Freedom in the Family

by Tananarive Due

  NINE: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. The Pain and the Promise, p. 117.

  2. Jet magazine, March 19, 1960, p. 20.

  3. Pittsburgh Courier, May 14, 1960.

  4. David Halberstam, The Children. New York: Random House, 1998, pp. 215–19.

  5. Time, “Problems of Integration,” May 30, 1960.

  6. The Pain and the Promise, p. 119.

  7. Washington Post, “Girls Jailed in Sit-Down Talk Here on Campaign,” June 1, 1960.

  8. Open letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to CORE supporters, May 31, 1960.

  9. Press release from the personal files of Patricia Stephens Due, June 29, 1960.

  10. Jim Reed, Pittsburgh Courier, April 23, 1960.

  11. Gordon R. Carey, CORE-lator newsletter, “An Intensive Three Weeks,” September 1960.

  12. Ibid.

  13. Interview with Priscilla Stephens Kruize, July 16, 1996.

  14. Interview with Walter Stephens, November 29, 2001.

  15. Leedell W. Neyland, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University: A Centennial History, 1887–1987. Tallahassee: The Florida A&M University Foundation, Inc., 1987, p. 424.

  16. CORE “Sit-Down Newsletter,” Number 5, June 7, 1960.

  17. August Meier and Elliott Rudwick, CORE: A Study in the Civil Rights Movement. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975, p. 153.

  18. Interview with Daisy Young, January 26, 1993.

  19. The Pain and the Promise, p. 121.

  20. Press release from the personal files of Patricia Stephens Due, June 1, 1960.

  21. CORE: A Study in the Civil Rights Movement, p. 112.

  22. Lorraine Calhoun, Florida Information Exchange newsletter, December 1960.

  TEN: TANANARIVE DUE

  1. Interview with Susan “Charlie” Jordan, July 19, 2001.

  2. Interview with Harry J. Lennix, August 30, 2001.

  3. R. Bruce Dold, Chicago Tribune, “95 Students Arrested at Apartheid Sit-In,” May 10, 1985.

  4. Kathryn Larrabee, An Everyday Savior. New York: Four Walls/Eight Windows, 2002.

  ELEVEN: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. The Pain and the Promise, p. 62.

  2. David J. Garrow, Bearing the Cross. New York: Vintage Books, 1988, p. 96.

  3. The Pain and the Promise, pp. 122–24.

  4. “Court Rejects Appeal by ‘Sit-In’ Students,” UPI/St. Augustine Record, March 6, 1961.

  THIRTEEN: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. Interview with Ben Cowins, April 3, 1997.

  2. The Pain and the Promise, p. 130.

  3. Interview with Ben Cowins, April 3, 1997.

  4. The Pain and the Promise, pp. 131–32.

  5. “The Core of the Matter,” Tallahassee CORE newsletter, May 25, 1961.

  6. CORE: A Study in the Civil Rights Movement, pp. 135–40.

  7. Ft. Lauderdale News, “10 ‘Riders’ Fined in Tallahassee,” June 23, 1961.

  8. The Pain and the Promise, pp. 138–39.

  9. The Pain and the Promise, p. 140.

  10. Tallahassee CORE affidavit from the personal files of Patricia Stephens Due.

  11. The Pain and the Promise, p. 141.

  12. Interview with Rev. Henry Steele, July 22, 1996.

  13. The Pain and the Promise, p. 50.

  14. Jan Pudlow, “From Crack’s Grasp to God’s Glory,” Tallahassee Democrat, p. 1D. 1998.

  15. The Pain and the Promise, p. 142.

  16. Information on the Baha’i faith from www.bahai.org.

  FOURTEEN: TANANARIVE DUE

  1. Letter from John Due to Mrs. Lydia Graham, postmarked June 19, 1956.

  2. FBI report cover sheet, Jacksonville, Florida, November 14, 1968.

  FIFTEEN: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. “Tallahassee Desegregates Lunch Counters,” Miami Times, January 26, 1963.

  2. The Pain and the Promise, pp. 144–45.

  3. “Tension in Tallahassee,” Tallahassee Democrat, May 30, 1963.

  4. “Hearing Set on Picketing of 2 Theaters,” Tallahassee Democrat, May 30, 1963.

  5. The Pain and the Promise, p. 146.

  6. The Pain and the Promise, p. 147.

  7. “Pushing On for Civil Rights,” Miami Herald, June 2, 1963.

  8. Rick Tuttle, “Negroes Free, Picketing OK in Tallahassee,” Miami Herald, June 1, 1963.

  9. “Court Upholds Right of Group to Protest, Picket Theatres in Tallahassee Peacefully,” Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), June 1, 1963.

  10. “Arrested at Negro Pool,” [newspaper unknown], May 31, 1963.

  11. Interview with Priscilla Stephens Kruize, July 16, 1996.

  12. The Pain and the Promise, p. 148.

  13. The Pain and the Promise, p. 185.

  14. Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988, p. 764.

  15. Clayborne Carson, David J. Garrow, Vincent Harding, Darlene Clark Hine, editors, Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, A Reader and Guide. New York: Penguin Books, 1991, p. 160.

  16. Mrs. Medgar Evers, For Us, The Living. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1967, p. 302.

  17. Interview with Zev Aelony, May 4, 2001.

  18. Interview with Bettie Wright, December 3, 2001.

  19. Don Pride, “Ocala Judge Sentences Negro Leader to Jail,” St. Petersburg Times, January 8, 1964.

  20. Parting the Waters, pp. 865–66.

  21. Today, Zev lives in Minneapolis, where he and his wife run a small business representing manufacturers of electronic security equipment. They are parents to four adult sons, and Zev has told his children about his civil rights involvement.

  22. Blanche Calloway, “Freedom Train Ride from Miami Was Most Memorable Experience,” Miami Times, September 7, 1963.

  23. Parting the Waters, pp. 890–91.

  24. Interview with Rubin Kenon, April 18, 1997.

  25. Interview with Cherrye Bess, October 24, 1996.

  SEVENTEEN: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. Interview with Doris Rutledge Hart, “The Gathering,” August 23, 1997.

  2. “100 More Jailed; Total Now 348,” Tallahassee Democrat, Sept. 15, 1963.

  3. Douglas Star, “156 Students Fined for Race Wrangle: Tallahassee Judge Calls It Contempt,” Bradenton Herald, October 4, 1963.

  4. The Pain and the Promise, pp. 231–35.

  5. Interview with Judy Benninger Brown, May 26, 1990.

  6. Interview with Dan Harmeling, April 17, 1997.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Interview with Ernestine Benninger, April 24, 1997.

  9. The Pain and the Promise, p. 158.

  10. William Bradford Huie, Ruby McCollum: Woman in the Suwannee Jail. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. [This reference summarizes large portions of the book’s text.]

  11.“ ‘Time Wasted’ Gore Says,” Tallahassee Democrat, Sept. 17, 1963.

  12. Letter from Rutledge Pearson to Dr. George W. Gore, October 24, 1963.

  13. Interview with James Robinson, September 28, 2001.

  14. John Due, “Klan Politics Prevent the Killing of a Prominent Civil Rights Leader,” Miami Times, p. 8B. September 11, 1997.

  15. Interview with Dr. Robert Hayling, May 13, 1998.

  16. Bearing the Cross, pp. 326–27.

  17. Fred W. Friendly and Walter Cronkite, I Can Hear It Now: The Sixties, New York: Sony Music Entertainment, 1970.

  NINETEEN: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. Interview with Dorothy C. Jones, July 24, 1989.

  2. Interview with Mary Lee (Jones) Blount, January 25, 1993.

  3. The Pain and the Promise, pp. 165–66.

  4. CORE press release, “News Flash!!!” from the archives of Patricia Stephens Due, April 1964.

  5. The Pain and the Promise, p. 165.

  6. Judy Benninger letter to Senator Hubert Humphrey, April 26, 1964.

  7. “Quincy Police Arrest Coed,” Florida Flambeau, January 28, 1964.

  8. The Pain and the Promise, p. 177.


  9. Joe Rice, “Registration in Gadsden County Booming—One Way or the Other,” St. Petersburg Times, February 1, 1964.

  10. “Negroes Meet Subtle Antipathy in Quincy, Fla., Voter Campaign,” New York Times, May 14, 1964.

  11. Judy Benninger letter to Carey McWilliams, editor of The Nation, May 14, 1964.

  12. Robert Sherrill, “CORE’s dilemma: Where to from Here?” Miami Herald, February 9, 1964.

  13. “NEWS FLASH!!!” CORE publication, April 1964, from the archives of Patricia Stephens Due.

  14. Interview with Doris Rutledge Hart, April 29, 1997.

  15. Summary written by John Due, “Leon County Harassment, Intimidation and Defamation of Character,” April 28, 1964.

  16. Robert S. Boyd, “Planned Stall-In Runs Out of Gas,” Miami Herald, April 23, 1964.

  17. Fred Powledge, [headline unknown], New York Times, April 23, 1964.

  18. Robert S. Boyd, “Planned Stall-In Runs Out of Gas,” Miami Herald, April 23, 1964.

  19. Letter from Marion M. Hamilton, March 7, 1964.

  TWENTY-ONE: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. “Negroes Meet Subtle Apathy in Quincy, Fla., Voter Campaign,” New York Times, May 18, 1964.

  2. CORE: A Study in the Civil Rights Movement, p. 277.

  3. Seth Cagin and Phillip Dray, We Are Not Afraid. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1988, p. 36.

  4. Interview with Marvin Rich, October 4, 2001.

  5. Bearing the Cross, p. 317.

  6. Bearing the Cross, p. 329.

  7. Bearing the Cross, p. 325.

  8. Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963–65. New York: Simon & Schuster, pp. 380–82.

  9. Interview with Vivian Kelly, October 22, 1996.

  10. Judy Benninger Brown essay, dated Winter 1964.

  11. Robert Sherill, “Quincy Hits Back at Charges of Voter Bias,” Miami Herald, July 19, 1964.

  12. The Pain and the Promise, pp. 176–77.

  13. “350 Negroes Sign to Vote in Gadsden County,” St. Petersburg Times, July 28, 1964; CORE press release, July 30, 1964; and “Gadsden County Free Press” newsletter, August 1, 1964.

  TWENTY-TWO: TANANARIVE DUE

  1. Interview with Witt Campbell and James Palmer, July 24, 1989. Also, interview with Vivian Kelly, January 1, 2002.

  TWENTY-THREE: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. “Seven Registration Workers Arrested,” Gadsden County Citizenship Project newsletter, August 9, 1964.

  2. The Pain and the Promise, p. 187.

  3. “Terror in Havana,” Florida Free Press, December 11, 1964.

  4. The Pain and the Promise, p. 178.

  5. “Negro Votes Record in Gadsden County,” St. Petersburg Times, Nov. 4, 1964.

  6. “Woman, 109, Votes First Time; She Hopes It Was for Johnson,” UPI, Nov. 4, 1964.

  7. The Pain and the Promise, p. 178.

  8. Florida Free Press, published by North Florida Citizen Education Project, November 6, 1964.

  TWENTY-FOUR: TANANARIVE DUE

  1. Curtis Morgan, “They Shared a Dream,” Miami Herald, April 4, 1998, p. 1A.

  2. Diana Jean Schemo, “U.S. Schools Turn More Segregated, a Study Finds,” New York Times, July 20, 2001.

  TWENTY-FIVE: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. Interview with Dan Harmeling, April 17, 1997.

  2. Letter from Judy Benninger Brown to Patricia Stephens Due, February 9, 1970.

  3. Letter from Marvin Rich to John and Patricia Due, March 10, 1967. [Marvin and Evie Rich would lose their own adult son, Gordon, in 2000.]

  TWENTY-SIX: TANANARIVE DUE

  1. Interview with George Calvin Bess, October 24, 1996.

  2. Interview with Cherrye Bess, October 24, 1996.

  3. Interview with Kwame Turé, November 5, 1996.

  TWENTY-SEVEN: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. Memo from Patricia Stephens Due to NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., “Report on Educational Situation in Leon County, Florida. April 15–May 4, 1967.”

  2. CORE: A Study in the Civil Rights Movement, pp. 406–10.

  3. Ibid., p. 424.

  4. Bearing the Cross, pp. 548–50.

  5. Bearing the Cross, p. 575.

  6. Charles Johnson and Bob Adelman, King: The Photobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Viking Studio, 2000, p. 268.

  7. Bearing the Cross, p. 622.

  8. Bearing the Cross, pp. 604–608.

  9. Song lyrics from personal archives of Patricia Stephens Due, author unknown.

  TWENTY-EIGHT: TANANARIVE DUE

  1. “Just Not Fair,” Miami Herald, October 29, 1997, page 18A.

  TWENTY-NINE: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. From FBI memo to the Director’s office from SAC, Tampa, October 30, 1968.

  2. From FBI reports, reported December 23, 1970.

  3. Ralph David Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, pp. 500–39.

  4. Ibid., p. 498.

  THIRTY: TANANARIVE DUE

  1. CORE, p. 114, 166.

  THIRTY-ONE: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. E. A. Torriero, “Take Moton Off School Hit List, Supporters Plead,” Miami Herald, April 20, 1978.

  2. Susan Murphy, “Moton PTA Upset Over Staffing Cuts,” South Dade News Leader, October 24, 1977, page 1A.

  3. Ibid.

  4. E. L. Torriero and Christopher Cubbison, “War of Words: Perrine School Debate Divides Moton Parents,” Miami Herald, July 9, 1978, page 1D.

  THIRTY-THREE: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE

  1. Melanie Yeager, “Local Civil Rights Activist Dies,” Tallahassee Democrat, December 21, 2001, page 1B.

  2. Bill Cottrell and Juana Jordan, “Thousands Jam Capitol,” Tallahassee Democrat, March 8, 2000. Also, Rev. Abraham Thomas, Tallahassee: March 7, 2000, Miami: Historical Preservation Co. Inc., 2000, cover photograph.

  3. Bob Shaw and Melanie Yeager, “Protest Leaves Marks, but No Trash,” Tallahassee Democrat, March 8, 2000.

  4. Andrea Robinson, “Meek Emerges as His Own Man,” Miami Herald, February 25, 2001, p. 1B.

  About the Author

  Tananarive Due is a former features writer for The Miami Herald. She has written many highly acclaimed novels, including The Black Rose and My Soul to Keep. She received a 2002 American Book Award for her novel The Living Blood. Ms. Due makes her home in Longview, Washington, with her husband, novelist Steven Barnes.

  Patricia Stephens Due was a civil rights activist with CORE while attending Florida A&M University. In 1960, based on her nonviolent stand during a landmark “jail-in,” she received the prestigious Gandhi Award. She is married to a civil rights lawyer, has three daughters, and continues to work for change in America. Over the years, she has conducted civil rights workshops and reenactments for colleges, schools, civic groups, and churches. She lives in Miami, Florida, with her husband, John D. Due, Jr.