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

Jackson also led to near uprising by the Black community. After the second
boycott was called in 1969, the local Movement leaders did not see the need to
mobilize the para-military Deacons . By 1969, local Blacks had won several
concessions from the white power structure and were beginning to participate in
local government. While the organized defense wing of the first boycott was no
longer seen as necessary after 1969, the organization of the Deacons in Claiborne
County is partially responsible for Black political gains in the county ,,
In a few cases the Bogalusa Deacons were active in local Mississippi
campaigns. In 1965, the Bogalusa group unsuccessfully attempted to establish
Mississippi chapters of the original Louisiana Deacons for Defense and Justice in
Natchez and in Jackson. In spring of 1965, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
(FDP) activists had made contact with the Bogalusa Deacons and discussed
organizing a chapter of the para-military organization in Jackson. FDPmembers
organized a meeting of approximately 175 people, held on August 29, 1965, to
hear Bogalusa Deacons spokesman, Charles Sims speak about the possibility of
the organization being formed in Jackson. FBI and Mississippi State Sovereignty
Commission surveillance shows no evidence of the organization being formed in
Jackson after the meeting." The Louisiana Deacons were not active in Missis-
sippi until 1966 . In the early months of 1966, Charles Sims and other Bogalusa
began to be active in acommunity campaign in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The
campaign was sparked by the murder of NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer, on
January 10, 1966, by night riding Klans men. After a group of over a dozen Klans
men firebombed his home, Dahmer and his wife Ellie were awakened by the fire .
The Klans men waited in front of the Dahmer home, presumedly to assassinate