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{
    "localId": "40020143",
    "label": "Flyer, \"An Appeal to the Governor and People of Tennessee,\" by Clark Foreman",
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    "id": "40020143",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Flyer, \"An Appeal to the Governor and People of Tennessee,\" by Clark Foreman",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40020143",
    "collections": [
        "Eleanor Bontecou Papers",
        "Civil Rights Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Civil rights",
        "Race relations",
        "Race riots"
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    "seq": 2,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/43/201/40020143/content/presidential-libraries/truman/201205/B18_16-04.pdf",
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    "ocrText": "TRUMAM\nANNVH\n\"NATIONAL\nARCHIVES AND\nRECORDS\nLIBRARY\nAN APPEAL TO THE GOVERNOR AND PEOPLE OF TENNESSEE\nSERVICE\"\nIn common with law-abiding people throughout the state and nation, we are appal-\nled at the recent outbreak of violence in Columbia, Tennessee.\nThe pattern of race hysteria against Negroes which has been set by a small anti-\ndemocratic minority in Columbia does not represent the feelings of the people of Tenn-\nessee, the great majority of whom believe in fair play and fair opportunity for all.\nthe\nThe facts, which have been largely suppressed or distorted in/news, are these:\nJames C. Stephenson, a 19-year-old Negro veteran just returned from serving his coun-\ntry in the Navy, entered a radio repair shop on the public square with his mother,\nMrs. Gladys Stephenson, on Monday, February 25. An argument with the white repairman\nensued, in which Mrs. Stephenson was insulted and, according to witnesses, struck by\nthe repairman. The young veteran sprang to the defense of his mother and there was a\nscuffle, in which the white man was slightly hurt. Both mother and son were then\ncruelly beaten by bystanders, after which they were arrested.\nLate that afternoon, an armed white mob, described by the sheriff as from 50 to\n75 persons, stormed the jail with the avowed intention of lynching the Stephensons.\nWe are informed that only two members of this mob were arrested and that these two\nwere released after paying a small fine for \"drunkenness.\"\nIt was believed by both whites and Negroes that there would be a lynching that\nnight. All night, armed bands of white men roamed the streets. The Negroes sought\nsafety in their homes. Shots were fired into the Mink Slide area from cars driving\nby on the adjoining street. The Negroes turned off all lights in their area, to\navoid presenting an easy target.\nA carload of whites drove into the Negro area. Shots were fired. There was no\nindication that the occupants of the car were officers. The Negroes were acting as\nany other group would have acted in the same circumstances, to defend thier homes and\nlives against immediate peril of mob violence.\nThat night a cordon of deputies, state highway patrolmen and state guards sur-\nrounded the Negro section. At dawn, they invaded the area and came in shooting.\nThere were indiscriminate mass arrests of 68 Negroes, without regard to their connec-\ntion or lack of connection with the shots fired at the officers. These arrests were\naccompanied by brutal maltreatment of the prisoners and a completely unnecessary and\npurely vengeful vandalism, in which Negro business establishments were wrecked by the\nofficers. The arrests have since grown to 100.\nThese prisoners have been denied the right to bail. Julius Blair, a 75-year-old\nproperty owner, was arrested two hours after an attorney had arranged for him to sign\nbonds for the prisoners. They have been denied the right of counsel. They have been\nheld incommunicado so that they could not possibly make their own arrangements for\ncounsel. Maurice Weaver, an attorney employed to represent them by the Nat'l Ass'n\nfor the Advancement of Colored People, requested to interview the prisoners in jail\nand to be present when they were questioned. Both rights were denied by J. J. Under-\nwood, Sheriff of Maury County, and Lynn Bomar, Chief of the Highway Patrol.\nOn Thursday, February 28, three of the prisoners were shot by law-enforcement offi-\ncers inside the county jail, while they were being questioned. Two, James Johnson and\nWilliam Gordon, were killed. Napoleon Stewart was wounded. The officers claim they\nfired in self-defense after one of the prisoners grabbed a gun. They have not ex-\nplained how it happened that prisoners were questioned in a room containing loose guns,\nnor why the prisoners could not be subdued without boing killed, nor what methods of\nquestioning were being used which could drive defenseless prisoners to so desperate\nand hopeless an extremity.\nWe have just won a war in which Negro and white Americans fought side by side for\ndemocracy and the rights of minorities. Are we going to keep faith with these Negro\nand white veterans? The eyes of the nation and the world are on what WG in Tennessee\ndo about the Columbia cases. Our action must be in line with national ideals of equal\njustice and opportunity-not an outgrowth of old prejudices and outworn antagenisms.\nWe therefore ask the Governor and local and state law enforcement officials to:\n1. Prosecute the members of the white mob who stormed the jail on February 25.\n2. Prosecute officers responsible for deaths of two prisoners in their custody.\n3. Release all prisoners who have not been charged with any crime.\n4. Guarantee to those who are charged with crime a fair trial in the American spir-\nit and tradition, with all rights provided by the U.S. Constitution, and unmarred by\nany manifestation of the lynch spirit which has brought about this horrible situation.\nClark Foreman, President\nSouthern Conference for Human Welfare"
}