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

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as the Voters League met at the Union Hall and most Voter League members and Deacons were union members While Hicks and Young were considered the primary spokespersons for the Bogalusa Voters League, clearly the public representative and leader of the Bogalusa Deacons was Charles Sims . Sims was a veteran of the U.S . Army and World War II. An insurance agent by profession, prior to 1964, Sims was considered a "trouble-maker" in Bogulusa . Having been arrested before his formal entrance into the Movement for carrying a concealed weapon and assault, Sims, a prototypical "Bad Negro," did not fit the stereotypic image of a southern Move- ment leader. Like C.O . China, Sims was not a minister or a idealistic young student but a bold talking, gun carrying "tough" who had a reputation for verbally and physically confronting local whites . Sims did not change his image as the leader of the Deacons . In fact his image may have been an asset in the frontier climate in this Louisiana town . In confronting the Bogalusa Klan, civility was not a virtue?1 In the spring and summer of 1965, violent confrontations ensued between the Deacons and Klan forces . On several occasions armed Deacons had to rescue CORE workers from local white terrorist civilians . As in Jonesboro, Deacon patrols monitored Bogalusa Black neighborhoods in the evenings from invading nightriders . Hicks and Young also received special protection. On July 8th, Dea- con Henry Austin was arrested for shooting and critically wounding a white male, Alton Crowe, who was physically attacking participants in a demonstration . Louisiana Governor John McKeiten dispatched state troops to Bogalusa to pre- vent further violence and threatened to disarm Deacons and Klans men alike .
McKeithen also called for negotiations between the leaders ofthe Voters League and local officials. Movement leaders believed without the presence of organized, armed Blacks, the Governor would not have intervened . 24 It was in Bogalusa that the Deacons received the most publicity and notoriety. Unlike Jonesboro, the tense situation in Bogalusa drew national media attention . CORE also placed emphasis on Bogalusa sending personnel and re sources to support the local struggle there. The presence of CORE national chair- man, James Farmer, in Bogalusa also received national media attention . Farmer was transported to and from Bogalusa and was also provided security by Sims and other Deacons . The affiliation of non-violent CORE with the armed Deacons did not escape the attention of the media. When questioned as to how non-violent CORE could associate with a paramilitary organization, Farmer replied "CORE is non-violent, but we have no right to tell Negroes in Bogalusa or anywhere else that they do not have the right to defend their homes. . .Its a constitutional right ." 15 Because of the visibility and significance of the Deacons to the Bogalusa, when the local struggle became a national media focus, the Deacons also received attention . In 1965 The Wall Street Journal and The New Times Magazine both did features on the Deacons . The existence of an armed Black military presence in the southern Movement was reported in the national media for the first time since Robert Williams was forced into exile in 1961 . The Deacons served as a model for Blacks interested in armed self-defense in Mississippi and throughout the South. The effectiveness of the paramilitary Deacons in Jonesboro and Bogalusa had gained the respect and admiration of Movement activists and Black people in the South and the United States in gen-
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Eye for an Eye: The Role ofArmed Re
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This is an authorized facsimile, ma
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ABSTRACT Although, the Civil Rights
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Light and Power on their spirits Mo
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Eye for an Eye: The Role ofArmed Re
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Ch
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armed resistance in Black struggle
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Review of the Literature The Litera
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from advocates of armed self-defens
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the Movement. Each of these authors
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whom were committed to and practice
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and enforced against Black humanity
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transcript" of insurgency that has
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Chapter One: Historic Armed Black R
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to Kongolese armies. The use of arm
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people who were antagonistic to the
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nation, and to promise Africans fre
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coons to chattel status. Rather tha
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South legal . The Seminoles prepare
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more than slaves or mercenaries . A
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maroons, calling themselves the "Ki
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Adams county, Mississippi, in 1861
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The same year abolitionist and fugi
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separate Black army with its own "c
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soldiers defended their sisters and
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Southern whites were not willing to
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die where they stood before they wo
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teers throughout Hinds county. Real
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supremacy was not secure without th
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hours . While in each case there we
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of Alabama, to be armed at their me
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initiated gunfire after hearing rum
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apists . In February of 1948, Mrs.
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U .S . Army, was known as a sharpsh
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11 . Kenneth Wiggins Porter, The Ne
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31 . Edwin S. Redkey, AGrand Army o
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North Carolina Press, 19903, 44-45
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in the Age of Jim C,Eow, states tha
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S 1,614 for whites . Close to two-t
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ers his father would not allow him
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ist mob continued their intimidatio
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unit designed after the Mau Mau of
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the 1954 U .S . Supreme Court decis
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he refused to persuade the thirty r
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Meredith to "Ole Miss." Because of
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eturned home around midnight . Myrl
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11 . C.O . Chinn, interview by the
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crime . He was abducted by a mob of
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Chapter Three: The Non-Violent Move
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as the popular leader of this new o
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ments for protest based on moral an
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ticed some form of self-defense cov
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and NAACP organizer. Moore had assi
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On Moore's recommendation, Moses fi
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house, under pillows, under chairs
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lacks to challenge Amite's white po
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including Medgar Evers and Roy Wilk
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practice of self-defense . To warn
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Mississippi officials, charging the
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Anyone participating in the march h
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and harassed, local police did not
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Blacks alike were amazed that the g
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ase for SNCCICOFO and the Mississip
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with its own identity in the state
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military soured after Chinn openly
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Besides this group of protective gu
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for younger activists to challenge
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9, 1984, 1-B- 10B ; Chuck McDew int
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47 . Ibid, 178-179 ; Dennis, interv
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demonstrate that disenfranchised Mi
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franchised Black voters, the organi
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themselves and advising SNCC activi
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massacre as implied by Hall . Other
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to be a force in the Southern movem
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CORE also was engaged in debate con
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Schwerner, and one Freedom Summer v
Page 153 and 154: Goodman . Another element of this c
Page 155 and 156: Black history, Movement politics, a
Page 157 and 158: Harmony school and bused Harmony's
Page 159 and 160: economic arena was also displayed i
Page 161 and 162: on, in Brown's words, the "organiza
Page 163 and 164: There was a fine line . There was a
Page 165 and 166: (formerly known as Stokley Carmicha
Page 167 and 168: Union Baptist Church, led by its pa
Page 169 and 170: terrorist violence was initiated by
Page 171 and 172: Reeves family had a history of bein
Page 173 and 174: and Movement activists of McComb .
Page 175 and 176: friend by pretending he was only pa
Page 177 and 178: and cohesiveness of each community.
Page 179 and 180: lenge the credentials of the segreg
Page 181 and 182: 5 . Hollis Watkins, interviewed in
Page 183 and 184: 28 . Dovie Hudson, interviewed in B
Page 185 and 186: 56 . Bob Moses, interview by the au
Page 187 and 188: turn followed a different posture t
Page 189 and 190: cials were uneasy about Charles bec
Page 191 and 192: Cooper stated " We had 30.06. We ha
Page 193 and 194: Charles Evers's stated: He encourag
Page 195 and 196: the boycott. Arange of coercive tac
Page 197 and 198: thereby silenced and neutralized by
Page 199 and 200: crushed when a police car led a Kla
Page 201 and 202: Robert Williams . Thomas had read a
Page 203: of the Deacons in Bogulusa. The lea
Page 207 and 208: settlers . Natchez was the hub for
Page 209 and 210: would spark an acceleration of acti
Page 211 and 212: Even though the police officers wer
Page 213 and 214: U.S . Constitution [including the S
Page 215 and 216: e known, you better figure on dying
Page 217 and 218: situation that day: These pecker wo
Page 219 and 220: of the Deacons capabilities, provid
Page 221 and 222: unless City government acted favora
Page 223 and 224: Black community to enforce its deci
Page 225 and 226: claiming victory , announcing the m
Page 227 and 228: teams to enforce the boyott1 In Cla
Page 229 and 230: argument between Shields, and a whi
Page 231 and 232: Jackson also led to near uprising b
Page 233 and 234: implementing the Natchez model, Rud
Page 235 and 236: Okolona, Tupelo, and Byhalia. The U
Page 237 and 238: 18 . Porter, Interview with Deacon
Page 239 and 240: 44 . Ibid ; Young, interview by aut
Page 241 and 242: 73 . Ibid. 74 . James Scott, interv
Page 243 and 244: CONCLUSION ". . ..the armed liberat
Page 245 and 246: existence of armed resistance in th
Page 247 and 248: Some may argue that the evidence pr
Page 249 and 250: ofthe Movement and doesn't apprecia
Page 251 and 252: it was necessary for the Black comm
Page 253 and 254: the white power structure but also
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Significance of "Eye forAn Eye" It
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4 . Comel West, Progb= Deliverance
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Herman Leach, July 30,1994, Yazoo C
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Correspondence Letter from Sundiata
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Carson, Clayborne, et al. The Eyes
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Jordan, Winthrop, Tumult and Silenc
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Payne, Charles, 1've Got the Light
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DissertationslTheses Barksdale, Mar
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