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Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive:

Freedom Summer Incident Summary by City or County

Pete Seeger and a Freedom School class in 1964





Aug. 7: An integrated group was refused service at Tom's Restaurant and Elkin Theater.

Aug. 9: Two or three canisters of tear gas were found on the lawn of Freedom House. Local police arrived and removed the canisters before fingerprints could be taken by the FBI.

Aug. 10: Two local African-American voter registration workers were stopped and given speeding tickets after they and approximately 20 other African-Americans attempted to integrate the downstairs section of the Elkins movie theater. They were driving 25 mph in a 30 mph zone. CDC lawyer, Abe Weitzman, and law student, Richard Wheelock, were harassed as they observed the integration attempt. They were stopped and questioned by police and their car was kicked by local white citizens. Weitzman and Wheelock were followed to Columbus by a police car and a carload of whites. A third local African-American who participated in integration attempt was ticketed for having improper lights even though his lights were in working order.

Aug. 11: Joel Bernard, a white volunteer, was attacked by a local white man while engaged in voter registration canvassing. Bernard was with a local African-American filling out a Freedom Registration form when a white man drove up in pick up truck and questioned him about what he was doing. Bernard was struck to the ground and punched several times. He managed to break away, and was searching for a telephone when a police car passed. While he was explaining the incident to the police, his attacker - who had been following in his truck - came out and began threatening him once again. Bernard was taken to the police station for questioning, was refused use of the telephone, and was refused an escort back to the office. He sustained bruises and a grazed arm.

Aug. 12:Potential African-American registrants were taken to the courthouse and found it closed. Officials there said the registrar was sick and there was no deputy registrar to aid them.

Aug. 14:Elkins Theater closed down rather than integrate. There were two previous failed integration attempts on August 6th and August 11th.

Aug. 14:Twenty-four voter registration workers waited outside the courthouse the night before as local African-American volunteer, Leon Smith, was tried for a traffic violation. As the civil rights workers waited outside, a large group of whites carrying baseball bats gathered around the courthouse. Local volunteer, Sammy Bets, tried to attend the trial and was subsequently fired from his job for an unknown reason. His white employer was in the crowd of whites outside the courthouse last night.

Aug. 14:Three local voter registration workers were given traffic tickets as they drove home from a registration meeting last night. It was the third time this week that this form of harassment has been used by police.


Aug. 25:Three young African-American voter registration workers, Adair Howell, Andrew Moore and Essie Carr, were arrested as they canvassed for potential registrants. The trio saw police coming and went to one of their homes. Police entered the home and arrested the workers. They were charged with disturbing the peace and forcing an African-American woman to sign the registration form. Local officials denied knowledge of the whereabouts of the workers after their arrest. Howell and Moore were located by the FBI in Amory City jail. They were held under $100 bond each. Miss Carr was released to the custody of her parents.


Aug. 11:Two local African-American civil rights workers, Louis Grant and Bob Wright, were arrested while handing out leaflets advertising Freedom Day in Rolling Fork. The leaflets urged voter registration. (Bond was later set at $200 on an anti-littering charge.)




June 27:A local person helping voter registration received an obvious harassment ticket for illegal parking outside the courthouse.

June 28:There was a report of a local African-American man who was beaten and went missing.

July 2:Panola County Sheriff Carl Hubbard detained several persons that were housing civil rights workers and spent most of night in the courtyard where many workers were living.

July 4:A volunteer and a local worker were chased 30 miles by an unidentified car.

July 14:A movie theater that had an upstairs area for African-Americans only offered admission to whites.

July 18: Eight people were detained one and one half hours by the sheriff who was trying to find out if there is a state ordinance against the passing out of leaflets. The statute was not found and the people were released into a crowd of whites standing about. A local volunteer was hit hard in the jaw by a white man.

July 19:Town marshals threatened volunteers at a mass meeting in Crowder, a town 13-15 miles away.

July 26: A tear gas bomb exploded behind the home that five civil rights workers were living in, forcing the occupants to leave. The Sheriff and a deputy arrived approximately 30 minutes later, found the grenade still hot, and handled it a good deal so that the FBI found it covered with police fingerprints.

July 27:Precinct and county meetings were held.

July 31: Three shots were fired the night before last at an African-American home where five volunteers were staying. On July 26, this same home was bombed with tear gas. A local white had reportedly threatened to kill the homeowner if he did not oust the volunteers.

Aug. 3:SNCC project director, Charles Weaver, and summer volunteer, Benjamin Graham, were arrested while trying to get names of 25 potential African-American voter registrants lined up outside the courthouse. Weaver was arrested while talking with another volunteer who had been ordered out of the courthouse by the registrar. Graham was arrested when he inquired what police were doing to Weaver. Both were charged with interfering with an officer. (The registrar was under federal injunction to facilitate registration).


June 26: Three people were arrested for disturbing the peace. Two were released without charges while the third was held on $100 bond.

Aug. 21:Police cars followed voter registration workers continuously, surrounding them at every house at which they stopped. Four to five cars of local white citizens also followed the workers. That morning, police Chief Nichols reportedly told workers to get out of town and that he was planning to bomb the house. The day before Nichols entered the house for a second time without a warrant. He said the house is a public place and that a warrant is unnecessary. The house was located about one block outside city limits. That evening three voter registration workers were surrounded for several hours by 12 truckloads of armed whites as they sat in Wimpy's Cafe. A crowd gathered as workers stopped at a filling station just inside city limits. The workers entered the cafe to report the situation to the Greenwood SNCC office. The sheriff closed the cafe after discussing it with the owner. One local African-American citizen was reportedly hit on the side of the head with a blackjack.


June 29:Civil rights volunteers in the White Community Program were turned away from a local hotel.

July 12:A volunteer was picked up while canvassing and informed of complaints by local residents. The volunteer was later released.

July 15:Two people were arrested in a traffic harassment case.

July 19:A voter registration worker was chased and threatened by two men in a pick-up truck.

July 19:A White Community Project worker was arrested for trespassing in a white restaurant where he had worked for one day. The owner had discovered he was a civil rights worker and turned him in to police when he went back to the restaurant for work.

Aug. 12:The rental of a local store for a precinct meeting was cancelled by the store's owner when a SNCC poster was put up.

Brandon (Rankin Co.):

June 21:A molotov cocktail exploded in the basement of Sweet Rest Church of Christ's Holiness. A fire broke out, causing minor damage to the Church.

June 22:An African-American youth was killed in a hit and run accident.

July 31:Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church was burned to ground the night before. The fire department came to the scene and left before the fire was put out, stating they had been called too late. A butane tank was found buried next to church. The FBI began to investigate the arson.

Aug. 12:St. Matthews Baptist Church was burned to the ground the night before. A fire department spokesman told the Associated Press that the department was unable to stop the fire.


July 11:Pleasant Plan Missionary Baptist Church burned to the ground. Whites had sought to buy it, but the Arfican-Americans would not sell it.




June 24:A civil rights car was hit by a bullet.

June 26:Two volunteers were picked up by police and told that all out of town visitors must register with them. The volunteers registered and were released.

June 28:Threatening phone calls were made throughout the night before.

July 2:The local police turned on their sirens and played music on loudspeakers near COFO office and then failed to answer phone calls complaining of the disturbance.

July 11:A small firebomb was thrown at the Freedom House lawn.

July 11:A volunteer was arrested on traffic charges while delivering freedom school books.

July 12:Two summer volunteers and a visitor were refused admission to First Methodist Church. Volunteers had been welcomed a week earlier.

July 14:A man was threatened with job loss if he continued to attend Freedom School. He stayed in Freedom School regardless of the threat.

July 14:Three white men pursued five civil rights workers in a car en route to their home.

July 16:Volunteers reported that they were beaten by police the night before following an arrest with a truck carrying freedom registration supplies, books, and other miscellaneous materials. Bond was set at $150 each.

July 23:A white volunteer and an African-American CORE staff member were harassed by a group of white men while canvassing for voter registration. The workers were on the porch of some potential African-American registrants when the group of whites drove up. The CORE staffer was struck five times with a wooden cane by one of the whites.

July 25: The first MFDP county convention adopted a resolution of loyalty to the principles of the National Democratic Party for strong and enforceable civil rights plank in its platform. Approximately 300 people attended. 102 of them were voting delegates elected by precincts.

July 26:The Church Council of Canton voted in June to keep all summer civil rights workers from attending services. One Presbyterian Church took exception and admitted volunteers until this day, when two white volunteers were turned away by three white men who told the volunteers that they had caused too much dissension in church. At a Methodist Church four white volunteers were refused attendance for the third week in a row. As they left the church a group assembled around their car and shoved them into it, slamming the door with such force the window cracked. Their car was followed to its destination by a pick-up truck.

July 27:Upon arrival at the bus station, five National Council of Churches ministers were threatened by seven local whites. When ministers tried to leave the station in a car with two local African-American housewives, their car was trapped in a narrow alley for two hours. One local white stopped his car in front of them, the other stopped in rear of the vehicle. Separate crowds of 100 whites and 50 African-Americans gathered. A local African-American alerted CORE staff who sent a pick-up truck to the scene and persuaded the local sheriff to let the ministers drive out of alley.

Aug. 1:Six civil rights workers, five white and one African-American, were jailed after handing out Freedom Registration forms in downtown Canton.

Aug. 2:A shot was fired from a car passing approximately 50 feet from Freedom House.

Aug. 9:In White America was produced that night by the Free Southern Theatre.

Aug. 10:In White America was presented that night by the Free Southern Theatre.

Aug. 13:An 18 year-old Gluckstadt Freedom School student was arrested for alleged reckless driving and attempting to run Constable Bruno Holly off the road. The Gluckstadt Freedom School site was burned to ground two days before the incident.

Aug. 14:A bullet was fired at the Freedom House at approximately 10 p.m. from a passing car. There were no injuries or apparent damage. The police came immediately upon being informed and were cooperative with those at the Freedom House.

Aug. 20:At 1:30 a.m. a pick-up truck drove into the driveway of the Freedom House. A local African-American citizen saw a "third light" inside the truck in addition to two headlights. When the truck's occupants noticed all the observers they quickly drove off and were reportedly observed trying to put out a fire in the bed of the truck. When witnesses got to the street, they found a broken gallon jug with oily rags sticking out at the top.

Aug. 26:Registration worker George Johnson was shot at three times on his way to the Freedom House. He was approximately three blocks from the house when a car pulled up from behind and fired three shots from approximately 500 feet away. Johnson identified the car as a police car since it was equipped with a searchlight and a red warning light on top. Johnson, who both heard the shots and saw the flash of the bullets, ducked into nearby bushes and sought shelter in a local house. Approximately 10 minutes later he started back to Freedom House down another street and stated that he saw "the same police car which came past me at 50 or 60 miles per hour, shining its spotlight on me." Johnson entered another local home for refuge. Late the week before Johnson, in response to Canton CORE office policies, registered with the police as a civil rights worker and gave the Freedom House as his home address.


July 31:Rev. Edward K. Heininger, a NCC volunteer, and summer volunteer, John Polacheck, were brutally beaten in the office of Dr. Thaggard Sr. in Madden. Polacheck had gone to the clinic the day before for medical treatment, but left when he was told to go to the African-American waiting room. (He was white). He came back with the minister, and both were met in the waiting room by the doctor who began berating Heininger for his civil rights work. While they were talking, Heininger was hit from behind. Polacheck estimated that between 5 and 10 men beat them for approximately 5 minutes. Heininger reported that the doctor pushed him from the front into the punches of his assailants. Heininger was knocked unconscious and suffered severe injuries to the left eye with possible internal injuries, severe lacerations on the scalp and face, contusions on the back of the neck, a bad cut on his left ear, and swelling of the mouth and lips with possible injury to the gums. Polacheck got to their car, parked outside the clinic and pulled in the minister, who was on his back outside the car. One of several whites standing around the car grabbed the keys. A deputy sheriff arrived, handcuffed Heininger and Polacheck, and jailed them for disturbing the peace. The doctor had reported they had used profanity. They were released on cash bond of $100 each after being brought to the station in an unofficially marked pick-up truck and car. Their trial was set for Aug. 27.


Aug. 12:Twenty-four African-Americans attempted to register at Tallahatchie County Courthouse the day before. Approximately 93 armed whites gathered to intimidate them. Cars and trucks with guns prominently displayed were double and triple parked in front of the courthouse. Potential registrants were able to take the test quickly as the registrar was under federal injunction to cease discrimination. The sheriff was also under federal injunction restraining him from intimidating African-American applicants.


June 22:Four volunteers were arrested on vagrancy charges while engaged in voter registration work. The volunteers were held 3 1/2 hours and released.

June 23:A local pastor and civil rights leader was arrested for recklessness and drunk driving. He was not a drinker.

July l:A pickup-truck tried to run down a SNCC worker and volunteer. The license plate was hidden.

July 4:A local manager said African-Americans going to the courthouse would be discharged: "I have a large contract with the head of the White Citizens' Council, and I'm not going to lose thousands of dollars for one of you."

July 6:A station wagon played "chicken" with civil rights workers going home.

July 7:The sheriff insulted and threatened a white minister driving an integrated car.

July 8: There was a bomb threat called in to the Freedom House.

July 8:The police chief in Lafayette told African-American cafes not to serve civil rights volunteers.

July 9: A civil rights volunteer was arrested for taking pictures in a court room. The photos were taken in the hall after the police chief sprayed room deodorant on two girls.

July 9:The police chief visited an office when another white man came to turn off electricity.

July 10:Chairs were removed from the local library and several young National Association for the Advancement of Colored People members were refused service at two restaurants.

July 11:An NAACP member testing the segregation of a barber shop was driven out of the shop at gun-point.

July 13:An African-American volunteer was chased out of a white laundromat and picked up by police for failure to signal a turn. The volunteer was taken to jail and beaten. The volunteer was charged with resisting arrest and was released on $64 bond.

July 13:The chief voter registrar closed the courthouse for several days. The stated reason was that court was in session and there was no time for registration.

July 13:The owner of the electric company had a project leader pointed out to him, then threatened the project leader by showing him his knife.

July 15:Another traffic arrest was made. The charge was an improper turn.

July 20:Three female workers of the newly formed Clarksdale Youth Action Group were arrested for trespassing outside a local cafe in the African-American section of town.

July 21:A volunteer was arrested for running a red light and paid a fine.

July 21:One hundred-sixty people attended precinct meetings of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

July 25:A bottle was thrown through an office window the night before.

Aug. 3:A white Church of Christ minister and white summer volunteer were refused admission to the white Church of Christ. Church members felt they were exploiting the church.

Aug. 17:Franklin Delano Roosevelt III was arrested and fined for speeding while going 25 mph in 35 mph zone. Roosevelt had been doing research on a project to bring aid to civil rights workers.

Aug. 20:Medical Committee for Human Rights physicians, Richard Moore and Les Hoffman, were arrested for loitering while in their car was outside the Freedom House. They were released on $16 bond each. The trial was set for August 21st.


July 16:On Freedom Day, 25 to 30 people picketed without incident. About 20 of them were from the Shaw group register. More than 50 people from other communities came, 30 of them registered. The process was slow but polite. Ten regular and 45 auxiliary police allowed only those registering or picketing on courthouse grounds.

Aug. 4: Fifty potential African-American registrants lined up at the courthouse, accompanied by 13 civil rights workers. African-Americans were admitted one by one at 45 minute intervals. Leaflets were given to them without incident. However when civil rights workers moved across the street, all 13 were arrested for distributing pamphlets among pedestrians. Charges were based on an anti-litter ordinance. Bond was set for $300 each.

Aug. 4:A car with 3 or 4 armed whites circled the house of a local female volunteer between midnight and 1 a.m. and parked 100 yards from her home.

Aug. 11:A preliminary hearing was held on the fatal shooting of 60 year-old African-American, Neimiah Montgomery, by Officer Leonard Yarborrow of the Marigold police force. Montgomery had been shot by Yarborrow the day before. Witnesses testified that Montgomery went berserk soon after he drove into the station, when an attendant asked to be paid. Montgomery reportedly ran across the highway to his trailer and got a hammer, then threatened to kill a woman. The service station attendant got an axe handle, and he and Montgomery struggled for it. Officer Yarborrow arrived and reportedly tried to subdue Montgomery. The officer shot him twice, both bullets going into his heart. This was declared justifiable homicide while acting in line of duty.

Aug. 13:A local African-American reported that Willie Carter, another African-American Cleveland resident, was offered $20 by Shaw Chief of Police W.H. Griffin to get rid of three local African-Americans: Elijah Smith, Aaron German, and Charles Bond. These three locals were active in voter registration activity. Carter reportedly accepted the offer, but a second man reported the incident to COFO.


June 26:The Church of the Holy Ghost was a site of arson. Kerosene was spilled on the floor and lit after a local white pastor spoke to an African-American bible class. This was the fifth firebombing in ten days.


June 24:Forty M1 rifles and 1,000 rounds of ammunition were stolen from the National Guard armory.


June 26:Seven voter registration workers were arrested for distributing literature without a city permit. Bond was set at $400 each.

June 29:Six carloads of whites drove up on the lawn of the Freedom House. Five fled before the police arrived. Police questioned and released two men in the sixth car.

June 29:Restaurants serving volunteers were threatened with violence.

July 3:Police impounded a volunteer's car and claimed it was stolen, because the transfer papers were not notarized.

July 5:A St. Louis (Mo.) African-American en route to a funeral was beaten by whites who mistook him for a Freedom Rider. He was fined $75.

July 8:Three volunteers were arrested on trespassing charges after stopping at a gas station for a soft drink. There was friendly conversation there until the attendant said, "You boys should be on the road." They left immediately. The attendant filed charges. Bail was set at $500 to $1000 each.

July 19:Two voter registration workers were detained in jail in Aberdeen for four hours after being picked up as suspicious strangers and refusing to be driven out of town and were left on the highway by police.

Aug. 3:Police arrested an African-American volunteer for driving without a license and charged a SNCC project director with allowing him to do so. Bail was set at $300 and $100, respectively.

Aug. 13:Summer volunteer, Ron Bridgeforth, had gone to the courthouse to pay a parking fine. He refused to be photographed and fingerprinted and was jailed at Starkville. Bond was set at $500.

Aug. 14:Local voter registration volunteer, John Luther Bell, was one of three outstanding students selected as delegates to the Freedom School convention in Meridian. He was arrested while canvassing for potential African-American registrants. Bell was jailed at nearby West Point on charges of larceny and disturbing the peace.

Aug. 14:LCDC Attorney, Tom Connelly, was arrested on charges of reckless driving after a pick-up truck rammed into his parked car. Local white citizen, Travis Hamilton, ran his truck into Connelly's car, smashing the door and shattering a window. Passenger and law student, Richard Wheeler, was cut on the arm by flying glass. Connelly was released after several hours on $110 bond. As Connelly was being driven home from the District Attorney's office by summer volunteer, Steve Fraser, their car was met by a highway patrol roadblock. Fraser was given a ticket for improper license.

Aug. 24:Rev. Cluke Arden and white volunteer, Bruce Amundson, were turned away yesterday from a Lutheran Church after being questioned at length by the minister and church elders. Amundson was asked to apologize for having brought an African-American to the church the previous Sunday.

Aug. 25:A group of 30 African-American, high school students were followed by six police cars, one containing the sheriff and a police dog, as they walked to a voter registration meeting the previous night. Police remained outside the meeting for over 2 hours and later returned to the cafe where the group had first gathered. Police entered the cafe and told students who had just returned from the meeting that they were to go home.




June 27:A highway patrol officer killed a 34 year-old African-American with a history of mental illness. The mother asked to see the body, but the police ordered the woman to go away. The death was ruled justifiable homicide 17 hours later.


July 21: Three African-American youths in the company of a white volunteer were picked up and held for investigation at Club 400 by police. The volunteer was later arrested for having improper tags. The African-American youths were released on bond of an unknown amount.


June 24:Thirty volunteers and staff engaged in voter registration met open hostility from whites. The crowd of white citizens' were in possession of weapons.

July 14: The police chief and local citizens protested an Albuquerque Journal article based on a volunteer's letter home. The volunteer said the letter was edited.

July 14: Police picked up James Dann for distributing literature without a permit. Later seven people were arrested for distributing literature without a permit and blocking the sidewalk. Bond was set at $100 - $200.

July 15: Twenty-five people were arrested for willfully and unlawfully using the sidewalks and the streets during a voter registration rally. The Citizens Council met at 9 a.m.

July 25:An affidavit was received from the parent of one of the African-American children arrested after a July 15th rally. The mayor and city attorney called a meeting of parents and told them defense would not be provided unless children signed a statement disavowing association with "the communists coming into town." According to the affidavit, the city attorney called Congressman Don Edwards (D Cal) a communist and said Edwards had been a secretary for Fidel Castro. A summer volunteer and rabbi were forcibly ejected from the room when they tried to attend the meeting.

July 30:An African-American SNCC volunteer and Ruleville, African-American volunteer were arrested in Drew for distributing leaflets for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party on public property without a permit. The total bond for the two was $600.

Aug. 25:Law student, Len Edwards, made a U-turn at a speed of 5 miles per hour and was arrested for reckless driving after being followed by the local police chief.


June 25:A civil rights worker's car was stopped on the highway for repairs. The driver was charged with illegal parking and paid a $60 bond.

July 23: A volunteer was assailed today while canvassing for voter registration. Two white men approached him and asked what it would take to get him out of town. The volunteer replied he was not quite ready to leave. After approximately 10 minutes of talk, one man punched him. The men left after several minutes of blows.




June 20:The police and local citizens ordered an SNCC worker out of his house. He fled, but when his car was recovered two days later, his camera, food, and personal documents were missing.




Aug. 11: Mt. Pleasant Church in Gluckstadt burned to ground the night before. It had been used daily as a Freedom School site. Within minutes after leaving the site white volunteer, Jim Ohls, was arrested for reckless driving.


June 25:There was a demonstration at the federal building. No harassment was reported.

June 30:A report says that on June 19th an African-American porter at Greenville General Hospital was beaten by a policeman with billy club. The porter was charged with resisting arrest and disturbing the peace.

July 5:Local citizens tested several restaurants to see if they were following new desegregation laws. The eating places were closed either before or after testing.

July 16:On Freedom Day one hundred-one people took the test, but 100 more came too late. No arrests were made.

July 20:Nine shots were fired at a car that workers used to attend a mass meeting. Two workers were threatened by the white mob who said they would form at the place where the workers were staying.

July 22:A local African American was arrested for forgery while passing out voter registration leaflets with several other local citizens. After being questioned about civil rights activity, he was released for lack of evidence on the forgery charge.

July 29:Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party precinct meetings took place.

Aug. 2:A county meeting and a meeting of the MFDP took place.

Aug. 24:Law student, Len Edwards, and three LCDC lawyers were refused a room after having made a prior reservation at Holiday Inn. The manager saw an African-American in their car.


July 17:A white summer volunteer was harassed by three white men while putting up a voter registration poster.


June 26:The Freedom House received a harassing phone call saying "You'd better not go to sleep or you won't get up" .

June 26:A voter registration worker was picked up by police and released after questioning.

June 27:Several phone harassments and a bomb threat were documented.

July 3:Three visiting Congressmen witnessed voter registration and called it discriminatory.

July 3:Two tagless cars drove continually past the Freedom House office.

July 6:A harassment call was received that stated "I just shot one of your workers..."

July 7: Six young students picketing the jailhouse and three others were arrested.

July 9:A local insurance salesman slugged a volunteer during a voter canvas. The salesman then followed the volunteer and beat him again.

July 10:A SNCC staff member was arrested on a public profanity charge. A policeman overheard him say, "We've got to get some damn organization in our office". Bail was set at $15.

July 11:A local African-American woman accompanied by two volunteers was hit in the chest by a white man. There was no police cooperation in getting assailants.

July 12:A bomb threat was documented.

July 16:On Freedom Day there were 111 arrests, including 13 juveniles. The group included 98 adults, 9 of which were SNCC staff and 13 volunteers.

July 16:Silas McGhee, a local resident, was picked up by three whites, forced to enter the cab of their pick-up truck at gun-point and was beaten with a pipe and a plank. The incident occurred just after he left the FBI office. McGhee returned to the FBI office and agents took him to the hospital. He had been active in attempts to integrate the theatre.

July 17: Fifteen staff and volunteers were on a hunger strike until they were let out of jail. They had been there since they were arrested during massive freedom day arrests.

July 17:Greenwood and Drew mass arrest cases had been removed to Federal court and bond reduced to $200 out of state and $100 for residents.

July 19:Mass arrest victims were still at the city jail and county farm. There were no visiting privileges at the Farm. Among those at the Farm was a 78 year-old man who was in need of medicine.

July 20: Both barrels of a shotgun were fired at a worker's car.

July 20:The trial of the mass arrest victims was held despite the filing of a petition to remove the case to federal courts. Defendants remained mute on the basis of violation of constitutional rights. They were convicted of the violation of picket law and were sentenced 30 days, and a $100 fine.

July 21:The windows of three African-American cafes were broken. The windows of a volunteer's car were also broken.

July 25:Ten to 15 workers handing out Freedom Registration forms prompted at least three incidents: 1) SNCC worker Eli Zeretsky was approached by three whites who took his clip board from him and tore up the forms. Police stood by and refused to act unless Zeretsky knew the assailants' names and filed a complaint with a judge; 2) White volunteer, Adam Kline, was jumped from behind and hit on the head. Police refused aid him; 3) Volunteer, William Hodes, was threatened by local whites in the presence of police who refused to make an arrest and refused to give the names of the citizens involved so that a complaint could be filed.

July 25: A shot was fired at the home of Silas McGhee, the young man whose beating in the local movie theater prompted the first arrests under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

July 26:Silas McGee, the young man whose July 16 beating led to first arrests under civil rights act, and his brother Jake were mobbed by 150, 200 whites as they left the theater and were walking to their car. Jake was hit repeatedly by the whites. Both received cuts and abrasions of the face and shoulders and glass in their eyes when a coke bottle was thrown through the car window. Both were treated at LeFlore Co. Hospital, then trapped there with SNCC staff members until 1 a.m. as cars of armed whites blocked all roads leading out of the hospital. The FBI, local police, highway patrol, and sheriff's department refused protection out of the hospital until 1 a.m. After more than three hours of waiting behind locked doors, the sheriff followed SNCC staff and McGee's cars to their destinations.

July 27:A brick was thrown through the window of an African-American barbershop in the neighborhood where Freedom Registration was held.

July 31: Silas McGhee and a summer volunteer were arrested for driving with improper vehicle licenses. Both cars had temporary 7 day Tennessee license tags. An African-American, SNCC worker reported the arrests to the Greenwood office over a car radio and was arrested for resisting arrest. Total bond was set at $200.

Aug. 1:Two local African-American volunteers were arrested for disorderly conduct in front of a store belonging to police officer Henderson, who dragged a pregnant African-American woman over the pavement during a Freedom Day demonstration. At the police station, officers twisted one volunteer's arms behind him, kicked him, shoved his head three times against a concrete wall. They hit him in the mouth with a stick, shoved and kicked him into a cell, kicked him 7 more times after he fell to floor and refused him a doctor. Bail was originally set at $50 each. A white volunteer was arrested the same night on an African-American business street. He was treated roughly by police during the arrest. Officers pushed, kicked and stamped on his feet at the station. The FBI visited him within minutes of his confinement to ask if he had been beaten. Bond was originally set at $100. When SNCC workers arrived to bail out all three, they discovered bond had been raised to $200 each. All three were bailed out.

Aug. 2:A summer volunteer was arrested on a Justice of the Peace warrant for assault with a deadly weapon. The arrest was apparently connected with the breaking of a window in a store owned by police officer Henderson. The volunteer was not near store but had been calling the jail all night to obtain information on the other arrests. She was held for four hours and released on $1,000 bond.

Aug. 2:Annie Lee Turner, the pregnant 15 year-old, African-American whom Officer Henderson reportedly dragged across the pavement during Freedom Day, was arrested while among a group of local youth gathered in front of Henderson's store. Henderson came and ordered them to disperse. He reportedly dragged Mrs. Turner to a waiting police car. She was held on $50 bond for disturbing the peace. A police blockade, with tear gas equipment, was maintained at Henderson's store for 2 hours

Aug. 2:A local resident was arrested today while in his front yard. He reported that a police car drove by and an officer made obscene gestures. The African-American laughed, the car backed up, and the man was arrested for profanity. Bond was set at $50.

Aug. 2:Shortly after midnight four shots were fired at the SNCC office from a passing car.

Aug. 3:A white volunteer was arrested on a John Doe warrant for assault and battery. The arrest stemmed from his participation in the Freedom Registration Drive. An elderly white man with a limp came up while the volunteer was distributing FDP registration forms Aug.1 and stepped on his foot. He asked if the volunteer wanted to "punch me in the face." The volunteer did not reply. He was picked up across the street from Greenwood SNCC office. Two police officers, one with a club, served the warrant and grabbed him. He was held on $100 bond. (This was the 8th arrest in Greenwood that weekend. At least three of the previous arrests involved extensive police brutality at the jail.)

Aug. 12:Six local African-American youths were arrested while singing in front of Doris' store in Baptist Town. At least one youth was beaten. A doctor and nurse were dispatched to the jail. The charges are unknown.

Aug. 13: A production of In White America took place.

Aug. 14:White, female owners of a grocery store open-fired on a crowd of 75,100 African-American picketers. Their "Happy Day" store had been the object of a civil rights boycott for the past several days. There were no injuries reported. Police arrived shortly after the shooting and dispersed picketers.

Aug. 15:SNCC staffer, Jesse Harris, was arrested for disturbing the peace. An arrest was made under a warrant presumably in connection with a boycott that was currently in operation against several stores.

Aug. 15: Silas McGhee was shot in the face as he sat in his car outside Lulu's restaurant. McGhee was alone in the car when a shot was fired by a white man in a passing car. He was rushed to University Hospital in Jackson in critical condition. McGhee was initially brought to Leflore Hospital. The staff was reportedly unable to remove the bullet, which entered through the left side of the face near the temple and lodged near the left side of the throat. Two SNCC staffers were refused admittance to the hospital because they were not wearing shirts; they had taken off their shirts to help stop McGhee's bleeding.

Aug. 18:Jake McGhee, the younger brother of Silas, was arrested for a traffic violation. His mother, Mrs. Laura McGhee, was hit in the chest by a desk sergeant when she went to pay the fine. Mrs. McGhee hit the officer in the nose, and the officer went for his gun. Greenwood staff members, George Greene and Ed Rudd, held the policeman's hand until another officer came in and calmed him down. Jake was fined $100 for having an improper license and for impersonation. A warrant was issued for Mrs. McGhee's arrest for assaulting a police officer.


July 23:A SNCC staff member was arrested for speeding.


July l:Police threatened to hurt the children of a lady housing civil rights workers. The workers planned to move elsewhere.

July 2:Two voter registration workers were threatened. A man grabbed a volunteer's shirt and threatened him. The workers ran.

July 9:Four people were arrested for refusing to leave the local people and cross the street on police orders as they neared the court house. They were held on $500 bond for violating the anti-picketing law.

July 9:Police urged a volunteer to leave for his own protection, or face charges of inciting a riot

July 15:A civil rights worker was arrested for putting posters on a telephone pole. This act supposedly violated a city ordinance. Bond was set at $50.

July 27:Precinct meetings were held.

July 29:A county and MFDP meeting was held.

July 30: A local African-American volunteer was forced into a car at gunpoint the previous night. The man was blindfolded and taken into a room at a location that he supposed was Biloxi. Five men questioned him at length about COFO activities The men offered to pay him well for information about people and organizations who contacted COFO. He was not injured or molested, except for one man repeatedly poking him with a gun. FBI investigated.

Aug. 5:There was a Free Southern Theater production of In White America.

Aug. 6:In White America, a Free Southern Theater production, played at Freedom Schools.

Aug. 17:Volunteer, Steve Miller, was badly beaten by a passing white man as he left Carnegie Library. Miler sustained severe bruises on his jaw, head, and right temple. He also suffered from amnesia. A county police officer arrived at the scene but left without providing any aid. A taxi refused to take him to the hospital. Civil rights workers arrived at the hospital with Miller about one hour after the beating. They waited another two hours for a doctor. The assailant walked by a police officer and bragged about his crime. The workers went to the city police, who refused to take action for lack of complaint. A warrant was filed by one of the witnesses that the assailant had swung at but not hit. Miller was not capable of filing a warrant. The sheriff's office investigated.

Aug. 18:The man who beat volunteer, Steve Miller, was arrested and charged with assault. Gulfport resident , James Robert Thomas, was released on $200 bond. Thomas had only been charged with assault as a warrant against him was filed by Miller's companion Charles Wheeler, who was not hit. Miller swore out a warrant when able.

Aug. 21:Local African-American, Aaron Jones, was arrested while handing out leaflets announcing a performance by a caravan of music folksingers. Jones was in Juvenile Court custody on a delinquency charge.

Aug. 24:Local African-American voter registration worker, John Handy, was arrested for disturbing the peace and held on $300 bond. The arrest came a few hours after Handy spoke with African-Americans outside Henderson's store in Greenwood, which had been boycotted for more than six weeks. The owner, a Greenwood police officer, dragged a pregnant African-American woman across the pavement on Freedom Day. When Handy stopped outside store, Henderson told him a warrant would be issued for his arrest. (Charges were dropped August 25th).

Aug. 24:Four African-American voter registration workers, Luther Adams, Clifton Johnson, Jonnie Campbell, and Charles Wheeler, were refused service at Albrught and Wood Drug store. They were served water and asked to leave.

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