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32. See, e.g., Black and Black, Politics and Society in the South, 23–49; Greenberg, Race and State in Capitalist Development, 235–42; and Jacoway and Colburn, Southern Businessmen and Desegregation.
33. “Segregationists Meet Opposition in Opelousas,” Louisiana Weekly, 20 June 1959, 1–2; [Bill] Brown and [Brendan] Sexton, Parish Scouting Report, Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, 22 November 1963, 2, file 1, box 7, CORE—SROP; “Opelousas Group Issues Civil Rights Statement,” Louisiana Weekly, 11 July 1964, 9; Mimi Feingold, Field Report, St. Helena, East Feliciana, and West Feliciana Parishes, 6–12 July 1964, frame 00790, reel 25, COREP; Parish Scouting Report, East Feliciana, n.d. [1963], 1, file 20, box 1, CORE—SCDP; “Negroes Seated on Parish School Bd. at Tuesday Meet,” St. Francisville Democrat, 12 January 1967, 1, 4; East Feliciana Parish Sesquicentennial Committee, East Feliciana Parish, section on “The Kilbourne Family.”
34. Weekly Report, [East Feliciana Parish], 5–11 August 1963, 6, file 14, box 1, CORE—SCDP; Miriam Feingold to Family, 19 August 1963, frame 0308, reel 1, MFP; “Intimidations and Harassment against Negroes and CORE Workers Summer 1963 to Summer 1964,” n.d. [ca. July 1964], frame 00530, reel 20, COREP; Notebook entry, 18 November 1963, frame 0780, reel 1, MFP; Ester Lee Daniel, Affidavit, 4 August 1963, file 13, box 4, CORE—SROP.
35. Miriam Feingold to Fay Bennett, 3 March 1964, file 12, box 11, ibid.; Joseph Carter, interview by Edward Hollander, SHSW; Ronnie M. Moore to National CORE, memorandum, n.d. [September 1964], 2, file 9, box 7, CORE—SROP.
36. Miriam Feingold, “The West Feliciana Sweet Potato Story,” 18 August 1964, 2–3, file 12, box 11, CORE—SROP; Princeville Canning Co. to CORE, 3 September 1964, file 12, box 11, CORE—SROP; J. Truitt to James Farmer, 7 September 1964, frames 01052–53, reel 20, COREP; Gordon R. Carey to Ronnie Moore, 9 September 1964, file 12, box 11, CORE—SROP; “Louisiana Canning Firm Relents—CORE Boycott Ended,” Core-lator, September–October 1964, frame 00182, reel 49, COREP.
37. Collins—Louisiana Civil Service, Request for Appeal, 1963, reel 2, MBP; “Jailed CORE Leader Wins Reinstatement,” Core-lator, February 1964, frame 00170, reel 49, COREP; Miriam Feingold, “East Feliciana Community Relief Fund,” 19 August 1964, frames 0412–13, reel 2, MFP; Feingold, Field Report, West Feliciana Parish, 1–31 March 1964, frame 00279, reel 36, COREP; “Assorted Papers Prepared for Use in Informal Discussion Workshops for Volunteers and Supporters of CORE's Southern Summer Projects,” 1965, frame 00479, reel 26, COREP; “CORE Sponsors Drive to Aid Evicted Families,” Louisiana Weekly, 8 January 1966, sec. 2, 5.
38. Gertru[d]e Felton, Complaint Information, n.d., frame 00866, and Carrie Robinson, Complaint Information, n.d., frame 00850, reel 25, “Louisiana Field Report for CORE,” 1 October–7 November 1963, frame 00542, reel 38, Miriam Feingold, Field Report, St. Helena, East Feliciana, and West Feliciana Parishes, 27 July–5 August 1964, frame 00788, reel 25—all in COREP.
39. Judy Rollins, “CORE's Chronological Listing of Intimidations and Harassments in Louisiana from December, 1961 to August 1, 1964,” [October] 1964, frame 00534–35, reel 20, COREP; Spiver Gordon to Burke Marshall, n.d. [ca. 28 February 1964], file 8, box 1, CORE—SCDP; Field Report, West Feliciana Parish, 10–29 February 1964, 2, file 15, box 1, CORE—SCDP; “Sheriff's Office Investigating Arson Attempt,” St. Francisville Democrat, 5 March 1964, 1; Statements by Nathaniel Smith, Mrs. Nathaniel Smith, and Vincent Smith, n.d. [December 1964], file 10, box 7, CORE—SROP.
40. Mike Lesser to Terry Perlman, 4 November 1963, frame 00185, reel 5, COREP (my emphasis).
41. Field Report, West Feliciana Parish, 13–26 January 1964, 2, file 15, and Parish Scouting Report, West Feliciana Parish, n.d. [1964], 4, file 20, box 1, CORE—SCDP; Meldon Acheson to Parents, 10 July 1965, 2, and 13 August 1965, 2, MAP.
42. Wats Line Report, Pointe Coupee Parish, 9 July 1965, 2, file 4, box 2, CORE—SCDP; Statement by Mary Boyd, n.d. [ca. 17 March 1966], file 12, box 1, FFMP.
43. Bob Adelman, “Birth of a Voter,” n.d., frame 00193, reel 49, COREP; [Wats Line Report], Concordia Parish (Ferriday), 21 July 1965, file 7, box 4, CORE—SROP; Statement of Robert Lewis, n.d. [ca. 20 November 1965], file 14, box 1, FFMP.
44. [Wats Line Report], Madison Parish (Tallulah), 18 July 1965, file “Tallulah (Madison),” Additions, CORE—SROP; Martin Williams, interview by author, THWC—LSU. Lance E. Hill (“Deacons for Defense and Justice,” 36, 134, 270) cites several instances when groups of armed African Americans mobilized quickly in response to threats to local activists in Louisiana.
45. Jim Peck, Louisiana—Summer, 1964: The Students Report to Their Home Towns (New York: CORE, 1964), frame 00465, reel 26, COREP; Redden interview.
46. “The Story of Plaquemine,” n.d., frames 00967–70, reel 20, COREP; Miriam Feingold to Danny, 5 September 1963, frame 0315, reel 1, MFP; Farmer, Lay Bare the Heart, 246–54.
47. Peck, Louisiana—Summer, 1964, frame 00459; Dittmer, Local People, 251; David Whatley, Field Report, Concordia Parish, n.d. [ca. February 1966], file 5, box 1, FFMP; Lewis interview; News-Gazette, 7 October 1965, 6, MAP.
48. Field Report, East Feliciana Parish, 13–26 January 1964, frame 00571, reel 38, COREP (fire chief); Wats Line Report, Concordia Parish, 3 July 1965, file 4, box 2, CORE—SCDP; Lewis interview; “Registration Drive in Rural Louisiana,” Core-lator, September 1963, frame 00166, reel 49, COREP; Field Report, East Feliciana Parish, 13–26 January 1964, frame 00570, reel 38, COREP (Bill Brown); “Assorted Papers Prepared for Use in Informal Discussion Workshops for Volunteers and Supporters of CORE's Southern Summer Projects,” 1965, frame 00480, reel 26, COREP.
49. Miriam Feingold to Family, 5 August 1963, frame 0296, reel 1, MFP. The federal government's failure to protect civil rights workers has been well documented by historians and participants in the movement. See, e.g., Carson, In Struggle, 83–89, 121–22; Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, 367; Fairclough, Race and Democracy, 93–94; Mills, This Little Light of Mine, 27, 67; Farmer, Lay Bare the Heart, 243; and Gitlin, The Sixties, 136–46.
50. Gayle Jenkins, interview by Miriam Feingold, SHSW.
51. Bims, “Deacons for Defense”; Fairclough, Race and Democracy, 342–43, 357–58; Lewis interview; Minutes of Meeting of Legislative Campaign Steering Committee, 6 May 1967, 3, file 9, box 7, SEDFREP; Hill, “Deacons for Defense,” 264.
52. “Deacons Spread Forces to Combat Terrorism,” Louisiana Weekly, 19 June 1965, 4. It is difficult to say for sure how many people joined the Deacons because the organization was very secretive about its membership. But Lance Hill recently concluded that if informal groups as well as official chapters are counted, Earnest Thomas's claim to the Louisiana Weekly was not far off. Hill's research unearthed a total of sixty-four cities where Deacons chapters were reported or rumored to have been formed. Charles Sims, a founding member of the Deacons in Bogalusa who helped to organize chapters in other states, later said to an interviewer, “I won't tell you how many members we had, but I'll tell you this: if push hada come to shove, we were well covered.” See Strain, “ ‘We Walked Like Men,’” 48–49; Hill, “Deacons for Defense,” 263; and Raines, My Soul Is Rested, 421.
53. Minutes of Meetings, 23 and 25 October 1965, Minute Book 25 July–October 25, 1965, file 2, box 1, FFMP; Mike Lesser to Terry Perlman, 4 November 1963, frame 00185, reel 5, COREP.
54. “Louisiana Summer Task Force Staff Meeting,” 15 July 1964, frame 00052, reel 45, COREP; Miriam Feingold to Family, 14 July 1963, frame 0271, reel 1, MFP; Feingold, Notes on Staff Meeting, 24 November 1963, frame 0789, reel 1, MFP.
55. Field Report, East and West Feliciana Parishes, 30 December 1963–12 January 1964, frames 00565–66, reel 38, COREP; Catherine Patterson, quoted in Hill, “Deacons for Defense,” 106.
56. Mike Lesser to Terry Perlman, 4 November 1963, frame 00185, reel 5, COREP.
57. Fred Lacey and Chuck Lawson, Field Report, St. Helena Parish, 17–28 August [1965], 3, CORE—SHPP. Parents of the black students who integrated the schools in St. He
lena Parish instructed them not to start any trouble and not to respond to name-calling, but to fight back if they were physically attacked. Eunice Hall Harris recalled that her father's philosophy “was different from Martin Luther King's in that area. Defend yourself, that's what he told us.” Eunice Hall Harris, Lorin Hall, Clifton and Eual Hall, and Eunice Paddio-Johnson and Clarence Reed, interviews by author, all at Baton Rouge.
58. Charles Sims quoted in Strain, “ ‘We Walked Like Men,’” 60.
59. F. J. Baumgardner to W. C. Sullivan, 22 September 1964, file 157–9, Disruption of White Hate Groups, Records of the COINTELPRO Program, FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C.; Fairclough, Race and Democracy, 371–74; Bims, “Deacons for Defense,” 26; Royan Burris, Robert Hicks, and Gayle Jenkins, interviews by Miriam Feingold, Madison; “‘Police Brutality Creates Deacons’—LCLU Pres.,” Louisiana Weekly, 29 January 1966, 2 (Steven Rubin).
60. Johnson interview.
61. Watters and Cleghorn, Climbing Jacob's Ladder, 50 (quotation); Civil Rights Act, U.S. Code, vol. 21, secs. 2000a–2000e-17 (1964); Voting Rights Act, U.S. Code, vol. 21, secs. 1973–1974e (1965).
62. Meier and Rudwick, CORE, 353; Bernice [Noflin] to Miriam Feingold, 20 October 1965, frame 0494–95, reel 1, MFP; “Negroes Evicted from Plantations for Registering to Vote in West Feliciana, La.,” news release, 20 December 1965, file 6, box 1, FFMP; James Bell and Laura Spears, interview by Miriam Feingold, SHSW; Untitled document, n.d., file 2, box 4, CORE—SROP.
63. Southern Regional Council, press release, 5 August 1966, file 10, box 18, SEDFREP; Miriam Feingold to Family, 23 July 1963, frame 0278, reel 1, MFP; CORE Freedom News, 29 May 1965, 1, 13 June 1965, 2, and 14 July 1965, 1, file “Tallulah (Madison) 1965,” Additions, CORE—SROP.
64. Miriam Feingold to Parents, 3 December 1963, frame 00738, reel 25, COREP; Feingold to Family, 1 January 1964, frame 0377, and 10 March 1964, frame 0412, reel 1, MFP.
65. Ben Garris, “Hooks and Shells,” St. Francisville Democrat, 14 July 1960, 1 (first quotation); Lewis interview; Draft of notice, n.d. [ca. November–December 1965], 3, file 8, box 1, FFMP.
66. Ronnie Moore, “Louisiana Citizenship Program,” September 1964, frame 00542, reel 20, COREP; “Assorted Papers Prepared for Use in Informal Discussion Workshops for Volunteers and Supporters of CORE's Southern Summer Projects,” 1965, frame 00479, reel 26, COREP.
67. Wats Line Report, Madison Parish, 10 July 1965, 1–2, file 4, box 2, CORE—SCDP; [Wats Line Report], 15 and 17 July 1965, file “Tallulah (Madison) 1965,” Additions, CORE—SROP; “CORE Worker Beaten Handing Out Leaflets,” Louisiana Weekly, 24 July 1965, 2.
68. [Draft of flyer], n.d. [November 1965], file 19, box 1, FFMP; Moses Williams interview; Harrison and Earnestine Brown, interview by author, THWC—LSU; Zelma Wyche, Harrison H. Brown, T. I. Israel, F. W. Wilson, and Moses Williams, interview by Miriam Feingold, SHSW.
69. H[enry] Brown, M[iriam] Feingold, M[arty] Goldstein, and C[hristine] White, Field Report, West Feliciana Parish, 14–21 July [1965], 1, file 15, box 1, CORE—SCDP; “School Desegregation Suit Hearing Slated Friday,” St. Francisville Democrat, 29 July 1965, 1; “Judge Orders West Feliciana to Desegregate Schools,” Louisiana Weekly, 7 August 1965, sec. 1, 4; “School Suit Won by CORE,” news release, 13 September 1965, frame 00235, reel 31, COREP.
70. Fairclough, Race and Democracy, 318, 334; “Federal Court Orders Grades 1 & 12 Mixed,” St. Francisville Democrat, 5 August 1965, 1.
71. Freedom Day Action Committee of St Helena Parish circular, n.d. [January 1966], SAFE, “Refuse to Pay!” 22 March 1966, and Fred Lacey, “Student Movement on the Schools,” 15 February 1966, 5—all in CORE—SHPP; Lacey, Field Report, St. Helena Parish, 22 April 1966, 1, file “Reports—‘65—St. Helena,” Additions, CORE—SROP.
72. “Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service: A Report of the United States Commission on Civil Rights,” 1965, 1–2, file 5, box 1, CORE—SCDP (quotation); National Sharecroppers’ Fund, “Statement on Discriminatory Practices Affecting Programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” 29 August 1963, frames 01228–31, reel 38, COREP; Wilbert Guillory, interview by author, THWC—LSU; Zippert interview.
73. H[enry] Brown, M[iriam] Feingold, M[arty] Goldstein, and C[hristine] White, Field Report, West Feliciana Parish, 14–21 July [1965], 1, file 15, box 1, CORE—SCDP; Henry Brown, Mimi [Miriam] Feingold, Marty Goldstein, and Christine Wright, Field Report, West Feliciana Parish, 28 July–3 August [1965], ibid.; Meier and Rudwick, CORE, 351.
74. Wats Line Report, Pointe Coupee Parish, 4 July 1965, file 4, box 2, CORE—SCDP; [Wats Line Report], Pointe Coupee Parish, 3 and 6 August 1965, file 24, box 52, SEDFREP; Meier and Rudwick, CORE, 351.
75. Zippert interview; Guillory interview.
76. Zippert interview; “History of Grand Marie Co-op,” n.d., file 3, box 1, JZP; John Zippert to Marvin Rich, 2 August 1966, file 11, box 23, SEDFREP; Sweet Potato Alert Proposal, Progress Report, 30 May–3 July 1966, 2, file 3, box 1, JZP.
77. OEO, “The War on Poverty—A Hometown Fight,” n.d., frames 00453–55, reel 26, COREP.
78. Notes on Meeting, n.d. [ca. July 1965], frame 0878, reel 1, MFP; [Notes on Interparish Antipoverty Meeting], n.d., [August 1965], frame 0923, ibid.
79. Notre Nouveau Jour A Commence, Inc., “Rural Community Visitors Proposal,” n.d. [1966], 1, 4, 8–9, file 6, box 1, JZP.
80. “Parish Anti-Poverty Underway,” clipping, Clinton Watchman, 11 June 1965, file 11, box 1, CORE—SCDP; “Community Action Program (CAP) Committee,” n.d., [ca. June 1965], ibid.; Farrell M. Roberts, Annual Narrative Report, County Agent, East Feliciana Parish, 1965, 4, vol. 470, AESP; Statements by George Perry, 5 December 1963, and J. C. Sanders, 7 December 1963, file 18, box 1, CORE—SCDP; “The Citizens’ Council of East Feliciana,” St. Francisville Democrat, 28 March 1957, 3; “Dissolution of the Citizens’ Council of East Feliciana,” clipping, Clinton Watchman, 11 June 1965, 7, file 7, box 1, CORE—SCDP; “East Feliciana Parish,” n.d. [ca. July 1965], file 7, box 1, CORE—SROP; Parish Scouting Report, East Feliciana Parish, n.d. [1963], 5, file 20, box 1, CORE—SCDP; Notebook entries for 19, 21 November 1963, frames 0781–82, reel 1, MFP.
81. “Parish Anti-Poverty Underway,” clipping, Clinton Watchman, 11 June 1965, “272 Children Will Participate in First Head Start Program,” clipping, Clinton Watchman, n.d. [11 June 1965], and “Additional Notes on Operation Head Start in East Feliciana,” n.d. [June 1965]—all in file 11, box 1, CORE—SCDP; Notebook entry, [22] June [1965], frames 0096–0100, reel 2, MFP.
82. Marion Overton White to Gregory Coronado, 12 May 1966, 1, file “Lafayette, Louisiana (Acadiana-Neuf),” box 31, Records Relating to the Administration of the Civil Rights Program in the Regions, 1965–66, Records of the Special Assistant to the Director for Civil Rights, Records of the Office of the Director, Records of the OEO, RG 381, NA; Samuel F. Yette to Theodore Berry, 13 April 1965, file “Lafayette, Louisiana (Acadiana-Neuf),” ibid. (Father McKnight).
83. Sargent Shriver to Gordain Sibille, 30 August 1965, 1–2, file “Lafayette, Louisiana (Acadiana-Neuf),” Hamah R. King to W. Astor Kirk, n.d. [ca. May 1966], 1–5, file “Louisiana—CAP,” “Governor Explains Reason for Veto,” newspaper clipping, no source, n.d., consolidated with Bill Crook to [Sargent Shriver], telegram, 23 March 1966, all in ibid.; Louis Berry to Derrick Bell, 18 April 1966, 1–2, file “Admin. Confidential,” box 34A, Local Problem Areas File, 1966, Records of the Special Assistant to the Director for Civil Rights, Records of the Office of the Director, Records of the OEO, RG 381, NA.
84. “Summary Report of the Investigative Task Force of the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on the War on Poverty Program,” 1 March 1966, 29, enclosed in Adam C. Powell to [David] Squire, 19 September 1966, file “Congressional,” box 800, SFDS, RG 381. For accounts of attacks on antipoverty programs in other states, see Dittmer, Local People, 363–88; Aiken, Cotton Plantation South, 229–56; and Kiffmeyer, “From Self-Help to Sedition.”
85. John C. Satterfiel
d, “The Worker Looks to His Rights,” Pointe Coupee Banner, 16 January 1964, 6; Rieder, “Rise of the ‘Silent Majority’”; Payne, I've Got the Light of Freedom, 376–80; Goldfield, Black, White, and Southern, 223–24; Bouma interview.
86. CORE worker Verla Bell provided an indication of the problems presented by insufficient finances when she signed a field report from West Feliciana, “P.S. Could have gotten MUCH MORE work done, but without a car BOSS I was HELPLESS.” Verla Bell, East Feliciana Field Report, September–October 1964, file 13, box 4, CORE—SROP. See also Shirley Thompson, Weekly Report, n.d. [October/ November 1963], 2, file 3, box 6, ibid.; Field Report, Pointe Coupee Parish, January 1964, frame 00578, reel 38, COREP; Notes on Staff Meeting, 30 April 1964, frame 0028, reel 2, MFP; Ronnie Moore to Barbara Whitaker, 21 May 1964, 1, file 6, box 2, CORE—SROP; and Judy Rollins, “Report on Attempted Purge in St. Francisville,” n.d. [October–November 1964], file 9, box 7, CORE—SROP.