Show 20 - POWER
AND RESISTANCE
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Council. All Rights Reserved. May not be
reproduced without written permission.
WILL THE
CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN?
A Personal
History of the Civil Rights Movement in Five Southern
Communities
EPISODE 20:
POWER AND RESISTANCE
JACKSON,
MISSISSIPPI
Written By:
Narcel Reedus and George King
with Vertamae Grosvenor
MAYOR RUSSELL
DAVIS
This tragedy leaves us all with
feelings of sincere grief and sorrow. It has occurred
in spite of my most sincere belief that it would
never happen in our city. This is the darkest day of
my life.
SERIES THEME
MUSIC: "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?"
[The Staple Singers]
NARRATOR
You are listening to Will
the Circle be Unbroken?, a personal history of
the Civil Rights Movement in five Southern
communities and the music of those times.
MUSIC
"Turn, Turn, Turn"
[The Byrds]
NARRATOR
By the mid 1960's, the war in
Vietnam, black power, and frustration with the pace
of change were transforming the Civil Rights Movement.
MUSIC
"Turn, Turn, Turn"
[The Byrds]
NARRATOR
In Mississippi, in 1966, James
Meredith had embarked on a lone "march against
fear" from Memphis to Jackson.
Rims Barber...
RIMS BARBER
James Meredith is such a loner
that nobody was sure what...why he was doing it.
OWEN BROOKS
I had met Meredith before...
NARRATOR
Owen Brooks was an organizer in
the Mississippi Delta.
NARRATOR
...and he announced publicly in
the press that he was going to conduct a march
against fear in an effort to get people to...to
respond to that call through registering to vote,
primarily.
NARRATOR
A reporter interviewed Meredith
before his 220-mile march.
REPORTER4
You mentioned the elements of
danger. Do you expect violence during the walk this
year?
ACTUALITY: JAMES
MEREDITH4
Well, of course, we hope that
we all are gonna to find ways in this country to live
in peace and harmony, and we don't think
Mississippi's any different. We think that
Mississippi is just like everywhere else. It has
mostly fine people and a few that are not.
MUSIC
"Blowin' In The Wind"
[Stevie Wonder]
NARRATOR
On June 4, 1966, James Meredith
left the Peabody Hotel in Memphis bound for Jackson.
Just across the Mississippi state line, Aubrey James
Norvell, a white Memphis eccentric, felled Meredith
with a buck shot blast. Meredith was rushed to a
Memphis hospital.
Hosea Williams was a field
organizer for SCLC, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
HOSEA WILLIAMS
When James Meredith was shot
down, everybody got together–all the civil rights
organizations.
NARRATOR
Once again, Owen Brooks...
OWEN BROOKS
Well, there was discussion
about...obviously about his being shot, and there was
discussion about the march and how it should be
continued, or whether it should be continued in his
absence.
NARRATOR
SNCC, the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee, had spent the last two years
organizing in the Delta.
SNCC's chairman, Stokely
Carmichael...
STOKELY
CARMICHAEL1
[Carmichael
describes how people understood the connection
between voting and their everyday lives.]
Text unavailable due to copyright
restrictions
OWEN BROOKS
There were some arguments. We
had meetings every night until we actually left
Memphis.
NARRATOR
Again, Hosea Williams...
HOSEA WILLIAMS
SNCC wanted to take over that
march and get rid of the nonviolence..at the Lorraine
Motel and Stokely and his boys were really witty.
STOKELY
CARMICHAEL1
[Carmichael describes how King was centrist with
SNCC and CORE more radical and the NAACP and Urban League more
conservative.]
Text unavailable due to copyright restrictions.
HOSEA WILLIAMS
And Stokely said these words,
"Now whatever we do, we can't run King out. We got to keep King as a part of
us. That's the only way we gonna keep the press. He
will keep the press."
STOKELY
CARMICHAEL1
[Carmichael describes political manuevers to pressure King to the left by minimizing
the NAACP and Urban League.]
Text unavailable due to copyright
restrictions.
HOSEA WILLIAMS
And they insulted Roy Wilkins,
so he finally got up and told Dr. King, "Well,
I'm going on back to New York, if you need me—I
can't work under these conditions."
OWEN BROOKS
Well, there was sort
of...yeah...verbal warfare there [chuckling]. The
style of leadership was quite different. The NAACP's
style as opposed to SNCC's confrontational kind
of...of civil rights work that they had been involved
in.
RIMS BARBER
Stokely called Roy Wilkins, a
"Mother fuckin' Uncle Tom," and Roy got up
and left. And never came back.
MUSIC
"Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your
Mind?"
[The Lovin' Spoonful]
NARRATOR
As SNCC had worked extensively
in the Mississippi Delta, Stokely Carmichael saw the
march as an opportunity to advance the organization's
political philosophy.
STOKELY
CARMICHAEL1
[Carmichael says that it was
important to take on Mississippi, where resistance
was the strongest.]
Text unavailable due to copyright
restrictions.
NARRATOR
Again, Owen Brooks...
OWEN BROOKS
We had a good coalition of
forces that had gathered together around the effort
and we...it was not going to simply be just a march
from one point to another. It should be a march that
attempted to reach people with the message of voter
registration and voter education.
NARRATOR
Again, Stokely Carmichael..
STOKELY
CARMICHAEL1
[Carmichael describes
nationalism and organizing as his direction.]
Text unavailable due to copyright
restrictions.
NARRATOR
Physician James Anderson...
DR. JAMES
ANDERSON
I think Stokely's was
considered a little radical for a lot of the people
in Mississippi.
RIMS BARBER
Most of the day was spent just
walking.
NARRATOR
Again, Rims Barber...
RIMS BARBER
And it was hot. And it was hard
to get up the spirit sometimes, right? But then we
would...had arranged, you know, at different towns
that people...where the stops were where people would
make speeches and try and promote some local voter
registration along the route. And there people got
excited.
PROTEST MARCH FX
[Sounds from the
march.]
NARRATOR
Again, Owen Brooks..
OWEN BROOKS
These were Mississippi Delta
poor people who needed hope, right? Who needed to
know that there was another way for them, right? That
their life could be transformed, maybe if not for
themselves but for their children.
COURTLAND COX
Clearly, the most memorable
thing coming out of the Meredith March was Stokely's
discussion on black power.
NARRATOR
Stokely Carmichael, Willie
Ricks and other SNCC members saw a way to empower the
poor blacks of the Mississippi Delta.
Again, Stokely Carmichael...
STOKELY
CARMICHAEL1
[Carmichael says Greenwood was
the focus of SNCC organizing.]
Text unavailable due to copyright
restrictions.
NARRATOR
Courtland Cox...
COURTLAND COX
And Willie Ricks was going
around talking about power to black people. Ricks
crystallized the idea about power to black people.
And then when Stokely got up, he said, "What we
need is black power."
ACTUALITY:
STOKELY CARMICHAEL SPEECH5
Don't be afraid. Don't be
ashamed. We want black power. We want black power. We
want black power. We want black power. We want black
power. That's right. That's what we want, black
power. And we don't have to be ashamed of it.
We have stayed here and we've
begged the President, we've begged the federal
government. That's all we've been doing, begging,
begging. It's time we stand up and take over. Take
over.
COURTLAND COX
It was a huge explosion
nationally. I mean, Whitney Young and Roy Wilkins and
the rest of these guys were called on to denounce
Stokely, to say that's not what we really wanted was
black power.
ACTUALITY:
STOKELY CARMICHAEL SPEECH5
Now from now on when they ask
you what you want, you know what to tell them. What
do you want?
Black power!
What do you want?
Black power!
What do you want?
Black power!
Everybody, what do you want?
Black power!
That's what we gon' get.
NARRATOR
Again, Hosea Williams...
HOSEA WILLIAMS
That's when the New York Times
came out with a huge article about black power takin'
over the march.
OWEN BROOKS
There were implications that
this black power would also promote a violent
responses from black people in various parts of the
country, because it went...it swept the country very
quickly.
MUSIC
"Shotgun"
[Jr. Walker]
NARRATOR
Historian and Ebony
editor Lerone Bennett wrote that black power was in
the air before Carmichael made his speech. Although
the slogan gave many a sense of pride, others were
uncomfortable.
Stokely Carmichael...
STOKELY
CARMICHAEL1
[Carmichael describes how King
wanted him not to use the "Black Power"
slogan but he refused.]
Text unavailable due to copyright
restrictions
NARRATOR
As the marchers neared Jackson,
police in Canton, Mississippi, used tear gas and
billy clubs to disperse them as they tried to pitch
tents at a local black school. The organizers called
on the federal government for protection, but
President Lyndon Johnson refused to send in troops.
After his release from the hospital, James Meredith
rejoined the march and led the marchers into Jackson.
ACTUALITY: JAMES
MEREDITH4
The purpose of the march that I
started three weeks ago today was to fight up and to
challenge that thing at the base of the system of
white supremacy, and that thing is fear.
NARRATOR
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...
ACTUALITY: DR.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.4
We cannot stand here today
without paying tribute to that courageous native son
of Mississippi, James Meredith.
[CHEERS AND
APPLAUSE]
I still have a dream this
afternoon. One day Mississippi, a state which has an
affinity for the bottom, will have an affinity for the
top.
NARRATOR
Stokely Carmichael...
ACTUALITY:
STOKELY CARMICHAEL4
Number one, we have to stop
bein' ashamed of bein' black.
[CHEERS]
Stop bein' ashamed of bein'
black. Number two, we have to move to a position
where we can feel strength and unity amongst each
other from once to order, where we won't ever be
afraid.
NARRATOR
In the summer of 1966, black
power echoed across the nation.
MUSIC
"Hold On, I'm Coming"
[Sam & Dave]
NARRATOR
King's nonviolent tactics that
had guided the Movement for 10 years were no longer
the only option. That fall the Black Panther Party
was born in Oakland, California, and the conflict in
Vietnam escalated— America was at war.
Student, Gene Young...
GENE YOUNG
Students on campuses everywhere
were demanding a greater voice in campus affairs. And
coming on the heels of Kent State, students were
protesting that in addition to the war at Vietnam.
NARRATOR
Bandele Yaro...
BANDELE YARO
Jackson State was one of the
campuses that was protesting the war.
NARRATOR
Poet, writer and novelist
Margaret Walker Alexander...
MARGARET WALKER
ALEXANDER3
Very few people know the
history of how black boys in Mississippi were
railroaded into Vietnam. Seventeen and eighteen-year old boys, freshmen out of Tougaloo and
Jackson State colleges and any college in
Mississippi, who might not have made that first year
in college, when they failed their schools
automatically reported it to the draft board and
those boys didn't even get in summer school before
they were called.
MUSIC
"War"
[Edwin Starr]
NARRATOR
By 1970, students at
historically-black Jackson State College began to
protest the war and to challenge white harassment on
their campus.
NARRATOR
Again, Bandele Yaro...
BANDELE YARO
Our campus was literally a
place where, you know, our women were disrespected. White men
would drive through and call 'em, and offer 'em
money, flash, you know, and sometimes it would be
done by the same group over and over, you know.
NARRATOR
Margaret Walker Alexander
taught at Jackson State.
MARGARET WALKER
ALEXANDER3
Now, the college had asked that the
campus be blocked off at 8:30. The only two cars that
evening that came through from Rose Street and passed
the dormitories were two cars with white men in them.
On sight, the fellows at Stewart hall, I understand, threw rocks at those cars
when they saw them.
GENE YOUNG
Whites would drive through here
and intimidate us.
NARRATOR
Jackson State student Gene
Young...
GENE YOUNG
...or somebody might throw a
rock and hit one of them or something, you know. All
day, constantly, even into the evening hours. And I
think it may have been some cars had their windows
smashed coming through here.
ACTUALITY:
POLICE RADIO CALL
Thirty-three, go ahead.
You got a bunch of colored
subjects down here in front of Jackson State throwing
rocks at passing cars. Just hit a car and broke one
of the glasses out of it and they threw three or four
rocks at us as we passed.
GENE YOUNG
Beyond the jeering and taunting
and confrontation, I didn't think anything was gonna
come of it.
NARRATOR
On the afternoon of May 15,
1970, students and others participated in a rally
near the girls' dormitory.
MUSIC
"Ball of Confusion"
[The Temptations]
MARGARET WALKER
ALEXANDER3
And then appeared a unit of
policemen who had been supposedly on target practice
or rifle range practice, beefed up by a unit of the
Highway Patrol. This unit suddenly appeared at the
corner of Valley and Lynch, and the guns were handed
out to them there.
JACKSON STATE
STUDENT4
The Highway Patrolmen came down
the streets, and the kids saw 'em, but it was
like...they wasn't doin' anything, so I don't think
they was too afraid.
JOHN BOOKINS4
It was more or less guys
horsing around in front of the girls' dorm.
NARRATOR
John Bookins was the senior
class president.
JOHN BOOKINS4
Well, you know how guys are.
Before you know it...it might appear that somebody's
fighting or kidding around, and then a lot of people
gather, and then somebody throws something, you know.
ACTUALITY:
POLICE RADIO CALL
10-4, chief. We have a
perimeter set up here, but we are being rocked. Should
we go ahead and gas 'em in these dormitories or just
hold off?
JOHN BOOKINS4
And the chief of 'em, I guess,
you know, he came out and he said, "Ladies and
gentlemen," and they started shooting...
ACTUALITY:
POLICE RADIO CALL
2-8?
2-8, go ahead.
There's a bunch of gunfire back
here at Dalton and Pearl.
MARGARET WALKER
ALEXANDER3
When they got up there, they
said, "Ladies and gentlemen," and got the
attention of the people. And without uttering another
word, they began to fire and students began to scream
and run. People heard the gunfire more than a block
away.
NARRATOR
That night, in an unprovoked
assault, police fired more than a thousands rounds at
a group of students gathered in front of a girls'
dormitory on the campus. A number of students were
injured. James Earl Green and Philip Gibbs were
killed.
Gene Young...
GENE YOUNG
I waited until the shooting
ended, and went back around and the smoke was still
in the air...people crying, and just to see that scene– It's a miracle that only Philip Gibbs and
James Green got killed, because it was some bullets
shot that morning.
NARRATOR
Another Jackson State
student...
JACKSON STATE
STUDENT4
So then after they stopped
firing, One girl was hollerin' for help. The first
thing they did was to reach down and pick up the
shells that fell out their guns and put 'em in their
pocket. And meanwhile I ran across the street, and
another boy was layin' down on the ground, bleedin'
from the eyes, the nose, the ear and the mouth. One
of the boys who died, Gibbs.
ACTUALITY:
POLICE RADIO CALL
23?
2-3.
We need ambulances.
Where do you need 'em, 23?
The girls' dormitory on Lynch Street...
10-4. How many do you need?
You'd better send all you can
get.
GENE YOUNG
And women looking out the
windows were all witness to this. Even if they were
not hit physically, they were traumatized by it
psychologically. The school was closed immediately
after that.
NARRATOR
The next day Jackson Mayor
Russell Davis held a press conference.
JACKSON MAYOR
RUSSELL DAVIS4
My information is that, involved
at the beginning were some outsiders who threw a rock
or someone threw a rock, and then we had...it built
up and it began to look pretty serious around 9 or
9:30. I just feel like that this thing last night
could have been real serious. It was not...everyone
involved did a good job. And I hope this is the end
of it.
NARRATOR
The image of the 10-story wall
of the girls' dormitory riddled with bullet holes was
televised throughout the country. Jackson College
students and the black community were outraged and
called for a full scale investigation.
Alex White spoke at a press
conference.
ALEX WHITE4
It is our opinion that the
actions of the Highway Patrol, and other officers if
so involved, constitutes murder. The bullet holes in
the girls' dormitory show a deliberate pattern to the
firing. All doors of the building were fired upon,
with a concentration at a ground floor doorway where
fleeing students were trying to enter. We cannot find
justification for the shooting of fleeing students,
regardless of the supposed provocation.
BANDELE YARO
The killing on the campus came
for nothing but pure hate.
NARRATOR
Jackson NAACP member Aaron
Shirley...
AARON SHIRLEY
I personally could have set
fire to some buildings downtown because the reaction of seeing the policemen
laughing and joking, knowing that two kids had been
killed. That's how angry and frustrated I was.
NARRATOR
Jackson police and the
Mississippi Highway Patrol reported that they had
responded to sniper fire. A grand jury convened to
determine if charges would be filed against the
officers.
News reporter Cliff Bingham
read the report.
CLIFF BINGHAM4
In the opinion of this Grand
Jury, the report states "that under the riot
situation then existing, the officers of both the
Jackson police and Highway Patrol had a right and
were justified in discharging their weapons."
MUSIC
"For What It's Worth"
[The Staple Singers]
NARRATOR
Despite a hearing in Jackson by
the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, no one
was ever charged or disciplined in connection with
the campus killings.
Jackson physician Robert
Smith...
ROBERT SMITH
People like myself was not
altogether surprised. We knew that leadership in
Washington had changed, and we knew that was the way
that business was being done.
JAMES ANDERSON
We never burned down our
communities in Jackson, you know, didn't have that
kind of reaction.
NARRATOR
Jackson physician James
Anderson...
JAMES ANDERSON
They had all-night vigils up on
campus, and people went in to be supportive. But here
again, they were...that campus still was in a state
control.
NARRATOR
Again, physician Aaron
Shirley...
AARON SHIRLEY
The next big confrontation came
was during graduation. You see, the cops had shot up
this dorm. Great big 45-millimeter slugs...in the
walls and in the windows and the kids demanded that
those windows and walls not be fixed until after
graduation so people who came could see.
NARRATOR
Again, Margaret Walker
Alexander...
MARGARET WALKER
ALEXANDER3
You can say that these student
disorders have happened all over the country and
National Guardsmen have been called in and students
have been hurt. But name me a place where they have
shot into the dormitory. Name a place. Evers said,
"They wouldn't do this in a white college;
they'd only do this in a black school."
MUSIC
"I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me
Nothing"
[James Brown]
NARRATOR
Gene Young...
GENE YOUNG
Nothing was ever done. But
similarly, Mississippi has a history with Emmett
Till, Mack Charles Parker, Medgar Evers... So that's
the tragedy of Mississippi. And that's why we say, you know, we
have always known what it is to be victimized by
whites, and not anything being done about it. This is
part of our history here in Mississippi.
NARRATOR
Once more, Margaret Walker
Alexander...
MARGARET WALKER
ALEXANDER3
Here, it was a black college,
with black students, with great poverty, involved in
a political mill, fighting for school integration in
a black school where the state does not pretend to
support higher education in the way it should be
supported. All of these things were in Jackson,
Mississippi; this became the focal point of every
issue in the country; Jackson was supremely
important.
AARON SHIRLEY
It was just obvious that things
were not going to change unless everybody got
involved in bringing it about. It would be difficult
for you to really understand the oppression that we
were under during that time. You know, everything was
based on race.
MUSIC
"Red Clay"
[Freddie Hubbard]
CREDITS
Key to
Archival Collections
| 1 |
Blackside Inc./Civil
Rights Project Inc/ "Eyes on the
Prize," Boston, MA |
| 2 |
Highlander Folk School
Collection, Highlander Research &
Education Center, New Market, TN |
| 3 |
Oral History
Collection of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
license granted by Intellectual Properties
Management, Atlanta, GA |
| 4 |
Mississippi Department
of Archives and History, Jackson, MS |
| 5 |
Collection of Andy
Lanset |
|
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