Civil Rights Events
Mississippi 1963
Jackson Movement, January - June
Our Youth Council was growing [interviewed
years later, Hunter Bear commented]
. By
March and April of '63, we could pull together over 100 kids. ... We were
impressed with what Martin King and Fred Shuttlesworth had accomplished in Birmingham.
…
The[
Jackson]
Citizen's Council refused to let any businessman, — white businessman, —
consider any kind of negotiation. They threatened to boycott them out of
business. [In other words, if a store eased segregation in response to the
boycott by Blacks, the White Citizens Council would coerce their suppliers to
boycott them, and the banks that held the mortgages would foreclose.]
The problem was where were we going to
get the backing? King's treasury was exhausted [from providing bail money and
legal defense for the thousands arrested in the Birmingham campaign], SNCC never had any
money anyway, — bless its soul. CORE was very limited. [James] Farmer was very
sympathetic to us, and sent a couple of good letters, things like that, and I
thought highly of him. But they had their hands full, and were small. The NAACP
had money, but the NAACP didn't like to spend money.
…
…our real target was the downtown
business thing. If we could crack that, if we could win things there, then we
could also force the business sector to put pressure on the politicians. That
was our basic analysis. And I worked pretty hard on building support for a
broader [campaign] that would be lots of pickets, sit-ins, maybe mass marches
(Interview 11-12).
By Easter, 70% of Black shoppers are
supporting the boycott
of Jackson's
white-owned stores. College and high school students are clandestinely
distributing 10,000 leaflets a month in Jackson
and the surrounding area — a total of 110,000 by the end of May. Most
of Jackson's
Black churches allow boycott leaders to speak at Sunday services. Underground
boycott committees are active in many of Jackson's
Black neighborhoods and there are secret student committees at the three Black
high schools, Lanier, Brinkly, and Jim Hill. Supporters in the North are
mounting sympathy pickets against Woolworths and other chain stores in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and
elsewhere.
The boycott is energized and sustained
by the young activists of the NAACP Youth Councils. But against the entrenched
resistance of the White Citizens Council backed by state and local government,
they know that the boycott alone is not strong enough to break segregation in
Jackson Mississippi. Inspired by the Birmingham Movement
[posts about which I will soon make]
,
they are convinced that similar mass protests are necessary in Jackson. NAACP state Field Director Medgar
Evers shares their views, but the NAACP's national leaders prefer lawsuits and
voter education to mass direct action, and they control the purse-strings.
Though they reluctantly accept the necessity of a few pickets being arrested to
publicize the boycott, they adamantly oppose sit-ins, mass marches, or other
tactics that they associate with Dr. King, whom they view as an upstart rival.
As an employee of the national
organization, Medgar is prohibited from endorsing or participating in mass
direct action. But the other NAACP activists in Jackson are unpaid volunteers and thus have
more freedom to chart their own course. On May 12, Jackson boycott leaders send a letter to the
white power-structure demanding fair employment, an end to segregation, and
biracial negotiations with officials and community leaders. Large-scale,
Birmingham-style, direct action is threatened if the city refuses to meet with
Black leaders. The letter is signed by Medgar, Mrs. Doris Allison who is
President of the Jackson
NAACP, and Hunter Bear (John Salter) the NAACP Youth Council's adult advisor.
Led by Mayor Allen Thompson, the
power-structure adamantly refuses to make any concessions or to meet with Black
leaders (Jackson Sit-Ins 1-3)
Thompson … replied in a televised speech
to blacks: “You live in a beautiful city … where you can work, where you can
make a comfortable living … do not listen to false rumors which will stir you,
worry you and upset you.”
The mayor’s speech only angered blacks
more. The television station granted Evers equal air time. “History has reached
a turning point, here and over the world,” Evers said. He compared black life
in Jackson to
the lives of black Africans. “Tonight, the Negro knows … about the new free
nation in Africa and knows that a Congo
native can be a locomotive engineer, but in Jackson he cannot even drive a garbage
truck.”
The bold speech made Evers the focus of
racial tensions in the city. Young blacks became more impatient as city officials
stubbornly refused to listen to civil rights demands (Bullard 3).
One week later, on Tuesday, May 28,
after training in the tactics of Nonviolent Resistance by Dave Dennis of CORE,
young activists Lois Chafee, Perlena Lewis, Anne Moody, Memphis Norman, Joan
Trumpauer, and Walter Williams sit-in at Woolworth's lunch counter on Capitol
Street in downtown Jackson. They are joined by youth advisor Hunter Bear.
Mercedes Wright (NAACP Georgia youth advisor) and Tougaloo Chaplin Reverend Ed
King act as observers.
The boycott pickets outside are
immediately arrested as usual. But, surprisingly, the cops do not bust those
who are sitting in. Instead, a mob of white teenagers and young men are allowed
(encouraged) to enter Woolworths to attack the sit-ins, cursing, punching,
covering them with mustard, ketchup, & sugar. Water mixed with pepper is
thrown into their eyes. Jackson Police Captain Ray and dozens of cops do
nothing as Memphis Norman is pulled from his stool, beaten and kicked. After he
loses consciousness, the cops arrest him. Joan too is beaten, kicked, and
dragged to the door, but with steadfast, nonviolent courage she manages to
resume her seat. FBI agents observe, and as usual do nothing (Jackson
Sit-Ins 1-4).
Hunter Bear (John Salter) described what happened:
On a comical note, as I was moving to
the front of the thing, an old white man who was sort of a Klan type, who
didn't spot me for what I am, said, "Hit them, boy, hit them hard."
And then I sat down.
Then people suddenly realized who I was,
and I was a lightning rod, I drew the wrath of the [mob]. I was struck many
times, burned with cigarettes and things. I have a very thick
skull, — believe me, — incredibly thick. And I have a high
pain threshold. So I was cut with broken sugar glasses and cut with brass
knuckles, different things like that. The young women had condiments poured all
over them, and I had some poured on me, but mostly I was hit.
Down at the other end, why a lot of
stuff was dumped on people too. Walter Williams was hit, but got up and
rejoined the group on his end of things. You know, we stuck it out, it went on
for about three hours. It was a horrible Goddamn scene when you stop to think
about it, but actually Annie and Joan and myself talked about an exam that I'd
given, which they thought was a little hard, and I said, "It was really
very fair because I gave you all the questions before we had the test, you just
had to ..."
… I didn't feel any great venom toward
the attackers, — although there were a few points where I did. But in any
event, what happened then is that they began to tear up the store after about
three hours, and we went outside. There were a lot of newsmen all over. We
hadn't realized it at that point, but this had gone all over the world. Outside
there was a huge mob waiting. We also had people who were picketing, but they
were arrested immediately. The police grudgingly gave us safe passage. We went
off to our respective physicians (Interview 13-16).
The Mayor meets with the Black
"leaders" selected by him and tells them he will desegregate public
facilities such as parks and libraries, hire some Negro cops, and promote a few
Black sanitation workers.
That night, more than 1,000 people
attend a mass meeting at Pearl St. Church to support the boycott and the
sit-ins. The young activists call for mass protest marches like those in Birmingham. But at the
urging of the more conservative Black ministers, the young activists agree to
temporarily halt demonstrations while the Mayor's promise is tested.
The next day, Wednesday May 29, the
Mayor denies that he made any concessions at all. He announces that protests
will not be tolerated and hastily deputizes 1,000 "special officers"
drawn from the ranks of the most virulent racists. A mob of whites and over 200
cops prowl Capitol Street
ready to pounce on any pickets or sit-ins. Woolworths and other stores close
their lunch counters and remove the seats. Pickets led by local NAACP chair
Doris Allison are immediately arrested …
That night a firebomb is thrown at Medgar's
home. The police refuse to investigate, calling it a "prank." The
following day, Thursday May 30, more pickets and sit-ins are arrested.
With the public school term ending the
next day (Friday, the 31st), high school students begin mobilizing for mass
marches to begin as soon as school lets out. At Lanier and Brinkley High, Youth
Council activists lead several hundred students singing freedom songs on the
lawn during lunch break. Cops force the Lanier students back into the building
with clubs and dogs. The school is surrounded, and parents are beaten and
arrested when they try to reach school.
…
As soon as school lets out for the
summer on Friday May 31st, close to 600 Lanier, Brinkley, and Jim Hill high
school students join students on summer break from Tougaloo and Jackson State
at Farish Street Baptist
Church for the first mass
march. Their plan is continuous marches like Birmingham with jail-no-bail for those
arrested (there is no money for bail bonds, and the cost of incarcerating
hundreds of protesters will put pressure on the authorities).
Hundreds of cops, troopers,
"special deputies," and sheriffs surround the church. Whites in cars
prowl the city waving Confederate flags. Led by NAACP youth organizer Willie
Ludden, the students march out of the church two-by-two on the sidewalk.
Carrying American flags, they start towards the downtown shopping district on Capital Street. The
cops block the street. They grab the flags from the marchers and drop them in
the dirt. Beating some of the marchers with clubs, they force them into garbage
trucks and take them to the animal stockade at the nearby state fairgrounds.
"Just like Nazi Germany,"
observes World War II veteran Medgar Evers who is not allowed to participate in
the march by his NAACP superiors. U.S. Department of Justice
officials observe, and do nothing.
That night 1500 people attend a huge
mass meeting. Though the students planned to go jail-no-bail, NAACP lawyers who
oppose mass marches convince many of them to bond out. And the minors are forced
to sign a no-demonstration pledge before being released. But a hard core of
protesters over the age of 18 hold out, refusing to sign the pledge.
On Saturday, June 1st NAACP national
head Roy Wilkins, Medgar Evers, and Mrs. Helen Wilcher of Jackson are arrested for picketing downtown
stores. It is Wilkins first-ever civil rights arrest, and the three are quickly
bonded out. A number of national NAACP leaders are now in Jackson vigorously opposing mass marches and
mass arrests. They argue for voter registration and continuing the boycott in
the same manner as the past six months. Despite their opposition, late in the
day 100 students and adults march. The cops are caught by surprise, and the
marchers manage to get several blocks through the Black community before being
surrounded and hauled to the fair grounds stockade in garbage trucks.
On Sunday June 2nd, the Jackson NAACP offices are
locked up tight and there is no place for marchers to gather. Using their
control of funds, the national NAACP leaders oust the student and Youth Council
activists from the democratically elected strategy committee and replace them
with conservative ministers and affluent community "leaders" who
oppose Birmingham-style mass action. The new, reconstituted, committee agrees
to refocus on the boycott, voter registration, and court cases.
Over the following days the national
NAACP leaders prevent any new mass marches. Without the sustaining energy of
mass action, morale sags and attendance at mass meetings drops, though a hard
core of students are still holding out in the stockade, refusing to be bonded
out (Jackson Sit-In 6-12).
By June the 6th the movement had
dipped because bail bond had been cut off largely, and lots of other inhibiting
things were being done [Hunter Bear disclosed]
. Some of us were talking about making an invitation to Martin King,
which enraged the NAACP people. In the middle of all of this, we were hit with
an injunction.
…
It had three levels [of prohibition].
[First was] actually doing something like picketing or demonstrating, sit-ins
or pray-ins, or things of that sort. Then conspiring to do those things. And
then the third level was doing anything to consummate conspiracies. Of course,
we had no intention of complying with it, and we began to immediately violate
the thing as much as we could (Interview 18).
On Thursday, June 6th, a Hinds County
court issues a sweeping injunction against all forms of movement activity.
Though the injunction blatantly violates Constitutionally protected rights of
free-speech and assembly, the national NAACP leaders who have taken over the Jackson movement choose
not to defy it with direct action. Discouraged and disheartened, the last
students accept bond and leave the stockade. Noted comedian Dick Gregory, who
had come to Jackson to participate in
demonstrations returns to Chicago
saying: "The NAACP decided to go into the courts — and I'm no attorney. I
came down here to be with that little man in the streets; and I was willing to
go to jail for ten years, if necessary to get this problem straight " (Jackson
Sit-Ins 13).
Hunter Bear:
So the point is that the
strategy committee was split. The Youth Council was strong for continuing. Many
of the younger ministers were strong for continuing. Many of the younger Black
businessmen wanted to continue, but the old guard ministers were with the
national office, and the [NAACP]
national
office was on a puppet string with the Kennedys, — or at least they
had a string on each other.
And the point is that it was a very
confusing situation. … But the reality
was that it was a completely fucked up situation in every possible way. … But it was very difficult. The Youth
Council couldn't quite understand until we'd gone a ways why the national
office, — which was supposed to be all for these things, — was turning into an
albatross.
The other side figured we were about
done for. [On the] Flag Day demonstration, the flags were all confiscated, the
kids were arrested, you know, that sort of thing. We had a National Flag Day,
and we had about 15 kids with flags.
We were reluctant to get a large
number of people arrested unless we had some guarantee of their getting out at
some point. … the movement had hit a
very low point, and we decided we'd better contact Martin King.
By that time I'd sent Eldri [his
wife]
and Maria, my oldest daughter, out
of Jackson
under an assumed name. Threats were being made to blow up our home at Tougaloo.
Lug nuts on my car had been loosened while it was parked at the airport. Things
like that. … Eldri didn't want to go, but I made her go. And so she was in the
North.
I went home on the night of June 11 to
an empty house. We'd had a small mass meeting, — they were getting smaller.
Medgar had loaned me his old 44-40 [rifle], — I had other firearms, but I liked
the idea of a Winchester
44-40, I'd had several. And I'd just barely gotten to sleep, when somebody was
pounding on the door, it was George Owens, the business manager of Tougaloo.
And he said Medgar has been shot, he's probably dead (Interview 19-21).
Works cited:
“Interview: Hunter Bear (John Salter).”
Veterans of the Civil Rights
Movement. Web.
https://www.crmvet.org/nars/hunteri.htm
“
Jackson
Sit-In & Protests (May –June).”
Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement
History and Timeline, 1963 Jan-June. Web.
https://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis63.htm#1963woolworth
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