This is a continuation of the previous post, which I recommend should be read before this one. This post is a description of two incidents that occurred in my hometown of Shubuta, Mississippi, when I was a child. The previous post explains the source of the documents I'm using here and its potential limitations.
For some context, Shubuta is in the southern part of Clarke County, which in the early 1960s had around 3,000 qualified black voters, none of whom were registered to vote. The MSSC files include a report from MSSC investigator Zack J. Van Landingham of 03/02/1959 reporting that he had spoken to the chancery clerk of Clarke County a few days earlier. He reported that she "stated that she knew of no NAACP chapter in Clarke County, nor was she able to furnish the name of any Negro agitator. She said that everything was very quiet in the county and that no Negroes were registered to vote." (SCR ID #2-100-0-2-1-1-1) Robert Kennedy's Justice Department found a few years later that no blacks were registered to vote in the county, as well.
This is part of how the segregation system worked. Blacks were prevented from registering through a combination of poll taxes, rigged literacy tests, and threats. Shubuta is a majority black town, and almost certainly so in 1966, though I don't have any population statistics immediately at hand. The Voting Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 had opened up new practical possibilities for political organizing among Mississippi blacks.
Black demands
A group of local blacks had organized under the name of the Community Planning and Improvement Committee, and in 1966 presented a list of demands to the local town government. The MSSC files provide a copy of the demands from the summer of 1966 (SCR ID #2-100-0-54-3-1-1). Again, the source requires some caution. The envelope of which a copy is included onthe following page in the carries the return address of Community Planning and Improvement Committee. (The online linking of the files is perhaps less than ideal; each page has a separate document number, but related items have links to the previous and following pages at the bottom.) But the heading on the letter included says "Shubuta Head-Start Committee." Since state officials were trying hard to find instances in which federal head start funds were being improperly used for political activity, I would have reservations about the heading.
But I don't see any obvious reason to think the demands themselves may have been doctored, because it's hard to imagine how even a rabid segregationist could have made them out to be anything outrageous, much less subversive. It said:
We, the members of the Community Planning and Improvement Committee for the city of Shubuta, Mississippi, make these demands for the people of Shubuta:
* We want an intergrated [sic] professional resource committee.
* Recreation Center (Old High School Gym).
* Sidewalks.
* Swimming Pool.
* Colored employess in all business concerns.
* More street lamps.
* Sewage System.
* Theatre.
* Dentist.
* Drug Store.
* Playground and Park.
* Library filled with up-to-date books.
* More jobs.
* Hotel or motel in Shubuta.
* New Factories.
* All streets in colored section opened and paved.
* Negroes added to law enforcement agencies.
* Bus Station.
* More stop signs.
* Free use of the Old High School building for CDGM Head-Start Center withcondition [sic] that CDGM pay for up keep.
Looking at this list nearly 40 years later, I can't help but be amazed that such demands were thought radical and outrageous. It sounds like a list of goals any small-town chamber of commerce would put out. And I can't help thinking that if the white who were the only ones who could vote in town had somehow found their way to make common cause with the town's black citizens to try to get some of those things, the town might have been a more prosperous place in the intervening years.
I would also note that a number of those things were eventually done, without anarchy or social chaos breaking out. Shubuta currently has a black mayor and a majority black city council. To the extent there are businesses employing people still in town, most if not all ofthem have some black employees. There is a federally-subsidized health clinic, a smalllibrary, a sewage system (everyone used septic tanks in 1966) and paved streets in predominately black sections of town. The town is so small that no one really lives that far from anyone else, but the residential areas have also become more integrated. The only police officer serving the town now is a black man.
The white response
I'll let two documents from the MSSC files tell the next part of the story. Both have the virtue of being sworn affidavits, a opposed to some of the gossipy drivel that is included in the files. Both are by observers from the Lawyer's Committe for Civil Rights Under Law working with the civil rights activists.
John Joseph Joyce, Jr. was a law student. His affidavit begins at SCR ID #2-100-0-50-1-1-1. Rather than put them all in italics, I'm going to set them off here by bold lines at the beginning and end:
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AFFIDAVIT
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
COUNTY OF HINDS
I, John Joseph Joyce, Jr., being duly sworn, depose and say to wit:
1. I am a law student assigned by the law Students Civil Rights Research Council to work in conjunctions with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
2. On August 6, 1966 I observed a demonstration by about 60 Negroes and civil rights workers. The demonstration was comprised of the above group walking two abreast along various streets in Shubuta leading ultimately to the Town Hall. In front of the Town Hall various speakers spoke for about 30 minutes. In the middle of the closing remarks given by John Sumrall, Mr. Sumrall was told that he was through. When he protested that he wasn't he was pushed away from the Town Hall. I then observed Mississippi Highway Patrolmen strike varous demonstrators with billy clubs and walking sticks. I observed Joseph Morse, in particular, being struck by a Highway Patrolman with a walking stick.
3. On August 20, 1966 I observed another peaceful demonstration by Negroes and civil rights workers in the town of Shubuta. At about noon the demonstrators commenced walking two abreast along the sides of various streets in the town. When the demonstrators arrived in front of the Town Hall, I observed Rev. Killingsworth start to veer to the left toward the Town Hall. At that moment, I observed the Highway Patrolmen and County and town police officials push and shove the line of march to the right and channel them into an alley. I was 10 to 15 feet behind the line of march when I observed the foregoing.
4. I observed a Highway Patrolman jab Attorney Joseph Gelb with a billy club.
5. I then heard a law enforcement official say to a group of whites "that is right, go get them." The white mob charged into the demonstrators and beat them.
6. The onslaught of the whites forced Negro demonstrators to take refuge. Some fled up the street, some ran into Barlow's Cafe and some took refuge in the yard behind Barlow's Cafe. I had to flee into the yard behind the Cafe to protect myself from the hostility of the mob.
7. I observed Negroes fleeing the mob and numberous whites chasing them up the street while police officials looked on.
8. Three whites, two of whom had clubs, entered the yard of Barlow's Cafe and came over to me and Attorney Gelb who was at my side, and snatched the notebook I had in my hand. One of the whites punched me, knocking me to the ground. While at least two or more whites stood around me, the white who initially hit me jumped on me and repeatedly beat me about the face and shoulders. I was also kicked. The white who was beating me forced two of his fingers in my mouth and attempted to rip it apart. Afther three or four minutes of constant beating, kicking and scratching, I heard one of the whites who was standing over me say to the one who was beating me "that is enough, let him up." I staggered up and ran into Barlow's Cafe for refuge from the white mob in front.
9. For anadditional five minutes I remained in the cafe to protect myself fro the mob outside untilthe sheriff removed three Negroes and myself from the cafe and out of town in order to save our lives.
I have read the above affidavit and it is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information and belief.
***************************************
The other is by Joseph William Gelb, the attorney referenced in Joyce's affadavit. Gelb's affadavit is found beginning at SCR ID #2-100-0-49-1-1-1.
***************************************
AFFIDAVIT
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
COUNTY OF HINDS
I, Joseph William Gelb, being duly sworn, depose and say to wit:
1. I am an attorney working with the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
2. On August 20, 1966 I was in Shubuta, Mississippi in order to observe a demonstration arranged by Negro citizens. I observed the demonstration from about 15 to 20 feet behind the line of march.
3. The demonstrators walked two abreast on the far right of various streets in Shubuta in an orderly manner. There was no interference with the demonstrators until they arrived in front of the Town Hall in Shubuta after having walked through half the town down the main street.
4. I observed that after the line of demonstrators momentarily stopped as if to veer to the left, State Highway Patrolmen and count and twon [sic] law enforcement officials pushed into the line of demonstrators and channeled the demonstrators into a vacant lot leading to a dirt road, on which Barlow's Cafe is located, behind the main street of Shubuta.
5. As the line of demonstrators was channeled into the lot, I was jabbed between the legs by a State Highway Patrolman with a billy club.
6. I observed gangs of whites armed with clubs chase Negfoes up the dirt road while State Highway Patrolmen, and county and town law enforcement officials stood by.
7. I was forced by the hostility of the mob which had been allowed to gather by the inaction of the Highway Patrol and county and town law enforcement officials to flee with John Joyce into the yard in the rear of Barlow's Cafe.
8. After a few minutes three whites, two of whom were armed with billy clubs, entered the yard, siezed [sic] a notebook John Joyce had in his hand, and commenced beating John Joyce and myself.
9. I was thrown to the ground and repeatedly beaten about the head, shoulders and back by fists and clubs. After two or three minutes of constant beating Iwas able to stagger to my feet and I fled for my life.
10. I observed open wounds, bruises and gashes on many of the demonstrators. Some were bleeding and limping and others were in a state of shock from the beating they had received.
I have read the above affidavit and it is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information and belief.
***************************************
In addition, there is a sworn affadavit in the files by Rev. J.C. Killingsworth, the leader of the march and, not surprisingly, a man that was generally regarded as a villain (to put it mildly) by the local whites. His affadavit is found beginning at SCR ID #2-100-0-51-1-1-1. His affadvait refers to discussions with local officials, but it's not at all clear from this document exactly what their individual motivations and constraints may have been. Given the presence of the State Highway Patrol, I would guess it was they who were calling the shots, or at least setting the parameters of action against demonstrators. (That is, if the Highway Patrol had insisted on arresting the violent counter-demonstrators and threatened to charge the local police and sheriff if they didn't act as well, things would not have gone down the way they did.) But it's just not possible to tell from these documents.
Killingsworth's account provides some additional details. He describes both the August 6 and August 20 marches as being "for the purpose of protesting racial segregation and discrimnination and the city's failure and unwillingness to give consideration to the July 25 demands [quoted above] and to encourage voter registration." He describes the abrupt end to the August 6 event when John Sumrall's speech was interrupted:
As the marchers were leaving, many were pushed and poked with billy clubs, shoved and kicked by the uniformed Mississippi Highway Patrolmen. One of the marchers with a camera had his camera removed and was then badly beaten by one uniformed Mississippi Highway Patrolmean while being held by two others. He was then forceably [sic] removed in custody and while heavily bleeding.
Of the August 20 march, he describes being confronted with Highway Patroment and a number of local law enforcement officers:
In addition, there was a large group of white youths, aged 17 to 22 years old, armed with clubs. The police officers and highway patrolmen were armed with billy clubs. When we met the highway patrolmen, Sheriff, constables, deputies and white civilians advanced on us shoving; kicking and punching. I was attacked by a uniformed Mississippi Highway Patrolman and a deputy sheriff. I was hit on the head repeatedly with billy clubs and knocked to the ground where I was kicked in the side and back. I observed that most of the marchers were being attacked and beaten. many were bleeding and visibly injured. The marchers scattered and were pursued down the street by white youths and policement swinging billy clubs. A subsequent check disclosed that all but five or six of the marchers had been brutally beaten.
I was a child at the time this occurred and I didn't personally witness either of these events. But I obviously heard a lot about them and was affected by the atmosphere of fear and violence of which they were a part.
I have mostly good memories of growing up in Shubuta. This somewhat sentimental paragraph from Gayle Graham Yates' book Life and Death in a Small Southern Town: Memories of Shubuta, Mississippi (2004) resonates with me:
Still, in the town, at threpresent time, the local means something. Townspeople know one another. You know who you are and where you came from in Shubuta, and other people from Shubuta know who you are and where you came from and who your people are. Where you came from is a place with moral and mythic value. Shubuta like many an American town, or, indeed, like many a village around the world, is a heart's crossroad; a location of earliest memory as well as present time; a bundle of emotional contradictions watered by a river in the shade of old oak trees and positioned by a railroad track, a few short lengths or streets, and a highway; and a subdivision of humanity placed on a spot of earth.
But I think it's also important to remember that incidents like this were very much a part of the culture and practice of segregation. So, if I seem to have little patience with things like the neo-Confederate nonsense - which is really "honoring" and sentimentalizing not the Civil War but segregation and all the ugliness of it - it's because I grew up very close to that ugliness.
And I don't get any warm and fuzzy feelings seeing the governor of Mississippi elected with the backing of the White Citizens Council. I don't have an excessive amount of patience with the bigoted ranting that's standard fare on rightwing hate radio. Or a whole lot of sympathy for Southerners or former Southerners or Republican ideologues who try to claim that things weren't really all that bad under segregation.
Because they were that bad.
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