CIVIL RIGHTS-1957 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1957 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 10 a. m., in room 104-B, Senate Office Building, Senator Roman L. Hruska presiding. Present: Senators Hruska, Hennings, and Ervin. Also present: Charles H. Slayman, Jr., chief counsel, Constitutional Rights Subcommittee, and Robert Young, professional staff member, Judiciary Committee. Senator HRUSKA. The committee will come to order. We will continue the hearings on the civil-rights legislation. Mr. SLAYMAN. Mr. Chairman, we have five witnesses and possibly. a few more today. We have five scheduled, with the first being Rev. William Borders, a minister of the Wheat Street Baptist Church, from Atlanta, Ga.; he had been scheduled for the second day of our hearings and stayed over to our third day. The third day was a Saturday and we ran until late in the afternoon and were not able to hear Dr. Borders nor Mr. Courts nor Mr. Walden; so they have all come back here at their own expense. Senator HRUSKA. Very well. We are sorry they could not have been accommodated earlier. They know the circumstances which attended that situation, but we are glad to have them here now. Dr. Borders, will you take the chair, please, and proceed with your statement? Mr. SLAYMAN. Would you give your name and address? TESTIMONY OF REV. WILLIAM H. BORDERS, WHEAT STREET BAPTIST CHURCH, ATLANTA, GA. Mr. BORDERS. My name is William Holmes Borders, of the Wheat. Street Baptist Church, in Atlanta, Ga. Senator HRUSKA. You may proceed with your statement in your own way. Mr. BORDERS. Members of the committee, it is kind of you to let me come. God bless every one of you from the bottom of my heart. Mark Twain found himself before an audience with no one to introduce him, so he introduced himself. Mr. Clarence Mitchell, director of the Washington bureau of the NAACP, has suggested that I do exactly that. Most important, I am a human being interested in democracy for all. I am Rev. William Holmes Borders. I was born in Macon, Ga. I worked on farms in Twiggs, Houston, and Bibb Counties. I sold papers on the streets of Macon and carried mail in that same city. I worked my way through college, the seminary, and earned a master's degree at Northwestern University. Three schools conferred doctorate degrees upon me. I am pastor of Wheat Street Baptist Church, in Atlanta, Ga., for 19 years. It is the largest Negro church in the South. We own a million-dollar block of property. I am president of the Georgia Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention. I have written five books: Follow Me, Seven Minutes at the Mike in the Deep South, Men Must Live as Brothers, Trial by Fire, and Thunderbolts. I am chairman of the Love, Law-Liberation Movement composed of all denominations of all churches among Negroes in Atlanta. It was organized to help implement civil rights at a local level. After the Montgomery Supreme Court decision, we began with the buses. In Atlanta, from many angles a wonderful and marvelous city, some cabs ride only whites. Some ride only Negroes. In spite of our fine schools, magnificent churches, and thriving businesses and industry, Negroes are forced by law to sit in the back of buses. In 1947 I traveled all over Europe and the Holy Land. In 1955 I traveled after the Baptist World Alliance through Europe, the Holy Land, Egypt, India, China, Japan, Hawaii, and back to Los Angeles. In conversation and in speaking, I told everybody of the United States, one of God's greatest countries, the leader of the free world, the hope of many, many millions. In no place did I see people because of race forced to sit on a particular part of a bus as is the case in most of the States of the South. We Negro preachers of Atlanta decided we would through nonviolence attack this evil. We schooled ourselves through citywide prayer meetings. We schooled our people. We wrote out stepsread, reread them to the people. We mimeographed thousands. Here are those instructions. 1. Pray for guidance and commit yourself to complete nonviolence in word and action, observing the ordinary rules of courtesy and good behavior. 2. If any person is being molested, do not arise to go to his defense but pray for the oppressor and use moral and spiritual force to carry on the struggle for justice. 3. The bus driver is in charge of the bus; ask his aid and report any serious incidents to him. Then report to one of our leaders immediately, giving date, time, place, and names of persons involved, if possible. 4. You will be notified when we wish you to begin helping to desegregate the buses and trolleys, but until then be quiet but friendly, proud but not arrogant, happy but not noisy. 5. Be sure you are neat and clean at all times. 6. Do not be drawn into argument about segregation, desegregation, or integration; in case of an accident, talk as little as possible, and always in a quiet tone. 7. If cursed, do not curse back. If pushed, do not push back. If struck, do not strike back, but show love and goodwill at all times. 8. Remember always to pray, especially for those who would persecute anyone. In addition, we decided our strategy would be open honesty. We talked to the mayor. We told the chief of police. We conferred with the president of the bus company. We sat down with the Federal district attorney. We told them of our nonviolent movement. Those gentlemen were courteous and kind. On January 9, at 10 a.m., a group of preachers went to the heart of Atlanta to board the bus and ride in front. We did. It caused excitement. The operator claimed the bus was out of order. A mechanic came. We remained seated in front. The operator changed the name of the bus from "Amsterdam" to "Special." We rode through downtown sections reading our Bibles. After riding many blocks, we got off. When we attempted to go out of the front of the bus, since we were nearer the front door, the operator told us once to go out the rear. One of the preachers said, "I want to go out the front." The operator permitted our exit from the front, which practice had been for whites only. On January 10, we met at Wheat Street Church at 12 o'clock. We planned to go again to the heart of Atlanta to board eight buses. After our prayer meeting and instructions, a summons was served for the arrest of six preachers who had violated the day before the Georgia segregation law. We were put in jail. Those preachers arrested were Rev. B. J. Johnson-he is present today-of Mount Calvary Baptist Church; Rev. Roy Williams, pastor of Smith Chapel; Rev. Howard Bussy, pastor of Perry Homes Baptist Church; Rev. A. Franklin Fisher, pastor of West Hunter Baptist Church; Rev. H. A. Shorts, presiding elder of the C. M. E. Church; and Rev. William Holmes Borders. On Tuesday, January 15, we were indicted. The cases are now in court. Whereas riding a bus is a simple matter if rights are violated because of color, it is the urgent business of democracy to rectify this wrong. I want, Negroes want, democratic and Christian people everywhere want the civil rights bill passed. It will help make the South and our country a more decent place for all its citizenry. Implementing the Constitution, the Supreme Court decision on education and the Montgomery but protest take nothing from whites. It will give something to Negroes which is rightfully theirs. The only way whites can keep democracy for themselves is to give it to everybody. It multiplies with division. The minorities of the United States, especially the Negro, are the social indicators of American democracy. Thank God that bread is being thrown to Hungarians over there. It is a shame that bombs are being thrown at Negro homes and churches over here because they ask to be seated in buses as other people. Charity begins at home and spreads abroad. Two-thirds of the world is brown and black. Our international stock drops and our competition for world leadership is wounded if we allow prejudice, that blind vampire of the mind, to suck the red blood of healthy hopes. In the name of decency, in the name of democracy, in the name of world leadership, in the name of God, let us pass strong civil rights legislation. I thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee. Senator HRUSKA. Mr. Slayman, have you any questions on behalf of the committee? Mr. SLAYMAN. No, I do not, Mr. Chairman; except where Dr. Borders mentioned the names of some gentlemen. I presume they do not wish to testify themselves. Some of them have come. Mr. SLAYMAN. Since you mentioned them for the record, it will be all right if you introduce them if they are here. Mr. BORDERS. This is Rev. B. Joseph Johnson, pastor of the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Atlanta. He is one of the six ministers. We have Reverend Abell. He is not one of the six, but he is a member of the movement to which I refer. Senator HRUSKA. Dr. Borders, referring to page 2 of your prepared statement, item No. 4, there starts out by reading, "You will be notified when we wish you to begin helping," and so on. Who was to do the notifying? Mr. BORDERS. The preachers on the liberation movement to their respective congregations. Senator HRUSKA. So that when you spoke of "what we will do" in that connection on that entire page and in your statement you referred to that group of preachers who had organized in the fashion which you had described? Mr. BORDERS. Exactly. Senator HRUSKA. That is all. Anything further, Mr. Slayman? If not, call the next witness. Mr. YOUNG. Mr. Chairman, Senator Ervin-oh, here he is now. Senator HRUSKA. The next witness will be Rev. Gus Courts. Step forward, please. Will you give your name and address to the reporter, please? STATEMENT OF CLARENCE MITCHELL, DIRECTOR OF NAACP Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Chairman, I had asked the subcommittee's permission to read this one-page statement introducing Mr. Courts, and if I may, I will identify myself for the record as Clarence Mitchell. Senator HRUSKA. Very well; you may proceed. Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to present a valuable citizen of our country, Mr. Gus Courts, formerly of Belzoni, Miss. I am sure that the two Senators and the House delegation from Mississippi would agree with me when I say that their State is a place of great physical beauty, rich earth, and vast promise for the future. I have the good fortune to be linked with that State through my father-in-law, a fine gentleman who was born in Carrollton, Miss. Each day the north- and west-bound trains and buses carry a substantial number of Mississippi's colored citizens beyond its borders. Again and again in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle, the question arises, "Why do they leave Mississippi?" Today, we have with us a man who can give his answed to that question. I met him in Mississippi at the same time I met Dr. A. M. Mackel, a prosperous dentist of Natchez, and Mr. Richard West, the operator of a profitable filling station in Greenwood, Miss. All three of these men, and many others, are now refugees from Mississippi. They have left their businesses and possessions behind. Although they are no longer young, they must now start anew in other parts of our country. The witness is a graduate of Alcorn College in Mississippi where he was the baseball star and an outstanding student. In Belzoni, he was a deacon in the Greengrove Baptist Church. He could always be counted on to help in numerous charitable and civil causes. He served as president of the local branch of the NAACP. In Belzoni, Mr. Courts owned a grocery store and trucking business valued at more than $15,000. On the night of May 9, 1955, Rev. G. W. Lee, who was associated with Mr. Courts in trying to obtain the right to vote for colored citizens in the area, was shot and killed. Local authorities first announced that the Reverend Mr. Lee was killed in an automobile accident. They even said that lead shotgun bullets in his face were really fillings from his teeth. His murderers have not been arrested. Mr. Courts continued to give leadership in a register and vote campaign. On the night of November 25, 1955, while doing business in his store, he was shot and critically wounded. After he was released from the hospital, he moved to Chicago where he now lives. He is now an ordained clergyman. From this point on, he will tell his own story in his own way. Senator ERVIN. Just one question at this point. Your statement about Reverend Courts is based upon information given you by Reverend Courts and others? Mr. MITCHELL. That is correct. Senator ERVIN. In other words, you have no personal knowledge of the matter? Mr. MITCHELL. Of what, Senator? Senator ERVIN. Of the events, the reference to Reverend Courts that you recounted. It is based on hearsay as far as you are concerned? Mr. MITCHELL. I would not say it is based on hearsay. I have been in Mississippi. I have met him down there in the State. He is here to talk in his own way about what happened. Senator ERVIN. What I mean is, your testimony about Rev. Lee, you do not contend that you are an eyewitness to anything about Reverend Lee? Mr. MITCHELL. Of course not. I would say this, though. I have read the statements; that is, the notarized statements of witnesses. It is a matter of record in the Department of Justice and other places. I think, Senator Ervin, it is sort of like the situation that Thomas found himself in when he was told that Christ had risen. Thomas got an opportunity to stick his hands in the wounds, but it still did not alter basic facts. Senator ERVIN. No; not in that case, because the wounds were there. He stuck his hands in the wounds. Now a lot of this stuff is just based on charges made by people who are never subject to cross-examination. Mr. MITCHELL. In this case I think it is easy to say "Ecce homo." Senator HRUSKA. The witness will proceed in his own way to make his statement. |