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

The Deacons organized and spread with sprad, silence, and secrecy . By early
June, the group had organized in Homer and Tallulah, Louisiana, and had bridged the
Mississippi River to Mississippi and Alabama . One of the most perplexing mysteries of
the Deacons revolved around the question of membership . No one knew, and no one
knows today, how many men joined the Deacons . Ernest Thomas, Jonesboro chapter
vice-president and full-time organizer for the Deacons, claimed in June 1%S, that the
group had upwards of fifty chapters in various stages of organization in Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama, though he declined to disclose the number of members .
Estimates ranged from five thousand to fifteen thousand, though these numbers were
probably inflated . Thomas said that "with hard work" the organization could spread to
every southern state in "six or seven months ." Part of the Deacons' strategy was to
conceal membership and blur actual numbers . "It would not make sense to tell you we
got four hundred men here;' Thomas said in June of the following year, "and let `the
man' bring eight hundred." The Deacons limited public knowledge of membership for
tactical purposes : surprise, intimidation, and self-preservation . They cultivated the image
of a fraternal, underground organization that permeated the entice South . Officially, only
a handful of Deacons ever existed . Known members included Charles Sims, Ernest
Thomas, Percy Lee Bradford, Bogalusa vice-president Royan Burris, and director of
public rela'ons Robert Hicks.~ e
(New York : Plume, 1985), 287-291 .
"New York Times (June 6, 1%S) : 25 ; "Marchers Upset by Apathy," NewYork Times
(June 14, 1966): 19; Grant, Black Protest, 63 .