July 23, 1964
MFDP Precinct Meeting
The MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY is the party that represents all the people in Mississippi. You do not have to be a registered voter to belong to the MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Anyone over 21 who wants to register and take part in the Mississippi government can belong to the FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
Masthead of the Palmer’s Crossing Freedom News.
Courtesy of the McCain Library and Archives, University of Southern Mississippi.
THE FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY is having precinct monthly meetings this week. At these meetings delegates will be elected to county and state conventions.
The regular Mississippi Democratic Party is also holding precinct meetings and electing delegates to its own county and state conventions. But these delegates do not represent all the people. Such men as Senators Stennis and Eastland will be chosen by the regular party.
The regular Democratic Party hopes to send its delegates to Atlantic City New Jersey to attend the National Convention of the Democratic Party. At this convention the delegates will select a candidate for vice president to run with President Johnson. They will also write a platform for the National Democratic Party.
Senators Eastland and Stennis and the other regular Mississippi Democratic Party delegates will go to Atlantic City and claim to be sent by the people of Mississippi.
But the delegates chosen by the FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY also will be in Atlantic City. They will tell the world that Senators Eastland and Stennis do not represent all the people. The FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY delegates will ask to be allowed to vote in the National Convention. They will ask to replace senators Eastland and Stennis.
They will say that there are too many people in Mississippi who want to vote and help elect Mississippi officials but who are not allowed to.
Will you help the FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY delegation prove that many people in Mississippi want to vote but are not allowed to? You can do this. Go to the Precinct Meeting this week. Help send FREEDOM DELEGATES to represent all the people in Mississippi.
Canvassing
Before you go out canvassing you talk to southernpeople. They tell you that the people will think of you as just another white person exploiting them. The people will tell you that they’re going down and say that they agree with you just to get rid of you. They think of you as just another white person telling them, directing, them, what to do.
Most of the Negroes of Mississippi have been in a rut for many years. They think of themselves constantly as a hopeless people. You won’t be doing the job you came to do unless you shock them. You don’t get anywhere with them unless you’re a gadfly. You must be persistent. It’s the only way you can have any success in getting the Negroes of Mississippi to act politically.
The most difficult task is not so much getting the people to go down and register to vote as it is of getting them to see themselves as leaders, as acting politically and of getting others to act politically. The Mississippi Project will not succeed until local leaders, with confidence to act in an effective political way, are developed.
If the canvassers sometimes feel that they have been harsh with people trying to get them to go to the courthouse, they get a great deal of satisfaction out of seeing that person who did go down to register has acquired a certain amount of self-respect because he has stood up as a man, in some cases perhaps for the first time in his or her life.
Carolyn M.
DON’T TALK POLITICS
Unless you are a registered voter
We Shall Overcome
America is a very wonderful place to live in. It has its advantages and disadvantages.
I have lived in the state of Mississippi for the majority of my life. When I was a child I was very content. As I grew older I began to realize that I was being treated unequal because of the color of my skin.
Now that the Civil rights Law has been passed I pray and hope for a better America, and a better Mississippi in which to live.
Deep down I know that we shall overcome someday. This is my belief and also the belief of my sister and brothers.
I will continue to fight for peace for all Americans “In the name of Freedom.”
Theresia C.
Untitled
The reason why I like Freedom School is because the northern teachers came down to Hattiesburg to teach us. I have learned what I didn’t learn in other schools, such as Negro history. I wasn’t taught Negro history until Negro history week. I have learned that the Irish and Italians were trying to get their freedom too.
I know that the white people are angry because the civil rights laws has passed, but I am very glad because we are able to go to cafes and shows, we will have better school books and most of all we will have the opportunity to go to better schools.
Theola McC.
The Darkness of the Negro Students
Some of the Negro students have been complaining about their teachers. They said their teachers did not give any information about the freeing of their people. The information given to them was false. They teach only what the white man wants us to hear. We have been taught that the white man was responsible for the abolishing of slavery, but that is false. What about the Negro abolitionists?
We have been taught that when the Negroes were free they were helpless. But that is false because they helped themselves by building houses and raising crops.
The reason for my coming out of the darkness is by attending Freedom Schools. At this school both sides of the story are told.
Lynda C.
At Palmer’s
The older people of Palmer’s and other places are waiting for the younger people, like those from 18 on up.
Yet they think they will stand by and watch our freedom go down the drain. We are the only ones to my thinking who really are free.
Me, I know that they’d rather have Palmer’s as it is today. Not me. When we eat at small places in town they watch, telling no. They talk about us behind our backs.
But all the people of the United States understand, we have plenty of people who really care, like those who work for COFO.
Fred T.
In Freedom School
The Negro all his life has been considered nobody. Thanks to the movement that has taken place here in Hattiesburg; some of the Negroes have begun to see the light. What I mean by this is, we know our rights as a Negro or should I say as a human being.
In freedom school I have learned about my race, and how we once were. I have lived in Hattiesburg seventeen years, which is all my life, and I wasn’t taught the truth until someone taught me like the people who came for that purpose. Thank God and thank these people for waking up the Negroes in America.
Alberta McC.
Untitled
I like to go to the Freedom School. You will like it too. If you want to come and don’t have a way, let us know.
I think we should all have our equal rights. We Negroes have been beaten, but we will never turn back until we get what belongs to us.
We just want what belongs to us. We don’t want anything else. I think we as Negroes ought to have the right to vote for justice, equal rights, freedom, jobs, we need better books to read. In the stores uptown and down here we have to pay tax. That is a crying shame.
God is looking down on people now. We try to hide things from people, but we can’t hide things from God. We pay tax. I think we should have a right to vote. All of our colored men are getting beaten and put in jail. That is unfair I think, don’t you?
Rita Mae C. Age 11.
Letters about Slavery
Some Negroes might say that they are free, but no man is free until all men are free. I am not a free woman yet, I am a salve. I know what it is like to be a slave. My people were sold like animals. Slavery should be abolished because I feel that all men should have equal rights.
Just put yourself in my people’s place for a moment. You’re a slave, traveling for nearly three
to four months. You’re hot, tired, hungry and thirsty and your family has been taken away from you. Some of you would rather commit suicide than face up to all this tormenting as my people did.
America might be the land of opportunity, butnot for the Negro period. Slavery should be abolished because the Negroes have been mistreated far too long. Slavery should be abolished because it degrades you as a fellow man. Abolish Slavery!
Look deep into your hearts, souls adnd minds. Ask this question, are the Negroes treated just like the white people? Set the Negroes free, we ought to be free as well as you. And we will be period.
Remember, without freedom there can be no civilized America and without freedom there can be no lasting peace.
Judie F.
Letters about Slavery
I come here today not to speak for myself but for all others who are hold in the bondage of slavery. You and law enforcers have forced us to work in your fields for little or nothing. You have wiped us when we make a mistake. You have spat on us, kicked us and called us dirty names.
Even while we slave in your fields you forbid us to talk to one another. We make up and sing songs to pass the time and let the others know what we are planning. You’ve taken away the right to worship from us. We steal away to caves when we get a chance. And we put a wash pot in the entrance to drown our voices.
We have appealed to you in many cases asking you to abolish slavery. Do you as humans think that it is honorable to own humans? To you today I say, we Negroes are of right and we ought to be free.
This Magnolia state is not a soft fragrant flower but rather a deoderized skunk. Your great wall is cracking and crumbling to pieces. When it breaks we’ll be free; and when it does, Mississippi will be civilized and peaceful. There can be no external peace until all men are free.
Judy G. Age 12
Letters about Slavery
Ladies and gentlemen I am here today to discuss the abolishing of slavery. I ask you to look into the depth of your hearts would you like to be a slave? I know the answer is no because you would want to have some responsibility.
Do you know the difference between slaves and a man? A slave is a person who makes more money for the white man with less expenses. A man is someone who stands up for his right.
America is suppose to be the land of the free. Do you call slavery free? Lif, liberty and toseek happiness. Does the Negro have life, liberty and the right to seek happiness?
The Negro to the white man is no more than an animal. He the Negro does not own anything so this makes him feel that he is nothing. To be a man you must have self-respect.
This the white man thought the Negro did not have. If this were so do you think that there would be as many slave revolts as there are? Do you think such people as
Frederick Douglas
Harriet Tubman
Sojurner Truth
Nat Turner
Denmark Vassey
Joseph Cinques
Thought of the Negro as nothing?
I ask you again to put yourselves in the Negroes place. You are separated from your family, you could not say about the way you are treated, no responsibility but work in the fields. It is left up to us, the people here, to abolish slavery.
Charles C.
Letters about Slavery
And we put a wash pot in the entrance to drown our voices.
We have appealed to you in many cases asking you to abolish slavery. Do you as humans think it’s honorable to own humans? To you today I say, we Negroes are of right and we ought to be free.
This Magnolia state is not a soft fragrant flower but rather a deoderized skunk. Your great white wall is cracking and crumbling to peices. When it breaks we’ll be free; and when it does, Mississippi will be civilized and peaceful. There can be no external peace until all men are free.
Judy G. Age 12
What I Would Like to See Happen for the Negro in America
For the Negro in America I would like to see things happen. I not only think but know there is going to be a lot of things happening. I would like very much to see the Negro in America keep on pushing for what belongs to them.
The people in America will see it happen. They’ll see the Negroes sit-in and stand-in for their rights.
I would like to see the people that are afraid understand what the word freedom means. And unchain themselves from fear. I would like to see the Negro people get the spirit. I would like to see the Negro people respected by white man.
It will happen and it will be known by everyone. The Negroes will also gain equal job opportunities. Things are going to change and happen and we’re going to make them happen. We’re going to make the Negro people understand that freedom isn’t just for one man but for all men.
Unauthored
Man on the Street Interviews
George Cillispe:
I have never been to freedom school because I live in Perry county and we don’t have one. I will go if we ever get a school. It’s a wise choice to have a Freedom School and you have to keep fighting and don’t turn back.
J. W. Sims:
Freedom school is a nice place to go and learn. I believe it will make a change.
Mrs. D. Sullivan:
I think Freedom School is a swell idea. I will send my children to the Community School. I can’t go because I don’t have a babysitter.
Mrs. H. J. McGee:
I’m glad these white people came here to help the Negroes because that’s what we need. If we have to fight for our rights, then FIGHT.
Mrs. O. Moncure:
I think the Freedom School is good. And I think the Negroes should cooperate and go, to register to vote. I don’t think any colored person should oppose it.
Interviewing By: Diane and Carolyn M.
Untitled
We the people are going to make it happen. In order to make it happen, we’ve got to keep the movement going.
We’re going to make Negro people understand what should happen and what the movement is. I’m going to. Are you?
Ann C.
Thoughts of the Future
I WOULD LIKE very much to see the Negroes in America treated as they were human. I would like to see the Negro have equality; equality of their surroundings, their ability to be a man in the eye-sight of others, meaning the opposite race.
I WOULD LIKE to see those things happen, and with a determined mind, will see these things common and others too. I feel as if I’ll see these things regardless of what the future holds for me. And if it is God’s will that I see those things, I will.
I WANT very much to see the reaction of the Negroes when they get their freedom and I’d like to see the Negroes realized that freedom lies waiting for them. I’d like to see them keep going and never turn back.
I WOULD LIKE to see the Negro understand their problems as individuals which is one of the most important things. Especially illiteracy. A few months from now and we will have no excuse for such as illiteracy because the movement has taken another step forward to eliminate illiteracy.
I BELIEVE that we will continue the movement until we get our freedom; and when we get our freedom I wonder if we will recognize it or if it will pass us by.
I WOULD LIKE to live to see the Negroes uphold the spirit of the movement in activities, have new ideas, not depend on the high official men in office, take direct action and get their freedom. I mean really get their freedom.
Curtis D.
Our Teachers
ST. JOHN
Doug—South Bend, Indiana
Stan—New York City
Jean—New York City
Greg—New Jersey
Cornelia—Madison Wisconsin
PRIEST CREEK
Joe—Kalamazoo, Michigan
Sandy—New York City
Marie—Wooster, Massachusetts
George—New York City
Second Session of Freedom Schools to Begin on July 29
The second three-week session of freedom school will begin
Wednesday July 29. They will be located at St. John Methodist Church and Priest Creek Baptist Church in Palmer’s Crossing.
As with the first-week session, classes will be held during the morning from 8 to 11 for the younger students, and from 7:30 to 9:30 every evening, Monday through Friday, for adults and those unable to attend morning sessions.
People who have completed one-week session will be permitted to participate in the second session. New students are especially urged to come at this time too.
Registration as well as classes will be held on this day. There will be no registration before this date.
So tell your friends and neighbors to come, and you too. See you there!
Declaration of Independence
PALMER’S CROSSING, HATTIESBURG, MISSISSIPPI ST. JOHN METHODIST CHURCH
In the course of human events, it has become necessary for the Negro people to break away from the customs which have made it very difficult for the Negro to get his God-given rights. We, as citizens of Mississippi, do hereby state that all people should have the right to petition, to assemble, and to use public places. We also have the right to life, liberty, and to seek happiness.
To Write in the Light of Freedom Page 17
