Pillar of Fire (103 page)

“absolutely poured out his heart”: The assistant was Norbert Schlei, assistant attorney general, Office of Legal Counsel. Graham,
Civil Rights Era
, pp. 77-78. Also LBJ to Sorensen, June 10, 1963, with “personal and confidential” attachment, Box 30, Sorensen Papers, JFK.

“We got a little popgun”: Edison Dictaphone recording of LBJ-Sorensen conversation, June 3, 1963, p. 14, LBJ.

“I know the risks”: Ibid., p. 4.

“Every cruel and evil influence”: Ibid., p. 9.

“They'll probably boo me off the platform”: Ibid., p. 18.

“I'm not gonna watch the parade”: Branch,
Parting
, p. 808.

“Re-Cap”: Hamilton,
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr
., pp. 361-62.

appearing together more frequently: For instance, Malcolm and Powell shared the platform with Dick Gregory at a rally for the Mississippi Relief Committee in Harlem, March 23, 1963, FMX-53; Malcolm preached at Powell's church on June 23, 1963, FMX-74, New York report dated Nov. 15, 1963, pp. 20-21.

Malcolm X, who did nurse ambitions: Perry,
Malcolm: A Life
, p. 297; Lomax,
When the Word Is Given
, p. 97.

“It's hard to tell”: Perry,
Malcolm: A Life
, p. 304.

leadership vacuum among Washington's Negroes: WP, May 6, 1963, p. 1.

regularly lionized Powell: First noticed in print by reporter M. S. Handler in NYT, April 23, 1963, p. 20.

Malcolm X slowly disappear: In his autobiography, Malcolm recalled that he noticed his presence fading in
Muhammad Speaks
as early as 1962. Malcolm X,
Autobiography
, p. 292.

“new assertive mood”: NYT, April 23, 1963, p. 20.

Handler managed to squeeze: Int. J. Anthony Lukas, June 10, 1990.

Malcolm X called Phoenix: Wiretap conversation of April 27, 1963, FMX-74, p. cover-C.

Parks attended a karate class: “A Negro Photographer Shoots from Inside the Black Muslims,”
Life
, May 31, 1963.

“shows how to deal”: Ibid., p. 25.

doing his best to delay: Wiretap conversation of May 13, 1963, FMX-74, p. cover-C.

“being built around Malcolm”: Wiretap conversation of May 14, 1963, FMX-74, p. cover-D.

staring into the drawn revolvers: LAT, May 23, 1963; MS, June 7, 1963, p. 1.

“Code 6-M”: Int. Jesse Brewer, June 13, 1991; int. Samuel Hunter, Feb. 6, 1992; int. Frank Tomlinson, Oct. 15, 1991.

Laughter exploded: BTT, pp. 2659-60.

“And I think you have never”: BTT, p. 2910.

“they ought to take”: Ibid., pp. 2928-29.

“Now, without going into”: Ibid., p. 2946.

“I can't see an officer”: Ibid., p. 2986.

“thrown their guns down”: Ibid., p. 2962.

“admitted certain things”: Wiretap conversation of May 28, 1963, FMXNY-3634. The interpretation presented here draws upon interviews with Benjamin Karim and Yusuf Shah about the state of relations between Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad in mid-1963 and about Malcolm X's complex documentary aims in writing his letters.

long Stokes deliberation: LAT, June 5, 15, 17, 1963;
California Eagle
, June 20, 1963.

collapsed of a heart attack: LAT, June 6, 1963.

campaign against their own verdict: Int. Earl Broady, Nov. 4, 1990, and March 25, 1991; int. Jacquelyn Ames (juror), March 26, 1991; int. Josephine Byrne (juror), March 26, 1991; int. Maureen Dobratz (juror), March 26, 1991;
California Eagle
, Aug. 22, 1963, p. 1; MS, Sept. 13, 1963.

remained the leading story: Among many screaming, page-one headlines in MS were “Rips ‘KKK in Cop Clothes!'” June 7, 1963, and “Prison for the Innocent! Muslims Framed to Whitewash the Guilty?” Aug. 30, 1963.

“It will take fire”: MS, July 19, 1963.

discarded as a lecture prop: Int. Benjamin Karim, March 19, 1991.

later from his autobiography: Malcolm X,
Autobiography
, p. 394.

$150,000 in a week: Branch,
Parting
, p. 806.

a friend said movie stars: Wiretap conversation of 5:19
P.M.
, June 1, 1963, between Levison and “Antoinette,” FLNY-9-185a.

“a feeling of nationalism”: Wiretap conversation of 11:31
P.M.
, June 1, 1963, FLNY-9-185a.

On May 30, he sent a telegram: King to JFK, HU2, 5/9/63-7/19/63, Box 363, WHCF, JFK.

“We need the President”: Wiretap conversation of 11:31
P.M.
, June 1, 1963, FLNY-9-185a.

National NAACP officers: Branch,
Parting
, pp. 813-14.

suddenly by way of Jackson: Evers,
For Us, the Living
, pp. 270-82; Moody,
Coming of Age
, pp. 234-51; Salter,
Jackson, Mississippi
, pp. 132-53; Branch,
Parting
, pp. 814-16.

“This is the
biggest
thing”: Salter,
Jackson, Mississippi
, p. 145.

“Jackson Police Jail 600”: NYT, June 1, 1963, p. 1.

Evers collaborated by phone: King comment in wiretap conversation of 11:31
P.M.
, June 1, 1963, FLNY-9-185a. Also int. Myrlie Evers, March 13, 1989.

officers arrested Henderson: Int. Thelton Henderson, Jr., Feb. 25, 1994.

first arrest in nearly thirty years: Wilkins,
Standing Fast
, pp. 288-89; Salter,
Jackson, Mississippi
, pp. 154-58.

the
Times
noted: NYT, June 2, 1963, p. 70.

“We've baptized brother Wilkins!”: Wiretap conversation of June 2, 1963, FLNY-9-186a, p. 3.

What seized King: Like King, some observers in the black press perceived the Wilkins arrest as an omen of change, e.g. “Is NAACP Leaving Courts for Front-Line Protest?,” CD, June 8-14, 1963. Soon after, other journals declared that the Wilkins arrest was merely a feinted concession to the Jackson upheaval: “When NAACP leaders were asked why their demonstrations were called off, [Director of Branches Gloster] Current replied, ‘Would you want to be a murderer?'” “NAACP Switches Tactics in Massive Miss. Rights Fight,”
Jet
, June 20, 1963, pp. 8-9.

“We are on a breakthrough”: Wiretap conversation of June 1, 1963, FLNY-9-185a.

“Roy will only act”: Wiretap conversation of June 1, 1963, FLNY-9-185a.

called each other like teenagers: Wiretap conversations of June 2, 1963, FLNY-9-186a, and June 3, 1963, FLNY-7-441.

8. S
UMMER
F
REEZE

King received: Lee White to MLK, June 1, 1963, stamped receipt dated June 3, A/KP14f4.

On June 7, the General Board: Findlay,
Church People in the Struggle
, pp. 3-4; NCC press release dated June 7, 1963, A/SN115f3.

Continuing Committee: Findlay,
Church People in the Struggle
, p. 32; int. Mathew Ahmann and Jerome Ernst, Feb. 12, 1991.

subterranean groundswell: Int. Robert Stone, June 3, 1993; int. Metz Rollins, Dec. 13, 1991.

committing $500,000: Findlay,
Church People in the Struggle
, p. 33.

“The world watches to see”: “A Report of the President's Temporary Committee of Six on Race,” approved by the General Board on June 7, 1963, A/SN115f3.

bypass the leadership: Int. Robert Stone, June 3, 1993; int. Metz Rollins, Dec. 13, 1991; int. Oscar Lee, Sept. 26, 1991. Nearly thirty years later, Lee remained wounded that the National Council brought in a fresh team led by whites with little experience in race relations. “It was a rough kind of a deal,” he recalled.

only Negro on the six-hundred-member: Int. Oscar Lee, Sept. 26, 1991; int. Andrew Young, Oct. 26, 1991.

fn Yale Divinity School: Lee background from int. Oscar Lee, Sept. 26, 1991; Findlay,
Church People in the Struggle
, pp. 17-18.

“the real depth”: Rev. Edler Hawkins, quoted in “Minutes, National Council of Churches, Commission on Religion and Race,” June 28, 1963.

“Twenty Days Later”: Ibid.

“to
commit
ourselves”: “A Report of the President's Temporary Committee of Six on Race,” approved by the General Board on June 7, 1963, A/SN115f3.

“What Have I Personally Done”: STJ, June 9, 1963, cited in Chestnut,
Black in Selma
, p. 167.

Ponder did not arrive in Greenwood: COFO,
Mississippi Black Paper
, pp. 17-24; Mills,
Fannie Lou Hamer
, pp. 56-77; Branch,
Parting
, pp. 819-21.

Andrew Young interjected: Wiretap conversation of 12:01
A.M.
, June 10, 1963, FLNY-9-194.

Guyot volunteered: Int. Lawrence Guyot, Feb. 1, 1991.

from far away in Danville, Virginia: Forman,
Black Revolutionaries
, pp. 326-31; Lyon,
Memories
, pp. 62-69.

“beastly conduct”: MLK to RFK, 12:35
P.M.
EST, June 11, 1963, A/KP31f18.

was pressing the FBI to find out: Memo, C. A. Evans to Hoover, June 11, 1963, cited in Mills,
Fannie Lou Hamer
, p. 36.

“There was no violence”: NYT, June 12, 1963, p. 1.

“Dr. King Denounces President”: NYT, June 10, 1963, p. 1.

Kennedy decided spontaneously: Branch,
Parting
, p. 823; NYT, June 12, 1963, p. 1.

two-toned 1957 Chevrolet: Forman,
Black Revolutionaries
, pp. 321-22.

“No, Red, don't shoot!”: Remarks of Bernard Lafayette at Session No. 3, Part 1, of the Trinity College SNCC Reunion, April 14-16, 1988, transcript courtesy of Jack Chatfield.

“Milk is for calves”: Int. Bernard Lafayette, May 28, 1990.

“We are confronted primarily”: NYT, June 12, 1963, p. 20.

a law student newly arrived: Mills,
Fannie Lou Hamer
, pp. 63-64. After finishing Yale Law School and working as an equal rights lawyer for nearly three decades, including service as chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under President Jimmy Carter, Eleanor Holmes Norton was elected in 1990 to the U.S. House of Representatives from the District of Columbia.

An argument broke out: Int. Andrew Young, Oct. 26, 1991; int. James Bevel, May 17, 1985; int. Dorothy Cotton, Nov. 19, 1992.

“I hold
you
responsible!”: Int. June Johnson, April 9, 1992.

telegram from the White House: JFK to MLK, June 12, 1963, A/KP14f4.

“Deeply regret that I had overlooked”: MLK to JFK, June 13, 1963, A/KP14f4.

trustees of Lovett School: The conflict over Coretta King's attempt to enroll Martin III at Lovett is reviewed in “Statement of the Executive Committee of the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity on the Lovett School Situation” (drafted by Rev. John B. Morris), Sept. 1963, A/KP9f26.

sniped at King during the funeral: Branch,
Parting
, pp. 825-31.

“may intimidate a few”: NYT, June 13, 1963, pp. 1, 13.

off-base segregation: Graham,
Civil Rights Era
, p. 86.

annex to Harlem Hospital: NYT, June 13, 1963, p. 1; NYT, June 14, 1963, p. 1.

In Philadelphia: Graham,
Civil Rights Era
, pp. 278, 528-29.

In St. Augustine, Florida: Colburn,
Racial Change
, pp. 33-35.

“I and others have armed”: Jacksonville LHM entitled “Racial Situation, St. Augustine, Florida,” June 19, 1963, FSA-NR.

“racial feelings amongst the Negroes”: Ibid.

received orders to shoot: Jacksonville LHM entitled “Racial Situation, St. Augustine, Florida,” June 20, 1963, FSA-NR.

fired a shotgun into Hayling's garage: Jacksonville teletypes to FBI headquarters, July 2, 1963, FSA-476 and FSA-477.

tiny Itta Bena: June 18 Itta Bena arrests from undated SNCC report entitled
Mississippi
, A/KP16f15, p. 15; also int. William McGee, June 25, 1992; “Report on the Release of 57 Prisoners in Mississippi,” by John M. Pratt of the National Council of Churches, Aug. 23, 1963, NCC RG6, b47f31, POH.

“Californian Is Charged”:
Jackson Clarion-Ledger
, June 24, 1963, reprinted in Silver,
Closed Society
, p. 30.