[John Clinton Morris, former SNCC worker in Panola County-Batesville, Mississippi. Interview conducted by Cheryl Johnson, May 2022, Batesville, Mississippi.]
Cheryl Johnson:
What is your name?
John C. Morris:
John Clinton Morris, aka "T. Morris."
Johnson:
And your birthday?
Morris:
I was born June 6th, 1942.
Johnson:
Where were you born?
Morris:
I was born in Panola County, Mississippi. Batesville.
Johnson:
How did you happen to become involved in the movement?
Morris:
In 1960 after graduating from high school, I was given a scholarship to Tougaloo Christian College, which is a private institution.
Johnson:
Where is that located?
Morris:
It's in Hinds County but north of Jackson a little bit. And I was given an academic scholarship and a football scholarship. Naturally trying to maintain the athletic scholarship and the academic scholarship, the second year was not offered. Plus, Tougaloo cut out football at the end of that year.So, I transferred to Rust College. Both Rust and Tougaloo were private schools. And private schools could be more involved in the movement than the state-run schools. At Tougaloo, I think my freshman year was the year of the Tougaloo Nine. If you remember, nine students from Tougaloo Christian College went down to the municipal library in Jackson and sit-in. They all were arrested and made history.
That the freedom of movement and exercising your right came as results of going to those private schools, Tougaloo and Rust. Now at Rust College, I had a pretty strenuous load because I played football there too. Plus I was majoring in a degree I thought would lead to a medical doctor position, which I always wanted to be.
But I studied and played and also got myself involved in the Civil Rights Movement there along with friends like Leslie McLemore, Raymond Davis and Willie Peacock. All those are Rust College people who is well known in the movement. Frank Smith, a Morehouse student, working for SNCC, given residency on Rust's campus while working in the movement, became a close friend and someone I admired.
Johnson:
What happened when you got to Rust that drew you into the movement?
Morris:
Well, I've been always aware that Black always got the short end of the stick in most of the thing we participated in, especially in voter registration, and that's what we were mainly doing at Rust, is teaching peoples to register and to vote. Mississippi had this thing where you have to pay two years of poll tax, followed by the interpretation of sections of the Constitution of Mississippi to their satisfaction in order to be eligible to vote. So it wasn't easy for Black folks to register to vote.So we taught communities how to take the test and how to interpret the constitution the best we could. And we did it all over the South, all in the Holly Springs area. It was through these efforts we worked with Frank Smith, who became and still is a good friend of mine.
During the summer we all met at Greenwood and participated in the movement jointly. So that's really how I got involved. I always loved the movement. One other thing that happened at Rust, it's always been the nature of civil rights workers to put your foot in it to see how it's going to work.
Well, back in 1962, it was before Meredith went to Ole Miss (University of Mississippi) or any Black had enrolled. We had a little experiment with Ole Miss. We had met several white students there who were liberals, so to speak. We colluded with them and set up a deal where we (the Black students at Rust) could go to a presentation there where Blacks had never gone before. Howard K. Smith, the news commentator, was speaking at Ole Miss. We arranged it so we could sneak in and hear it and participate, and sneak out.
Well, the sneaking in went well, but the sneaking out didn't go so well. Instead of leaving the building, most of the whites, after it was over, went to the back of the building and stood. They were ready to do battle on our leaving. So, we were approached by the campus security, and they asked us to stay still. More security was summoned and a lane was created for us to exit the building. They (the campus security) formed a barricade and allowed us to get to our car and we made it home safely. But that was before Meredith, that was before the integration of Ole Miss by Black students.
As far as the voter registration is concerned, I worked with SNCC as a teacher of it. We also participated in the training alongside other SNCC workers. One of my homeboys who worked with the group was Houston Potts. He and I, during the summer break, exercised our right to go through the voting process at our local courthouse. Having taught others and had been paying poll tax for two years, we took advantage of the knowledge we had gained and made an attempt. And so in '63, I believe it was, maybe '62, we went down to the courthouse, took the examination and passed it.
Johnson:
Where was the courthouse?
Morris:
The courthouse was located across from the square approximately where it is today.
Johnson:
No, tell us what city and town.
Morris:
In Batesville, Mississippi, the South Panola County seat.I would venture to say that we were the first two Blacks to successfully register. It would be nice to know by a check of the records and find out if that's true. I'm thinking we were, because a lot of people had tried, but even though they paid the poll tax when they went up to register, they were told that they didn't interpret the constitution properly. Some of them was asked bogus questions like how many seeds in the watermelon, and that crazy kind of stuff. We actually passed the test and gain privileges to vote in the early sixties.
Johnson:
You actually voted?
Morris:
Yeah.
Johnson:
Wow.
Morris:
And I'm thinking that he and I probably was, if not the first, we were in the top 10 of people in Panola County who became eligible to vote in Batesville, Mississippi. So I think that's my first involvement.Of course, I was at Rust, you couldn't stay there without being involved because we had the whole campus involved. We had a on-campus chapter of the NAACP in which I served as Vice President. Medgar Evers was our adviser and organizer. We used to have the meetings and the training and then we exercise our privilege going into the different communities and churches and teaching voter registration.
Like I have already stated, during the summer we participated with SNCC in mostly Greenwood, Greenville, other large populations in Mississippi. And so, we were quite involved in that sense.
However, trying to maintain a scholarship and play football, it didn't give me a lot of time as I would like to have. I was hindered to spend as much time getting involved. Because I came from a place, a home where if I didn't get the scholarship I wouldn't be in college. So I had to maintain the scholarship with football. So, I devoted time playing football and I did as much as I could with the other.
Johnson:
Tell us about when you came home that summer. How you got the young people here in the Macedonia community involved.
Morris:
Right. Well most of the time my summers were spent on the road either in Greenwood or in Atlanta.
Johnson:
What were you doing there?
Morris:
We were training. We would go into areas and talk to the young people to get them involved and then we'd take them back to Greenwood for more in-depth training. We did that for people in Columbus, Mississippi area, also in the Batesville area. Some notables like George McDaniel, he did a lot of traveling with us, going places, learning the ins and outs of the procedure. And Juadine Henderson who is still involved politically some kind of way, bless her heart. And let's see, Jimmie Lloyd and most of the young ones that I remember.
Johnson:
Was Faye Glover involved?
Morris:
Well, Faye Glover, Hattie Mae, and Patricia Buckley. And that group, yes, they were involved too. Ms. Thelma Glover, she is a very notable one who did a lot of training and participation in voter registration, and civil rights movement. When I graduated from Rust in 1964, I moved on. It was in like '67, '68, '69 when Ms. Glover, Hattie Mae and that group were active.
Johnson:
So they kind of took what they learned from you and went to the next level?
Morris:
Frank and I, you might say had laid the groundwork for so many through our early work through SNCC and others civil rights groups and local organizations and small groups that we formed. SNCC took a lot of these young people under their wing and taught them and worked with them, trained them how to go out into the community and encouraged them to teach voter registration, talk equality. So that's how a lot of it came about.I finished college in '64, got my BS degree with the intent to go to medical school. Yeah, going to the medical field. However, I was not financially able, and my parents were not financially able. So, I settled for a teaching position in Quitman County, Marks, Mississippi. I started in the summer of '64 at the age of about 21, I think 21. By the summer of 1965 I had gotten married to Laura, one of the teachers at the school.
But once you get indoctrinated, whatever you learn earlier still is part of you. So, the drive to see that Blacks had an equal chance never left. It remained my goal and motivation. I was determined to see that Blacks move forward, onward, and upward.
It so happened that while down in Marks, the Poor Peoples Campaign mule train became an issue after Martin Luther King's death. Martin Luther King had proposed it, but he died. He was murdered before he was able to finish it.
But Dr. Ralph Abernathy and the rest of the movement leaders made sure that it went on. It began in Marks, and they brought a lot of equipment, animals, mules and so on and start organizing the mule train. The reason why it had its beginning in Marks, Mississippi was because at the time Marks, Mississippi was a metropolitan area in the nation with the lowest per capital income. Therefore, Marks was chosen as a starting place to highlight the desolate and poor conditions Blacks in America where living in. That's why Marks was chosen as a starting place.
When things got ready and preparation was made, a rally was planned to send the kids off and the kids were excited. Some people were trying to talk them out of it, but they was enthused on going.
Johnson:
Where was the mule train headed?
Morris:
DC, Washington. It's beginning in Marks, Mississippi and it went all the way to Washington, DC.
Johnson:
Morris:
Yeah. We, the teachers, who had some experience with civil rights and the movement, had a feeling of awe and excitement. We could not openly show our feeling but did so in our hearts. We went along with training the kids and supporting the kids and seeing them off. We agreed that if they had that much interest, then we should support them. How could we look them squarely in their face if we fail to support them?So, about nine teachers, the morning of, left school with the students going to the church for a rally. On the way there, the leader of the movement in Marks named Willie Bolton, he was arrested. So, instead of going to the church, we wound up going to the jailhouse, protesting his arrest. While we were there, several people got kind of roughed up by... well not kind of got roughed up, but roughed up good by the Mississippi State law enforcement officers.
We, being the nine who I mentioned, supposedly, was fired. Terminated by the superintendent. But thanks to God for the other teachers there, because they told the school system, "Well, if you're going to fire them then you're going to fire us," and as a result, nobody got fired. Instead, we were given the week off to prepare the wagon for the send-off. So that turned out really good. The wagon train to Washington, DC, or the mule train to DC whichever you prefer to call it , left the station on time. There's a book written by what's his name, (Hilliard Lawrence Lackey) a Jackson State student at the time, and it does depict this particular event. Marks, Martin and the Mule Train the title of the book.
Johnson:
Were they headed for the Poor People's march in Washington?
Morris:
The Mule train, how did that connect to the poor people's campaign?
Johnson:
It may not be.
Morris:
Yeah, I think it was maybe two different.
Johnson:
Two different things. They wanted to display the poverty.
Morris:
Right, because Quitman County was, like I say, the poorest county in the United States, per capita income, people made less money there per week, per month than anywhere else in the nation. So that's one reason why Martin Luther King chose Marks and Reverend Abernathy continued it after his murder.
Johnson:
What did you do after you quit teaching?
Morris:
In 1968, just prior to Mississippi integrating schools, I had gone to several schools on a math institutional grant. I had gotten that grant at University of Tennessee in Knoxville, which would've been the second consecutive year at that institution. It was a good chance that I could go on and [get a] degree because of that. So, my wife and I made a decision that we were going to go back to Knoxville. My study that summer led to me getting closer to obtaining a degree and we decided to relocate to Knoxville. So that's really what happened. We both found teaching jobs in Knoxville and we taught there. In 1972 I received a Masters of Mathematics from the University of Tennessee and taught in the Knoxville School System until 1980. I was offered a more lucrative job with the BellSouth. So, I became a BellSouth employee.
Johnson:
What level did you rise to? What was the highest level you rose to when you left? What was your position?
Morris:
My title was Outside Plant Engineer, a first-level manager. I rose one level during my tenure. BellSouth hired Blacks simply because of the pressure from the federal government. The federal government was pressuring corporations to high more Blacks and show that they weren't prejudiced. So, I was part of that process. Once you got in and proved yourself, you kind of get shunned, pushed back in the corner kind of thing. Somehow, I struggled and rose to the second level.I had a friend named Herman Jackson. Herman came to BellSouth. Herman had a doctorate degree in math and he only rose to the second level. So, the system did not favor Blacks and was unfair.
Johnson:
Even though they hired you with the skill.
Morris:
Right. Even though they hired us. Yeah. It wasn't right because if they had promoted fairly then — not necessarily me — but people like Herman would've gone further because they had more to offer.
Johnson:
What year did you retire?
Morris:
I retired from BellSouth in 2002. After retiring, my daughter, having a Master in Business Administration, and I, started a tax business in Memphis and we were a tax and bookkeeping business there. After that my mother passed in 2011, I moved back to Batesville to settle.When I moved back, the first thing the community did was to select me to chair a group called STOP (STOP THE ONGOING PROBLEM) of crime in small town Batesville, MS. When I came here, there were a lot of killings, involving shootings, Black on Black mostly. We wanted that to stop. So that was the name of the organization, and they chose me as group leader. We were successful and have not had that type of crime in a while. We operated for a long time. And it's not active now because the need is no longer anymore, and because at age 80, it's gotten difficult to keep up with them young ones.
Johnson:
What other kind of civic activities did you become involved with in the community?
Morris:
I was on the committee the county school superintendent selected to look at problems in the school here in Panola County. And I, along with Mrs. Bruce whom you may know. Mr. Percy Bruce.Yeah, I served along with Mr. Bruce's wife and other county leaders. My wife's eye doctor was one of the members that served. She worked in Dr. Stone's office, she was on the committee. It was a bi-racial committee, and we did a few things. But that committee soon dissolved. I don't know why, but we did. The Superintendent was the head of it. So mainly those were the kind of activities I've participated in since I've been here. The Committee, county committee that the county superintendent put together and the other one I mentioned.
Johnson:
Okay.All right. That's good. Anything else you want to say? I think that's it.
Okay. Thank you for your time and your story.
John Clinton Morris former SNCC worker in Panola County-Batesville, Mississippi. Interview conducted by Cheryl Johnson, May 2022, Batesville, Mississippi.
Copyright © John Clinton Morris and Cheryl Janice Johnson. 2023
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