The Student Voice, Inc

THE STUDENT vOle

VOL. 5 NO. 1 The Student Voice, Inc. 6 Raymond Street, N.W., Atlanta 14, Ga. January 14, 1964

McCOMB, MISSISSIPPI - Armed night riders shot into six Negro businesses, fired on two Negro homes, and wounded a young Negro boy January 9. Two civil rights groups asked the Federal Government to send troops and marshals, to Mississippi "to protect Negroes who want to exercise their constitutional rights." In Atlanta, John Lewis, Chair­ at South West Junior College man of the Student Nonviolent in Summit, were arrested in Coordinating Committee (SNCC), connection with the shooting. a sked A ttorney General Robert Guy sa id the shots did not F. Kennedy to "take all steps seriously hurt the Negro youth ) poss ible to insure that future and only "blistered his tail a acts of violence aimed at in­ little bit." timidating MiSSissippi Negroe s Guy said the shootings Wed­ are halted before they begin. If nesday and Thursday nights had this means Federal marshals no connection with the SNCC­ and Federal tr oops in Missis sip­ sponsored vote drive. pi, then you must be prepared to McComb was the site of the send them there before others first SN CC vote project in Mis­ ar e shot." SiSSippi in August 1961. -SN CC In Jackson, the Council of Fed­ worker Moses and four other erated Organizations (COFO) workers set up workshops here asked President Lyndon B. John­ and encouraged local Negroes son to immediately "dispatch to register to vote. Federal troops to the McComb CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 area to protect Negro constitu- tfI----==-=c======, tional r ights." In a telegram to 13 A RRES TED J ohnson, Robert Moses, hea d of SNCC's Mississ ippi vote drive and program director for COFO 1N ATLANTA said "white violence has again ANTI -SEGREGATION DEMONSTRATOR QUINTON BAK ER, vice­ erupted in McComb, in a re­ ATLANTA, GEORGIA - Thir­ chairman of the Chapel Hill Freedom Committee , is comforted ne wed attempt to stifle Negroes teen people - including SNCC by a white youth after the owner of a segregated eating place in their drive to register to Chairman John Lewis, a top of­ forced him to swallow ammonia. vote." ficial in the Georgia NAACP, MCArthur Cotton, SNCC work­ and Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, ad­ er who directs voting activity m inistrative assistant to Dr. in McComb, said four young white Martin Luther King, Jr., were ar­ men in a white car fired shots rested in Atlanta Satur day night OVER 200 JAILED into a Negro cafe, two grocery (January 11) during a s it - in stores, a shoe repair shop, and a t a segrega ted hotel. two Negro homes. Cotton said The night before, eight girls a young Negro boy in Summit, were arrested at a Krystal's a suburb of McComb, was wound­ re sta urant here. IN CHAPEL HILL ed by gunfire in his leg. One T hose iailed Saturday night CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAR­ spent Christmas in jail, after of the same homes had been fir­ were demonstrating at the Heart OLINA - More than 200 anti­ they were sentenced to 3D-day ed into the previous night. of A tlanta Motel. The sit-in segregation demonstrators have terms. Cotton said voter registration there was followed by a sit-in been arrested since protest de­ While police treatment of de­ workshops had begun here in attempt at a Holiday Inn nearby. monstrations began December 3. monstrators has generally been early January. The vote work­ One demonstrator at the Heart Members of the Chapel Hill orderly, several demonstrators er said more than 50 Negroes of A'tlanta was hospitalized brief­ Freedom Committee - a coali­ have been subjected to rough had tried to register since early ly when hotel employees dragged tion of civil rights groups here­ treatment by restaurant opera­ November 1963. her for 50 feet over concrete. are press ing for a public ac­ tors here. Quinton Baker, state McComb police chief Geor­ The demonstrators ' had come commodations law and eQualp.m­ NAACP youth chapter president, ge Guy - who arrested SNCC from a meeting of the Atlanta ployment for Negroes. workers here in the past - said Three of the demonstrators CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 four young white men. students • ______CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 .. JanUHY H ,I964 STUDENT VOICE

-----~---- , '1'nroll Negro Applicantsi Federa l judge William Cox fail­ (ourt Tells Miss. Registrar ed to issue one. The Supreme WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Court denied Lynd's appeal on United States Supreme Court r e­ November 5, 196 2. fused this week to review lower On April 30, 1963, the Depart­ court orders compelling a Mis­ ment instituted contempt pro­ siss ippi registrar to enroll 43 ce edings on the ground that he Negroes as voters and to cease did not obey the Court of Appeal's discrimination against prospec­ order. He was found in civil tive Negro applicants. contempt, ordered to register 43 The court let stand a Fifth Cir­ specific Negroes and to stop re­ c uit Court of A ppeals decision quiring Negroes to interpet sec­ against Forrest County registrar tions of the state constitution Theron Lynd, charged with civil more difficult than those assigned and criminal contempt. to whites, and rejecting Negro­ e s for errors of their vote a p­ The United States Department Negroes attempting to register in Mississippi. Note police of justice contends Lynd defied plications if they had met cer­ court orders prohibiting racial tain other requiremcnts. Lynd's taking pidlire 01 them going into the courthouse. discrimination against Negro vo­ appeal of this latest order wa s ters. The registrar's attorneys denied january 6, 1964. have asked a three-judge panel of A justice Department spokes­ SHERI FF WON'T HALT the Court of Appeals to hold off man said further action against judgment in the case until the Lynd will be taken when the high­ U.S. Supreme Court rules on whe­ er court decides whether he will NEGRO VOTE TRIES intimidation of pote ntial Negro ther a defendant in such cases is ha ve a jury trial or not. If he JAC KSON, MISSISSIPPI - De­ voters in 1I 01m es County. The entitled to jury trial. The test goes to jail on the contempt char­ puty Sheriff Andrew P . Smith of s uit was filed last s ummer ;.titer case is that of Mississippi Gover­ ges, it will mark the first time Holmes County told a Federal Sm ith arrested four field secre­ nor Ross Barnett, charged with a registrar ha s gone to prison in judge Janua ry 4, he wo uld put wries from the Studcnt Nonvio­ criminal contempt for his part in a civil rights case. up no " stumbling blocks" to Ne­ lent Coordinating Committee trying to block admission of The Student Nonviolent Coor­ gro voting. (SNCC) a nd a Neg ro farmer on James Meredith to the Univer­ dinating Committee (SNCC) ha s Smith said he had refused to char gcs they fire-bombed the sity of Mississippi. been conducting a voter registra­ let Negroes pay their poll taxes farmer's home to stir up sym­ If the appellate panel decides tion drive in Forrest County. in his county s ince 1956 because pathy for a vo ter registration to go ahead without waltrng On ly .2% of the .voting age Ne­ of a "mis understanding." He drive. The char ges were later for the higher court's decision groes are registered voters said he un derstood that no Ne­ dropped when a justice of the and if they sustain the charges, there, according to the United groes were regis tered voters in peace ruled there was nQtenough Stlltes Civil Rights Commission. the county and therefore none evidence to charge the five with should pay poll tax. "Take the c ase of (SNCC arson. ,\ white Mississippi newspaper field secretary) john Hardy, a When a SNCC field secretary Nashville Negro, who bounced McComb Terror editor testified Smith had told took 17 Negroes to the I folmes into (Walthall County registrar) the Holmes County Board of Su­ CONTINUf"D FROM P .-\ GI ', 1 County Courthouse to register to Wood's office in berm ud a shorts pervisol's in 1956 Negroes would vote on :\prillO, 1963, they were with tw o other Negroes who want­ The ir early efforts werc met not be allowed to register as met by sL~ armed white men who ed to vote. with violence and intimidation. long as he was sheriff. :\ Negro kcpt all but two from entering "Perhaps Wood was quick when Moses was arl'ested on ,\ugust vocational teacher testifiedSmith the building. he hit Hardy on the head with a 15, 1961 in nearby Liberty in ,\mi­ told him to " get the hell out of te CO llnty, while taking threcNe­ pistol, but he may have found here" when the teacher tried to ion);,s o i the Sout hern l' J'cedirect action The day of the suspensions, an a ttem pts to integra te public plac­ offic ial at Washington HighSchool es in A tlanta, but the four hour told a delegation from the Stu­ summit meeting was nearly split dent Nonviolent Coordinating on tactic s to be followed. Committee (SNCC), Committee Those arrested Saturday night On Appeal For Human Rights were: SNCC workers Joyce Bar­ (COAHR), and the Southern rett and Prathia Hall, SNCC CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 Chairman John Lewis,Rev. Wyatt a participant in the Heart of At­ Tee Walker, Rev. John Morris, lanta sit-in, had to get emer­ state NAACP field secretary gency treatment at a white hospi­ Leon Cox, Mrs. Eunice Cooper, tal after being dragged for ;;0 feet Rev. Joseph Boone :.Jr. Clinton by a hotel employee. The hos­ Warner, Harry Boyle, John Gib­ pital at first refused to treat son and Albert Dunn of SCLC, her, Forman said, but finally and Gary Robinson. gave her emergency treatment. All the demonstrators were Another SNCC worker was beat­ released on $1000 baillateSatur­ en by three hotel employees, and dav night. The girls arrested another had a tear gas pistol DICK GREGOR Y sits-in at a Toddle House restaurant. Gregory and at the Krystal's sit-in were re­ fired point blank at his face. SNCC workers ended protest here after management agreed to in­ lea sed also. The tear gas missed. tegcate Dobbs House outlets in A tlanta and other Southern c ities. Police refused to arrest the Heart of Atlanta demonstrators Several Krystals here - in­ Agreement Reached With Dobbs Houses until a county judge s igned war­ cluding the one where the eight rants for them. girls were arrested - are now Cha irman said. Lewis was ar­ ATLANTA , GEORGIA - "A Leaders of the more active closed. One has a sign reading rested at a Toddle House restau­ satisfactory agreement" has groups here planned a Sunday "Closed because of Niggers" on rant here Sunday, December 22, been reached between the mana­ meeting to plot continued pro­ its front door. and spent Christmas in jail with gement of Dobbs House, Inc. and test s. On Sunday afternoon, student 23 others. the Student Nonviolent Coordina­ The Holiday Inn sit-in was led demonstrators integrated the ca­ Mr s. Lillian Gregory, 26, wife ting Committee (SNCC), suspend­ by James Forman, SNCC Execu­ feteria at the Georgia Baptist of comedian Dick Gregory, and ing demonstrations that had clos­ tive Secretary, who, with his wife, Hospital. two other demonstrators held ed 12 restaurants in the chain. [ tried to get a room at the segre­ Others tried unsuccessfully to in jail since Christmas Eve were Richard Ya tes, Dobbs House gated hotel. They were refused get into the Heart of A tlanta Motel al so released on Thursday, Jan­ vice president, confirmed that an and with a group of 15 other pro- again. The group finally settled uary 2. agreement had been reached. testors, remained inside the hotel in the segregated Holiday Inn, Gregory had come to Atlanta "We've reached a satisfactory for several hours. where they closed down a re­ agreement," J ohn Lewis, SNCC SNCC worker Judy Richardson, staurant. Page 4 January 14, 1964 STUDENT VOICE GREGORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 Church To Accept All; to participate in sit-in demon­ strations aimed at the restau­ Rev. Jones Still In Jail rant chain, and had succeeded in closing 12 of ' them. After the ATLANTA, GEORGIA - Al­ original 24 arrests, DobbsHouse though the once all-white First workers refused to press charges Baptist Church has voted to open against the protestors. Gregory, its doors to any worshipers, a his wife, and several other de­ 67-year-old minister who tried to monstrators had purchased stock integrate it last summer is still in Dobbs House, which also owns in jail. the Toddle House chain. The Reverend Bryant Ashton SNCC Chairman Lewis refused Jones, 67, of San Gabriel. Cali­ to give details on the terms of the fornia, has been in an Atlanta settlement. Before protests end­ jail since August 28. ed, SNCC workers said they would He was arrested this summer settle for nothing less than com­ when he tr ied to take two Ne­ plete integration of Dobbs House groes into the church. outlets here. His bail has been set at $20, SING ING high school students dem and change in the A tlanta public The protests against the segre­ 006. gated eating place began after ------1 school system from the steps of City Hall. The students asked for an end . to seg;regation and ov~rcrowding in the school system. SNCC workers visited the Honor­ Bobbs House and Toddle House able Oginga Odinga, Minister of restaurants closed for three days Home Affairs of Kenya. Two after Negroes tried to eat there. Students Suspended es on Tuesday and Wednesday CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 members of the group were re­ Since the agreement was with members of SNCC and fused service at a Toddle House reached, Dobbs House outlets Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) that no students would be COAHR. and sit- in demonstrations be­ in Florida, Texas and Tennessee The suspended students re- cities have integrated. gan. "suspended or expelled" because ceived a notice saying they must of participation in demonstra- bring one or both parents to tions during school time. school for a "consultation" with " It's not technically a sus- the principal before they will be pension," asserted Dr. R.W. r eadmitted. Stephens, deputy superintendent In May, 1963, the Birmingham of schools. But " practically school system suspended l arge speaking," he added, "it's the numbers of students who had same thing," . participated in protests. A Fed- Most of the students received eral judge ordered them r ead­ notices from Washington High mitted. School principal J. Y. Moreland ~..;;.;.:~:....------­ informing them they would not be readmitted to school im­ Chapel Hill mediately. Dr. Stephens said the CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 decision to suspend the students was entirely Principal More- was forced to swallow ammonia land's. by the owner of one eating place. One hundred fifty demonstra- Baker, SNCC worker David tors went to Atlanta Mayor Ivan Davis, and three other demon­ Allen Jr.'s office on T uesday, strator s, were treated at a local BUTTERMILK BOTTOM, ATLANTA - SNCC workers hold a January 7, demanding an end hospital. street rally with s t!ld~nts Aprj Adults from BIltr.ermilk Bottom in to overcrowding at Negro - One store owner swore out Northeast Atlanta. schools. They had also dem on- ' "breaking and entering'" war­ rants against 13 demon­ -. strators jailed December 31, and on January 2, six more protestors were jailed. Other demonstrators at the Rock Pile January I, were "mop­ ped" with amm onia, according to Henry. SNCC field secretary J. V. Hen­ ry said Carlton Mize, owner of the Rock Pile, a grocery and general store, poured ammonia and clo­ rox on sit-in demonstrators on December 31. Henry said a waitress at another eating place spat on a University of North Carolina faculty member who was ( . photographing a demonstration. One jailed demonstrator, Pat­ rick Cusick of Rome, Georgia, has been placed in the county 'M'N e'lS pUOLl.lATl-a 9 prison infirmary after eight days of fasting.