There will be a meeting for everyone interested in working on the Student Voice of True Light on Monday, July 20, at 2:30 in the afternoon, at the True Light Baptist Church. A new staff for this week’s issue will be elected at this meeting.
Why I Deserve Freedom
I am a Negro, I am a black man. And, because of my color, I am deprived of the human rights which are given to me by God and promised to me by the United States. I live in a country of free people, yet I am not free.
Our great nation was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
The Bill of Rights guarantees to everyone the freedoms of religion, and the right of peaceful assembly, but in Mississippi these rights are denied to Negroes. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery. I deserve freedom because the law of the land states this.
The Negroes of the past have fought for freedom inside and outside the United States. Crispus Attucks, a man of Negro blood, was the first to be killed in the struggle to free our great nation from its mother country. He was described by Poet John Boyle O’Reilly as “the first to defy and the first to die.” Thus, history has recorded that I have a stake in freedom.
If necessary, I will die in order to have freedom for my people.
Today I am the world’s footstool but tomorrow I hope to be one of its leaders. By attending freedom school this summer I am preparing for that tomorrow.
—Albert J. Evans, age 15
A Look at Negro Hospitals and Doctors
Have you ever thought about why the Negro doctors do not perform any operations and take X-Rays of their own patients in the hospital?
I have always wanted to become a doctor. I would like to study in a medical school that is not segregated.
—Spencer W., age 14
An Interview with Bessie Jean H.
1. Have you tried to eat in a restaurant since the Civil Rights Bill has been passed? “Yes!”
2. Where? “Woolworth’s and Kress’s.”
3. Did they serve you? “Yes.”
4. Did some of the people leave? “Yes.”
5. Are you going again? “Oh, yes.”
—Susie A., age 14
This I Have Learned in Freedom School
I have learned most of all that the Negro is really just as superior as another race. If the Negro has a good education, he can make as big a success as any man from another race.
I also learned that a Negro was the first to give up his life for American freedom, and from then on the Negro has been giving up his life for the American cause.
The Negro isn’t really free until he knows and acts like he’s free. Just because the Civil Rights Bill has been passed doesn’t mean he’s free.
Freedom for the Negroes isn’t just the right to eat where another race eats or go where another race goes but to be able to learn the same things that another race learns and be able to express themselves the way they want without being afraid of what might happen to them.
—Sandra Jo-Ann O., age 16
A Story of Mexico
Once there was a family who lived in Mexico. They stayed in the valley. There was a volcano over the hill which the family did not know was there.
The volcano exploded. All the people saw the great fires of the volcano. Then the people started to run. The volcano cooled down.
The family was found dead in their house. A girl and a boy and the mother and father were found.
—Sandra K., age 11
What I Think About Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg is an unfit place to live because of the people that make up this town. The whites have their way. If they kill one of us they get away with it, but if we kill one of them they kill us. What are we going to do about this? Nothing but take our stand for our equal rights.
—Shirley White, age 14
An Interview
July 15 I interviewed a student. This student has been to both Woolworth’s and Kress’s. She says, “I wasn’t really hungry, but I went because I wanted to prove to the whites that I could eat in public places just as they could.” While she was eating a small group of whites walked out. A crowd of people was watching her.
—Janice Walton, age 14
Freedom
There’s a bell in Philadelphia with a crack in it. Written on it is the legend: “Proclaim liberty throughout the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof.”
We are now observing the ultimate expression of the simple idea that freedom is the natural right of all men, no matter what their race, creed, or place of birth is.
It is well to remember that even now, about 100 years after Abe Lincoln signed the Proclamation, the world has been half slave (Negroes) and half free (Whites). Only now there are people suffering slavery of the spirit, instead of physical bondage. Their masters seek to enslave their minds, too. They say they are selling equality, but there is no freedom.
All men are equal, but they are not the same. There are friendly men, greedy men, kind men, generous men, mean men, cowardly men, clever men, stubborn men, and honest men. They come in all sizes, shapes, and only one difference, the color of their skin.
—submitted by Jimmie R. Ratliff, age 14
Slavery
Slavery hindered us from making any progress. Webster defines it as being in entire subjugation to the will of another. Slavery enslaves one’s mind as well as the condition in which he lives. I believe if it hadn’t been for slavery, our race would not be in the shape it is in today. During slavery the white man enslaved the slave’s mind, so as to keep him down below him. I think slavery was a terrible thing because it left all the slaves ignorant and untrained. The slave took orders from the master; he was not used to being his own boss.
During slavery there were many revolts. One of these revolts was known as the Nat Turner Revolt. It involved a Negro by the name of Nat Turner who had a vision from God, telling him to kill the white people and make them the last, instead of the first. He carried out this vision, and after two months’ time was hanged. This is just an example of many slave revolts.
I believe there are many people still in slavery today. They are enslaved by the white race. They feel that they must still look up to the white race as their superiors. As I close my essay on slavery, I think that it hinders the Negro from making any progress. I hope that in the future we as Negroes will strive harder for our coming tomorrow.
—Beverly H., age 14
An Interview with Miss Patterson
Miss Patterson, 26, is from New York City:
1. What do you think of Hattiesburg? “I think there is a lot of work to be done here.”
2. Were you at the world’s fair? “Yes, I was a picket.”
3. Have you ever been arrested? “Yes, at the world’s fair.”
4. What do you think of the Freedom School? “I enjoy myself very much. I meet a lot of wonderful people.”
5. Have you had any troubles with the people of Hattiesburg? “No, I haven’t.”
—Odis Ruth T., age 11
My Brother on a Bus
My brother was coming from 25th Avenue off Hardy Street. This was a young bus driver and he told my brother to get up. My brother said, “You make me get up.” The driver pressed hard on the brakes and said, “Take this dime and get off my bus.” My brother started to the back but then he thought of what my other brother said and went to the front door. The driver acted like he would not open the front door, so my brother sat down. So the driver opened the front door and my brother got off and walked.
—Mattie Jean Wilson, age 10
Two Letters
Dear President Johnson,
We are in the 8th and 9th grade class of Freedom School in the state of Mississippi. We are measuring the distance around the tops of our freedom schools. We use our own spirit as the unit of measurement. Since the President is the most important person in our country, we decided we would use your spirit so as to make us free from slavery. We will call it a “Johnson” and measure our
freedom school in “Johnsons.”
We know you are a busy man, but could you send us your own freedom measurement?
Yours truly,
Shelley S., age 13
Dear President Johnson,
There are many holidays on the calendar. There is a Mother’s Day, there is a Father’s Day, and there is a Ground Hog Day. But why isn’t there a Freedom Day for Negroes?
Yours truly,
Shelley S., age 13
July 24, 1964
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was organized in Mississippi to let the people in Mississippi know that the regular Democratic Party does not represent all the people of Mississippi. The black people of Mississippi have challenged the regular Democratic party and are going to take matters into their own hands.
At the Democratic Convention in August we will challenge the seating of the regular Democratic Party. We are going to let the people know in the Northern states as well as in the Southern states that we are not satisfied with the Democratic Party here, because we are not represented here in Mississippi as citizens.
We also want the people to know that there are Negroes in the South who really want to vote but are not allowed the right to vote.
We have Negroes here who are going to attend the Precinct Meetings, the County, the District and the State meetings, and the National Democratic Convention.
These are our reasons for organizing the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
—Sandra Elaine D., age 16
What We Want
Resolutions for the Precinct Meetings, prepared by 5,6, and 7 year-olds at True Light Freedom School.
1. Freedom
2. Parks for black and white
3. Better roads and streets
4. Swimming pool near True Light
5. A new mayor
The Will to be Free
History tells us that men have lived and died in slavery. But it has been an unwanted slavery. The desire to be free was born with man. It has lived always. Freedom has not always been the law of the land, but it has always been the law of the heart.
The struggle for freedom is an old, old story. It began with the first man before the days of written history. It is still going on today. The people of yesterday were much the same as the people of today. They had the same feelings, the same desires, and the same ambitions. The people of the United States believe they have the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” In the long struggle for freedom, have other men also believed in these same ideals and privileges?
Suggested for inclusion by Glenda B., age 15, 9th grade
Attend the Library Precinct Meeting—Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
July 25, 4:00 PM, St. Paul’s Church.
An Interview with Mrs. M. L. V.
How long did you know Mr. Clyde Kennard? Most all of my life. I went to school with him.
Was he a Sunday School teacher? Yes, at Mary Magdalene Baptist Church.
Did you know when he was framed about the whiskey? Yes, I was working on the college campus at the time of his arrest, but I didn’t see his arrest in person. I was working for a man who was from up North. The man came in for dinner and he asked me if I had heard the news over the radio. I said, “No, why, what happened?” He said they arrested Kennard. I asked what for. He said someone planted some whiskey in his car while he was trying to enroll. He said when he came out of the building the police were waiting for him. They didn’t have any other way to bother him so they arrested him for transporting whiskey. That’s the one way they had to keep him from enrolling he said. He said he couldn’t say too much concerning this! He got out of that. Next thing they got an Uncle Tom to frame him some other way. They paid him because he worked at farmers feed. This Uncle Tom stole some feed in the daytime. At around 3:00 he got the feed and carried it to Kennard’s house and tried to sell the feed to Kennard. After that they took it and the police went and got the feed and arrested him the second time.
How long did he stay in jail? He stayed in jail so long he began to get sick.
When he went to prison what happened? Different organizations took up money to get him a doctor or some medicine, but they wouldn’t let him have medical care.
Did they feed him the proper food? No, they didn’t feed him the proper food to eat so he went to work on an empty stomach. A man offered to do his work when he got sick, but they wouldn’t let him do it.
Did he come from a good family? Yes, he did. They were quiet and Christian-like and very friendly toward people.
—Shirley White, age 14, 9th grade
America Today
America is a great land of great people; it is said to be a free land of free people, and a modern land of people with modern ideas. Some of these ideas are small, some are large, some are right, and some are wrong.
My idea of freedom in America is that it is a land half slave—the Negroes—and half free—whites. America has come a long way in the struggle for freedom, yet it has a long way to go. No one can be completely free, for there are laws of nature and man. But after all, everyone in America does not enjoy the freedom it offers.
—Albert J. Evans, age 15
What I Think About Mississippi
I think Mississippi is an unfit place to live because of the Southern White people.
The Southern white people do not want to see the Negro succeed, or any other race with black skin and kinky hair. The white people in the South and many other places have always classed the Negro lower than a dog.
Mississippi is a place where Negroes are not allowed to stand on their own feet.
We shall not be moved. The Southern whites and Jim Crows are not going to run us out of Mississippi.
—Terry M., age 10
What I Think About Hattiesburg
I think this is the hardest place to try to live in. I have several reasons for saying this. The white people are saying, let white be white. If they should go in places where Negroes are eating, they advise other white people to pay for whatever they ordered and walk out and leave it! I think the Negroes should take a stand. If you are working in a place and they refuse to serve Negroes, the colored workers there should walk out and let whites do the work.
Now we have integrated Kress’s and Woolworth’s. We should move on a little further. We should go in other places because the whites are being hard on Kress’s and Woolworth’s. We should go on to drug stores and other places. If they refuse to serve us, we should sit a little while, then walk out before they call the police for disturbing the peace. After we leave we should go back another day and try again.
—Mrs. Mable L. V.
What is Freedom?
Freedom is a very needed and important thing in our lives. I think if there were no freedom the world would be lost. When you are free, you can be somebody. When you are locked in and not free you don’t have a chance to express yourself, not prove yourself to yourself. When you are not free you are afraid. When you are free, you are not afraid in a sense. When you are free you can love your fellow man whether he be black or white. When you are not free you have mostly hate in your heart for your fellow man. Pray that God will bless America and bless the greedy white people.
—Anna Lee S., 9th grade, age 13
Freedom
Freedom is like a note, that rings out loud.
Freedom is like gold, pounds for pounds.
Freedom is a road that never ends, that has no who, where, or
when.
Freedom is like a poem that rhymes, that means freedom for his
people,
her people, yours and mine.
—Rena Mae C., age 13
Freedom and What it Means to Me
Freedom is more than a big bunch of words. It has a meaning behind it. Freedom meant so much to Frederick Douglass that he was beaten for it. He believed that every Negro should be free. He taught Sunday School on the plantation and t
hose slave owners told him he better quit or else they were going to shoot him. When Frederick Douglass was on his slave owner’s plantation he was beaten with whips and sticks and kicked like a dog. He was found in a ditch bleeding and near death. The owner poured salt on the Negro’s wounds. And Nathan Hale said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”
Robert E. Lee had 1,000 slaves and he would rather have died than give them up. The same thing is true in the South today. The segregationists would rather die than give in to the Negroes. They are still killing Negroes.
—John Wesley D., 9th grade, age 17
An Interview with Mr. William D. Jones
Mr. Jones’s home is on Long Island, New York. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama and has been living on Long Island for two years. His reason for coming here is that he is committed to the fight for freedom and since there is much less of it in Mississippi than in any other state, he was “drafted by my conscience, irrespective of the grave danger.”
He thinks Hattiesburg is one of the worst places he has been in in the U.S., even though it is much better than most cities in Mississippi.
He was in Mississippi before, during World War II, and, coincidentally, he was discharged from the Army at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg. “On my way home to Birmingham I went into a drugstore near the bus station in order to buy some film. I was kept waiting while white people who came after I did were waited on ahead of me. I demanded service, and the proprietor told me that just because I had on the uniform it did not make me any better than any other nigger. I walked out angrily and told him that I would return to Hattiesburg one of these days, and, like General MacArthur, I have returned. Just by a miracle I was assigned to Hattiesburg by COFO.”
To Write in the Light of Freedom Page 9