Collection is open for research. Reference copies must be used. Tapes noted in the container list have digital reference copies in the Smithsonian Institution Digital Asset Management System (DAMS).
The collection is arranged in two series.Series 1 is in chronological order to the degree recording dates can be determined, and is based on the locations and dates provided by Moon in his description or gleaned from the recordings themselves and other secondary sources. Series 1 contains 17 groups of recordings.
Moon's original numbers are recorded in the column next to the descriptions. Following the first four Greenwood tapes, which are numbered sequentially, Moon's numbering system took the first two letters of the town in which the recordings were made, a one (1), a decimal, and then a tape number. Numbers preceding the town code refer to the recording day. "N" numbers were later assigned by Moon to the 7" reels only, after the original recordings were made, possibly during editing or when the tapes were made available to the Program in African American Culture.
1. Greenwood, Mississippi; Spring 1963; 4 7" reels
2. Chicago, Illinois; August 9, 12, 1963; 2 5" reels
3. Americus, Georgia; August 17, 1963; 5 5" reels, 1 7" reel
4. Atlanta, Georgia; August 21, 1963; 1 5" reel
5. Washington, D.C.; August 26-28, 1963; 6 5", 8 7" reels
6. Atlanta, Georgia; September 8, 1963; 4 5" reels
7. Selma, Alabama; September 29-October 7, 1963; 11 5" reels, 16 7" reels
8. Gadsden, Alabama; October 23, 1963; 2 5" reels
9. Jackson, Mississippi; Fall/Winter 1963; 11 7" reels
10. Greenwood, Mississippi; c. November 3, 1963; 3 5" reels, 4 7" reels
11. Danville, Virginia; 1963; 6 7" reels
12. Washington, D.C.; soon after November 22, 1963; 6 7" reels
13. Washington, D.C.; late 1963, or possibly during MOW; 10 7" reels
14. Hattiesburg, Mississippi; January 1964; 9 7" reels
15. Indianola, Mississippi; Summer 1964; 2 7" reels
16. Monroe County, Mississippi; August 1, 1964; 4 5" reels
17. Milton, Mississippi; August 16, 1964; 3 5" reels
This collection consists of 115 reel to reel audio recordings containing interviews, mass meetings, demonstrations, and conversations concerning the civil rights movement, and in particular the voter registration drives organized by SNCC in Alabama and Mississippi in 1963 and 1964. Mass meetings were recorded in Greenwood, Mississippi; Americus, Georgia; Selma, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; Danville, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Indianola, Mississippi. Major demonstrations recorded include the March on Washington in August of 1963, Freedom Day in Selma, Alabama in October of 1963, and Freedom Day in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in January of 1964. Interviews with SNCC workers include Julian Bond, John Lewis, James Forman, Bruce Gordon, Prathia Hall, Ivanhoe Donaldson, Bob Moses, Avery Williams, Willie Peacock, Bruce Boynton and his mother, as well as dozens of others involved in the movement, who are named in the collection inventory. Many of those interviewed were actively involved in strategizing and carrying out SNCC demonstrations and political actions, and many were victims of death threats, beatings, unlawful arrest, police brutality, and torture and abuse in prison. These interviews contain detailed eyewitness accounts and personal testimony regarding these experiences, as well as personal history and thoughts about the movement, the South, and the future.
It is clear from what we know of the dates and locations of these recordings, as well as from documentation of these events in other sources, that many of these recordings are unique documents of important events in American history, which may also contain the commentary of important political and cultural figures who were involved in the movement. For example, an article by Howard Zinn recounts how an unidentified man recorded James Baldwin on October 7, 1963, Freedom Day in Selma, on the steps of the courthouse. Baldwin was furious at the lack of support from nearby federal agents as state troopers advanced on peaceful demonstrators. One of the tapes dated October 7, 1963, originally labeled "courthouse interviews," appears to be this recoding, although Baldwin is not named. The same article (available in The Howard Zinn Reader) recounts the mass meetings which led up to that demonstration, at which actor Dick Gregory gave a rousing sermon as his wife sat in jail for demonstrating in Selma. The Moses Moon Collection may be the only existing audio recording of that sermon as well as many other sermons and speeches.
Moses Moon changed his name after these recordings were made. He is referred to in the finding aid as Alan Ribback because that name is used on the recordings.
Moses Moon Civil Rights Movement Audio Collection, 1963-1964, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Donated by Moses and Delia Moon in 1995.
Moses Moon was born Alan Ribback in 1928. During the 1950s until 1962, Ribback was the proprietor of the Gate of Horn, Chicago's premier folk music club, which featured performers including Bob Gibson, Odetta, Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Jo Mapes, Peter, Paul and Mary, Lenny Bruce, and Shelley Berman. On December 5, 1962, Lenny Bruce was arrested during a performance at the Gate of Horn along with Ribback, George Carlin, and others. As a result of the arrest and Bruce's subsequent conviction for obscenity, the club was closed by the City of Chicago, and Ribback left Chicago with Norris McNamara, an audio technician, to record folk concerts taking place in the South as part of the growing civil rights movement. From the spring of 1963 until the summer of 1964, Ribback and McNamara recorded demonstrations and mass meetings and interviewed civil rights activists, primarily those involved in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Later, Ribback moved to New York and edited his recordings into an album called Movement Soul. Ribback married Delia Moon in 1971, took her last name and changed his first name to Moses. In 1979, Bernice Reagon Johnson, working with the Program on African American Culture at the Smithsonian, contacted Moon and borrowed the recordings of mass meetings for a 1980 program on the voices of the civil rights movement. In the late 1980s, Moon was stricken with a severe case of Guillain-Barre syndrome, which left him paralyzed. Moon donated the entire collection of original recordings shortly before his death in 1993.
The papers of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee are held by the King Library and Archives in Atlanta, Georgia; archives@thekingcenter.org.
Reference tapes of the recordings of mass meetings (almost all tapes with "N" numbers) were made by the Program in African American Culture and transferred to the Archives Center in the 1980s as part of the Voices of the Civil Rights Movement recordings from the Program in African American Culture Collection. In 1993, Moon donated his original tapes to Archives Center, including many tapes of demonstrations and interviews which were not previously available. Prior to his donation, Moon may have made his tapes available to others, which would account for sequential gaps in his original numbering system. Prior use of these recordings, apart from Moon's own production of the album Movement Soul, and their use for PAAC, is unknown.
Many of the original recordings displayed evidence of mold contamination, both on the original cardboard boxes and on the tapes themselves. Safe Sound Archives remediated the mold contamination on the tapes and the affected tapes are stored in new acid-free archival boxes.
When asked about the making of these recordings, Norris McNamara, Moon's audio technician, responded: "I doubt any such recordings were ever made with comparable quality. We lugged a generator, a huge Ampex PR-10, and four AKG C-60 condenser mics around to many Freedom Rallies (or Freedom Days or whatever.) The recordings are certainly unique…." (email correspondence with Megan McShea).
From March to May 2004, Megan McShea evaluated and reviewed twenty-one of the audio reels, mostly 5" reels containing interviews and conversations with SNCC people. Tapes were described in health reports, and most of those reviewed were leadered and labeled. The tapes were then arranged in the order described above, and all original tapes were re-housed in acid-free archival boxes. During re-housing, the original boxes were photocopied and discarded. The photocopies were stapled to health reports prepared for each tape and hand-written notes from screening. Re-housed tapes were numbered and titled using Moon's original numbers. McShea also conducted research including interviewing Norris McNamara and wrote the historical and scope and content notes.
In 2002, Danielle Snyder had copied, re-housed, and described a handful of tapes from this collection, and her descriptions have been integrated with the others.
The former National Museum of American History Program in African American Culture staff produced audio cassette reference tapes for most of the 7" reels. They also recorded general content descriptions at that time, although the names and subjects of speakers at mass meetings are often omitted. These descriptions are in the collection folder, stapled to Moon's very general logs. Grant support from the NMAH Collections Committee Preservation fund supported preservation duplication of forty 5" reels. Digital preservation files are saved on archival-quality gold DVDs, and reference copies exist as .wav files on audio CDs. Hannah Rosen provided the descriptions for most of these tapes. A donation from Emilye Crosby supported digitization of 42 reels.
Processed by Megan McShea, intern, 2004, Hannah Rosen, intern, 2009, Danielle Snyder, intern, 2002 and Wendy Shay, archivist, 2011.
Collection items available for reproduction, but copyright status unknown. Contact Archives Center staff for additional information. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
[Greenwood, MS; Spring 1963]
Anti-segregation rally: Freedom Singers, Pete Seeger, Theodore Bikel, Bob Dylan
Unidentified group song begins the tape –"We'll Never Turn Back"
"I'm On My Way"
"Keep Your Eyes on the Prize"
"Freedom's Coming and it Won't Be Long"
"Oh, Freedom"
Sermon "Lord Hold My Hand (While I Run This Race)" Testifying about mistreatment
[Greenwood, MS; Spring 1963]
Cordell Reagon introduces Peter Seeger
Pete Seeger: "If I Had a Hammer" "Abiyoyo" "State of Arkansas (My Name is Terry Roberts)" "Asikatali (We Do Not Care if We Go to Prison" "Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)"
Mississippi Freedom Singers: "My Mind Set On Freedom" "Get On Board, Children" "This Little Light of Mine" "Which Side Are You On?" "Wade in the Water" "Freedom's Coming and it Won't Be Long"
Bob Dylan: "Only a Pawn in Their Game"
[Greenwood, MS; Spring 1963]
Bob Dylan: "Blowin' In the Wind"
Group Song: "We Shall Overcome"
Theodore Bikel: Escaped Nazi Europe,Nazism and racism/segregation, Story: Moses and an Ethiopian woman,"Hine Ma Tov" (How Good and Pleasant it is When Brethren Dwell Together in Unity )
Theme: difference between folk songs and rock songs
John Lewis – new chairman of SNCC: We are not alone in this struggle; Keep on struggling
Volunteers asked to come up and sing, Timothy Jenkins leads the crowd: "We are founding a second reconstruction…" "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize"
[Greenwood, MS; Spring 1963]
Timothy Jenkins:Continuation of "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" Story: Pritchard "I'm Gonna Walk the Streets of Glory" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" "New Kind of Freedom" "Everybody Wants Freedom" "This Little Light of Mine" "This May Be the Last Time" "We'll Never Turn Back"
Testing tape recorder inside Out on the street –wild sound Demonstration and picketing regarding school conditions Problem with the location of a new school? Conversation with high school students -police brutality -difference in the quality of north side and south side schools -Superintendent Willis Interviewer: Bob Auerbach Rev. R: -School conditions Man argues with interviewer and tells him to turn off the tape recorder. The man says he (Auerbach) shouldn't be involved because he's not black. Black leader is suspicious of Auerbach's motives for recording. Change of location Review of previous events on tape
CH 1.3
Content: Chatting in a drugstore in Chicago; -illiteracy and voting rights Children: "Ants Go Marching" Conversation with a man in a club Alan Ribback, Bob Lieberman, Vanessa McNay, others unidentified
AM 1.1
Male student activist: -Thursday through Friday events -Police brutality/arrests -Sympathy for white SNCC volunteers -Concerns over remaining nonviolent -Jail behavior
AM1.2
Meeting (possibly SNCC) arranging protest Kneeling in front of City Hall and praying Discussion after people leave to go to City Hall: -Arrests – reaction of police Interview with male law student at University of California, Berkeley -Attorney C.B. King -Lawyer's role/responsibility in civil rights movement Interview with female student: -Meeting with the mayor -Negro violence/reaction to police brutality -School integration -Issues of voter registration Post-protest meeting: "My Mind Set on Freedom" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" "I'm On My Way to Freedom Land" "Ain't Scared of Nobody 'Cause I Want My Freedom" Sermon -Chastising those who did not go to City Hall Prayer Unidentified song
AM 1.5
Box: Field Report – Spiritual Leaders Content: Unidentified male speaker, sounds like Alan Ribback: -Recent encounters with police and white deputies -Journey to find Reverend Gerard New unidentified speaker: -Standard behavior of Southern white males -Black anger towards whites -Stories of harassment of children -Differences between North and South (debate with Ribback) Ribback: -Future predictions of violence -Racism and the movement in Chicago -Psychological warfare -The best weapon is nonviolence
AM 1.3
Continuation of prayer songs: "Let the Church Say Amen" "This Little Light of Mine" Sermon "Come and Go With Me to that Land" Everybody exits church Random snippets of conversation Questions about arrests
Americus Master
[Americus, GA Mass Meeting; August 17, 1963]
AM N5
Content: SNCC mass meeting "Mind Set on Freedom" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" "I'm On My Way to Freedom Land" "Ain't Scared of Nobody 'Cause I Want My Freedom" Speaker encourages audience to join the freedom fight. "Let Us Break Bread Together" "Amen, Everybody Say Amen" "This Little Light of Mine" "Come Go With Me to That Land" Speaker
(Written on original tape box: Washington Interviews; Lincoln Memorial; Car interviews) Content: Jo Ann Bowman conducts impromptu interviews the day before the March on Washington on the following subjects: - Tourists' feelings about the march - Fear of communist infiltration of movement - Tourists' thoughts about the public accommodations legislation; Birmingham incident - National Park Service employees reluctant to be interviewed - Catholic Church group from Los Angeles there for the March - Value of whites marching - Participation of clergy - Boston group: Northern Student Movement, Friends of SNCC - Boston woman who experienced segregated facilities when traveling - Integration in the military - Fight for jobs - Civil Rights Act - Conservatism in Congress - Voter registration - Clergy jailed in Jackson, Mississippi - Criticism of commercializing the march - What whites can learn from Negroes - Racism in Pennsylvania - How the march will be remembered - Adam Clayton Powell - Estes Kefauver - Black nationalism - Middle class students slumming in the Village - Congressional Committee that represents the District of Columbia dominated by southerners - Urban League - NAACP - Conflict with profiteers selling buttons and banners at the march
Going to picket the Justice Department Introductory remarks by female narrator Bobby Holloway, from Georgia: -Picketing events so far -Reasons for picketing -Albany, Georgia Police Chief Pritchett New interviewee, unidentified: -Picketing is a good way of holding the Justice Department accountable -Description of signs Young white man from Bethesda, Maryland: -Picketing is necessary to speed up the pace Alfie Porter from Albany, New York and Jimmy Smith from San Antonio, Texas Brief interview with Tom(?) Dial (?), from Virginia: -Asking for freedom Two Justice Department temporary employees: -No comment Monroe Griffin (13): -Bettering the situation -Jail experiences Interviewer heads towards Washington Monument James Taylor: -Bus captain from Ohio, United Freedom Movement – composed of various civil rights organizations -Wants jobs, employment, universal freedom Joy Leonard: -Works with Chattanooga Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) -Progress in Chattanooga, Tennessee -Expecting violence Young people from Louisiana singing freedom songs on a bus: "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" "Uncle Tom" – written by the singers Interviewer kicked off the bus Pamphleteer from Jamaica, New York: -Future reflections on the March -Rochdale projects in New York Benjamin F. Way: -Almost arrested -Picketing -Fed up with lack of freedom Interviewee from Loraine, Ohio: -Hopes for the march Interviewer approaches some freedom singers – Wilmington, North Carolina NAACP: "We Shall Not Be Moved" "Set On Freedom" "Oh, Freedom" "Give Me That Old Freedom Spirit" "This May Be My Last Time" "Keep Your Eyes On the Prize" "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" Member of United Auto Workers: -Paramount importance is equality for all citizens Interviewer says there are a lot of policemen More singing: "This Little Light of Mine" "Set on Freedom" Cliff Garrett: -Voter registration Unidentified song spelling out F-R-E-E-D-O-M, J-I-M C-R-O-W, J-A-I-L-B-I-R-D
Roy Wright, from Clarksdale, Virginia: -Overalls and symbolism -Marching without a permit Oscar Marshall from Clarksdale, Virginia: -Send the president a message about the police -Police brutality Joan Baez: "Oh, Freedom" Ruby Dee: -Reads Margaret Walker's For My People Singing in the crowd from Richmond, Virginia: "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" Lots of snippets of songs from different groups "Rock My Soul In the Bosom of Abraham" Call and response song "I got it…oh yeah" "Can't You Hear Those Freedom Bells Ringing?" "Way Over Yonder" Ambient march noise "We Shall Overcome" Chant "Hey hey hey ho ho ho Old Jim Crow has got to go" "Freedom's Comin' and I Want to Go Home" "Certainly Lord" "Set On Freedom" "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore" "This May Be the Last Time" Chanting "The Freedom Bell is Ringing" Chanting "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" Jan Jacobson: -Fascinated by the turnout -Work plans -If they're not free, I don't feel free -Segregation is dehumanizing Bystander: -Education is crucial -Communists are everywhere Unidentified visitor: -Discussion of economic situation -This movement is more symbolic than real concern
(interviews conducted by Jo Ann Bowman) Faye Carpenter Swain: -Discussing various campaigns she has participated in -In ten years, a woman president -John Dillinger tried to rob her father's bank -Hitler is alive -Being dark or white is a mental state, not physical Young man: -Book discussion New interviewee flirts with Bowman, she becomes the interviewee: -Discrimination in Georgia -Political issues Man: -Revolutionary tendencies amongst activists -There will be violence someday (Alan Ribback is on the tape again) Discussion of Eugene V. Debs, socialism, strikes, communist party, labor movement, various other topics between unidentified man, Ribbick and Bowman
Box: Washington Interviews; Conv. W/ Jony; 1st part – natl & Marxist Tony Jennings from North Carolina, Steve Young from New York: Interview question: why are the freedom songs so powerful? -Various answers to freedom song question -Have to concentrate on factual steps to freedom -Description of a normal day at a black school -Activist experiences in North Carolina -North vs. south Caroline and Herbert McDaniel from Detroit: -NAACP members -Still discrimination in everything in Washington, D.C. -March results -Physical violence is inevitable -Not afraid of death LeRoy Smith and friends from New York: -Freedom walkers -Walking stories Paul Lack: -Food vendor from Greensborough, North Carolina during the march, Positive reaction to the march -A lot of change in the last fifteen years in South Carolina Unidentified interviewees (sounds like two men, one woman): -Revolution is still coming -Disapprove of integration -Jobs are the most important thing -Job discrimination story -The two races don't know each other -Harlem (New York) is a wound
Box: Washington Monument entertainment Pre-march activities: 9:00 A.M. beginning Crowd estimates Music: Joan Baez: Excerpt "We Shall Overcome" Dorothy Dale of Birmingham, Alabama: "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" Peter, Paul and Mary: "Blowin' in the Wind" "If I Had a Hammer" Press conference with Senator Everett Dirkson (and Representative Charles Halleck) Odetta: "Oh, Freedom" "I'm On My Way" "No More Auction Block for Me" Brief speeches: Carol Taylor (first African American flight attendant) Josh White: "The House I Live In" or "What is America to Me"
More pre-march activities: Josh White: Excerpt "Go Down Moses" Introducing dignitaries Bob Dylan and Joan Baez: "When the Ship Comes In" Brief remarks: Bayard Rustin Rosa Parks Daisy Bates Lena Horne March instructions Announcement of W.E.B. Dubois' death the day before Bobby Darin (for him and the death announcement, Ribback has voice over commentary) Manuel Castillo (in Spanish), Mr. Ledger (?) roller skated from Chicago, Illinois Freedom Singers from Louisiana and Mississippi: "This Little Light of Mine" Introducing minor dignitaries Brief remarks: Jackie Robinson Jack Pratt Norman Thomas Jobs and freedom, freedom and jobs Ambient noise as the march begins Leon Bibb: "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore/We Are Crossing the Jordan River"
Final announcements Instrumental "We Shall Overcome" Ambient noise Odetta: "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" Leon Bibb: "Oh, Freedom" Camilla Williams: Unidentified song Peter, Paul and Mary: "Blowin' in the Wind" "If I Had a Hammer" Josh White: "Marching Down Freedom's Road" The Freedom Singers: Medley of freedom songs Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth: -We came to be peaceful and law-abiding -Everybody in America came to be free -The numbers prove that it is time for everyone to be free Josephine Baker Reverend Ralph Abernathy: -Jew/pharaoh metaphor Joan Baez: "All My Trials"
Unidentified speaker -Remarks about being in jail Bob Dylan: "A Pawn in Their Game" Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Len Chandler and others: "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" Burt Lancaster: Reading a scroll of names of supporters in Europe Cut to silence very early on side A
Content: recorded on the speaker's platform at the March on Washington A. Philip Randolph: - announces Camilla Williams who sings "Star-spangled Banner" Reverend Patrick O'Boyle, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. - leads prayer A. Philip Randolph speaks Daisy Bates speaks on women in the movement A. Philip Randolph announces Diane Nash Bevel of SNCC, Mrs. Herbert Lee, Mrs. Medgar Evers, Rosa Parks, Gloria Richardson Dr. Eugene Blake, Commission on Race, Council of Churches, speaks Marian Anderson: "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" John Lewis of SNCC (beginning of speech)
President of United Auto Workers of America, Walter Reuther: -The struggle for equal opportunity is the struggle for every American -The job question -Cannot defend freedom in Berlin without defending freedom in Birmingham -First class citizenship for all Official count: crowd over two hundred thousand National Chairman of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Floyd McKissick: -Reading message from James Farmer from jail -The racial violence gives an ugly message to the world -Must bring down barriers nationwide -Act with dignity and without fear Eva Jessye Choir: "Freedom, a Thing Worth Thinking About" President of the Synagogue Council of America, Rabbi Uri Miller: -Prayer -We are not just physically hurt, but also morally hurt by discrimination Executive Director of the National Urban League, Whitney M. Young: -We are all united as never before on first class citizenship -Civil rights are God-given and not negotiable Executive Director of the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice, Matthew Ahmann: -The United States is a country of different groups, yet we have permitted racial injustice -Marshall Plan, yet we still have racial injustice -Dedication to economic equality Executive Secretary, National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Roy Wilkins: -Glad people showed up, saved him from being called a liar
Mahalia Jackson: "I've Been Buked and I've Been Scorned" Cut to sermon from unidentified rabbi -The most tragic thing is silence -Jews share the pain -Must teach our children tolerance Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: -Keynote speech ("I have a dream…") Bayard Rustin: -Reading demands of the march A.Phillip Randolph: -Reads the pledge, commitment to the struggle for jobs and freedom in the United States -Commitment to nonviolent protest -Legislative process -Pledge to spread the word, to be active Audience pledges "I Do!" Closing remarks Benjamin E. Mays: -Benediction
Box: 5 min. End of Mays' benediction Exit instructions "We Shall Overcome"
Alan Ribback Interviews Bruce Gordon Box: Bruce Gordon, Dr. Baldwin Burrows Content: Bruce Gordon (SNCC field secretary for Mobile, Alabama) interview, with Dr. Burrows contributing in the second half. -Arrest of Hosea Williams -Peace warrants -Police brutality -Arrests and rioting -Chatham County jail, Savannah, Georgia Bruce Gordon jailed for fifty-five days. taught reading and writing and history in jail -SNCC strategy -Demonstrations in Savannah, Georgia -Silent marches as an effective technique -Demonstration to protest the arrest of Hosea Williams -Registration drive in Savannah, Georgia, boycott, mass meetings resulted in an agreed test period for desegregation of public facilities, bargaining with business owners -Unionizing black laborers, teamsters, AFL-CIO, Mr. Meany and Mr. Hoffa, organizing car wash workers, meat packers, working conditions -Link voter registration with jobs -History of Gordon's involvement in SNCC -Links the importance of unionizing and registration -Arkansas and segregation, terror and ideology, prejudice is more insidious than segregation -Vocational schools for Negroes -Gordon's first time in the South, military service, joining the movement and formation of political beliefs -Psychology of segregation -Crime and illiteracy -Conversation about negativity versus positivity -African nationalism -Negro culture -Langston Hughes' poetry -Jazz music as modern folk music -Freedom and society Ribback lets the tape run and simply records the conversation. (In a car and then a house with television in the background)
Content: This tape contains brief fragments dubbed down from AT 1.4, previous tape. Box: BE (AT 1.5)
Box: Atlanta SNCC press conference with Americus People, 1st of 2 Statement from Mike Lewis - Story of police persecution and brutality - The mayor refused to cooperate in attempts at negotiations Evidence of activities in Americus - James Williams as victim of police abuse James Williams: - Relates the story of his broken leg - Meeting with FBI officials - Questions from the press - Questions about his public record Mike Lewis: -Thomas Grady's affidavit, as a witness to the beating -Affidavit of Lena Turner, who saw Mr. Williams carried into the jail Young women, Lena Turner and Lorena Barnes, answer questions from the press: -Jail experiences Fifteen year old (name is difficult to hear) speaks about her jail experience More evidence from Mike Lewis More from young women -Description of torture of male inmates -Illness and injury in jail -Previous arrests Mike Lewis takes over answering questions -SNCC future action in Americus Phil (?) Merritt (sounds like a very young boy): -Jail sentence, conditions, food Lena Turner: -Snake in jail -Indifference of the jailor Lewis offers up parent testimonials Mrs. Reagan: -Children in jail -Reaction to jail environment
Box: Atlanta – Press conference; Americus interview; 2nd of 2 Mike Lewis continues to lead the press conference: -Violence outside the church -Recent charges against activists -federal investigations into police brutality
(this date on the box cannot be right – President Kennedy was assassinated 1963 November 22, and the recording is from the afternoon of the day of the assassination) Taped conversation: Assassination of John F. Kennedy -Significance - Symbolism of Eugene Talmadge's death - Lyndon Johnson's politics Recording of television coverage of the assassination, Charles Murphy from WBAB-TV reporting -Recorded JFK speech about space travel, Houston, Texas 1963 November 21 -Lyndon Johnson sworn in -More discussion of the assassination -More television coverage (CBS News), people in the room comment (some television coverage of speculated Lee Harvey Oswald's connection to Russia)
Persons included: Julian Bond, Billie Johnson, Bruce Boynton Julian Bond interview: -Descriptions of various demonstrations -Arrests -Voter registration drives Billie Johnson interview: -Registration attempt Unidentified girl: -Tells of harassment by whites while trying to attend church services in Selma, Alabama Bruce Boynton interview: -Family history of civil rights work -Selma history -Negro Elks Club and high school band -Derogatory names for blacks used by whites -Recent beating in Selma, Alabama at grocery store
Persons included; Bruce Boynton, Julian Bond, Larry Still of Jet Magazine Content: -Russian history -South African system of apartheid -Complicity of blacks with system of dominance -Divisions in black community -Effect of system on white community -Union busting among whites -Boynton's experience defying segregation in Trailways' restaurant in Richmond,Virginia (Bond calls him "the original freedom rider") -Practicing law in Selma, Alabama -Boynton's father's death -1963 May 18, SNCC meeting in Selma, Alabama -Organization of sheriff's posse in 1959 -Beginning of voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama in Spring 1963 -History of black disenfranchisement -Arrests of Lillian Gregory and John Lewis -Legal strategies for the movement -Sit-ins -Police brutality -Student march from Hudson High in Selma, Alabama -Arrest of Worth Long and Kenny Tucker -Boynton encounter with probate judge in Dallas County, Alabama
Persons included: Bruce Boynton, Zenobia Craig, Janice McCarroll, Helen Scott Content: Boynton's confrontation with judge Attorney named Chestnut Interview with three girls: -Canvassing -Demonstrating, confrontations with police -Hudson High march -Arrest, imprisonment at Camp Selma and Camp Camden -Prison conditions -September 16 demonstration -Arrest by Jim Clark -Refers to Father Ouillet and Reverend Anderson, who come to prison to help Ribback encourages them to talk about how they are treated and harassed by whites, wants to know exactly what was said, and girls comply -Comparing North and South -Learning about segregation as a child -Each girl tells how she would show and explain segregation to a tourist -Refers to Albert Lingo
Box: Interviews with Selma residents, victims Persons included: Prathia Hall Content: Discussion with Prathia Hall, SNCC field secretary in Selma, Alabama in the SNCC office; frequently interrupted by telephone calls and reports from SNCC workers arriving and describing the events in town (Prathia Hall was arrested in Selma, Alabama, 1963 October 7) -Number of SNCC people in jail -Church burnings in Georgia -Albany, Georgia -Strategies for demonstrating and mass meetings -Birmingham, Alabama -William Evans (17) reports several demonstrations occurring around town Hall discusses police tactics Arrest of Reverand Thomas Brown and Terry Shaw Lillian Gregory Lieutenant Knight Arrest of John Shaw at Federal Building Police brutality Student demonstrations, arrests, jail Nonviolence
Interview with a sixteen year old girl: -Feelings about Selma, Alabama - Demonstration and arrests - Freedom songs - Prison camp Interview with Mary Melty(?) (15): -Standing in front of the courthouse to vote -Arrests, probation Sermon by female student Speech – implies student meeting -Encourages others, especially parents to participate -Courthouse demonstrations Solo by Betty Price: "On My Way to Freedom" Continuation of earlier conversation
Poor sound quality Sounds like a meeting Courthouse arrest story (?) Testimonial (?) Ambient noise Unidentified song Speech about sacrifices -Police "invasion" of a prayer service -Segregation in church diatribe -Go and register and vote -Respect for the church -Unlawful assembly charges -Discriminatory arrest stories -Lady Liberty symbolism and hypocrisy -Danger of doing nothing -Freedom Monday "We Shall Overcome"
Unidentified female interviewee: -It's one God, so why must churches be separated? William C. Robertson, Selma resident: -September 16th sit in demonstration -Wants to use the vote to feel represented by politicians -Water fountain segregation -YMCA discrimination story Cut to different discussion between Ribback and friends -Ribback's dilemma: is his art meaningful? -Can art be completely personal? -The role of the artist Switch to CD 3.0 -Continuous random conversation, a few song snatches "America the Beautiful" -Harmonica performance of "Blowin' in the Wind" -(throughout both CDs, scattered mentions of getting high) -Very faint conversation, indistinguishable
Amelia Boynton Robinson, fifty-three years old: -She and her husband were active in helping with Negro rights many years before the current movement -History of their civil rights activities -Wrote several poems and plays – talks about current project -The freedom songs have more hope than the spirituals -The older spirituals depicted the burden of being Negro -Living to see freedom, rather than dying to achieve it -Singing the basic tune of "Freedom is a Coming" -Youth participation is crucial to the movement's sense of courage -Young people have less to lose than the older generation -Talks about past club meetings -Past traces/accusations of communism -Describes discriminatory credit system
Alan Ribback interviews unidentified people in line on the street waiting to register to vote. -Discusses problems with registering, including the questions that people were asked before they could register -Difficulties with registering in the past -Points out that there are whites in line as well – probably part of a League of Women Voters effort to get more (white) people registered. Ribback talks with one man about Democrat/Republican history and divide in Selma, Alabama. Line not moving despite the fact that they were supposed to open by 9:00 and about 250 people are on line. Another method of keeping blacks from voting. (Sounds like James Baldwin is talking track 5 on access CD) Ribback speaks with Mrs. Boyington who has been involved with previous voter registration efforts. At 8:30 eight white people at head of line, by 11:30 only those whites and four blacks had been processed. At 11:45 approximately 295 people in line Sheriff Jim Clark arrested two people holding signs on courthouse steps Alabama State troopers arrive (Background noises – voices, cars, etc.
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
Content: Interviews with demonstration participants John Hill: -9:00 AM September 16th sit in at Carter's Drugs -Violence during the sit in -Describes another march -Jail brutality Bernard T. Shelloe: -Adds to the story of police brutality -Policemen accusing jailed Negroes of smiling as an excuse for beatings Both men talk about jail conditions, events -Camp Selma stories -Future demonstration plans and the effects of the previous arrest Cut to meeting "Trampin'/Tryin' to Make Heaven My Home" "This Little Light of Mine" Speaker welcomes the assembled Prayer and scripture by Reverend Holland (?): "Sweet Hour of Prayer" "Everlasting Heart (?)" Reverend Louis Lloyd Anderson: -"Go Down Vote" the three words to sum up the occasion -Above all, we want the ballot Speaker Freedom chorus leads "Everlasting Life is Free" Reverend Anderson's sermon
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
Content: Reverend Anderson's sermon (continues): -Refers to World War Two -Freedom now -Register to vote now -We may be rough around the edges, but we are busy trying to prepare our people for our larger share of freedom "It is No Secret What God Can Do" Marie Foster: -16th mass meeting, 1st class citizen's council -International behavior towards black people -What white people think about integration -Segregation is taught to little children -In Alabama, some people are seeing the value of the Negro dollar -The ballot is color-blind Announcements: -Young people make lots of sacrifices -We should do something for pregnant woman in jail in Selma, Alabama -Freedom Monday -If you like the beatings and the status quo, stay home -If you want change, register on Monday, take a membership card Verifying credentials of reporters present Financial appeal
Interviewing Selma, Alabama residents Unidentified male speakers (two): -Population distribution -Encounters between white and black residents -Relations with Jews versus other whites -Example - Jewish father and son sympathizers -Negro versus white neighborhoods -Contact with whites through door to door collectors -Overly familiar treatment of blacks -Demanding respect for titles -SNCC is the first movement to bring a change to the city -Many people fear the effects of SNCC including potential loss of jobs -One interviewee's father is a painter -Other interviewee's father is a cobbler -Both fathers are supportive, but not willing to take an active part -Whether to stay in Selma, Alabama or leave -Upcoming picketing/voter registration activities -Difficulty of recruiting activists -Need to overcome fear -Most activists are not employed -Some maids and self-employed mechanics participate -Maids' wages -Mothers go to the meetings -Father is self-employed, but he fears the reactions of white employers -Voter registration problems -Test difficulties and discrimination
Gilbert Clarence Fortune (13): -Story of how he started participating -Grades and attendance affected by his activism -SNCC-sponsored school boycott started September 16th -Numbers of active participants declined over time -On probation for truancy -Prison experience -Overcrowded cells (eighty students, twenty-four beds) -Nothing really happened until Bernard Lafayette – main SNCC organizer in Selma, Alabama arrived -Voter registration -Nine siblings, several are interested in the movement, three jailed -Parents are supportive -Drugstore sit-ins -1960 sit-ins -Teachers are supportive, but cautious -Civil rights pamphlets and books -Black and white neighborhood boundaries -Contact between whites and blacks -Stories of discrimination -Used to be nervous around white people -Getting better thanks to activism
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
Amelia Boynton Robinson makes announcements James Forman: -Energizes the crowd -Need more attendance at the registration events -We have to force the federal government to bring the troops down to Alabama -We have never had a better time to demonstrate than now -Make sure Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, and all those who have fought have not fought in vain Speaker – almost impossible to hear "We Shall Overcome" Alan Ribback, First Baptist Church, Selma Alabama –Student Mass Meeting (2nd Mass Meeting) "Shine on Me" "Oh Freedom" " We Shall Not Be Moved" "Sweet By and By" (includes vocals by Betty Hall) "This Little Light of Mine"
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963 - Youth Mass Meeting]
Content: Singing continues "This Little Light of Mine" Reverend D.C. Coulter prayer [October 2, 1963 -3rd Mass Meeting] "Oh Freedom" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" "Back of the Bus" "Ain't Scared of Nobody" "Kumbaya" Voter registration appeal
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963 -Mass Meeting]
"This Little Light of Mine" Unidentified speaker: -Animal fable -Prayer to God Solo by Betty Mae Fikes: "Jesus, Walk With Me" Speech -Job loss -Come to the courthouse regardless of how you feel -Financial appeal "Everlasting Life is Free" Boynton Robinson: -Injustice of arrests -Want to teach people how to vote -The vote as a weapon -Reviews the voter registration application and explains each section
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
Content: Speaker: -Obligations of citizenship Minister (unidentified) Announcements Singing "We Shall Overcome" Benediction
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
]"He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" "What a Friend We Have In Jesus"" "Sweet By and By" "Ain't Scared of Nobody 'Cause I Want My Freedom" Prayer "Sweet Hour of Prayer" Prayer "Give Me That Old Time Religion" Inaudible name: -Monday October 7th, 1963 – ask every adult to come to the county courthouse and register to vote -Do not let fear stop you Pep talk by Fred Shuttleworth: -Freedom shout -Police/jail jokes -Need to get the parents in jail Betty Mae Fikes: "Walk With Me" Unidentified speaker: -Introduces people just released from jail -General announcements -Freedom Monday (October 7th) -Voting progress
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
Cuts into the middle of a speech: -Fundraising plea -Announcement of a very recent arrest "Leaning On the Lord" "Back of the Bus" Betty Hall leads: "This Little Light of Mine" James Forman: -Criticizes Jim Clark -Come up after the meeting and share your jail experiences with others Dorothy Height: -President of the National Council of Negro Women -Stresses unity -March on Washington -Introduces Dr. Dorothy Ferebee Dorothy Ferebee: -Commends the young women participating in the movement -Commends the young people for setting an example for the older people James Forman: -We must not fail ourselves -We must get down to the courthouse Monday, however capable we may be -Jim Clark Polly Cowan: -Citizens Committee for Children -Greetings from New York
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
Content: James Forman: -Brief remarks "We Shall Not Be Moved" Mr. and Mrs. Jim Sanders: -Willingness to go to jail James Forman: -Current lawsuits -Just versus unjust registration proceedings -Make white employers (like Jim Clark) talk about voting -Entertainers and the movement -Have to bring the educated black man/woman back from the North Dick Gregory: -Policeman sneaking into civil rights meeting story -Put yourself in the Southern white man's shoes (mostly jokes) -Inferiority of the slave master -The white man is desperate enough to sacrifice God to achieve his goal -We can't lose with three things: truth, justice and the United States Constitution -The white man's mistakes have made us the strongest people in the world -More jibes referring to the stupidity of the southern white man
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
Content: Dick Gregory continues: -More jibes against the southern white man and the southern white politician -Tired of the scared black man -Part of the blame lies with the preachers, white and black -The church has failed Announcements James Forman: -Reviews peoples' rights, to prepare people for encounters with the police "We Shall Overcome"
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
Content: "By and By" Cut to meeting: "We Shall Not Be Moved" "Everlasting Life Is Free" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" "Leaning on the Lord" "This Little Light of Mine" "Shine on Me" Prayer "Sweet Hour of Prayer" Unidentified speaker: -We need to build up the spirit in this room "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" (includes vocals by Bernice Johnson) "We'll Never Turn Back" (includes Charles (Chuck) Neblett)
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
Content: Continuation of "We'll Never Turn Back" from N50 James Forman: -Story behind the song -Teaching the audience the song " We'll Never Turn Back" "This Little Light of Mine" includes Betty Mae Fikes Mr. Bender: -In jail nineteen days -Jail testimony Joe Altar (?): -Jail testimony "Oh Freedom" Betty Mae Fikes leads: "Everlasting Life Is Free" "Leaning on the Lord"
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
Content: Betty Mae Fikes leads: "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" Dick Gregory: -Shame in not participating -How would people react if the same events were happening abroad -Chastising parents for fearing for their children in jail -This movement affects the whole world -Christ allegories -You have to commit -The movement must be right because only those who participate get attention -Northern black people
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
Content: Dick Gregory continues: -If you don't participate it proves to the white people that you don't want it -We have great potential strength -Support your children in the movement James Forman: -Assigning telephone calls -If people don't go down to the courthouse on Monday, all the work so far will have been in vain -Report from the Justice department Brother Gildersleeve: -We need to prevent a resolution to require a new test "We Shall Overcome"
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963]
Content: "Lord, Won't You Come By Here" "This Little Light of Mine" "We Shall Not Be Moved" "Come and Go To That Land" "Everlasting Life Is Free" "We've Come This Far By Faith" "Keep Your Eyes On the Prize" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" Reverend Curtis W. Harris leads prayer
[Selma, AL; September/October, 1963- Mass Meeting October 7, 1963]
James Forman (cuts into the middle of the speech): -Courthouse activities and arrests -Jim Clark -Keep an eye on Clark's posse, report brutality -Describes methods of protecting oneself -- keep an eye on the neighbor's house, don't sign anything, don't talk about the meetings, etc. -Review of the federal situation John Conyers: -Lawyer from Chicago -Impressed by the southern spirit -Promises to bring lawyers to help with movement from the National Lawyers Guild James Forman: -Pep talk - Introduces Maryland State Senator Verda Welcome Verda Welcome: -Represents her district without discrimination -Do not stoop to hatred James Forman: -It is not will we get freedom, but when we get freedom David Baldwin: -Mini pep talk - Introduces his brother novelist, James Baldwin James Baldwin: -History lesson -Fears the ignorance of the southern white people in power -Perhaps we should change the direction of our fight
Content: James Baldwin continued: -Connection between the Bible and the power of the white man -We cannot depend on the white man's vision of the black man -We must make our own definitions -Never succumb to hate -We have to use our economic indispensability to our advantage Freedom choir: "Oh, Freedom" Announcements: - Voter registration contact information Amanda Platt Boynton: -Advice and gossip -Explains the poll tax Father Moses Anderson: -North Carolina situation -Great work of St. Edmond's Church -Benediction Announcement of a meeting the following Sunday with Martin Luther King "We Shall Overcome"
Box: Avery Williams, Eric Rainey, Early Franklin Content: -Public safety director "he's a fanatic" -Use of cattle prod on demonstrators -Behavior of Albert Lingo -Arrest on June 10th -Describes how cattle prod feels -Chronology of several arrests -Abuse in prison
Box: GA Bits, Forman's comments Content: - Brief statement about police brutality - - Mentions a specific policeman, "Smelly" - Brief statement against George Wallace (appears to be the same content of GA Bits)
[Jackson, MS; Fall/Winter 1963 - Mass Meeting]
Content: "This Little Light of Mine" "Set on Freedom" "Everybody Wants Freedom" Matt Jones leads: "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" Unidentified speaker: -We are in the final stage Allard K. Lowenstein: -Jokes about police escorts and police behavior -Two party system in Mississippi -This is the last fighting stance of a losing battle for the white leaders -The rest of the human race is with us in this fight Reverend Ed King speaks -Candidate for lieutenant governor of Mississippi -Campaign goals and ideals -Arrest stories -Norman Thomas -Sharing letter others have written about the campaign
[Jackson, MS; Fall/Winter 1963 - Mass Meeting]
Reverend Ed King continues: -History lesson -More letter reading -Unfair arrest stories -Short sermon Announcements "When the Votes Come Rolling In" (sung to the tune of "When the Saints Go Marching In") Matthew Jones "Ballad of Medgar Evers" Unidentified speaker: -Emphasizes participation in the "freedom election" -White man's hypocrisy -Personal experiences with Barnett -We are tired of injustice Sam Bailey John Conyers
[Jackson, MS; Fall/Winter 1963 - Mass Meeting]
Content: Sam Bailey continues Allard Lowenstein announcements Introduction of Aaron Henry, gubernatorial candidate from Clarksdale, Mississippi
[Jackson, MS/Greenwood MS; Fall/Winter 1963]
Content: Jackson, Mississippi Sermon Announcements and voting information "We Shall Overcome" includes Matthew Jones and Doris Derby singing. Benediction Greenwood, Mississippi "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" "This Little Light of Mine" includes Fannie Lou Hamer Sermon Reverend Redd leads prayer "Lord Hold My Hand" "If I Had a Hammer" includes Sam Block (Samuel Theodore Block) "Freedom Train A-Coming"
[Jackson, MS; Fall/Winter 1963 - Mass Meeting Waiting for Election Results]
Content: "This Little Light of Mine" "Wade in the Water" includes Willie Peacock and Sam Block "Oh Freedom" includes Cordell Reagon and Sam Block "Calypso Freedom" led by Willie Peacock "Freedom Now!" chant Announcements James Forman calls on songleaders – Elizabeth Vassar (?), Joyce and Dorie Ladner, Chico and Charles (Chuck)Neblett, Hollis Watkins, Cordell Reagon, Willie Peacock, and Bob Fry "I Woke Up This Morning" Freedom Singers introduced "Oh Freedom" "This Little Light of Mine"
[Jackson, MS; Fall/Winter 1963]
Content (continued from previous tape): Speaker "Get On Board, Little Children" Robert B. Gore from CORE James Forman Sam Block teaches "Freedom Train A-Coming" "I Ain't Scared of Your Jail" "Certainly Lord" "Wade in the Water" Announcement about the election James Forman speaks
[Jackson, MS; Fall/Winter 1963]
Content (continued from previous tape: James Forman Hollis Watkins leads "Oh Freedom" Announcements about the "Freedom election" John Lewis, national chairman of SNCC Bob Moses "I've Been Buked"
[Jackson, MS; Fall/Winter 1963]
Content (continued from previous tape): Bob Moses Allard Lowenstein Reverend Ed King Aaron Henry introduced Aaron Henry Announcements
[Jackson, MS; Fall/Winter 1963]
Content (continued from previous tape): Dave Dennis, CORE, serves as moderator Reverend Ed King Announcements "We Shall Overcome" Music – blues, rock and roll, James Brown tunes
Content (continued from previous tape): Sermon continues Announcements "Which Side Are You On?" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around"
Content (continued from previous tape): Sermon continues Announcements "Which Side Are You On?" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around"
Box: says "Bob Dylan," but this recording is likely to be the one immediately preceding GR 1.3, judging from its content. May have been housed in the wrong box or mis-labeled. Interview with unidentified girl about the situation in Winona. Mississippi Persons included: Reverend Donald Louis Tucker, Fred Harris, Ellis Jackson, Wilson Brown, Willie Shaw, Louis Williams Content: Reverend Tucker interviewed -Movement in Greenwood, Mississippi -Comparison of ministry in the North versus the South -Reconciles Christian beliefs with the movement and race relations -Folk festival in Greenwood, Mississippi in July at Mrs. Murphy's farm (turns tape recorder off) -Most ministers in Greenwood, Mississippi are not involved in direct action in the civil rights movement. (tape recorder stops and starts again) People going to the courthouse Sunday November 3rd Interview with Fred Harris (17): -Only fourteen people out of forty were willing to register to vote. Ellis Jackson (22) Greenwood, Mississippi : -Voter registration and SNCC citizen workshops -Freedom ballot for governor of the Mississippi -Campaigned for the Freedom ballot in mock election. Wilson Brown (30) Birmingham Alabama, field secretary for SNCC from Jackson, Mississippi Willie Shaw and Louis Williams interview: -Voter registration in Belzoni, Mississippi -Generation gap -Conflicts and confrontations, death threat by phone -Police harassment while driving Joseph Broomfield and Bobby Broomfield -Arriving in town, incidents with police -Effect of being in the movement on young people -Young people working for the movement without parents' knowledge (tape runs out)
Persons included: Willie Shaw and Louis Williams, continued; John Lewis, Ivanhoe Donaldson Content: -Murder of Reverend Lee -Interviewee describes how father asked him to leave SNCC or leave town because he was scared, describes how his father then drove him to Greenwood. Mississippi Unidentified man interviewed: -School superintendent fired him from bus driver job for involvement in movement John Lewis interview: -Voter registration in Greenville, Mississippi during previous two days; "Freedom Ballot" -Other Mississippi towns: Rosedale, Beulah, Bolivar County -Emmet Till -Poll tax -People's fears when encouraged to register -Freedom candidates -Incident at Jackson airport with Bob Moses, discovering phones were tapped Ivanhoe Donaldson (22):
Content: songs recorded from Bob Dylan album [no interviews or movement-related material] From the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan Skips the song "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance," cuts off with "I Shall Be Free"
[Greenwood, MS; c. November 3, 1963]
Content: Browning Community meeting "Freedom Train" Speech using freedom train imagery "Ain't Scared of Nobody 'Cause I Want My Freedom" ("Ain't Scared of Your Jail" version) "I Know I Got Religion" Speakers talk about local issues, local activists, so-called freedom fighters Reminders about casting ballots "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" James Forman introduction -Here to talk about the "Get Out the Vote" campaign James Forman: -Emmitt Till -Progress made in Greenwood -Black history lesson -Yet we are still scared to cast our ballots -Do not be ashamed of white blood, it wasn't by choice
[Greenwood, MS; c. November 3, 1963]
Content: Continuation of James Baldwin speech -History lesson picks up after World War II -Beware Uncle Tom politicians -Shouldn't wait until the movement cools down, there will be no need for help then -Remember Samuel Block and Willie Peacock working hard a year ago -We're not running anymore -Freedom songs make you want to be free -The more we struggle the less our children struggle -There is more to life than our things -The ballot is important because we must show the White Citizen's Council that the masses of the people want to be free, no matter what -We need our own spy system -If it takes death, we will die -If our kids are working hours and hours a day, then we can do something "I'm Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table" John Lewis introduces speaker: -From Belzoni, Mississippi -Voter registration campaign in Belzoni -Received death threats -Parents told him to leave Belzoni, came here Speaker talks about voter registration -Highway canvassing -The people are scared -Police threats/violence "We'll Never Turn Back" " We Shall Overcome"
Content: Unidentified speaker: -Mississippi mock election events -Arrests, bogus charges Fannie Lou Hamer: "This Little Light of Mine" Matt Jones: "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" Jones and Hamer: "We Shall Not Be Moved" Hamer: "Go Tell It On the Mountain" Dick Fry: -Beaten today -Successful mock election -Chronicle of the day's events -Arrest/court proceedings -Thoughts on George Lewis -Voter registration -Doubts federal government support Unidentified speaker (from before): -Voter registration -Advocates giving the federal government a few more days -Continue fighting within the courthouse -Push for full rights legislation Pause for several minutes Fannie Lou Hamer: "Wade in the Water" Fannie Lou Hamer is introduced
Content: Fannie Lou Hamer: -Reading from the Gospel of St. Luke -Religious preaching -"Depression" anecdotes "Oh Freedom" Fannie Lou Hamer and Matt Jones: - freedom chant "If I Had a Hammer" Unidentified speaker: -Story about voter registration -Men versus dogs -This is a new time, must ask for what you want -Go to the courthouse to register Fannie Lou Hamer: "Save Me Lord" " Set on Freedom" " Demonstrating GI" "Ballad of Medgar Evers" "We Shall Overcome"
Note: This tape follows N37 Content: "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" Unidentified speaker: -We are running into debt in Danville Mr. Pinchback, Mr. Adam, young woman: "We Are Soldiers in the Army" Unidentified speaker: -Reverend Campbell -History of movement in Danville, Virginia -We cannot stand by and let this brutality happen -Police brutality stories -The white man organized a system, but we never made our own system, it is our duty to do something -Calling for involvement in Danville, Virginia -Need young people in the movement -Unemployment issues -Dangers of mechanization -Tobacco industry and education -Must join unions in Danville, Virginia -Need one man to run for city council, Reverend Chase is that man -We can kill the aggressors, but we can't kill the system -We have to use love and nonviolence -New leaders - Asks for the recorders to be turned off when talking about unity between different activist groups "We Shall Overcome"
Content: "Oh Freedom" "Set on Freedom" Avon Rollins: - Moment of prayer "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore" "This Little Light of Mine" Reverend Lendell W. Chase: -Most of us started in Jamestown anyways, so we are not outsiders, we are just coming home -As long as you are an American on American soil, you are not an outsider -Radio outreach -Trials of those arrested on the 17th -Do not provide bail; freedom is more important than posting bonds -Future demonstration techniques and mass demonstrations -Who here wants to reinstitute the boycott, intensified? -Future demonstration technique is creative tension – send people to seek service in public accommodations -Asks for the recording device to be turned off to keep plans from the white people -NAACP donations drive Reverend Lawrence Campbell: -Tremendous spirit of the kids in the jail -Personal jail advice -Personal experience with white college student activist -Non-violence in the face of ammonia -Turns into religious sermon "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms"
Content: "Set on Freedom" "Everybody Wants Freedom" Freedom shout and marching Speaker (Reverend Campbell?): -Must take freedom now, cannot set it aside -The place to meet after school (student audience) -We are still children of God, no matter what out skin color -Pushing for future attendance Bruce Baines: -Came from Shreveport -We cannot give up for small concessions -Why have people stopped participating? -Asking for complaints -Recorder turned off Unidentified speaker: -Children of Israel story -Our assignment is to fill this auditorium tomorrow afternoon -We're just in a slump, the spark will be lit "I'm Gonna Let it Shine" "We Shall Overcome" Benediction Post-meeting chatter
[Danville, VA; 1963]
Piano playing Ribback asks whether there is supposed to be a meeting in the building More piano playing Ambient sound Conversation with unidentified man, touches on various topics -Self-preservation -Timetable on freedom -Report on the days event/jail stories -Well-behaved kids -Girl on hunger strike -Valerie Bonner (13) has been in jail five times Reverend Chase: -There has been contact with Gloria Richardson from Cambridge to speak at one of the mass meetings -Reverend Thomas and NAACP fundraising programs -Legal defense and educational fund
[Washington, DC; after November 22, 1963]
[Washington, DC; after November 22, 1963]
Fourth annual leadership institute of SNCC Charles Jones: "Set on Freedom" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round" "Oh, Freedom" "This Little Light of Mine" Moment of silence for John F. Kennedy Prayer for protection against evil John Lewis: -Conference on jobs and food -The masses are getting involved -Only victims of segregation can lead the struggle against segregation -Need to make basic changes to political struggles -Must rid ourselves of the elements of violence and poverty -We have a mandate to do everything possible to set this nation in line with democratic ideals Director of student activities, Howard University: -Welcome from Howard University Schedule changes and announcements Bob Moses: -SNCC has primarily organized a group of organizers, need to consolidate that group -SNCC needs to define what it is they organize for -Rather limited and specific objectives -Political overthrow of the south as we know it -Fundamental changes in the political structure
[Washington, DC; after November 22, 1963]
SNCC leadership conference continued: -Free association and the right of people to assemble and work regardless of past associations -We must pick and choose who we will work with, but a criteria should not be past association -More importantly, we must be disciplined, organized Conclusion of morning session Unidentified speaker: -Lee Harvey Oswald was a leftist psychopath -The southern psychopaths are rightists -Hopeful for Johnson's future policies People on the platform: Frank Smith, Marion Barry, Worth Long, William Hanson, John Lewis, Robert Moses, Charles Girard, James Forman Questions for them: -The elections of Mississippi – a contest to see who hated Kennedy more -There has been no discussion of a moratorium -There is still work to do, for example in Maryland and Virginia -The white reaction in Mississippi to Kennedy's death – indifference or hidden joy
Cuts into the middle of a panel discussion from N15: -More discussion of John F. Kennedy assassination -Federal protection progress in Mississippi -Activity is still going strong in the South -Hopes that Johnson will do more than Kennedy did -Need to find leaders with integrity -Description of voter registration campaign in Terrell County, Georgia -Frustration at obstacles in the movement -We are here to evaluate many things we have done -If Johnson doesn't deliver on civil rights, we should not deliver him into the White House (reelection) Fannie Lou Hamer: -Voter registration testimonial -Tired of the system "Go Tell it on the Mountain" (joined by the audience) "I'm Gonna Let it Shine" "Freedom Now" chant "Set on Freedom" Minnie Jean Brown – one of the first girls to go to an integrated school in Little Rock, Arkansas: -Glad people are really supporting the cause -The time is now The Americus Four: "Freedom My Rock" "We Are Marching For Freedom" Bayard Rustin: -Introducing Norman Thomas, the main speaker -Story of Thomas' bravery against Frank "I am the Law" Hague -Memories of slavery -Norman Thomas was willing to investigate these conditions
Norman Thomas: -One of the most important things to achieve is a large number of negroes voting, intelligently -Immigration success and naturalization -Employment -We should work on breaking down unions -We must ensure employment in the face of automation -Employment is a bigger issue than the civil rights movement, it goes above that struggle -The federal government has the responsibility to do more to ensure employment for its citizens -Ideas for federal programs -It is the business of society to see that its members get jobs or get paid until jobs can be found -Fair employment requires full employment -Have to demand a civil rights bill -No white worker will give up his job -You have to think of full employment Announcements Questions for Norman Thomas: -How can we make people vote if there is severe intimidation? -I don't expect people to vote; I expect people to have the system available to vote -A civil rights bill needs to have special emphasis on voting -There ought to be a minimum wage, including migratory workers -There are better ways to get jobs than to extend military build up -Barry Goldwater story
[Washington, DC; after November 22, 1963]
Norman Thomas question and answer session from N17 continued "We Shall Not Be Moved" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" "I'm On My Way to Freedom Land" "We Are Soldiers (in the Army)" "Freedom Train" "Aint Scared of Nobody 'Cause I Want My Freedom" "Wade in the Water" James Forman: -Introduces James Baldwin -He understands it is his struggle too James Baldwin: -Rather start a discussion -The music of the movement, made in oppression and in pain, these songs have changed into a vehicle of liberation -This dignity of our history has become this country's only hope
[Washington, DC; after November 22, 1963]
James Baldwin continued: -The victim has, more than white people, a real sense of his value -Medgar Evers' assassination -Upward mobility does not apply to negroes -I survive all your prisons, but you have not -Lunacy as an excuse for murder -Kennedy was killed because he broke the bargain of the solid South -One man - one vote is the end of the southern oligarchy and the end of the Democratic Party as we know it -It is one thing to be beaten. It is another thing to be told to be patient after that beating, that things will be better tomorrow -A country that prefers security to the possibility of dissent is in danger of perishing -The country will have to change and embrace me -In order for me to get a job, we have to get everybody else a job; a complete change is necessary -We can only achieve success as a nation through a long overdue maturity Questions and answers: -Christianity and the movement -Dangers of prejudice -Third party -The middle class as a hindrance
[Washington, DC; late 1963, or August]
(more of the conference) "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" "I'm Gonna Let It Shine" "Go Tell It on the Mountain" Announcements Unidentified speaker: -We must protect our freedom -Historically, young men fight in war, old men fight for freedom -Pleased that the young are fighting for freedom and looking to the future -Prayer for God's blessings -Introduces James Forman James Forman: -Recognizes various past leaders and original SNCC workers -We need to form local propaganda bases in northern cities -Calls various officers to the front Ella Baker: -SNCC is concerned with the development of leadership, not individual leaders -In order to get people in the deep south to move, they need a feeling of confidence -We use our mental capacities to chart programs that have basic effects on changing the system -We must find ways to evaluate ourselves in respect to the movement
[Washington, DC; late 1963, or August]
Ella Baker continued: -We have done much to penetrate the mystery of life -Where we have failed is the mastery of life -We must help people (racists) understand what their true value is -Only then can we truly say we live in a democracy for the people and by the people Brenda Travis: (sent to jail in McComb, Mississippi and spent six months in juvenile reform school) -Brief statement James Baldwin: -Introduces and describes the Freedom Singers Unidentified speaker: -We are being kept from a valuable thing -- our vote -Introduces Fannie Lou Hamer Fannie Lou Hamer: -August 31st, 1962- the day she tried to become a first-class citizen -SNCC has done a wonderful job in bringing food to Mississippi, helped her survive -I'm not working for equal rights because what the white man has he stole from me, I want true democracy "Come By Here" Unidentified speaker: -Fundraising activity -Audience "Freedom" chant Cut to Americus Four, one member: (spent eighty-five days in jail without bond) -Eighty-five days don't compare to years of black suffering -Jail experience
[Washington, DC; late 1963]
James Forman: Announcements -Reminder about Ms. Hamer's trial Freedom Singers: -Introduction of Joy Leonard, Chuck Neblitt, Ruth Harris, Cordell Reagon "Set on Freedom" "Fighting for My Rights" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" "Dogs" "Oh, Freedom" "Brown Baby" "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" "I'm Gonna Let it Shine" "We Shall Overcome"
[Washington, DC; late 1963]
Unidentified singer: "Ballad of Medgar Evers" Unidentified singer: "Ballad of the Student Sit-Ins" "If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus" "Hard Travelin'" Unidentified speaker (Marion Barry?): -History of SNCC John Lewis: -All of us must continue to raise questions and problems -Destroy the South through nonviolence -In the Deep South we must continue a policy of political agitation -If we plan to continue with non-violence, we must become radical enough in our action to meet the needs of an oppressed people -We cannot depend on the government -We should take SNCC into the North Charles McDew: -We knew it would have to be students -This is not about building a black society -Integrated society -We fight to make democracy safe for the world "We Shall Overcome"
[Washington, DC; late 1963, or August]
[Washington, DC; late 1963, or August]
(Probably incorrectly identified because the recording includes an announcement about 1965 tags. May have been recorded in Mississippi) Unidentified meeting "I'm Gonna Let it Shine" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" "I'm Gonna Let it Shine" "Oh, Freedom" "Come By Here, My Lord" "Go Tell in on the Mountain" Unidentified song Unidentified song leaders and singers "We Are Soldiers in the Army" "Wade in the Water"
Sermon Breaking up into congressional districts from Mississippi Unidentified speaker: -Executive committee report of the Freedom Democratic Party -Want you (audience) to speak with these representatives -People will be talking to their congressmen tomorrow -Mrs. Hamer, Mrs. Divine and Mrs. Gray will attempt to gain the floor of Congress -Want the right to take federal depositions from anyone they feel should be subpoenaed -Fairness resolution -Volunteers to practice talking to congressmen Various volunteers practice their speeches
Continued practice talks with congressmen Unidentified speaker continued -We want them to vote for a fairness resolution -Asking for three things -Don't want the five people from Mississippi seated -Want the congressmen to ask for a roll call Announcements
Appears to be blank
Leader trying to teach his audience a new song "My Name is Harmon Turnbull" (?) recorded speech: Lyndon Johnson's State of the Union, 1965 January 4 (Great Society speech)
End of Lyndon Johnson's State of the Union includes recording of radio or television commentary Announcements Unidentified speaker: -Listen to Negro artists -Presents Lillian Evanti Lillian Evanti: -First Negro to sing in the Grand Opera -Has given a gift group from Mississippi -Story about a young farmer in Mississippi -Story of grandfather, Henry Evans, carpenter
[Hattiesburg, MS; January 21-22, 1964]
Content: Prayer Speaker Lawrence Guyot, Hattiesburg Freedom Summer Project -Comments and announcements -How to behave when arrested; non-violent techniques to deal with arrest Question
[Hattiesburg, MS; January 21-22, 1964]
Names of people to contact if arrested "Woke Up This Morning" "Which Side Are You On?" led by Fannie Lou Hamer "Ain't Scared of Nobody" "Oh Freedom" "This Little Light of Mine" "Freedom Train" Ivanhoe Donaldson introduces Aaron Henry Fannie Lou Hamer leads "Go Tell It On the Mountain" "We Shall Not Be Moved" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around"
[Hattiesburg, MS; January 21-22, 1964]
Content (continued from previous tape): Aaron Henry speaks Lawrence Guyot Charles Evers Announcements John Lewis Annelle Ponder, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Dave Dennis, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Fannie Lou Hamer and Dave Dennis lead "Wade in the Water" Jack Pratt, attorney -Teaching sections of the Mississippi state constitution that can be asked when people register to vote
[Hattiesburg, MS; January 21-22, 1964]
Content (continued from previous tape): "Certainly Lord" "Freedom Now!" chant "No, We Wont Come out Till Our People Vote" Ella Baker Lawrence Guyot gives instructions for the march.
[Hattiesburg, MS; January 21-22, 1964]
Content (continued from previous tape): Lawrence Guyot continues Announcement Freedom chant Fannie Lou Hamer leads "Amazing Grace" Benediction "We Shall Overcome"
[Hattiesburg, MS; January 21-22, 1964 -Mass Meeting After March]
Content: "This Little Light of Mine" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" Chant - Freedom Now! "I Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Set on Freedom" "This Little Light of Mine" "Ain't Scared of Nobody 'Cause I Want My Freedom" Prayers Reverend Ken Waterman Sermon Fannie Lou Hamer leads "Walk With Me" Announcements Reverend Charles Sherrod Demonstration stories
[Hattiesburg, MS; January 21-22, 1964 -Mass Meeting]
Demonstration stories (continued) Various unidentified school students speak about joining the movement, demonstrating, and their experiences. Lawrence Guyot invited to podium
[Hattiesburg, MS; January 21-22, 1964]
Content (continued from previous tape): Reverend Charles Sherrod Religious officials speak Fannie Lou Hamer leads "Certainly Lord" Freedom chant "Wade in the Water" "Which Side Are You On?" "Freedom Now!" chant "Freedom Train" "Lord, Hold My Hand While I Run This Race"
Content (continued from previous tape): Speech by moderator Announcements and discussion Reverend Charles Sherrod "We Shall Overcome"
[Indianola, MS; Summer 1964]
Content: Fannie Lou Hamer speaks about her life story, jail experiences, and encourages voter registration.
Content (continued from previous tape): Fannie Lou Hamer continues "I'm On My Way" with Barbara Dane. Barbara Dane leads "Let's Get Together" "It Isn't Nice" Speaker Announcement about Freedom School "We Shall Overcome"
May be a church service "Just One Rose Will Do" "Jesus on the Mainline" Sermon "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize"
Box: "Chit Chat" Persons included: Thelma Bonds Crowder, George Beasley, Jr. (14 ), Hinton Arthur Winchester ("Buster"), Jo Ann Bowman, others unidentified Content: -Thelma Crowder trying to register children for school -Confrontation with superintendent Unidentified woman tells about trying to register children for school George Beasley, Jr. and another boy talk about what they do at Freedom House Guarding Freedom house, armed, from the roof -Confrontation at demonstration in town -What they want from the movement -March on Washington -Freedom songs -Attending school versus movement-related activities -Sightseeing in Washington, D.C. -Discussion between Moon, Jo Ann Bowman, and another unidentified man about Marxism versus the peace movement
Interview with unidentified man, organizer in Monroe, Mississippi originally from NY: -Self-defense trends in police confrontation, Birmingham as example -Campaign for Negro politicians -North Carolina and economic needs -Tactics: rural versus industrial areas -Importance of unionizing, strong organization -Socialist leanings -Pageland, South Carolina -Rural population issues -"Freedom Now" is an impractical demand Conversations moves into issues of socialism, communism, world politics Cut to unidentified group of singers, informal, joking: "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around"
Alan Ribback accompanied by Norris McNamara and Jo Ann Bowman Interview from MO 1.3 continued -1961 riots in Monroe, Mississippi -Police intimidation/fears -Working class must organize -Monroe meetings -School segregation strike, march -Non-violence is not always the best method -Organized violence as a response to organized violence (police) -Bourgeois revolution – should be a proletariat revolution -Communist label -Develop Negro leadership Group of young poeple "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" "Freedom's Coming and it Won't Go Home" "I See Freedom in the Air"
Box: Hartman Turnbow + others Holmes County Community Center Persons included: many unidentified young people; Ken or Glen Russell Content: ambient noise and interviews conducted while young people prepare for dance at the community center Singing Grocery store incident with Sheriff Ken (Glen) Russell interview: -Blacks living on a government project, a parcel of land in the county -Chicago -Behavior of whites -National politics -Need for a good president -Usefulness of law suits to movement -Need for new businesses
Dick Fry (21), SNCC worker: 1963 November 7 -Released from jail -Stories of jail/violence experiences Willie Peacock (26), SNCC member: -Reasons for becoming involved with SNCC -Plantation upbringing -Great Migration -Flaws in Mississippi political structure -Problems with a teaching career in Mississippi -Impressions of SNCC employment -First experience with violence – gunfire target about eight days after the shooting of Jimmy Travis (1963 February 28) -Other victims of violence -Importance of talking, connecting with the people -Government response to voter registration activity -SNCC changes over time -Refuting negro "soul" stereotype