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

Trading shots, whites and blacks skirmished later that month in Philadelphia,
Mississippi, where three young civil rights activists--James Chancy, Michael Schwerner,
and Andrew Goodman--were slain exactly two years before, on June 21 . There is no
evidence to suggest that the black gunmen were Deacons . The Deacons came under fire
figuratively later that day when King lashed out at the Deacons in a speech in Yazoo City .
In a thinly veiled reproof directed toward the Deacons, King admonished those who used
the same methods of violence as "our oppressor" ; he did so to reassure the public of the
movement's commitment to nonviolence. Also that same day, James Meredith
announced that he would rejoin the march in Canton, and evaded a direct reply to the
question of whether he would cant' a gun . Cocksure and maverick as ever, Meredith
disavowed the Deacons, saying, "I don't know them . I don't know that they have any
capabilities . I don't favor any group . I don't favor the Deacons ."'~
During the Meredith March, Stokely Carmichael introduced the phrase "Black
Power" in a speech in Indianola, birthplace of the White Citiuns' Council . The day after
the Greenwood rally, SNCC printed up leaflets and placards with the Black Power slogan
at thr SNCC print shop in Atlanta . Historians have noted Greenwood as a divisive
turning point in the movement during which the concept of Black Power split the radical
and moderate factions within the movement . While the introduction of 81ack Power did
drive a wedge between some younger and older activists, it united others . Cleveland
63 "'Philadelphia, Miss . Whites and Negroes Trade Shots," New York Times (June 22,
1966) : 1, 24, 25 .
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