The Petal paper. [volume] (Petal, Miss.) 1953-19??, 1957-02-14
0rangeburg

quately.
A call for aid went out to the nation
through the NAACP. and the Negro press
The national office of the N.A.A.C.P. deposit
ed $4,000 in the Victory Savings Bank and
earmarked it "for victims Of economic pres
sure A sum of $4,000 was deposited by the
Prince Hall Masons, $4,000 by a Catholic
church, $4,000 by the National Council of
Churches, and $4,000 by the Congregational
Churches
Other appeals by magazines, newspapers,
mail campaigns, radio, and individuals
brought additional contributions of food
money, and clothing A ministerial alliance
in Philadelphia sent 81 800 and three tons of
food, Several carloads of food were sent by
the National Committee for the Rural
Schools, whose chairman is j. Waties War
ing, the former South Carolina Judge who
ruled out the white primary in the state The
Mayor OF Youngstown, Ohio, proclaimed
Sunday, December Is, as Supplies to Aid
Negroes in Dixie Day
The aid was sufficient to take care of the
immediate need.
The Whites Christmas
r During November and December. 1855, the
Citizens Council in Orangeburg tried to
tighten the wise on the remaining twenty
six petitioners but had no success Once the
impact of the initial reprisals had been alb
sorbed by these twenty-sX and their fami-
lilies, they could not be presumed much
further. They mad fosnd jobs, homes loans,
and sources of supply beyond the reach of
the Citizens Council, and the few things
they could not get they learned to do with
out
During this same period, the white mer-
, chants who had co-operated so wholeheart-
Aedly with the Citizens Council began TO
-chafe under the pressure Of the boycotting
Negroes on one side and a Jealous Council
on the other The merchants on the bovcott
INST began to worry when, as Christmas ap-
preached, the boycott continued undated
On January 5, 1856, President Eisenhow
er, in his State of the Union message, pro-
posed an investigation of the Citizens Conn
ellis and similar organizations 1T is disturb
ing that in some localities, allegations per-
slst that Negro citizens are being deprived
of their right to vote and are likewise beino
subjected to unwarranted economic pressure
recommend that the substance of these
charges be throughly examined by bipart-
lsan commission created by Congress-,
South Cardinals two us. Senator's and
SIX Representatives rallied to the support of
the Councils. They charged the President
with "vote-getting, meddling, political hv-
thepocrlsy and over-steppng" One said, IF
such an investigation revealed there are re-
prlsalS, what could the government do about
1t? It's none of their business"
The Students Rise and Fall
In the early months of 1856, the state leg
lslature adopted a series of pro-sepregation
and -N.AA.CP measures. One intro.
duced by Representative Hughes of ORANGE
burg, called for the investigation Of NAAC
r. activities on the State COLLEGE can,nus
that Hughes had threatened when tho et,,-
oents gave their support to the town bow
colt. Students and faculty alike protested.
passed resolutions, signed petitions and held
meetings. "A short time later Governor
george g. Zimmerman, Jr, ordered the State
Law Enforcement Division to place the State
college campus under surveillance because
OF expected trouble from subversive ele-
ments The student council called for a
"alKout IN protest and the twelve hundred
undergraduates quit their classes. Demon
Stratlons were held on the campus during
winch Zimmerman Hughes, and the COLLEGE
president were hanged in effigy.
After four days. the students, with the
promise OF discussion of their grievances on
the one hand and the threat of expulsion on
. the other, returned to their classes The
spromlse was forgotten and the student coun-
Gil president was expelled At the end Of The
school year in June, 1856, fifteen more stu
dents were expelled and five faculty. mem