Historical Manuscripts

Title

Description

These are resources that reside in the Historical Manuscripts Collection in Special Collections at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Collection Items

John's Speech: Fellowship Commission

Text of speech written by Sheila Michaels for John Lewis to deliver to the Fellowship Commission in 1964.

TEXT OF SPEECH GIVEN AT WASHINGTON MARCH BY JOHN LEWIS <br /><br />
AUGUST 28, 1963 <br /><br />
nothing <br /><br />
We march today for jobs and freedom, but we have/to be proud For, ; hundreds and thousands of our brothers are not here. They have no money for their transportation, for they are receiving starvation wages ••• or no ·wages at all. While we stand here there are sharecroppers in the Delta of Mississippi who are out in the fields working for less than three dollars a day for twelve hours of work. While we stand here there are students in jail on trumped charges. Our brother, James Farmer, along with many others is also in jail. We come here today with a great sense of misgiving.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
It is true that we support the present civil rights bill in the Congress. However, we support it with great reservations. Unless Title three is put in this bill, there is nothing to protect young children and old women from police dogs and fire hoses, their penalty for engaging in peaceful demonstrations. In its present form this bill will not protect the citizens of Danville, Virginia, who must live in constant fear in a police state. It will not protect the hundreds of people who have been arrested on phoney charges. What about the three young men---SNCC field secretaries--in Americus, Georgia who face the death penalty for engaging in peaceful protest. <br /><br />
<br /><br />
As it stands now, the voting section of this bill will not help thousands of black people who want to vote. It will not help the citizens of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia who are qualified to vote but lack a 6th grade education. "One man, one vote.,” is the African cry. It is ours, too. It must be ours. Let us tell the Congress: One man, one vote. <br /><br />
<br /><br />
We must have legislation that will protect the Mississippi sharecropper who is put off of his farm because he dares to register to vote. We need a bill that will provide for the homeless and starving people of this nation. We need a bill that will ensure the equality of a maid who earns $5 a week in the home of a family whose income is $100,000 a year. We must have a good FEPC bill. <br /><br />
<br /><br />
Let us not forget that we are involved in a serious social revolution. By¬ <br /><br />
and large, American politics is dominated by politicians who build their careers on immoral compromises and ally themselves with open forms of political, economic, and social exploitation. There are exceptions of course. We salute those. But what political leader can stand up and say, “My party is the party of principles". The party of Kennedy is the party of Eastland. The party of Javits is also the party of Goldwater. Where is our party? Where is the political party that will make it unecessary to have Marches on Washinton? <br /><br />
<br /><br />
Where is the political party that will protect the citizens of Albany, Georgia. <br /><br />
Do you know that in Albany, Georgia., nine of our leaders have been indicted, not by Dixicrats, but by the Federal Government for peaceful protest. But what did the Federal Government do when Albany's Deputy Sheriff beat Attorney C.B. King and left him half-dead? What did the Federal Government do when local police officials kicked and assaulted the pregnant wife of Slater King, and she lost her child. <br /><br />
<br /><br />
To those who have said, be patient and wait, we must say that we cannot be patient, we do not want to be free gradually. We want our freedom and we want it now. We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We do not<br />

Text of Speech Given at Washington March by John Lewis, August 28, 1963

Text of speech given by John Lewis at March on Washington, August 28, 1963. This is a draft with subtle differences from the official speech given to…

Marion Barry

Photograph of Marion Barry in 1965 at Assembly of Unrepresented People, Washington, D.C.

Shiki Sushi Business Card

Front of Business Card for Hikaru Shiki's husband of Sheila Michael's sushi restaurant

Copyright Sheila Michaels, New York 1993<br /><br />
16 September 1993<br /><br />
ROSH HASHANAH<br /><br />
This holiday, which we familiarly call Rosh HaShanah, “Head of the Year”, or “The Head of The Change” – in it’s primary, literal meaning—is known in Torah (Leviticus 23:24) only as - followed by Hebrew letters The Memorial of the Trumpet Blast. Not any blast but the sounding of Alarm. Teruah signals the Israelites to resume their journey in the Wilderness. It is also an alarm or war. Whenever it is sounded, the Israelites must go forth, prepared to face hardship, the foe, or good fortune. But when the trumpet of alarm is sounded and they go forth to unknown dangers, they’re not alone. G-d promises Moses (Numbers 10:9) that when the Teruah is sounded for war, that the Israelites will : ‘be remembered of G-d, & saved.’ Which is a reason to call it “The Day of Remembrance”. The rest is Commentary. All the laws & customs of Rosh HaShanah over the millenia are accretions to these very small verses. The revelation to Moses for our observation of this festival is that we are to observe it with Sabbath rest, & that it is known to G-d as the day of The Remembrance of the Blast of Alarm: the …Hebrew letters. That is the name we are given for it.<br /><br />
This is sublime poetry. The alarm signals the beginning of our journey, for in Judaism when we remember, we relive, as on Passover. We set forth into the Wilderness ahead, while we remember the past journeys into the Wilderness. A Sabbath is set aside for us as a time to relive and re-enact. The alarm is sounded for us, we are alerted that it is time for the camp to set forward & begin our journey. The signal is sounded on a day of Sabbath rest: the Sabbath of the Memorial of the Trumpet Alarm. This is a day of remembering & reliving our journey in the Wilderness – the Wilderness we entered after the Waters were parted for us. The personal Wilderness we entered after our Mother’s Waters parted for us, & the collective Wilderness of the Jewish people after slavery when we became free & responsible. When one is no longer a slave, but is responsible for one’s own actions, one enters a Wilderness. The possibilities for mistakes are limitless. One can abandon one’s moral precepts & fall into error or one can hew too closely to one’s precepts & fall into error: or one can miss the point completely & err through misunderstanding. These are some of the great problems of living as a free being. The Israelites erred in all these ways, & most of them suffered very greatly for it.<br /><br />
There is also—for those of us who survived to this day—the Wilderness of the immediate past year, personally & communally. But, the blast of alarm is the signal to set forward, into the coming year, with blind faith that we will be led through the Wilderness before us. Remember, though, that the entire<br />

Rosh Hashanah Midrash

Midrash written by Sheila Michaels for Rosh Hashanah.

Envelope of light blue Indian Aerogramme, from Sheila Michaels to Mr. & Mrs. H.H. Kessler. There is a dark blue rhino stamp in the lower left corner of the receiver section and an Indian red plane stamp in the upper right corner that has been postmarked. There are red and dark blue stripes around the border and between the receiver and sender address sections. The receiving address reads "Mr. & Mrs. H.H. Kessler #7 Dromara Road St. Louis, Missouri U.S.A.". The sender address reads "Sheila Michaels c/o Pask Restoute, GPO. Delhi, India". Text written along the left side of the sender section reads "They (illegible) to the gods here & eat it - that for your (illegible) testimonials."

Letter from India

Letter from Sheila Michaels in Delhi India to her parents in the United States.

Envelope of light blue Surat Udara Aerogramme, from Sheila Michaels to Mr. & Mrs. H.H. Kessler. There is blue, yellow and green stamp with foliage and butterflies in the upper right corner of the receiver section that has been postmarked and a picture of an ornate building with palm trees in the lower right section of the receiver section. Text below the building, reads “Mayasia”. The receiving address reads “Mr. & Mrs. H.H. Kessler #7 Dromara Road. St. Louis County, Missouri 63124 U.S.A.” The sender address reads “Sheila Michaels 3 Meyer Place Singapore 15”. Three images of Malaysian ceremonial life are on the left side of the sender section. The bottom right of the sender section reads “Surat Udara Tiado Boleh Mengandungi APA – APA Lampiran Pun, Jika Di Dapatiada Akan Dikenakan Bayaran Lebih Atau Pun Dikirimkan Dengan Mel Biasa”

Letter from Singapore

Letter written by Sheila Michaels in Singapore to her parents in the United States.

Taxi!

Taxi! Article written by Sheila MIchaels in 1979.

Brochure Cover<br /><br />
Black youth with sweat on his face looks toward camera wide eyed with his mouth open. Below the text reads "Mississippi Summer Project"

Mississippi Summer Project Brochure

Trifold brochure for Mississippi Summer Project also know as Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964

1963 portrait of Civil Rights Activist John Lewis wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and striped tie. He looks candidly toward the camera with his head tilted and his lips parted.

John Lewis Portrait

Headshot of John Lewis in Atlanta, GA 1963

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