Eye for an Eye: The Role of Armed Resistance ... - Freedom Archives

practice of self-defense . To warn potential nightriders of his preparedness for
attackers " . ..every so often, as he would go about his property," Dahmer would
"just take one of his guns and shoot in the air, just to let folks know he was alive,
well, and intended to protect his property." After an increase in anonymous threats
by racists in 1961, Dahmer and his wife Ellie would take turns sleeping at night
to watch for intruders. They would maintain this practice until 1965 . Dahmer also
had a network of supporters who helped protect him and his family. This support
network included otherNAACP members and local business people ."
The emphasis in SNCC and Mississippi Freedom Movement activity soon
shifted to the Delta. In July 1962, a decision was made by elected officials in the
Delta county of Leflore to suspend a federal surplus commodities program to non
welfare recipients for the following winter . Locally this program had been used to
provide plantation workers and their families, who were overwhelmingly Black,
with basic foods during downtime between cotton harvesting and planting. The
decision to suspend this program was considered by local Blacks as a punitive
action by the white power structure in reaction to voter registration activity by
SNCC . Considering this a major challenge, SNCC and the other Movement forces
responded to this local crisis . Through the vehicle of the Council of Federated
Organizations (COFO), SNCC, CORE, NAACP, and SCLC all sent personnel to
Leflore, and its county seat, Greenwood. In name, COFO was formed by
Clarksdale, Mississippi NAACP leader Aaron Henry as an ad hoc organization to
meet with Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett . In February of 1962, COFO was
adopted as the name of a Mississippi coalition of Movement organizations,
including SNCC, CORE, and NAACP The formation of COFO as a coalition