·- OUTH ERN .CHR ISTI-AN lEADERSH IP CONFE J UUESClG. ~-==- Volume April, 1962 .No . 6 ~' ;, ; S.C.L.C. announced recently the ad, _ · dition of ·ri ve new members to the: staff. The five men-are : .John H . Cal­ hou n, Herbert V. Coulton, James L : ·Beve l, Fred C. .Bennette, Jr"., · and Ber­ nardS. Lee. · John H. Calhoun, serves as Georgia State O rganizer for 1962-63 in the vo ter registration drive, is a native of Greenville, South Carolina. Mr. Cal­ houn attended Ham,pton Institute, . Northwestern University and More­ house Col ege , from which he received t' e A. B. degree. e also attended Atlanta Uni ve rsity. · H e rber tV ~ Coulton of Petersburg, Virginia, serves as Field Secretary in the.,..drive in · \l. ~r.gin-i , +c-n-Hessee­ and North · Caro"rina. Mr. Coulton is concentrating his efforts in the ,4th Congressi on al District in the South end of Virginia. Mr-:- Coulton attended Virgini a State College and wh ile serv- ing in th e arm y from 1957 to- 59, he On foot, Dr . King end pa rty sta rt "Op·erotion Door-Knock :~ attended the University of Hawaii on a special grant. James L. Be ve l of Itta Bena, Mis­ SCLC .PEOPLE TO PEOPLE 10UR sissi ppi and Cleveland, _O hi o, is Field .Dr. Mart.i n Luther King, Jr. and his SCLC tas k fotcc s·wt:pi inio ..Southside Secretary in the area of Mississippi. Virgihia at th e ·fail-end of March recruiting more than 250 vo lunteers for its He was active in the S tude ~ t Move­ Freedom Corps and " 1. on violent Army." The Virg inia vi sit coordinated by the ment in Nashville, Tennessee. He Virginia SCLC's hard-driving Milton A. Reid oi Petersburg, marked the second se-rved as Chairman of this movement "people-to-people" tour of the Atlanta-based orga ni za tion. for one year.' _While a stu dent at the Dr. Reid indicated th at hiS sta te unit's invita ti on to Dr. King's visi t was American Baptist Theological Semi­ gea red to kick-off an inrens i v~ drive in the Fou·rth District and surrounding · nary College in Nashvil le, he pa stored areas and prov1de moral support for th e Rev. Cu rti s Harris, pres ident of the ~., the Ches tnut Grove Baptist Church at Hopewell SCLC, who was convicted for contempt of _court in th e· celebrated I Dixon, Tennessee. Boatwright Committee charge. _ Field Secretary for Georgia is Fred The King ta sk force included th e ami able Ralph Abern ath y, pa rtner in the C. Bennette, Jr. , a studeni 't Atlanta's Montgomery struggle, Wyatt Tee Walker, for mer Peter bu rg pastor and Staff Turne r The ologi cal Seminary. A wo rld Director of SCLC, Mrs. Dorothy Cotton, Directo r of the Citizenship Education Wa r II and Korean War ve·teran, he Schools and tw.o fie ld secretaries in Voter Regis tra tion, Be rnard Lee of Atlan ta is a tireless civil rights worker. and Herbert Coul ton of Peter bu rg . Ea rl y in '1961 , Mr. Bennette as The two-day tour egan. in Peter burg wi 1 a lu cheon w'th Fourth Di tri t arrested in tlanta's Te minal tation leade rs at he Zion Baptist Chu h tha va followed immediately _by a voter fo r "trespas ing" wh ile re turni ng from registration canvass sup rvi ed by S LC's fie ld sec re tary for j·rgiri ia, : rbert a speaki g engagement. fe is cur­ Coulton . The Blandfo d se tion of Petersburg was flo oded f r two hours !th Dr. · ren tl y out on ba il and awaiting · Kin g an d hi s supporters ring ing door belis an d gathering data from the neigh­ hea ring on that charge. e formerly borh ood to inc reas the vo ting strength in the Secon d- Ward. Several homeowners -I was assoc iated with the Atlanta Stu­ were amazed to see Dr. King and Rev. ,Abemathy among the other clergy and . I de nt Mo vem ent ·and at th at time wa leaders ac tu all y participating in oper ti n " oor Knock." I - popu larly known as "Le · Comman­ Tuesday night, the SCLC caravan move_d into Lynchburg, Vir.ginia and lit­ da nte .' ' era ll y took this mou, t in ity by storm. The ra·n-packed E. C. Glas High School (Continued on Page 2) (Cofllinued on Page I) -. STAFF (Continued from Page 1) ,. Bernard S. Lee, 26-, serves as Stu-. SClC#~~ dent Liaison in the five key states (South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana). He is a Publisher, SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN Korean War veteran, a former student LEADERS.HIP CONFERENCE at Morris Brown College, and has 41 Exchange Place, S.E. worked for S.C.L.C. since .I 960, when Atlanta, Georgia he arrived in Atlanta from Montgom: Phone: 524-13 7_8 cry, Alabama. He led the sit-ins in Montgomery and . MARTIN LUTHER KiNG, J~. President . was expelled from Alabama .State Col­ lege tJeca.use _of his participation: Later, .. ··F.- L. SHUTTLESWORTH, Secretary he was one of the ·students selected to appear b!!fore · the. platform· com:.- · . : RALPH . D. ABERNATHY, Treasurer mittees of both National Conventions WYATT TEE WALKER, Executive Director in -196-0. ... He led the Freedom Ride from . · GouLD .MAYNARD, _Editor Atlanta to Albany and was one of the fi rst to be arrested there. - DOROTHY GAINES, Associate_ f;ditor · · He is married and the father of four children. · Atty. Len Holt and Mr. and Mrs. Harris The South mourns the passing· of MINISTERS1 PILGRIMAGE ~ - the Reverend Theodore ·Trammell, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Presi- . de nt of The Southern Ch1·is· ia Lead­ ~ who died of a heart a tacl h'l en­ ership Conference, joined with Dr. Paged in a sptrited campaign for a Milton A. Reid, head of its Virginia congressional- seat from the Third Affiliate, in calling on all Virginia ministers · and laymen to journey to Congressional Djstrict_f f Mississippi. Hopewell, Virg_inia for the contempt trial of the Reverend Curtis W. H ar­ Reverend Theodore Trammell ris on the 29th an~ JOth of March. · The contempt· action against the Reverend Harris arose out of h is re- ­ fusal to give names and other infor­ Southern Christian Leadership Conference mation abol!t acti vities to secure in­ 41 Exchange Place, S. E. tegration to the Virginia Legislati ve Atlanta 3, Georgi a Committee in September of last yea r. MARTIN ' LUTHER KlNG , JR., P~ e s i de nt WYATT T EE W ALKE R, Director At ·the prelimina ry hearing of thi< contempt ac tion Rgains CRcvere: HJ Har­ MEMO TO: .~.U F:1i thful SCLC Su.pporters ris· on January 19, 1962 in the Circuit Court of Hopewell, Virginia , more th an FROM: Home Office 100. ministers and laymen rallied in RE: Annuai Board Meeting support of the protes t leader, Rever­ / end Harris. For the tria l o n the 29th SCLC is growing by leaps and bounds. Many wonderful thi ngs have and 30th of ·March , the townspeople happened because of yot,~ r faith ·in us. We invite you to be with us in opened their homes to accommodate Chattanooga on the dates given below: W.e have a lot of good riews and overnight those who were expected many new se rvices to offer your community. P_l!,': ase bend every effort to . to come from great distances. be wi th us. · Dr. King, P resident of S.CL. C. in endorsing the protest pi lgrimage com­ jJi-1 PORT ANT DATA mented : "The strongest resource th at SUBJECT: Annual Board Meeting is posse. ed by those of us desiring to DATE: M ay 15th- 16th (Tuesday and Wednesday) see an merica fr e o racism, is our LACE : r hattanooga, 1'ennessee strengrh of numbers. neyer· a HQ ~: Inter enomi · · ional ini teri l Aliiance fighter f r freed m, such as everend Harris, is under a tt ack, ever · .a v-ail ab le CO-~PONSORS: Chattanooga Civic Committee person ou¥ht ;o witnes wit h his p~t­ GE ERAL CHAiRMAN : Dr. Major Jones, S L Board son two iunoamental concepts: H1 vf ~n ue r, 60 l Dodson Street opposition to the persecutio n of those COORDINATOR: T he Reverend C. T . Vivian, SCLC Regiona1 who believe segregation is arr intolera­ Representative ble evil, and his unqualified support HEADQUARTERS: _ Mo num_et~tal Bapti t of those whose lives are a livin g m­ Reverend J hri C inister bodiment of the ncccs i y of striving toward fr,.e om." .- SCU: PROflLE pr.. Cuthbert Simpkins, the young Shreveport,. Louisiana dentist whose desegregation efforts have met with reprisals in the form of cross burn­ ings on his lawn and the total demoli­ tion of . an almost completed $50,000 house he was building: is a man cou­ rageous enough to sum up his situa­ tion with, "I assume my civil rights ~-a ctivities had something to do with it." . Dr. Simpkins lias been . a vitally . concerned observer- of injustices per­ petrated . aga)nst Negroes· since early : childhood when he· saw a policeman "just drive up and shqot a Negro" for· disturbing the. peace. · . On another occasion, while on his \va y to Sunday SGhool, he saw a white man beating a· Negro wit)1 a bu.Uwhip because the Negro· 'owed him .five dollars.