Civil Rights Events

Mississippi -- Grenada County Freedom Movement

School Integration Rages On

 Movement leaders put out the word that no Afro-American students are to walk to school on their own. The next morning, Tuesday the 13th, more than 100 courageous Afro-American elementary and high school students gather at Belle Flower church to be driven by Black adults willing to risk mob assault and damage to their cars. Again the white mob has the schools surrounded and again they attack any Blacks who approach, smashing car windows with baseball bats and steel pipes. State Troopers, local lawmen, and FBI agents again watch the violence and again do nothing to stop it. At least 10 kids are seriously injured and many vehicles are damaged. Yet despite the violence, a good portion of the students manage to defiantly enter the two school buildings.

A swarm of journalists and TV crews from around the world are now recording the mob's actions, and law-enforcement's inaction. Again reporters and photographers are attacked. And again the cops do finally bestir themselves to arrest someone — SCLC staff member Major Wright who is on the sidelines, observing and reporting back to Movement leaders. He's busted for "trespass." A civil rights lawyer, also there to observe, begins speaking to Constable Grady Carroll who calls down an "action team" to beat him with fists and clubs.

Meanwhile, out in the world, reports and TV footage of Monday's mob attack on school kids are being printed and broadcast across the globe. Intense political pressure from business interests both inside and outside the state is coming down on Mississippi and its Governor. Around noon, word begins to circulate that he has finally ordered the Troopers to actually protect the children. That word is passed to the mob leaders. More often than not throughout the South, violent white mobs are mobilized, influenced, and directed by the white power-structure rather than occurring as spontaneous outbursts of emotion. Such is the case in Grenada. Obedient to command from on high, the violent throng around the schools quickly begins to dwindle down to a few disgruntled diehards.

Classes end around 3pm. Led by Dr. King who had flown down from Chicago, a hundred or so Black adults and civil rights workers march out of Belle Flower church to escort the students through the mob they assume is still lurking in ambush. Rifle-armed Troopers stop them at the barricade a couple of blocks from the two schools. They say their orders are that no one but students and parents are allowed through and promise that from now on they will prevent attacks on children. The marchers have no reason to believe them (and every reason not to), but there is no way they can force their way through the heavily-armed blockade.

The adults wait until the kids safely come out through the barricade and report that the mob has dispersed. Everyone marches back to Belle Flower together singing freedom songs and feeling victorious at having survived a second day of integrated school with pride and dignity.

That night the evening march is small, only 170 or so and as usual mostly women and children. Wounds and injuries prevent some of the regular protesters from participating and others have been frightened away by the mob. Those who do march conceal their fear behind a shield of spirited singing. When they reach the square a mob of 500 or more whites are waiting with rocks, bottles, bats, and pipes. No cops or troopers are visible. None at all — a silent but eloquent invitation to mob violence. As the demonstrators circle the green they're bombarded by a hail of thrown missiles and links of steel chain shot from slingshots.

Singing their hearts out, the marchers circle the green two or three times. Soon many are bleeding from stones and chain links. A gang of enraged whites charge into the front of the line, swinging clubs and fists. The tightly packed protesters take the blows on their shoulders and the arms they raise to protect their heads as they keep on marching. A squad of Troopers finally comes around the corner to push the attackers away and hold them back.

…

On Wednesday morning, September 14, there are still 86 children of all ages willing to brave the mob and the implacable hostility of white students and teachers. They are determined to win at all cost, to defeat their white racist enemies and not give an inch. This is not, of course, because they have some great burning desire to sit next to white children in class. Rather they are simply fed up with being treated as inferior, being told they aren't "good enough." They understand, respect, and deeply appreciate the academic fundamentals and self-pride that courageous Black teachers surreptitiously impart to their students in defiance of Mississippi's white education authorities. But they're sick and tired of having to endure the kind of "sharecropper education" that the state forces upon the segregated Colored schools.

On Tuesday, while the mob was attacking cars carrying Afro-American kids the police were carefully noting down the license plates of those driving children to school. For the rest of the day the cops harassed them with bogus citations for imaginary traffic infractions. So GCFM adopts a new strategy of marching the kids to school from Belle Flower. The march is stopped at the Trooper barricade two blocks from the schools. There are some white hecklers nearby, but no mob. None of the children are attacked as they approach the school doors. The small march to the square that night is well protected by Troopers and the waiting mob is subdued, limiting themselves for the most part to verbal abuse.

Movement lawyers had, of course, immediately complained to Judge Clayton in Oxford about mob violence thwarting his desegregation order. Classes are canceled on Thursday so that school officials can appear in federal court. The next day the judge issues a sweeping injunction ordering the county and city of Grenada and the state of Mississippi to protect children on their way to and from school. For this "intrusive federal interference with states rights" he is roundly condemned and vilified by local white politicians.

That evening there is no mob in the square waiting for the night march. It's unclear to Movement activists whether the white power-structure has gone back to its "no audience strategy" or they're having trouble keeping their mobs mobilized.

A powerful sense of achievement buoys the Movement and the Afro-American community at large. Black Grenadans have defied and endured daily assaults from raging Klan-led mobs. Now the racist mobs are gone while the Movement is still marching and Afro-American kids are still attending the white schools. On Sunday, Dr. King addresses a mass meeting jam-packed with more than 650 people. Three times the normal 200 or so participate in the night march to the square including many adults who have never marched before. Afro-Americans see it as a victory march — and so do many whites.

Over the following week some of those sent back from the white school because of paper technicalities are able to get enrolled, others aren't. As it finally settles down, out of the 450 Afro-Americans who had first asked for Freedom of Choice transfers in September about 150 end up attending the two white schools. While 150 is only a third of the original number, it is far greater than the number of Blacks attending any other integrated school in Mississippi.

On Saturday, September 18, the FBI finally arrests 13 whites on conspiracy charges for organizing and leading the mob attack on the first day of school. One of them is Judge Ayers who has jurisdiction over many of the civil rights arrest cases in Grenada.

A year later, in 1967, they are tried in federal court for mobbing school children. The evidence is overwhelming. The kids identify their attackers from the witness stand. Under oath, two white policemen give reluctant testimony against the defendants, as does the principal of the white high school. The defense arguments offered to refute the charges are pathetic, some claim they weren't there that day despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. One man who is accused of kicking a Black child in the face tells the court "The boy fell down at my feet and grabbed at my breeches — when the boy grabbed my leg I fell backward and my leg went up."

It takes only 30 minutes for an all-white, all-male jury to acquit each and every defendant on every single charge (Mob Terror 6-9).

Bruce Hartford:

Over the next week, we continue to march the kids to school (some of whom are always turned away on various excuses), and pick them up with a return march. We hear that 300 local whites have signed a statement calling for an "end to violence" — and also calling for an end to demonstrations and the Blackout of white-owned businesses.

Thursday, September 29. Pak n Sak market sues SCLC, the GCFM, three Negro churches, and all of the Negro taxi drivers for $960,000 of "lost business" due to the Blackout. They get an injunction against the Blackout.

Thursday, October 6. The 100th mass march of the Grenada Movement. We hold a rally at the courthouse in defiance of the ordinance forbidding rallies there. We leave when the police prepare to arrest us. J. McEachin is rehired as City Manager.

Over the following week we continue to hold nightly marches, but our numbers dwindle down to around 100 or so — less than half what they had been during the September school crises. People are tired, worn out.

Saturday, October 8. For the first time, not enough people show up at the mass meeting to hold a march. The march is canceled.

Over the next ten days, small marches of less than 100 are held, but twice there is no march because too few people show up.

Tuesday, October 18. Instead of a mass meeting and march there is an emergency meeting of parents to discuss what to do about the harassment the Negro children are enduring at the white schools. They are no longer being attacked by mobs outside the schools, but inside it is a daily struggle for survival and dignity. Almost half of the 150 or so who had managed to get enrolled have been driven out by physical attacks and indignities from the white students, harassment by teachers and Principals, and economic retaliation against their parents (loss of jobs, evictions, foreclosures, and so on) (Hartford 19-20).

White kids freely kick and push Black kids in the halls, throw objects at them, curse them, and call them "nigger," "jigaboo," "coon," and other insults. School authorities do nothing to curtail student behavior or protect Afro-American children. White boys are allowed to carry knives, saps, and other weapons but nonwhites are suspended for doing the same. Whenever an Afro-American student has any kind of conflict with a white, the Black is punished — by mid-October 40 have already been suspended or expelled as "troublemakers" — while the white kids get a wink and a nod from administrators and teachers.

Knowing what they face, the young Afro-American school integrators dread going to school each day. By mid-October, 60 of the 150 or so who had managed to enroll at the beginning of the term have been expelled or driven out by indignities, physical attacks, harassment by teachers and administrators, or economic retaliation against their parents. But with raw courage and determined grit some 90 or so Black children still hold out. They pick up their books each morning and walk into what has for them become the halls of hell.

Two new incidents occur on Tuesday, October 18. At Horn Elementary an Afro-American boy is sitting in the cafeteria with some white students. The principal orders him to move and sit with the other Black kids. When he refuses, the principal yanks him from his seat, ripping his jacket. At Rundle High the same day, Dorothy Allen — one of the most courageous and dedicated of the young freedom marchers — is punched by a white boy. She hits him back and is taken to the principal who orders her to bring her mother to school the following day — an indication that she is about to be expelled.

That evening, an emergency meeting of more than 100 parents discusses what to do about the violence and harassment at the white schools. They decide to send a delegation to accompany Dorothy's mother to see the principal and to ask for formal meetings between parents and teachers. Twenty of those present courageously agree to be part of the delegation. (Grit 2-3).

Wednesday, October 19. The Principal refuses to talk to the delegation or set up any future meeting. He says he will talk to any individual parent about any individual problem, but he will not meet with any group. He refuses to admit that there is any sort of continuing problem.

The mass meeting that night is well attended. It decides to try again the next day and, if there is no success, to stage a protest walkout of the school on Friday. More than 200 join the night march to the square.

Thursday, October 20. The parents again try to talk to the Principal. He refuses.

Friday, October 21. At 10am the remaining 70 or so Negro students of the white schools walk out to protest the continuing harassment. A number of students at Negro schools walk out in sympathy. Later, another delegation of parents tries to talk to the Principal and superintendent but state troopers prevent them from reaching the campus.

Saturday, October 22. All of the children who walked out are suspended from school for ten days until Nov 1^st.

Monday, October 24. We stage a morning protest march of more than 200 to the white schools. When stopped by state troopers the marchers kneel down to pray. All are arrested when they refuse to disperse. Those over 15 years of age are forced into open cattle trucks and taken to Parchman Prison an hour's drive away. Some of the younger kids are shipped to Greenville jail, an hour and a half away, while others are locked up in Grenada City and County jails. The very young kids are released. More kids walk out and start boycotting the Negro schools in solidarity.

After their arrest, SCLC staff members J.T. Johnson, Lester Hankerson, Major Wright, Herman Dozier, and Bill Harris are beaten by the troopers while in custody. The boycott of the Negro schools continues to grow.

Tuesday, October 25. Another 30 people are arrested when they try to picket the white schools. Some arrestees are shipped to Batesville and Oxford jails. School boycott grows.

Wednesday, October 26. Parents make protest march to the square. Less than 100 march because so many of the activists are now in various jails: Grenada City & County, Greenville, Batesville, Watervalley, Oxford, and Parchman Prison. School boycott continues.

Thursday, October 27. Parents again march in protest. 17 pickets are arrested. Federal Judge Clayton refuses to release the detainees on a Habeas Corpus motion but indicates a deal is being worked out. School boycott continues.

Friday, October 28. Police release all those under 18 years old on their own recognizance (that is, without bail). Others have been bailed out, leaving about 15 still in jail. The SCLC staff who were arrested remain in jail.

By now, all but a few hundred of the 2600 Negro students in Grenada County are boycotting school in sympathy (Hartford 19-21).

By this time, 2200 of the 2600 Afro-American students enrolled in the Colored schools are boycotting classes. White school officials are, of course, pleased that the 90 remaining school integrators are both refusing to attend and under suspension. But having over two thousand Black kids out of school is a serious problem because funding from the state is based on average daily attendance so the student strike is costing them money. And having such a large number of angry youth roaming free on the streets and potentially joining the ongoing protests and marches worries local authorities.

On Saturday, October 29, all those remaining in jail are finally bailed out but white terrorism is again on the rise. SCLC project director J.T. Johnson and SCLC staff member Robert Johnson are shot at by a hidden sniper — fortunately his aim is poor and no one is hit. Some 160 people participate in the march to the square that night. …

…

On Monday, October 31st, Judge Clayton begins hearing the GCFM complaint about the school situation. …

…

… on Monday, November 7, Clayton issues his order. Parents and students are prohibited from demonstrating at the schools or organizing boycotts. Under threat of contempt, the school system is ordered to treat everyone equal regardless of race and to protect children from "violence, intimidation, or abuse." The superintendent is ordered to set up meetings between parents and teachers. A complaint system is put in place to handle disputes. While this is not a total triumph, it is seen by both Blacks and whites as a victory for the Freedom Movement.

On paper, Clayton's ruling appears fair and reasonable but as with so many federal court orders in the South it fails to take into account the grim realities of racism, violence and intimidation that Afro-Americans in Grenada face. Under the details of his order, before Black parents can bring a complaint to him they have to first meet with the teacher to ask for resolution, then if that fails meet with the principal, and after that the superintendent. In real life, however, it requires an act of defiance and courage (and time off from work) for an Afro-American parent to confront any white person in authority over any complaint or grievance. And complainers are marked by whites as "troublemakers" and "shit-disturbers" who become targets for retaliation.

So as a practical matter, Clayton's fine words have only limited effect on reducing abuse in the white schools. The harassment continues. On December 20, Freedom Movement lawyers Iris & Paul Brest and Marian Wright send a report to the parents of the school integrators:

Lawyers from our office spent Friday and Saturday speaking to many of the children still attending the formerly white schools in Grenada. And this is what we found. The Court's order requires the schools to protect your children "from violence, intimidation, or abuse." Your children tell us that in the last month-and-a-half, they have been subjected to all sorts of violence, intimidation, and abuse: •Every day white students kick and push your children, throw papers and spitballs at them, curse at them and call them names. Often this happens when a teacher is present, but the teacher does nothing to stop it.

•One child was so badly injured when a white boy threw a metal object at him that he was hospitalized at Mound Bayou, and may require further treatment.

•White students bring knives, brass knuckles, and other weapons to school. At least one white boy has actually pulled a knife on a Negro child. Some teachers and other school official continue to abuse the Negro students by calling them "niggers," and by making other derogatory comments.

•At least one teacher has explicitly urged the white students to inflict physical harm on the Negro students.

•Some teachers continue to make the Negro students sit together, in a segregated group.

•Some teachers refuse to allow Negro students to recite in Class, and ignore them when their hands are raised.

•Some teachers grade the Negro students unfairly, giving them low grades even when they do well.

•Several Negro students have been suspended because of arguments or fights with white students; the whites were not suspended.

•All the Negro children who were suspended from school during the week of October 24, were failed in all their courses for the second six-week period.

…

At the end of November, all of the Afro-American school integrators who had walked out of the white schools and been suspended in October are given "Failing" grades for that period. But criminal charges against those under age 13 who had been arrested for marching or picketing are dropped. Those over 13 plead "Not Guilty," with no date set for trial.

By the end of the school year in June of 1967, additional Black students have been forced out but Grenada still has more Afro-Americans attending formerly white schools than any other rural county in Mississippi.

At the same time, over the winter, arrests, sporadic violence, and intimidation continue in Grenada but at a much lower level than during the summer and fall. Occasional marches to the square are held with 75-200 people, but daily, sustained direct action protests are no longer feasible. The SCLC staff and the hard core of local activists are physically and emotionally exhausted from long hours, constant tension, little sleep, and no small amount of fear. They try to keep going on raw rage, grit, determination, and an utter refusal to let each other down, but by the end of 1966 they are debilitated and "running on fumes" as the saying goes. A description that equally applies across the Deep South to most of the other long-term freedom riders from SCLC, SNCC, and CORE who are still doing Movement work and just barely hanging on (Grit 8-9).

Works cited:

“Grit & Determination, Courage & Pride (October 6-November 7).” The Grenada Freedom Movement (June-December). Civil Rights Movement History: 1966 (July-December). Web. https://www.crmvet.org/tim/tim66b.htm#gren_return

“Mob Terror and the Courage of Children (September 12-19).” The Grenada Freedom Movement (June-December). Civil Rights Movement History: 1966 (July-December). Web. https://www.crmvet.org/tim/tim66b.htm#gren_return