Provided courtesy of Freedom Summer Digital Collection, Wisconsin Historical Society
Annie Johnson:
My name is Annie Johnson. I live in Jonesboro, Louisiana. My address is Route 1, Box 317.In the summer of 1964, six [CORE] workers came to Jonesboro, Louisiana, which is in Jackson Parish. Population of 15,796. Jonesboro population, 5,000.
During this time, which was about 30 days, they had registered over 200 Negroes on the registration. July 1964, after the civil rights bill passed, Negro citizens of Jonesboro —
Mimi Feingold:
I'm going to cut it off.
Annie Johnson:
— with the help of [Carl 00:00:51], started to work on desegregation of public facilities. During this time around 30 people were jailed. Ku Klux Klan [paraded in] the Negro community one time too many. The Black men of Jonesboro decided they were sick and tired of being tired, so they fromed an organization named the Deacons for Defense and Justice, a group of men who swore to protect their Negro community.Since then, like the TV commercial, you'll wonder where the yellow went, we the Negros of Jonesboro often wonder, "Where did the KKK parades go?"
We also had six Negro policeman who didn't use brutality on their black brother, and they were fired. 1965, January the 17th, two churches were burned around two o'clock. At the same time, there were churches where civil rights meetings were being held. From that the black man were on the wild path again.
In 1965, February, school demonstrations broke out. Why? Because the students at Jackson High were sick and tired of being tired. So they listed their grievances on paper and made their appearance by walking out of their classes and marching. That brought the governor of Louisiana, John McKeithen, to Jackson Parish, at Jackson High School. From that, they got promises. Some were filled. Some have not been filled, but has limited time. And if they're not filled, we shall return.
During this time, Will Henderson and Sammy Flowers were made policemen for the Negro community. This is what the black men call, "A good nigger." They killed one, shot one, beat hundreds, including an eight year old boy, harassed several.
One cannot write or read, so he gets his kick out of the set above. In 1965, July, 28 were arrested for picking an all white grocery store, which is in a Negro community. We demanded a Negro clerk. We had two Negro grocery boys that was working there, but we didn't have a Negro clerk behind the counter. And we demanded one. Okay.
Mimi Feingold:
Did you get the clerk?
Annie Johnson:
No, we did not. The [inaudible 00:03:47] was about 80% effective. But when they were arrested, we were having so much trouble in getting bond money, we decided to stop. And they was arrested on an account.
Mimi Feingold:
One of the things that you demonstrated about at one point was paved roads, right?
Annie Johnson:
Yeah. We also demonstrated for sewage, mail delivery in the Negro community, which they were not getting, and paved roads. That we have.
Mimi Feingold:
Oh, you did get mail delivered?
Annie Johnson:
We got mail delivery, we got paved roads, and the sewage inside the [center 00:00:04:28], most of it is been worked on.
Mimi Feingold:
And now you're working on trying to get the parts of the Negro community which are outside the city limits, into the city limits?
Annie Johnson:
That is correct. We also have a lawsuit in on Will Henderson and Sammy Flowers, asking them to be released of their duties. And the Negro citizens of Jonesboro are still working on that.
Mimi Feingold:
Oh, why are you asking if they can be released of their duties?
Annie Johnson:
Because they're... Well, first place, they're not qualified. And they don't do anything but beat on the Negros and harass and intimidate them all the time.
Mimi Feingold:
Uh-huh (affirmative). And you said that one of them beat up an eight year old girl?
Annie Johnson:
It's eight year old boy.
Mimi Feingold:
Okay. What happened?
Annie Johnson:
Why he beat the child?
Mimi Feingold:
Yeah.
Annie Johnson:
Well, the child, he was the type of child that didn't like to go to school. So the probation office from Monroe asked Will Henderson if he would carry the child to school. So he said he would. And he went by and asked the child's parents if he could carry the child to school. So the parents agreed that he could, but they didn't agree to him to beat the child. So he beat him on a Monday. And on a Wednesday, he beat him again. And he beat him into blisters and things like that, so we file a suit on it.
Mimi Feingold:
That's still in court?
Annie Johnson:
Yeah, that's still in court. It's been moved from Monroe to New Orleans or Baton Rouge.
Mimi Feingold:
Who were the six court workers who came in the summer of '64?
Annie Johnson:
Danny Mitchell, Kathy, Ruthie-
Mimi Feingold:
Kathy who?
Annie Johnson:
Kathy Patterson.
Mimi Feingold:
What was Ruth's name, Jacob?
Annie Johnson:
Ruthie Wells, Bill Yates, Bob Weeble, Fred Brooks. Is that six? I think that's six.
Mimi Feingold:
Okay. And when you said that the school children walked out of school and made a list of demands, what were some of those demands?
Annie Johnson:
Some of the demands were a new gym, more teachers, more books for them to study out of. And they had a gutter in the back of the school, they wanted that cleaned up. Football stadium, et cetera.
Mimi Feingold:
Were any of the places that you demonstrated against desegregated finally?
Annie Johnson:
Yes, all of the public facilities in Jackson and Jonesboro is desegregated.
Mimi Feingold:
Okay, thank you very much.
Mimi Feingold:
How about the church?
Annie Johnson:
There were two churches that was burned, like I said before. In 1965, January the 17th. The two churches were named Pleasantviille Baptist Church and Bethany Baptist Church. During the time of rebuilding the churches, they had students to come down from Syracuse, New York and Kansas City.
Annie Johnson:
During the time of the rebuilding of the churches, the church's windows and things was broken back out of the churches while trying to rebuild. Also, they were shot. And Bethany Baptist Church was burned twice in one year. They burned it back down to the ground.
Mimi Feingold:
Has it been rebuilt?
Annie Johnson:
No, it has not.
Mimi Feingold:
Has anything been done to catch the people who set fire to the churches?
Annie Johnson:
No. Nothing has been done.
Mimi Feingold:
Are any efforts being made to rebuild the church?
Annie Johnson:
There are little efforts being made to rebuild Bethany Baptist Church. Not much. They haven't been able to start rebuilding again.
Mimi Feingold:
Yeah. And how is it-
Annie Johnson:
Well, this community is a very poor community. Most of the people that have membership at the church are wood cutters and things like that. And they had a very hard time trying to rebuild the first church with the help of donations from all over the world. And now they're at rock bottom.
Mimi Feingold:
Yeah. How do they feel about it? Are they scared? Now?
Annie Johnson:
Well, you know, they sort of feel let down. Even while the church was being rebuilt, there had not been any more mass meetings held at the church. We often wonder why the church would be burned again.
Mimi Feingold:
What about the crosses in that courthouse?
Annie Johnson:
Well, that cross sitting back of courthouse is sort of a symbol. They burned a cross on the hill. So, the Ku Klux Klan, they had been rioting. And so we decided to get the cross, and we built a box. And on the outside of the box, we had [inaudible 00:09:48] the head of the [grand dragon 00:09:50]. May his soul rest in peace.
Annie Johnson:
And we had a funeral, and people came by and viewed the body. We had a symbol of Ku Klux Klansmans lying in the box.
Mimi Feingold:
Oh, that's good.
Annie Johnson:
Yeah. Well, it made the white community feel pretty bad, and they insisted that we take the box down. So the box stayed up until it was torn down.
Annie Johnson:
It was really great. We had a white shirt and [tie 00:10:23]. And it had a head. A mold of a head inside the casket and everything. And we got a real big kick out of it. But the KKK didn't like that lying in front of a freedom house with their symbol up there on it. So they raised a lot of hell about it. And the white policemans, they came by and they begged us to take it down. But we took it down at our own will.
Copyright © Annie Johnson & Mimi Real, 1967
For background & more information see:
Deacons for Defense
& Justice
Additional web links: Deacons for Defense and
Louisiana
Movement
Copyright ©
Copyright to this web page, as a web page, belongs to this web site. Copyright
to the information and stories above belong to the authors or speakers.
Webspinner:
webmaster@crmvet.org
(Labor donated)