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SOUTHERN REGIONAL COUNCIL<br /><br />
63 Auburn Avenue, N.E.<br /><br />
Atlanta, Georgia<br /><br />
February 13, 1957<br /><br />
BACKGROUND SUMMARY OF VIOLENCE AT KOINONIA FARM, SUMTER COUNTY, GEORGIA<br /><br />
Koinonia (Greek for “a community”) was founded in 1942 by a group of Southerners. Located on State Highway 49 in Sumter County near Americus, Georgia, the farm is an interracial religious cooperative with everyone sharing in the proceeds of the farm according to needs. Koinonia, which was started on 440 acres of land, now comprises 1,100. In 1955, Koinonia held its first interracial summer camp for children. The camp was approved by the American Camping Association. The Reverend Clarence Jordan, a Baptist minister, was co-founder of Koinonia and has remained as one of its leaders.<br /><br />
April, 1956--Rev. Clarence Jordan announced that he was willing to sign entrance to Georgia State College of Business Administration (white) for two Negro applicants. Fact was headlined in Americus and other Georgia papers. Rev. Jordan did not actually sign application since he was ruled ineligible to do so by the executive secretary of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. The Koinonia newsletter charged that before Rev. Jordan got home from Atlanta, Governor Griffin had called the Sheriff of Sumter County, asking “who Jordan was" and what he was up to. Shortly following press accounts of Rev. Jordan’s Atlanta experience, the farm began to receive anonymous telephone calls. Within a matter of a few days, the first of the farm’s insurance policies were cancelled, retail merchants began to stop handling Koinonia eggs, and roadside signs were torn down. Pistol shots were fired at the roadside stand.<br /><br />
June 9, 1956 - A temporary injunction restraining Koinonia from operating its children’s camp was handed down on charges brought by the Sumter County Health Department. The department asked that the farm be restrained from operating the camp on “health and sanitation ground.”<br /><br />
July, 1956 - A Sumter County health engineer made an inspection of camp and farm and made minor recommendations, which, according to farm officials, "were carried out.”<br /><br />
<br /><br />
July 2, 1956 - At the hearing on the injunction, the county attorney asked that it be postponed to July 19 because he had not had time to prepare his case.<br /><br />
July, 1956 - Wilson Finch, W. A. Helms, Sherrard Horne, and A. H. Jennings, four Sumter County farmers, sought to associate with the county in the injunction<br /><br />
claiming that the sponsors of the camp had no license and would operate the camp<br /><br />
“in a manner detrimental to morals.” Meanwhile, the camp was opened at a site<br /><br />
outside Georgia.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
July 19, 1956 - At the hearing, Superior Court Judge Cleveland Rees looked at the crowded courtroom and decided that it would be a "wrangle between the gospel and law,” and so ordered another postponement with the cases to be presented by brief and affidavit. Material was to be presented to him by September 20, 1956.<br /><br />
July 23. 1956- The roadside market at Koinonia was dynamited. The blast occurred shortly after 10 p.m. Damage was estimated at $3,000.

Background Summary of Violence at Koinonia Farm, Sumter County, Georgia

AN OPEN LETTER TO CHRISTIAN MINISTERS IN GEORGIA<br /><br />
Macon, Georgia<br /><br />
April 7, 1957<br /><br />
"In regard to recent publicity concerning Koinonia Farm Inc. near Americus, Georgia, we, the undersigned, in light of our present understanding express our belief that:<br /><br />
1. Koinonia Farm is a Christian community.<br /><br />
2. Acts of violence have come from persons outside the Koinonia group.<br /><br />
3. No connection exists between Koinonia Farm and the Communist Party.<br /><br />
We pray that God 's truth and Christ’s redeeming love may be revealed in this present crisis in Sumter County.”<br /><br />
The Reverend Ray Brewster<br /><br />
Macon<br /><br />
The Reverend Colin Campbell<br /><br />
Columbus<br /><br />
The Reverend Glen Dorris<br /><br />
Gainesville<br /><br />
The Reverend Peter W. Flemming<br /><br />
Jesup<br /><br />
The Reverend Truett Gannon<br /><br />
Eatonton<br /><br />
The Reverend Earl Gilbreath<br /><br />
Athens<br /><br />
The Reverend Paul Hanna<br /><br />
Athens<br /><br />
Dr. W.J. Hinson<br /><br />
Macon<br /><br />
The Reverend Richard Hollinger<br /><br />
Columbus<br /><br />
The Reverend J.W. Howard<br /><br />
Macon<br /><br />
The Reverend Charles Jackson<br /><br />
Columbus<br /><br />
The Reverend Emmett S. Johnson<br /><br />
Macon<br /><br />
Dr. Edwin D. Johnston<br /><br />
Macon<br /><br />
Dr. T. Stewart Matthews<br /><br />
Macon<br /><br />
Dr. Harold McManus<br /><br />
Macon<br /><br />
<br /><br />
The Reverend Robert B. McNeill<br /><br />
Columbus<br /><br />
The Reverend B. G. Munro<br /><br />
Athens<br /><br />
Dr D. B. Nicholson<br /><br />
Athens<br /><br />
The Reverend F. R. Otto<br /><br />
Macon<br /><br />
The Reverend Nathaniel Parker<br /><br />
Athens<br /><br />
The Reverend William W. Rogers<br /><br />
Athens<br /><br />
The Reverend Francis Stewart,<br /><br />
Monticello<br /><br />
The Reverend E. L. Waters<br /><br />
Macon<br />

An Open Letter to Christian Minsters in Georgia

The Religious Newsweekly<br /><br />
Editor<br /><br />
NANCY LAWRENCE<br /><br />
9RNW2/25/57<br /><br />
TUESDAY February 26<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Appeal for Aid to Interracial Community Heard by 1500<br /><br />
An appeal for new members to join a Christian interracial community in the Deep South was made by the Rev. C Conrad Browne before a throng of 1500 people who jammed a Brotherhood Week meeting in South Bend, Ind., last week. But he warned them that it wouldn't be easy. Twelve rounds of rifle fire have been pumped into his house, he said, narrowly missing his daughter, and bombing and burnings continue to plague Koinonia, the interracial community farm which he directs in Americus, Ga.<br /><br />
The Brotherhood Convocation, sponsored by the St. Joseph County Council of Churches, heard Rosa Page Welch, noted singer, and also witnessed a production of Thornton Wilder’s drama, "The Unerring Instinct.”<br /><br />
Mr. Browne reported on the wave of violence directed against the sixty-odd families living on the farm. On the advice of community project leaders, about one-third of the families have since moved away, he said.<br /><br />
Coupled with the violence came an economic boycott, said Mr. Browne. "No local market will buy our produce, feed salesmen will not sell to the farms, fuel dealers have discontinued deliveries, no one will process our cotton and insurance has become unavailable.” Although he did not appeal for funds personally, several ministerial associations, local and state church councils are sponsoring projects to aid the community.<br /><br />
Mr. Browne told his audience: “When our fuel was cut off, we got our own gas pumps but they became targets for shotgun blasts and we lost our supply of butane gas and building materials in fires. The problem of insurance is still not solved,” he said, adding, “one company after another has dropped our policies, including a New Zealand firm.”<br /><br />
Those remaining at Koinonia are determined to carry on, declared Mr. Browne, who also thanked local and state church councils for their sympathy and support.<br />

Appeal for Aid to Interracial Community Heard by 1500

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