3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives
3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives 3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives
"A Brand New Negroo": SeK-Detuue in AMion,196S-1966 '(There wenalotof nipM-~idsn ridi:q Ih :ough Ihs nsiphboihood . Vlh ibppsd IMm . Wa put IMm out snd~w Mnm Iak wrminp . . . So IMwhit men ripM awy found out Ihet e brand new Nsprowu tam. Ylhdewy couldn't swim and we wuudoab the riveruws could qet solhen wu but one wayb po'. ~Cherlp S(ms, Bopskiu, louisiene, 1985 On a muggy night in July 1%S, a parade of cars driven by members of the Ku Klux Klan raced into the black neighborhood of Bogalusa, Louisiana, as they had done many times before. Leaning out of car windows, Klansmen taunted residents, hurled racial epithets, and insulted women while brandishing pistols and long guns. The Klansmen fired randomly into the homes of Bogalusa's black residents ; then, unexpectedly, a fusillade of bullets met them in return . The unwelcome visitors sped out of the neighborhood. It was the Klan's first encounter with the Deacons for Defense and Justice. Shrouded in mystery, the Deacons defied definition, though several journalists have tried . Roy Reed, a correspondent for the New York Times, described them in 1%S as "the newest of the Negro civil rights organizations . . . an armed, semi-secret, loosely organized federation" ; he also described them as "a tough-minded league of Negroes, formed to defend members of their race from white terrorism:'2 Howell Raines, another rJoanne Grant, 91ack Prote-st : History . Documents, and Analy~sss: 1619 to t_t!s Pressnt (New York : Fawcett Premier, 1%8), 359. ZRoy Reed, Atlanta correspondent for the New York Times , was the only writer to take an interest in the Deacons during their heyday . I have relied heavily on his insight into the Deacons' activities . Reed respected and understood the Deacons, but paradoxically viewed them as misguided and "foolhardy ." Roy Reed, "The Deacons, Too, Ride by Night,"New York TimesMa~ (August 15,1%S) : 10(I,++) and Roy
journalist, labeled them "the South's first organized black vigilantes :' magazine called them "a sort of Black KKK .' a Cleveland Sellers, a SNCC activist, effectively described them as "a group whose responsibility was to defend their communities or themselves against attack."~ Charles Sims, president of the Bogalusa chapter, called his organization "a defense guard unit."s Most recently, Adam Fairclough has deemed them "a legend in the civil rights movement and an object of womed fascination to whites ."~ While all of these definitions help to fix the group's identity, the Deacons' raison d'~trc was self-protection ; accordingly, any reasonable definition of the Deacons should emphasize their status as a self-defense advocacy group . The origins of the Deacons trace to Jonesboro, Louisiana, in the summer of 1964, when young field workers for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) came to Jonesboro to organize de-segregation efforts and voter registration . After white toughs visited the CORE headquarters and threatened to return with reinforcements, word spread through the black neighborhood, known as "The Quarters," which consisted, according to one observer, of "rows of unpainted frame houses with tin roofs, set closely together on Recd, "Armed Negro Unit Spreads in South," New York Times (June 6, 1965): t (L++) . 3"Murder in Mississippi,",~~ (May 1967): 78 . 4Sellers, quoted in Henry Hampton and Steve Fayer with Sarah Flynn, Voices of Freedom : An Oral >
- Page 81 and 82: making better men either of themsel
- Page 83 and 84: He likened racism to a disease, a m
- Page 85 and 86: escalated . Rioting broke out. Then
- Page 87 and 88: Williams' ideas came to fruition in
- Page 89 and 90: When juxtaposed with the ideas of M
- Page 91 and 92: But if Willisms "made just as much
- Page 93 and 94: Whatever his place in prevailing hi
- Page 95 and 96: thinking merit special attention by
- Page 97 and 98: The women propared food, and served
- Page 99 and 100: candidate for county representative
- Page 101 and 102: tide of nonviolent diroct action ;
- Page 103 and 104: the sheriff again and told him that
- Page 105 and 106: characterized by hatred or meanness
- Page 107 and 108: terms of "`violence' versus `nonvio
- Page 109 and 110: than as separate entities, seenKd q
- Page 111 and 112: The best descriptor of Malcolm X wa
- Page 113 and 114: qualities in themselves. Finally, a
- Page 115 and 116: someone is treating you in a crimin
- Page 117 and 118: "You can't take a black man who is
- Page 119 and 120: attacked . Now, fve never been the
- Page 121 and 122: have, he wondered, to stop the loca
- Page 123 and 124: precluded him from being involved.
- Page 125 and 126: Malcolm "proved" his detractors to
- Page 127 and 128: Malcolm reveled in ambivalence, and
- Page 129 and 130: While his views on integration, whi
- Page 131: He summed up his speoch by doclarin
- Page 135 and 136: shifted from Jonesbom to 8ogalusa,
- Page 137 and 138: cost. The struggle for black equali
- Page 139 and 140: point, the Deacons had ban quietly
- Page 141 and 142: Under the aegis of their charter an
- Page 143 and 144: them ; they were attuned to the law
- Page 145 and 146: the head, causing a gash . Leneva T
- Page 147 and 148: One thing is apparent in this year
- Page 149 and 150: mistake" ; the presence of the Deac
- Page 151 and 152: done:' Sims said, "we walked like m
- Page 153 and 154: he waa killedj, but I believe he wa
- Page 155 and 156: Events picked up across the border
- Page 157 and 158: they were bound to precipitate a ca
- Page 159 and 160: goals of the movement. A year later
- Page 161 and 162: Sellers noted that while King was f
- Page 163 and 164: things," he said. "Everybody want t
- Page 165 and 166: the group . For example, an intervi
- Page 167 and 168: "Understand, the Deacons don't repl
- Page 169 and 170: quest for black equality, and chang
- Page 171 and 172: self-defense denotation from the of
- Page 173 and 174: Lowndes County lies in the heart of
- Page 175 and 176: "take over the courthouse" with sub
- Page 177 and 178: On Monday, November 7,1966, the nig
- Page 179 and 180: do anything violent ."~s But as the
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journalist, labeled them "the South's first organized black vigilantes :' magazine<br />
called them "a sort of Black KKK .' a Clevel<strong>and</strong> Sellers, a SNCC activist, effectively<br />
described them as "a group whose responsibility was to defend their communities or<br />
themselves against attack."~ Charles Sims, president of the Bogalusa chapter, called his<br />
organization "a defense guard unit."s Most recently, Adam Fairclough has deemed them<br />
"a legend in the civil rights movement <strong>and</strong> an object of womed fascination to whites ."~<br />
While all of these definitions help to fix the group's identity, the Deacons' raison d'~trc<br />
was self-protection ; accordingly, any reasonable definition of the Deacons should<br />
emphasize their status as a self-defense advocacy group .<br />
The origins of the Deacons trace to Jonesboro, Louisiana, in the summer of 1964,<br />
when young field workers for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) came to<br />
Jonesboro to organize de-segregation efforts <strong>and</strong> voter registration . After white toughs<br />
visited the CORE headquarters <strong>and</strong> threatened to return with reinforcements, word spread<br />
through the black neighborhood, known as "The Quarters," which consisted, according to<br />
one observer, of "rows of unpainted frame houses with tin roofs, set closely together on<br />
Recd, "Armed Negro Unit Spreads in South," New York Times (June 6, 1965): t (L++) .<br />
3"Murder in Mississippi,",~~ (May 1967): 78 .<br />
4Sellers, quoted in Henry Hampton <strong>and</strong> Steve Fayer with Sarah Flynn, Voices of<br />
<strong>Freedom</strong> : An Oral >
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