daughterofthedelta

“De La [Beckwith]’s arrest came after Thorn McIntyre of Itta Bena saw a picture of the gun which killed Evers in the paper. The gun had been left at the scene of the murder. McIntyre notified authorities that he had sold the gun to Beckwith, who had an extensive gun collection. Later McIntyre received numerous threats and his home near Itta Bena had to be guarded.

“De La was tried twice in Jackson for the murder with both trials ending in mistrials. I always thought he wanted you to believe he had killed Evers, and there was no doubt in my mind that he had. He hated Negroes and did not mind saying so. On the day of the Freedom March a year or so later we met De La going into the Police Station with a wild look in his eyes. He had on big yellow sun glasses, and when Russell asked if those were his fertilizer selling glasses (he was a fertilizer salesman) he said, ‘No, these are my n—-r hunting glasses.’ Another time when he went to my sister Tiny’s house at Minter City to try to sell some fertilizer to B.J. [Roberson, Tiny’s husband] he told Tiny ‘I’m only killing things I can eat these days.'”

Ed. note: Sara’s memoirs were written in the early 1990s, before Beckwith was put on trial for the 3rd time. He was convicted in that trial and died in prison several years later.

“Early in June of 1963 we were watching a Jackson television station when [Medgar] Evers came on with a rather strong plea for Negroes to register to vote. At the time we commented that he certainly was brave to appear on TV with such remarks knowing how many white people there were listening who were developing a growing fear of racial disturbances. Then on June 12 we were in Birmingham on a short trip and awoke to the morning news with a bulletin that an NAACP leader in Jackson, Medgar Evers, had been shot and killed as he stepped from his car at his home. We knew this would mean trouble but little knew that Greenwood would be involved. The newspapers and the television news in the coming days reported on the search for the killer.

“Around midnight on June 23 I received a call from someone on the desk at the Commercial Appeal. The caller asked if I knew anyone named Byron De La Beckwith. I replied that I had known ‘Delay,’ as we called him, most of my life and had grown up in the same neighborhood with him. He then informed me that the FBI had arrested him on Saturday afternoon, June 22, and charged him with the murder of Medgar Evers, and he said they would be needing full coverage the next day.

“I did not sleep well the rest of the night knowing I was going to have to work on a story about De La, who was known by everyone to be extremely volatile and eccentric and quite rabid on the race question. I certainly did not want my byline on any story about De La. At seven o’clock the next morning my boss, Gene Rutland, was on the phone telling me to get as much information as I could on De La and saying he was sending Ed Moore from the Greenville Bureau and a reporter and photographer from Memphis to assist me.

“We all knew De La was very outspoken. We had read his letters to the editor on the race issue, and he had passed out handbills which he had printed expressing his views. He had consistently caused trouble at the Episcopal Church where he was a communicant when he thought the church or some of its leaders were too liberal on the race question.

“The Commercial Appeal asked me to take a picture of the dilapidated old house where he was living in my old neighborhood. The house was on the site of the present Federal Building. He had moved back into it after he and his wife, Willie, separated. That picture went out on the telephoto machine on my kitchen floor that night and was sent to newspapers all over the country. The house somehow told a story of faded Southern aristrocracy. De La had come from a ‘good’ family, one that was still reliving their past glory. The house had belonged to his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. L.P. Yerger. Yerger was an attorney and Mrs. Yerger had been a Southworth.  A Southworth had also married old Judge Kimbrough (grandfather of my neighbor Lenore McLean) and they were all quite proud of their ancestry even though folks who had lived in Greenwood a long time looked on them as strange and in some cases ‘crazy.’ They could cite some insanity both in the Yerger and Kimbrough relatives, and many felt that De La never had been quite right.”

“In covering the civil rights story I was torn between trying to do the best possible job I could of reporting the facts and at the same time trying to protect Greenwood from all the bad publicity. There were a number of times when if I had not been so personally involved I would have written my stories differently. I knew I had to live her and face people, many of whom felt that there should be nothing at all in the papers or on the news about what was going on. It did not help that the local paper was not taking a stand or writing editorials about it.

“During those days Greenwood made the national news nearly every night, and we had such top reporters here as Richard Valariani, John Chancellor, Nelson Benton, John Hart, Nicholas Von Hoffman and Charles Murphy among others.

“After the turbulent spring, calm settled over our town, but we knew it was to be shortlived. Increasing numbers of Negroes were going to the Court House each day to register to vote. Negro leaders were becoming more vocal, and one of them, Medgar Evers of Jackson, state field secretary of the NAACP, was speaking out quite freely. I first encountered Evers in March or April at one of the City Court hearings for civil rights demonstrators. He was not loud or offensive and appeared to be intelligent. He was nicely dressed.”

“Many of the black ministers took part in the demonstrations and there were almost nightly meetings in the Negro churches with speeches by visiting civil rights leaders. At one time or another nearly every nationally known Civil Rights leader came to Greenwood.

“While they were mapping their strategy at those meetings the white officials also had their heads together mapping theirs in the meeting room of the City Council, but there was no dialogue between the two groups.

“It was true that many of the policemen, in fact most of them, were prejudiced against the Negroes, especially since a large percentage of the crime they had to deal with involved the Negro population, and they had to go out in the Negro section of town on Saturday nights when there were the usual stabbings and shootings. Some of them were pretty rough with them as they made their arrests, but one had to remember that their own lives had been put on the line many times as they broke up domestic fights and other disturbances. At that time all of the police force was white. They showed unusual restraint, however, when they broke up the demonstrations in downtown Greenwood, and many times they were slapped, spit upon, kicked and cursed by those demonstrating.

“After the initial marches ended the citizens of Greenwood started a fund in appreciation of their efforts with a goal of $3000 to give each man on the force $11 in overtime pay for the outstanding job they had done in helping keep the peace during the racial crisis. Those who started the fund cited the round-the-clock work of the police force with no days off. ‘They have proved themselves gentlemen with restraint above and beyond the call of duty,’ the businessman who started the fund said.”

“In one of the church meetings comedian Dick Gregory, who gained fame by poking fun at the race issue, joked about Governor Ross Barnett’s industrial trips north. ‘He flys to Chicago on an intregrated plane, speaks to an integrated audience, and then comes back and says practice segregation.’

“In an article written by Larry Speakes for the Commercial Appeal and dated March 30 [1963] he stated that Negro leaders of the vote drive said they have asked President Kennedy to come to the Mississippi Delta and walk with Negroes going to the Leflore County Courthouse in their bid to become registered voters.

“After the first arrest of marchers on March 27, 1963, the Justice Department filed an injunction against the city and county, naming in the petition Mayor Charles Sampson, Police Commissioner B.A.Hammond, City Prosecuting Attorney Gray Evans, Chief of Police Curtis Lary, County Attorney John J. Fraiser, Jr. and Deputy Sheriff W.W. Smith. The injunction called for a temporary restraining order against the officials. Federal Judge Claude F. Clayton had scheduled a hearing after earlier denying a government request for the restraining order. He announced at the time that the hearing had been set that an agreement had been reached under which the Justice Department withdrew its request and the City of Greenwood and Leflore County agreed that the sentences of the eight persons found guilty of disorderly conduct would be stayed pending a full hearing and final decision on the merits of the Government’s case.

“Under terms of the agreement the first of those arrested in the Courthouse marches were released from the Washington County jail where they had been transferred the previous afternoon. They were returned to Greenwood after singing several rounds of ‘I Got the Light of Freedom, I’m Gonna Let It Shine’ on the jail lawn in Greenville. While John Doar [of the Justice Department] hovered in the background, the group stood in a circle holding hands with arms crossed as they sang and prayed for other prisoners in the jail. A member of the group, acknowledging that some of the Greenwood applicants could not read or write, countered that ‘if the state is going to register illiterate whites then they should register illiterate Negroes.’ He added that he did not consider people walking to the Court House to register a demonstration.”

“Newsmen crowded the Negro churches each night to hear civil rights leaders make fiery speeches as they attempted to spur local Negroes to go to the Courthouse to register to vote. At one such meeting The Reverend James Bevel, formerly of Itta Bena but at that time living in Atlanta, shouted, ‘Yo vote will be the dentist who pulls the teeth of the police dog.’ A Memphis reporter for the Commercial Appeal wrote, ‘Ribbing and poking fun at members of his own race in exaggerated deliberate dialect, he fired up the audiences to participate in mass voter registration drives in the South.’ He quoted Bevel, ‘Man, the white man has been tricking us n—–rs all these years into making us think we are scared of them. But actually they have been afraid of us all these years or why would they be shooting at your houses, sicking dogs on us, trying to keep us from voting?’ His story continued: ‘Rambling through numerous pep rallies in the churches where the choirs would sing hymns with a fast beat, stomp their feet and shout, the Negro preacher yelled “If you don’t get out and register and vote, you gonna be like a country mule looking out the window of a street car. Now you Negroes remember, they think they got us running and afraid and jumpy and scared. Why? Cause we have never before organized. But I am telling you Negroes this: We ain’t got nothing to be scared of and we sho’ ain’t afraid of dying. That right, we ain’t afraid of dying ’cause we done killed too many of us on a Saturday night to be afraid of dying.”

“The newspaper story went on: ‘Responding to shouts and amens, the preacher continued: “Now you listen to me: We gonna vote. We gonna get strong and sho’ gonna put that Barnett [Governor Ross Barnett] out of office with our votes. But you gotta register and then when you git registered, you have to vote.” Asked how the leaders were going to get all of the Negroes qualified in Mississippi the preacher tucked at his blue serge suit lapel and answered: “We gonna take them down to the courthouse. For those that can’t read and write, we gonna teach them and then get them registered. It’s as simple as that.” Raising his hand, Reverend Bevel pumped his fist at the audience and shouted, “Now I want you Negroes to walk with your head up. Walk straight and be proud. ‘Cause, remember, in the morning you got to cook for white folks, walk their chillun, make their beds, wash their clothes and and then iron them. That’s all right ’cause it’s a job and you are trying. But we gonna do better than that in the future.”‘ “

“In another editorial in the Commercial Appeal it was stated: ‘Among the visitors in Greenwood Miss is Dick Gregory, a Negro, who has recently climbed to the edge of the big entertainment world as a comic. He has announce he is going to stay until the Federal Government does something about police brutality and allows those people to go to the Court House to vote! Because his name is familiar, newspapermen report his words and they probably have been printed all over the country simply because he said them. But the readers ought to know at the same time how false they are. This sounds as though big bulls in uniforms are beating up Leflore County’s Negroes to keep them away from the polling place. The fact is the visitors to Greenwood have been frustrated in their search for violence. Even the Chicago funny man has been left standing in the street, unbruised and unable to even get himself arrested. The agitators have attempted to get large crowds surging through the streets in demonstrations that would bring on riots (and money) in South Chicago, Harlem or Boston. The police of Greenwood have adroitly dispersed crowds, as the police of South Chicago, Harlem and Boston would have to do under the same circumstance. That peace officers have been able to preserve the peace day after day of deliberate provocation is a disappointment for the violence hunters. It is a further fact that the attempted marches have included outsiders, underage Negroes, residents of adjoining counties and assorted persons of many origins, with some bona fide residents of Leflore County. Throughout these invitations to violence Leflore County Negroes have been going to the courthouse and have gone through the standard legal procedures of registering as voters. Those who meet the requirements have been registering every day. It is an orderly procedure, and numerous Negroes are now prepared to vote in the next election. The variation from normal comes in attempts to organize demonstrations on the way to and from the courthouse. Unless there is hope that Federal officials can get the violence others have been unable to produce, we wonder what else troublemakers in Greenwood have in mind.’ 

“An editorial in the April 4, 1963 Commercial Appeal stated: ‘Both of Mississippi’s senators have publicly branded the leaders of “voter registration marches” in Greenwood as outside agitators. Senator James Eastland, commenting on a Justice Department attempt to obtain a court injunction which would have prevented Greenwood police from breaking up mass marches, charged the Federal Government with unjustly condemning local authorities from maintaining law and order.’ Another paragraph from the editorial read: ‘Both sides in the touchy Greenwood situation have been urged to restrain themselves, and those in authority appear to have done so. The agitators and their followers have not. They seem to be hoping for a violent response from the community which could trigger Federal interference. So far the agitators have succeeded only in seeking Justice Department intervention through the courts, and they have not succeeded. And, as Senator Stennis observes, the Justice Department “should stop its well-known practice of filing suits right and left” simply because a minority group makes allegations “unsupported by the proof and contrary to the facts.’

“A telegram dated April 4 from Mississippi Congressmen John Bell Williams and Arthur Winstead to Mayor Sampson read: ‘Thank you for your letter of April 3 and the enclosed comprehensive statement regarding the horrible situation in your city aggravated by professional agitators and the Kennedy administration. As dean, and on behalf of the Mississippi delegation, Congressman William M. Colmer today read your statement on the floor of the House of Representatives. During these trying times you and the citizens of Leflore County have assurance of our complete cooperation in any endeavor to rid your community of the pests presently inflicted upon you. Kindest regards.’

“Though the demonstrations were tearing the town apart, much of the town went about their usual business and know only what they read in the paper about what was going on. The city officials issued statements requesting that people stay away from the downtown area during the marches, and only small groups of mostly men stood on the corners across from the Court House and watched as the police made arrests and loaded the marchers into the old school bus which had been painted black for its use in hauling them to jail.

“During one of the marches Gordon Lackey, one of the Kluxers (the name we gave to members of the Klan) brought a monkey to the Court House with a sign around his neck reading ‘I want to vote’ and tried to get him to join the marchers.

“Two days after the first march in 1963 the Mayor issued a statement saying ‘It is tragic when professional agitators, operating under the false face of non-violence, attempt to create violence. It is more tragic that the Justice Department of the United States plays nursemaid to these invaders and actively assists them in their efforts to disrupt this peaceful community. For months these agitators here from other states have frequently made collect telephone calls to the Attorney General’s office in Washington. These calls are accepted, both night and day; and no matter what ridiculous lie these professional agitators make up they get prompt action from the Attorney General. This city has been infested of late with Assistant Attorneys General of the United States, counseling with these professional trouble-makers who have come to Greenwood. What are these agitators and the Justice Department trying to accomplish with their present massing of colored mobs? It is certainly not to file voter registration applications for they have been peacefully filing these for years before the present trouble began and they have continued to do so without objection from anyone. The only purpose of these agitators is to follow the Communist line of fomenting racial violence, and the obvious purpose of the Attorney General is to get votes.’ “

“Statements were being issued on all sides, and some of the ministers referred to the tense local situation by urging that their congregations face these problems as Christians. Some of the members of their congregations had stronger feelings, however, and at the front doors of some of the downtown churches at least two members of the Citizens Council took their stand each Sunday to be sure that no unwanted worshippers slipped in unnoticed.

“The Reverend Eade Anderson, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, said ‘In meeting problems like this remember we are Christians and keep bitterness and hate out of our hearts and keep alive a genuine concern for all men.’ Later a Negro woman who worked for the Presbyterian kindergarten was seen going in the Court House to register, and some of the prominent men in the church suggested that she should be fired. She lost her job but was then employed by the minister, who soon after was told he should be looking for another church. Soon after he left Greenwood.

“There was always this constant fear that if you spoke out against some of the tactics being used you would be branded a racist, and in some cases it would mean the loss of a job.”