Arizona sun., 1961-06-29
Surplus Sent
To Tennessee
Voter Victims

NEW YORK-The NAACP ex-
pNesSed qualification upon the
announcement this week that Pre-
sident John F. Kennedy had au-
thorized shipment of surplus food
to Negroes in Haywood and Fay
cite Counties, Tenn.
Negroes who had registered to
vote in the counties became vic.
TINS of economic pressure by
white landowners and merchants.
The Presidents authorization to
send the food came in a letter to
Agriculture Secretary Orville
Freeman.
The Chief Executives action, in
large part, grows out of a series
of NAACP moves dating back TO
March 1860, when John Brooks,
director of voter registration, in
vestigated economic repriSals
growing out of efforts of Negroes
in Haywood and Fayette Counties
to register and vote. The NAACP
submitted affidavits of voting de-
malls to the Justice Department
under the Civil Rights Act of
1857 which resulted in consent
decree being issued April Is, 1860.
John Brooks personal investiga-
ton of events in Fayette County
confirmed rum0rs of the economic
squeeze against Negro leaders and
others who dared to register and
vote. Affidavits were submitted
May 1860 to the Justice Depart
ment by the Washington Bureau
detailing the economic repriSalS,
including refusal of credit, deni-
al of bank loans and refusal of
merchants to sell gasoline, cloth
ing and other necessary items,
as well as the cancellation of liza
bility insurance on automobiles,
tractors and homes.
In May, the Association wired
Gulf Oil, Standard Oil of New
Jersey, American Oil and Texaco
urging them to end their refusal
to sell gasoline to Negro farmers
in Haywood and Fayette Counties
and pressed the national oil COM
panieS for action in behalf of Ne
gro residents
At the NAACP Annual Conven-
ton in st. Paul, Minnesota, June
rs, 1860, a resolution was adopted
calling on Negro patrons and 9TH
ers throughout the country to
withhold patronage from the oil
companies participating in the
boycott against Negroes. The boy
colt was effective and oil was
subsequently delivered to John
McFerren, Negro grocer and lead
er of the Fayette County Civic
and Welfare League.
NAACP branches throughout the
country, at the call of the Ma
tional Office in August, sent sub
stantial financial assistance, food
and clothing to help out in the
emergency. Bi-monthly, food pack
ages were delivered under the
management OF the NAACP Mem
phis branch.
In order to take affirmative
steps to end the pressures in the
counties, the Associations Execu-
tive Secretary, Roy Wilkins, call
ed together in New York City on
January IL, representatives of the
American Friends Service Com
mittee, National Sharecroppers
Fund, Congress of Racial Equali-
ty and the National Committee for
Rural Schools. The organizations
agreed to work together to coor-
dinate relief activities and to
work out a long-range solution to
alleviate the emergency.
II is significant that the Ken
nedy Administration has, in eff
feet, reversed the action of the
Eisenhower Administration on
this issue, because the previ-
GUS Administration took the
position that a state agency
instead of a federal agency
had to assume such a RESPONSE
bility. The persistent, careful
work of the NAACP, which has
supplied over $4,000 in finan-
cial and other assistance,
working through the national.
regional and Washington Bur-
eau, has resulted in the Presi-
dents order authorizing the
Secretary Of Agriculture to
send surplus food to Haywood
and Fayette Counties designat-
ing these areas as economical
Iv deuressed communities