Parting the Waters (182 page)

“withered and blasted”: Clarke,
Wrestlin' Jacob
, p. 13.

“Oh, the artful dodger!”: Douglass speech of May 29, 1846, in Glasgow, Scotland, reprinted from Woodson,
Negro Orators
, pp. 170-77:

 

Slavery, I hold it to be an indisputable proposition, exists in the United States because it is respectable. The slaveholder is a respectable man in America. All the important offices in the Government and the Church are filled by slaveholders. Slaveholders are Doctors of Divinity; and men are sold to build churches, women to support missionaries, and children to send Bibles to the heathen. Revivals in religion and revivals in the slave trade go on at the same time.

Now what we want to do is to make slavery disrespectable. Whatever tends to make it respectable tends to elevate the slaveholder; and whatever, therefore, proclaims the respectability of the slaveholders, or of slaveholding, tends to perpetuate the existence of this vile system. Now, I hold one of the most direct, one of the most powerful means of making him a respectable man, is to say that he is a Christian, for I hold that of all other men, a Christian is most entitled to my affection and regard.

Well, the Free Church is now proclaiming that these men—all blood-besmeared as they are, with their stripes, gags and thumb-screws, and all the bloody paraphernalia of slaveholding, and who are depriving the slave of the right to learn to read the word of God—that these men are Christians, and ought to be in fellowship as such.

“fanatics of the worst sort”: Myers,
Children of Pride
, Vol. I, p. 23.

high calling: Ibid., Vol. III, p. 299; Ahlstrom,
Religious History
, p. 672; Woodson,
Negro Church
, p. 115.

C. C. Jones Carpenter: Carpenter description from Carpenter Papers, Birmingham Public Library; int. Rev. Douglas Carpenter, July 1, 1987, and Bishop George Murray, July 16, 1987.

lifelong correspondent: Scarlett-Carpenter correspondence in BIR/C15f16.

Niebuhr's best friend: Fox,
Niebuhr
, passim.

“opportunity of a hundred years”: Scarlett to Carpenter, July 22, 1960, BIR/C15f16.

old Negro trusty: Int. Clarence Jones, Nov. 25, 1983. Also int. Rev. Edwin Gardner, Jan. 21, 1986; Kunstler,
Deep
, p. 187.

figured he was entitled: Int. Clarence Jones, Nov. 25, 1983.

evict Hosea Williams: Int. Rev. Edwin Gardner, Jan. 21, 1986.

asleep over her typewriter: Walker, CRDPOH; int. Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, Dec. 21, 1984.

Not a single mention: Garrow,
Bearing
, p. 671n.

“channeling the enthusiasms”: Walker to Marshall, April 16, 1963, Marshall Papers, Box 16, JFK.

“get it from both sides”: Int. Bishop George Murray, July 16, 1987.

“use of police dogs”: Marshall to JFK, April 8, 1963, Lee White Papers, Box 23, JFK.

“Implicit is the suggestion”: White to JFK, April 10, 1963, Lee White Papers, Box 23, JFK.

“poison an atmosphere”: Berl Bernhard, JFKOH; Najeeb Halaby, JFKOH.

Administration officials conceded: JFK press statement, April 19, 1963, Lee White Papers, Box 23, JFK. Also Najeeb Halaby, JFKOH; Lee White, JFKOH; Nathaniel H. Goodrich to White, April 10, 1963, Lee White Papers, Box 23, JFK.

“President Urged”: NYT, April 17, 1963, p. 1.

took root everywhere in the press: E.g., NYT, April 18, 1963, p. 34, and April 19, 1963, p. 42.

dismiss the commission: NYT, April 20, 1963, p. 1.

“I am advised”: JFK press statement, April 19, 1963, Lee White Papers, Box 23, JFK.

hooted out of Washington: Berl Bernhard, JFKOH, p. 29.

impromptu press conference: BN, April 20, 1963, p. 2.

two smuggled books:
Jet
, May 2, 1963, pp. 17-18.

Three of the first four: BN, April 23, 1963.

“Star-Spangled Banner”: Police notes of mass meetings, April 20 and April 22, 1963, BIR/BC13f3.

“read over your Senate speeches”: William Moore to Kennedy, March 2, 1963, Lee White Papers, Box 21, JFK.

Moore was on the road: Moore reports from
Afro-American
, March 30, p. 2, April 6, p. 1, and May 4, 1963, p. 13;
Jet
, May 9, 1963, pp. 14-19; Baltimore
Evening Sun
, April 24, 1963, p. B40; Baltimore
Sun
, April 26, 1963, pp. C1, 6; NYT, April 24, p. 12, and April 26, 1963, p. 17.

Toledo, Ohio:
Jet
, Oct. 3, 1963, p. 48.

astonishing public display: Police notes of mass meeting, April 23, 1963, BIR/ BC13f4.

Two detectives met: O. C. Ellard and O. V. Vance memo, April 24, 1963, BIR/ BC13f4.

President Kennedy replied: NYT, April 25, 1963, p. 16.

John Lewis led: NB, April 26, 1963; NT, April 27, 1963.

Farmer convened: Steering committee minutes, April 26, 1963, CORE Reel 16, Folder 5.

awkward tragedy: Ibid. Also Moore to Peck, Feb. 24, 1963; Peck to Carey (enclosing draft of letter to Moore), Feb. 27, 1963; and Carey to Moore, March 20, 1963, all in CORE Reel 35, Folder 236.

Forman called Moore's widow: Forman,
The Making
, p. 308.

Bevel's afternoon workshops: Int. Rev. James Bevel, May 16, 1985.

Shuttlesworth to vow: Police notes on mass meeting, April 24, 1963, BIR/BC13f4.

special meeting with Governor Wallace: NYT, April 26, p. 1, and April 27, 1963, p. 12; BN, April 25, p. 1, and April 26, 1963, p. 1; Schlesinger Jr.,
Robert Kennedy
, pp. 362-65; Golden,
Mr. Kennedy
, pp. 172-73.

“glad Bobby came”: Police notes on mass meeting, April 25, 1963, BIR/BC13f4.

“toilets were locked” to “
stuff is just in 'em
!”: Watters,
Down to Now
, pp. 233—37.

Jenkins announced: Westin and Mahoney,
Trial
, pp. 141-42.

petitioned the city fathers: Shuttlesworth telegrams to Birmingham City Commission, Mayor Boutwell, City Clerk Hodges and Traffic Engineer Robinson, April 26, 1963, BIR/AB21f23.

Bevel had been showing: Int. Rev. James Bevel, May 16, 1985.

“Four thousand Negroes”: Police notes on mass meeting, April 27, 1963, BIR/ BC13f4.

younger and younger: Meier and Rudwick,
CORE
, p. 219; Isaac Reynolds interview in
New America
, May 31, 1963, p. 1; Reynolds to Farmer, n.d., and Reynolds to Carey, April 26, 1963, CORE Reel 37, Folder 263.

off to a distant prep school: Adenie Drew oral history, Alabama Historical Society, BIR.

“Greenwood Rolled”: BN, April 28, 1963, p. 6.

both bodies denied: Council resolution and Boutwell statement of April 30, 1963, BIR/AB21f23.

“Well, Bevel”: Int. Rev. James Bevel, May 16, 1985.

Bevel had the appeal: Int. Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, Dec. 21, 1984, and Bernard Lee, June 19, 1985.

two separate Moore marches: NYT, May 2, 1963, p. 18; Meier and Rudwick, CORE, p. 215; Forman,
The Making
, p. 308; Watters,
Down to Now
, pp. 243ff.

cynical to Porter: Garrow,
Bearing
, p. 247.

“Against your Mama”: Int. Rev. James Bevel, May 16-17, 1985.

FBI intelligence: Lt. M. H. House memo, April 30, 1963, BIR/BC13f4.

“Tall Paul”: Int. Rev. Edwin Gardner, Jan. 21, 1986.

Twenty
THE CHILDREN'S MIRACLE

fifty teenagers emerged: King Jr.,
Can't Wait
, p. 9; Lewis,
King
, pp. 192f; Garrow,
Bearing
, pp. 248f; NYT, May 3, 1962, p. 1; BN, May 3, 1963, p. 2.

“Hey, Fred”: Police notes on mass meeting, May 2, 1963, BIR/BC13f5.

“Mississippi chopping cotton”: Ibid.

Friday, May 3: The day's events drawn from the sources above, plus NYT, May 4, 1963, p. 1, and BN, May 3, p. 2, and May 4, 1963, pp. 2, 4.

“But lawyer Vann!”: Gaston and Vann interviews for PBS documentary “Eyes on the Prize,” No. 4; also int. David Vann, Aug. 1, 1986.

Walter Gadsden:
Jet
, Oct. 10, 1963, pp. 26—27.

“permit this recrudescence”: Levison intercepts, 3:57 and 4:45
P.M.
, May 3, 1963, FLNY-7-410a.

“We must not boo”: Police notes on mass meeting, May 3, 1963, BIR/BC13f5.

“UNDER the water” to “catch up on my reading”: Ibid. Also tape recording of King's May 3 speech, labeled “Dr. Martin Luther King—Topic Birmingham 1963,” BIR.

another five hundred: Levison intercept, May 4, 1963, FLNY-9-157a.

strung up an effigy: L. H. Baily memo, May 4, 1963, BIR/BC13f5.

three of them stacked: NYT, May 4, 1963, p. 1.

made him “sick”: Schlesinger Jr.,
Thousand Days
, p. 875.

cynical or capricious King: Watters,
Down to Now
, p. 262.

“Love God and Thy Neighbor”: Saturday demonstration drawn from NYT, May 5, 1963, p. 1, and BN, May 4, 1963, p. 2.

Baker flew in: Forman,
The Making
, p. 312.

Carawan and Joan Baez: Carawan to Horton, autobiographical summary, 1965, Reel 7, SHSW/HP; BW, May 4, p. 2, and May 15, 1963, p. 3; Baez,
And a Voice
, pp. 104-6; int. Baez, Jan. 13, 1984.

arrested Guy Carawan: Police notes on mass meeting, May 5, 1963, BIR/BC13f5.

“tired of this mess”: Ibid.

preachers huddled to argue: Int. Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, Dec. 21, 1984, and Rev. James Bevel, May 16, 1985.

“Turn on your water!”: NYT, May 6, 1963, p. 1; King Jr.,
Can't Wait
, p. 101. Also BW, May 8, 1963, p. 1; King speech of May 6, 1963, recorded on Folkways Album 5487; Lewis,
King
, p. 194; Morris,
Origins
, pp. 267-69; Kunstler,
Deep
, pp. 190-91; Forman,
The Making
, p. 312; Wyatt Walker speech of May 25, 1963, Tape 0388, PRA.

Marshall had taken soundings: Garrow,
Bearing
, pp. 252-53; NYT, May 7, 1963, pp. 1, 33.

“look like Atlanta”: White House meeting, May 12, 1963, Audiotape 86.2, JFK.

scouting groups of moderate whites: Corley, “Quest,” pp. 263-65; Garrow,
Bearing
, pp. 251-52; int. Burke Marshall, June 27, 1984.

Robert Kennedy emphasized: Cabinet meeting, May 21, 1963, Audiotape 88.6, JFK.

“He really didn't know”: Marshall and RFK joint interview, June 20, 1964, p. 97, JFKOH.

“had no specifics”: Int. Burke Marshall, June 27, 1984.

mistakes in Albany: King interview by Smith, December 1963, SHSW/SP.

Dick Gregory led: Ibid. Also BN, May 6, 1963, p. 2; Len Holt, “Eyewitness: The Police Terror at Birmingham,” Manchester
Guardian
, May 16, 1963.

Levison worked to place: FBI wiretaps first picked up Levison's idea for an ad in a conversation with O'Dell on Saturday afternoon, May 4, 1963, FLNY-9-157a.

“the bastards at the
Times
”: Bill Preston-Levison Conversation, 1:45
P.M.
, May 6, 1963, FLNY-7-413a.

“references to brutality”: Jones-Levison conversation, 3:49
P.M.
, May 6, 1963, ibid.

negotiating a compromise: Levison—“Mr. Redding(?)” conversation, 5:10
P.M.
, ibid.

mass meeting overflowed: Police notes on mass meeting, May 6, 1963, BIR/BC13f5; also Guy and Candie Carawan, “Birmingham, Alabama, 1963: Mass Meeting,” Folkways Record 5487.

a record $40,000: Int. Rev. Edwin Gardner, Jan. 21, 1986.

Forman burst in: Forman,
The Making
, pp. 312-13.

“those who write history” to “way your lover talks”: Mass meeting of May 6, 1963, Folkways Record 5487.

Wyatt Walker admitted: Int. Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, Dec. 21, 1984.

began to fan out: Ibid. Len Holt, “Eyewitness: The Police Terror at Birmingham,” Manchester
Guardian
, May 16, 1963.

white negotiators met early: Corley, “Quest,” pp. 267-68; Garrow,
Bearing
, p. 253.

“Ladies and gentlemen”: King statement, May 7, 1963, A/KS4; NYT, May 8, 1963, p. 28.