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Summer Session Kansan
Friday, July 10, 1964
Portrait of Agitation in Dixie
By Tom Coffman Special to The Kansan
Bill Hansen may be the most-hated man in the Arkansas part of the Mississippi River delta. He is one of the "movement" people — the Pine Bluff Movement, a part of the nation-wide Negro protest. Worse, Hansen is a white northerner, an outsider.
He crossed the Mason-Dixon line in May, 1961, as one of the Freedom Riders and was thrown in jail in Mississippi for walking into the white part of a bus station with a Negro. The charge was inciting to riot.
A FEW MONTHS later he joined SNCC (pronounced "Snick") — the Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee, a national civil rights organization based in Atlanta. With SNCC he worked in such news-making places as Albany, Ga., and Cambridge, Md. With his work came a chain of arrests, 24 in all, on charges ranging from trespassing and vagrancy to disturbing the peace and making an illegal left turn in a car.
Eighteen months ago SNCC sent a two-man team into Pine Bluff, Ark. Bill Hansen was one of them. Pine Bluff was chosen as the most centrally located city in the plantation area of Arkansas. A town of 53,000, it is the county seat of Jefferson County, 45 per cent of which is Neigro. For 100 miles east to the levee the land is as flat as the Great Plains, a lowland on which the river has deposited sand and clay—soil ideally suited to grow cotton and rice.
In some of the levee counties, Negro population runs as high as 60 per cent. It is a population situation where the Caucasian race has historically relied determinedly on the enforcement of white supremacy.
THE MEDIAN yearly income of non-whiteis in most of these counties is around one-tenth of the average national income. In Lincoln County the figure dips to $571 median yearly income for the non-white farm hand, according to the 1960 census reports.
At this time of the year the cotton needs to be hoed. A Negro is paid three dollars for 10 hours work in the field. If he lives in one of the towns, he may pay "Charlie," the white man, 50c for a bus ride to the fields.
A comparison of the 1950 and 1960 census statistics for the entire state shows that the Negro is losing ground economically rather than gaining it in relation to the whites. Fourteen years ago non-whites made 43.6 per cent as much as whites; four years ago the figure had dropped to 39.7, a little more than one-third.
The average Negro has less than a sixth grade education, usually at a segregated school, as compared to the Caucasian's average nine to ten years of education.
It is here that Bill Hansen agitates Negroes to demand an end to what one Dixiecrat senator called "the South's cherished custom."
HANSEN DRIVES the highways in a beat-up Nash Rambler, talks to Negroes in the field, in Negro stores, night clubs, restaurants, talks to civic and church leaders. In some towns he ducks the police.
Now 24, he is 6'3" and lean with close-cut brown hair and a wide grin. The first lines of age are appearing around his eyes and on his forehead.
"You sure ain't goin' to have no freedom unless you do somethin' about it," he tells a Negro garbage collector in the levee town of Helena. The illiterate or semi-literate likely would not understand the words—let alone their meaning—if Hansen held to the speech pattern afforded him by his three and one-half years at Xavier University in Cincinnati as a philosophy major. "Now you come to the mass meetin' tomorrow night. We're gonna' have a man there talk about getting together for some freedom work."
THE NEXT NIGHT the mass meeting opened with freedom songs. People came in slowly. Two police cars drove up and circled the church. The singing dragged and Hansen stood and paced the aisles, booming out the words. The people sang back: "This little light of mine . . . I'm gonna' let it shine . . . Gonna' shine for integration . . . I'm gonna' let it shine."
The tempo of the meeting picked up. Clapping and foot tapping started. Many there were fundamentalist believers in the Biblical promise, and
they appeared to rechannel their Christian zeal into a passion for equality.
A Negro SNCC worker, Joe Wright, formerly a Methodist student minister, called on the people to test the civil rights bill when it becomes final, implored them to unify and hold their heads up.
Joe ended his talk with a paraphrase from Frederick Douglass, famous Negro editor of 100 years ago. The men who want to be equal but who will not work for it are like "men who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. It must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without demand." The way would be hard.
THEN A NEGRO minister spoke. The Christian religion they had been taught as slaves was not the true gospel, he said. It was taught in such a way as to make them passive, and he reminded them that in slave days a Christianized Negro brought more money than a heathen because he was a "good slave." The true gospel of Christianity was one which made all men free.
Occasionally a murmur passed over the audience. "Amen, brother, that's right, that's right," and foot-tapping would begin again.
"We shall overcome," they sang,
"... somead. Deep in my heart, I
do believe," then "we are not afraid,
"we shall not turn back," "black and
white together . . we shall over-
come some day."
The element of emotion does not end at a mass meeting. The Pine Bluff Movement goes into the streets with demonstrations when integration negotiations break down. It is then that interest in the movement and unity among the Negro community is at its peak, Hansen says.
Last February Pine Bluff drew the attention of national news media when Dick Gregory, Negro comedian, was here to speak. He and Hansen walked into Ray's Truckers Inn to buy a sandwich. They were refused, then arrested for trespassing. Ben Grinage, SNCC field secretary and formerly the chairman of the Pine Bluff Movement, organized a picket at the truck stop.
GRINAGE, also a Negro Methodist minister, was shot and later jailed along with 40 Negroes ranging from the ages of 14 to 45.
Out of jail, Gregory made a speech and 700 gathered to hear him, according to newspaper accounts. Hansen estimates there were 1,000. "After Gregory spoke we sang 'We Shall Overcome.'" Hansen said, and when he recalled the time his voice reverted to the higher-pitched sing-song of the delta. "You ain't never heard sing'in like that!"
The starting point of the Pine Bluf Movement was a sit-in at the lunch counter of Woolworth's Dime Store. Movement people sat for six weeks eight hours a day while the counter was closed down. Finally they were served.
"To work against segregation," Hansen says, "there has to be a 'bogey man' at times, a focus point, a symbol to work against." In a sense, the bogey man idea involves a bit of humbuggery for the focal point has usually been on an obvious symptom of segregation. The movement works more quietly on deeper issues—voter registration, repeal of the state poll tax, job opportunities for Negroes, candidates for office.
GAINING SUPPORT from any quarter is a struggle. Eleven Negro students were expelled from the Negro college in Pine Bluff—Arkansas Agricultural, Normal, and Mechanical—for taking part in a demonstration. School policy comes down from the Arkansas government, which means the state legislature, the board of regents, and Gov. Orval Fauus, who is running for his sixth consecutive term of office this year.
SINCE THEN, five eating places, two drive-in movies, two theaters, the public library and a public park have been integrated. Beginning the 1963 school year a policy was started to integrate two grades a year, beginning with the lower grades and working up. At the present speed, the public school system will be totally integrated in five years unless action is taken under the civil rights bill to speed up the process.
A public demonstration is necessary to gain popular support. When things are quiet, sentiment wanes.
The Interdenominational Ministers Alliance, composed entirely of Negro preachers, is reluctant to lend a hand.
A reporter at the local paper made this analysis: "They (the Negro preachers) for the most part have little education. Still, because religion has been about the only thing the Negroes have had since reconstruction, they are tremendously powerful in their community. Integration means they will lose their leadership ... at least that's the way they see it."
JAMES "DOC" BAGSBY, Negro pharmacist, says the Negro preachers are the established leadership of the community. "If they come our way (to the movement), then everyone will come."
Rev. S. D. Scott, an educated minister with a Pine Bluff congregation of 1100, recently agreed to be on the executive committee of the Pine Bluff Movement. One of his congregation described Rev. Scott's attitude this way: "He believes the old men are for counseling and the young men are for war."
In an interview the Rev. Scott expressed admiration for the movement, then went on to talk of his own work for the betterment of his race. Most of his references were to establishing scholarship funds and securing jobs for people in his congregation.
EVEN AMONG the young there is a lack of unanimity. Last February the Negro Youth Organization, a combine of assorted little leagues and athletic clubs, presented a John F. Kennedy Freedom plaque to the Pine Bluff Movement. According to a newspaper account, Mrs. Edna Mays, the chairman, said at the presentation that the NYO did not approve of the movement's methods but was in sympathy with its goals.
Among themselves, SNCC workers refer to unwilling Negroes as "Tom's," black men who do the white man's bidding. Hansen says the Uncle Toms generally favor the movement, but, for one reason or other, are afraid to act.
Despite his close relation with the Negroes of Pine Bluff, the Ohio white man watches his behavior closely to prevent alienating members of the Negro community. He is white, they are colored. He has been in jail, "but I will never feel the prison of a black man's skin."
Nevertheless, he imposes on himself the hardships of a Negro. "I can never allow myself to use the advantages accrued to my being white. I don't eat in segregated restaurants, I don't go into a segregated public toilet. I don't go to white-only night spots.
Breaking that self-discipline at home would mean losing the faith of the Negroes. "You can't talk about integration and freedom, then take advantage of what is denied Negroes because of their skin color."
"ON A DRIVE to the home office in Atlanta I've been tempted to live like a white. I couldn't do it — it would be breaking my self-discipline."
The historic relationship between the Negro and white here are a constant source of trouble to Hansen, given his goals. The high school boys who gravitate to the movement look to Bill for leadership, partly because
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BOOK REVIEWS
DECISIVE BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR, by Lt. Col. Joseph B. Mitchell (Premier, 75 cents); THE NATION DIVIDED, edited by Paul M. Angle (Premier, 60 cents).
The Civil War centennial ends next year, so the publishers are moving rapidly to capitalize on the possibly waning interest. Here are two interesting paperbacks to help perpetuate the interest.
Col. Mitchell in "Decisive Battles" has provided descriptions and maps of the great battles of Bull Run, Shiloh, the Seven Days, Second Bull Run (or Second Manassas, if you prefer), Antietam, Fredericksburg, Murfreesboro, Chancecellorsville, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Atlanta and Petersburg.
"The Nation Divided" consists of important eventuall reports of the Civil War period, as well as years before and later, selected from the American Reader." Documents go back to the 1830s, and include writings of Davy Crockett, Emily Dickinson, Hawthorne, Irving, Sir Charles Lyell, Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln and others right up to the turn of the century.
THUNDER ON THE RIGHT, by Mary Stewart (Crest. 50 cents).
No, this is not another of those endless books about the rebirth of American conservatism. It's a suspense story by the author of "The Moon-Spinners," though it goes back a few years before that.
The setting of this one is the French Pyrenees, and the heroine is a girl who comes to a mysterious and frightening convent, where she gets in all kinds of trouble. There's nothing more fun to read than "a damsel in distress," and here's another.
SWORD AT SUNSET, by Rosemary Sutcliffe (Crest, 95 cents).
Something, probably Broadway's "Camelot." has kicked off an Arthurian revival. We're getting all kinds of treatments of the legends, and here is another, a long novel that has received respectable critical praise.
There's probably more depth to this Arthur than we get in most Hollywood epics. Miss Sutcliff has given us a hero more, let's say, in the Richard Burton mold than the Cornel Wilde (that will help clarify things for some readers). The tale is dashing and exciting, as, of course, it should be.
WISDOM OF THE WEST, by Bertrand Russell (Premier, 95 cents)
Of all living philosophers Bertrand Russell probably is the most influential. Even those who don't grasp all he's getting at find him entertaining, and KU students of Western Civilization all read his challenging views. "Wisdom of the West" is a comparatively recent book now available in paperback.
Russell writes that "The sum total of what a man knows is vanishingly small. What seems in the end more important is that one should pursue knowledge." This book is a survey of philosophy, but it is also an analysis of the figures who have helped to shape what we view as western civilization. It also is an examination of the important ideas of the West.
Russell discusses pre-Socrates philosophy, the writings and ideas of Athens and of Hellenism, early Christianity, Scholasticism, modern philosophy, British empiricism, the Enlightenment and Romanticism, utilitarianism, and contemporary philosophy.
THE EDUCATION OF A GOLFER, by Sam Snead, with Al Stump (Crest, 50 cents)—an entertaining book by one of the popular figures of American sports. Sam Snead tells anecdotes and gives golf lessons in a delightful way.
THE PAINLESS WAY TO STOP SMOKING, by Jack G. Heise (Crest, 50 cents)—a book designed for those impressed by the report of the surgeon-general. The idea is that you'll quit smoking within 10 days after reading this book. Next time you walk out into the hall by the Hawk's Nest and realize the cigarette machines have been removed, go get a copy of this book instead—if you're interested.
THE NEW NATION GROWS, edited by Paul M. Angle (Premier, 60 cents).
from The American Reader that present eyewitness reports of the American expansion. Years encompassed are 1769-1852.
This is Volume 2 of selections
Such volumes are becoming more and more helpful to the student of American history. Paul Angle includes writings of such people as Franklin, Mrs. John Adams, Manasseh cutter, Daniel Boone, Mamisewetter Lewis and William Clark, Zebulon Pike, Oliver H. Perry, Daniel Webster, the Donner party, Josiah Gregg and many others.
F F
THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, by Edward Gibbon, abridged by Moses Hadas (Premier, 75 cents).
Most of us will never read "The Decline and Fall" in its original version, so perhaps an abridgment is the best answer. This is perhaps fortunate, but there are so many good books...
There is scarcely a better-known book of history. Had a says the theme "is the most overwhelming phenomenon in recorded history—the disintegration not of a nation, but of an old and rich and apparently indestructible civilization."
Hadas has tried to preserve the heart of the classic work in this abridgment. The editor has taught at Columbia University since 1930 and is Jay professor of Greek. He has written histories of Greek and Latin literature and other works.
SEVEN TEARS FOR APOLLO, by Phyllis A. Whitney (Crest, 50 cents).
Some books are made for lazy summer days—the works of Dorothy Macardle, Daphne du Maurier and books like this one. The setting is Greece and the island of Rhodes, where a damsel in distress is involved in such matters as the death of her husband, an accident that strikes a close friend, warnings on the mirror, and ransacking of her room.
The stuff of mystery, in short. Crest is turning out several such volumes that call for little concentration and absolutely no literary training.
The bookshelves are crowded these days with political novels, and the peculiar characteristic of "The Gay Place" is that its hero bears certain resemblances to the man currently in the White House.
It's a novel about Texas and Gov. Arthur Goddam Fenstermaker (sounds like a good Texas name). It won the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award. Critics have praised the style, the characterizations, the sympathy of the writer, and, of course, the link to President Johnson.
THE GAY PLACE, by William Brammer (Crest, 95 cents).
And what's more fun than a literary dissection of the Lone Star State?
In the present pious mood of America, as congressmen try to write a prayer amendment, what more timely than a paperback copy of the sensational best-seller of several years ago?
"A Man Called Peter" appeared in 1951, and sold more than a million copies. It's the biography of a minister who became chaplain of the U.S. Senate. Peter Marshall was a Scottsman who came to this country in 1927 and achieved fame and great popularity.
A MAN CALLED PETER, by Catherine Marshall (Crest, 75 cents).
Mrs. Marshall gives the flavor of the powerful sermons of Marshall. It should be noted that for the most part the author avoids what could have been an oversaccharine approach to biographical writing.
MARY, MARY, AND OTHER PLAYS, by Jean Kerr (Crest, 50 cents).
Jean Kerr is the wife of Walter Kerr, theater critic of the New York Herald Tribune. She has had a rather spectacular success with light comedy like "Please Don't Eat the Daisies," and with three plays, one written by herself, the other two in collaboration.
"Mary, Mary" is the best-known one of the most successful nonmusicals in recent theatrical history. The others are the comedy, "King of Hearts," written with Eleanor Brooke, and the musical, "Goldilocks," written with her husband. The touch is light and consistently entertaining.