Civil Rights Drive Alters Mississippi

Civil Rights Drive Alters Mississippi By JOHN HERBERS Special to The New York Times JACKSON, Miss., Aug. 19- The summer civil rights project in Mississippi, which ends this week, brought few tangible changes in the social order. But many Mississippians feel that the state has passed through a crisis and will never again be the same. The presence of hundreds of college students in Negro com munities, the massive investi gation of the murder of three civil rights workers and the in flux of P.B.I, agents, ministers, lawyers and reporters brought to its citizens a realization that Mississippi is no longer insu lated from the Negro revolution. Even those most opposed to change now say that" the state will not be left alone for a long Continued on Page 13, Column 1 '—f THE NEW YORK JlMEj.jmgSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1964. \ to integrate the public library Mississippi Changed by Drive in the afternoons. The city closed the library. "These kids are really going Of Student Civil Rights Aides to make it hard for white Mis sissippi in years to come," one Continued From Page 1, Col. 2 Investigation organized a of the leaders said. time to come. As a result, they search that produced nothing have become more cautious in until Aug. 3, when the bodies their opposition to segregation, were found in an earthen dam some observers feel. on a farm near Philadelphia. Stickers appeared on automo All three had been shot. An unofficial autopsy showed that biles last week saying: "You Mr. Chaney had been severiy Are in Occupied Mississippi— beaten. The official autopsy has Proceed With Caution." not been released. Sponsors of the civil rights The Philadelphia incident project contend that despite put a hard, bright spotlight on three deaths and other violence the state and on the civil rights the movement succeeded in its project. The F.B.I, opened a primary purpose—to, establish!district office in Jackson and racial integration, if, only on a assigned 136 agents to the state, limited basis. primarily to investigate civil The "freedom schools," com rights violations. munity centers, voter - regis While violence continued, it tration drives and other phases was believed that the presence of the project will continue on of F.B.I agents held white ter a limited basis through the fall rorists in check, even though and winter. the agents offered civil rights Bob Moses, project director, workers little protection outside said a number of the volunteers the investigation field. wanted to stay, and appli- When the project was an- cations had been received frominounced last winter, a pros- others in the North and Westjpectus said the presence of so who wished to do civil rights!many integrationists in the work in Mississippi later in the (state could cause a violent re- year. Some students plan tojaction from whites and bring stay out of school for a semester [about Federal intervention Plans for Next Summer which civil rights leaders con tended was needed. This was Mr. Moses said the project interpreted by some to mean was expected to be renewed next that violence was an objective, summer, possibly on an even a charge that was denied. larger scale. Eastland Critical "I think in general," Mr. Moses said, "we succeeded in White opposition in Missis points that had been antici sippi went beyond the race is pated—bringing resources into sue. There were objections to the Negro communities and what was characterized as a establishing the right for inte strong left-wing influence in the grated groups to work there." movement. There were few tangible re Senator James O. Eastland sults, observers felt, toward giv of Mississippi, in a Senate ing Negroes more political pow speech, said Communists had er and in breaking down resis infiltrated the project. He named several in the state tance of whites. Only in one whom he considered part of the county, Panola, was there a Communist apparatus. significant number of Negroes added to the voter registration It was learned that some of rolls. There, 350 were registered the organizations involved under a Federal court order. wanted to screen out persons who might be classified as sub Barriers to Registration versives, but they were over Elsewhere, applicants inspired ruled by the Student Nonvio and instructed by civil rights lent Coordinating Committee. workers often ran into the tra Its position was stated in a ditional barriers—the most diffi platform adopted in a conven cult registration requirements in tion of freedom-school students 'the nation and the hostility of a few days ago: whites. "The freedom movement But observers saw some prog should accept people regardless ress in enlisting Negroes in the of religion, race, political views civil rights movement, particu or national origin if they com larly among the young and in ply with the rules of the move rural areas that previously had ment." not been exposed to outside in- The freedom schools turned f lUGUCGS. out to be more successful than However, the project reached the project leaders had expect only a small fraction of the ed. While they offered some re 900,000 Negroes in the state. medial work in subjects like Segregationists contended that reading and mathematics, they most Negroes would have stressed Negro history and the nothing to do with the move civil rights movement. ment. Straugiiton Lvnd director of "The Nigras of Mississippi the schools, is a 34-year-bld his are to be congratulated for tory specialist who will teach at ••'"•ning fi<» bnck of their hand Yale in the fall. He said 47 to these first-generaton aliens," uov. Paul B. Johnson Jr.TfiVT. <•' V'•" '»'LI MIL IUIIIII i I Nonetheless, even some seg- tracted 2,500 youngsters, regationists expressed belief In Hattiesburg, some that the state would never be young pupils attend* quite the same again. school in the morj The acute apprehension that preceded the project waned dur ing the summer when Mississip- pians learned that volunteers were not in the state to start riots. The awareness that Missis sippi had become a focus of na tional attention and would be for some time brought some re straint. But a summary of the sum mer's violence is an indication of the resistance to change in the status quo. According to in formation compiled by the Council of Federated Organiza tions, the project's sponsor, at least four persons were shot and wounded, 52 were beaten or otherwise injured and about 250 were arrested in connec tion with the project in addi tion to the three slain. 18 Churches Burned Thirteen Negro churches were destroyed by fire, 17 other churches and buildings were damaged by fire or bombs, 10 automobiles were damaged or destroyed, and there were seven bombings in which there was no damage. The chief member of the spon soring group was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Com mittee, an Atlanta-based civil rights group. The Congress of Racial Equality, the National Association for. the Advance ment of Colored People and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference also participated. Mr. Moses, a soft-spoken, 29- year-old Negro who has been field worker in Mississippi for the student committee since 1961, was its chief architect. Last winter he began raising funds and recruiting student volunteers in colleges. While the project was shap ing up, newspapers here carried articles and editorials that the state was to be "invaded" by alien forces whose main purpose was to cause strife and discord. The state took on the air of a fortress. There was a resur- ence of the Ku Klux Klan, which had been dormant since Reconstruction. Similar groups were organized. About 750 students, teachers, lawyers and ministers under the National Council of Churches were recruited for the project. They arrived in two groups, the first on June 21 after a training session in Oxford, Ohio. On that day three of the workers assigned to the proj ect's Meridian office went to Neshoba County to investigate the burning of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church, east of Phila delphia. The church was to have been used as a freedom school. James E. Chaney, 21 years old, a Meridian Negro, and Michael H. Schwerner, 24, of New York, were professional civil rights workers. The third man, Andrew Goodman, 21, of New York, was a summer vol unteer. Mr. Chaney was jailed on a speeding charge in the late afternoon. The others were held for investigation. Deputy Sher iff Cecil Price, who had ar rested them, said they were re leased after 10 P.M. Three Bodies Found The three had been missing two days when their burned sta tion wagon was found in a swamp. The Federal Bureau of THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, 1 \r to integrate the public library Mississippi Changed by Drive in the afternoon*. The city closed the library. "These kids are reaiiy going Oi Student Civil Rights Aides to make it hard for white" Mis sissippi in years to come," one Continued From Page L, Col. 2 (Investigation organized ft of the leaders said. jseareh that1 produced nothing! have become more cautious in(until AuS- >• when the bodies, their opposition to segregation, were found in an earthen dam| some observers feel. on ft farm near Philadelphia, i Stickers appeared on automo All three had been shot. An biles last week saying: "You unofficial autopsy showed that!) [jo rûûst /f î J Mr. Chaney had been severiy! Are in Occupied Mississippi— beaten. The official autopsy nasi Proceed With Caution." not been released. Sponsors of the civii rights The Philadelphia, incident j 'Ml Rights Drive project contend that despite!put a hard, bright spotlight on three deaths and other violence:the state and on the civil rights1 Alters Mississippi the movement succeeded !n itsiproject.

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