improve communities. engineered another long struggle victory Some three hundred people gathered in a -minimum wages of $1.25 an hour and when Birmingham's lush Airport Motel demonstration at the site of the Voice of a maximum work-week of 40 hours. opened its doors to Negroes. America transmitters in Washington County, - fair employment practices in hiring, When the legal battle ended, Attorney in North Carolina, on Sunday, December 15. with penalties for those not complying. charge Oscar W. Adams asked that a per­ A spokesman for the group, John Gibson, assistant to the program director of SCLC, Ballots At Pool Halls manent injunction be issued against the motel for operating with a policy of segregation. said that the demonstration was not aimed The campaign, which saw citizens casting Judge H . H. Grooms, United States District at the Voice itself, but "simply used the ballots at private homes, pool halls, cafes, Court, issued the injunction. VOA as a smybol to tell the Nation and the churches, fraternal meeting halls, and stores SCLC stalwarts came into Birmingham to world that racial segregation in Williamston over a three-day period, illustrated dramatic­ tell how they had been denied accommoda­ and Eastern North Carolina could no longer ally that the Negroes of the state know how tions. Rev. Otis Moss, Cincinnati, Ohio be tolerated by the people of Carolina." and are willing to vote when permitted to testified that he had been sent a telegram do so. That so many participated despite Crowds In Fields stating his reservations were confirmed. more than 200 cases of harassment and The crowd which gathered in tbe fields SCLC staffer, Rev. C. T. Vivian, also violence underscores the urgency and the testified. of this VOA installation between Williams­ impatience of Mississippi Negroes for "Free­ ton, Greenville and Washington, N. C. was dom Now." comprised of representatives from the whole > Citizenship School Helps state. By Ollie Harrington Citizenship school staff and stu­ BOOTSIE Addressing the crowd was Attorney F. B. dents participated throughout the McKissick, national president of the Con­ campaign by helping to organize gress on Racial Equality, Rev. Arthur local drives, teaching and instruc­ tion, manning ballot boxes and Thomas of the National Council of canvassing, as well as running as Churches, Rev. Lavert Taylor, field secre­ candidates for local offices. tary of SCLC, and Mrs. Sarah Small, presi­ The freedom vote campaign saw dent of the Williamston Unit of SCLC. some reversals in the direction of - - the tid~fear-which has-played so great a role in the stultifying paralysis of growth in the state. SCLC Field Secretary It saw policemen shake and Given Six-Month Term sheri ffs tremble. Golden A . Frinks, 'Never Turn Back' SCLC field secretary and Citizenship staff and students anti-segregation leader in distributed through the mails and Eastern North Carolina, through the classes thousands of was given a six-month statements setting forth the pur­ prison term on November pose and objectives of COFO ac­ 8, in Edenton, N. C. tivities. Reiterating COFO's de­ In November, 1962, termination to "never turn back," Frinks was sentenced for these statements went to key Ne­ delaying and obstructing gro and white citizens and called an officer. It was sus­ upon these persons and through pended on condition he them all of the people of the state pay a fine and not violate to help make the present social revolution both nonviolent and Golden Frinks a state law for one year. successful. We believe that this Judge Chester A Morris invoked the sen­ interpretation helped to encourage tence after Frinks pleaded guilty to issuing "And while you gentlemen was wastin' yo' time talkin' many Negroes to vote and discour­ a worthless check in September and later about givin' the Niggras civil rights . . . they went and aged some of the violence that that month was found guilty of speeding in did away with Santo Claus!" might have occurred. a North Carolina county.

10 H\:,U'\NG S,. AMI' OU" ILLITERACY-In a demonstration writing-lesson class, Mrs. Dorothy F. Cotton, Citizenship School director, teaches on illiterate student to recognize the letters in her own nome by placing 0- circle around them. Later she will attempt to join them in the correct letter order as they appear in her nome. Such classes have done much to help wipe out illiteracy among some 10 million in U. S. today. Democracy In The South Justice Dept. Vs. Officers Of Winona, Mississippi

By Septima P. Clark statements dictated by the highway patrol­ temporize with this oath! That Ponder I'm sitting through this trial of the man while in custody. woman carried these young people to an The Justice Department was able to put island in South Carolina to be taught by a six Negro men and women who were on the witness stand three Negro prisoners white man called 'Robert' from that in­ brutally beaten in jail in Winona, Mis­ who were in custody on June 9th. These famous Highlander Folk School in Knox­ sissippi, because they tried to eat and men testified seeing Highway patrolman ville, Tennessee. Then you heard her say use the rest rooms at the bus station Basinger slap Annell Ponder ten times in that she did not trust the FBI here nor in after riding all day and night on a the face. They als9 said that the sheriff gave Atlanta, so Martin Luther King, the worst Continental Trailway bus on June 9, two of them a pint of moonshine whiskey demagogue that has come out of the South, 1963. and handed them a black jack to beat a paid her way to Washington. When he pops The witnesses testified that there were no 19-year-old young man and a 44-year-old his finger, a button jumps and the whole signs of white or colored on the doors of woman. They beat the young man until he Justice Department goes into action. Gentle­ the restaurant or rest rooms. A highway lapsed into unconsciousness. men of the jury, you have agitators on one patrolman ordered them arrested. One of Blood-Soaked Garments hand, and elected officials on the other, who shall you believe? Gentlemen, you have a the patrolmen was off duty when he par­ The beaten prisoners were photographed ticipated in the brutality. serious task before you. It's your right to by the FBI. These pictures revealed the require that they prove the facts by qualified Excuse All Negroes brutality inflicted upon them. Two dresses persons." and a brassiere were shown as evidence. You should have seen the way the jury One was torn into shreds and the other two Individual Freedom was selected. There were four Negroes garments were blood-soaked. The FBI meas­ among them, but all were excused for Mr. H. M. Ray for the Justice Depart­ ured the cut in the head and under the chin frivolous reasons such as, knowing the of­ ment said, "Thank God we live in a country of the 15-year-old girl. The police officers ficers beforehand, and assuming that they where there is a trial by jury. If you acquit stoutly denied doing any of it. They claimed were members of the NAACP, CORE, or these men, you will allow an ideology to the women and men were non-violent all SNNC. For them to disown membership creep in that will destroy us all. This is a the time they were in the booking room, meant nothing. They were excused anyway. case against individuals. This country has but when they brought them from the cell been made great by individual freedom. The judge in referring to the jury said a second time to question them, they became This trial has been a great lesson to you. repeatedly: "Remember these are members violent. One prisoner testified that he was of the Negro race, people against whom It shows what has been going on in sent to wipe up blood in one of the women's Mississippi." these alleged offenses have occurred, and cell. Still, the ufficers denied striking any­ all defenders are officers of the State of one with a black jack. Judge Claude F. Clayton said to the jury: Mississippi. " Mr. Barrett for the Justice Department, in "J urors, determine facts; the judge deter­ The seven clients of the Justice Depart­ summing up and making his plea to the mines the law and no opinions are valid. I'll ment were put on the stand with an addi­ jury, told the story of the beatings, the tak­ explain to you the word 'conspiracy'. A tional set of FBI investigators, three Negro ing of statements and falsifying of testi­ combination of understanding to accomplish prisoners and two photographers. mony. He charged the officers with conspir­ some unlawful purpose or lawful purpose in Jurors Hilarious ing to arrest and beat these workers in an unlawful way. If one of these men are voter registration. found guilty, all are guilty in a conspiracy. The men of the jury were hilarious in the An overt act means any act committed by beginning, but as the truth unfolded, they Fellow Citizens one or more conspirators to carry out a became red as a beet in the face and silent. Mr. Wells and Mr. Jackson for the de­ conspiracy. Under the color of the law The young people testifying for the Jus­ fendants said to the jury: "You sit here means a misuse of power. Marshal, you tice Department were all asked educational with the great responsibility draped on your may now escort the jurors to the jury room." achievement, means of support, organiza­ shoulders of five of your fellow citizens. They stayed one and one-half hours and tional affiliation, and were forced to write Don't play with these men's freedom! Don't came back with a NOT GUILTY verdict.

11 ~n memoriam Cynthia We~ley :/)eni~e .Mc.Nair oIddie .Mae Collin~ Carole I(obert~on Virgil Ware jOhnnie J?obitt~on jOhn 9. Kennedy LEST WE FORGET BIRMINGHAM AND DALLAS SCLC's Christmas plan

There have been many genuine mixed feelings about the oft-pro­ each individual family the choice of how involved they become in posed Christmas boycott to memorialize the Birmingham children the Christmas boycott idea. and the late John F . Kennedy. The Southern Christian Leadership The Plans Conference has devised a plan it feels is workable and suited to 1. MAXIMUM No Christmas tree, no cards, no almost any individual's civil rights appetite. The basic idea began PARTICIPATION- decorations, no gifts, etc. in SCLC with Wyatt Tee Walker's keynote address at the Annual 2. MAJOR Christmas tree, cards, decora­ Convention in Richmond, Virginia. Mr. Walker, unaware at the P ARTICIPATION- tions, and gifts within family moment that Ossie Davis, John Killens and Louis Lomax had only. projected a similar idea a few days earlier, declared : "The rationale (for an economic withdrawal at Christmas) could be: "'Since 3. PARTIAL Same as (2) but with unlimited there's no Christmas for the Birmingham children, as a mark of PARTICIPATION- gift giving though no gift is to my penitence and commitment, there'll be no Christmas at my cost more than $5.00. house.' " 4. MINIMAL Normal Christmas celebration Response Varied P ARTICIPATION- with special gift to civil rights The response around the nation was varied and the great num· struggle, church of your choice bers of civil rights devotees expressed concern as to exactly what or favorite charity. would be the national program in this regard. The Unity Council for Civil Rights embarked on a Holiday Card Fund which solicited Give To Civil Rights Groups funds for the member civil rights organizations in memory of the Monies normally spent (1, 2, & 3) for Christmas may be for­ Birmingham dead. Some sentiment expressed in the South generally warded to Civil Rights Struggle through SCLC, NAACP, SNCC felt this was too soft and did not get to the heart of the problem. CORE or or directed to the church of your It was then that Dr. King's executive assistant proposed an SCLC choice or favorite charity as a memorial to the dead of Birmingham Christmas Memorial Plan that subsequently Dr. King approved as and the late John F. Kennedy. This would indeed make for a official. Dr. King felt that the genius of this plan is that it provides memorable Christmas.

----~~------~------~- ~~--~~---- SCLC#~ Non Profit Org. U. S. POSTAGE 334 Auburn Ave., N.E . Atlanta, Ga. 30303 PAID Atlanta, Ga. Permit 668

~=-----

RETURN REQUESTED ~19