Parting the Waters
Page 156
United Methodist Youth Fellowship
United Nations
United Negro College Fund
United Press International (UPI)
United States:
economic optimism of
national air-raid alert in
national prestige of
rise of liberalism in
United States Code
United States Information Agency (USIA)
United Steelworkers
Universal Newsreels
University Hospital
Urban League
Urbrock, Don
U.S. Fidelity and Guaranty
U-2 crisis
Valachi, Joe
Vance, Cyrus:
Birmingham riots and
Freedom Rides and
Meredith’s enrollment at Ole Miss and
Vanderbilt University
Divinity School of
Vandiver, Ernest
and King’s arrest and imprisonment
1960 elections and
Vann, David
Vaught, Johnny
Verwoerd, Hendrik
vicuna coat scandal
Viet Minh
Vietnam War
violence:
in Baker County
Birmingham campaign and
Birmingham youth marches and
in Danville
against freedom riders
King’s counseling against
Meredith’s enrollment at Ole Miss and
after Montgomery bus boycott
at NBC convention
Negroes paired with
against voter registration workers and volunteers
Virginia, massive resistance laws
Virginia Union Seminary
Vishwananda, Swami
Vivian, C. T.
Voice of America
Voter Education Project (VEP)
grants of
Mississippi voter registration drive and
Moses’s report to
voter registration
in Albany
arrests and prison sentences resulting from
Birmingham campaign for
Clark’s citizenship education classes and
funding of
in Greenwood
Kennedy’s strategy on
King on
King’s speaking tours on behalf of
King’s strategy on
in McComb
SCLC and
in Selma
SNCC and
student recruiting for
in Terrell County
in Tylertown
Voting Rights Act (1957)
voting rights legislation
Doar’s activities on behalf of
of J. F. Kennedy
Wachtel, Harry
alleged Communist infiltration of SCLC and
background of
SCLC finances and
Sullivan case and
Wagner, Robert
Wake Forest University
Walden, A. T.
Walker, Ann
Walker, Edwin
Walker, Wyatt Tee
administrative problems of
Albany Freedom Ride and
Albany Movement and
arrests and imprisonments of
background of
beating of
Birmingham campaign and
Birmingham riots and
Birmingham youth marches and
civil rights movement evaluated by
Freedom Rides and
golf played by
on J. F. Kennedy Supreme Court appointments
in King-Graham negotiations
King-Jackson conflict and
King’s imprisonments and
King’s March on Washington speech and
“Letter from Birmingham Jail” and
Walker, Wyatt Tee (cont.)
liberal philanthropists approached by
March on Washington and
NBC elections and
Newport News rally addressed by
on People-to-People tours
physical attacks on King and
salary disputes of
SCLC scholarship funds administered by
SCLC staff leadership given to
SCLC staff resentment against
Shreveport death threats and
Shuttlesworth conviction and
sit-in movement and
SNCC recruiting and
voter registration and
Young and
Wall, George
Wallace, George C.
allegations against Kennedys by
Birmingham campaign and
Birmingham church bombings and
Birmingham public school desegregation and
Birmingham riots and
inaugural speech of
integration of University of Alabama and
Wall Street Journal
Walsh, Lawrence E.
Walthall County, Miss., voter registration in
WAPI News
Ward, Harry
Ware, Charlie
civil suit filed by
indictment and imprisonment of
shooting of
Ware, J. L.:
Birmingham campaign and
Birmingham church bombings and
Ware v. Johnson
Warren, Earl
Warren Methodist Church
Warwick, Dionne
War Without Violence (Shridharani)
Washington, Booker T.
Du Bois’s attacks on
Roosevelt’s meeting with
Washington, D.C.:
Brown decision and
desegregation of public facilities of
King’s Prayer Pilgrimage to
SNCC conference in
Youth Marches on
Washington, Dinah
Washington, George
Washington Post
Washington Press Club
Washington Senators
Washington Star
Watkins, Hollis
arrest of
imprisonment of
voter registration and
Watkins, Officer
Watkins, Tom
Watson, Melvin
Watters, Pat
Weathersbee (farmer)
Webb, James E.
Weber, Max
Wechsler, James
Welles, Sumner
Wells, Samuel B. “Benny,”
Albany Movement march led by
indictment of
“We’ll Soon Be Free,”
“We Shall Not Be Moved,”
“We Shall Overcome,”
Wesley, Claude
Wesley, Cynthia
Wesley, John
Wesleyan University
West, Ben
West Berlin, J. F. Kennedy’s speech in
West End High School
West Hunter Street Baptist Church
West Indians
WGAD
“What Is Man?” (King)
Wheat Street Baptist Church
Wheeler, Earle
“When the Rapist Is White” (Johns)
Whitaker, Horace “Whit,”
White, Byron R. “Whizzer,”
Albany Movement and
FBI investigations of King and
FBI investigations of Levison and
Freedom Rides and
Justice Department appointments and
in Kennedy campaign
Supreme Court appointment of
White, Josh
White, J. R.
White, Lee
Birmingham campaign and
on Civil Rights Commission report on Mississippi
Moore’s Freedom Walk and
White, Theodore
White, Walter
McGill’s clash with
Monroe lynchings and
White Citizens Councils
Hoover on
Jackson movemen
t and
Montgomery bus boycott and
segregation rallies of
voter registration and
Whitefield, George
White Horse Tavern
white moderates, King’s criticisms of
whites:
in Birmingham campaign
Negroes stereotyped by
post-World War II attitudes toward Negroes of
renewed political hegemony of
Whittaker, Charles Evans
Why We Can’t Wait (King)
Wicker, Tom
Wieman, Henry Nelson
King’s Ph.D. dissertation on
Wilbur, Susan
Wilkins, Minnie Badeaux
Wilkins, Roger
Wilkins, Roy
Albany crisis and
background of
civil rights legislation and
criticism of
Crusade for Citizenship and
Du Bois’s break with NAACP and
Du Bois’s death announced by
Eisenhower’s meeting with
at Evers’s funeral
Farmer’s CORE appointment and
freedom riders and
imprisonment of
improvement in King’s relationship with
on indictment against Du Bois
Jackson movement and
J. F. Kennedy criticized by
J. F. Kennedy’s meetings with
and King’s arrests and imprisonments
King’s quarrels with
King’s tax problems and
Lawson criticized by
Lewis’s March on Washington speech and
Little Rock crisis and
March on Washington and
Montgomery bus boycott and
NAACP Atlanta convention and
NAACP Chicago convention and
1960 elections and
nonviolent methods opposed by
Prayer Pilgrimage and
SCLC and
SNCC criticized by
Stevenson criticized by
on University of Alabama riots
voter registration and
William II, Emperor of Germany
Williams, A. D. (grandfather)
Atlanta race riot and
background of
death of
reputation
Williams, Aubrey
Williams, Hosea
Williams, Jennie C. Parks (grandmother)
death of
Williams, John
Williams, Larry
Williams, Robert
King’s arrest and
Williams, Samuel
Williams Chapel
Wilson, Lucius
Winona, Miss.:
federal suits filed in
Ponder arrested and beaten in
Winston-Salem sit-in
“Winter in Vermont,”
Witness
Wofford, Clare
Wofford, Harris
alleged Communist sympathies of
background of
departure from White House of
Freedom Rides and
Gandhism promoted by
J. F. Kennedy campaign and
Justice Department appointments and
Kennedy Administration appointment of
and King’s arrest and imprisonment
King’s meetings with Kennedys and
SCLC funding and
voter registration and
women:
King’s attitude toward
in March on Washington
Women’s Political Council
Montgomery bus boycott and
Park’s arrest and
Wood, John Q.
Wood, Marcus
Woodruff, Robert
Woolfolk State Office Building
World Federalist Movement
World Lutheran Council
World War I
World War II
Wright, A. G.:
death of
NBC elections and
Wright, Richard
Wrigley Field rally
Yale University
Divinity School of
Law School of
Yarbrough, George
Yeagley, J. Walter
Yokinen, August
York County jail
“You Are My Sunshine,”
“You Better Leave Segregation Alone,”
Young, Andrew
Albany Movement and
Albany riot and
on allegations about O’Dell
alleged Communist infiltration of SCLC and
Birmingham campaign and
Birmingham youth marches and
Clark’s citizenship education program and
Field Foundation work of
March on Washington and
Moore’s murder and
Ponder’s arrest and
VEP grants supervised by
voter registration and
Young, Jean
Young, Whitney
March on Washington and
Young Communist League
Youth Freedom Fund
Youth March for Integrated Schools
Zellner, Bob:
in Albany Freedom Ride
beating and arrest of
Freedom Walk of
imprisonment of
Zoroaster
Zwerg, Jim:
beating of
in Freedom Ride project
hospitalization of
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Taylor Branch is the award-winning author of Pillar of Fire, a novel and four collaborative books of nonfiction. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
* Ebenezer, meaning “the stone of help,” was derived from the Old Testament, like the names of many Negro churches. “Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” (I Samuel 7:12)
* One such child, John Hope Franklin, would become a prominent historian and the author of From Slavery to Freedom.
* Reddick used the byline L. D. Reddick, but his full name was Lawrence Dunbar Reddick—after Paul Lawrence Dunbar, a celebrated turn-of-the-century poet.
* The sex ratio among Negro college students would remain stable even through the generation after King’s death, when a dramatic influx of females would move the white student ratio toward the historic Negro norm.
* The Fellowship, which would be headed by A. J. Muste during King’s public career, had been founded shortly before World War I by Henry Hodgkin, an English Quaker, and Sigmund Schultze, Kaiser Wilhelm’s chaplain, who vowed not to participate in any war that might result from the rabid nationalism of their respective countries. Their vow was regarded as a sentimental quirk at the time, but the fruitless carnage of the Great War transformed them into sages. For the generation between the world wars, pacifism was a thoroughly respectable mass movement not only in Europe but also in the United States, where a 1935 poll of undergraduates found that 39 percent would fight in no war at all and another 33 percent would fight only if the United States itself was attacked.
* Niebuhr hinted privately that his target was his own department head at Union Theological Seminary, Harry Ward, whom he described as “a naïve Christian Marxist.” Ward had returned from the Soviet Union to write In Place of Profit, which Niebuhr called “a glorification of Russian society as having gotten rid of selfishness.”
* This point, marking the origins of the Montgomery bus boycott, would become hotly contested ground to future generations of civil rights historians. King himself would divide the credit between Nixon and the Women’s Political Council, citing Nixon for taking the first steps to fight the Parks case and the women for conceiving of the boycott. Nixon himself would later claim credit for both, stating that he had told his wife—after leaving the Parks home but before hearing from Robinson a few hours later—that there would be a boycott. King’s partisans would dismiss Nix
on’s assertion with more than a hint of condescension, but Nixon’s side of the story would be taken up later by various kinds of revisionists. Roy Wilkins stressed Nixon’s longtime service to the NAACP, whereas black power activists stressed Nixon’s proletarian origins to show that the boycott sprang from the masses. Some white chroniclers seemed to stress Nixon’s role because he was a colorful character whose contribution had been overlooked. Years after the pro—E. D. Nixon revisionists, new feminist versions, largely unpublished, would stress the role of the upper-class women of the Women’s Political Council.
* In a dynastic compromise of the kind often made in the baronial politics of the National Baptist Convention, Jemison was serving under President J. H. Jackson, who had ousted Jemison’s blind father at Miami in 1953. It would take the younger Jemison twenty-nine years to oust Jackson.
* General Lewis B. Hershey, director of the National Selective Service System, repeatedly blocked attempts by the Montgomery draft board to induct MIA attorney Fred Gray into the Army. Local draft board members across Alabama resigned in protest against “political interference” by the Eisenhower Administration, as did George C. Wallace, then a judge handling draft appeals near Montgomery. Shortly before the election, both U.S. senators from Alabama called for a congressional investigation of the Fred Gray draft case.
* In the same issue of Liberation, A. Philip Randolph endorsed the activism of nonviolence, and the aged Harry Emerson Fosdick, pastor emeritus of New York’s Riverside Church, called the boycott a “godsend.” Fosdick quoted one of King’s favorite lines, from the abolitionist preacher Theodore Parker: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
* Wofford’s Southern grandmother literally collapsed when she heard the news that he would attend a Negro school, and as she was being carried upstairs shouted, “If God made them equal, I hate God! I hate God! I hate God!”
* As often happened among ideologues of that era, Rushmore turned violently against the Communists. He took up a second career as an anti-subversion specialist for the Hearst newspapers.
* The street on which the wealthiest of Montgomery’s white citizens lived.
* Powell wanted money as well as political endorsements. He sent King a form letter of characteristic bluntness: “If you desire to [contribute] anonymously, let me know or you can place cash in an envelope marked PERSONAL-CONFIDENTIAL.”
* Rogers dated his own interest in civil rights to his wartime service aboard an aircraft carrier, when he watched Negro sailors fire exposed .50-caliber machine guns as the last line of defense against Japanese kamikazes, and then, when the fight was over, those same Negro sailors went below decks to serve meals to Rogers and the other white officers of a segregated Navy. Among other endeavors, he had worked on the Justice Department’s supporting brief in the Brown case and had pushed through the appointments of fair-minded Republican judges in the South who themselves were to make history in civil rights.