Pillar of Fire

by Taylor Branch

  estimates of Muslims: Barboza, American Jihad, p. 9; WP, Sept. 5, 1994, p. D1; NYT, Aug. 28, 1995, p. 1; Baltimore Sun, Oct. 22, 1996, p. 13; Chicago Tribune, Aug. 28, 1997, p. 1.

  goal was to win: Int. W. D. Mohammed (W. D. Muhammad), Nov. 14, 1991.

  “All of us”: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991.

  Cager Lee of Marion: Ben Owens to Randolph Blackwell, Aug. 21, 1965, A/SC146f5.

  All 1,144 applicants: John Doar, “The Work of the Civil Rights Division in Enforcing Voting Rights Under the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960,” Florida State University Law Review, Fall 1997, p. 14.

  jumped from 7 to 60 percent: Parker, Black Votes Count, pp. 29-30.

  Watkins drove from Greenwood: Int. Hollis Watkins, June 22, 1992; int. Dennis and Bettie Dahmer, June 21, 1992.

  Gray had signed out: Int. James K. Dukes, June 23, 1992.

  Preachers repeated his announcement: Int. Ellie Dahmer, June 21, 1992; int. J. C. Fairley, June 20, 1992; Whitehead, Attack on Terror, p. 235.

  two o’clock that night: Int. Ellie, Harold, Dennis, and Bettie Dahmer, June 22, 1992; Hattiesburg American, Jan. 10, 1966, p. 1; NYT, Jan. 11, 1966, p. 10; MS, Feb. 16, 1968; Whitehead, Attack on Terror, pp. 235-38; NYT, April 2, 1995, p. 18.

  Martin arrived: Int. J. L. Martin, June 21, 1992.

  two tires flattened: Whitehead, Attack on Terror, p. 238.

  “They finally got me”: Int. J. C. Fairley, June 20, 1992.

  “I think I made a mistake”: Int. Robert Beech, Dec. 8, 1991.

  suffocated because hot smoke: Hattiesburg American, Jan. 11, 1966, p. 1, Jan. 13, 1966, p. 1; int. Ellie Dahmer, June 22, 1992.

  Negroes nearly rioted: Hattiesburg American, Jan. 15, 1966, p. 1.

  local whites banded: Hattiesburg American, Jan. 22, 1964, p. 1.

  “Since the Negroes have equal”: Ibid., p. 4.

  white siblings were moved: Int. Vernon Dahmer, Jr., June 23, 1992.

  movement quarrels: Int. J. C. Fairley, June 20, 1992; int. Robert Beech, Dec. 8, 1991; int. Ellie Dahmer, June 22, 1992.

  “There has been no effort”: Current to Beech, Feb. 4, 1966; Beech to Current, March 4, 1966; Current to Beech, March 11, 1966; Beech to Current, April 1, 1966. All box 3, A/AT.

  Katzenbach announced: Hattiesburg American, Jan. 11, 1966, p. 1.

  Johnson sent a telegram: LBJ to Mrs. Vernon Dahmer, 11:40 A.M. Jan. 11, 1966, Name File, LBJ.

  “We all know”: Parker, Black Votes Count, p. 47.

  fn Thirteen state election laws: Ibid., pp. 37-39.

  “I am very sorry”: Affidavit of Devours Nix, Feb. 14, 1966, cited in Dillard, Clearburning, p. 182.

  Bowers had violated an agreement: Statement to FBI by Lawrence Byrd, March 2, 1966, reprinted in Ibid., pp. 310-32; int. J. L. Martin, June 21, 1992.

  Supreme Court had reinstated: SAC, Washington to Director, March 28, 1966, enclosing opinion written by Justice Potter Stewart in Case #65 Appellate, U.S. vs. Herbert Guest et al., FLP-398; Whitehead, Attack on Terror, pp. 219-20, 258; Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, pp. 441-42.

  “quite enthusiastic”: DeLoach to Tolson, March 30, 1966, FLP-NR; Rosen to DeLoach, March 30, 1966, FLP-399.

  defendants won acquittal: Rosen to DeLoach, June 16, 1966, FLP-475; Interesting Case Memorandum dated Nov. 1, 1968, pp. 13-14, FLP-NR.

  “Sims went to Athens”: SAC, Atlanta to Director, May 5, 1966, FLP-405; SAC, Atlanta to Director, May 12, 1966, FLP-421.

  began serving the maximum: Interesting Case Memorandum dated Nov. 1, 1968, pp. 13-14, FLP-NR.

  invalid for lack of black people: NYT, Feb. 21, 1967; Feb. 28, 1967, p. 40; March 1, 1967, p. 1.

  Jackson’s Temple Beth Israel: Nelson, Terror, pp. 29-32.

  Price was confident: Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, p. 445.

  the Meridian courtroom: Ibid., pp. 445-52; Whitehead, Attack on Terror, pp. 260-84.

  November, bombs damaged: Ibid., pp. 65, 69-70.

  constable who spot-checked: Nelson, Terror, pp. 79-80.

  confession of Billy Roy Pitts: Whitehead, Attack on Terror, pp. 252-55. Aside from Pitts, Delmar Dennis, and Lawrence Byrd, Klan witnesses against Sam Bowers in the Dahmer case included T. Weber Rogers, who testified that he heard Bowers order the Dahmer murder. NYT, Jan. 23, 1969, p. 21.

  Charles Wilson: Ibid., pp. 256-57; int. Charles Wilson, June 24, 1992.

  grand jury indicted eleven: Hattiesburg American, Jan. 25, 1968, p. 1; Time, April 8, 1966, p. 27; NYT, Jan. 26, 1968, p. 17.

  murder convictions at three trials: Whitehead, Attack on Terror, pp. 302-3; NYT, March 16, 1968, p. 17; July 20, 1968, p. 25; July 29, 1968, p. 18; Feb. 1, 1969.

  fight or show chicken: Int. James Dukes, June 23, 1992.

  jury deadlocked 11-1: Hattiesburg American, May 18, 1968, p. 1. In 1995, three former jurors stated that all twelve jurors voted “guilty” out loud, but that one juror consistently changed to “not guilty” on secret ballots. NYT, April 2, 1995, p. 18.

  Bowers survived a second: NYT, Jan. 26, 1969, p. 1.

  “Pitts ‘Sings Again’”: Hattiesburg American, May 1, 1969, p. 1. Also, “Doctor Brings New Angle into Wilson Murder Trial/Says he believes state witness Pitts has a disease which would make him over-react,” Hattiesburg American, July 27, 1968, p. 1.

  secretly poisoned Dahmer: Int. J. L. Martin, June 23, 1992.

  burned a store: Nelson, Terror, p. 106.

  in May bombed: Ibid., pp. 120-24.

  gravely wounded Thomas Tarrants: Ibid., pp. 17-22, 173-87; Whitehead, Attack on Terror, pp. 285-301. The shootout occurred when the waiting law enforcement team tried to arrest Tarrants and Ainsworth at the home targeted to be bombed. A policeman was shot in the heart, a bystander in the liver. Both survived.

  Jack Nelson: Nelson, Terror, pp. 147-56, 189, 239-40. Nelson raised questions beyond the competency of the law enforcement work at the scene, including borderline entrapment and improper use of privately raised informant money. He quoted an FBI agent’s statement that the Bureau responded more aggressively when the White Knights of the Klan began to target white victims: “Once the Jews were attacked, it was a different ball game. This wasn’t just a local across-the-tracks case. It involved the whole United States.” Other issues include the necessity, irony, or squalor of dealing with Alton Wayne Roberts (and his brother) after his conviction in the Neshoba County murders. Confessions and court testimony named him as the Klansman who took initiative to fire four of the five bullets that killed Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.

  five-year toll: Marsh, God’s Long Summer, p. 49; Nelson, Terror, pp. 11-13.

  Charles Wilson served: NYT, Dec. 24, 1972.

  paroled in 1978: Int. Dennis Dahmer, Nov. 14, 1997.

  “When a priest sees”: Charles Marsh, “Rendezvous with the Wizard,” Oxford American, October-November 1996, p. 31.

  Ellie Dahmer petitioned: NYT, May 27, 1994, p. B18; April 2, 1995, p. 18; int. Dennis Dahmer, Nov. 13, 1997.

  drifted from Mississippi: Int. Bob Moses, Aug. 10, 1983.

  Bevel sleeping in a bathtub: Int. Jean and Sullivan Jackson, May 27, 1990.

  “I felt like I was praying”: Int. Susannah Heschel, Nov. 15, 1990; int. Sylvia Heschel, Feb. 4, 1991.

  drinking corn whiskey: Int. June Johnson, April 9, 1992.

  “Use Mississippi not”: Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, p. 439.

  “Now I looked”: Petras, ed., We Accuse, p. 151.

  “sought out Al Lowenstein”: Int. Bob Moses, July 30, 1984.

  “Lowenstein brought Parris”: Ibid. Also Chafe, Never Stop Running, pp. 218-20.

  “I got angry”: Int. Bob Moses, July 31, 1984.

  “declare peace”: Dellinger, From Yale to Jail, pp. 208-15.

  conference in New Orleans: Int. Bob Moses, July 30, 1984.

  safe to become Moses: Int. Bob Moses, July 31, 1984.

  marriage collapsed: Ibid. Also, Burner, And Gently He Shall Lead Them, pp. 218-20.

  fled underground to Canad
a: Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, pp. 452-53.

  adopted by the children as “Uncle Bob”: Int. Bob Moses, Feb. 15, 1991.

  Moses panicked: Ibid.

  granted him tacit asylum: Ibid.

  feared he was dead: Int. Doris Moses, Jan. 8, 1993.

  Moses told himself: Int. Bob Moses, Feb. 15, 1991.

  Rauh wrote: Int. Joseph Rauh, Oct. 17, 1983.

  Moses did not reply: Int. Bob Moses, Feb. 15, 1991.

  “I felt that way”: Remarks of Diane Nash, Session 2, Trinity College SNCC Conference, 1988.

  Algebra Project: Dittmer, Local People, p. 432; “Mississippi Learning,” The New York Times Magazine, Feb. 21, 1993, pp. 28-72.

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&nb
sp; Gentry, Curt. J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets. W. W. Norton, 1991.

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