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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 1963)
Desegregation Demands in MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, OREGON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER S, IMJ Danville BBVIIIUIH Stalemate By CHARLES E. FLIWER Danville, Va. (UPD Throe months ago 30 or so Negro youths, some wearing Bermuda shorts and bobby sox, spilled out o( the High Street Baptist church and marched the six blocks to city hall. The temperature was in the high 80s, one of those stifling days that chases people to the shade of wide porches or to air conditioned stores on Main street. The date: Friday, May 31. The Time: Shortly after 4 p.m. Police, who knew the demon stration was coming, provided an escort. The small group dis persed quietly. More turbulent days lay ahead. Five days prior to the first march, the city's National As sociation for the Advancement of Colored People and the Danville Christian Progressive Associa tion had met at the High Street church and voted to begin street demonstrations to achieve their desegregation demands. Truce Called It had worked in Birmingham, Ala., a few weeks earlier. A truce was called in the Alabama steel center and a start was made toward desegregation of downtown stores and job up grading. Similar steps toward racial peace were taken in Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S. C. Whites and Negroes gradually got together to try to settle their differences. Danville remains a stalemate. Its white and Negro leaders are at odds. Scores of Negroes have been jailed. Demonstrators have been clubbed. Fire hoses have been used. Shots have been fired at police cars cruis ing through Negro neighbor hoods. The four-story brick and stone city hall is barricaded and guarded. Sand bags are in evi dence around the police depart ment but this is a civil defense measure (a relic of the Cuban crisis) and has no bearing on the racial trouble. Sporadic The demonstrations, which still have not reached the pro portions of those which shook Birmingham, have continued sporadically since tile citv passed a tough ordinance ban ning marches by groups of more than six persons younger than 18. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who urged the city's Negroes to fill the jails, calls Danville's re sistance "the worst in the Unit ed State." It seemed to be a new label to replace the one King once gave Birmingham "The most segregated city in America." Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy, in testimony supporting the ad ministration's civil rights bill, said: "Dogs can get better ac comodations than a Negro pass ing through Danville." Danville, halved by the Dan River, lies in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains. Jefferson Davis in 1865, flee ing from a fallen Richmond, ! population is Negro. The vast I sit-ins in 10 but the city conn cnose a ma n street Duilding lor piant was ,he 0f a crucial me laab tuu iduuii'i aeaaiuu w the doomed Confederate States of America. The building, now the Confederate Memorial Li brary, was the scene of a civil rights battle three years ago. Scene of Battle In 1882, Dan River Mills was founded and grew to employ about one-fifth of Danville's present population of 47,000. About one-fourth of the city's civil rights battic a few weeks ago. Most of the people here work in one mill or another Dan River's textile plant, the Corn ing Glass Plant, the II. K. Por ter Tool Plant or the P. Loril lard tobacco processing plant. Negroes, most of whom live near the industrial-warehouse areas, fared well at the hands of the business community after !ii ill l: - ON THE MARCH Singing, hand-clapping Negro youths march through downtown streets during a desegregation rally last June in Danville, Va. (UPI). cil stood fast, then yielded slowly-After the sit-ins, lunch coun ters desegregated. Negro em ployment increased in plants with Federal contracts. Negroes became clerks in department store bargain basements. The city council reluctantly reopened the library for limited service. Later tables and chairs were replaced. Out of the library fight came the Danville Christian Progres sive Association. After three years its president, the Rev. L. W. Chase, 45, told colleagues he was "fed up with the slow action." "We feel now the fight is to be won in the streets," he said. Negroes, mostly school chil dren directed by i'liasc and the Rev. L. G. Campbell, went to the streets with these demands: A full-lime principal for the Negro Lungston High school, a desegregated police force, a de segregated city hall office force, more employment at higher lev els in local businesses and fac tories and equal use of public accomodations. Flushed with success in Bir mingham, the Student Non-vio-len Coordinating committee, the Congress on Uncial Equality and the Southern Christian leader ship conference all converged on Danvillo to join the battle. The campaign stepped up. The city fought back. Gov. Alberlis S. Harrison sent a force of stale police to bolster the 75-man city police force un der Chief Eugene G. McCain, a tough, no-nonsense cop. Negroes picketed. The SCLC sent in Dr. Martin Luther King and other ministers to speak at mass meetings. Two justice department civil rights troubleshoolers came and left. Issue Injunction The city judge issued an in junction against demonstrations and meetings where they are ad vocated. The ordinance sharply curbing pickets was enacted. Negroes countered with a vot er registration drive and went to the federal courts with nine civil rights actions. During the struggle, Dan Riv- Travel Bug McNeil Points Out Places Of Interest for Tourists Editor's Note "Travel Bug" is sponsored by the Oregon Welcome committee. Purpose of the column is to provide readers w ith a week ly calendar of events and fea ture highlights of "places and things to do" in Oregon. Inter esting activities, events, travel news, comments and questions may lie sent to Travel Bug. Si'i Pittock Block, Portland, Ore. Just a reminder for persons j "Travel Bug" that in addition to who haven't vet seen the 1963 i 'mat week ot the festival. Jack- Oregon Shakespearean festival j at Ashland. Each evening! through the remainder of the ! week players will be on-stage and final presentation of the sea-1 son, "liomeo and Juliet is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 7, beginning at 8:45 p.m. Talked to Don McNeil, man ager of the Mcdford Chamber of Commerce. He reminded aaaans ioaoi muii For a fast serve. 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All. umf (ood only m ttia Untt4 aipim on Octotui Jl. Tint coupon r. .iOVr - A sonvilles famous museum is open and attracting hundreds of visitors daily. McNeil mentioned the Doll House, a comparatively new feature of this southern Oregon citv. "Some of the dolls are over 300 years old," he said. "And there's always a sports man in the crowd," he suggest ed, "don't forget to tell them about the run of fall stcelhcad in the Koguc river. They are around Agncss now, and hitting flies like mad," he exclaimed. Tourist business in southern Oregon? McNeil tied in a com pliment for the state's Tourist Information division with his answer to this. He said the Med' ford office has had a 300 per cent increase in tourist inquiries since the Tourist Information program was initiated this year "The directional signs pointing out location of our information office did the trick," he suggested. The Britt Music Festival at Jacksonville, recently conclud ed, made such a successful de but that the association is al ready planning the 1W4 pro gram. Tentative dates have been set for Aug. !) through 22. Friday, Sept. 6, D'Ann Fuller- ton, Miss Oregon of l!)fi3, will appear on Bud Collier's "To Tell the Truth" program. Channel 6 will carry the show here in the Northwest. Chock television list ings for oxact time. Oregon State Fair at Salem has attracted tremendous crowds this year. Dennis Clarke, director of the state's Travel Information division, says "It'i the best fair yet." He comment ed on the variety of educational and informational displays. "Of course the Jimmy Hogcrs re view isn't bad either," he said. Fair closes Saturday night, Sept. 7. Other places in the state we have (lie Harney County fair, rodeo and race meet at Burns, Sept. 5 through 8. Annual Ya- quina Art center show opens Sat urday at Newport for two days, and the Whcatley Elks Memor ial Golf tournament starts at Gearliart Sunday, Sept. 8. Nrxt Week's Events Next week it's the Pendleton Roundup and Happy Canyon Pageant, starting Wednesday, Sept. II, and running through Saturday, Sept. 14. The Sherman County fair and rodeo opens Thursday, Sept. 12, at Moro and continues through Sunday. On Saturday, Sept. 14, don't miss the Indian Style Salmon bake at Depot Boy. Upcoming events that you may want to plan for include North Marion County fair at the National Guard armory in Wondburn, Sept. 19 to 21, and the annual Redmond Potato fes tival one day, Saturday, Sept. 21. First college foolhall 'clash of the year schedules University of Oregon against Pennsylvania State on Saturday, Sept. 21, at Multnomah stadium, Portland. Next Portland game will be Sept. 28 when OSU faces Colo rado at the Multnomah stadium. I Special recreation suggestions this week include these remind I ers . . . The Oregon coast is 1 never more attractive than ciiir- ing the month of September and j part of October. Normally you II find warm days with no wind and parks and recrcalion areas not quite so crowded. Fall salmon fishing is running "hot1 in most bays and rivers. The ocean has been flat and peace ful (lame commission informa- lion officer Mill (Jiiymon, re- minds u.s, too, that dove and pigeon season is open through Sept. 30. Blue and ruffed grouse opens Saturday, Sept. 7, and runs through Sept. 22, east of the Cascades, and through Sept. 15, west of the Cascades. Sage grouse, chukar and Hungarian partridge season opens Saurday, too, . nd general deer season Sept. 28 through Oct. 20. Elk, Oct. kk through Nov. 11. That in itself includes a big bit of real recreation potential. For further information on "places to go and things to do" in Oregon call your Chamber of Commerce office or your local Oregon Welcome chairman. er Mills became a focal point. The company loaned a public relations expert to the city. He returned to the plant when pick ets showed up there and at the New York city sales office. W. J. Erwin, president of the mills, ordered "white" and "col ored" signs painted over and opened the plant cafeteria to Negro employees. Erwin also organized a three member committee that became the mayor's raciul advisory committee to hear Negro de mands. Thirteen white ministers called for a bi-rncial committee and later 45 of the 60-memhcr all- white League of Women Voters urged good faith negotiation. But the talks never got oil the ground and the Negroes have called for a "worldwide boycott" against Dan River Mills. Its New York offices were picketed. Sole Spokesman Mayor Julian K. Minson, Be spectacled, oil company exec utive is the sole, official spokes man for the council. The coun cil, the long-time mayor said, will not talk with these crim inals." We should not be called mm inals until we have been proven Awards Authorized For State Workers Salem (UPD Cash awards totaling $1,590 have been auth orized for state workers, the Board announced Tuesday. Maximum award of $500 each were presented to two em ployees. One went to Louise Bates, Salem, a clerk for Ihc Industrial Accident Commission. The other went to William C. Kccfer, Salem, an employee of the Department of Veterans' Affairs. guilty of some crime," said the soft - spoken Campbell. "After this is all over, we want to con tribute our talents to the com munity at large." Councilman John W. Carter, handsome, gray-haired lawyer, has labeled the Negroes "Mail Mau terrorists." "We are American citizens not outsiders," said Chase, fath er of five. Chase was arrested early this month in the pre-dawn hours and appeared in court the same day as he was arrested and jailed barefoot and clothed only in a bathrobe, lie walked to his office that way later. "Even if the courts dropped all charges," he said, "we would not have accomplished very much. We'll go right back to jail until this thing is resolved." College Team Plans Lunar Probe Package College Station, Tex. (UPI) A Texas A&M college scien tific team is working on an in strument package to analyze the moon and report its findings back to earth. Working under a grant from the Atomic Energy commission and the National Aeronautics and Space administration, the researchers hope to solve weight and size problems through miniaturization to get the package smalt enough to (it a rocket to the moon. The package will work by bombarding a small area of the moon with neutrons, recording the rays given by elements in Ihc area, then identifying t h e elements by analyzing the pack age's "report" to earth. RESIGNATION ACCENTED McMinnville (UPD The city council Tuesday night unani mously accented the resignation of Police Chief Roy Brixey, 41. Cookie Schoo Vsjfe Lunches-Snacks Desserts try Marble Shortbread Fancy Shortbread Butter Flavored Coconut I Came Back fr a Stroke! It TV. v IK km By JAMES WINCHESTER This victim of the nation's third largest killer tells what science and family can do to return an invalid to a normal life. Read the absorbing personal story o his attach, his treatment and his return to normal life in the SEPTEMBER 8TH Wnktnd liiVt of I Family Weekly with your copy of the MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE o o o V (J C-"-tJ CD o o (o) i0 P
