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

There was a fine line . There was a general commitment to nonviolence
as the appropriate tactic . . . They were realistic enough to
know that in certain circumstances, like when Hartman's house
was attacked for the second time for his own safety and our safety,
they felt they needed armed guards .
Turnbow "lived day to day with Mississippi violence" he and his counterparts in
Mileston realized, despite the nonviolence of their guest, that armed defense was
necessary for their survival and the success of the Movement."
Arched Defense in Projects Throughout the State
While probably not achieving the same quantitative presence as in haven
communities like Mileston and Harmony, armed defense was an essential practice
of the Movement in projects throughout the state. One feature that distinguished
haven communities from other rural communities was the high level of group
solidarity in places like Harmony and Mileston. In other communities, small
numbers of isolated but committed freedom fighters bonded together to support
one another. Unlike the rural haven communities, these communities often lacked
the high concentration of Black landownwers in a contiguous area .
In Holmes County, local Freedom Summer activity existed in communities
other than Mileston . An interesting contrast to Mileston, is Old Pilgrim's Rest, a
community in the northwestern portion of Holmes . In this small rural community,
a voter registration campaign and a freedom school was organized . Only a few of
the residents, the households of Vanderbilt and Cora Roby, Jodie and Virgie
Saffold, and "Link" Williams and family, decided to house Summer volunteers .
These three households, related by marriage and blood, were the initial partici-