jackson civil rights history timeline
1954
white citizen's council formed
The first Citizen's Council group was formed by local business and professional men in Indianola to "counteract the NAACP and the other left-wing organizations which... had certainly contributed to the Black Monday [i.e. the Brown v. Board of Education] decision." Similar organizations sprung up
throughout the state and region, and by 1956 the Association of
Citizen's Councils in Mississippi claimed a membership of eighty
thousand. Common tactics used by the Councils: legal action, economic intimidation, political suasion. Furthermore, the social climate cultivated by the Councils' substantial power "fostered and legitimized violent actions by individuals not overly concerned with questions of legality and image." (Dittmer 46)
1955
jackson citizen's council formed
The Jackson Citizen's Council was organized in the spring of
1955 by William J. Simmons.
1956
sovereignty commission formed
In 1956, the Mississippi state legislature passed a bill creating the State Sovereignty Commission--"conceived as a state-level FBI, an investigative and public relations agency that represented Mississippi's official response to the integration crisis." (Crespino 26) The commission itself consisted of the governor (then J.P. Coleman, a strong supporter of the Commission's creation), lieutenant governor, attorney general, Speaker of the House, two state senators, three house members, and three citizens appointed by the governor. Initially, the Commission was meant as a "practical segregationist" counter to the more extreme tactics of the Citizen's Council, "quietly and effectively" managing the state's fight against segregation and keeping the Council out of the public spotlight. (Crespino 28) However, Coleman's successor, Governor Ross Barnett, used the Sovereignty Commission to funnel state funds into the Councils themselves. Throughout the Commission's existence, agents engaged in wiretapping, bugging, and other acts of espionage against Mississippi citizens, and regularly requested that the Jackson Daily News and the Clarion Ledger kill news stories or publish propaganda articles. By 1967, Sovereignty Commission files contained dossiers on "approximately 250 organizations" and listed "about 10,000 individual names." (Dittmer 60)
1961
tougaloo nine
On March 27, nine students from Tougaloo College and the NAACP Youth Council ("the only such group still active in the Jackson area and composed mainly of black high school students" (Dittmer 158)) stage a nonviolent protest of Jackson's segregated libraries. They begin at the Carver Library ("a small, inadequate, 'colored branch' in the black section of town (Dittmer 87))-- asking for books they know are not available there, and then move on to the Jackson Public Library on State Street (the original building is across the street from the Eudora Welty Library), where they quietly peruse the card catalogs and sit down to read books likewise unavailable to them a the Carver Library. They are arrested for "breach of peace," and remain in custody for thirty-two hours before being quickly convicted, fined $100 each, and given thirty-day suspended jail sentences (which are overturned upon appeal). On the evening of March 27, 700 people show up at JSU for a prayer vigil in support of the Tougaloo Nine (four JSU students, including the student body president, are expelled for their participation in the prayer meeting). The next day JSU students boycott classes, stage a rally, and a group begins to march to the city jail--only to be met with a line of police deploying clubs, tear gas, and police dogs. On March 29, the day of the trial, police again unleash force in reaction to a crowd of supporters lining the street outside the courthouse. That evening, a crowd of nearly 1,500 attend a rally in support of the Tougaloo Nine.
freedom riders in jackson
On May 24, a charter bus carrying twelve civil rights activists, members of the Alabama National Guard, and nearly twenty reporters arrives at the Trailways bus terminal in Jackson (a second bus would later arrive at the Greyhound station). The activists, members of the newly formed, Nashville based organization SNCC, were continuing the Freedom Rides into Mississippi after the original freedom riders (members of CORE) were flown out of Birmingham in the wake of significant violence throughout Alabama. In the Jackson terminal, the freedom riders headed directly to the "whites only" waiting room and restrooms, and were promptly arrested and charged with "breach of the peace." Though the bus was under federal protection, and was challenging compliance with the 1960 Supreme Court case Boynton v. Virginia, the Kennedy Administration had struck a deal with Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett: "if the state promised to protect the riders [from mob violence and other attacks], the White House would not interfere while local police arrested them." (Dittmer 93) To the state and national government's surprise, the freedom riders refused to post bail or pay a fine, opting instead to spend thirty-nine days in jail. Furthermore, they sent word to the national CORE office to "keep Freedom Riders coming into Jackson as fast as possible on every bus, every train", shifting their strategy from "token arrests to spur legal and administrative action" to "filling the jails... in the hope of making segregationist practices so expensive and inconvenient as to become unfeasible." (Dittmer 95) by the end of the summer, 328 freedom riders had been arrested in Jackson. Starting on June 15--since the city and county jails were overflowing--the riders were jailed at the Parchman penitentiary.
state fair boycott
In October, SNCC and the NAACP Youth Council organize a boycott of the still segregated Mississippi State Fair (the first week was for whites only; blacks could only attend part of the second week). The protesters were met with police and police dogs, and four Tougaloo students were arrested for "obstructing public sidewalks and streets." Similar protests were staged for the next two years, after which the fair management removed the segregating restrictions.
1962
jackson boycotts begin
On December 12, members of the Jackson NAACP Youth Council form a picket line outside of Woolworth's on Capitol Street, beginning a boycott against downtown merchants, "charging them with a broad pattern of discrimination against black workers and consumers." (Dittmer 157) After being arrested and released on bail, the Youth Council members hit the streets, "distributing thousands of leaflets in black neighborhoods, speaking in churches, and telephoning people... all to persuade black adults not to shop on Capitol Street." (Dittmer 158) By mid-January of 1963, the boycott was "60-65 percent effective," but received little support from CORE (who felt that the boycott was started without sufficient community organization), SNCC (now drawn to Greenwood), and even the NAACP--who withdrew financial support for bail assistance.
1963
the jackson movement
In May 1963, the national NAACP switches course and makes the Jackson boycotts a priority. The reasoning: the recent success of Dr. King in Birmingham has the NAACP worried that SCLC's next organizing target will be Jackson, making it "much harder for the NAACP to carry on its work effectively." (Dittmer 160) In mid-May, the Citizens Committee for Human Rights in Jackson, consisting of black businessmen and ministers, is formed to meet with the boycott strategy committee. The following approach is developed: to offer the Jackson mayor, Allen Thompson, the offer to negotiate, or else mass demonstrations would begin. On May 21st, 600 black Jacksonians attend a mass meeting calling for negotiations; on May 27th, Thompson rejects all demands.
On May 28th, four students and a professor from Tougaloo college initiate a sit-in at the Capitol Street Woolworth's. Lasting for three hours, "it [becomes] a mob scene" (Payne 286): "a mob of young whites [take] turns slathering the demonstrators with ketchup, mustard, and sugar...[dousing] them with spray paint and... sporadically [beating] them." (Branch 814) That night, nearly 1,000 people gather at the Pearl Street AME church to sing freedom songs and greet the demonstrators with a standing ovation.
In the next few days, picketing and demonstrating increases dramatically. On May 30, hundreds of Lanier High School students meet on the lawn outside their school to sing freedom songs; they are met with police dogs and clubs. The next day, over 450 marchers--ranging in age from seven to eighteen--are arrested after marching from the Farish Street Baptist Church. They are carried in garbage trucks to a makeshift prison on the state fairgrounds.
The increased activism draws in staff from the national NAACP, including president Roy Wilkins, to assist, but this results in a shift in planning and strategy from an activist, youth-led movement to a conservative, NAACP/black minister & businessmen-led effort. Mass marches and protests are halted, community momentum is lost, and attendance at nightly meetings declines. By June 6, the city of Jackson obtains an injunction forbidding further demonstrations. June 8 marks the first day without a demonstration or picket line. Thereafter, a "coalition of national NAACP officials and the traditional middle-class leadership of black Jackson [agree]...that although the boycott should continue, there [will] be no further mass demonstrations and that the movement should initiate another voter registration drive in the Jackson area." (Dittmer 166)
medgar evers killed
Throughout the entire Jackson movement, NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers "[straddles] the divide" (Branch 815) between the direct action campaign of the Jackson NAACP Youth Council and the hesitant involvement of the national NAACP. In the process, Evers becomes the "acknowledged leader" of the Jackson Movement, "the one who [stands] up to Mayor Thompson, who [negotiates the young people's] bail, who [receives] nearly all the death threats." (Branch 815). On Tuesday, June 11, the day "John Kennedy gave the strongest civil rights speech of his administration," (Payne 288) Evers is at a poorly attended mass meeting, where "instead of singing inspiring freedom songs and listening to fiery oratory, the audience [hears] staff members promote the sale of NAACP T-shirts." (Dittmer 166) He returns home after midnight, extra T-shirts in hand. As his wife Myrlie and his children come to meet him at the door, Evers is shot in the back by Greenwood Citizen's Council member Byron de la Beckwith. He dies that evening.
On the day of Ever's funeral, 5,000 mourners join the funeral procession. After reaching the procession's destination, several hundred young people begin singing freedom songs and marching towards the Capitol Street business section. They are met with police clubs and dogs. For the first time, the protesters fight back, "showering the police with bricks, bottles, and other available missiles." (Dittmer 167) A full-scale riot is only averted by the last minute intervention of Justice Department representative John Doar, pleading on behalf of other movement leaders.
jackson movement ends
On June 18, the strategy committee of the Jackson movement calls a mass meeting to discuss an agreement struck with Mayor Thompson. The agreement amounts to a set of concessions rejected by black leaders in a previous offer by the mayor--an agreement to hire six black
policemen, a handful of promotions in the sanitation department, and a
promise to "continue to hear black grievances." "The major movement demands--desegregation of public facilities, formation of a biracial committee, and an end to discrimination in hiring--were ignored. Jackson remained a Jim Crow city." (Dittmer 168) After 1963, Jackson continues as a central headquarters for civil rights organizations, but never again sustains a movement of its own.
1964
thompson's tank
In February, Jackson Mayor Allen Thompson unveils what quickly dubbed, "Thompson's Tank," a custom built armored wagon. Acquired in the wake of the Ever's murder, Thompson unveils it at a press conference in an effort to deter the "invasion" by Northern students participating in the Summer Freedom Project.
1966
march against fear
On June 5, James Meredith begins a walk intended to cover the 220 miles on Highway 51 between Memphis and Jackson, "without the marshals or US Army brigades that guarded him at Ole Miss, proving that Negros could exercise freedom now even in Mississippi." (Branch 475) He makes it as far as Hernando, Mississippi (in DeSoto County; fourteen miles into Mississippi) before being shot and wounded by Aubrey Norvell. The next day, movement leaders and veterans (including Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael) gather at the spot of the ambush to continue the march. By June 14 the marchers, now numbering 350, become "the first living presence of the civil rights movement ever to reach Grenada," (Branch 484) doubling black voter registration in a day and spurring attempts to desegregate businessess and public facilities.
After Grenada, the march takes a detour off Meredith's planned route: southwest, into the Delta. In Greenwood, "a movement foothold since Bob Moses dared to enter the Delta in 1962," (Branch 485) march leadership is arrested for attempting to camp without a permit on the grounds of the Stone Street negro School. After posting bail, SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael unveils his organization's new slogan, "Black Power!," after stating that "this is the 27th time I have been arrested and I ain't going ot go to jail no more!" While the phrase had been used before in SNCC gatherings, and had been an idea under discussion for quite some time, the Greenwood speech was the moment when "Black Power!" "entered the American lexicon." (Wilkie 164)
The march continues south through the Delta, turning back east at Yazoo City and, on June 23, attempting in Canton at McNeal Elementary School for Negroes before a final push in to Jackson. Some leaders are again arrested over a dispute involving camping permits. As a phalanx of highway patrolmen approach the gathering of 2,000 marchers and supporters, King calls out, "I don't know what they plan for us, but we aren't going to fight any state troopers," and Carmichael follows with "The time for running has come to an end!" The officers fire tear gas into the crowd, and begin kicking and beating those who tried to stay on the school grounds. Observers call the violence "worse than Selma" (Branch 490), and many of the marchers regroup in a Catholic school gym for the night. In the aftermath, King notes "this is the very state patrol that President Johnson said today would protect us." (Dittmer 400)
On June 25, 9,000 supporters, including Sammy Davis, Burt Lancaster, Marlon Bando, and James Brown attend a mass rally organized by Harry Belafonte on the football field at Tougaloo College, the staging area for the final day of the march. The next day, some 15,000 people complete the final eight miles between Tougaloo and the state capitol building, where another mass rally is held. While the March Against Fear had involved an estimated 10,000 local Mississippians and had registered an estimated 4,000 Mississippians to vote, for many its success is eclipsed by the media coverage shift "away from racial injustice in Mississippi to the ideological differences between Carmichael and King." (Dittmer 402)
1967
ben brown killed at jackson state college
On May 10 and 11, Jackson State College students hold protests demonstrating against police activity on campus. On the evening of the 11th, the protests escalated into violence: some demonstrators threw rocks and bottles at the police, who responed by firing shotguns into the crowd, wounding several people, and killing a bystander, Ben Brown. The event sparks a wave of demonstrations in Jackson.
beth israel bombings
On September 18, the newly dedicated temple of Beth Isreal is bombed by Klan members. The target of the attack is Rabbi Perry Nussbaum, at Beth Israel since 1954, who has been an civil rights ally and activist throughout his tenure: after the Freedom Riders were sent to Parchman, Rabbi Nussbaum traveled, alone, to minister to the many Jewish riders; in 1964 he helped organize the Committee of Concern in Jackson, "a biracial, interdenominational group founded to raise money for rebuilding black churches torched by the Klan" (Nelson 44); the dedication of the new temple earlier that year was attended by an interracial group of ministers. Two month's later, Naussbaum's house in the Bellhaven neighborhood of Jackson is also bombed.
1969
alexander v. holmes
The Court ordered the immediate termination of dual school systems and the establishment of unitary ones. The Jackson Public School system undergoes full integration in between the fall and spring semester of the 1969-1970 school year.
1970
jackson state shootings
On May 13, students at Jackson State College begin to hold violent demonstrations: throwing rocks and bottles at passing cars (during
that time it is not uncommon for white motorists to have objects thrown
at them as they commute on Lynch Street to neighborhoods in west
Jackson), setting fire to a trash trailer and some benches, and attempting to occupy the ROTC building. The protests--coming a little over a week after the Kent State shootings--come amidst a general climate of student unrest in the county: frustrations over Vietnam (anti-Vientam and anti-recruitment chants characterized the charge on the ROTC building), racial repression and violence, etc. One student, when asked about the origins of the Jackson State protest, responded: "It's a lot of things: the war, Cambodia, the draft, the governor, Mississippi. It's not just any one thing." By midnight on May 13, police and highway patrol officers had set up a barricade on Rose and Lynch Street.
On the evening of May 14, the violent protests pick up again outside some residential halls--at one point resulting in a truck being set on fire. A rumor spreads that Charles Evers has been killed, which heightens the violence. When police approach the campus to investigate the fire, they are met with rocks and bottles. Thereafter, police and Thompson's Tank enter the campus to check on reports of more fires, and in a confrontation outside of Alexander Hall, police open fire on student protesters, pelting the building with bullets for nearly 30 seconds--killing two students (one a Jim Hill High School senior) and wounding twelve others. Bystanders claim that a bottle thrown near the officers prompted the shooting. Jackson State is closed for the remainder of the spring semester. In the coming days, protest and picketting consume Jackson.
"We'll Never Turn Back: History & Timeline of the Southern Freedom Movement," http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhome.htm
Crespino, Joseph, In Search of Another Country: Mississippi and the Conservative Counterrevolution, 19-20, 26-30
William J. Simmons, interviewed by Orley B. Caudill, June 26, 1979 in Jackson, MS
Dittmer, John, Local People 45-46, 60, 87-89, 90-99, 117, 157-169, 392-402
Branch, Taylor, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963, 814
Branch, Taylor, At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-1968, 474-495
Payne, Charles, I've Got the Light of Freedom, 286, 397-398
Wilkie, Curtis, Dixie, 163-164
Nelson, Jack Terror in the Night: the Klan's Campaign Against the Jews, 40-47
Spofford, Tim Lynch Street: The May 1970 Slayings at Jackson State College 32-59
Owen Brooks, interviewed by David Molina, February 24, 2009
Sansing, David, Making Haste Slowly: The Troubled History of Higher Education in Mississippi, 209-210