Report of Operator #79

Title

Report of Operator #79

Source

Paul B. Johnson Family Papers, M191, Box 135, Folder 9, Historical Manuscripts, Special Collections, The University of Southern Mississippi Libraries

Date

1964-05-15

Rights

Copyright not evaluated.

Language

En

Files

First page of a letter from operator number 79, a person and who was undercover for the Mississippi state sovereignty commission. The letter is dated Thursday, March 14, 1964 from Jackson, Mississippi. The letter is on blue paper with Black ink and has the word copy in large red letters across the report.<br />
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The letter reads: report of operator number 79 regarding special report.<br />
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I was checked out by the members of COSO. At first they stayed a distance from me until they were sure I was OK and could be useful to them.<br />
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I found the officers in a mess with papers line all around. Many of the members were typewriters even though most were not trained to typists.<br />
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Jesse Myers, C/M, seem to be the head of the group. I was directed to him to be given a job with this group. Jesse Myers needed a haircut and was not wearing any socks. His clothes needed cleaning. All of the members looked very sloppy including the white and Negro girls.<br />
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They all seemed depressed and were reluctant to make conversation, even with one another. The work that was going on was very disorganized.<br />
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It was good news to Jesse that I was working and could feed myself, and had a car and a drivers license. He told me that the other members had all had trouble concerning their cars, and it has left COFO in terrible need for transportation.<br />
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COFO, I found, is also in need of sharp and depressed people who are willing to go out among the public.<br />
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Most of the members are from out of state. All of the paid members are from out of state.<br />
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At the bottom of the letter in red letters reads “this report is confidential and for your information only.“
This is the second page of the special report from operator number 79 of the Mississippi state sovereignty commission. It is dated May 14, 1964.<br />
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The second page reads:<br />
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One of their concerns was the rest of Larry Rubin, W/M, and Doug Smith, C/M. They have been arrested near Leland, Mississippi, after being caught hauling a trailer load of COFO literature that was to be used to set up a “freedom library“. Larry Rubin and Emmy Schrader were supposed to have operated the proposed library.<br />
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The members did not have money to eat good meals, so they eat candy, ice cream, etc. The members long greatly for cigarettes. They share the ones that they bombed from one another. They also share the food that they had. They try to wrap themselves in their work.<br />
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Casey Hayden, W/F, is one of the outspoken females of the group. Her dominating manner irritates the other females. She is about 5 foot 7 inches ,129 pounds and has brown hair. She is from New York.<br />
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I met Amy Schrader, AW/F. She is a very tall girl with brown hair, and weighs 150 pounds. Right off we were very good friends. She said that she was from Minnesota. She told me that she had been to Africa once, but had to come back. She told me that she had sold her typewriter and other belongings when she prepared to return.<br />
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She told me that she did not belong to any church and never had. She later said that she did not believe in God. Later she told me that Kruschev and President Johnson were working side-by-side to make the United States a better place for the black man.<br />
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I had noticed right off two pictures on the wall of the front office. One was of Kruschev and the other of Lenin.<br />
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At the bottom of the page it read bold letters reads “this report is confidential and for your information only.“
This is page 3 of the special report from operator number 79 of the Mississippi state sovereignty commission.<br />
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The page reads:<br />
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The staff members of COFO each have a booth or workspace where their work projects, paper, and literature are kept. The space that I saw the pictures was in the enclosed office in the front. This section of wall was divided into three booths.<br />
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Emmy and I spent the little money that I had for food, but when she could scrape up some money she would share hers with me. We once went to the Negro café next-door to the COFO office and drank beer until she got drunk.<br />
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The members sleep long until the day. About all of them are college drop outs. Some are drop outs from Tugaloo College. Emmy Schrader and Gwynn Gilian C/F are two such dropouts that I know of.<br />
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They stay up long into the wee hours of the morning. Some of the white man even sleep on the floor of the office.<br />
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The members have a housing problem. There is a house at 1708 Everett St. This is in the Jackson State College area. Nearly all of the females Negro and white are staying here. They call this the “freedom house“. Gwynn Guillian has a boy style haircut, is dark, 5‘3“, and 109 pounds. Another Negro member recently moved into the freedom house after a loan Negro man, armed with a pistol, broke into their apartment on the northwest side of town. The girls broke and ran from the apartment. One of the girls fell down the stairs and received bad bruises and a blackeye. This put fear into the hearts I have the girls, so now they try to stick together.<br />
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At the bottom of the page in red bold tight letters is the following statement “this report is confidential and for your information only.“
This is page 4 of the special report from operator number 79 written on May 14, 1964<br />
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Morale is very low. Emmy and Penny, both white females, have told me that they wished to get back to northern cities. They try hard to cheer each other up.<br />
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James Pittman, C/M, has a mental problem and it shows clearly. He becomes upset very quickly. The other members have a hard time keeping him calm, but they still try.<br />
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Some of the white males stay at the house with James Pittman. The address is 1606 Whitfield Mill Rd. The phone number is capital FL 3-5555.<br />
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I have heard Emmy and Nedra Winows, W/F, openly state that they were communists. I have heard most of the others imply it.<br />
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They are unruffled by the statement, “I am a communist.“ The theme of the group is “the New World.“ To them, this means when the black and white will walk together and communism is the rule.<br />
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I was reprimanded for making a joke using Kruschev As a subject. All of the staff are very well-versed on communism. They all read books about the fathers of communism. They can cite names, dates, and events as if they had been school. Emmy said that she was going to school me on communism, “because it was the government of the New World”. They say that the United States is bullying Cuba and should leave it alone. They say that the US should pull it’s troops out of Vietnam. They advocate nonviolence and say that capitalism will be buried.<br />
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I am not definitely sure of the source of money for the operation, but I will know tomorrow.<br />
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At the bottom of the page in bold red letters reads: this report is confidential and for your information only.

Citation

“Report of Operator #79,” Online Exhibits at Southern Miss, accessed March 28, 2024, https://usmspecialcollections.omeka.net/items/show/211.

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