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

Harmony school and bused Harmony's youth to a segregated school in Carthage .
After the local NAACP filed suit, nightriders retaliated on Harmony residents .
Blacks in Harmony in turn organized vigilante teams and initiated retaliatory
violence on Leake County whites . Following a couple of forays by vigilantes
from both "sides of the tracks," white officials thought it might be better to nego-
tiate a truce between the warring factions . Even though the truce was in effect,
Blacks realized "you better not get caught out of the community." In 1964, federal
courts forced the Leake County schools, as well as those in Jackson and Biloxi, to
desegregate . 2'
As a haven community, Harmony's tradition of armed resistance was
probably more important than its strategic location in Congressional District Four.
Giving his impressions of this proud community, CORE activist Jerome Smith
called Harmony "a together community" of "powerful people who would defend
themselves ." Adult men and women and the youth were all involved in a commu-
nity defense system. In the evening, young men took turns participating in an
armed watch of the Harmony community center, which housed the local freedom
school and COFO headquarters, and the main roads entering Harmony. Signals
utilizing car horns and blinking headlights were developed to identify when
intruders where approaching the general community or individual farms . So as not
to violate their security, signals were changed periodically. Volunteer Von
Hoffman commented " . . .it is dangerous to drive off the paved highway into the
Harmony area after sundown if your car is unfamiliar there ." Husbands and wives
took turns during the evening staying awake and participating in a armed watch of
their individual property.'