Pillar of Fire (99 page)

phone wires burned: Wiretap summaries in SAC, Chicago, to Director, dated March 11, 1963, FMXNY-3429; New York report dated May 16, 1963, FMX-60; and New York report dated Nov. 15, 1963, FMX-74, pp. cover-B-E.

Ethel Sharrieff told her father: Conversation of March 2, 1963, wiretap summaries in SAC, Chicago, to Director, dated March 11, 1963, FMXNY-3429.

Malcolm broach to Wallace: Malcolm X,
Autobiography
, p. 297; written statement by Wallace Muhammad, undated, circa June 1964, courtesy of Bruce Perry. Later, Wallace Muhammad and Malcolm X each claimed to have learned of the bastard children from the other.

on the lawn with their babies: Warith Deen Mohammed speech, Chicago Community Night, Dec. 13, 1977, author's files.

Clara, was dead to him: Written statement by Wallace Muhammad, undated, circa June 1964, courtesy of Bruce Perry.

Wallace scarcely knew: Int. Imam Warith Deen Mohammed (Wallace Muhammad), Nov. 14, 1991.

hiding for seven years: Elijah Muhammad Phoenix address of Dec. 1967, MS, Jan. 19, 1968. Also wiretap transcript of Aug. 18, 1960, FMXNY-1965; Muhammad,
Message to the Black Man
, p. 178ff; Bontemps and Conroy,
Anyplace
, p. 216ff; Lincoln,
Sounds of Struggle
, p. 55ff; Clegg,
An Original Man
, pp. 37-40, 77-90; Agieb Bilal, “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad: Leadership in the African Continuum,” unpublished paper, 1991.

most notably in 1942: FBI agents first arrested Elijah Muhammad under the name Gulam Bogans on May 8, 1942, in Washington, FEM-NR. Returned to Chicago for trial on draft-evasion charges, he was rearrested there when found hiding in a rug, and gave a statement to FBI agents on Sept. 29, 1942, FEM-NR.

his anthem to Malcolm: Int. Imam Warith Deen Mohammed (Wallace Muhammad), Nov. 14, 1991.

Elijah Muhammad's bastard children: Cf. Bland to Belmont, May 20, 1960, FEM-79. For propaganda distribution, an attached “blind” memorandum (concealing FBI authorship) sarcastically announced the birth on March 29, 1960, of a “bouncing, beautiful, brown-eyed, brown-haired daughter” to Evelyn Williams, an “unmarried young secretary” to Elijah Muhammad. See also Clegg,
An Original Man
, pp. 184-89.

“was to be”: SAC, Chicago, to JEH, April 22, 1968, FBNH-NR, p. 3.

including a Chicago judge: Ibid., p. 5.

two years' accumulation: FBI traffic on the children born to Muslim secretaries Lucille Karriem and Evelyn Williams begins as early as a May 20, 1960, memorandum from Bland to Belmont at FBI HQ, FEM-79, noting the birth of Williams's daughter in hiding on March 30, 1960, and recommending that the intelligence be used to discredit Elijah Muhammad.

“There was no indication”: SAC, Chicago, to JEH, April 22, 1968, FBNH-NR, p. 3.

Chicago FBI office recommended: SAC, Chicago, to Director, March 11, 1963, FMXNY-3435, p. 6. The recommendation is essentially repeated a month later in SAC, Chicago, to Director, April 10, 1963, FMXNY-3506.

“a nasty letter”: Wiretap conversation of March 15, 1963, FMXNY-3506.

“seeking, prodding, and prying”: Wiretap conversation of March 11, 1963, FMXNY-3435.

“an addict to publicity”: Wiretap conversation of March 25, 1963, FMX-74, p. cover-B.

“a spoiled child”: Wiretap conversation of March 15, 1963, FMXNY-3506; also conversation of March 16, 1963, FMXNY-3506.

Elijah sometimes praised Malcolm: Wiretap conversation of March 5, 1963, FMXNY-3429, p. 5.

ridiculed him as a usurper: Wiretap conversation of March 26, 1963, FMXNY-3609; wiretap conversation of March 28, 1963, FMXNY-3506; wiretap conversation of March 5, 1963, FMX-60, p. cover-D; wiretap conversation of March 7, 1963, FMXNY-3429.

Muhammad predicted: Wiretap conversation of March 26, 1963, FMXNY-3609.

Malcolm did fly to Phoenix: Malcolm X,
Autobiography
, pp. 298-99.

2. P
ROPHETS IN
C
HICAGO

introduced to Rabbi Abraham Heschel: Int. Marc Tanenbaum, Jan. 2, 1990, and Feb. 5, 1991.

descended from dynastic generations: Neusner,
To Grow in Wisdom
, p. 197ff; Rothschild,
Between God and Man
, p. 7.

“banished melancholy”: Heschel,
The Earth
, p. 75.

“by how much spiritual substance”: Ibid., p. 9.

Chicago Conference on Religion and Race: Reports preserved in Box 2, Series 7, NCCIJ Collection, Marquette University Archives. Also scattered papers in the King files, including “Minutes of the Planning Committee, September 17, 1962,” A/SC35f25.

sharp-eyed professional jockeying: Int. Mathew Ahmann and Jerome Ernst, Feb. 12, 1991; int. Oscar Lee, Sept. 26, 1991; int. Marc Tanenbaum, Jan. 2, 1990, and Feb. 5, 1991; int. Albert Vorspan, Aug. 13, 1992.

outcast among his colleagues: Int. Marc Tanenbaum, Jan. 2, 1990, and Feb. 5, 1991; int. Sylvia Heschel, Feb. 2, 1991; int. Mark Loeb, Dec. 6, 1990; int. Susannah Heschel, Nov. 15, 1990; int. Balfour Brickner, Feb. 4, 1991.

“Intellectual evasion”: Heschel,
Insecurity of Freedom
, pp. 217-18.

“Wisdom is like the sky”: Ibid., p. 42.

“…the cult of youth”: Ibid., p. 71.

a quest to reform the ancient teachings: Of the vast literature on the Vatican Council and the development of the statement “Nostra Aetate,” see Vorgimler,
Documents of Vatican II;
Yzermans,
American Participation
; Oesterreicher,
Rediscovery of Judaism
; Rynne,
Letters from Vatican City
; Gilbert,
Vatican Council and the Jews
. Also int. John Oesterreicher, May 24, 1991; int. Thomas Stransky, Feb. 27, 1992; int. Marc Tanenbaum, Jan. 2, 1990, and Feb. 5, 1991.

consultations so secret: American Jewish Committee, “White Paper, 1964-65,” pp. 26-27, AJC. Also Schmidt,
Augustino Bea
, pertinent passages translated by Thomas Stransky at Tantur library, Jerusalem, Feb. 27, 1992. Cardinal Bea's name is pronounced “
Bay-ah
.”

staff heard whispers: Int. Thomas Stransky, Feb. 27, 1992.

“There has never been an age”: Heschel to Bea, May 22, 1962, “Ecumenical Council—IAD” file, AJC.

consulted Jewish specialists: Int. Arnold Aronson, March 5, 1991.

“Religion and race”: Ahmann,
Challenge to Religion
, p. 55ff.

“Eleven o'clock on Sunday”: Ibid., p. 155ff.

King's resolve to gamble to he left Savannah for the Conference: Summary from Branch,
Parting, passim
.

flight into Chicago: Int. Leslie Dunbar, May 12, 1986.

Never again did Dunbar: Ibid.

Bureau's institutional animosity: Branch,
Parting
, esp. p. 403ff. Also Garrow,
The FBI and Martin
, pp. 54-59, 78-85; O'Reilly, “
Racial Matters
,” p. 125f.

“whom we know most favorably”: DeLoach to Mohr, Jan. 15, 1963, FK-NR.

newspapers attacked King: Branch,
Parting
, pp. 681-82.

gained FBI officials a clue: Atlanta SAC to Dir., Jan. 15, 1963, FSC-NR.

“deceit, lies and treachery”: DeLoach to Mohr, Jan. 15, 1963, FK-NR.

ecumenical leaders had been turned away: Mathew Ahmann, “Summary Report,” Box 2, Series 7, NCCIJ Collection, Marquette University Archives. Also int. Mathew Ahmann and Jerome Ernst, Feb. 12, 1991; int. Oscar Lee, Sept. 26, 1991; CD, Dec. 28, 1962.

so disgusted with Jackson: Int. Oscar Lee, Sept. 26, 1991.

fn seal up the stone doors: Ibid. This story, commonly mentioned by pastors on both sides of the NBC split, is confirmed by visual inspection of Olivet Baptist Church in Chicago, and by its listing there on South 31st Street.

William Stringfellow stunned:
Chicago Sun-Times
, Jan. 15, 1963. Also numerous interviews including Albert Vorspan (who also served on Stringfellow's panel), Aug. 13, 1992; Metz Rollins, Dec. 13, 1991. “I feared for Bill's life,” recalled Rev. Will D. Campbell (int. Will D. Campbell, Aug. 13, 1992), adding that Rabbi Heschel was puzzled by Stringfellow's additional comment that Americans had failed the race issue for lack of a proper baptism, meaning a rebirth to a wholly new outlook. “Why did he say that?” Heschel asked Campbell. “What if I said the issue is circumcision?”

advance text of Rev. Will D. Campbell:
Time
, Jan. 25, 1963, p. 66; int. Will D. Campbell, Aug. 13, 1992.

“It is too late for us”: Ibid. Also
Chicago Tribune
, Jan. 16, 1963.

“our whole future as a nation”: NYT, Jan. 15, 1963, p. 16.

handwritten additions reflected a raw edginess: Speech, “A Challenge to the Churches and Synagogues,” Jan. 17, 1963, A/KS4. Also CD, Jan. 19, 1963, p. 1.

“I wonder why”:
Chicago Daily News
, Jan. 16, 1963.

“The greatest heresy is despair”:
Chicago Sun-Times
, Jan. 16, 1963. Also Ahmann,
Challenge to Religion
, p. 55ff.

“We all died”: Heschel,
Echo of Eternity
, p. 112.

“Moralists of all ages”: Heschel,
The Prophets
, Vol. 1, p. 204.

eager devotion of King: Int. Andrew Young, Oct. 26, 1991; int. C. T. Vivian, May 26, 1990.

recognized by W. E. B. Du Bois: In Du Bois,
Souls of Black Folk
, p. 216: “…the preacher is the most unique personality developed by the Negro on American soil.”

“May the problem of race”: Speech, “A Challenge to the Churches and Synagogues,” Jan. 17, 1963, A/KS4.

Heschel quoted the same: Ahmann,
Challenge to Religion
, p. 70; reprinted in Heschel,
Insecurity of Freedom
, pp. 85-100.

to illustrate the emotive force: Heschel,
The Prophets
, Vol. 1, pp. 212-13.

“the voice that God has lent”: Ibid., p. 5.

vowed to see more of each other: Int. Marc Tanenbaum, Jan. 2, 1990, and Feb. 5, 1991; int. Albert Vorspan, Aug. 13, 1992; int. Arnold Aronson, March 5, 1991.

“We just thought”:
Chicago Sun-Times
, Feb. 13, 1963.

“doleful hand wringing”:
Time
, Jan. 25, 1963, p. 66.

volunteer clergy resolved to continue: Int. Mathew Ahmann and Jerome Ernst, Feb. 12, 1991; int. Metz Rollins, Dec. 13, 1991.

“bring sanity back”: Mathew Ahmann confidential report, Oct. 6, 1963, A/SC35f28.

3. LBJ
IN
S
T
. A
UGUSTINE

Lyndon Johnson waved:
Florida Times-Union
, March 11, 1963, p. 1, March 12, 1963, p. 1;
Miami Herald
, March 12, 1963, p. 14A; Daily Diary of the Vice President, March 11, 1963, LBJ.

Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés: Colburn,
Racial Change
, p. 13; Lyon,
Enterprise of Florida, passim
; int. Eugene Lyon, Dec. 10, 1992.

presence at Nombre de Dios: Lyon,
Enterprise of Florida
, p. 115.

exterminate an explorer's colony of French Huguenots: Running just ahead of the Spanish competition, Charles IX of France had sent two expeditions to build a surviving but hard-pressed French outpost at Fort Caroline, near the mouth of the present St. Johns River in Florida. Menéndez conquered Fort Caroline on September 20, 1565, and later executed two groups of straggling prisoners in numbers totaling some four hundred. Ibid., pp. 120-27.

five hundred African slaves: In December 1565 Menéndez asked King Philip for an additional one thousand slave licenses for use in Florida, but complicated reversals forced his return to Spain before he could pursue his plans. Ibid., pp. 136-37.

earliest documentary slave records: Lyon,
Richer Than We Thought
, pp. 75-76, 96-97.

more than fifty years before: The work of several historians, including Eugene Lyon, Paul Hoffman, and Jane Landers, indicates that Spaniards actually held African bondsmen on future U.S. territory even before Menéndez reached St. Augustine in 1565. Beginning with Ponce de León in 1513, expeditions by Spanish colonizers such as Lucas Vázquez de Ayllon (1526), Panfilo de Narváez (1528), and Hernando de Soto (1539) had royal permission to bring up to one hundred slaves. Vázquez de Ayllon brought eight slaves, some of whom staged a revolt in 1526—more than eighty years before the first English colonists landed at Jamestown in 1607. But the Spanish settlements earlier than St. Augustine did not survive and most demographic records perished with them. See Jane Landers, “Africans in the Land of Ayllon” in Cook,
Land of Ayllon
, pp. 105-23; Hoffman,
New Andalucía
, esp. pp. 60, 78, 82; Lyon,
Enterprise of Florida
, pp. 39, 54, 136-37, 195.