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come down to the chambers of Mr. Justice Black of the U.S. Supreme Court.

I went down. I had gotten the word that he only had 15 minutes and he just wanted to see me to encourage me, to let me know that I was on the right tack, by trying to get something where white people and Negroes could get together, and I stayed down there with him for 2 hours. And he told me that "I understand that you are going to have a meeting here of the NAACP in January, and that they have invited you to speak, and I want you to go down there and tell them something. I sent for you because I know you can carry this message." He said: "They are planning down here, the NAACP, they are going to get some suits to come up to this Court after a while."

He said: "If they come up here, we are going to decide them on the basis of the law and the Constitution, but I don't want them to get up here. I want you to go down there and when you come back up here in January to that convention I want you to go down there and tell them to make it, because they are planning to attack the schools below the college level in the South."

He pointed out to me: "All the Southern States have now conceded that you have the right to vote. They have conceded that you have the right to enter the colleges and universities for graduate and professional training.

"All three States have got to do it-mine, Alabama, and Georgia. "Ours are naturally slow because they are rural, but they are coming around pretty soon because southern public opinion is for that. "But if the NAACP attacks the separation in the schools below the college level, they are going to succeed only in arousing and rallying the most reactionary sentiments in this country against the Negro and defer rather than hasten full emancipation. But if you make it the vote, you can get by gradual learning the art of political participation. At the same time you will be making friendship with the responsible white people at the State and the local level. It is the best approach when you do go down there."

I went down there, and of course they did offer the resolution. Walter White offered it, and I got up and offered the motion to make civil rights, FEPC and so forth.

I got up on the rostrum and pointed out that we already had what we wanted. We were getting the vote. There was a closer and closer cohesion and a meeting together of white people and Negroes at the local level, and I offered the motion that the NAACP from 1950 concern itself only with the vote.

And of course Mr. White had the gavel, and when the voice vote was put, despite the opinion of most people who talked to me after that, he ruled, and they went this way. I was against it then, Senator, because I was doing it, and other Negroes in the South were following the lead that we were making in Mississippi.

It was developing under Dr. Robinson in Arkansas. It was developing under Ernest Wright in Louisiana. It was developing under Carter Wesley and Lester in Texas. It was developing under Scott and Walden in Georgia. And there was a wholesome getting together of white people.

The sentiments of the post-Reconstruction and the Reconstruction period had so far disappeared when this distinguished young man

that appeared here before you today as Governor of Mississippi was the attorney general, I persuaded Governor White to call a summit meeting of Negroes and white people at the highest level in the State of Mississippi, which he did, only to have it sabotaged and kicked out of the window because of the resolution read at the meeting by people who wanted new notice and some kind of prominence that their work had not warranted.

Senator, I am honored for this opportunity, and I want you to know that I received no price, nothing. I did it because I wanted to. And I am sincerely convinced that my people and the people with whom they live today do have the intelligence and the basic good will to get together and find a solution for these problems, and no kind of law-the one in 1954, the ones passed subsequently, and the proposals-will contribute anything to the final getting together of responsible white people and Negroes at the local level.

Thank you.

Mr. SLAYMAN. Have you ever favored any Federal civil rights legislation?

Mr. GREENE. No, sir, I never have favored any.

Senator ERVIN. I think history shows that, except for the times that politicians have entered into this field, there have never been two races who have enjoyed better relations than the white and Negro races of the South.

Is that not true?

Mr. GREENE. Senator, I do know the story of Thaddeus Stevens and the rest.

Senator ERVIN. I know from my study of history and from hearing people of both races talk in my community that during the Civil War, when all of the white men and all the white boys of the South went to the war, their families were cared for and protected by the colored people who remained on the plantations and in the towns. And those fine relations continued to exist after slavery until the politicians entered into the situation and tried to stir up animosities between the races to perpetuate themselves in office.

There were some politicians on both sides that did that. Then after the war and after slavery was abolished, the South was poverty stricken, and the two races worked together to try to find a better way of life for both races. They cooperated and they continued to cooperate and made remarkable advancement, as you have indicated, up to the time when we had the second effort of reconstruction.

I am proud of the progress which the members of the Negro race have made in the South. In my State of North Carolina, in Durham, a bank is owned, controlled, and managed by members of your race. They have the largest insurance company of the same type in the world. They enjoy in North Carolina a franchise to operate a public transportation system. They have on the State board of education in my State Dr. Harold Trigg, a distinguished educator of the Negro race, who has done a very fine job as a member of the State board of education for about 10 years. They have members of city councils in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Durham. They have had them also in Fayetteville and Southern Pines. The truth of it is these problems are problems that are going to have to be solved by mutual cooperation, mutual respect, and mutual understanding on

the local level in communities where people live, and all of these efforts to solve them by force or by law instead of bringing a solution just makes a solution more difficult, is that not true?

Mr. GREENE. Yes, sir.

May I add this to my answer? Excuse me, I just recalled that Justice Black knew that I had been a great admirer of President Truman, and the afternoon I went down there along about 5 o'clock it was getting time for me to go, he said to me, "I know you want me to tell you something about the President's civil rights program, don't you?" He said, "Well, I ain't going to tell you nothing. I ain't going to tell you whether it is good or bad, but you go down there and keep getting your people to register and vote. Keep trying to make acquaintance with the leading white people at the local level. When you get the vote and friendship of the people at the local level, you won't need a civil rights law."

That is why I have never been in favor of one.

Senator ERVIN. The committee is very grateful to you appearing before the committee to give us the benefit of your views on the subject concerning which you know much more than most other Americans.

Mr. SLAYMAN. There was just one question I had alluded to earlier. In the Jackson, Miss., Clarion Ledger, Sunday, July 7, 1957, in an Associated Press story about work of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, there is a paragraph that reads:

"Percy Greene, editor of the Jackson Advocate, the State's leading Negro newspaper, drew money in several categories. He was paid $35 last September for travel and $300 last February under the heading of "Advertising," and a $200 warrant was made out last October to National Association of Colored People of the South, care of Percy Greene."

Is that an accurate report?

Mr. GREENE. No, sir, that is not. I made a speech entitled-I would like to make this clear. I have certain views. I have expressed them for 20 years, and if it is anybody-sovereignty commission, the man from down under, who wants to buy my paper and pay me for the service, I am going to sell it to them.

But in that case that was nothing but the propaganda of certain people who were trying to reflect or cast reflections on everybody who is not expressing agreement with them..

The sovereignty commission paid the Mutual Association of Colored People of the South and me for the privilege of circulating a speech that I made on parallel progress, which was subsequently produced as an editorial in my paper, and not as an employee of the sovereignty commission.

Mr. SLAYMAN. I have no further questions.

Senator ERVIN. Thank you again for appearing.

Mr. GREENE. You are welcome, Senator.

Mr. SLAYMAN. Thank you, Mr. Greene.

The chairman of the subcommittee, Senator Hennings, has stated that the hearing record will be open until noon eastern daylight time, Tuesday, June 2, 1959. This is the same amount of time as adopted for the hearings in 1957 plus the intervening weekend this time of Saturday and Sunday, Mr. Chairman.

I want to state clearly for the record that anyone who has indicated an interest in testifying has been scheduled as a witness by this subcommittee.

Then he has either been heard or in two or three cases he has failed to appear, and in a couple of other cases he has chosen to send in a statement for the record.

But in every single case of a person asking to be heard in person, we have scheduled him.

I have this clipping on the "FBI Withdraws, Leaves Lynching to Mississippi," of the Washington Post of Tuesday that we were looking for this morning. That was on the FBI withdrawal. That will go along with those other clippings.

And a telegram which I won't take the time to read from the Mississippi State Conference of NAACP branches in Jackson, Miss.

Senator ERVIN. That will be made a part of the record. (The documents referred to follow :)

[From the Washington Post and Times Herald, May 26, 1959]

FBI WITHDRAWS, LEAVES LYNCHING TO MISSISSIPPI

POPLARVILLE, MISS., May 25 (UPI).-Federal authorities withdrew from the Mack Charles Parker lynching investigation today, finding no basis for Federal prosecution, and turned the case over to the State for action.

Mississippi Gov. J. P. Coleman indicated there would be at least a 6 months' delay in seeking State indictments against the men the Federal Bureau of Investigation named as prime suspects in the Negro's slaying. Coleman said he would present FBI findings to a Pearl River County grand jury next November. There was no indication that a special grand jury would be called and Coleman said he would not disclose the FBI evidence.

The FBI was withdrawn when Justice Department experts studying the case found no basis for Federal prosecution. The possibility of immediate arrests apparently collapsed.

UP TO MISSISSIPPI

The decision placed the task of jailing, indicting, and prosecuting of Parker's killers squarely in the hands of the Mississippi authorities. The FBI was prepared to turn over to the State evidence it amassed in a month-long investigation, and gave Coleman a report today.

Local authorities awaited the evidence and indicated they would study it thoroughly before deciding on a course of action. Coleman said he would not reveal "any part" of the "comprehensive report" furnished by the FBI. "Proper procedure is that I shall make this information available to the next regular session of the Pearl River County grand jury in November," he said.

"The law requires the grand jury to keep secret for 6 months all testimony offered before it. Therefore, pending grand jury action, I shall not under any circumstances reveal any part of the contents of the FBI report."

FEDERAL LAW INTACT

Federal withdrawal came after Justice Department experts studied the FBI evidence, which included a list of prime suspects. Attorney General William P. Rogers said it was "clearly established" that there was no law violation under which there could be Federal prosecution. The lack of evidence of Federal law violation apparently had blocked the arrest of suspects by the FBI, a development expected almost daily for 2 weeks.

The FBI assigned 40 agents to the case on the day Parker was abducted. His body was found nine days later.

Whether Parker was taken across a State line apparently was a decisive question in deciding whether Federal prosecution could be brought. The Federal Lindbergh kidnaping law, which provides a maximum penalty of death, may be involved if a victim is taken across a State line.

Poplarville Mayor Pay Hyde said local citizens were "relieved to learn" that the FBI was pulling out of the case.

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS,
Securities and Exchange Building.

JACKSON, Miss., May 27, 1959.

GENTLEMEN: On behalf of 95 percent of the Negro citizens of Mississippi the following requests are made: No. 1, please enact, during this session of Congress meaningful civil rights legislation which should include antilynch laws to prevent the open invitation to further lynchings left by the withdrawal of the FBI in the Mack Charles Parker incident of Poplarville, Miss; No. 2, please make it possible here in America and specifically in Mississippi for more than one-half million Negro potential voters to feel free to go to the polls on election day without the fear of economic reprisals or being shot down for doing so. Gentlemen, those requests come from loyal American citizens who have defended this country at home and abroad when and where the call was sounded by our services.

Respectfully yours,

MISSISSIPPI STATE CONFERENCE OF NAACP BRANCHES.

Mr. SLAYMAN. Mr. Chairman, that is all I have for the record at this time, keeping the record open until Tuesday noon.

Senator ERVIN. The record will be kept open until Tuesday noon for receiving any further statements. I want to thank counsel for the cooperation he has extended to me in the holding of the sessions of the committee, and to thank all of the witnesses who have appeared to testify.

Mr. SLAYMAN. I want to be on the record as expressing my real personal appreciation to Senator Ervin for our work together here. Senator ERVIN. I thank you.

Mr. SLAYMAN. The meeting for the subcommittee to vote on legislation is set for next Wednesday morning, June 3, 1959, at 10:30 a.m. (Whereupon, at 5: 15 p.m. the hearing was recessed, to reconvene at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 3, 1959.)

(Subsequent to the close of the hearings on May 28, 1959, the following statements and materials were received by the subcommittee staff for inclusion in the record of these hearings:)

CHAIRMAN, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

MAY 18, 1959.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I write in support of Senate bill 810 which is now under consideration.

It may be relevant for me to say that I am a southerner, by birth, schooling, and by more than 40 years of residence. Born in Bowling Green, Ky., where the southern tradition of segregation of the races was practiced and accepted by us all, I received my elementary and secondary education in the Bowling Green public schools before earning the bachelor of arts degree at Western Kentucky State College. Later I received the doctor of philosophy degree at the University of Kentucky. For over 20 years I taught in the public elementary and secondary schools of Kentucky and Virginia and in the State universities of Kentucky, Georgia, and South Carolina. I have been living outside the South only since January 1956, when I moved from Columbia, S.C., to Albuquerque, N. Mex., to become dean of the College of Education at the University of New Mexico. All this is to say that I am a southerner-in fact and in spirit—even though I cannot condone now the practice of segregation of the races in many of these Southern States.

I am of the firm conviction that enforced segregation by race in the public schools cannot now be defended on any basis, and for this reason I support

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