The older people, who should be most willing to cooperate in any way possible, are often the most uncooperative in the community. If someone would make them realize that the people of COFO and the Freedom School teachers at the Freedom House are here only for their benefit and for the benefit of their children and that without their full cooperation the complete success of the Summer Project is impossible. As Frederick Douglas once said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”
An Interview
Two White Mississippi college students were interviewed about the happenings in McComb. Their main reason for making their appearance at the Freedom House was to see Pete Seeger, and the other reason was just out of curiosity, to see what was going on. They didn’t mind being interviewed by a Negro girl because, as one of them stated, “It doesn’t make any difference what race you are,” and he had never been interviewed before.
The boys were asked if they were for integration. One of them answered, “Definitely.” They said that the presence of civil rights workers in McComb is good, worthwhile but that the proper tactics are not being employed. They do feel that the workers could be making progress.
One of them had this to say: “The white people of McComb are dead set against the workers being here. The whites think that the Negro is satisfied with the present system. The Negroes as individuals in the southern states are just great, but as a race they are not so great. The whites feel just the opposite in the North.
The boys felt most elections are a waste of time, that they accomplish nothing. As for the voting test, the boys think that improper ones are given to the whites. The whites have simple tests which only take a few minutes, and the Negro is given a longer improper test. Some whites who are not educated still vote.
One of the boys argued that southern Negroes should be trained up North and then sent back down here to teach the people what the northerners are now teaching then. Should this be done, all of the tenseness would disappear.
As for the Freedom Democratic Party, the boys did not think very much of it. They think that all efforts put forth by the Negro should be made in the regular Mississippi Democratic Party.
Thelma Eubanks
Sojourner Truth—A Brief Biography
Mrs. Truth was born as Isabella Baunfreo about 1797, the property of a Dutch nester in New York. Mrs. Truth spoke English all her life. She lived with her parents. Then one day Isabella’s parents died, and she was sold and resold.
She became the property of John Dumont, in whose service she remained until New York State freed its slaves in 1827. When the state freed its slaves, Isabella’s master did not grant her to go, but she ran away and left her children behind. Then one day she heard that when her son, Pete, was five he was sold. Instead of going on to be free, she went to court to get her son back, and she succeeded.
Mrs. Truth went to court again. This time she was accused of the murder of a white man, but there was not enough proof to convict her. She sued for libel and won a judgment of $125, which was unusual vindication for a Negro then.
In the year of 1843 Isabella decided to leave her job as a domestic servant in order to travel. She said that, “the spirit called me,” and “I must go.” The Lord gave her the name of Sojourner Truth. She was called Sojourner “because I was to travel up and down the land showin’ the people their sins and bein’ a sign unto them; Truth because I was to declare Truth unto the people.”
Mrs. Truth became a famous figure of anti-slavery meetings. Once she said about her work, “I think of the great things of God, not the little things.” Once a man told her that he cared no more about her work than he cared about a flea bite. “Maybe not,” she replied, “but the Lord willin’, I’ll keep you from scratchin.”
Viola Williams
When I Went to Vote
I went to the courthouse
To try an’ vote.
My name was asked first
So that’s what I wrote.
They asked me for my address
So I wrote that too,
(What else would you expect
For a fellow to do?)
I wrote my telephone number,
Also my description
Then I went on to fill out
The rest of the application.
It said for me to tell
What the Constitution said
So I did that and went ahead.
I answered the questions
From that one to the last,
But when they read my paper
They said I didn’t pass.
But I didn’t let that stop me
For I’m goin’ back again,
’Cause I’ve got a funny feelin’
That this battle I’ll surely win!
Paula Leona Moore
One Way to Deal with Strange Men on Your Property
Three country men were trying to figure out what to do when strange white men search around their property by night.
Sam—Well, I’m tellin’ you, if I see dem rascals aroun’ my place, I’m gonna shoot first an’ ask questions later.
Buck—Sam, don’t kill ’em; just round ’em. Have pity for ’em.
Rocomo—I think Buck is right, so I’ll just shoot ’em in their legs. If they try to get away, I’ll shoot ’em in their arms. Then I’ll go outside and look those rascals straight in their eyes, and then I’ll say I’m sorry.
Gloria Jackson
Weekly Quotation
“I had reached the point at which I was not afraid to die. This spirit made me a freeman in fact, though I still remained a slave in form.”
Frederick Douglas
Dr. William Edward Burghardt DuBois (1868–1963)
Dr. DuBois was considered one of the great Campaigners. His great ambition was to go to Harvard College. His mother wasn’t able to send him to Harvard. He worked in the summer hoping that he would make enough money to go to school. As it turned out he went to Fisk, where he met other people like himself. A grant was made to him from Fisk to go to Harvard for two years. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree, he spent two more years in graduate school.
DuBois taught many subjects including a rather new one, sociology. At the school where he was teaching, he met his future wife. The death of their first born son hurt them deeply.
There were great differences between DuBois and Booker T. Washington on matters of policy and program for the uplift of the Negro people in the United States. In an address to the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, Mr. Washington proposed a compromise by which the Negro would not ask for social or political equality in return for a pledge that he would be provided with industrial training and the opportunity to take a place in the rapidly expanding economy of the nation, then engaging in a period of post war boom. Mr. Washington’s proposal was accepted with relief by the South and with enthusiasm by the North, where wealthy industrialists worked together to put funds into the Negro institutions designed to fulfill his limited objective. DuBois declared, in contrast, that while this might be a necessary move for the moment, the results would prove disastrous.
When the announcement of the death of Dr. DuBois was made, everything was silent. A woman cried out, “He’s just like Moses.”
Precethia Rollins
Hope
Sometimes I wonder if we are alone
If there is no one who will help us
Along.
We have fought and waited for Freedom
To appear.
But we are not alone
And our hearts are not filled with fear.
Somewhere I know there are people who
Care;
Freedom was meant for everyone, as it
Can only be.
The day that we get Freedom a new life
Will begin,
Our hearts will be joyful and with
Rapture will spin.
When we find Freedom, we will not let
It go,
And day by day our struggl
e will
Grow.
We can’t always tell what happened in
The past,
But when we get Freedom, we know it
Will last.
But when will Freedom be here at our
Side?
Within its rights we are longing to
Bide.
Yes, we’ve struggled and waited for
Freedom to appear,
But still we are not alone and
Our hearts are not filled with fear.
Marionette Travis
Opinion—Freedom With Prejudice?
Freedom is as much a state of mind as it is a physical condition. No man can truly be free if the barriers of prejudice and disrespect are present, even if you are allowed to go where you wish. If this is given with reluctance and you are just put up with and not respected, you are not truly free. The seeds of prejudice that have been planted for a lifetime cannot be wiped out overnight. We must have time and patience and hope.
Anonymous
The Pete Seeger Story
On the 3rd of this month we had a world famous folk singer, Pete Seeger, visit us here in McComb. He has visited over 24 foreign countries. Seeger was born in New York State and raised in New England. He is married and has three children (one son, two daughters). His children attend an integrated school, and some of their closest friends are Negroes.
When asked why he is touring Miss., Seeger replied, “I am here because I want to see (and help) the Negroes win their fight for freedom, because 200 years ago my ancestors fought this same fight when they came over to America on the Mayflower. I also came because I feel I might encourage you to fight harder and because I also receive encouragement.
At the folk festival Pete sang such well-known songs as John Henry (which he wrote), Goodnight Gene (which he was the first to record), Tom Dooley, Oh Freedom and many other freedom songs.
Cofo is arranging Seeger’s tour of Mississippi. He will visit Freedom Schools and churches all over the state. Seeger hopes to visit McComb again within a year or so.
We consider it an honor as well as a pleasure to have him begin his tour of Miss. by visiting the Freedom House and the McComb Freedom School
Seeger also said, “No man has ever had freedom handed him on a silver platter.” So let us strive for the unity that we need to win our fight for freedom.
Barbara JoAnn Lea
Poem
I think the police know
The people who set bombs on your
window
But don’t think it’s only the white;
It’s living proof of a Negro has been
inside
Now looking from my point of view
Considering Negroes it’s only a few
Who would be lowdown enough
To be caught in that kind of stuff.
The police will tell you not to take
the law in your hand
But why wait to call when the bomb is
there and the person is off your
land?
It is wise to shoot or capture him
But don’t get trigger-happy and shoot
Before you have enough proof.
N. S. S.
Book Review—The Negro Revolt
By Louis E. Lomax
On Dec. 1, 1955 Mrs. Rosa Parks, an attractive, middleaged woman, unintentionally started the Negro revolt. She did so by refusing to unseat herself from a bus seat so that whites could sit down, because of her aching feet.
The fact that the Negro has no secure identification has caused the revolt of today. Because of relationships with female slaves and white masters, Negroes have been deprived of their identity. In a sense, the American Negro is made by man and not God.
After the beginning of the revolt, organizations were established to help the Negroes advance. Some were the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).
Four freshmen from the Agriculture and Technical College and Greensboro, North Carolina staged a sit-in in the local Woolworth dime store. When the news was heard on the local radio station, other students came to join. This started the second Negro revolt.
After that, many other sit-ins were staged. The techniques used were non-violence and mass action.
Another Negro organization was formed, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), with Charles McDow presiding. SNCC is active in voter registration, freedom rides, and sit-ins.
On May 9, 1961, freedom rides were started to “test racial discrimination in interstate travel terminals.” The rides began in Washington and ended in New Orleans on May 17. At this point, others joined the freedom riders and began a series of rides which ended Nov. 1.
Some outstanding Negro leaders are Dr. King, originator of SCLC, James Farmer, program director of CORE, Marvin Rich, executive secretary of CORE, Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of NAACP, John Lewis, chairman of SNCC, Jim Foreman, executive secretary of SNCC, and Bob Moses, director of the Mississippi Project.
Mr. Lomax ended by saying, “Whatever the Negro is, he is American. Whatever the future awaits America, awaits the Negro. What future awaits the Negro, awaits America.”
Edith Marie Moore
The ’61 Walk-out
In 1961 a big step was made toward freedom and equality. It all started when a Negro girl, Brenda Travis, was not allowed to enter school because she has been active in civil rights demonstrations during the summer.
The morning she arrived at school we had assembly as usual. A committee was formed to ask the principal if Brenda would be admitted back to the school. The principal said, “Come down to the office and we’ll see.” This made the students angry, so about two-thirds of the students walked out.
After leaving the school they went to the Masonic Hall, where they met Bob Moses and other civil rights workers. There they printed posters. Their next step was to go down to the courthouse. After arriving there, a prayer was offered, and then another. On the way down a few people were beaten, but not seriously. After the students prayed and sang, the police came and said, “You are all under arrest.”
The students gave their names and were then put in the jail cells. Then they told the jailer that they were hungry. Food and sodas were sent down. Next they asked for a broom and they cleaned up.
Later in the evening the students and civil rights workers were asked questions, such as: “Did you know what you were doing?” All the replies were “Yes.” The next question was, “Aren’t you taught to say ‘Yes Sir?’” “Only to people we respect.” Then those persons under 18 years were released and the rest were brought to the county jail in Magnolia.
Again the students returned to school, but some of the teachers and the principal wanted to know what they wanted there. So again they left. Many went to Campbell College, some quit school and other entered Burglund again.
Because of these demonstrations, the “colored” and “white” signs were removed from the train station and bus station.
Dorothy Vick
More Beatings
The story you are about to read is true, every word of it. The true name or names of the persons are not revealed to protect the innocent. This is the way the story was told to us by the person it happened to:
“It was about 9:30 and I was making the beds when I heard these two car doors slam. When the men who got out of the car called for me to come out, I ran to another room. But they kicked the front door down. It was about ten of them. They dragged me out to the car and put a rope around my neck and a black hood over my face. When I asked what they were going to do with me, one of them said, “Damnit, you’ll find out.” We drove about 12 miles on a paved road and then turned off on a dirt road and stopped. My hands were tied and the hood and rope were still around my neck. I heard water running, so I gave myself up for dead. But they just beat me and left me there. They jerked the rope from around m
y neck, which left two scars. Those are the only ones that can be seen. When I got to the highway, I didn’t know which way to go. I decided to go East. I walked about three-fourths of a mile when I came to this house, where I stayed over night. When I returned, I moved in with my son, until I found a place to rent.
I owned my own home and land. It wasn’t a palace but it was home and it had all the modern conveniences inside—water and bathroom. Now I’m living in this rented house with no running water inside. The bathroom doesn’t work, and when you’re used to something it’s kind of hard to do without it.
Now that I am out here (this person once lived in Amite County and now lives in McComb) I still don’t feel safe. I have ten kids and eight with the two older kids away. And I can’t go back to my own home.
I myself think that the sheriff had a bit to do with it because he did not do anything about it, and he also told my son that if he knew I was back he would run me out himself. I think that the people of that county should be made to support me and my family until I get back to my own home.”
Let’s remember that this story is true. The only way the Negroes of Mississippi can stop this sort of thing is by sticking together and crawling out of those shells they are in and get on the ball and do something about it; that’s the only way.
Billy Givens
Negro History Quiz
1.George Washington praised my poetry.
2.I was an American born actor (1807–1867), but I was an actor who never came home.
3.The old slaves considered me the Moses of my people.
To Write in the Light of Freedom Page 13
