·- OUTH ERN .CHR ISTI-AN lEADERSH IP CONFE J
UUESClG. ~-==-
Volume April, 1962 .No . 6
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S.C.L.C. announced recently the ad, _ · dition of ·ri ve new members to the: staff. The five men-are : .John H . Cal hou n, Herbert V. Coulton, James L : ·Beve l, Fred C. .Bennette, Jr"., · and Ber nardS. Lee. · John H. Calhoun, serves as Georgia State O rganizer for 1962-63 in the vo ter registration drive, is a native of Greenville, South Carolina. Mr. Cal houn attended Ham,pton Institute, . Northwestern University and More house Col ege , from which he received t' e A. B. degree. e also attended Atlanta Uni ve rsity. · H e rber tV ~ Coulton of Petersburg, Virginia, serves as Field Secretary in the.,..drive in · \l. ~r.gin-i , +c-n-Hessee and North · Caro"rina. Mr. Coulton is concentrating his efforts in the ,4th Congressi on al District in the South end of Virginia. Mr-:- Coulton attended Virgini a State College and wh ile serv- ing in th e arm y from 1957 to- 59, he On foot, Dr . King end pa rty sta rt "Op·erotion Door-Knock :~ attended the University of Hawaii on a special grant. James L. Be ve l of Itta Bena, Mis SCLC .PEOPLE TO PEOPLE 10UR sissi ppi and Cleveland, _O hi o, is Field .Dr. Mart.i n Luther King, Jr. and his SCLC tas k fotcc s·wt:pi inio ..Southside Secretary in the area of Mississippi. Virgihia at th e ·fail-end of March recruiting more than 250 vo lunteers for its He was active in the S tude ~ t Move Freedom Corps and " 1. on violent Army." The Virg inia vi sit coordinated by the ment in Nashville, Tennessee. He Virginia SCLC's hard-driving Milton A. Reid oi Petersburg, marked the second se-rved as Chairman of this movement "people-to-people" tour of the Atlanta-based orga ni za tion. for one year.' _While a stu dent at the Dr. Reid indicated th at hiS sta te unit's invita ti on to Dr. King's visi t was American Baptist Theological Semi gea red to kick-off an inrens i v~ drive in the Fou·rth District and surrounding · nary College in Nashvil le, he pa stored areas and prov1de moral support for th e Rev. Cu rti s Harris, pres ident of the ~., the Ches tnut Grove Baptist Church at Hopewell SCLC, who was convicted for contempt of _court in th e· celebrated I Dixon, Tennessee. Boatwright Committee charge. . . _ Field Secretary for Georgia is Fred The King ta sk force included th e ami able Ralph Abern ath y, pa rtner in the C. Bennette, Jr. , a studeni 't Atlanta's Montgomery struggle, Wyatt Tee Walker, for mer Peter bu rg pastor and Staff Turne r The ologi cal Seminary. A wo rld Director of SCLC, Mrs. Dorothy Cotton, Directo r of the Citizenship Education Wa r II and Korean War ve·teran, he Schools and tw.o fie ld secretaries in Voter Regis tra tion, Be rnard Lee of Atlan ta is a tireless civil rights worker. and Herbert Coul ton of Peter bu rg . Ea rl y in '1961 , Mr. Bennette as The two-day tour egan. in Peter burg wi 1 a lu cheon w'th Fourth Di tri t arrested in tlanta's Te minal tation leade rs at he Zion Baptist Chu h tha va followed immediately _by a voter fo r "trespas ing" wh ile re turni ng from registration canvass sup rvi ed by S LC's fie ld sec re tary for j·rgiri ia, : rbert a speaki g engagement. fe is cur Coulton . The Blandfo d se tion of Petersburg was flo oded f r two hours !th Dr. · ren tl y out on ba il and awaiting · Kin g an d hi s supporters ring ing door belis an d gathering data from the neigh hea ring on that charge. e formerly borh ood to inc reas the vo ting strength in the Secon d- Ward. Several homeowners -I was assoc iated with the Atlanta Stu were amazed to see Dr. King and Rev. ,Abemathy among the other clergy and . I de nt Mo vem ent ·and at th at time wa leaders ac tu all y participating in oper ti n " oor Knock." I - popu larly known as "Le · Comman Tuesday night, the SCLC caravan move_d into Lynchburg, Vir.ginia and lit da nte .' ' era ll y took this mou, t in ity by storm. The ra·n-packed E. C. Glas High School (Continued on Page 2) (Cofllinued on Page I) -. STAFF (Continued from Page 1) ,. Bernard S. Lee, 26-, serves as Stu-. SClC#~~ dent Liaison in the five key states (South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana). He is a Publisher, SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN Korean War veteran, a former student LEADERS.HIP CONFERENCE at Morris Brown College, and has 41 Exchange Place, S.E. worked for S.C.L.C. since .I 960, when Atlanta, Georgia he arrived in Atlanta from Montgom: Phone: 524-13 7_8 cry, Alabama. . He led the sit-ins in Montgomery and . MARTIN LUTHER KiNG, J~. President . was expelled from Alabama .State Col lege tJeca.use _of his participation: Later, .. ··F.- L. SHUTTLESWORTH, Secretary he was one of the ·students selected to appear b!!fore · the. platform· com:.- · . : RALPH . D. ABERNATHY, Treasurer mittees of both National Conventions WYATT TEE WALKER, Executive Director in -196-0...... He led the Freedom Ride from . · GouLD .MAYNARD, _Editor Atlanta to Albany and was one of the fi rst to be arrested there. - DOROTHY GAINES, Associate_ f;ditor · · He is married and the father of four children. ·
Atty. Len Holt and Mr. and Mrs. Harris
The South mourns the passing· of MINISTERS1 PILGRIMAGE ~ - the Reverend Theodore ·Trammell, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Presi- . de nt of The Southern Ch1·is· ia Lead ~ who died of a heart a tacl h'l en ership Conference, joined with Dr. Paged in a sptrited campaign for a Milton A. Reid, head of its Virginia congressional- seat from the Third Affiliate, in calling on all Virginia ministers · and laymen to journey to Congressional Djstrict_f f Mississippi. Hopewell, Virg_inia for the contempt trial of the Reverend Curtis W. H ar Reverend Theodore Trammell ris on the 29th an~ JOth of March. · The contempt· action against the Reverend Harris arose out of h is re- fusal to give names and other infor Southern Christian Leadership Conference mation abol!t acti vities to secure in 41 Exchange Place, S. E. tegration to the Virginia Legislati ve Atlanta 3, Georgi a Committee in September of last yea r. MARTIN ' LUTHER KlNG , JR., P~ e s i de nt WYATT T EE W ALKE R, Director At ·the prelimina ry hearing of thi< contempt ac tion Rgains CRcvere: HJ Har MEMO TO: .~.U F:1i thful SCLC Su.pporters ris· on January 19, 1962 in the Circuit Court of Hopewell, Virginia , more th an FROM: Home Office 100. ministers and laymen rallied in RE: Annuai Board Meeting support of the protes t leader, Rever / end Harris. For the tria l o n the 29th SCLC is growing by leaps and bounds. Many wonderful thi ngs have and 30th of ·March , the townspeople happened because of yot,~ r faith ·in us. We invite you to be with us in opened their homes to accommodate Chattanooga on the dates given below: W.e have a lot of good riews and overnight those who were expected many new se rvices to offer your community. P_l!,': ase bend every effort to . to come from great distances. . be wi th us. · Dr. King, P resident of S.CL. C. in endorsing the protest pi lgrimage com jJi-1 PORT ANT DATA mented : "The strongest resource th at SUBJECT: Annual Board Meeting is posse. ed by those of us desiring to DATE: M ay 15th- 16th (Tuesday and Wednesday) see an merica fr e o racism, is our LACE : r hattanooga, 1'ennessee strengrh of numbers. neyer· a HQ ~: Inter enomi · · ional ini teri l Aliiance fighter f r freed m, such as everend Harris, is under a tt ack, ever · .a v-ail ab le CO-~PONSORS: Chattanooga Civic Committee person ou¥ht ;o witnes wit h his p~t GE ERAL CHAiRMAN : Dr. Major Jones, S L Board son two iunoamental concepts: H1 vf ~n ue r, 60 l Dodson Street opposition to the persecutio n of those COORDINATOR: T he Reverend C. T . Vivian, SCLC Regiona1 who believe segregation is arr intolera Representative ble evil, and his unqualified support HEADQUARTERS: _ Mo num_et~tal Bapti t of those whose lives are a livin g m Reverend J hri C inister bodiment of the ncccs i y of striving toward fr,.e om."
.- SCU: PROflLE pr.. Cuthbert Simpkins, the young Shreveport,. Louisiana dentist whose desegregation efforts have met with reprisals in the form of cross burn ings on his lawn and the total demoli tion of . an almost completed $50,000 house he was building: is a man cou rageous enough to sum up his situa tion with, "I assume my civil rights ~-a ctivities had something to do with it." . Dr. Simpkins lias been . a vitally . concerned observer- of injustices per petrated . aga)nst Negroes· since early : childhood when he· saw a policeman "just drive up and shqot a Negro" for· disturbing the. peace. · . On another occasion, while on his \va y to Sunday SGhool, he saw a white man beating a· Negro wit)1 a bu.Uwhip because the Negro· 'owed him .five dollars. While. serving as an Air Force of ficer, assigned to a New York base he was denied housing on the base even though he had been as.sured that he would get it. ~!ot a hotel or motei within a 50 mile area .would take him Wre cka_ge of C. 0 . Simpkins home after bom bing. in with his w'fe and children. He fina ll y found su bstan da rd lodgi gs in Ithaca 40 miles from the base. Afterc-a-year he went to Washington Sho.rtly after, Dr. SimJ?ki!}s ' home, and filed a.· c_omplaint. An Air Force furnishings, office equipment, mal P.REGNANT DIANE Colonel told him.. to "go. -back .and practice liability, landlord's risk , and NASH ENROUTE TO watt., - Simpkins- Threateneato.go · di summer home furnishing insurance JACKSON JAIL rectly to . President Harry Truman. were all peremptorily canceled. He "I believe you would," said the colonel. has since found a firm which will in As- the newsletter went to press, word The Simpkins family then got housing sure him . came that Diane Nash, fearless Free on the base. A native of Mansfield, Louisiana, dom Fighter and wife of James Bevel. · In 1952, he ran for the school Dr. Simpkins attended Wiley College S .. CL.C. Field Secretary for Mi ss is sip board in Shre'veport, the first Negro to and Tennessee State University. He pt, was enroute from .Cleveland, Mis run for public office in Louisiana since earned his dental degree at Meharry sissippi to Jackson, Mississippi to fa ce Civil War days. He lost that election, Medi~al College. He is a 32nd Degree a. pos sible two-year prison sentence .. but never stopped urging and helping Mason. and a member of Alpha Phi The plight -of t ~js in 5 p:r~d pd \vas the • A. t . 1 ·· ·his fello\v Negroes tc·-register and vote. n.l jJII
1'""'";-.. SCLCv%~ / 41 Exc hange Pl., S. E. Atlanta 3, Ga .