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0807_001 copy.jpg

Byline and image for P. D. East from the Petal Paper.

December 4, 1956<br /><br />
I visited with Mr. East and with his printer, Mr. Esten King of Pascagoula, Mississippi and received the following information. Because of economic reprisals on the part of the White Citizens Council of Mississippi, Mr. East has lost most of his advertising and will probably go out of business early in January unless some help is forth coming. Following this conversation, I talked with Dr. Lee of the Department of Racial and Cultural Relations of the National Council and gave him that information and reminded him of a conversation which we had had earlier with Mr. Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, to the effect that probably some national advertising might be sought and received for Mr. East.<br /><br />
December 12, 1956<br /><br />
I received a call from Dr. Lee requesting the number of subscribers to the Petal Paper and also the advertising rate. I got this information for him, and called him back. Two days later he called me and said that it seemed impossible to get national advertising for the Petal Paper, but requested that I supply him with a hundred and fifteen names of individuals in Mississippi to whom the Petal Paper might be sent. He informed me that ten organizations were willing to buy fifteen subscriptions each, making a total of a hundred and fifteen subscriptions.<br /><br />
December 27, 1956<br /><br />
I called Mr. East and asked if he would supply me with some of these names. He replied that he preferred not to do so, that if anyone desired his paper and could not afford it, he would be glad to send them a dollar to get a nickel paper to them, but if they did not want his paper, then he would not be a party to seeing that they got one. He was of course most appreciative of this effort by the various national agencies and said that he would be happy to supply the gift subscriptions to the individuals, but preferred that we make our own list, which I agreed to do.<br />

Internal memo from Will D. Cambell documenting his work securing subscriptions to the Petal Paper and money for P.D. East to keep the newspaper afloat

Letter, PD East to Will D. Campbell

Copy<br /><br />
ITEM NO. I<br /><br />
Since January 4, 1962, the Mississippi Citizens’ Council and the State Sovereignty Commission have conspired in an open attack upon me which has been well publicized in the state and national press. This attack came because I am printing a new newspaper for Negroes, the Mississippi Free Press, which is dedicated to working for Negro rights and freedom. <br /><br />
I am only the printer for this paper. I have no financial interest in it and no control over it. I am vitally interested in seeing it survive because it is badly needed. The men who have put their money into this paper, business and professional men of Jackson, have implicit confidence in me and are guided a great deal by what I tell them in the line of newspapering. I very much would like to be in a position financially where I could have the time to help more with this paper and make it into a quality paper of statewide distribution. This could be done if the money could be made available, I have the know-how and the willingness to do the job. <br /><br />
ITEM NO. II<br /><br />
THE BAPTIST OBSERVER, now a monthly but already with authority to go weekly when funds are available, is strictly a church and religious paper. But the Negro ministers sponsoring this paper are keenly aware of the need of promoting a greater participation for Negroes in the life, economy and government of our state. This paper will help ministers to develop leadership among themselves and their congregations to the end that some day they can speak with one voice. This they desire to do-but naturally it will take time. They must get their own people together. We have in mind that some day The Observer will go into every Baptist home in the state. Adequate financing could make this a reality NOW. <br /><br />
ITEM NO. III<br /><br />
Organized labor is viewed with suspicion in Mississippi by the Governor on down. This is an attitude deliberately fostered by the top officials as labor leaders know. Labor needs a better press in Mississippi and better public relations. It has no paper of its own at the present time-although it once did. A statewide weekly newspaper which would report labor news fairly, honestly and accurately could be of great assistance in educating Mississippians about the facts of life on labor-about which they know very little at the present time. If Mississippi is to grow and progress industrially our attitude toward organized labor is going to have to change. <br /><br />
In our Jackson suburban paper, the Northside Reporter, we have a paper that already has a good following in Jackson. It could be enlarged and extended citywide first and then statewide-if my husband (Walter D. Smith) and I had enough financial backing. We are able and what’s more important, willing to do this job. We feel it would be making a contribution to the growth and development of our state and I have some definite ideas about how this could be done if anyone is interested. <br /><br />
ITEM NO. IV<br /><br />
We need money NOW. $1,400.00 for past due taxes and insurance, now critical,<br /><br />
2,000.00 on $6,200 loan from 1st National Bank of G’ville<br /><br />
-also now critical. Entire loan must <br /><br />
be liquidated soon. <br /><br />
1,000 must pay on paper bill, (Now $4,500.) <br /><br />
2,000.00 for assorted miscellaneous accounts including a <br /><br />
partial payment on $1,800 engraving bill.<br /><br />
ALL OF ABOVE DESPERATELY NEEDED NOW. <br /><br />
(We still have the $20,000.00 note to be repaid <br /><br />
to Mr. Harrison-not worrying about it now.<br /><br />
(Note: If we could get our hands on $15,000 it would get rid of the one big note that is ono our backs as well as the past due bills-leaving us still the $16,200.00 note in Jackson on which we pay 6 per cent and $200,00 monthly-when we have it)<br />

Overview of the publications that Hazel Brannon Smith publishes, attacks she faces from segregationist groups, and a budget of the money she needs to run her businesses

Letter, Hazel Brannon Smith to Leslie W. Dunbar (Southern Regional Council)

BROTHER TO A DRAGONFLY<br /><br />
(a civil rights story)<br /><br />
<br /><br />
By Neal Bell and <br /><br />
Dick Cusack<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Based on the National Book Club<br /><br />
Award winning biography<br /><br />
By<br /><br />
Will D. Campbell<br /><br />
<br /><br />
2nd Draft<br /><br />
Cusack Productions Inc. <br /><br />
405 North Wabash St., Suite 1111<br /><br />
Chicago, Ill 60611<br /><br />
312 923-9010<br />

Screenplay for cinematic treatment of Brother to a Dragonfly

1 page<br /><br />
10 Bold<br /><br />
AND ABOUT SELMA<br /><br />
What can one say about Selma if he is white and can vote and even walk to his state capitol if he wants to? Excuse me? I’m sorry? <br /><br />
Selma seems to say more about America than about Alabama. For it seems to point out how nation-wide we think white. We, most of us, were shocked at the murder of James Reeb of Boston. <br /><br />
We responded to that tragedy by sending the widow, through our highest elected official, several long-stemmed yellow roses, mixed with snapdragons. <br /><br />
Yellow roses!<br /><br />
Was it our compassion or our cynicism?<br /><br />
Whichever it was, three weeks earlier another man was killed in that same struggle just a few miles from where James Reeb was struck down. <br /><br />
He had no wife, but he had a mother. She received no yellow roses. To date no arrests have been made in connection with his death though his dying testimony was that he had been shot by an Alabama State Trooper. <br /><br />
He was black. <br /><br />
Four arrests have been made in connection with the death of Reverend Reeb. They should have been. <br /><br />
And yellow roses to his widow.<br /><br />
No roses and no arrests for the black man. <br /><br />
THE YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS!<br /><br />
Pardon the murdered black man if his ghostly laughter is sardonic. For strange thing about all that. “The Yellow Rose of Texas” was a mulatto woman. <br /><br />
But no roses for the black man. How many of us even know his name? His rottening flesh must now sing out the new lyrics: <br /><br />
My half sister was the yellow rose.<br /><br />
My brother got the flowers. <br />

Rough draft of writings, And About Selma and The Yellow Rose of Texas

STATEMENT BY KOINONIA FARM<br /><br />
April 15, 1957<br /><br />
For Immediate Use<br /><br />
In Presentments published in the Americus Times-Recorder of April 5, 1957 the Grand Jury of Sumter County has gone to great lengths to discredit the honesty, sincerity, and religious beliefs of the community at Koinonia Farm. We take this means of presenting an answer to the people of Americus and Sumter County. It is a shocking thing that the Grand Jury, the official body responsible for just inquiry on behalf of the citizens of this county, should conduct so apparently biased and unfair an investigation as this one. It should be clear to anyone, however uninitiated, who reads these Presentments that the Grand Jury showed no concern whatever for a fair and balanced presentation of the facts. On the contrary it collected and interpreted to the discredit of Koinonia every possible piece of information that could be twisted to that purpose. And by deliberate selection it omitted all of those readily ascertainable facts which reflect to the credit of Koinonia.<br /><br />
We are forced to conclude that these misrepresentations are largely the result of bias and pre—judgments. In evidence of this we cite the fact that Solicitor General Charles Burgamy, who was responsible for assembling the facts and presenting them to the Grand Jury, on August 3, 1956, was quoted at length by the Albany Journal in a front-page article headed, "Solicitor Asks Revival of K.K.K at States’ Rights Meet Here.” We quote from this newspaper account:<br /><br />
"The Dougherty County Chapter of the States’ Rights Council met at 8:00 o’clock Tuesday night in the Dougherty County court house to hear Solicitor General Charles Burgamy of Americus, Georgia, tell the gathering of approximately 200 persons that he favored a return to the Ku Klux Klan... Mr. Burgamy talked for approximately one hour, strongly attacking integration and race mixing. At the conclusion of his remarks, Mr. Burgamy said 'Maybe that’s what we need now is for the right kind of a Klan to start up again and use a buggy whip on some of these race mixers. I believe that would stop them.’”<br /><br />
In this same story, Mr. Burgamy is quoted as commenting on the bombing of the roadside market at Koinonia Farm, which had occurred eleven days before his speech. The Albany Journal states: “Mr. Burgamy also intimated that it was possible for the participants in the Farm's cooperative and racially mixed agricultural program to have planted the bomb as a means of gaining sympathy and public attention." This shows that, long before most of the violence had occurred, Mr. Burgamy was putting forward the charge that people at Koinonia themselves were responsible for the violence directed against their persons and their property. If this were an honest conviction and not simply a pre-judgment, could Mr. Burgamy have failed over the course of many months and many acts of violence to have gathered proof of guilt by members of the Farm? Instead of this, many months later Mr. Burgamy has used the prestige of the Grand Jury to distort the facts to fit his pre-conceived theory.

Statement by Koinonia Farm

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Letter, Will D. Campbell to Lelia Anderson about publicizing materials relating to Koinonia Farm and Southern Leaders Conference

April 1, 1957<br /><br />
<br /><br />
The Rev. Maynard Catchings<br /><br />
291 Broadway<br /><br />
New York City<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Dear Maynard:<br /><br />
Do you have any good New England students who would volunteer to do a short hitch on the Southern front? I have just returned from Koinonia Farms and was distressed to learn that one of their greatest needs at present is for some relief in keeping watch at night. A small group of Haverford College students were passing through and kept watch the night I was there and it was appreciated so very much.<br /><br />
Of course, such students should be fully informed as to the situation there and the dangers involved. They would also have to be committed to the non-violent approach. It occurred to me that this would be a great experience for some young existentialists who know the Southern struggle only from the press.<br /><br />
I will not push this, Maynard. Maybe it is a crazy idea. But If you have small groups on various campuses who could take a couple of nights each for a few weeks it would be a great relief for the residents of Koinonia and a terrific witness for the students. If you want more information on it let me know.<br /><br />
Are you coming to the Conference on Christian Faith and Human Relations in Nashville April 23-25? If you can make it we should like very much to have you stay with us while you are here. Let me know.<br /><br />
Cordially yours,<br /><br />
Will D. Campbell<br />

Letter, Will D. Campbell to Rev. Maynard Catchings asking for student volunteers to keep watch at Koinonia Farm

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