3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives

spirit ."~ ~ It was here that Charles Sima and the Deacons for Defense and Justice made
their indelible mark on the struggle for black equality in America . ~2
The civil rights movement came to 8ogalusa, as it came to other small towns
around the South, which is to say it arrived rather quietly in the form of local, grassroots
activism, without the fanfare and bluster of nationally recognized organizations and the
media attention they brought with them . Local blacks protested segregation and sought to
integrate local facilities . They also criticized the lack of economic opportunities, police
brutality, "separate-but-equal" public services and accommodations, and poor educational
opportunities . White Bogalusa resisted stubbornly and the black activists met little
success, but their efforts attracted the attention of outside parties .
The mettle of local activists lured the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to
Bogalusa in January 1965, though other factors enticed CORE as well . Bogalusa held a
reputation as a bastion of white supremacy . The Ku Klux Klan tyrannized the area and
CORE, like other national civil rights organizations, relied on massive white resistance to
advance its cause . White opposition galvanized protest, focused media attention,
generated sympathy, and inadvertently propelled the movement toward success--but at a
~~Howell Raines, My Soul Is Rested (New York : Penguin, 1977), 416.
~2According to George Lipsitz, the Deacons "made Hogalusa one of the places in the
South where armed self-defense supplemented tactical nonviolent direct action in the
civil rights movement . . . Their discipline and dedication inspired the community, their
very existence made black people in Bogalusa think more of themselves as people who
could not be pushed around ." George Lipsitz, A Life in the Stnraale : Ivorv Perrv,
Culture of OpQosition (Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 1988), 96 .