LILLIAN SMITH

OLD aCREAMI!:!1 MOUNTAIN CLAYTON. GEORGIA

Only the Young and the Bmve

H ere are six letters which only the young and the brave could have wriucn. Each tells with simplicity and grace how it felt to be ca uglll up in the students' movement of nonviolent protest: how it felt to be beaten and pushed around by hoodlums and, in some towns, by policemen; how it felt to be hustled off to jail and bull pen; how it felt after one got there; and how it now feels to analyze what one did or failed to do, and what one flllls t do, next time. For there will be "next times": you are sure of it as you read. I was deeply moved by these stories. There is validity in them; and thoughtfulness. and modesty, and a nice understatement. But courage shines through-as do the high spirits and gaiety and refusal to resent which turned some nasty ordeals into significant experience, and even into adventure. Do not misunderstand, please, my use of "advenlu1·e." These stu­ dents are high hearted, they can laugh, thank God, at the crazy, mad absurdities of life in a segregated culture; they ca n shrug off the obscenities; and I honor them for it. But they are serious, they have suffered and will suffer again; they have made grave, enduring commitments and have found the courage to risk; but nonc of it has been easy. Nor should it be easy for us to accept thei r sacrifice and suffering. Let's not forgct that these students are going to jail not only for their freedom but for yours and mine; not only because they have been hurt by' the indignities of segregation but because we all have been hurt. As I watch them, as I see the movement spread (rom college to college and city to city, I am deeply stirred as are millions o( other Americans. What is it we feel ? what do we hope (or? I can answer only for myself: For me, it is as if the No Exit sign is about to come down (rom our age. It is the begi nning of new things, of a new kind of leadership. If the white students will join in ever-increasing numbers with these Negro students, change will come; their expe­ rience of suffering and working together (or what they know is right; the self-disci pline, the refusa l to act in violen ce or think in violence will bring a new spiritual life not only to our region but to our entire country. But yo u and I must help: first, by understanding what non·violent resistance means, what its possibilities are; and second, by giving these students our personal support. They need money, yes; but they need even more to know that we are with them. ~laha"'" thro:,:~,,~~~,:: freedom Florida A if At

I am writing this in Leon County J ail. My sis­ would wait, took out our books and started read­ ter Priscilla and I, five other A & M students and ing-or at least, we tried. one high school student are serving 60-day sell. The regular customers continued to cat. 'Vhen tences for our participation in the sit-ins. ,"Ve one man finished, the wa itress said: "Thank you could be out on appeal but we all strongly be­ for staying and eating in all this indecency_" T he lieve that Martin Luther King was right when man replied: "What did you expect me to do? I he said: "We've got to fill the jails in order to paid for it. " win our equal rights. " Priscilla a nd I both ex­ One man Slopped behind Bill Carpenter briefly plained this to our parents wh en they visited us and said: " I think you 're doing a fine job: just sit the other day. Priscilla is supposed to be on a righ t there." A yo ung white hoodlum then came special diet and mother was worried about her. up behind Bill and tried to bait him into an argu­ We did our best to dispel her worries. 'Ve made ment. Unsuccessful , h e boasted to his friends: " I it dear that we want to serve-out ollr full time. bet if I disjoint him, he'll talk." When Bill didn't Students who saw the inside of the coun ty jail respond, he moved on. A number of tough look­ before I did and were released on bond, reported ing characters wandered into the store. In most that conditions were miserable. They did not ex· instances the waitress spotted them and had them aggerate. It is dank and cold. 'Ve are in what is leave. 'Vhen a few of them started making de­ called a "bull tank" with four cell s. Each cell has risive comments, the wa itress said, about us: "You four bunks, a commode and a small sink. Some can sec they aren't here to start anything." Al­ of the cells have running water, but ours does though the counters were cl osed 20 minutes after not. Breakfast, if yo u can call it that, is served at our arrival, we stayed until 2 p.m. 6:30. Another meal is served at 12:30 and in the evening, "sweet" bread and watery coffee. At first The second sit-in at ' ""ool\\'orth's occurred a I fou nd it dillicult to eat this food. Two ministers week later. The waitress saw us sitting down and visit us every day. Sundays and 'Vednesdays are said : " Oh Lord, here they come again!" This lime regular visit ing days, but our white visitors wh o a few white persons were participating, secretly. came at first are no longer permitted by the au­ They si mpl)' sal and continued eating, without thorities. comment. The idea was lO demonstrate the reality of eating together withollt coercion , contamination There is plenty of time to think in jail and I or cohabitation. Everything was peaceful. 'Ve sometimes review in m y mind the events which re

Thereupon, we formed two groups and headed The students moved back toward campus. Sev­ for the variety stores. T he 17 who went to Mc­ eral girls were taken to the university hospital to. Crory's were promptly arrested. The group head­ be treated for burns. Six students were arrested, ed for ,"Yool worth's was met by a band of white bringing the total arres ts fo r the day to 35. Bond hoodlums armed with bats, sticks, knives and was set at $500 each and within two days all other weapons. They were followed by police. T o were out. avoid what seemed certain violence, the group The II of us arrested on February 20 were called of[ the sit_in at \Voolworth's and returned tried on j\'larch 17. There was no second post· to the campus in an orderly manner. ponement. The trial started p romptly at 9:30. Five additional charges had been made against us, but We asked the president of the student body to were subsequentl y dropped. During the trial, mobili ze the students for a peaceful march down­ Judge Rudd tried to keep race out of the case. town. He agreed but first tried, without success, to He said it was not a factor in our arrest. But we arrange a conference with the mayor. realize it was the sole factor. The mayor in his However, the mayor was not too busy to direct testimony used the word "nigger" freely. \-lie were the city, county and state police who met us as convicted and sentenced to 60·days in jail or a we neared the downtown area. There were 1000 $300 fine. All II had agreed to go to jail but of us, in groups of 75-each with two leaders. Our three paid fin es upon advice of our altorneys. hastily printed pos ters sa id: " Give Us Our Stu­ So, here I am servi ng a 60-day sentence along dents Back," "We Will Not Fight i\-f obs," "No wi th seven other CORE members. \Vhen I get Violence," "\ \le \,Vant Our Rights: \ Ve are Amer­ ou t, I plan to carryon this struggle. I feel I shall icans, Too." be ready to go to jail again if necessary.

~ortsmouth: a lesson in nonviolence ~ by Edward Rodman Norcom High School

Life is and always has been unpredictiblc. Little the first sit-in of Portsmouth's history took place. did I or any one else know the startling effects There was no violence, but no one was served. the fi rst sit·in at Greensboro would have on us \Ve sat until the lunch counter at Rose's Variety in Portsmouth, Virginia. The only previous inte­ Store closed. gration here had been on the buses, and, very Our group was a loosely-knit collection of high recently, in the Public Library. The Negro youth school students, each with the same ideal: "Equal­ of Portsmouth had good reason to be impatient. ity for A IL" Frankly speaking, that is about all we had in common. \ Ve were lacking organizat ion, Our story here begins on February 12th, Lin­ leadership, and planning. coln's birthday. Several girls decided to observe the occasion by staging a sit-in, in sy mpathy with By February 15th, our n u mbers had increased the students of North Carolina. So, after school, considerably. \Ve demonstrated at two stores at the Shopping Center. Again we met no obstruc­ asked all the girls to leave, then the hoods. But tion--only a few hecklers, whose worst insults we before I could finish, trouble started. A white boy passed off with a smile. Things were looking good. shoved a Negro boy. The manager then grabbed The newspaper and radio reporters were there the white boy to push him out and was shoved gelling our story. by the white boy. The crowd followed. Outside Our spontaneous movement was gaining mo­ the boy stood in the middle of the street daring mentum quickly. \Ve were without organi za tion; any Negro to cross a certain line. He then pulled we had no leader and no rules for conduct other a car chain and claw hammer from his pocket than a vague understanding that we were not to and started swinging the chain in the air. fight back. 'Ve should have known the conse­ quences, bUl we didn't. He stepped up his taunting with the encour­ agement of others. When we did not respond, he I was late getting to the stores the following became so infuriated that ' he struck a Negro boy day, because of a meeting. It was almost 4:00 p.m. in the face with the chain. The boy kept walking. when I arrived. 'Vhat I saw will stay in my mem­ Then, in utter frustration, the white boy picked ory for a long time. Insfead of the peaceful, non­ up a street sign and threw it at a Negro girl. It violent sit-ins of the past few days, I saw before hit her and the fight began. The white boys, me a swelling, pushing mob of white and Negro armed with chains, pipes and hammers, cut off students, news-photographers, T.V. ca meras and an escape through the street. Negro boys grabbed only two policemen. Immediately, I tried to take the chains and beat the white boys. The hammers the situation in hand. I did not know it at the they threw away. The white boys went running time, but this day I became the sit-in leader. back to their hot rods. I tried to order a retreat. I didn't waste time asking the obviolls ques­ tions: "Who were these other Negro boys from During the fight I had been talking to the store the corner?" "Where did all the white hoods manager and to some newspaper men. I did not come from?" It was ol)\'iotlS. Something was going apologize for our sit-in--only for unwanted fight­ to break loose, and I wallted to stop it. First, I ers of both races and for their conduct. Going home, J was very dejected. I felt that this out­ sugges ted that an all-da), workshop on nonvio­ break had killed our movement. I was not sur­ lence be held February 20. prised the following day when a mob of 3,000 people formed. The fire department, all of the Re\'. Chambers organized an ~d ult committee police force and police dogs were mobilized. The to support our efforts. At the workshop we first police turned the dogs loose on the Negroes-but oriented ourselves to CORE and its nonviolent nOt Oil the whites. Peaceful victory for us seemed methods. I spoke on " Wh)' Nonviolent Action?" distant. exploring Candhi's principles of passive resistance and Martin Luther King's methods in Alabama. Next da)' was rainy and I was thankful that at We then staged a socio_drama acting out the right least no mob would form . At 10:00 a.lll. I received and wrong ways to handle various demonstration a telephone ca ll that was to change our whole situations . . During the lunch recess, we had a course. Mr. Hamilton, director of the YMCA, real·lire demonstration downtown- the first since urged me to bring a few students from the orig­ the fighting. With our new methods and disci­ ina l sit-in group to a meeting that afternoon. I plined organization, we were successful in deler­ did. That meeting was with Cordon Carey, a field ring violence. The store manager closed the coun­ secretary of CORE. We had seen his picture in ter earl )'. We returned to the workshop, evaluated the paper in connection with our recent cam­ th e day's sit-in and decided to continue in this paign for integrated library facilities and we knew manner. We established o urselves officiall y as the he was on our side. He had just left North Caro­ Student Movement for Racial Equality. lina where he had helped the student sit-ins. He told us about CORE and what CORE had done Since then, we have had no real trouble. Om in si milar situations elsewhere. I decided along struggle is not an eas)' one, but we know we are with the othets, that Carey should help us or­ not alone and we plan to continue in accordance ganize a nonviolent, direct action group to con­ with our cOlllmon ideal: equality for all through tinue our peaceful protests in Portsmouth. He nonviolent action.

a community struggle

by Paul Laprad Fisk. U'liuersity

Tlere were about 30 of us in the first group Back in 1958 following the opening of the new of sit-inners arrested in Nashville. It was ap­ Ca in-Sloan store with its segregated eating fa cili­ proximatel), 1:30 p.m. on February 27. We were ties, desegregation of restaurants became a prime escorted from the store by police-not too gentl),. Objective. Starting last fall , Jim Lawson, as T here were cheers from hundreds of people along projects director of the NCLC, began holding the sidewalks. The cheers, I fear, were for the training sessions on nonviolence. which were police, not for us. attended by Fisk and Tennessee A & [ students. During the few minutes it took the paddy Although Nashville was almost completely un· wagon to get from the store to the city jail, [ aware of it. test sit-ins were held at Harvey's de· reflected on what a long way we had come since partment store on Nov. 28. 1959 and at Cain· the idea of sit-i ns first hit Nashville. The present Sloan's on December 5. Hence, the movement action cl imaxes nearly two years of work b)' Jim which spread from Greensboro did not strike a Lawson of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the vacuum when it hit Nashville. Rev. Kelly Miller Smith of the Nashville Christian The morning of February 10. Jim Lawson called Leadership Conference, and Nashville CORE. me to say that CORE's field secretary Gordon R . Carey and the Rev, Douglas Moore had called As might be expected, even the jail cells in him from Durham asking Nashville to help the Nashville are segregated. Two other white stu· North Carolina sit·ins, I told him I would talk dcnts and I wcre isolated from the others in a with some of the students on campus. They were fairl y large room, but we managed to join in the already quite excited over the North Carolina singing which ca me from the horribly crowded developments. cells where the Negro students were confined. The next evening we were able to get together There were 81 of us, in all, arrested that day. about 50 students [rom Fisk, A & I and American ' Ve hadn't been in jail more than a half hour Baptist ~fheological Seminary. We decided to go before food was sent into us by the Negro mer­ into action and the first sit-in took place Febru· chants. A ca ll for bail was issued to the Negro ary 13. About 100 students participated-at three community and within a couple of hours there stores: Woolworth's McLellan's and Kress's. \Ve was twice the amount needed. were refused service and remained scated until Our trials were February 29. The regular city the stores dosed. There was no hostility. Five judge refu sed on a technicality to hand le the cases days later, we tried again. T his time 200 students and appointed a special judge whose bias was so took part and we were able to cover a fo urth fl agrant that Negro lawyers defending us were store, Grant's. shocked . At one point, Z. Al exander Looby, a First sign of possible violence came on February well -k nown NAACP attorney and City Council 20, a Saturday, with school out and the white member, threw up his hands and commented: teenagers downtown. Some of them jeered at the " What's the use!" During the two days I sat in demonstrators. At Walgreens, the fift h store to be court, every policeman who testified under oath, covered, a bQr got into a violent argument with stated that we had been sitting quietly at the a white cooed from Fisk . lunch counters and doing nothing else. T he judge's verdict on disorderly conduct Police were present during all of these sit-ins, charges was "guilty." 1\·lost of us were fined $50 but did not make arrests or attempt to interfere and cos ts. A few of the cases are being appealed with the demonstrators. Between February 20 and as test cases. Nex t, we were all re-arrested on state 27, however, a merchants committee called upon charges of conspiracy to obstruct trade and com­ Mayor Ben West to halt the sit-ins. He said city merce, but the d istrict attorney general has ex­ attorneys had advised him that anyone has the pressed doubts as to the validity of th is charge right to sit at a lunch counter and request serv­ and to date no indictments have been returned ice. However, he expressed the viewpoint that it by the grand jury. is a violation of law to remain at a lunch counter after it has been dosed to the public. On March 2 another 63 students were arrested at Nashville's two bus stations- Greyhound and This set the stage for February 27, again a Trailways. They too were charged with disorderly Sa turday. Every available man on the police fo rce conduct and then co nspiracy. It begail to look as had been ordered into the downtown area at the though we might well fi1l the jails. The next day, time of otlr demonstration. I was with the student however, a new development occurred. At the group which went to 'Voolworth's. Curiously, no urging of the Friends Meeting, the Community police we re inside the store when wh ite· teenagers Relations Conference, the Ministerial Association and others stood in the aisles insulting us, blow­ and other groups, Mayor 'Vest appointed a 7- man ing smoke in our £ac~, gr inding out cigarette bi-racial committee to try to work out a solution. butts on our backs and, finally, pulling us off our Although some Negroes expressed doubts about stools and beating us. Those of us pulled off our whether the committee was truly representative, seats tried to regain them as soon as possible. But we decided to discontinue the sit-ins temporarily none of us attempted to fight back in any way. to give it a chance to deliberate. However a boy­ Failing to di ~ rup t the sit_in, the white teenagers cott of the stores by the Negro community was filed out. T wo or three minutes later, the police started at this time. By March 25 we felt the com­ entered and told us we were under arrest. To mittee had had sufficient time to answer what is date, none of the whites who attacked us have essentially a moral problem and we took action been arres ted, although Police Chief D. E. Hosse again. This time we covered an additional drug­ has ordered an investigation to find out why. store, Harvey's, and Cain & Sloan's. Only four stu_ dents were arres ted- all at the drugstore. Police plan presented by the Mayor's Committee ignores appeared to have received orders not to molest us. the moral issues involved in the struggle for hu­ This sit_in provoked a violent reaction from man rights." \Ve were not prepared to accept Governor Buford Ellington, who charged that it "integrated facilities" while "whites only" coun· was " instigated and planned by and staged for ters were maintained. the convenience of Columbia Broadcasting Sys· OemollStrations were resumed April II. tem. " The charge stemmed from the fa ct that twO One final note should be added about the ef­ CDS documentary teams had been with us for a fects of the sit-ins here. They have unified the week, filming our meetings and gelling material Negro community in an unprecedented manner. for "Anatomy of a Demonstration." Of course, the The boycott proved effective in sharply curtailing idea that we would stage a sit-in purely for the seasonal Easter business in the variety stores. On convenience of cameramen is too ridiculous. April 19, within only a few hours after the bomb­ Meanwhile, the first breaks in the pattern had ing of Looby's home, over 2500 demonstrators occurred. On March 16, four Negro students marched 'on City Hall. Adult leaders have as­ were served at the Greyhound bus station (see sured us that. even if the students suddenly van­ photo). ished from the scene, the action campaign would The Ma yor's committee announced it had been continue unabated, In Nashville. this is not a read y to report but. beca use of the March 25 stU(lents·only struggle. sit-in, was unable to do so. On April 5 the com­ I could not close without reference to the aca· mittee recommended that for a 90-day trial period demic freedom fi ght involving Jim Lawson. one the stores " make available to all customers a por­ of three Negro students at Vanderbilt's divinity tion of restaurant facilities now operated exclu­ school. He was expelled March 3 because of his sively for white customers" and that pending cases "strong commitment to a planned campaign of against the sit-in participants be dropped. civil disobcdi~n ce," He did not actually partici· The plan of the Mayor's committee was rejected pate in the sit-ins, but he has been our advisor by the store management and by the student lead· and counselor throughOU t. His expulsion has ers. The students said "The suggestion of are· touched off a storm of protest not only in Nash­ st ricted area involves the sa me stigma of ' which' ville but in academic and ministerial circles from we are ea rnes tly trying to rid the community. T he coast to coast. ~angeburg, behind the carolina stockade by Thomas Gaither Claflin College

On March 16 many newspapers throughout the spired by the example of the students in Rock world carried a photo showing 350 arrested stu­ Hill, first South Carolina city where lunch counter dents herded into an open-air stockade in Orange­ sit·ins occurred. \Ve, too, feel that stores which burg, South Carolina. graciously accept our money at one counter, should not rudely refuse it at another. We de· 1 was arrested later in the day while marching in protest in front of the courthouse. · I didn't cided to request service at- Kress's lunch counter. realize ulltil scrutinizing the stockade photo much later, that the scene shown was unusual-to say But first, we felt that training in the principles the least-and would provoke questions from and practice of nonviolence was needed. \Ve formed classes of about 40 students each over a newspaper readers unfamiliar with the local scene. period of three to four days. Our ehief texts were the pamphlet "CORE Rules for Action" and What were all these well-dressed, peaceable· Martin Luther King's inspirational book, "Stride looking students doing in a stockade? 'Vhy weren't Toward Freedom." In these sessions we empha· they inside the jail if they were under arrest? How sized adherence to nonviolence and discussed come that such un·criminal·appearing youths were various situations which might provoke violence. arrested in the first place? Could each one of us trust our God and our The story begins about a month before when temper enough to not strike back even if kicked, we students in the Orangeburg area became in- sla pped or spit upon? Many felt they could dis· cipline themselves in violent si tuations. Others were ordered to remove their signs or face arrest. were hones t enough to admit they could not and They were informed that an anti-picketing or­ decided not to participate until they felt surer of dinance had been enacted that same day. themselves on this issue. Inside the store, the counters were stacked After the initial briefing session, two group with trash cans. Not more than two Negroes at spokesmen were chosen: one from Claflin College a time were bei ng permitted to enter. Each day and one from SOUlh Carolina State COllege. our spokesmen checked the counter. Meanwhile Their duty was to chart action plans for February some 1.000 Claflin and South Carolina State 25. They checked the entrances of the Kress store students were receiving training for the mass and counted the number of stools at the lunch demonstartions which were to follow. coulller. The number of minutes it takes to walk The first such demonstration started at 12:30 from a central point on campus to Kress's was on March 1. Over 1,000 students marched through timed exactly. From our training groups,. we the streets of Orangeburg with signs saying: "All picked 40 students who felt confident in the tech· Sit or All Stand," "Segregation is Obsolete," "No niques of nonviolence. After further training and Color Line in Heaven" and "Down With Jim­ some prayer we felt prepared for action. crow." At 10:45 a.m. on February 25. students from Not long after reaching the main street, the Claflin and So uth Carolina State left their respec· marchers were met by a contingent of state police tive ca mpuses in groups of three or four, with one who requested identification of leaders and asked person designated as group leader. The groups that the signs be taken down. The group leaders followed three routes, walking at a moderate were informed that they would be held responsible pace. which would ensure their arriving at the for any outbreak of violence and that if this oc­ store simultaneously. curred. they would be charged with inciting to The first fifteen students went in and sat down riot. There was no violence. Only two persons at the lunch counter. After they had been there were arrested. and these were not participants. about a quarter of an hour, signs were posted After the March I demonstration, the lunch saying that the counters were closed in the in· counters were closed for two weeks. lYith a view terest of public safety. to strengthening our local movement and broad­ The first group then left and another group ening it on a statewide basis, the South Carolina of about 20 studellls lOok their scats. The mal~ ager Student Movement Association was es tablished. I then started removing the scats from the stands. was named chairman of the Orangeburg branch. Each student remained sealed until his seat was We initiated a boycott of stores whose lunch removed. A fe w students were jostled by police. counters discriminate. A number of hoodlums were in the store, some March 15 was the day of the big march- the of whom carried large knives and -other weapons. one in which 350 students landed in the stockade. unconcealed. However. no violence occurred. By The lunch counters had reopened the previous closing time the seats were still o ff their stands day and a si t-in was planned in addition to the and nobody was being served. march. Governor Hollings had asserted that no We returned to the store next day. following such demonstration would be tolerated. Regard­ the sa me plan of action. At fi rst the seats were ing us. he said: "They 'think they can violate an y still down but by 11 :30 those at one end of the law, especially if they have a Bible in their hands: counter were screwed -on and some white people our law enforcement officers have their Bibles were served. lYe students stood along the rest of too." the counter until 3:30. By this time. additional Of co urse, we were violating no law with ottr students had joined us and we were several rows peaceful demonstration. As (or the law enforce­ deep. At 4, the store closed. ment officers h.aving their Bibles. they may have The next day, Saturday. we decided against them at home. but what they had in their hands sitting-in. 'Ve had sought and obtained clearance the day of our demonstration were tear gas bombs from the chief of police to picket and we were and firehoses, which they used indiscriminately. prepared to start on Monday. However. no sooner The weather was sub-freezi ng and we were com­ had some 25 students starfed picketing than they pletely drenched with water from the hoses. Many of the girls were knocked off their feel by the Claflin College nurse who came to give first aid pressure and fl oundered around in the water. was halted at the court house entrance and Among the students thrown by the water were literally had to force her way inside. several physically handicapped students-one of I was arrested with a group of some 200 students them a blind girl. marching around the co urt house in protest over Over 500 students were arrested. 150 filled the the earlier mass arrests. At first police la id us we city and county jails. T hat's why some 350 were would be penniued to march if we kept moving jammed into the stockade, surrounded by a heavy in an orderly manner but then they announced wire fence about seven fee t high. The enclosure that unless we returned to the campus at once ordinarily serves as a chicken coop and storage we would be arrested. I was seized first as one of space for chicken feed and lumber. There are two the leaders and was held in jail for four hours. tall iron gates. It a~orded no shelter whatsoever The trials of the arrested studelHs started next in the sub-freezing weather. day, a few students at a time. All were eventually In contrast to the cold outside, students in the convicted of " breach of the peace" and sentenced jail's basement were sweating in gO-degree tem­ to 30 days in jailor $100 fine. The cases are peratures emanating from the boiler room. One being appealed to the higher courts. student drenched frQm head to toe was locked Meanwhile, our action program proceed s. "Ye in solitary in a cell with water three inches deep. are set in our goal and, with the help of God, Requests for dry clothing were denied. The nothing will stop us short of that goal.

rouge: higher education-southern style

by Major Johns Southern University (till March 30 when he was expelled for his role i1l the student protest)

Same Negro University and College administra-. and asked, specifically, what would happen to tions have supported their students' lunch counter students who sat-i n. He replied that the Board sit-ins or, at least, have remained neutral. Others had left him no alternative but to expel them. have taken a stand in opposition to the students. On March 28 sevel~ students sa t-in at the Kress Southern University in Baton Rouge and its pres i­ lunch counter. In Jess th an 20 minutes they were dent, Dr. Felton G. Clark fall in this latter arrested. Bond was sel at the astronomical figure category. of $1,500 each. However, the money was promptly Dr. Clark had the opportunity of taking a raised by the Negro community and the students courageous position and becoming one of the were released. A mass meeting was held on cam­ world's most respected educational leaders. In­ pus at which students pledged support of the stead, he ehose to buckle· under to the all-white jailed sit-iners. The following day, nine more State Board of Education, which administers the students engaged in sit-ins at Sitman's drugstore universiLy. and at the Greyhound bus station. They remained Early in March the Board issued a warning in jail six days pending a cOlin hearing and were that any student participating in a sit-in would released on bond April 4. be subject to "stern disciplinary action." The The day after the second arrests, 3,500 students sit-in movement had not yet spread to Baton marched through the center of town to the State Rouge but, as one law student expressed it: Capitol. where we held an hour-long prayer "When the Board spoke, it became a challenge meeting. As chief speaker. I attacked segregation to us and we could not ignore it." A representa· and discrimination not only here in Baton Rouge tive student committee then met wi th Dr. Clark but in other parts of the country. I was unaware that this speech would sever Illy group of hand-picked alumni on the other. We connections with the university before the day 17 were no longer pcnnitlcd on campus. But was over. That aftcrnoon Dr. Clark returncd from twice daily, in the morning and afternoon, we a conference in Washington and immediatel), would address the students from the balcony of cast his lot against the students. He summoned a 2-story house across a railroad track from the faculty members who were known to oppose the ca mpus. By using a loudspeaker we were able to sit·ins and were furthest removed from really make ourselves heard by the large groups of knowing the students. Immediately following this students assembled on the campus-side o( the meeting, he announced the expulsion of 17 stu· track. This went on for two days. dents, the 16 who had participated in the two Unable to get the students back to class, ad­ sit-ins and myself. ministration officials slarted calling their parents This suddenly shifted the focus of the Baton and telling them that the student lcaders were Rouge student protest from lunch counters to inciting to riot. This movc boomcranged: it the university administ ration. As Marvin Robin­ caused many parents to fcar for their sons' and SO n, participant in the first sit·in and president daughters' safety to the extent of summoning of the se nior class exprcssed it, we had a choice: them home. The administration countered by an­ "Which is the more important, human dignity or nouncing that any student who wanted to with­ the university? We felt it was human dignity." draw from the university and go home COlild do so. Such a sizeable number of students applied The students voted to boycott all classes until at the registrar's office ror withdrawal slips (see the 17 of us were reinstated. Lincs were tightly photo) that the administration amended its ruling drawn: the students on one side, the administra· to the effcct that these slips would have to be tion, faculty, State Board of Education, and a co-signed by parents. Meanwhile certain persons in the community suade the committee from (his decision, but with· and on campus moved to negotiate a settlement. out success. They initiated several meetings with administra­ "I tried my best to show them that helping tion officials_ Dr. Clark admitted to friends that the students to leave Southern, even if the uni he had acted in haste, but remained adamant in versity should close as a result, would strike a refusing to re-admit the 17 expelled students_ real blow at segregation," McCain said. Finally, h~ agreed to meet with eight of the stu­ dent leaders. The meeting started at 5 p.m. on Withdrawal of the tran s portation ~ funds was April 2 and lasted until 11:30. Throughout the responsible for reducing considerably the total 6V2-hour meeting over 3,000 students sat in front number of st udents who withdrew in protest. of the building where the meeting was held. When Nevertheless, the number who left on the week· the eight emerged,- announced their decision to end of April 2 was in the thousands. Of those, leave the university, but urged the other students between 1.000 and 1,500 have not yet returned. to stay on and return to classes, there was an out­ As I write this, I do not know the exact number cry. Some burst into tears, others shouted that of students who permanently withdrew to protest they wanted to quit also. The student leaders reaf· an administration which serves segregation and firmed their decision and gave assurance that. discounts human dignity. they had reached it on their own after the The protest movement by students at Southern administration had agreed not to dismiss anyone will long be remembered in Baton Rouge. One else. instruclOr died, another had a heart attack and The following morning. however, the adminis­ we are told that Dr. Clark is under medical tration 'broke its part of the agreement and ex­ care. It is reported by persons dose to Dr. Clark pelled anothef:- student. The leaders thereupon that he has received several hundred letters called a meeting and urged that the students and wires from all over the world- not one of stay out of class. A local citizens' committee, which them complimentary. Dr. Clark. I am sure, has lost had raised bail bond money and had agreed to many friends because of the position he has taken use some of it to help homegoing students pay against his students. Until this protest, Southern their transportation, requested a meeting with University was an island unto itself. Dr. Clark Dr. Clark. The upshot was that the committee was its president si nce 1938 and his father was reversed itself and decided that money raised its president from 1914 lIntil 1938. Southern could be used only for bail bond and not for University will not be able to live by itself any students' bus or rail fares home. longer. How far the community will proceed in continuing the movement which the students Jim McCain, CORE field secretary who had have started, only time will tell. But segregation come to Baton Rouge to help liS, tried to dis- in Baton Rouge has received a severe jolt.

north: "we walk so they may sit"

by Martin Smolin Columbia University ~iS slogan, used widely on picket signs, sum- recently in the New York Times: "The present marizes the aim of thousands outside the south. campus generation has been accused of self-con· National picketing and boycott of variety-store cern and a pallid indifference to social or political chains which segregate at their counters in the questions. This issue appears to have aroused it south is aimed at showing them that segregation as have few others." does not pay. This is definitely true, not only of students In an articl-; headed "Campuses in North Back in the north but in the midwest and far west, Southern Students," McCandlish Phillips wrote from the smallest college to the "big three," Yale, Harvard and Princeton. fare crossed our picket lines. I looked in through At New Haven, 35 Yale medical students the glass doors and could see that the employees picketed local variety stores in four shifts. At looked puzzled at the storc's emptiness on such Saratoga Springs, 20 Skidmore College faculty a busy Saturday afternoon, members joined 200 col1ege girls in a demonstra­ Passersby voiced approval of the pickcting. tion. Many asked to join the line and some did. These are typical of student acttvllies which One woman told me she would be glad to ja in, arc

Compiled mld edited by Jim Peck Designed by Jerry Goldman Published May I¢O by O~GRESS v 0...

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