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University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, April 13, 1965
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CORE Builds
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two churches were burned to the ground." Eichelberger said.
UPON ARRIVAL in Jonesboro, the KU group proceeded to the CORE Freedom House, located on Congo St. in the Negro ghetto. After meeting Mrs. Castle, they drove to the downtown area and participated in a demonstration in front of the Jackson Parish (county) Court House. About 200 Negro school children were protesting alleged police brutality which occurred the previous Sunday night when a Negro man was pistol-whipped by local police.
Adrian Peevey, chief of the Jonesboro police department, said the man was drunk and had threatened a police officer. He said that blood tests given at the Jonesboro hospital proved he was drunk and added that the man was already on probation for shooting his uncle.
Other than verbal harassment, no violence was directed at the demonstrators, but three white men in a pickup truck tried to run me down as I was photographing the demonstration.
After the demonstration, the students returned to the Freedom House and were briefed by Mrs. Castle about their activities in Jonesboro. Housing assignments were made, and all the students stayed with Negro families in the Jonesboro area.
Sunday morning a church service was held in an old Masonic Lodge building next to the burned-down pleasant Grove Baptist church. After services, the group looked over the area and the work that had been done the previous week by a similar group from Syracuse University. The Syracuse group had cleaned up the area and had placed a row of concrete blocks outlining the all-masonry structure.
WORK CREWS were organized Monday morning, and the KU volunteers started preparing the ground surface for the pouring of the concrete foundation and floor.
Protection for the workers during the construction and most other activities was provided by the Deacons for Defense and Justice. Inc. This is an organization of 250 Negro men whose objectives, according to Earnest Thompson, vice-president, are working in voter registration and protecting white CORE workers and Negroes from unjust intimidation.
"The Deacons will, in fact, protect any minority group which supports the Negro movement. This includes sympathetic white Southerners." Mr. Thompson said.
He is known by all in Jonesboro
Pianist Featured In Faculty Recital
The KU School of Fine Arts will present Roy Hamlin Johnson, associate professor of piano, in a faculty recital tonight at 8:00 in Swarthout Recital Hall.
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he was a student of Sandor Vas, Johnson holds the degree of Bachelor and Master of Music and in addition was awarded the Performer's Certificate and the Artist's Diploma. In 1952-53 he received a Fulbright Grant to study in France at the Paris Conservatoire under the late Yves Nat. He also coached with the late Roumanian composer Georges Enesco. Joining the University of Kansas piano faculty in 1955, Johnson continued his professional studies at the Eastman School and was granted the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 1960.
Dr. Johnson's solo appearances have been with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Rochester Civic Orchestra, the Oklahoma City Symphony and with the Dallas Symphony in 1961 when he performed the Stravinsky Piano Concerto. He has also appeared in solo recitals in New York and in Carnegie Recital Hall and in various other centers in the East and Middle West including the National Gallery of Art in Washington. During the 1952-53 season he served as official pianist with the Rochester Philharmonic under Eric Leinsdorf.
The concert is open to the public without charge.
as "Chilly Willy," a nickname he cannot explain. "Chilly" is anything but what his name implies. Working with him for a week proved to me that he is one of the friendliest and good-natured persons around. He is disturbed by people provoking Negroes, though.
"Chilly" says the Deacons are not violent, but combat violence with violence. "Anyone who comes into the Negro neighborhood looking for trouble will be met by the Deacons. If violent elements enter the neighborhood with weapons, the Deacons are prepared," he said.
MONDAY evening the KU group and local Negro CORE workers entered Nomey's Restaurant in Jonesboro to be served dinner. There were no incidents, but while the group was eating, Chief Peevey entered the restaurant to observe the activities.
Placing and smoothing out a gravel surface for the concrete floor kept the volunteers busy on Tuesday. Jim Cooley, Salina sophomore, worked with professional plumbers and electricians in laying down underground pipes and conduits.
Wednesday the volunteers finished the gravel underflooring in preparation for the concrete pouring on Thursday.
Wednesday, the KU volunteers and local Negroes went to the Blue Grill in downtown Jonesboro. Tony James, the owner of the restaurant, met the group at the door and told them he would not serve an inter-racial group. The students told James that under the provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act he had to serve them. James told the group that he would serve them only if they had a court order.
Edward Scott, a local CORE worker, told the group that court action was already being prepared for a suit against James, and this visit was helpful in obtaining additional testimony.
AFTER leaving the Blue Grill, the group went to a drive-in restaurant outside of Jonesboro, where the service was described by David Leonard, Lawrence freshman, as "excellent." White residents of Jonesboro passed back and forth on the highway in front of the restaurant and some of them yelled out obscenities, but there was no violence.
Half of the concrete floor of the Pleasant Grove church was poured on Thursday, and the work crews left early in the afternoon to try again to be served at the Blue Grill.
Two KU students, Tim Miller, Wichita senior, and Mike Jennison, New York freshman, and Edward Scott, CORE worker, entered the Blue Grill at 3:30 p.m. The three were inside for about 15 minutes.
During the time they were inside, two police cars pulled up to the front of the restaurant. There were two officers in each car, and three of them went inside.
As the group left the restaurant after not being served, Mike Jennison was struck on the face by a large, heavy white man. Mike fell to the ground, but managed to recover quickly and reach the
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AS the group attempted to drive away, a group of men surrounded the car and pushed it into an adjacent parked car. About $50 damage was done to the CORE car.
waiting car, along with Miller and Scott.
The incident was reported to local police, but the group was told no charges would be placed against them if the owner of the other damaged car did not make a complaint.
KU Alumni Name Head
Clarence McGuire of Kansas City, Mo., will be the 1965-66 national president of the University of Kansas Alumni Association, Balfour S. Jeffrey of Topeka, current president, announced.
Mrs. J. H. Abrahams of Topeka, the former Julia Jencks, will be the 1965-66 vice president. She and McGuire were elected by the association's board of directors.
McGuire, who is president of Hoover Bros., Inc., a school supply firm, was graduated from KU in 1929. He was a two-year letterman in basketball and was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa and Sachem honor society for senior men.
McGuire is a past president of the National Council for Presbyterian men, chairman of the 1958 United Campaign in Kansas City, and has received the Howard McCutcheon award for civic service of the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. He is a past president of the Kansas City Metropolitan Board of the Y.M.C.A. He has previously served a five-year term as director of the Alumni Association.
Mrs. Abrahams, a 1936 graduate of KU, has been an active volunteer in Topeka civic work. She has been
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