Moses Moon Civil Rights Recordings 1963-1964: Washington, DC; late 1963, or August(OTN20_01)
Web Video Text Tracks Format (WebVTT)
WEBVTT
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[[choral singing and rhythmic clapping]]
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Chorus: [[singing]] Turn me around, turn me around, turn me around, ain't gonna let nobody
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turn me around. Keep on walking, keep on talking, marching up to freedom land.
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Soloist: Ain't gonna let [[??]]
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Chorus: Turn me around, turn me around, turn me around, ain't gonna let nobody
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turn me around, keep on walking, keep on talking, marching up to freedom land.
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Soloist: Ain't gonna let Mississippi
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Chorus: Turn me around, turn me around, turn me around, ain't gonna let Mississippi.
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Turn me around, keep on walking, keep on talking, marching up to freedom land.
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Soloist: Ain't gonna let Alabama
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Chorus: Turn me around, turn me around, turn me around, ain't gonna let Alabama.
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Turn me around, gonna keep on walking, keep on talking, marching up to freedom land.
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[[crowd noises]]
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Chorus: Light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it, let it shine
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This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: Oh, all in the jail house,
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, all in the jail house, I'm gonna let it, let it shine,
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All in the jail house, I'm gonna let it shine,
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let it shine, let it shine, let it shine,
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Soloist: Everywhere I go, lord
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, everywhere I go, lord, I'm gonna let it, let it shine,
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Everywhere I go, lord, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: Oh, all over Washington,
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, all over Washington, I'm gonna let it, let it shine,
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All over Washington, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: Oh, [[??]]
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, [[??]] I'm gonna let it, let it shine
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[[??]] I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: Oh, everywhere I go, Lord,
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, everywhere I go, Lord, I'm gonna let it, let it shine.
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Everywhere I go, Lord, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: My little light of freedom,
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, my little light of freedom, I'm gonna let it, let it shine.
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My little light of freedom, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: This little light of mine, Lord,
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, this little light of mine, Lord, I'm gonna let it, let it shine.
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This little light of mine, Lord, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: All over Mississippi,
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, all over Mississippi, I'm gonna let it, let it shine.
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All over Mississippi, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: This little light of mine, lord,
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, this little light of mine, lord, I'm gonna let it, let it shine.
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This little light of mine, lord, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: In this Citizen's Council,
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, in this Citizen's Council, I'm gonna let it, let it shine.
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Through this Citizen's Council, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: All [[??]] people,
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, all [[??]] people, I'm gonna let it, let it shine,
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All [[??]] people, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: All in the south of Georgia,
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, all in the south of Georgia, I'm gonna let it, let it shine.
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All in the south of Georgia, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: All in Alabama,
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, all in Alabama, I'm gonna let it, let it shine.
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All in Alabama, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Soloist: [[inaudible]]
Chorus: I'm gonna let it shine,
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Oh, shine shine shine shine, I'm gonna let it, let it shine.
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Shine shine shine shine, I'm gonna let it shine,
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Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
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Come go with me to that land, come go with me to that land, come go with me to that land
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Where I'm bound, where I'm bound.
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Come go with me to that land, come go with me to that land, come go with me to that land
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Where I'm bound.
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Soloist: No segregation!
Chorus: No segregation in that land, no segregation in that land, no segregation in that land,
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Where I'm bound, where I'm bound.
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No segregation in that land, no segregation in that land, no segregation in that land,
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Where I'm bound.
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There'll be freedom in that land, there'll be freedom in that land, there'll be freedom in that land,
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Where I'm bound, where I'm bound.
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There'll be freedom in that land, there'll be freedom in that land, there'll be freedom in that land,
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Where I'm bound.
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No more [[??]] in that land, no more [[??]] in that land, no more [[??]] in that land,
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where I'm bound, where I'm bound.
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No more [[??]] in that land, no more [[??]] in that land, no more [[??]] in that land,
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where I'm bound.
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No more "boy" in that land, no more "boy" in that land, no more "boy" in that land,
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where I'm bound, where I'm bound.
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No more "boy" in that land, no more "boy" in that land, no more "boy" in that land,
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where I'm bound.
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No more Charlie in that land, no more Charlie in that land, no more Charlie in that land,
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where I'm bound, where I'm bound.
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No more Charlie in that land, no more Charlie in that land, no more Charlie in that land,
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where I'm bound.
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No more [[??]] in that land, no more [[??]] in that land, no more [[??]] in that land,
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where I'm bound, where I'm bound.
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No more [[??]] in that land, no more [[??]] in that land, no more [[??]] in that land,
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where I'm bound, where I'm bound.
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Soloist: [[??]]
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{SPEAKER name= "Chorus"} No more jailhouse in that land, no more jailhouse in that land, no more jailhouse in that land,
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where I'm bound, where I'm bound.
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No more jailhouse in that land, no more jailhouse in that land, no more jailhouse in that land
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where I'm bound.
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Soloist: Go tell it on the mountain.
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Chorus: Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere.
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Go tell it on the mountain, to let my people go.
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Ooooo[vocalizing], let my people go. [[BGV]] [[inaudible]]
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Ooooo[vocalizing], let my people go. [[BGV]] [[inaudible]]
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Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere.
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Go tell it on the mountain, to let my people go.
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Ooooo[vocalizing], let my people go. [[BGV]] [[inaudible]]
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Ooooo[vocalizing], let my people go. [[BGV]] [[inaudible]]
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Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere.
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Go tell it on the mountain, to let my people go.
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Ooooo[vocalizing], let my people go. [[BGV]] [[inaudible]]
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Ooooo[vocalizing], let my people go. [[BGV]] [[inaudible]]
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Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere.
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Go tell it on the mountain, to let my people go.
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Ooooo[vocalizing], let my people go. [[BGV]] [[inaudible]]
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Ooooo[vocalizing], let my people go. [[BGV]] [[inaudible]]
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Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere.
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Go tell it on the mountain, to let my people go.
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Soloist: Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and (--)
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{Unknown Speaker} Watch that pull your mike out down there.
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Watch that pull your mike out down there [[??]].
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[[indistinct crowd noise]] Somebody's through the [[unintelligible]] Oh. Mic's on. Well, what did you do, pull the light out? There's no room. Well, that's all right, don't have to have it. [[laughter]] Stoker!
[SILENCE]
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People are still willing to help clean, because we have to have the chapel cleaned by tonight to go in the back,
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and the second announcement is, does anyone in here have a car that has jumpers in it?
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Does anyone have jumpers in their car? You got 'em? Your car is outside?
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[[unintelligible]]
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Oh, does anybody have a stick-shift car?
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The people who volunteered to clean the chapel,
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if we don't have any, there's some people who still volunteer — would like to help volunteer.
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Come on back.
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[[unintelligible]]
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Speaker in the background: Downstairs and up front
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[Crowd murmuring]
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Speaker in the background: I need about four or five people
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Crowd: Here we are! Speaker in the background: Alright!
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[[applause and cheering]]
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Man in background: That's just the foreman.
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Other man in background: Is he [in?] Man: yes he is
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[Crowd murmuring]
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Man: You ready to go? Other man: Yes sir
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[Crowd murmuring]
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Announcer:Now my friends
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[Crowd murmuring]
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Someone has to take- pull the mic out again down there [laughing]
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[Crowd Murmuring]
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Man: This one.
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[Crowd Murmuring]
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Man: We got that one in the wrong place
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[laughter]
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Man: yeah we got the right place
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It's not hooked up with it.
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[Crowd murmuring]
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Man: You put it in the wrong socket
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Yes but it [unintelligible]
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but out of love for our country and love for democracy
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and the desire to see it work
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[silence]
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for freedom... and all of us know by now
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that freedom and human equality is one of the most important things
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in life. The fact is, it is next to life in importance
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and sometimes it comes ahead of life in importance.
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James Forman: The fact is, what makes life worthwhile is the ability and opportunity
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to freely express it and exercise it
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within the confines of what seems to be right
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and helpful for the development of human beings.
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I believe it was a historical figure in the early days of
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our own government that said, in essence, that
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freedom is more important than life itself.
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Patrick Henry, who said "give me liberty or give me death".
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Many people have died for freedom.
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It is something that is very precious, and it must be purchased.
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It isn't given to us, we don't actually inherit it.
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We have to, even if we come into a climate where it exists before we were born, or before we begin to enjoy it,
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to take part in it, we have to defend it.
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We have to be constantly working to preserve it, and keep it.
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It is so precious until there is always somebody or something
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trying to take it away from us.
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So it's something that must be purchased.
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We've got to work for it,
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We- We've got to sometimes fight for it,
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and then when we get it, we've got to defend it to- in order to keep it.
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It costs very dearly,
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It costs tears, it costs blood, it costs life itself.
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And no one selfish, no selfish person,
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can engage in movements of this type
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You certainly have to be an unselfish person,
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A person who is not always expecting to enjoy what he is fighting for.
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FORMAN: But you must be thinking about those who've come after Him. And then another thing about movements of this kind and the freedom, purchase and the defense of freedom. It has always been true that the young must give themselves for it. Young men go to war. There is something in the Bible that sort of becks and supports young men for war. Old men for freedom. Old men for vision or advice and so on. It has always been true in the history of nations and clans and tribes that young people go out and fight for these high principles and millions of them have given their lives for it. And we do hope that no more will have to give their lives for freedom in this country, but certainly if it becomes necessary, it is worth it. And so, I am delighted to see so many young people here tonight who are interested in tomorrow. Who are interested in the world that is to be. Who believe in the world that we now have and believe it's so valuable, it's potentials are so great, it's outlook is so wonderful, that it is worth doing anything necessary within the bounds of right to defend it, to make it work, to preserve it, so that it may work, even after we are gone for our successors, for our children. And so, there are a number of persons of all ages throughout this country who have joined movements like this and who are giving their life service to it. We are happy to have you here tonight and there are going to be people on the program who've had experience and who have done some of the things that I have been talking about and saying to you. They have been giving their lives, they have been going to jail, they have been smoked on the other cheek, they have gone the second mile, and then they have been able to keep happy as you have been happy tonight. And that's evidence that there's no business in anybody's hearts. It's not hate that bring you together here, it's not dislike for your own nation and your own government, it's love for it, that we want to see it do the thing that it has pledged itself to do. We're going to ask you to bow your heads in a word of prayer and then we are going to proceed with the program as it is outlined.
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We come our Father in Heaven in thy presence, in this building that has been concentrated and sanctified by the prayers and sacrifices of thy servants across the years.
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It stands for the high ideals for which we are toiling and laboring for, and we pray thy blessings upon those who have gathered here tonight, the intents that are in their minds, in their hearts, and for the sweetness of their disposition, for the outward look of unselfishness beyond themselves, and to the world of tomorrow and the desire to do anything that is right and plausible to make this world a place worthy to live in.
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Those who oughta tell their stories tonight, we pray that (they) should get courage and inspiration by those of us who have listened, and they shall keep on giving leadership, and keep on pouring force tears and aches and pains and shames and embarrassment for the sake of a cause so noble, so righteous as that of freedom.
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These blessings we ask in the name of Jesus our Lord and savior. Amen.
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Now if Mr. Forman is here. Mr. James Forman who is the executive secretary of the movement itself (background noise and coughing), a man who has had a world of experience (that) we have been reading about in the newspaper. We have seen him, we have heard him. He is one of us and he is going to spend a few minutes in telling us his story and inspiring us. Mr. Forman.
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[[audience clapping]]
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SNCC Unidentified Speakers: I really do[[?]].
00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:21.000
[[audience clapping]]
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SNCC Unidentified Speakers: Um, I was scheduled to speak but you've heard me many times before.
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But I would like to do something tonight that I think is very important because this is a well-run conference
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and so often, um, we forget that it takes a lot of people to make these things work.
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And, you know, we're out on the field and we very seldom come together and communicate in the spirit of fellowship.
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And I think the people who have– who are responsible in many ways for what we have experienced here,
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what we've enjoyed, what we've learned, ought to come forward
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and that we should give them a round of applause.
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I'm speaking of Bill Mahoney, Bobby Ganseigh[[?]], who came up from Atlanta.
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She's been working up here.
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Mike Thelwell[[?]]. Bill will you come? Well at least come on up here,
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at least– We don't know who you are, some of the people in the audience.
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Is Bobby Ganseigh here?
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Because she's been working behind the scenes very, very diligently while we were coming on the buses.
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She was up all night along with, uh, Gene[[?]]. Is Gene[[?]] here?
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They're uh, see, they're out working now.
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But certainly we ought to give these four people and all the members of MAG[[?]] a great hand.
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[[audience clapping]]
00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:50.000
Um, we were very fortunate to have with us this afternoon
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:55.000
Miss Minnie Gene[[?]] Brown from Little Rock. And I think that sometimes
00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:01.000
we forget our own history and it's very important that we ourselves understand
00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:07.000
not only what has happened to our forefathers in the fields of Mississippi, in the fields of Alabama.
00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:13.000
But also we must continually remind ourselves of our history, of our own history, snickhistory[[?]].
00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:16.000
So that we can better understand the road which we must travel.
00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:20.000
I think what Moses told us today is very, very important.
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:25.000
And when you consider that it is possible as an organization, as a movement
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:28.000
to do some of the things that he discussed.
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:36.000
That these things never would've been possible without the sacrifice of some people in years, some of whom we don't even know.
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:41.000
One of those young ladies happens to be here tonight and I think that she would come forward because she volunteered
00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:48.000
in the early formation of the Student Unviolent Coordinating Committee[[?]] and spent considerable hours trying to make stick what
00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:54.000
was on the American scene and new movement. Miss Jane Stenbridge[[?]]. She was the first office secretary.
00:26:54.000 --> 00:27:03.000
[[audience applause]]
00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:07.000
I think if Jane would like to say just one or two words to us tonight
00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:10.450
that certainly we ought to hear. So Jane would you like to say something?
00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:16.000
SNCC Unidentified Speakers: Huh, all right. But certainly
00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:23.000
she played a considerable role in keeping Snick[[?]] together. Ed King[[?]] is not here tonight
00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:32.000
He's in law school. One of the things that happened when the staff was created in 1961.
00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:37.000
When sixteen people decided to take time out and some of those sixteen people are here tonight.
00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:44.000
And it was an extremely difficult period because there was no money and people decided to come out of school
00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:51.000
basically on a faith, on a hope, and a realization that in this country there was sort of a void in the civil rights movement.
00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:58.000
That there was no one working full time in Mississippi. Nobody was dealing with southwest Georgia.
00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:00.000
No one was dealing with Alabama.
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.000
[SILENCE]
00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:09.000
Uh, Sherra Neil[[?]]. Is Sherra Neil[[?]] here?
00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:12.000
There's an urgent call for her.
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:20.000
No one was dealing with these particular areas. I think after the Freedom Riot of 1961, it became crystal clear
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:28.000
that one of the reasons students from Mississippi did not participate in the Freedom Riot was because primarily
00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:31.000
the civil rights group had abandoned all hopes
00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:35.000
and all efforts to organize in that state indeed if they had ever started.
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:43.000
And I think if this attitude, this characteristic by one civil rights leader who said that as far as he's concerned perhaps Mississippi
00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:49.000
ought to be just wiped off the map. But the point of it is is that Mississippi is not going to wiped off the map. That it's going to be there
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:55.000
and as long as we ignored it, it was going to continually spout the venom
00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:58.000
which is so coveted [by] this country.
00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:00.000
And some people did go at Mississippi.
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:07.000
And I would like for some of those sixteen people who first formed the staff of the Student Unviolent Coordinating Committee to come up.
00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:11.000
That is those people in September of 1961.
00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:13.000
Some of them are around here. Bernard Lafayette, would you stand?
00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:20.000
Charles Jones is here, who's now in law school, studying to be a lawyer. We hope that he will make a valuable contribution to the movement.
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:25.000
Are you here, Jones? Where is he? In the back
00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:30.000
Bob Moses, who went into Mississippi, you know him. Charles Sherad[[?]] and Cordell Reagan[[?]].
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:37.000
Two people that went down into southwest Georgia and literally on a couple of days, in two or three days, went hungry
00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:41.000
to the point because we didn't have any funds
00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:43.000
and they began to knock on doors and ask for food
00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:46.000
and this is true, this is a part of our history.
00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:51.000
and if we ought to be consciously aware. Is Sherad[[?]] here?
00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:54.000
Would you stand up, Charles? Where are you, my man?
00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:57.000
He's not here. Well, alright.
00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:04.000
Uh, there are some other people here I don't know all of– Lester Mckinney[[?]] who's now back in school
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:08.000
at Nashville. At Tennessee A&I[[?]]. Lester will you stand up?
00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:13.000
Lester went into Mississippi along with Paul Brookes[[?]], along with Diane Bevel[[?]]
00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:19.000
At that time, Diane Nash[[?]] and James Bevel[[?]] and Bernard Lafayette worked around in Jackson
00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:22.000
] helped to start Mississippi Free Press.
00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:27.000
They were instrumental in getting the first two Negro candidates in Mississippi to run.
00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:33.000
Primarily, Robin Smith and Reverend Tremell[[?]], who died and Reverend Lindsay took his place after that.
00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:40.000
The others here, I think some of the original freedom writers from Jackson, Mississippi, who have consistently
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:46.000
devoted themselves to the movement ought to be singled out and we ought to honor them for these are the people
00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:50.000
who ultimately are going to change the character of Mississippi.
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:56.000
It's not going to be those of us who come in for six months and nine months although we will make a contribution.
00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:58.000
But these young men born and bred in the state of Mississippi,
00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:02.000
having lived under Jim Crow their entire lives
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:07.000
will be ultimately the ones who make the changes. Some of them are suffering in houses[[?]] now.
00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:09.000
Jimmy Travis are you here?
00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:13.000
Went on the first freedom rally. James, uh, Jesse Harris, are you in the house?
00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:19.000
I know Travis is here, where is Jesse Harris? Charles McLauren[[?]] and James Jones
00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:21.000
McLauren was on the way, on the bus.
00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:25.000
Well, I won't call too many more names. I don't want to embarrass anybody.
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.000
But anyway, uh, we ought to understand this
00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:35.000
and that it't very appropriate that we be in Washington tonight there are others who went on that original, uh,
00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:43.000
freedom ride out of Jackson and have consistently served on the staff in some capacity,
00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:49.000
other people here from Hattiesburg. I could go down the line. I think Helen O'Neil, uh,
00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:56.000
has made a tremendous contribution. And so that we were faced in the sense of 1961,
00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:59.000
with the problem of trying to survive
00:31:59.000 --> 00:32:02.000
this group of sixteen on the staff
00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:07.000
and with the, uh, local protest groups. And we did survive.
00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:10.000
There's no question about it. There were many people who were afraid
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:16.000
of our existence as a movement. And who tried to stop us in many, many ways
00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:21.000
The high charges placed on Robert Zeldner[[?]], who was on that staff in 1961, he's here,
00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:23.000
served two years on the staff,
00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:27.000
is now in graduate school at Brandeis and intends to come back into the movement
00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:32.000
once he finishes on those high academic levels up in Cambridge.
00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:38.000
Uh, I understand they don't understand Bob too well up there 'cause he's a southerner, see they
00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:41.000
speak with all that, what is that, English accent up there?
00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:42.000
Bob, you come on home, boy, we know what you talking about.
00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:47.000
[[audience laughs]] Come on, come on back home.
00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:49.000
[[audience clapping]] Come on back home. Stand up Bob.
00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:50.390
Audience Member: It's not the accent it's
00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:55.000
[[laughter]]
00:32:55.000 --> 00:33:09.000
James Forman: Uh, tremendously, if we were faced with a problem, as I said, of internally surviving, sheer amount of survival, and all of the coordinating committee of June 1962 made a decision,
00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:19.000
that what we were doing had to be translated into the major metropolitan cities of this country, we certainly recognize the value of propaganda and public opinion.
00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:28.000
We felt that the people in Chicago and New York and Detroit and San Francisco and Los Angeles, major centers, Philadelphia,
00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:38.000
major centers where there was high negro concentration, whose roots were all basically in the South ought to know what was going on in the areas that we work,
00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:50.000
and ought to also support that work, financially and in terms of forming a propaganda base and a pressure point upon their own local officials.
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:56.000
And this has worked. We have not done, it seems to be, all that we could do in terms of these Northern cities.
00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:59.000
But there's no mistake about it.
00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:05.000
That the pressure which can be applied when something happens within [[?]] is uncontestable.
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:11.000
I think that we're certainly not trying to pat ourselves on the back because we have a long road to go.
00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:20.000
But the fact that enough steam was generated around the Americas [[?]] who will come to you now, to even make people speak out in the halls of Congress,
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.000
is a testimony to the work that many people have been doing.
00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:33.000
And some of those people are with us tonight, we don't know who they are and we will not ask them to stand up and bother to come down to the front because these people,
00:34:33.000 --> 00:34:44.000
while we're out on the fields, are constantly working not just 8 hours a day, but also working 15 and 16 hours a day and their work is just as important as ours.
00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:49.000
And in fact, if they were not up there in these various places working in our behalf,
00:34:49.000 --> 00:34:54.000
it is quite possible that we would not be able to do the work that we're currently doing.
00:34:54.000 --> 00:35:05.000
And I suppose in order of importance, perhaps not that, but certainly we must point to a young lady who's working up in New York, who's going through a lot.
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.000
And we know it, and we tell her to hold on. Stick with us because we're dying there too.
00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:14.000
It's Ms. Julie Prettyman who runs the New York office, and I'd like for her to come down.
00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:16.000
[[clapping]]
00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:19.000
Ms. Prettyman? Come down please.
00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:21.000
No, no. You must come down.
00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:30.000
We insist. People up here need to see you because when they get in trouble, they need to know who's moving up in New York in their behalf.
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.920
So we must insist that you come forward and bring your husband with you too. Please come forward.
00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:42.000
James Forman: In addition to that, when something happens, all of us have no doubt thought of Chicago.
00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:54.000
James Forman: It is unquestionably that the Freedom Vote campaign in Mississippi went off because people in Chicago and over the country concerned about what happened in Mississippi began to mobilize.
00:35:54.000 --> 00:36:12.000
James Forman: And uh, there's a lot of action going on in Chicago too. And I think that Chicago Friends of SNCC is becoming a rather important group not only in the city but certainly in terms of helping to keep us alive. So I should like the two people who work in that office to come down front also.
00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:20.000
James Forman: Uh, Roberta Gallagher and Ralph Rapaport, could you come down please? Is the chairman here, Larry Landry?
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:21.000
[[clapping]]
00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:35.000
James Forman: Is Roberta here? Where's Roberta? She has a little trouble getting about but I think she ought to come down. Is she here because we want to see you. Where did she go? She's not here. Well, she's done a considerable lot to help us out.
00:36:35.000 --> 00:37:05.000
James Forman: Addition to that, uh, Bob's wife, is working up in cold New England. And is extremely difficult for her up there, I know. Uh, for some of us have seen this Danville Pamphlet and may I point out, that the Danville pamphlet is becoming rather important in sorta the history or the literature of the protest movement because it is the first documentation of the intense police brutality which constantly occurs across this nation.
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:21.000
James Forman: And she was the one primarily responsible for writing it not from any abstract point of view, not coming in researching it after it happened, but rather recording experiences that she lived through and she's now up there trying to fool with Teddy Kennedy and all the rest of those New England snobs.
00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:22.000
James Forman: So come on down Dorthy Zellner.
00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:31.000
[[clapping]]
00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:46.000
James Forman: I'm taking this opportunity to do this because, you know, sometimes we have to recognize that, in any kind of army or strategic battle situation the troops are no stronger than the supply lines. So we are paying tribute to our supply depot at this moment.
00:37:46.000 --> 00:38:00.000
James Forman: Next young lady lived out in the- out in California, I met her for the first time myself today, had a lot of conversations with her over the phone. She's a regular fireball over the phone and when I met her, you know, she was rather surprised me because she seemed so meek and mild.
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:12.000
James Forman: But anyway, that's just my own personal evaluation and please don't let me prejudice you, fellas especially. Uh, and, she also wants to come down south not having worked down there.
00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:14.000
James Forman: And that's Betty Garmen with the Berkeley Friends of SNCC.
00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:16.000
James Forman: Is Betty here? Where are you?
00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:21.000
James Forman: She's raised a considerable amount of funds out there. Where's Betty Garmen? She's not here. My, my, my.
00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:32.000
James Forman: Well anyway, uh, let's move on, um, let's see I guess we've 'bout got basically the four offices where they're full time staff people
00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:43.000
James Forman: A lot of other people here, who have been very instrumental, and I don't know all of them but there is a young lady in our office right now who serves as the Northern Student Coordinator
00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:48.000
James Forman: and she happens to be Dinky Romilly and she's on the phone constantly when these things happen.
00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:57.000
James Forman: And before her, uh, Sandra Hayden served in that capacity and perhaps both of them ought to come down so we can see them too
00:38:57.000 --> 00:38:58.000
James Forman: Would you come down please?
00:38:58.000 --> 00:39:04.260
[[clapping]]
00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:16.000
James Forman: Now, I could go through the whole, you know, gambit. This is not to single out anyone over anyone else, because
00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:22.000
James Forman: personally I believe that the person that cleans the toilet, who's usually me, and sweeps the floor,
00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:24.000
[[laughter]]
00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:33.000
James Forman: uh has just as much to do with the the entire operation as anybody else. I think its because of this spirit... I know when I go to Mississippi — I think I got it from Moses.
00:39:33.000 --> 00:39:39.000
James Forman: Every time I would go over there they'd have a staff crisis and Moses would be sweeping the floors, see?
00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:55.000
James Forman: So, uh , uh it says says something about structure of the organization. But certainly, all of this, all of the efforts that we have made are — and all of the people involved — are just as important as everybody else.
00:39:55.000 --> 00:40:07.000
James Forman: And I think that the staff can rest assured that when it gets in jail, although I understand in Mississippi now they don't take emergency calls, that problem used to be in Atlanta, see.
00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:14.000
James Forman: Ol' Frank Smith here, he was an advocate, he would call Atlanta and he would say it was an emergency and we'd call him back, see.
00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:23.000
James Forman: So, no longer can he say that about uh the Atlanta office, I understand in Mississippi you have to wait a few minutes 'fore you get your calls, because of the new phone they have there.
00:40:23.000 --> 00:40:30.000
James Forman: But, you can rest assured that when something happens, that these people and the people in the office and other people here,
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:37.000
James Forman: whom Dicky may or may not want to introduce, uh only for the sake of time, are gonna work in our behalf.
00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:46.000
James Forman: And I think that all of the pressure possible on the Congress and in these northern cities will be mobilized.
00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:56.000
James Forman: And certainly as an organization, that we could not be here tonight, if it were not for Marion Barry, Marion Barry, who was the first chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
00:40:56.000 --> 00:41:03.000
James Forman: Chuck McDew, who's now married and living in Chicago, is going to Roosevelt, his wife's going to the University of Chicago's law school,
00:41:03.000 --> 00:41:22.000
James Forman: and above all, and this is where I — here's where I relinquish the microphone, to the lady that I think has carried us through many trials and many tribulations, and its unquestionable that without her, there would be no Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Miss Ella Baker.
00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:40.140
[[applause]]
00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:49.000
Ella Baker: I suppose it must be an indication of my growing old, I actually get affected by such applause.
00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:59.000
I almost lose my sense of balance and want to act like a female and cry. That's — I don't know whether that's good or bad for me.
00:41:59.000 --> 00:42:16.000
I had not anticipated having anything to say and I think its very gracious of Jim [[Forman]] to not only call on me but to indicate that what SNCC is — is the result of what the people are who are in SNCC,
00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:28.000
and SNCC, if it is anything different from the rest of the groups that have come on the scene, I hope, is different in two respects in particular.
00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:38.000
One is, it is concerned with — not the development of a leader but the development of leadership.
00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:58.000
And this is a lot of — there is a lot of difference between the development of single individuals as leaders and the development of leadership with leadership concepts, leadership goals, leadership methods that people can follow after we have moved on, and we all must move on from one point to the other.
00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:09.000
I think its different in that respect. It's also different in the respect that it goes into the hard core areas and identifies very closely with people.
00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:22.000
It works with people, it lives with people, and it has had to do this especially in the areas where it worked, because there they found, and we all know this — if we haven't known it we should know it,
00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:45.000
that in order to get people in the deep areas of the South to move, to even act on their own behalf, they have to first be given a feeling of confidence in you — in you — and then this gives them the feeling of confidence so that they can break through the years of fear and suppression that they have experienced.
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:57.000
And this I think SNCC has done a good pioneering job in setting the pace for others to follow. I think if we are to move forward, as we can move forward,
00:43:57.000 --> 00:44:11.000
we have to also combine that other thing that I hope will become very unique with us and which was conceived of in the beginning, namely, that we bring to bear all the problems of race, the problems of human suffering,
00:44:11.000 --> 00:44:17.000
not only our own emotional, righteous indignation with the situation,
00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:39.000
but we use the full capacities of our thinking and our minds, and other minds to actually think through and to chart programs that people can respond to and programs that have basic effect on changing the system so people can live instead of just exist.
00:44:39.000 --> 00:45:05.000
I wish that we had a time tonight, not tonight but certainly during the conference to analyze further that which Bob Moses set before us this morning and if we don't do it now we have got to do it as a staff because we have reached the point that the old line methods of just getting out in a demonstration just for the sake of demonstration is far, far from being enough.
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:19.000
And we've got to find ways in which to involve people in many and different levels and we've got to find ways in which to evaluate our own selves in respect to the movement.
00:45:19.000 --> 00:45:36.000
There is this — we speak — frequently we don't find time to look at ourselves and this is one of the reasons why today when [[Mr. Balwin?]] made the statement to the effect of that the white man, in order to find his role in the movement, he would have to forget that he is white.
00:45:36.000 --> 00:45:52.000
I think we all have to ask — we also have to forget that we are Negroes as such but we forget that only in terms of not trying to feel that the white fellow who comes into our movement has to come by us.
00:45:52.000 --> 00:46:15.000
Now I can understand as we grow in our own strength and as we flex our muscles of leadership and flex our muscles that have come from seeing how effective we are, we can begin to feel that the other fellow should come through us. But this is not the way to create a new world.
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:32.000
We can only create a new world out of a commonness of purpose and a decent respect for all the people who are helping to contribute to it. I don't think we need to be afraid. Certainly we don't need to be afraid of being taken over,
00:46:32.000 --> 00:46:51.000
If we know where we are going, know why we are going there, and then know how we are going to get there — I suppose if I had wanted to speak — you could — I would have been shorted, but since I didn't want to speak — no, I don't think I should, Jim. No, I got some other things we can talk about later.
00:46:51.000 --> 00:47:13.000
Maybe before the conference is over we can have an opportunity to talk some. But certainly, we ought to begin to think very seriously about the directions in which we are going and assume the responsibility that has been laid on our shoulders as a result of the fact that whether we like it or not,
00:47:13.000 --> 00:47:33.000
we have been able to pioneer in a direction that had not been pioneered before. When you talked about Movement on Mississippi, you called it "MOM." I remember those days and I remember the fact that we didn't move on Mississippi when we thought we were going to move on Mississippi.
00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:45.000
But I also remember that you didn't forget to dream, that you didn't forget it, and when Bob Moses went down into Macon, Mississippi and inspired such people as Brenda Travis who is here somewhere
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:52.000
— I don't know whether she's here or not, in the audience, but inspired the high school students of Macon, Mississippi,
00:47:52.000 --> 00:48:18.040
and when out of this came some other people and when you began to come to the conference and no longer were there 10 or 12 people who were on the staff but there were 20 and there were 30 and then there's now over 100 people, people who come to the staff because they feel it offers some opportunity to find some greater meaning in life and an opportunity to help provide for [[inaudible]].
