Virginia Fishermen Hold Fast My Story by PAUL ROBESON

This Is A

SWEAT BOX

Edward Brown lived in this. Read his story on Page 4. Vol II—No. 7

Here’s Virginia Fishermen Hold Fast My Story By PAUL ROBESON

oe COUNCIL ON AFRICAN In Strike to End Sea Slavery’ ei Affairs called a press con- ference the other day. It had By JAMES W. KELSAW to do with the present disobe- FREEDOM Southern Correspondent dience campaign in South Af- On Sunday afternoon, June 15, as the song “You Can’t Scare Me, I’m Sticking to the Union” came from loud 3 «x: Tiga in partic- 4 ular and the speakers scattered over the area, 2,000 colored folk gathered on Wiggins Beach at White Stone, Virginia. A mass meeting whole question was being held by the striking Menhaden jishermen of Local 700, International Fur and Leather Workers Union. The of colonial independence in majority of these people came from Lancaster, Northumberland, Essex, Middlesex, Matthews, Richmond, and Westmore- general. land counties. Some came from Dr. DuBois, North Carolina and other | ee our great places. scholar and authority on The meeting was one to be Africa presid- long remembered, It’s spirit. re- f ed, ably assist- minded me of the old out-door ed by Dr. Al- baptizings after the yearly re- phaeus Hunton, the guiding vivals the folk down in Wilcox spirit of the Council. Mrs. Vicki County, Alabama, use to have. Garvin of the Negro. Labor Here was the real spirit of the Council and other leading com- Negro people being applied. to muhity figures, including my the solution’ of pressing eco- deas friend. of many years,.that nomic problems. i ft musician Dr; A. Granville Communities like Reedsville: § # 7 Dill, were present. had been highly pressured— § i \. What a challenge these brave men fired from jobs, deprived African brothers and sisters of of credit, threatened with fore- Ours pose for us! closure of mortgage, automobile We know a bit about Jim ‘and furniture notes. But they Crow here in this land of our were standing fast. “This-is the birth. We’ve had 300 years of first time I’ve ever seen Ne- 4 one kind or another. Our basic groes stick together,” Mr. eampaign today is around the Audrey Carter of Lillian, Vir # isssue of our civil rights-FEPC, ginia, told me. “I’m in this - anti-poll tax and similar legis- Struggle head, neck and heels.” lation guaranteeing our full Mr. Walter Henderson of Merry + right to vote and to representa- Point expressed himself in a tion at all levels; an anti- similar way. “I'm going to stay lynching law to see that we can ashore until the contract is ? _v vote without violence and that signed or God come move me.” our lives. are protected; anti- Here was unity. Here, for one G-« segregation laws at all levels seeking the path to Negro free- affecting «the ghettoes; educa- dom, was a glimpse of the tion; Smith and McCarran act future. ROBERT LOGAN, international representative of the repeal to insure freedom of The background of the strike International Fur & Leather Workers Union *~” speech and protest—and this had-begun to take shape in my (Ind.), is shown addressing an outdoor mass meeting of striking Menhaden fishermen of the union's : last is decisive. mind when I met Bob Logan, Local 700 at Wiggins Beach, White Stone, Virginia. Seated just below microphone is John Ball, Behind all of these struggles international representative of lies the need to watch the drive the Union, in Merry Point. On local president. To Logan’s left, seated, are Sam Freedman, leader of the Furriers Joint Board of = (Continued on Page 3) (Continued on Page 3) N.Y. and Cornelius Simmons, international representatiye, Local 705.

Memo to Political Parties: Act for Civil Rights NOW

oS the entire month of July the eyes and-a-half new and recent voters in the South, the Democrats are thick in the mire of com- of the nation—and the world—will be and the balance-of-power Negro vote in eight promise. While the President, at Howard U. turned on Chicago, the heartland city of the Northern industrial states, is clear and unani- commencement exercises, renews promises he U.S.A, mous, It is not merely for promisory notes— made four years ago and failed to deliver, Negroes have a stack of them from 1948—but Beginning with the opening gavel of the the murderers of Mr. and Mrs. Harry T. Moore rather for action on civil rights now. Progressive Party Convention on Independence remain at large. And Truman’s favorite candi- Day and extending through the last amen of Eighteen national Negro organizations, dates, Stevenson and Harriman, are but pale what promises to be a Democratic slugfest, the headed by the NAACP, have set up civil rights shades of the Roosevelt whose name they in- major political organizations of the country headquarters in Chicago’s Roosevelt College to voke in bids for Negro support. The Illinois will meet to select their candidates for presi- press for the adoption of acceptable planks in governor thinks the states ought to handle dent and vice-president, and to adopt programs the platforms of the two old parties. FEPC! (Wonder if he’s talked to his fellow- for the vital election campaign of 1952. Democrats, Talmadge and Byrnes recently?) B™" If RECENT performance is te be a And Harriman’s Illinois Central Railroad is the All parties will be faced with an unprece- guide, neither Republicans nor Democrats defendant in a suit bought by a Negro woman dented political demand of the Negro people. are likely to qualify in terms of men or meas- That demand, reinforced by'a probable million- ures. Weighted down by theri Dixiecrat wing (Continued on Page 2) a

Page 2

Leaders Demand U.S. Support It Happened For Growing African ie Last Month Ge While major centers in the Union of South Africa erupted BIRMINGHAM, ALA.—The Alabama State Board of Educa- on June 25 with demonstration, pushed by the Birmingham Real Estate Board, the Birming~ tions carrying into effect the ham Chamber of Commerce, and Governor Persons, eut al of | popular pledge to defy unjust Chapter 28 out of The Challenge To Democracy and made over 5@ < laws of the Malan racist re- other revisions in the textbook which 12th grade white and Negre

gime, a cross section of Negro students will study when school opens next fall. Chapter 28 de< leadership in the United States’ nounced racial discrimination, advocated equal sharing of the directed a petition to President benefits of democracy by members of all groups, and stated the facts of employment discrimination, did Truman calling for “genuine

and ywnequivocal support of the * * * ne principle of self-determination” for the peoples of Africa REIDSVILLE, GA.—Attorneys of Mrs. Lula Bell Jenkins, , Ore ih mother of six children and pregnant at present, charged that and: other subject lands. she is serving ten. years in prison on trumped-up charge. of = In the gold mining town, of assault with intent te murder, because she resisted improper Ya Ne Odendaalsus, Orange Free FRIDAY, MAY 23, 9st advances of white men. tak Al State, a demonstration of wo- * * . men against a government reg- SWART GAGS CHICAGO, ILL—A noted peonage and extradition lawyer ulation that they carry special PEOPLES filed a suit asking $50,000 damages for having been forced to ride — b “passes” resulted in the police in an old-fashioned dirty railroad car behind the engine because © :§ +B murder of one man and the he was a Negro. The Southern Pacific Railroad is the defendant. | Ss wounding of several women. In Abe

Capetown, Johannesburg, and PeeeT * * * dade MB other cities, leaders of the ATLANTA, GA.—When the Supreme Court undertook to rule * h African National Congress, the on the constitutionality of segregation in two court cases at i The Clarion SIFe South African Indian Congress, Claredon, S.C., and Topeka, Kansas, Gov. Herman Talmadge o! the Mine Workers Union and repeated an earlier threat to close all public schools in- Georgia a) other organizations, were if the court rules against segregation. This time he was joined =" ~ jy thrown in jail because they ad- Heroic Stand Begin Begins by the governors of South Carolina, Mississippi and Virginia. ei . dressed public meetings in de- * * * 4 aA a fiance of the unpopular “Sup- Against Unjust pression of Communism” Act. Laws , ; BIRMINGHAM, ALA—The NAACP asked the Democratie _ ' Party of Alabama to remove its “white supremacy” slogan from | t, (FREEDOM pointed out in its JAIL AATHED THAN TYRANNY the party’s official election ballot. Ge a April issue that the Malan CWE CAN NeveR cing ty WES ee « yi v ~ government is propped up. by huge investments of U.S. in- TULSA, OKLA.—The Tulsa branch NAACP opened an attack < { oe dustry, direct government on the discrimination practiced by Douglas Aircraft Company, FIGHTING publications are an important part of the campaign of in not hiring colored persons as skilled workers. es loans, and the purchase of the African, Indian and colored peoples of South Africa in defiance uranium from waste ore in * * * South African gold mines.) of unjust laws. Pictured above is the masthead of the last issue of the GUARDIAN published before the paper was banned by the LOS ANGELES, CALIF.—William H. Bailey, local teacher filed The 2500-word petition of suit against the City of Los Angeles for $103,070.73 for damages Negro leaders, initiated by Dr. Malan government. In the course of a determined fight to restore to his home which he says was bombed March 16 by “a mob of W.E.B. DuBois, was signed by the GUARDIAN’s publishing right, @ new organ, THE CLARION, disorderly and riotous persons.” more than 160 clergymen, edu- has appeared to carry forward the people’s struggle. 4 . * * * cators, doctors, lawyers, cultur- CHICAGO, ILL.—The National Council of Churches ef ~ al, civic and labor leaders from guards for human rights—for signing the petition were Bish- Christ in USA went on record June 12 as being unalterably op- 28 states and the District of themselves and for darker peo- op C.C. Alleyne, Philadelphia; posed to segregation and vigorously urged the churches to strive Columbia. ples throughout the world who Rev. James W. Eichelberger, for a “non-segregated church and non-segregated society.” Pointing out that “Peace are victims of the racist doc- Chicago; Rev. Edward D. Mc- * * ¢ x trine of white supremacy. From eannot be won with either Gowan, New York; Rey. David SEWANEE, TENN.—An all-white faculty of the third annual this racism stems the ‘failure H. Brooks, A. & M. College, Tal- sguns or dollars,” the declara- Cumberland Music Festival resigned because of the reftisal of of our government to protect tion contends: “If America’s lahassee, Fla.; and Rey. Charles the University of the South’s trustees to admit Negro divinity “ the lives and rights of its Ne- name is not to be hated C.S. England, Brooklyn, N. Y. students to their School of Theology, ‘ gro citizens—in Cicero, Illinois; throughout the world where- Others included Prof. Henry ever people struggle for liberty, in Groveland and Mims, Flor- : * * A z ida; and from it stems also. the D. Davidson, principal, Bibb our government must com- County Training School, Ala- LOS ANGELES, CALIF.—With his shotgun in hand and pistol inhuman repression of non- pletely revise its foreign policy pbama; Rev. D.V. Kyle, dean, in reach, Angus Bates began a two-gun stand to protect his home and give concrete evidence, white peoples in Asia and Af- after discovering the charred remains of a wooden cross, appare- Jackson Theological Seminary; rica by the Western powers. - ently burned in his backyard. i through its conduct in the Dr. Lucien Brown and Dr. United Nations and in all areas ~ “Those non-white peoples Catherine Lealtad of New * * * of international economic, po- most assuredly want none of York; Atty. Earl B. Dickerson, NEW ORLEANS, LA.—Audrey Patterson, America’s celebrated . litical and military relations, of the ‘American way of life’ ex- Chicago; Dr. Carleton B, Good- woman ‘track star, was recently barred from using the municipal its genuine and unequivocal perienced by 15 million Negro lett, California; Georgia Doug- track in City Park. Stadium for her practice sessions in prepara- suppport of the principle of Americans. Nor can the con- lass Johnson, Washington, ‘tion for her coming participation in the Harrisburg (Pa.) Olympie national self-determination.” tinued rule of racism in the D.C.; Ernest Thompson, sec- try-outs. ‘ The petitioners state that United States be ended as long retary, Fair Practices Commit- * * * “The Negro people of the Unit- as the enslavement of darker tee, UERMWA; Clayborn T. McDONAL, PA.—Two white undertakers refused to allow the | ed States are deeply concerned peoples throughout the -world Dillard, chairman, C. & O. Rail- body of Mrs. Laura C. Harris, 85 and white, to rest in their chapels with the achievement: of ef- continues.” way Co. Colored Workers, West following her death in McDonal where she had lived for the past fective international safe- Among the church leaders Virginia; thirty-five years. Mrs. Harris was the mother of two Negro sons. ‘You May Rejo e, | Must Mourn’ — Douglass on July 4 m9 Renee “Fellow citizens, I am not present. We have to do with benefits and express devout the case. I say it with a sense s a wanting in respect for the the past only as we can make gratitude for the blessings re- of disparity between us. I am 1s fathers of this republic. The it useful to the present and the sulting from your indepen- not included in the pale of in signers of the Declaration of future. To all inspiring mo- dence to us? © this glorious anniversary! Your v Independence were brave men. tives, to noble deeds which can high independence only reveals _ bi be gained from the past, we “Would to God, both for the immeasurable distance be- 1en “They were peace men; but are welcome. But now is the your sakes and ours, that an tween us. The blessings in am they preferred revolution to time, the important time. affirmative answer could be which you this day rejoice, are Jz peaceful submission te bend- truthfully returned to these not enjoyed in common... . +lo age. They were quiet men; but “Fellow-citizens, pardon me, questions! Then would my task This Fourth July is yours, not ot they did not shrink from agi- allow me to ask, why am I be light, and my burden easy. mine. You may rejoice, I must t tating against oppression. They called upon to speak here to- “But such is not the state of mourn, showed forebearance; but that day? What have I, or those I 1 they knew its limits. They be- represent, to do with your na- eae “, .. Whether we turn to the v lieved in order; but not in the tional independence? Are the Excerpts from the famous declarations of the past, er to at order of tyranny. . . . They great principles of. political Fourth of July oration of the the professions of the present, te were great in their day and freedom ‘and natural justice, great abolitionist leader, Fred- the conduct of the nation cin generation, Their solid man- embodied in the Declaration, seems equally hideous and re- ‘to erick Douglass, delivered at thé hood stands out the more as extended to us? and am I volting. America is false to the we we contrast it with these den - therefore called upan to bring Corinthian Hall, Rochester, past, false to the present, and Ls generate times. _j;our humble offering to .the na~ N.Y., July 5, 1852. solemnly binds itself te be™ Cottt i (tae “My business-.-. . is with the tigpal altar, and to confess. the X SE ci Pie (false to the future? i // Frederick Douglass «.):> w

eee “FREEDOM Page 3 Po i Brutal Captains, Federal Screening < *

u aaa : Take Negroes’ Lives and Jobs at Sea

ent Y About a year and a half aga, 4 about five feet six inches tall Judge the actions of a “master” ~ the National Maritime Union and handcuffed at the time he while at sea. y was shot, Here’s My Story ' attempted to have one Frank- Coast Guard hearings on the lin B. Weaver, the Chief Mate possible revocation of Weaver’s On June 19, a jury which in- By PAUL ROBESON Bere = ®board the Isbrandtsen ship cluded a bank vice president license have been suspended — pending the outcome'of the (Continued from Page 1) black workers—see Flying ‘Trader, removed as and a real estate broker split no threat 8-4 in favor of convicting the criminal prosecution. It is from the lands of Eastern ~ g“trigger happy.” Weaver in- toward war—for with war all Eu- captain after 11 hours of delib- doubtful, however, if the Coast meaningful struggle for our rope, from the Soviet Union | stead was made captain of the eration. Weaver was set free Guard, busy “screening” mili- Republics, from the people aS, rights would cease. ’Twould be of | ~ freighter. for the second and perhaps the tant Negro seamen, will act, “disloyal” or “subversive” you the new Chinese Republic led 1 last time. Y should the government de- know to talk about freedom of by the great Mao Tse Tung. eee On October 25 of last year, clare it will not prosecute. Quite the opposite, the Alabama-born Captain The Isbrandtsen Co. has an our people, as even Mother all these are Bethune discovered. friendly people whose struggles - pumped three bullets into the especially bad reputation It is to be noted that Joe give hope to the African peo- body of a young Negro seamen. Curran’ of the NMU and the Now, whatever our difficulties among seamen. Known among ples. There in South Africa it ~Before he, went to his room to NAACP lashed out at those and disabilities, the South Af- seamen as the “Hungry Goose who would free the Alabama- happens to be the “Western get the revolver, Weaver ad- ricans are even more fiercely Europeans” + mittedly beat 24-year-old Har- Line” because they are con- born killer, Weaver. Walter who came genera-= oppressed. Pass laws, curfew tions ago to despoil vey with a black-jack and stantly White said that his organiza- the land being forced to sue for laws, unbelievable conditions in and enslave handcuffed him. tion would press to see justice the indiginous in- wages withheld for “disciplin- housing, jobs, all the stigmas of habitants, and i done, “no matter how many who. still rule segregation in stations, public i The entire unlicensed crew ary” reasons, the company has as tyrannical masters—like our trials it takes,” and Curran places, stores and so forth. ef the Flying Trader walked gone openly to war with -the stated that “it is highly im- Southern Byrnes, Talmadges off the ship following the kill- probable that an NMU crew So what do they ‘do. When and Rankins. “tng and refused to return with union on the Weaver issue. can be found that will ship Malan, prime minister of South These Africans Weaver in command. Although Throughout the trial defense are proud of aa with Capt. Weaver.” Curran Africa announces complete seg- their leaders who the. Captain threatened them attorney Mahlon Dickerson are making also said he would press the regation of the non-white Af- great sacrifices, leaders and finally logged them as de- tried to show a “conspiracy” of every Coast Guard to declare Weaver ricans and restrictions upon shade of opinion. serters, the men would not of the union against Weaver, They are as unfit to carry a master’s li- the Indians and so-called col- proud of their leaders budge, and returned to press and that mutiny was imminent who be- cense, and has asked union ored (mixed) population, all of have like our\Ben - eharges of murder against on the part of the union mem- Davis as of members to write to ‘everyone these three groups headed by others who are not , Weaver. bers. Capt. Clayton McLaugh- so advanced from Truman on-down” to get the eight million black Africans in their thinking. These chargesewere later Te- lin, operating manager for Is- But they are justice in this case. have joined forces in what must joined, unified for the common y» duced by a grand jury to vol- brandtsen, told reporters that - eventually be a tremendous The NMU leader has not purpose .of their full equality untary mahslaughter “in the the union would “be the death movement toward liberation. and independence. How we here heat of passion.” of the U.S. Merchant Marine” come out against screening, They declared on April 6th could learn from this — we Two lily-white Federal Court as soon as the Korean War however, which under its Americans ended, their determination to oppose of African descent, juries heard the charges phoney “war emergency” front, the new oppressive laws—and of all groups, from whatever against the burly, six foot, 200 Constantly, during the last threatens to break the entire it started on June 26th. They lands we have come. pound Weaver. Both failed to 10-day trial it was repeated by refuse to obey Jim Crow ‘and. trade union movement on the AN? finally, these find the Captain guilty. Weav- the defense that the captain is submit to arrest at this stage: Africans sea, and to drive Negro work- realize ~er had pleaded “self-defense” absolute master of the ship, Just imagine if we started that the old-political in the shooting of Harvey who and that no land-locked bunch ers off the ships and the. wa- something like that in the parties (the so-called Liberals * weighed 125 pounds and was of jurors had the right to terfront. South—or even in New York, and Conservatives, equivalents Chicago, St. Louis, Indianap- of our Democratic and Republi- olis, Louisville and Los Angeles. can Parties), serve the interests : Virginia Fishermen Hold Fast of those who rule, who own. oe THE representatives They do not and cannot serve ‘a. . (Continued from Page 1) The pay is small, “114%c per aid. The women have formed of all of our_organizations— the masses of the people, black April 1, 1952, Local 700, of the thousand catch,” explains Ball, auxiliaries and are raising NAACP, four million Baptists, or white. So they have had to ~ “Fur and Leather Workers Union “and 1'4c is held back until the funds for school books and one-half million AME Zions to form their own Congresses ‘and called on the fishing companies end of the season. I know of other necessities. On Sunday which I belong, the millions of look forward to their own partv, to enter collective bargaining four men who lost $600 like evening, June 8, Mr. and Mrs. other churches and fraternal springing from themselves and negotiations so that a contract that last year because they William E. Laws received a call organizations, could unite long serving the people. governing wages and working were fired or got sick.” To saying a number of men had enough to confront the na- This, too, we of colored Amer- conditions might be agreed on. make the situation worse, food packed and were planning to -tion’s leaders in the White ’ +fhe employers, described by on the boats costs $35 and $40 go to work Monday morning. House, Senate and Congress ica might ponder as the politi- Frank Brownstone, district di- every two weeks. They got in their car and drove. with a demand for an end to eal conventions converge on all * “rector of the Union, as being Mr. Ball knows the compa- night long, from house to all talk (single and double), Chicago. I have already pon- ool “viciously anti-labor and anti- nies can meet the union’s de- house, urging the men to hold with a demand for action now. dered, so I go to enter the Negro,” would not budge. The on. The fishermen did not go mands. From the fish they Well, we wouldn’t have to struggle for Mrs. Charlotta strike began May 26, and on catch come fertilizer, chicken fishing. worry about the forthcoming Bass, one of our bravest women ~ June 15, only five of seventy feed, hog feed, and five-and- At the meeting at Merry boats had sailed. Of the 1,800 ten. pearls—not to mention the Point, Ben Gold, international political campaigns. We would and a modern Sojourner Truth, * “men of Local 700, only 40 were oil. Sometimes as much as 12 president of the Union pledged not have to wait upon the for Vincent Hallinan who is in - fishing. gallons are gotten from one support of its 100,000 members hoped-for good will of politi- prison because of his beliefs, Willie Jackson told of some fish. to the fishermen’s struggle. Bob cians who must make some for a Progressive Party led by ef the hardships the workers Logan spoke for all when he John Ball has fished for 37 compromise with the Dixiecrat men like Dr. W.E.B. DuBois— — suffer. Fishing. boats have no said: “We are here today for years and the strike is the first South. We’d have our civil accepting no compromise, de- showers. On some the men time he has been out of work a just and righteous cause, the ee wash their faces in buckets. in that time, He says, “I plan fight for Negro freedom. I am rights. This is the challtnge I manding full rights for our »two years ago there were boats proud of the men and women to stand up like a man. Not be- see in the South African mili- people, full dignity for the of Virginia, proud without toilets. Twenty-one ing able to work does not that here the tant protest. American worker, peace and men sleep in one compartment, fight is really beginning. We bother me as long as the Union prosperity for all of us, South 15 feet long and 12 feet wide, holds.” ° here must. stand together and These South Africans aren’t b- im bunks three and four high. not/as individuals, We have the afraid of baiting. They march and North, East and West. The fish fumes eat through The Negro communities are chance. What we do here will in thousands with raised ay your clothing, turn coins and supporting the strike. Rev. J. help determine whether 15 mil- clenched fists. They sing their ,even your teeth black. They J. Nickens and Rey. Richard lion black Americans will ob- songs of protest (including = made one man go blind. Mr. Spence are lending militant tain their freedom.” some of mine, may I modestly Jackson has been fishing for a add). They clamor for an end «long time, “but will not hit an- to war preparations and de- other lick until the. Union con- mand peace. They say quite be tract is signed.” sharply and plainly they want John Ball, president of Local their youth alive to struggle for +- 700, spoke of other hardships. the independence of Africa, not _ he work is hard and danger- dead on foreign battle fields in us, and the men are not. pro- the interest of those bankers _ tected by insurance. “You walk and. factory and mine owners * -im your graye day and night who have come to South Africa, _ too,” says William E. Laws, especially from the U.S., to take 25,000 PERSONS WHOSE - » secretary-treasurer of the local. away their land, diamonds, gold DEATHS COULD HAVE BEEN, Laws knows of men who: were and uranium. + PREVENTED By HEALTH ‘i drowned and whose bodies These South Africans—Afri- "WISORANCE. WILL DIE Tas YEARS - ‘were left at sea. 9 °° can, Indian, coloréd, white aud

Page 4 _,.. From Brunswick, Georgia to Koje Island} Prisoner Tells Court of Horror HE “police action” in Korea has entered its third year. In terms of ‘length it is the second longest foreign w: Of Georgia Camp; Fights Return our country has waged. On other scores it has no fee By FREEDOM’s Southern Corr, and the most dishonorable. ‘PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — A Is there any wonder? Recall its sordid bovine small courtroom was crowded The President committed U.S. troops to battle and on June 17, mostly with colored people who had expectant a “formality” which the Constitution requires. The cha looks! on their faces. A medium acter of the struggle was clear at the outset. The Kor sized, brown skinned man with a balding head took the wit- ‘people became “gooks” in the U. S. press and civilians on th: mess stand. He answered to unhappy peninsula were soon the objects of rapine, plurki the name ‘of Edward Brown in and murder at the hands of U.S. troops.

a voice a bit too’ low. Otherwise General Roberts, former head of the American Milita he seemed calm and even dig- nified as he began to tell of the Government in South Korea, declared that one Americar; cruel, inhuman, and_ brutish soldier was worth ten Chinese, and brass hats began to a way he had been treated by as though the lives of the people of the Far East were worth Southern prison: officials. nothing at all. Flame-throwing tanks, jellied-gasoline bombs . Thirty-nine year old Edward saturation bombing of non-military targets, have laid waste Brown had been sentenced to - life imprisonment for murder a once beautiful land and tortured a still-proud people. 7 in Macon, Georgia, in 1937, af- The current climax of this nightmare of destruction, ter being assured of only five is the charge of the Korean and Chinese people that ou years if he confessed. Since troops are using germ warfare, and the open rebellion then he had escaped three prisoners in the Koje Island and other camps against a times. Now he was renewing his fight against return to a Geor- murderous handling of their U.S. Army captors. * gia chain gang. Faced with the facts and the accusations, governmest He started with the “sweat and military spokesmen wash their hands like Pilate, tum box.” on a pained expression for the public, and say: ‘Who, — . “You can’t stand up in it

and you can’t lie down. You got to be in a crouch all the time. STAKED OUT: Edward Brown’s own drawing shows how he was 30 white prisoners recently cut First your knees give out and their heels in protest against left~in afield, bound and helpless, face covered with molasses, when you try te sit down you cruel treatment, he mumbled, the prey of wild animals and insects. must pull your knees up. Then a little less forcefully now, your seat gets it because the “Some. people will do any- bottom of the box is roughed- of them, Huel Thompson, a Hatchett maintained ~ that thing to get out of working.” up concrete, and pretty soon white man, had this to say: the riveting of “picks” on Hatchett’s “evidence” of the you have to stand. up again. “We are all treated like in prisoners’ ankles stopped in “good aspects” of Georgia pris- Now you get awful headaches purgatory; but the colored have 1943. His honest looking ex- ons consisted in the main of because. your neck is bent two strikes against them when pression did not change when fifty pictures, a movie obvious- down. Finally you ache all over they come; it never lets up.” he was shown a story from the ly made for the purpose, and and after a while you pass out. Moses Ross_ confirmed Atlanta Constitution in. which several prison publications, one «. - Added to this trouble is the Brown’s description of punish- he’ himself described how a of which had the confederate 120 degrees it gets inside, and ment even I had not heard of. prisoner escaped from him by flag on the cover. David Levin- the one bucket for ‘sanitary He called it “The Dipping Bar- sawing his picks off. He said son, Brown’s able attorney who use’ that stays with you until rel.” The victim is chained that nineteen year old J. R. stated that “I took this case you come out.” half-way down in this contrap- Henderson, who testified that without fee because to me it By this time the courtroom tion with the top reaching two he wore picks in 1950 and 1951 represented not only the fight was quiet and tense with shock. feet above his head. He faces and showed the scars they left, of a man but of a people,” But what Brown was saying the anguish of dipping furi- needed mental attention and charged that Brown faces was familiar to me. I had heard ously as the water pours in, that he would see to his get- “death or serious bodily harm,” jt many times before from and the terror of drowning if ting it if allowed to take Hen- in facing return to Georgia. friends and kin folk. It might he doesn’t dip fast enough. derson back to Georgia. The Judge reserved decision. easily have happened to me. Testifying for Georgia was It was “regrettable” to the But the spectators, especially Brown told. of being Jefferson Bryan Hatchett, Di- man from Georgia that in 1947 those who know the South, “stretched” twice, “staked out” rector of Georgia prisons. I’ve eight prisoners were shot dead knew that Levinson’s’ charge: twice, put in stocks, hung up known Hatchetts all my life, and eight more wounded at the was valid. They could not for- by his wrist, and having lini- not in Georgia but Alabama, Burnswick, Georgia camp, get the force of Brown’s words: ment forced up his rectum. and yet they baffle me. With when they protested against “Tf I have to go back to Geor- Four other men who had an honest look on his face Mr. working in swamps and snake ia, I'l kill myself on the wa . been on Georgia chain gangs Hatchett said: “Why, Georgia is infested ditches without pro- : can't take that torture any DAVID LEVINSON, attorney for Edwg €onfirmed Brown’s story. One the world’s most liberal place.” tection. To the question why more.’ plays a pickaxe used to shackle. prison ers | Southern Prison Farms Practi

*# Is the case of Edward Brown the ex- raised the six-foot leather lash again. That’s* ception or the rule in Southern prisons Six miles away in Montgomery, the state cial punifame and “work” camps? In order to find the capital, 100,000 people went about their in: these Tinto: answer FREEDOM looked into the record business not knowing that a skinny kid rest of: and found that the most barbarous of 23 was being beaten te the brink of water. crimes of the Middle Ages are repeated insanity.” fellows daily, today, in. the South, U.S.A. The..account ‘tells further how the by-eigat Cruelty and corruption in Southern wounds. appeared to a reporter. “The for them all 1 prisons have a long history. In the thir- warden.led the. way to a long row of so the-men*we ties there were such clear and exposing two-tiered cells. Sparrow (the reporter) writings as Georgia N----r, by John heard Kah before he saw him. He was Virginia 4

* Spivak, and Hell On Earth by Sasha in a dirty, six-by-six room with a bunk, “Sick men, w Small. More recently Haywood Patterson a Jatrine and a washbowl. The rank pitalizat@y) ar voiced horrifying descriptions of Ala- stench of disinfectant mingled with the work unéer a bama prisons in Scottsbore Boy, and sour odor of men. On the metal bed Then they zt Howard Carwile, a white Richmond along the wall the trembling boy lay sometimes ten lawyer, pulled the lid off the “type of whimpering with pain. The warden Boe sta a hell on earth that the Virginia State jerked the sheet from his back. After a Prison Farm is.” The unbroken record of quick look Sparrow turned away. There neglect, filth and brutality continues. were huge, two-inch welts across the In October, 1950, the Readers Digest buttocks which looked like slabs of raw

carried an account of a flogging at liver against white skin.” i, Kilby Prison, Alabama: In April, 1951, Jesse Carrol Wilson, “A shrill scream of agony followed the former inmate of Road Camp No. 1, near thwack of the lash; a two-inch strip. of Salem, Virginia, told of conditions there: flesh puffed across the boy’s back. One “One day I saw a fellow, so sick, he ~ STRETCHED OUT: Brown's drawing om the device guard ground his knee into the writhing couldn’t get up, but the guard said he shoulders, another sat on the kid’s legs.. had to. When. the sick ere tortured for hours et 4 time. fellow said he . Grinning, the hulking prison flogger couldn’t, they threw him in the jail.

Page 5 1 White Supremacy’ Rules the Prison Camps . : Southern Officers Treat Ko orean ' Why it’s ridiculous! You must remember, we represent West- ern civilization!” As for us, after 300 years Crpevictice with Western POW's Like Negroes in the South civilizations + «6 white supremacy” in the U.S., we would put By Eslanda G. ‘Robeson nothing past them. General Dodd and General Boatner of Koje Island fame (or should we say, infamy?) hail from San The prisoner-of-war issue seems to be the great stumb- Antonio, Teaxs, and New Orleans, La. The U.S. Army of- ling block to truce in Korea, so ficer corps is made up predominantly of Southerners. They let's have a look at it. are the products of the exclusive military institutes which The United States says our dot the Southern landscape and of a social order which puts military are -holding 170,000 its “best’’ men through the rigors of a “white supremacy” North Korean and Chinese sol- indoctrination unsurpassed in any part of the world. They diers and civilans in war prison are the products of a society which produces the unbelievable camps. Our military, practi- itaryhe eally none, of whom speak or horrors in the prison camps of the South’so graphically de- understand the Korean and ee scribed on these pages. Chinese languages, insist that ) ag Would the warden of the Georgia prison camp in which only 70,000 of these prisoners rae Edward Brown was “stretched out’’—suddenly turned com- want to go home. “mander of a camp in Korea—hesitate to use flame-throwers Now how did they find out a ‘ _ and tank bullets in order to -carry out his “screening” which prisoners want to go home, and which want to stay ‘ti assignment? “on our side?” They got some oun The question answers itself. interpreters to ask them. And who were the interpreters? we The American people must reclaim the honor and in- n ei South Koreans and Ching Kai- tegrity of our nation by calling to a halt the racist butchery shek-Formosan-Chinese. «in Korea and in the South of the U.S. A. To fully understand this sit- Every candidate for public office in the 1952 elections uation, let us\suppose there are should hear the aroused cry of a united people: 170,000. Negro prisoners in a prison camp in the deep South. Two years is too much! Stop the war! Make peace now! AMID THE RUBBLE of war in Korea, a woman cradles the head And let us suppose these Ne- groes speak a very difficult for- of her wounded husband as an older member of the family squats eign language, which their cap- beisde them. t tors neither speak nor under- CRC Appeals for stand. did they grab the big Boss of But the United States wants “So they get, as interpreters, “our side?” It just doesn’t fit. to keep 100,000 prisoners of war Letters to Save members of the Ku Klux Klan The negotiations for the res- after the cessation ef hostili< and white lynchers like Sheriff cue of General Dodd tell the ties. Fletcher Mills Willis McCall to go into the~ camps and interview the Ne- story: the prisoners demanded Secretary of State Dean In 1945, Fletcher Mills, an gro prisoners, to find out which an end to forcible screening, Acheson said at the United Na- eighteen-year-old sharecropper “ones want to go North and take re-arming of some prisoners, tions Jess than a year ago that parely escaped an Alabama their chances, and which want killing and ill-treatment of the North Koreans were so low mob after defending his life to remain in the deep South to they had a long way to go be- other prisoners. against an attack on him by work on the peonage farms, fore they could even be called his landlord. plantations, chain-gangs and When General Dodd was fi- barbarians. nally released and the terms of In 1945 Mills was picked up in the lumber camps. That was less than a year in Detroit by the FBI and re- his release had to be made The Ku Klux Klansmen go ago, and now here we are, leased when extradition papers known, the military in Korea into the camp, where nobody deeply concerned for these _were not completed in time by and. the Defense Department in can see or hear, and they start “lower-than-barbarians,” wel~ the State of Alabama. He was Washington rushed into the asking — which means they coming them to “our side,” free until 1949, when the FBI full-time job of explanations start telling! and denials. They said, over protectiing them from return~ again arrested him, this time ing to their own fellow coun- Now’ if you were a Negro and ‘over, offering no proof, in. Philadelphia. trymen. Mills is still in danger of be- prisoner in such a dangerous that: ing sent back to Alabama. He situation, what would you say? 1. The prisoners had always Well, maybe of the 170,000 “lower-than-barbarians,” the needs your help. The CRC is What would you do? What been treated humanely, ac- urging messages to the three could you do? And who is to cording to the Geneva Conven- 100,000 which our military officials who can stop it: U.S. prove what you said ‘and did? tion Rules of War. (It is im- want to keep are all special ex- Attorney General McGranery, portant: to note, by the way, ceptions. But that does seem to This screening goes on for a be a lot of exceptions, doesnt in Washington;. Gov.. John long time, until reports begin that the United States never Fine in Harrisburg; and Dis- signed this international it? xd Brown, escaped Georgia fugitive, dis- to seep back into your prison trict Attorney Richardson Dil- camp stating that most of you agreement.) There seems to be a. great prisoners on Georgia chain gangs. worth in Philadelphia. want to stay with the Ku Klux- deal about the Korean War 2. The screening of prisoners which Truman says isn’t a war, ers. Then you know you must has never been forced. do something to let the outside that is hidden from the people. ioe Feudal Tortures Daily world know this report just 3. None of the prisoners haye As for instance, just how are we isn't true. But what to do? been re-armed. defending freedom and demo- eracy in Korea by burning up It should be remembered .t'sthe /gix-by-eight cell used for spe- left with three gashes in his head. Well, supppose you grabbed the land and killing off the that the Geneva Convention punizament. ‘You don’t get any food A report of March 3, 1952, tells of the the Boss of the prison, and men, women and children? hese rut once every three days.’ The trial of a “Dark Ages” jailer in South held him prisoner? That should provides that “prisoners of war , of thétime you're fed on bread and Carolina, who tortured women prisoners. tell something to the people shall be released and repatri- It would be fine if Truman, er. “ remember one time eight Jailer Reuben L. Irby was charged by outside who are interested. So ated without delay after the or the candidates fer election OWS all serving time in the six- an array of ‘witnesses of counts of “cruel- you do, and it does. The out- cessation of hostilities.” This is to his office, would explain all eignt-celltogether. There wasn’t room ty which ran the gamut from sexual re- side world begins to ask ques- not only the rule, it is also the this in words of few syllables, them all to be chained to the wall lations with inmates to the brutal beat- tions. : general custom. Until now, that so we, the voters, could under- he*men"were chained together.” ing of handcuffed women with heavy Something like this must is. Z stand. ; 1 Mareh;'1951, another report on the straps until the blood ran down their have happened at the prisoner- inia “State ‘Prison Farm stated: backs.” He hung one man upside down of-war camp on Koje Island: Be / +k mem: who need emergency hos- and beat another one until he was un-_ The South Korean and Formo- lization are forced to do the hardest conscious. sa-Chinese interpreters are to a a Eh a k undera gun until they fall out. Irby ‘was fined only $100, and in im- the. North Koreans and Chinese ¢ ) okie n they #re hung up on the rack— posing the fine Judge Timmerman said: prisoners what the Ku Klux earl a 7 ceed Ee Tt etimes ten hours per day for 30 days. “Although the jury thinks otherwise, Klan interpreters would be to y starve‘in cold, solitary confinement there is some doubt in my mind about PM Sep Negro prisoners: poison. ab joand water diet. They~ are your guilt. This case is not nearly so

When the desperate prison- ently gassed in the face and beat serious as it has been publicized al- arts

+++ + oo MS ) arearriers of contagious diseases One report stated that by such senti- Gen. Francis Dodd, the Boss of

not properly isolated from other ment Judge Timmerman was encourag- the prison camp, ahd held him > = Eo or * ing “more brutality in a section of the prisoner for four days, the out- ——4 E n st 18, 1951, Sam ‘Key, the country which needs no encouragement side world did start asking ro € warden of Scottsboro, Ala- in this regard. His attitude is even more questions. 12 h Camp, was charged with reprehensible and dangerous because If, as ‘reported , 100,000 of f ee ous! ting convicts Earnest Taylor Judge Timmerman is not just a local these 170,000 prisoners . don’t : m. with a three-foot hick- Magistrate. He “is a Fedetal District want to go home, but want to k #Taylor, il.at the time, ‘was jurist; whose influence is far-reaching.” €ome to “our side,” why then re ‘Page 6 FREE DO M

Editorial — For These We Fight —and Vote Memo To Political Parties: Act Now For Civil Rights (Continued from Page 1)

wo was Jim-Crowed in one of its dining cars! As to the Republicans—why bother? Aside from the spelling of their names, there is not enough difference among Taft, Eisenhower ‘and MacArthur to enable the voter to tell them apart. On the matter of civil rights, their hearts all belong to Dixie. o* THE THREE CONVENTIONS, only one promises action tailored to suit the Negro’s needs. That is the convention of the Progressive Party. Denied time by the radio

and television networks, censored by the publishers of the f big-money press, the Progressives are fighting a brazen se conspiracy to hide from the American people the fact that

there is a third major party in the race. ° ee Vo l From where the Negro voter sits, the Progressives, in oy Lie

t one sense, must be ae” regarded as the major party. It is the nce only party which provides major participation of Negroes fe in its deliberations. On v ca its opening night a speech by Paul Robeson will precede the keynote address of Dr. W. E. B. a s

DuBois. Chairman of the platform committee is prominent 2 coast Chicago attorney Earl B. Dickerson, and another energetic

lawyer, Willard Ransom of Indiana, heads its influential oft Committee to Elect Negroes to Public Office. Holding the ey

highest staff position of any Negro in the three parties, gy

efficient Thelma Dale teams up with campaign manager Se

C.B. Baldwin to give over-all guidance to the work of the Sp party. Sharing the helm with this array of Negro leadership are such outstanding political figures as ex-governor Elmer Benson of Minnesota, Vito Marcantonio, the fiery champion of civil rights and labor’s needs who. represented New York’s 18th C. D. for 14 years, and Dr. Robert Morse Lov- ett, former governor of the Virgin Islands. Cc RIGHTS, OF COURSE, is the prime, but not the ——LETTER COLUMN only concern of Negro voters in ’52, Negro. post office workers and government clerks have borne the brunt of the government “loyalty” program. The Smith act not only Get It Off Your Chest places white and Negro radicals behind bars; it threatens and penalizes the mildest protest in the fight for Negro rights. And Negro housewives and workers are hardest hit don’t have the money right by the high taxes, frozen wages and runaway prices which Tribute to Moranda Smith ‘lines for those principles for now. years. I and my children will are destroying the security of all the common people of the As we gathered on June 8 in I took a trip down to. New- carry on that fight. -eountry. Winston-Salem, N.C., for the memorial service of our most berry, S.C. a few weeks ago, I urge every reader of FREE- Most important of all, the Progressives offer the only beloved Sister, Moranda Smith, As. I rode down through Char- DOM to join with us in carry~ major alternative to a foreign policy of wars—cold and hot, those who were present realized lotte, Rock Hill, Chester and ing on the fight that Charlie on into. Newberry, I thought fought so well, a fight to end little and big—a policy on which the Republicans and Dem- the brotherhood of man. We Jim Crow, . realized that our Sister had not about the Committee in New a fight to make this ocrats are in substantial agreement. a better died in vain. The wonderful York that is fighting for a free America and a better world. In the words of Joe Hill, The Progressives are the Peace Party, and it is fitting things said about Moranda, South. I looked out -over the that in their battle against colonial wars of conquest they who died two years ago at the fields and saw great droves of “Don’t cry for me—ORGAN- IZE.” will confirm the nomination of a fighting Irish lawyer who height of her labors as an or- Negro and white workers work- ganizer of tobacco workers, can ing, and on a little further I Again, our sincere thanks. has distinguished himself in the defense of labor, and a would see a big fine mansion crusading Negro woman publisher and civic leader. easily be said about others if Anita Nichols we will only fight the good every once in a while; and all Seattle, Washington Of course, in politics anything can happen, and the fight. around in between would be elephant and the donkey may be more flexible than the leo- one-room broken down shacks Answer to Peekskill May we have more Sisters with maybe ten or twelve in pard. They may change their spots in the next few days or and Brothers like Sister Smith. the family. This made me feel I attended Mr. Robeson’s weeks. We pray for strength and guid- very disgusted, but still I feel concert at Macedonia Baptist We doubt it. And it says here that if they don’t, as ance to. impel us forever on- like victory is just over the hill. Church in. San _ Francisco soon as the last gavel is sounded on the conventions and ward. Tell thé Committee for me to Thursday evening, It has been Ada P. Greene fight on for a free South, be- the last weary delegate gropes for the exit—we’re coming my good fortune to hear him High Point, N. C. cause we are fighting here too. on previous occasions in cons out swinging in the national campaign for the Progressives’ George Johnson certs-and twice in OTHELLO, Vincent Hallinan for President and Mrs. Charlotta Bass for Victory Over the Hill Thomasville, N. C. Never was he in better voice Vice-President of these United States. and form—in fact, never be- I want to write you to say We'll Carry On fore as wonderful as he was how much the workers liked Thursday evening. my article. I got all of them I wish to express the sincere sold or given away in just a thanks of myself, my daughter His audience was stirred to couple of days! And they read Carol and my son Charles, for tears and enthusiastic ap- the paper too!—not just my the expressions of sympathy plause. He responded with one article, but other articles as we received from Brother Paul encore, and then one more, well. People, Negro and. white, Robeson and the staff of ending with LET THE RAIL FREEDOM when my husband, have come up to me and con- SPLITTER AWAKE! Charles Nichols, passed away. egratulated me for the article Peekskill was in the back of and said that it was the truth. After the story about Charlie my mind all the time and May- Letters from people started appeared in the June issue of or Robinson’s denial of San your paper, we received many Published monthly by Freedom Associates coming in right away with two Francisco’s Civic Auditorium to 53 West 125th Street, New York 27, N. Y.. Phone: ENright 9-3980 or three dollars in each one. messages from the readers. To a great genius and a great hu- them, too, we extend our EDITORIAL BOARD: PAUL ROBESON, Chairman; They are still coming in. I con- man being—our own beloved tacted the AME Zion Methodist thanks. Paul Robeson! Revels Cayton, Shirley Graham, Alphaeus Hunton,’ Modjeska M. -Simkins. preacher and he said that he My husband, and his entire " Editor: LOUIS E. BURNHAM General Manager: GEORGE B. MURPHY, Jr. Cordially, and. with every would ask his membership to family, always felt that FREE- good wish for the continued Associate Editor; LORRAINE HANSBERRY~ Bus. Mgr: BERTRAM ALVES subscribe to FREEDOM, but DOM was our paper. We have growth of the United Freedom 0c per copy; subscription rate—$1.00 a year you know how it is with a good Jong stood for the principles Fund. Application for entry as second class matter is ‘pending. many of the members on strike expressed in our paper. My Lena Caldwell ee au PE wie re ay and on the picket line—they husband fought. im: the front Menlo. Park, California:

FREEDOM Page 7 Old Timers’ Eyes Grow Misty Recalling Florence Mills one of Harlems biggest fu- By LORRAINE HANSBERRY the last car of the cortege nerals: forced its way through the F Oldtimer$ in the theater like to remember Florence Mills. Ask those who knew her “A vast throng of more than mass that had sprouted as a child star and then as one of the most famous and beloved entertainers of her era. 150,000 persons lined Lenox through the police lines into Whey will sit back in their chairs and let their eyes wander off to the early twenties and and Seventh Avenues for the the streets . . . Florence Mills funeral procession. . . . Win- to whom the little chorus girl they will say, “She was a born singer. That girl had a voice like a natural bird, yes she dows were solid with dark Jeaning over the casket had @id. And dance? I can see her now just dancing and sing: ing. She loved it so.” faces. Fire escapes were packed said, “Bye-bye honey,” .rode up Florence Mills came with 4 1 and roof tops fringed. eS: Seventh Avenue.” her family to New York from

Washington D.C. when she was about three years old. She and her sisters used to sing Ccnversation From Life around the neighborhood to help take care of the family. By ALICE CHILDRESS

When she was eleven they were booked at McNabe Nick- GOT TO GO SOMEPLACE elodeum. Once a week for your nickel you could see “The Mills Marge, I am very sorry and Trio”—Maud, Olivia and little you will have to excuse me but Florence—dancing and singing I don’t feel like devlin’ any and making the audience wild more eggs, neither do I feel with applause. like making any more potted ham sandwiches and further- Two young Negro writers, more I ain’t so hot on going to Chris Smith and Richard Mc- no picnic. : .. Yes . ...I know Pherson, saw the act and put it was my idea and please Florence into a show they had don’t jump salty because I am written, called ‘“Schooldays.” going. I only said I didn’t feel The little show at the Savoy like going. Theater on 34th Street was a Yes my mind is disturbed. big hit and it wasn’t long be- Now you know I have never fore Gus Edwards. came up been a fearful woman. In fact with a similar show for Broad- I have always prided myself on way with a white cast full of how I'll stand up to anybody— eager young unknowns like but to tell the God honest Walter Winchell, Al Jolson and truth, I am scared. . .. yes I You know, when [ went to Eddie Cantor. am scared to go on this picnic. buy those groceries a grey con- Lew Feslie went to see I have been thinking about vertible car almost run me, “Schooldays” and when the those two Blacknall men that down ... yes that is an ordi- plans he had for casting Ger-- was killed in Yonkers. ... Now nary happening ... but I no- trude Sanders in the lead of they were out enjoying them- ticed it was flying one of them his “Shuffle Along” didn’t FLORENCE MILLS selves and was shot and killed confederate flags ...and that’s work out, he remembered the by a man named La Bensky. something to think about. plucky young dancer from the And every Sunday afternoon land wrote in Theatre Arts: Now you know the jury set him , Oh yes Marge—I am going to - Smith-McPherson’ show and at four, we from the show used “Apart from the quite amazing scot free. After I read that I the picnic. ... I shall take my sent for Florence Mills. She to get all dressed up and go dancing and the fine talent of begun to search my mind for life in my hands and go to the got the part. That was a lucky up to her house for a social— Florence Mills, the result is of any one time when a white beach. After all we got to go - day for Florence Mills and not the big shots, just us with no particular import.” person got the chair or was somewhere—sometime. Lew Leslie. His show was a hit, the bit parts and in the chorus. Then came the big chance hanged for killin one of my but his star was the bigges: She would have sandwiches to tour Europe with the Black- folks and it come to me that if and her husband would get a hit. Birds of 1926. Almost nobody it had ever happened, I never Dunjee Honored “ew York liked Florence professional piano player and knew about the appendicitis heard of it. I got goose pimples Millis. Audiences beat their we had just grand times.” and one of the few who did all over ... because it was all hands long minutes after the Even the critics liked Flor- know advised that the opera- of a sudden clear as day that At NAACP Meet curtains went down. Her fel= ence. Variety, the entertain- tion could wait—she should a white preson can kill a col- OKLAHOMA CITY—Tribute Jow workers liked her too. “The ment trade publication, wrote: make the tour first. ‘ered person and it will be al- was paid to Roscoe Dunjee, ‘big time’ never bothered her “Florence Mills—petite and So Florence Mills went on a right. . . . I think of it on the militant editor of The Black head.” They still remember, pretty—is the personification teur of Europe. London and subway, in the street—every- Dispatch, at a testimonial din- “Why she used ‘to leave the of refinement. . . . This little Paris agreed with New York where. I am a walking target. ner held during the 43rd an- theater on 63rd Street after the lady has been brought prom- that this was a great star. She Now I am a good woman, but nual convention of the Nation-: show and walk home to 133rd inently to the attention of the- returned home almost a year if I was not, the law is so fixed al Association. for the Ad- where she lived almost every atrical managers by her ad- later in a wreath of glory and so that I could not go ‘round vancement of Colored People. evening. All the other stars had mirable work of a quality and with a fatal case of appendi- killin. folks if I want to live A member of the NAACP big flashy cars. We used to call temperament. unusual in the eitis. myself... but anybody can kill board of directors since 1934, her: ‘Lady Florence.” She was coo, Tera The operation was too late, me. And that is why I cannot he has led in the fight for full the sweetest, mildest tempered Of Al Wood’s From Dixie To and a few days later reporters look forward to a picnic with citizenship since he founded. young woman you ever met. Broadway in 1925 Robert Gar- wrote accounts of what was enjoyment. his paper 37 years ago.

Stories for Children Peter Poyas Said: ‘Die Silent As You Shall See Me Do’ Forty years before the Civil War was fought storehouses and arsenals were made and care- . and the slaves were made free by the Emanci- fully studied. All-the available horses in the pation Proclamation a great man named Den- district were in readiness for the appointed mark Vesey went among the slaves saying: “As hour when the great revolt was to begin: 12 the children of Israel were delivered out of the ‘o'clock Sunday night, June 16, 1822. bondage of Egypt—we must deliver ourselves.” A traitor who accidentally learned of the Denmark Vesey was brought to this country plans went to his master and told him of Den- when he was about 15 years and his real mark Vesey and his followers. Two days he- African name was Telemaque. fore the revolt was to begin 135 leaders were When he was 34 years old he bought his arrested and tried. Thirty-eight of them were freedom from his master and began to niake sentenced to death. plans for a great revolt that was to free all As they sat in prison waiting to die, they the slaves in South Carolina and then spread were told that they could save their lives and — throughout the South. win their freedom by telling the names of the He began an organization of slaves, men slaves whose names had been on the lists they like Peter Poyas and Rolla Bennett and Gullah had destroyed before they were arrested. Jack and Frank Ferguson and Mingo Harth It was then that the young leader Peter and Batteau Hammett. They were very brave Poyas passed before them on his way to death and worked very hard. j { and said; “Die silent, as you shall see me do.” " By 1822 they had secretly organized 9,000 ~ The other men died as he did, and because Negroes. Two hundred and fifty spike heads of their bravery hundreds of other Negroes‘ and bayonets. and 300 daggers had been made lived to plan and take, part. in many other re- and hidden. in the'earth. Maps of gun ‘powder’ | « hues volts right up to the Civil.War, ...... - wt

Page 8 FREEDOM

We Hollered for Help Robeson Concert Crowds — And You Answered On June 18 we sent an urgent letter to each member of the FREEDOM family outlining our critical financial situation and to Peekskill hollering for heip. _ Give Answer Our letter asked you to renew your subscription if due and asked for an additional donation to keep us going over the sum- i Next. month will be the third anniversary of that time when a bloody, battered mer months, Loe of 45 men stood in a narrow, dark New York road. They fought off a pack of hood- The response thus far has been gratifying, but by far the lums who, spurred on by the American Legion and assorted government officials, had large majority of readers remain to be heard from. out in full force to stop a somite summer concert. That was Peekskill, Aug., 1949. Are you one who has not yet replied? If so, please hunt up turned our letter with the simple reply card and postage-free envelope fk To most honest Americans and let us hear from you this week. If you have mislaid the what happened at Peekskill letter just put a contribution into an envelope and send it in looked like the very end today. of the last few bits of If you have already responded, tee se adcent “this: assed grate- | freedom still left in the country. What the attacks of the press, radio and government “Classified Ads STORE YOUR, FURS agencies could not do was now at a Reliable. Furrier to be officially accomplished by Listings in this section are We will remodel your fur coats _ brute violence. available at 40c a line (five at a reasonable price. We also fk. A second concert was held at words); minimum charge $2 per haye new fur coats and stoles at insertion. Copy deadline the 20th Peekskill and 25,000 people money-saving prices. We pick up of the month before publication. your storage by appointment. came and again there were Payment must accompany copy. attacks. Address: Classified, Freedom, 53 MAX KUPERMAN |. Some people predicted that W. 125th St., New York 27, N.Y. 214 W. 30th St. BR 9-3733

this meant the beginning of our country’s emergence into a TRUCKING terrible, lawless freedom-less JIMMIE & SPIKE'S MOVING and pick-up service, large & small jobs, way of life called—fascism. metropolitan area and resorts, short = WEEKENDS } . They said that Paul Robeson notice or plan ahead. 24 hour tele- AND VACATION AT eould no longer sing in con- phone service UN 4-7707, certs, for the people would be CAMP LAKELAND INSURANCE autiful Sylvan Lake, intimidated and would not SAMUEL. LEVINE, INSURANCE LL JUNCTION, N. ¥. come for fear of their safety. BROKER All forms of insurance handled: auto, fire, aceident and TOPS in entertainment, dancing, |. Other people understood bet- food and sportse ter how freedom is fought for. health, life, etc. 950 Leggits Ave., Bronx 55. Tel. MO 9-7041. Mendy Shain heads a Social Staff Paul Robeson was himself including Margaret McCaden, among them. He said, “These RESORTS—New York Meyer & Luba Eisenberg, Edith concerts shall go on. And I CITY SLICKER FARM, Jefferson- Segal, Véra Nickoloff, Lorenzo Conyers, Murray Lane & others. shall go on, And I shall go on ville, N.Y. Forget the alarm clock! speaking for the full rights of Gorustic. Barn dances, swim, sports, From $40 @. Family Plan, food galore, artistic rooms, Children Children’s Day Camp my people up and down this % rate to 12. Booklet. Tel, Cal- 1 Union § 3 AL 35-6283 America.” licoon 321 J2. } Now in 1952, three years after oon Peekskill, Paul Robeson has for his young admirers after the just completed a three month PAUL ROBESON signs autograph CAMP UNITY concert tour of fifteen cities New York appearance on his recently concluded concert tour. Maple Tree Farm Inn) from coast to coast, during Adult Interracial Camp which he sang to an estimated Box 143, Rifton, N. Y. adelphia, Newark, Detroit, and one which stated: ‘“%.—The Weekly Rates: 85 miles from George Washington total of 80,000 people, mixed occupancy must be eli- Bridge. Route 4-17 to Monroe, } Forty thousand people from Boston. $40-$43 per person minated. . . .” In Pittsburgh N.¥., Route 208 to New Platz In Chicago the city officials Route 32 to first iron bridge, turn _ the United States and Canada Negro-white audiences consti- Group Rates_on Request the doors of the halls (10 or more) right on 213 one mile to Rifton, J | jammed Peace Arch Park at the closed tute a fire hazard in the eyes | Canadian Border. For miles to Robeson and again the Ne- A. Distinctive Colonial Inn of the Department \of Public All Sports, incl. fishing, boat- midst Scenic Surroundings. around all you could see were gro churches were pressured. Safety. ing, swimming, tennis, arch- A Perfect Honeymoon or second open air concert of people, people, people — and The The determined sponsors cor= ery. Programs every nite Vacation Spot. | there was not a single heckler, the tour was held in Washing- rected the first six conditions followed by dancing to Excellent cuisine, 3 meals daily. | not one act of violence, not one ton Park in the heart of the Swimming, horseshoes, badmin- and ignored the seventh and “THE RHYTHMNIZERS” second largest Negro commu- ton, basketball, croquet, barn ‘shout of hatred. the concert was held. Four } .In Seattle, concert sponsors nity in the country, and Paul Staff features: ROBERT McFERRIN, dancing. Horseback riding. near- hundred people filled the little GERALDINE OVERSTREET, BILL by. Planned entertainment, | Were denied the use of a muni- Robeson sang to 15,000 people. hall while great numbers more ROBINSON, BOB ‘De CORMIER, Rate: $40 and $45 per week | cipal auditorium. They took the In Pittsburgh where people listened through loudspeakers HESH BERNARDI, JOLLY ROBIN- American Pian ) issue to court. They won. and go to jail for fighting Jim Crow, For illustrated folder write: which carried the concert onto SON, LARRY MOYER, J. KIRSTEIN. | the concert was held. all doors were closed. Churches Thomas De Gregory, owner-megrt, the sidewalk, (no tipping) or phone Rosendale 3584 } In Berkeley there were public again had been threatened and

The programs of the 14 con- \thearings to decide if Robeson individuals intimidated until it For servations call AL 5-6960-1, certs included Moussorgsky, or write to 1 Union Square, Patronize ‘should be granted the use of looked as though there would Yiddish folk songs, English Room 610, New York City 3 4@ Board of Education building be no concert in Pittsburgh. A noreearre: none’ Freedom Advertisers folk songs, Spanish folk songs, ;for a concert. The people Jone Negro businessman offered Old Man River and songs of ; turned out in numbers at the his hall. It was small, he said, the Negro people. There were }thearing to express their. feel- could only hold about 400 peo- ings, and the concert was held. ple. As soon as the sponsors readings from Pablo Neruda aT Ay A MOST and Othello. Hostile critics } And concerts were held across agreed on the hall, the police across the country begrudging- WONDERFUL the country in Cleveland, New sent out a building inspector NN ly commented that Robeson’s LAKE VACATION | Work, San Francisco, Los An- who promptly found seven fire nay) a ee NY yoice was “grand as ever,” YOU CAN geles, Denver, Milwaukee, Phil- violations, including a Curious that it was “warm and moy- AFFORD ae ee nae a ing” and still the “greatest bass _ INTERRACIAL — baritone.” DINE e DANCE e SPORTS FREEDOM ASSOCIATES So it is that three years after ENTERTAINMENT 53 West 125th St., New York 27, N.Y. Peekskill tens of thousands of Leading Stars of Professionally Americans who love the voice Stage, Screen Television Supervised Enclosed is one dollar each for the following annual sub- of Robeson, who love the mes- Movies, Swimming, Boating, Nite Patrol Children’s Championship Tennis Courts DAY scriptions te FREEDOM: sage of peace and human dig- cAMP nity which they associate with RESERVE DATE NOW — N. Y. OFFICE 250 W. 26th ST. him as well as his music, may WaAtkins 4-6600 White Lake 350

yet buy a ticket or pack a NAME (erint) Wr picnic lunch and go hear him

sing. AAAS

Address Zone No, State Peekskill was real, it was very San Cristobal Valley Ranch real. It was the reality of terror and the strangulation of — Interracial — e freedom, The success of this NAME (print) 1952 concert is the people’s be- HORSEBACK RIDING © TROUT FISHING ©® COOK-OUTS lated but thunderous answer COMMUNITY NIGHT © THEATRE NIGHT © DANCING

to Peekskill; Paul Robeson be- CUVEWHTEVOHTUEY TRIPS TO INDIAN PUEBLOS & FESTIVALS Address City Zone No,’ State longs to the people! No amount of repression can keep his great Fer Information and Reservations write: Also enclosed find $...... in support of the program art from the great audiences which it calls forth and which Craig & Jenny Vincent, San Cristobal, New Mexico of Freedom Associates. the struggle for peace and free-

TRUCE dom must provide,