Volume 1 AUGUST 1961 No.2

Great questions for American democ­ FOR FREEDOM racy were at issue: What would the notorious Governor of Alabama do? What would the U. S. Department of Justice do? Could the Freedom Riders be frightened or crushed? The world now knows the answers to these questions. As the Riders streamed into Ala­ bama and Mississippi, SCLC leaders maintained contact with the Depart­ ment of Justice as well as with some of the local law enforcing agents, and the press. Moreover, A Freedom Ride Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was set up that brought together CORE, SNCC (Student l'lonviolent Coordinating Committee) and SCLC. This closer cooperation among these sister organizations made for a more systematic approach to the Freedom Ride operation. It was realized, how­ Montgomery, Alabama: Left to right the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, Clyde Carter, Bernard Lee, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy. ever, that many individuals and groups with varying backgrounds and .orienta­ tions would join the movement. The SCLC AND THE FREEDOM RIDES coordinating committee insisted upon the discipline of nonviolence and pled SCLC did not initiate the Freedom The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, "Mr. for prominent Americans as well as Rides. That wonderful idea was the Civil Rights" of Birmingham and Sec­ others to bear witness to the cause by creation of CORE (Congress of Racial retary of SCLC, from the very begin­ joining the Rides. Equality.) Everybody who reads the ning played a key role in the Free­ newspapers or looks and listens to a dom Rides. He was CORE's main con­ Some SCLC leaders were rotl !!hed TV or radio knows of the violence tact in Birmingham and sent automo­ up by police and mobs or were jaiied. that the twenty-odd Negro and white biles to rescue the Riders after their Wherever they were, in front or behind bus riders, who headed South on May bus was burned by a mob at Anniston. bars, they kept up their prayerful per­ 4th, encountered when they reached When Shuttlesworth was seized by Bir­ suasion by song, word and conduct. Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama. mingham police, his wife telephoned to To date, SCLC has expended nearly Since the bus drivers refused to take the SCLC home office and was much $15,000 in legal fees, $10,000 in staff them on to Montgomery, the CORE relieved to learn tint" the Rev. Wyatt and transportation, $3,500 in telephone group took a plane for New Orleans, Walker, SCLC Executive Director, was and telegraph communicmions and the terminal point of their journey. already en route to the scene of vio­ nearly $7,000 in cash appeai bonds. At this time, students of the Nash­ lence and con fusion. There are many related expenses which ville Christian Leadership Conference, When the Nashville Riders pushed cannot be tabulated accurately. This is an affiliate of SCLC, picked up the on to Montgomery, it soon became . indeed a \Vortln.vhile though expensive challenge, resolving that a Freedom clear that this would be the crucial task :ommitment. Ride had to go on to Montgomery of the big battle for human dignity. -:)peration Freedom Ride has given and to Jackson, Mississippi and that Accordingly, SCLC leaders in various the nation - and the world - some the segregationists must not be allowed parts of the country dropped whatever re irth of his rhnghter, w f">i rt> n, less of a problem for moderates and financi;l responsibility for the organi­ CU1Ted about the same time. .certain government officials; less of a zation has rested largely upon the confrontation for those who deplore The special civil rights night of tl­ shoulders of our President. He found National Sunday School and BTU Cor confrontations. it necessary to speak continually in SCLC does not recognize "the either­ gress, held in St. Louis, was also n order that our monthly payroll could markably successful. In addition to D. or" theory of social change; rather, the be met. "both-and" theory. It is not the courts King, other SCLC luminaries partie Within .the past year, a substantial paled in the program-the Revs. Abe1 or Sit-Ins; Freedom Rides or political number of our friends and well-wishers action. All of these measures help reach nathy, Shuttlesworth, C. K. Steele c have been persuaded to make and re­ Tallahassee and Kelly Miller Smith c the common goal of freedom and equal­ deem pledges for a definite sum each ity for all of God's children. Nashville. More than 12,000 delegate year and this has enabled us to plan and friends contributed $5,500 tha Thus, SCLC has planned for a ahead a bit, instead of living, so to stepped-up South-wide campaign of Dr. 0 . Clay Maxwell, Congress Presi speak, hand-to-mouth. dent turned over to SCLC. voter registration and hopes to get the Nevertheless, our income is still far large financial support. that such an A dinner for friends who gathered a beneath the call for our services; con­ Theodore K,heel's home netted $7,001 endeavor requires. In the meantime, as sequently, campaigns all over the na­ a sort of pilot project, SCLC is co­ of which Mike Quill's lnternationa tion are still necessary in order to bal­ Transport Workers Union donated $2, operating with the Atlanta citizens ance our budget. Moreover, many of committee to secure some 10,000 new 000, ear-marked for the legal defens' these mass meetings are such great spir- fund of SCLC Alabama leaders wh< voters within a three-month span. Jim . itual experiences that we hope our Wood, Public Relations Director for have been sued for libel by public of friends will see that their contributions ficials in that state. SCLC, is presently giving full time to at the moment of inspiration are fol­ this effort and· SCLC is making other lowe)J by regular, periodic giving dur- Many smaller groups throughout th< country have sent in contributions tha contributions of funds, facilities and ing the months ahead_. . . personnel to this drive. It is hoped that Recently, several 1mpress1ve ralites in proportion to their membership rep new and more effective techniques will were held in different sections of the resent as great gifts as those li stc( be developed in Atlanta so that a sim­ country that demonstrated the financial above. All arc needed and fully ap· pre:ciatcd. ilar methodology may be applied else­ as well as moral support of our cru­ where. sade. The Baptists of the G reater Ncv,; York area sponsored a series of meet­ tD IREC"fOR AND Leadership Training ings that resulted every time i~ a WIFE JAILED It has been found that many per­ standing-room only crowd. At the fmal sons do not vote because they are il­ meeting in Albany, Governor Nelson The newspapers have carrie9 some literate. To this end, SCLC has been Rockefeller was present. Before hand, account of the jailing and treatment ot seeking to set up literacy training cen­ he had held an off-the-record confer­ the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, Execu­ ters that will give potential voters at ence with Dr. King and Rev. Walker. tive Director of SCLC, and his wife, least a "functional literacy" in a very Dr. Sandy F. Ray sent a certified Ann. They were Freedom Riders, whc short while and at the same time intro­ check for $18,000 to SCLC on behalf nn their well-publicized departure from duce them to the general philosophy of the Empire State Baptist Conven­ Atlanta found a mob as the reception of nonviolent social action. tion, the sponsoring organization. . comn1it1ee in Montgomery. T he threat · This venture is · meant to be an on­ In California, Dr. King, along w1th of a bomb that supposedly v;as hidden going, long-range project . . SCLC is such stars of the entertainment world in the bus terminal gave police the ex­ gratified that the Marshall F1e!d Foun­ as Toni Harper, Dick Gregory, Mahalia cuse for not permitting the Freedom dation has granted $26,000 m much Jackson, Herb Jeffries, George Shear­ Riders to enter the Montgomery depot. needed financial support. This has been ing and Sammy Davis, Jr., with the It was being cleared for bomb search­ done in cooperation with the Congre­ Governor of the state and scores of ing. gational Church. other political and ci.vic leaders in at­ Upon arrival in Jackson, Mississippi, After several trys, a training center tendance, appeared before some 20,000 the Walkers and their companions for teachers of literacy has been set-up enthusiastic listeners on June 18th. The were promptly arrested and, as the at Dorchester Community Center in police estimated that more than twice papers have reported, their stay in jail Mcintosh, Georgia, thirty miles south that number had to be turned away were quite rigorous. Upon their release, of Savannah. from the Sports Arena. Some 6,000, a controversy broke out between J ack-­ Mrs. Dorothy Cotton, Educational who waited until the meeting was over, son law-enforcing officials and the Consultant for SCLC, has special re­ were admitted afterwards and for them Walkers. A $275 ring and $75 in cur­ sponsibilities for this prog~am an~ Mr~ . Dr. King obligingly repeated his speech. rency were missing when the jailers Septima Clark, fully expenenced m th1s Over $26,000 was raised. returned the belongings to the prison­ work, has agreed to direct the_ instr~lc­ San Francisco also had a successful ers. When W aiker made these losses tion of these teachers for an mtens1ve public, the Jackson authoritic.s at­ two-weeks course. She has joined pared to teach the would-be vot~rs tempted to put the blame upon f'fcgro SCLC staff. who would learn to re ad and wntc. !rusti cs. H owevcr, the latest word from A number of retired school teachers Many more arc needed . F ri ends and lhc sheriff is :. hat ihe M rs. Walker will have volunteered to take tl!is training well- wishers arc urged to help us re­ pet her wedding ring and money or the in order that they may be better pre- cruit others. ~,he r iff hi msel f will make them good. VIGNETTE OF THE M 0 NTH Record of Suffering Abernathy of Montgomery Abernathy was asked about things in Montgomery. He answered that the It is surprising that so little wrrhng The Rev. Ralph David Abernathy Freedori1 Rides had helped greatly. De­ has come out of the travail and im·· was in Atlanta at the home office of spite the violence, Negroes, along with prisonment of what is presumed to be SCLC over the weekend of July 7th whites, are now using the general wait­ part of the most articulate· sector of .and he looked tired. He had a right to ing rooms at transportation depots and our society. College youths and other appear this way, for there arc few men though reluctantly, officials and depot intcilcctuais, preachers, ano teachers in America who have taken the bat­ managers arc taking down the "white" arc regarded as specialists, who arc tering that Abernathy has. As the and "colored" signs. Local people are endowed with talents and abilities for world knows, Abernathy was second encouraged by the bravery and success reading and writing - not to mention in command every step of the Mont­ of "the outsiders." However, the lid speaking. And yet few poems, essays, gomery bus boycott. Then, when Mar­ is still down on Alabama State College. pamphlets and books have appeared tin Luther King, Jr., shifted his base of Although students from all over the from the pens of pa,rticipants in the operation to Atlanta, Abernathy be-. nation are participants, to date not a civil rights struggle. And this includes came commander-in-chief of the fa­ single 'Barna State student or teacher the Sit-Ins and Freedom Rides. The mous MIA (Montgomery Improvement has joined a Freedom Ride! usual account that the public reads is Association.) This meant that he was Abernathy laughs when he recounts done by some journalist. This is very now the principal target of the segre­ some of his experiences in jail. True well but quite different from what a gationists - and this often meant the to the spirit of nonviolence, the Free-· participant himself would write. law-enforcjng as well as lawless ele­ dom Riders won over other prison in­ In the light of this general condition, ments. Too, hardly a week passed mates and soon had them singing the we are all thankful to the Rev. Wyatt without some direct or snide abuse by songs of freedom. "By now," Aber­ Tee Walker. Not only did he keep a the local press. nathy chuckles, "the movement has no diary while he was in jail in Mont­ Last spring Abernathy was in the doubt sptlf!ad through the prison camps gomery, but has also written up and midst of the anti-jim crow demonstra­ of the whole sovereign state of Ala­ submitted to the · Department of Jus­ tions that rocked the campus of Ala­ bama." tice a clear and succint account of bama State College. He did all that he When the jailers put into a cell sec­ what he and. his fellow passengers un­ could to prevent the slaughter of aca­ tion with the Freedom Riders a pris­ derwent during their Freedom Ride demic freedom - but in vain. There oner whom they hoped would upset from Atlanta to Jackson, Mississippi. before his eyes, he saw faculty mem­ and perhaps assault the non-violcnters, Moreover, Rev. Walker and his wife,· bers kicked out and students expelled the first night he raised such a ruckus Ann, exchanged notes by way of trus­ and those who remained shackled by that nobody could sleep. However, the ties and other messengers while they self-incriminating oaths and a system next day when he recognized Rev. were in the Jackson jail. This corre­ of espionage and surveillance. Abernathy, he, too, joined the move­ spondence gives striking sidelights on Because of an advertisement in the ment and thereafter threw his fits living conditions there. Th('; Afro­ New York Times in the interest of against the guards and jailers. American and the Atlanta Inquirer fund raising for the defense of Martin Despite adversity, good fortune has have published some of these letters Luther King, Jr., and the sit-in stu­ occasionally smiled on Abernathy. He and leaves from the Walker diary. dents, Abernathy, Rev. Joseph E. Low­ has been given a new automobile by We ask all 'jailbirds' - of the Sit­ ery of Mobile and the Rev. Fred Shut­ the joint effort of the people of Mont­ Ins and Freedom Rides especially - tlesworth of Birmingham - all SCLC gomery and California. The Victory to write us a long letter, telling about Board members and the Rev. S. S. Baptist Church of Los Angeles, Dr. the treatment, good and bad, to which Seay, Sr. of the MIA ...,- were sued A. A. Peters pastor, made the presen­ they were subjected and above all, their by Montgomery officials and the Gov­ tation of a I 961 Electra Buick. (His own thoughts and feelings while con­ ernor of Alabama. When the all-white old car was a '56 Century Buick.) fined. juries in local courts decided that the Even better news than that, the Fed­ We will be happy to publish these integration leaders had libeled city of­ eral District Court at Montgomery has singly or as a collection, if the response ficials, Abernathy was stripped of his ruled that Abernathy, Lowery, Shut­ lives up to expectations. For example, few worldly possessions. His joint in­ tlesworth and Seay were fraudulently wouldn't it be wonderful to know what terest, with his sisters and brothers in held responsible for the New York Jim Lawson was thinking while he was the family farm homestead that has Times ad by those officials who were behind the bars or what arc the de­ been established by their parents, was suing them. The three SCLC leaders tails that caused Jim Farmer to issue seized and sold as was his automobile, and the Rev. Seay are now free of suits the public statement that his stay in though it was joint property of his wife. pending and probably will be able to the Mississippi prison tried his very When the Freedom Riders pushed recover damages for the judgment that faith in human nature. through the Montgomery mob, Aber­ has been executed against them. The nathy was right there. His church - two suits that were lost in the lower First Baptist - was the object of the Alabama courts arc now being ap­ . SClC NEV\fS !.HUR ~ young hoodlum mass assault that pealed. Puhlishcr, SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN 1 brought forth the first action of the Rev. Abernathy has received a call LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE I U.S. Marshals. from the West Hunter Baptist Church 208 Auburn Avenue When he, Wyatt Walker, Shuttles­ of Atlanta. This is an attractive offer. Atlanta, Georgia worth, Bernard Lee and others were As we go to press, he is still ponder­ Pht1nc: JAckson 5- 1763 seeing off a contingent of Freedom ing this difficult decision. If Abernathy MARTIN LUTIIER KING, JR., Presidt•lll Riders to Mississippi, they decided to should leave Alabama, it will be a ter~ F. l. S IIUTTLESWORTII, St•c-rcta."J eat at the bus station restaurant. To rible loss. Like Fred Shuttlesworth in RALPII D . AB ERNATHY, Tret:surcr their surprise, they were arrested, even Birmingham, he has become such a bul­ \VYATI" TrE \VALKER, Executive IJirnlor though a similar group had eaten there wark of couraQe and fortitude that it 1.. D. Rl .l>IHCK, Aclin~-: Editor the day before. would be most -difficult to replace him. UNITY King on November I, 1960. For a half dozen years she had . been sec­ Fnrcwdl: retary to J. B. Blayton, Sr., head of the Mulual J."cderal Savi11gs a11d Lu:tu Mrs. Ernestine Brown, who for two Association. Miss McDonald holds the years served as a devoted secretary in B.S. in Business Administration from SCLC's home office, has moved over South Carolina Stat~ College, and col­ to the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation lects antique china m her spare time. at Marietta, Georgia, where she has She succeeded Mrs. Maude L. Bal­ helped make a break-through to posi­ lou, who had served Dr. King through tions previously denied Negroes. the dark days of the famous Mont­ Hail: gomery bus boycott. After four de­ Mrs. Virginia McCartan Brown, voted years to MIA and afterwards to A.B. degree from Clark College, At­ SCLC, Mrs. Ballou accompanied her lanta, has joined SCLC office staff as family when it moved to Virginia last clerk-typist. fall. Mrs. Edwina Hudson Smith, native Mrs. Lillie A. Hunter is another Atlantan, recently returned from Cali­ alumna of the Montgomery struggle. fornia, has been appointed manager of She was Dr. King's secretary at the the SCLC home officf<. She reveals Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where that she attended both San Francisco her record-keeping was so efficient left to right: James Farmer, CORE, Martin State College and the University of that she was invited to become the luther King and Wyatt Tee Walker, SClC and California at Berkeley where she bookkeeper for SCLC. She accepted Ed King, SNCC (not shown in picture) helped studied sociology and anthropology and the position on March 7, 1960. After set up a coordinating committee on the Freedom engagetf in modern and primitive danc­ Rides that represents all' three organizations. working hours, she plays progressive ing during her leisure hours. jazz records and writes poetry. Bernard Lee, leader of the nationally The work of our field representative, CONTRIBUTIONS famous anti-jim crow demonstrations the Rev. Harry Blake, has been out­ of Alabama State College students and standing in Louisiana. Not only has he I wish to contribute to the work of presently continuing his education at assisted many mothers of fatherless SCLC and the social struggle in the Morris Brown College; Atlanta, has children in getting restored to the pub­ South. given valuable assistance to the SCLC lic welfare rolls but Rev. Blake gave staff - especially with the Freedom invaluable assistance to the federal civil NAME ...... :...... Rides. right commission's investigation of Marion Barry, one of Fisk Univer­ voter discrimination and disfranchise­ ADDRESS .... sity's great contributions to the Sit-In ment. Not only did he himself testify (street) movement, has the difficult assignment but he secured many affidavits and per­ of field work for SCLC in Mississippi. suaded several persons to run the risk Diane Nash and Charles Sherrod of of presenting at an open hearing evi­ (city & state) SNCC were also part of operation Mis­ dence of malpractice on the part of sissippi. Louisiana officials who handle· regis­ Amount of Contribution ..... Standbys: tration and voting. Two other SCLC staff members Of our affiliates, the state of Vir­ Send to: S C L C have been with the organization so long gin_ia seems to be forging ahead. It is 208 Auburn Ave., N. E. now that they are "old-reliables" rather now in process of setting up as a state office under the dynamic leadership Atlanta 3, Georgia than "new comers." Miss Dora Edith McDonald became secretary to Dr. of Dr. Milton Reid.

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