BANK DRIVE WINS PACT FOR HIRING 8,000 . A 100-day-long statewide action cam­ paign in California resulted in an agreement between CORE and the Bank of America, world's biggest bank, under which 8,000 Negroes and Mexican-Americans will be hired within the coming year. Still being negotiated are CORE Published bimonthly by the CONGRESS OF RACI AL EQUALITY demands for hiring by the bank of a 38 Park Row, New York 38, N.Y. Subscription $2.00 a year skilled human relations director to A National 01·ganization with affiliated local g1·oups working to abolish administer the new job program and racial discrimination by direct nonviolent ?nethods for a clause stating that the bank will James Farmer, national director Jim Peck, edito1· not enter into subcontracts with busi­ nesses which discriminate. ~98 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1964 No.108 "There are two major by-products of the CORE Bank of America proj­ ect," Sherman Gerke, San Francisco VIGIL SUPPORTS FREEDOM DELEGATION CORE's public relations director, points out in an article in the Sun Reporter. "First is the fact that other banks have 'voluntarily' started hir­ ing Negroes in small numbers. Sec­ ond is the strengthening of the state Fair Employment Practices Commis­ sion. When the bank, in an effort to stall CORE, went to the FEPC, it substantially strengthened the FEPC by involving it in a substantive, af­ firmative action program." Twenty-s ix California chapters of CORE were involved in the 100-day campaign. In many cities throughout the state branches of the bank were the scenes of picketing, s it-ins and coin-ins. The latter is a technique of stalling business by lining-up at tel­ lers' windows to get change. Even as the campaign ended, 11 members of San Diego CORE including the dean of El Cajon's Grossmont Junior Col­ lege, surrendered to serve one to two­ day jail sentences for contempt of an injunction against mass picketing of the Bank of America in that city. William Bradley, chairman of San A round-the-clock, s ilent vigil in support of the Freedom Democratic Party Francisco CORE, commented: "It is delegation to the Democraitc national convention was conducted on the board­ clear that every bit of progress the walk in front of Atlantic City's Convention Hall by CORE and SNCC bank has made is a direct result of CORE's negotiation and direct action." August 24-27. This photo, taken on the first day, shows CORE National Director James Farmer in foreground and large placards bearing portraits of the three civil rights workers killed in Mississippi. NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS The number of vigilers reached a peak of over 1500 during the second "No receipt needed : use postage evening when the vigil's s ilence was broken for a rally at which members of money for the work of CORE." the Freedom delegation, including Aaron Henry and Rev. Edwin King spoke. Words to this effect are written Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, a member of the Freedom delegation, led a spirited increasingly on contribution session of freedom songs. slips received in the office. The cost of each mailed ·receipt is 8¢. There were other brief periods of speeches and songs. During a heavy Hence CORE, with the ap­ thunder shower, a session of f reedom songs started. Having decided against proval of its auditors starting taking shelter, the group decided to sing until the rain stopped. The vigilers November 1, will discontinue alternately stood and sat on the boardwalk throughout the days and nights sending receipts to persons who of the convention in view of thousands of boardwalk strollers. Many eastern contribute by check. Those con­ CORE groups dispatched buses and cars of participants to Atlantic City. tributing by cash will continue to receive receipts unless they Throughout the demonstration, the CORE-SNCC sponsoring committee specify otherwise. was in consultation with the Freedom delegation and followed their advice as to tactics. DISCOVERY OF DEAD BOY THIS NEW COMMUNITY CENTER . . . CLIMAXES WEEK OF INTIMIDATION Discovery by pulp workers on Sep­ tember 10 of the dead body of a 14- year-old Negro boy in the Big Black River climaxed a week marked by thre11ts, arrests and the dynamiting of a white-owned store patronized by Negroes in Canton, Mississippi. The boy, Herbert Oarsby, who had been wearing a CORE-inscribed T­ shirt, was declared missing Septem­ ber 6. The previous day another Ne­ gro youth had been observed being forced at gunpoint into a white­ driven pickup truck. This aroused suspicions of foul play in Oarsby's case, but his drowning was declared accidental by local officials. It was in the early hours of Sep­ tember 6 that a dynamite blast wrecked Joe & Barb's grocery store, which is owned by Joe Ferguson, a white man, but which has been pa­ tronized by Negroes participating in in Harmony, Mississippi is being constructed by volunteers with build­ the 9-month-old boycott of downtown ing material costs donated by CORE. The small Negro community of Har­ stores. Later in the day FBI agents mony is adjacent to Carthage, seat of Leake county, where the schools are and sheriffs deputies removed eight under a federal desegregation order and where this fall, Deborah Lewis sticks of unexploded dynamite from became the first Negro student to attend a local white school. underneath another grocery stor e pa­ tronized by the boycotters. The latter store is owned by George Washing­ ton, a Negro. PROJECT 101 Describing the damage at Joe & Asserting that "the problems confronting Negroes are hopelessly inter­ Barb's, CORE Task Force worker related," Syracuse (N.Y.) CORE has initiated a project calling for a George Raymond si:lid : "All the win­ "massive assault on these problems at all levels." dows were blown out and the street was covered with pieces of block, Named "Project 101," because " 101 years after the Emancipation Proc­ wood and glass. Much of the merchan­ lamation all men are not free," it includes 108 proposals for desegregating dise was destroyed." the community and promoting racial harmony. The proposals together· with Later in the day, Raymond along a detailed analysis of the key issues, are included in a 42-page booklet issued with James Sanders, a CORE volun­ by Syracuse CORE and distributed to community leaders. teer, were arrested for "investiga­ . "Although some of the proposals are bold, some expensive and some tion." That evening, Wilbert Robert­ require considerable adjustment by the whole community, they represent son, a local civil rights leader, and minimal steps for breaking the treadmill cycle in which the Negro in Syra­ seven other Negroes were picked up cuse is caught," writes Dr. George Wiley, the CORE group's community rela­ by police at a downtown cafe. Two tions director, in an introduction to the booklet. "They are quite inexpensive days later, William Forsythe, another when meas ured against the ghastly alternatives of Harlem and Rochester." CORE volunteer, was arrested after Dr. Wiley chaired the public meeting at which the project was launched accompanying two Negroes to the officially. Among community leaders who attended were Acting Mayor Roy registrar's office. Simmons, County Executive John Mulroy and several officials of local cor­ During the week parents of two porations. The problems were presented first-hand by five residents of the Negro students who had sought to at­ "15th-ward-ghetto." Following the meeting, Dr. Wiley commented: "possibly tend the white high school received it was because of the recent riots in nearby Rochester, but for the first time threats. The mother of Chester Thom­ members of the power structure appeared to be, at least, listening to what as was threatened with eviction by we are saying." the city auditor who owns the prop­ erty where the family lives. Another Of the 108 proposals, the major ones call for construction of at least t hreat came from the city postmaster, 500 units of additional low-income housing by public and private interests, James Luder. revamping of assignment practices toward desegregating public housing, formulation by each major local business of a program bringing the racial A month-long action campaign by composition of its work force in harmony with that of the community, re­ Seattle CORE, marked by picketing districting the elementary and junior high school systems so that no school and shop-ins, ended with a fair em­ will be more than 30% Negro by next fall and creation of a civilian review ployment agreement covering Trade­ board on police brutality. well s upermarkets. WIN PACT DESPITE PRO-GOLDWATER COUNTERPICKETS Inside The Registrar's Office... And Inside The Jail Long Island CORE won a precedent­ setting agreement with Vigilant As­ sociates, one of the largest real estate brokers in the area, despite counter­ picketing by pro-Goldwater youths carrying placards such as "Keep Nig­ gers Out-Support Your Local KKK" and "I Like Niggers-I Think Every­ body Should Own One." This group counterpicketed during the entire week of picketing by CORE. The picketing started after a CORE test proved discrimination on the part of the realtor. As many as 900 white spectators, most of them sup­ porting the counterpickets, were drawn to the scene where there was a heavy concentration of police. How­ ever, up to 20 white residents of .. :in Quincy, Florida, seat of Gads­ ... at one point in the campaign were Hicksville had the courage to join the den county, is this placard illegally Steve McVoy, a CORE volunteer (at CORE picket line. attempting to suggest a paritsan posi­ left) and CORE Task Force Worker Describing the counterpicketing tion on persons registering to vote. Stuart Wechsler (at right) . McVoy group, Newsday, a local paper, re­ had been beaten over the head by an ported: "Of 12 anti-CORE pickets But Outside ... irate white man outside the registra­ questioned, all said they favored Sen­ tion office. Three days later, Wechsler, ator Barry Goldwater for President. while canvassing with two local Ne­ At times they chanted 'Barry, groes, was kidnapped, beaten and ar­ Barry.' J ohn Judge, 16 ,of Hicksville, rested. Tommy Smith, a county com­ said: "I like Goldwater because he missioner and big property owner, doesn't like niggers either." struck him across the back with a Lincoln Lynch, chairman of Long heavy cane. As Wechsler backed away, Island CORE, said: "The agreement Smith instructed the two whites ac­ we won is precedent-setting because companying him to "catch the damn it marks the first time a Long Island nigger and kill him." They thereupon real estate broker has agreed to take carried him into Smith's car and positive action on his own against drove to the latter's house. housing discrimination." Under the A half hour later, the deputy sheriff agreement, negotiated with the aid of arrived and wanted to arrest Wechs­ County Attorney Jack Weinstein, the ler for "trespassing." Smith urged: realtor agreed to place advertisements "Don't do that: just go down the road in t he Negro press and to use the and when you get back, we'll be fin­ words "fair hous ing broker" when . Negroes line up to register:._even ished with him. Better yet, go down advertising in the daily newspapers. in rainy weather, as shown in this the road and don't come back." How­ photo. Despite various forms of in­ ever, the deputy decided to arrest Shopping Center Contract timidation. CORE succeeded in trip­ Wechsler, who was hit again by Smith A week of picketing by Suffolk ling the country's total number of while being carried from the latter 's County CORE resulted in a fair em­ Negro registrants over the summer. car into the deputy sheriff's car. ployment agreement with the Gardi­ ner Manor S hopping Center. On one HARASS BLIND MAN WHO GAVE CORE SWIMMING PARTY occasion, police dispersed a group of white youths assembled to taunt the Charles Hamill, a 72-year-old, blind tion, he said, ironically: "That took pickets. retired manufacturer who offered his real courage, didn't it?" Under the pact, merchants in the swimming pool for a fund-raising The most recent harassment was a shopping center have agreed to hire party for Tucson (Ariz.) CORE, has bomb theat. A voice which sounded at least 35 minority group employees been harassed in a manner reminis­ like that of an elderly man threatened within 60 days, reports Ilenry Smith cent of the deep south. "to bomb you and t he niggers." Chairman of Suffolk County CO RE: On the eve of tlte party, he had re­ Presently the stores employ only 12 Negroes out of a total of 300. ceived several threatening phone calls Completion of "quiet and peaceful The agreement is the fifth to be from persons accusing him of being won by the Suffolk County and Long a "nigger-lover" and "Communist" transition" to integration in Ocean Island CORE groups with major Long and warning him to "beware of the City, Maryland's biggest seaside re­ Island shopping centers. dark." sort, has brought a letter of congratu­ * ·~ ·~ Several days after the party, when lations to Mayor Hugh Cropper from In several cities across the country, his wife was out, his pool was pol­ James Griffin, chairman of Baltimaw! Barry Goldwater's campaign appear­ luted with two gallons of motor oil. CORE. A program of testing and ne­ ances have been marked by CORE Being blind, he was unable to identify gotiations by CORE has been in pro­ picket demonstrations. the vandals. Commenting on their ac- gress for the past t hree summers. CHANGE HIRING POLICY ON NATION'S TALLEST MONUMENT AFreedom Ride into Oklahoma's 'Little Dixie' On July 14, two members of St. Louis Members of the Oklahoma City and Tulsa CORE groups recently boarded a CORE, Richard Daly and Percy bus to test compliance with the civil rights law in the southeastern part of Green, climbed 100 feet up the par­ the state, which is known as "Little Dixie." They decided to charter a bus t ially completed Gateway Arch, which rather than go in a 14-car motorcade because the director of the state human is· destined to be the nation's tallest rights commission had promised police protection if a single vehicle were used. monument and a symbol of its west­ Such protection proved helpful particularly in the town of Hugo, which ward expansion. They remained aloft characterizes itself as "the city with a smile." "I saw no smiles," writes for four hours. Allen Cuthbert, a CORE member, in the Oklahoma Black Dispatch. "As we drove through the downtown sections of Hugo, I estimated from 1,500 to Upon descending, they were arrest­ 2,000 people were in the streets, waiting. As the CORE group left the bus ed for "trespassing," but their action and began their various tests, a crowd of hostile whites watched. was the focal point of a St. Louis "As I walked the streets, talking to people, I somehow got the feeling CORE picketing campaign which last­ that Oklahoma City was a billion miles away. I walked into one restaurant ed through the spring and summer. to talk to the people in the test group. I heard from the hecklers: 'What is The campaign recently ended when this I smell ? Is it a cigar? No, it's a nigger.' The owner said: 'the law says Johannes Jensen, a top official of the I have to serve niggers, but I don't have to serve the whites with them.' National Park Service, guaranteed (This test group was interracial.) that U.S. nondiscrimination require­ "After all eating establishments were tested (seven of them served the ments would be enforced in awarding testers) , we headed for the bus. When we got there we found about 150 future contracts. Negroes who told us they had been watching it for us. Archibald Hill (chair­ The contract for the initial phase man of Oklahoma City CORE) told them that what CORE had just done of construction, the concrete pouring, would be of no valu e if they did not follow through. They promised they would. had been given to the MacDonald Several women also made such a promise and CORE has already received their first report." Construction Company, whose hiring In the town of Antlers, at the Kiamichi restaurant, which refused service, policies prompted the CORE protest a crowd of whites surrounded t he testers and its spokesman threatened: action. Following an investigation, a "You niggers get out of here and take the white trash with you!" One per­ spokesman for the President's Com­ son in the crowd drew a knife and another grabbed the testers' tape recorder. mittee on Equal Employment Oppor­ However, the testers were able to leave uninjured. unity admitted in early August that Despite these incidents, the majority of eating places in the "Little his committee was "not completely Dixie" area were found to be in compliance with the civil rights law. In Ada, satisfied" with the MacDonald Con­ Stonewall and Atoka, the testers were served without incident. At several struction Company's employment prac­ biased restaurants, testers were told that the establishments were for sale. tices. Complaints were filed against all restaurants which refused service. To avert a repeat performance, Statewide Testing Trips in Missouri Jensen said, future contracts will be Eleven Missouri r estaurants and one motel have been charged with vio­ awarded on a small-contract basis lation of the federal civil rights law following four test trips by St. Louis which will permit an increased num­ CORE covering all parts of the state. The teams went north to Hannibal, ber of bidders and will give the gov­ west to Jefferson City, to the resort area around Bagnell Dam and to the ernment more leeway to bypass a low Bootheel. Lucian Richards, chairman of St. Louis CORE, said that a total of bidder whose employment policy is 94 establishments had been tested. dubious. First Rights Suit In Arizona The Gateway Arch, designed by the · First suit under the U.S. civil rights law in Arizona was filed by Roy late Eero Saarinen, will be 630 feet Twitty, president of Tucson CORE, against the Truckers' Cafe in Coolidge. high when it is completed within the When Twitty sought service there on July 4, Mrs. Andrew Blakeman, wife forthcoming year. The arch will be of the owner, told him: "It is not our policy to serve Negroes inside. We will part of the St. Louis Riverfront mas­ g ive you coffee to go." In August the restaurant was picketed. sive rooovation program.

LOUISIANA CANNING FIRM RELENTS-CORE BOYCOTT ENDED The Princeville Canning Company Moore said: "Princeville's letter to agreed to cease buying Princeville which had notified 150 Negro farm­ the farmers without contract is a products. ers, many of them voter registrants, CORE victory. One factor was the The CORE boycott was ended after that they would not get contracts for appearance here-at CORE's urging Princeville dispatched its· letter to the their sweet potatoes this year, has -of William Bay, a . Chicago mer­ Negro farmers. The company is the relented. chant, who expressed desire to buy only market in this area for sweet With the beginning of the harvest, the farmers' sweet potatoes this year potatoes, the main crop and hence the the firm has sent these Negro farm­ and next.' Negro farmers who had been denied ers letters saying: "If you raised any Another factor was the national their usual annual contracts faced a sweet potatoes this summer and CORE boycott of Princeville products, desperate plight. At present CORE is would like to sell them, Princeville which are sold in supermarkets under helping these farmers to form a co­ Canning Company will be glad to pur­ the trade names "Royal Prince" and operative. chase from non-contractors as well as "Jack-0-Lantern.'' A spokesman for In this parish of West Feliciana, con tractors." one supermarket chain- Daitch-Shop­ no Negro had registered to vote from Commenting on the company's ac­ well- had met with CORE National reconstruction days until last Octo­ tion, CORE Field Secretary Ronnie Director James Farmer and had ber. LITERATURE LIST FILMS (Write CORE for details) OUR FACES, OUR WORDS, Lillian Smith has compiled a moving document of the participants in the struggle for equal rights. Here, in photographs and FREEDOM RIDE, a moving 24-min­ monologues, is the living, speaking portrait of the fight for freedom. The faces ute documentary film of the Freedom are those on the picket line, on the sit-in, going to the southern courthouse Rides and t hose who participated, to vote. The words are direct. Miss Smith, who wrote Killers of the Dream narrated by Jim Farmer. and Strange Fruit, has lived most of her life in the south and in both he1· fiction and nonfiction works has recreated "the texture of southern experience ... LOUISIANA DIARY, a one-hour out of which hatred for the Negro grows." The publishers, W. W. Norton, are fi lm, desribing a CORE voter regis­ contributing t heir t>rofits from the sale of this book to CORE. tration drive and showing the field Hard Cover $3.75 .. Paperback $1.50 ..... Limited Autographed Edition $10 .... staff at work, t he hardships they and the Negro community endure to se­ cure the right to vote. BOOKS KILLERS OF THE DREAM, by Lil­ .... FREEDOM RIDE (Simon & Schus­ A MORNING FOR JIMMY, a film lian Smith. (W. W. Norton) Examin­ ter, foreword by James Baldwin and primarily for late elementary and ing her own childhood a nd her growth introduction by Lillian Smith). Writ­ high school students. Shows discour­ into awareness of the problem of dis­ agement of a Negro child, but how he ten by James Peck, who was so badly comes to a decision to remain in crimination, Lilliam Smith reveals beaten by a segregationist mob that the deeper meanings of segregation school. Half-hour fi lm. as a symbol and a symptom of the he came near death. Not just about csb·angements which have cut man t he Freedom Rides, but about CORE off from himself, his fellow man, his f1·om its early years of pioneering in world. $4.50. nonviolence until this technique for RECORD ALBUMS combatting discrimination became NOBODY KNOWS MY NAME, by SONGS OF THE FREEDOM RID­ nationally known. Autographed copy, ERS (Dauntless Records, monaural James Baldwin. (The Dial Press) $1. The now-famous series of essays by and stereo). Most of the singer s here the author, who more than any Amer­ had just been released from jail on LET MY PEOPLE GO, by Chief Al­ CORE's Freedom Highways project. ican author, has exposed t he fears of bert J . Luthuli. (McGraw-Hill) The American society. Baldwin says that $3.95 (includes a song booklet with although the question of color is cen­ autobiography of t he Nobel Prize each r ecord). tral in the essays, "the question of winner. Discusses the oppressive con­ color, especially in this country, op­ ditions of the life of b,lack people JAZZ SALUTE TO FREEDOM (Spe­ erates to hide the g raver question of under the apartheid government of cial CORE release). Two 12-inch long­ the self." $4.50. South Africa. $5.50. play records. All top-calibre artists such as Miles Davis, J . J . Johnson, Duke E llington, Cannonball Adderly. PAMPHLETS REPRINTS (Single copies free. etc. Most of the selections are now out-of-stock collector's items. Two 100 for $1) ALL ABOUT CORE, an a ll-inclusive, disc album for $5. pictorial guide to the CORE organiza­ CORE GOES SLUMMING (Greater tion. Describes activities, structure, Philadelphia, Sept., '63) The northern BLACK MAN IN AMERICA. An ex­ goals. 10 pages. 25(' per copy, 5 for campaign against slum conditions. cellent interview with James Balchvin $1, 100 ofr $2.50. This is the story of action in Phila­ by Studs Terkel of Chicago's WFMT delphia's slum, Hawthorne Village. Radio. Released t hrough Credo Rec­ THIS IS CORE. Basic capsule leaflet ords. $3.50. defining CORE. .10<' per copy, 5 for BIRTH OF A VOTER by Bob Adel­ 25(', 100 for $2.50. man ( Ebony Magazine, Pan., '64) A CORE voter registration drive. The CALENDAR OF COERCION. Ex­ story of the first Negro to register in cerpts of reports from CORE field a Louisiana Parish in 61 years. M ISCELLANEOUS staff stationed in the south, describ­ ing incidents of terrorism in t he pe­ A FACE FOR THE INVISIBLE FREEDOM SONG BOOKLETS .. lOc riod from August, 1963 to August, MAN (Sales Management, Dec. 20, 196<1. 15(' per copy, 25 for $3. '63) The campaign to integr ate ad­ FRE EDOM NOW BUTTONS 5c vertising. CRACKING THE COLOR LI NE by EQUALITY PINS ( = ) ...... $1 Jim Peck, 32 pages. Detailed accounts WHY DIDN'T THEY HIT BACK ? of major action projects of CORE by Jahn and June Robbins (Redbook, SILVER CORE LAPEL PINS .. $1 from 1942 to 1962. The background July, '63) A white segregationist who includes a ll areas of the United States assaulted Freedom Riders tells why CORE WANTS A FAIR WORLD with many photographs. $1 per copy, his attitudes were changed and how BUTTON ...... 15c 7 for $5, 100 for $40, 1,000 for $350. he came to join t he Freedom Move­ (Quantity prices postpaid to one ad­ ment. I AM REGISTERE D PIN ... 2 for 5c dress.) THE RIGHT TO VOTE by James ~------McCain, CORE's Director of Organi­ To: CORE zation, 10 pages. Many photographs 38 Park Row with description of lack of voting New York, New York 10038 registration in South Carolina. 35¢ per copy, 25 for $5. (Quantity prices postpaid to one address.) NAME ...... CORE RU LES FOR ACTION. Basic. capsule leaflet stating how CORE ac­ tion works. 10¢ per copy, 5 for 25c, ADDRESS ... 100 for $2.50.

W HE RE IS DEMOCRACY? Capsule CITY ...... STATE...... ZIP ...... flyer describing CORE's activities. Single copy free, 100 for $1. ------~ FIRST FREEDOM DAY IN TOWN WHERE RIGHTS WORKERS WERE KI LLED ARREST SHERIFF, DEPUTY, Thirty Negroes lined up at the court­ THREE OTHERS house on September 14, the First Sheriff Lawrence Rainey, Depu­ Freedom Day in Philadelphia, Mis­ ty Sheriff Cecil Price (who ar­ sissippi, where CORE Task Force rested the three civil rights Workers James Chaney and Michael workers June 21 prior to their Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, a murder), Ex-Sheriff E. G. Bar­ student volunteer, were murdered last nett and two city policemen­ June. All 30 succeeded in registering. Richard Willis and 0. N. Burkes But Allan Schiffman, a CORE observ­ -were arrested on October 3 fol­ er, was arrested for "failing to obey a lowing their indictment by a fed­ police order." eral grand jury in Biloxi. A week later, six more Negroes Charged with conspiracy as law came to register but were turned officers to deprive Negroes of away on grounds that they could not (This photo shows Collier, facing their constitutional rights, the do so while court is in session. A camera, and CORE Vice Chairman five were arraigned in Meridian suit has been fil ed as a conseqence and Rudy Lombard, at the site of a burned and released on $1000 to $2000 a major county-wide freedom rally, the Negro church.) bail each. second to be held, took place October 4. That first week was characterized When the sealed indictments On the night of September 17, a ironically by a staff member as a were returned, persons close to Choctaw Indian church, which the "comedy of terrors." Each night, af­ the investigation had said they voter registration workers had plan­ ter dark, cars filled with insult-shout­ were in connection with last ned to visit and the church of Rev. ing whites drove past. The first night June's triple murder. However, Clint Collier, who has been active in a shotgun was leveled at the building. they involve incidents which oc­ the voter drive, were bombed and to­ Threats of bombing and burning fol­ \ CUlTed long before-last J anu­ tally destroyed. Six days later, 50 lowed. The number of the newly in­ ary 26 and in October 1962. On Negro students were expelled from stalled phone already had become the more recent date the sheriff school for wearing CORE "Freedom known throughout the community. and his deputy are charged with Now" buttons. All but six have been One night, several carloads of arresting a Negro for drunken­ reinstated. Following Freedom Day, whites displaying pistols and shot­ ness and beating him over the the intimidation which marked the guns stopped and the occupants got head with a blackjack so that he first week's operation of the local out and menacingly lounged around required five months hospitali­ COFO headquarters in late August the building. Later, an anonymous zation. In October 1962, all five was resumed, reports CORE Task phone caller threatened: "Your time arrested officers are accused of Force Worker James Collier. is running out: the end is tonight." beating, with leather straps, five When staff members retire, they post Negroes arrested on cow-steal­ CORE Task Force Worker Zev a sentry. ing charges. Aelony, who a year ago was one of Occasionally Deputy Sheriff Cecil four civil rights workers jailed in Price drove by the new headquarters Americus, Georgia, for three months with sirens screaming. On one occa­ CITY HALL SIT-IN under a s ubsequently voided state in­ sion, he served a summons question­ WINS BROAD SLUM PROBE surrection law, was arrested Septem­ ing the validity of the lease which An eight-day, round-the-clock, CORE ber 14 on a phony auto license charge COFO had signed. Then, Sheriff sit-in at City Hall in which up to 100 and severely beaten by six whites in Lawrence Rainey ordered them to va­ ·persons at a time participated, ended the city jail. He has been working cate under threat of arrest on tres­ when the City Council's special com­ toward formation of a cooperative passing charges. The rights workers mittee on housing and urban devel­ industry in Americus. ignored the order. opment agreed to a thorough investi­ gation of slum housing. The commit­ tee chairman, Will is Gradison, pro­ CORELATOR Second-class postage paid posed that the City Council's nine 38 Park Row t~t N ew York, N . Y. members make a personal tour to eye­ New York 38, N. Y. witness prevailing conditions. The agreement was reached at a meeting of the special committee held at CORE's request. At the meeting, the building commissioner agreed to start compiling a list of building own­ ers under order to correct defective conditions. Previously only records of the actual buildings were maintained. Regarding the Standish Apart­ ments, whose rent strike- the first in Cincinnati - had prompted ahe City Hall sit-in, the safety commissioner admitted that building regulations could have been enforced to the letter of the "law" but argued that this might have meant evictions.