When Bob Moses and the movement arrived in my hometown of Greenwood, MS in the early 1960 s, I was elated. My brother, Dewey had returned from the service having done a tour in the navy. Dewey was in Jackson working for the Mississippi Free Press and had met Medgar Evers who was the Field Secretary for the NAACP. Dewey brought Medgar Evers to Greenwood and introduced him to my father, Dewey Greene, Sr. My brother Dewey began to meet more movement people including Stokely Carmichael who he brought to Greenwood. My family also housed movement people. Dewey applied to become the second black student at 'Ole Miss in the fall of 1962. He was not accepted.
My brother, George and I were high school students. We attended Mass Meetings, assisted with distribution of food and clothing to people who had been cut off food subsistence by the state of Mississippi. We also canvassed to get people to register to vote. In the spring of 1963 someone shot into my family's home.
I attended the SNCC conference in Atlanta in the spring of 1963 where I met Ella Baker and Ruby Doris Robinson. They both encouraged me to continue my education and to stay active in the movement. Movement activities were very strong in Greenwood during the spring and summer of 1963. In the fall of 1963 I went to Dillard University. In the summer of 1964, I went to work on voter registration in McComb, MS. That summer the Freedom House where my brother, George and I and other staff and volunteers lived was bombed. That fall I returned to Dillard and in the summer of 1965, I returned to McComb. Jim Foreman encouraged me to come work in the Atlanta SNCC Office. I was very excited about going to work with Ruby Doris. I initially worked the switchboard and later moved into the finance office where I stayed until I left SNCC in the summer of 1968 to move to Washington, D.C.
My involvement in the movement and with SNCC has influenced every aspect of my life. I am very thankful for the experience.
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