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OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 0 OF A * UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE is & OF FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION WASHINGTON 25, D.C. October 11, 1955 PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL BY COURIER SERVICE Honorable Dillon Anderson Till, Em mCTT Special Assistant to the President Executive office Building Washington, D. C. My dear Mr. Anderson: For your information, a confidential informant of the Chicago, Illinois, office of this Bureau, who has jurnished reliable information in the past, on October 8, 1955, advised as follows: According to Ray Tillman, chairman, South side Division of the Illinois-Indiana District of the Communist Party, and Arlene ward, a member of the Communist Party, four religious organizations; namely, the congress of Christian Organizations, the United church council, the Baptist Ministers Alliance and the National crusade of Christ, were to sponsor a huge mass rally on Sunday, October 9, 1955, at the Rosebowl, 4747 Cottage Grove Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. The purpose of this meeting was to raise money and to organize a delegation to go to Washington, D. C., on October 22, 1955, in regard to the murder of Emmett Louis Till in Mississippi. This meeting of October 9, 1955, was also to have been sponsored by the Afro-American congress of Christian Organizations which is also known as National congress of the Afro-American People, Afro-American Congres- sional Guard and Afro-Americon National Infantry. This organization, under the leadership of Clarence William Harding, is an outgrowth of the Universal Negro Improvement D. Association which has been referred to as the Marcus Garvey " Back-to-Africa" movement. DECLASSIFIED Authority MR93-363#10 By BBM NLE Date 12/21/94 UNCLASSIFIED