John Simkin

William Dillwyn

William Dillwyn was born in Philadelphia in 1743. A former assistant to Anthony Benezet, he moved to england in 1774 where he established himself in business. Dillwyn, who was a Quaker, married Sarah Weston in 1777, and they settled at Higham Lodge, Walthamstow. They had eight children.

Dillwyn was opposed to the slave-trade. At his home he tutored Thomas Clarkson in the anti-slavery movements on both sides of the Atlantic. Dillwyn told Clarkson about the work of James Ramsay and Granville Sharp and the attempts by the Society of Friends to bring an end to the trade.

In 1784 Dillwyn joined forces with John Lloyd to publish The Case of our Fellow Creatures, the Oppressed Africans. Dillwyn argued that the slave-trade went against the teachings in the Bible: "It would surely have been more constant with the avowed principles of Englishmen, both as men and as Christians, if their settlement in heathen countries had been succeeded by mild and benevolent attempts to civilize their inhabitants, and to incline them to receive the glad tidings of the gospel. But how different a conduct towards them has been pursued. It has not only been repugnant, in a political view, to those commercial advantages which a fair and honourable treatment might have procured, but has evidently tended to increase the barbarity of their manners, and to excite in their minds an aversion to that religion."

Dillwyn claimed that the slave-trade encouraged wars between the different tribal groups in Africa: "This traffic is the principal source of the destructive wars which prevail among these unhappy people, and is attended with consequences, the mere recital of which is shocking to humanity. The violent reparation of the dearest relatives, the tears of conjugal and parental affection, the reluctance of the slaves to a voyage from which they can have no chance of returning, must present scenes of distress which would pierce the heart of any, in whom the principles of humanity are not wholly effaced. This, however, is but the beginning of sorrows with the poor captives."

In 1787 Dillwyn, Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp formed the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Although Sharp and Clarkson were both Anglicans, nine out of the twelve members on the committee, were Quakers. This included John Barton (1755-1789); George Harrison (1747-1827); Samuel Hoare Jr. (1751-1825); Joseph Hooper (1732-1789); John Lloyd (1750-1811); Joseph Woods (1738-1812); James Phillips (1745-1799) and Richard Phillips (1756-1836). Influential figures such as John Wesley, Josiah Wedgwood, James Ramsay, Charles Middleton and William Smith gave their support to the campaign.

William Dillwyn, aged 81, died on 28th September 1824, and was buried in the Friends' Burial Ground in Tottenham, Middlesex.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REdillwyn.htm

William Smith

William Smith, the son of Samuel Smith, a grocer, was born in Clapham on 22nd September 1756. He was educated at the Daventry Academy where he began to come under the influence of Unitarians. He went into the family business and by 1777 had become a partner.

On 12th September 1781 he married Frances Coape. The couple moved to Eagle House on Clapham Common. They had five daughters Frances, Joanna Maria, Julia, Anne and Patty. Frances Smith later married William Nightingale and was the mother of Florence Nightingale.

Smith held radical political opinions and was a member of the Society for Constitutional Information in 1782, an organisation established by John Cartwright. Other members included other radicals such as Granville Sharp, Josiah Wedgwood, John Horne Tooke, John Thelwall and Joseph Gales.

In 1794 Smith became the Member of Parliament for Sudbury in Suffolk. In the House of Commons he supported the reform program of the Whigs. Smith was opposed to the slave trade and in 1787 he became a supporter of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, an organisation established by Thomas Clarkson, William Dillwyn and Granville Sharp.

Smith became one of a small group of MPs brave enough to support William Wilberforce in the slave trade debate in April, 1790. Later that year he lost his seat at Sudbury, but the following January he was elected as M.P. for Camelford. Smith joined the Clapham Set, a group of evangelical members of the Anglican Church, centered around Henry Venn, rector of Clapham Church in London.

In 1792 Smith, an active member of the Unitarian Society, became one of the founding members of the Friends of the People Society. In April 1791 he publicly supported the French Revolution. In 1792 he arranged several meetings between William Pitt and Hugues-Bernard Maret, the French foreign minister, in an attempt to avoid war.

William Smith continued to campaign against the slave-trade. One of the major problems facing Smith and his friends was that the slave-trade was highly profitable. As one historian has pointed out: "In one recent study of the Liverpool slave trade the profits in 74 voyages averaged 10.5% at a time when yields on consols (consolidated stocks) were 3 per cent. It was a risky business, and returns fluctured wildly but enough voyages realised 20 to 50 percent to dazzle the investing public."

In 1802 Smith decided to stand for Norwich, which was known for being a gathering place for dissenters and radicals. After the passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807 Smith joined Thomas Clarkson and Thomas Fowell Buxton to form the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery in 1823. In 1830 the society adopted a policy of immediate emancipation. However, Smith had to wait until 1833 before Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act that gave all slaves in the British Empire their freedom.

William Smith died in London on 31st May 1835.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REsmithW.htm

Henry Bibb

Henry Bibb was born in Shelby County, Kentucky in 10th May, 1815. His father was state senator James Bibb. His mother, Mildred Jackson, a slave, worked on the plantation owned by Willard Gatewood, and had seven children.

As a child, Bibb saw his brothers and sisters sold to different slave owners. Bibb was hired out to various slave holders and had little contact with his mother. He later recalled: "A slave may be bought and sold in the market like an ox. He is liable to be sold off to a distant land from his family. He is bound in chains hand and foot; and his sufferings are aggravated a hundred fold, by the terrible thought, that he is not allowed to struggle against misfortune, corporal punishment, insults and outrages committed upon himself and family; and he is not allowed to help himself, to resist or escape the blow, which he sees impending over him. I was a slave, a prisoner for life; I could possess nothing, nor acquire anything but what must belong to my keeper. No one can imagine my feelings in my reflecting moments, but he who has himself been a slave."

Bibb had a strong desire for an education but this was not allowed in Shelby County. "Slaves were not allowed books, pen, ink, nor paper, to improve their minds. There was a Miss Davies, a poor white girl, who offered to teach a Sabbath School for the slaves. Books were supplied and she started the school; but the news got to our owners that she was teaching us to read. This caused quite an excitement in the neighbourhood. Patrols were appointed to go and break it up the next Sabbath."

Bibb married in his late teens but was furious when his wife's owner forced her to become a prostitute. As he explained: "A poor slave's wife can never be true to her husband contrary to the will of her master. She can neither be pure nor virtuous, contrary to the will of her master. She dare not refuse to be reduced to a state of adultery at the will of her master."

After making several attempts to escape he was finally successful in 1837. "One of the most self-denying acts of my whole life was to take leave of my affectionate wife, who stood before me on my departure, with dear little Frances in her arms, and with tears of sorrow in her eyes as she bid me a long farewell. It required all the moral courage that I was master of to suppress my feelings while taking leave of my little family."

Six months later he returned and helped his family escape, but they were caught and sold to a plantation owner in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Once again the family attempted to escape but were captured after being attacked by wolves. Bibb was then sold to a group of Native Americans. After escaping from them he began his long and unsuccessful attempt to rescue the rest of the family.

In 1842 Bibb began lecturing on slavery and along with Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown, became one of the best known of the African American activists. Bibb also worked for the Liberty Party in Michigan. During one lecture tour he met Mary Miles of Boston and the couple married in June, 1848. The following year the Anti-Slavery Society published his autobiography, Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave.

In January 1851, Bibb joined with Josiah Henson to form the Refugees' Home Colony in Canada for escaped slaves. He also established Canada's first African American newspaper, the Voice of the Fugitive. One of the newspaper's regular contributors was Martin Delaney. During this period Bibb led the campaign to persuade fugitive slaves and free African Americans to settle in Canada.

Henry Bibb died during the summer of 1854.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Sbibb.htm

Harriet Jacobs

Harriet Jacobs was born a slave in Edenton, North Carolina in 1813. Harriet's mother, Delilah, was the slave of John Horniblow, a tavern-keeper, and her father, Daniel Jacobs, a white slave owned by Dr. Andrew Knox. She later recorded: " I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away. My father was a carpenter, and considered so intelligent and skillful in his trade, that, when buildings out of the common line were to be erected, he was sent for from long distances, to be head workman. On condition of paying his mistress two hundred dollars a year, and supporting himself, he was allowed to work at his trade, and manage his own affairs. His strongest wish was to purchase his children; but, though he several times offered his hard earnings for that purpose, he never succeeded. In complexion my parents were a light shade of brownish yellow, and were termed mulattoes. They lived together in a comfortable home; and, though we were all slaves, I was so fondly shielded that I never dreamed I was a piece of merchandise, trusted to them for safe keeping, and liable to be demanded of them at any moment." Delilah died when Harriet was six years old and was brought up by her grandmother.

In 1825 Harriet was sold to Dr. James Norcom. She became a house-slave: "Mrs. Norcom, like many southern women, was totally deficient in energy. She had not strength to superintend her household affairs; but her nerves were so strong, that she could sit in her easy chair and see a woman whipped, till the blood trickled from every stroke of the lash. She was a member of the church; but partaking of the Lord's supper did not seem to put her in a Christian frame of mind. If dinner was not served at the exact time on that particular Sunday, she would station herself in the kitchen, and wait till it was dished, and then spit in all the kettles and pans that had been used for cooking. She did this to prevent the cook and her children from eking out their meager fare with the remains of the gravy and other scrapings. The slaves could get nothing to eat except what she chose to give them."

In her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet described a slave-market she observed in North Carolina. "On one of these sale days, I saw a mother lead seven children to the auction-block. She knew that some of them would be taken from her; but they took all. The children were sold to a slave-trader, and their mother was bought by a man in her own town. Before night her children were all far away. She begged the trader to tell her where he intended to take them; this he refused to do. How could he, when he knew he would sell them, one by one, wherever he could command the highest price? I met that mother in the street, and her wild, haggard face lives to-day in my mind. She wrung her hands in anguish, and exclaimed, Gone! All gone! Why don't God kill me? I had no words wherewith to comfort her. Instances of this kind are of daily, yea, of hourly occurrence."

Harriet's brother Benjamin attempted to escape. However, like most runaways he was captured: "That day seems but as yesterday, so well do I remember it. I saw him led through the streets in chains, to jail. His face was ghastly pale, yet full of determination. He had begged one of the sailors to go to his mother's house and ask her not to meet him. He said the sight of her distress would take from him all self-control. She yearned to see him, and she went; but she screened herself in the crowd, that it might be as her child had said."

When she reached the age of fifteen Dr. James Norcom attempted to have sex with her: "My master, Dr. Norcom, began to whisper foul words in my ear. Young as I was, I could not remain ignorant of their import. I tried to treat them with indifference or contempt. The master's age, my extreme youth, and the fear that his conduct would be reported to my grandmother, made him bear this treatment for many months. He was a crafty man, and resorted to many means to accomplish his purposes. Sometimes he had stormy, terrific ways, that made his victims tremble; sometimes he assumed a gentleness that he thought must surely subdue. Of the two, I preferred his stormy moods, although they left me trembling."

Several of the young slaves gave into his demands. According to Harriet: "My master was, to my knowledge, the father of eleven slaves." This upset Mrs. Norcom: "The mistress, who ought to protect the helpless victim, has no other feelings towards her but those of jealousy and rage. Even the little child, who is accustomed to wait on her mistress and her children, will learn, before she is twelve years old, why it is that her mistress hates such and such a one among the slaves. Perhaps the child's own mother is among those hated ones. She listens to violent outbreaks of jealous passion, and cannot help understanding what is the cause. She will become prematurely knowing in evil things. Soon she will learn to tremble when she hears her master's footfall. She will be compelled to realize that she is no longer a child. If God has bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse."

Dr. James Norcom continued to make sexual advances towards her. When rebuffed, Norcom refused her permission to marry. Jacobs was seduced by Samuel Sawyer, a lawyer, and she had two children by him. Dr. Norcom continued to sexually harass Harriet and threatened to sell her children to a slave-dealer.

In 1834 Harriet became a runaway. Norcom published an advert in the local newspaper: "Ran away from the subscriber, an intelligent, bright, mulatto girl, 21 years age. Five feet four inches high. Dark eyes, and black hair inclined to curl; but it can be made straight. Has a decayed spot on a front tooth. She can read and write, and in all probability will try to get to the Free States. All persons are forbidden, under penalty of the law, to harbor or employ said slave. $150 will be given to whoever takes her in the state, and $300 if taken out of the state and delivered to me, or lodged in jail."

Harriet managed to reach Philadelphia. "I made my way back to the wharf, where the captain introduced me to the colored man, as the Rev. Jeremiah Durham, minister of Bethel church. He took me by the hand, as if I had been an old friend. He told us we were too late for the morning cars to New York, and must wait until the evening, or the next morning. He invited me to go home with him, assuring me that his wife would give me a cordial welcome; and for my friend he would provide a home with one of his neighbors. I thanked him for so much kindness to strangers, and told him if I must be detained, I should like to hunt up some people who formerly went from our part of the country. Mr. Durham insisted that I should dine with him, and then he would assist me in finding my friends. The sailors came to bid us good by. I shook their hardy hands, with tears in my eyes. They had all been kind to us, and they had rendered us a greater service than they could possibly conceive of."

Harriet later moved on to New York City where she worked as nurse-maid. She began writing her autobiography and some of it was published by Horace Greeley in his newspaper, New York Tribune. Her account of how she had been sexually abused shocked the American public and when her autobiography was completed, she found it difficult to get it published.

They were particularly concerned by Harriet's descriptions of the behaviour of Norcom (name changed to Flint in the book). Child defended the inclusion of the material by arguing: "This peculiar phase of slavery has generally been kept veiled; but the public ought to be made acquainted with its monstrous features, and I willingly take the responsibility of presenting them with the veil withdrawn. I do this for the sake of my sisters in bondage, who are suffering wrongs so foul, that our ears are too delicate to listen to them."

Others people were upset by the way Jacobs highlighted the role of the Church in maintaining slavery. Eventually the manuscript was accepted by the publishers, Thayer and Eldridge, who recruited Lydia Maria Child to edit the book. Unfortunately, Thayer and Eldridge went bankrupt and it was not until 1861 that it was published in Boston as Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

During the American Civil War Jacobs worked as a nurse in Virginia. When the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863 Jacobs wrote to Lydia Maria Child that: "I have lived to hear the Proclamation of Freedom for my suffering people. All my wrongs are forgiven. I am more than repaid for all I have endured."

Harriet Jacobs, who lived the latter part of her life in Washington, died on 7th March, 1897, and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Sjacobs.htm

Austin Steward

Austin Steward was born a slave in Prince William County, Virginia, in 1793. "As was the usual custom, we lived in a small cabin, built of rough boards, with a floor of earth, and small openings in the sides of the cabin were substituted for windows. The chimney was built of sticks and mud; the door, of rough boards; and the whole was put together in the rudest possible manner. As to the furniture of this rude dwelling, it was procured by the slaves themselves, who were occasionally permitted to earn a little money after their day's toil was done."

Steward's master, William Helm, owned over a hundred slaves. When Steward was eight years old he became a house slave at Helm's mansion. His job was "to serve as an errand boy, where I had to stand in the presence of my master's family all the day, and a part of the night, ready to do any thing which they commanded me to perform. My master's family consisted of himself and wife, and seven children.... Mrs. Helm was a very industrious woman, and generally busy in her household affairs - sewing, knitting, and looking after the servants; but she was a great scold, - continually finding fault with some of the servants, and frequently punishing the young slaves herself, by striking them over the head with a heavy iron key, until the blood ran; or else whipping them with a cowhide, which she always kept by her side when sitting in her room. The older servants she would cause to be punished by having them severely whipped by a man, which she never failed to do for every trifling fault."

Steward was involved in providing food for the slaves: "The amount of provision given out on the plantation per week, was invariably one peck of corn or meal for each slave. This allowance was given in meal when it could be obtained; when it could not, they received corn, which they pounded in mortars after they returned from their labor in the field. The slaves on our plantation were provided with very little meat. In addition to the peck of corn or meal, they were allowed a little salt and a few herrings.... Captain William Helm allowed his slaves a small quantity of meat during harvest time, but when the harvest was over they were obliged to fall back on the old allowance."

Steward was highly critical of the way the slaves were punished: "The usual mode of punishing the poor slaves was, to make them take off their clothes to the bare back, and then tie their hands before them with a rope, pass the end of the rope over a beam, and draw them up till they stood on the tips of their toes. Sometimes they tied their legs together and placed a rail between. Thus prepared, the overseer proceeded to punish the poor, helpless victim. Thirty-nine was the number of lashes ordinarily inflicted for the most trifling offence. Who can imagine a position more painful? Oh, who, with feelings of common humanity, could look quietly on such torture? Who could remain unmoved, to see a fellow-creature thus tied, unable to move or to raise a hand in his own defence; scourged on his bare back, with a cowhide, until the blood flows in streams from his quivering flesh?"

Helm sold his plantation and moved to Bath in Steuben County. In financial difficulties, Helm had to hire his slaves out to local farmers. Some of these men treated him very badly and eventually he escaped. Steward reached Canada in 1815 where he joined the Wilberforce Colony that had been established by the Society of Friends. Steward later recalled: "The Society of Friends at this time, however, with commendable sympathy for the oppressed and abused colored residents of Cincinnati, and with their proverbial liberality, raised a sum of money sufficient to purchase eight hundred acres of land of the Canada Company for the benefit of the colony. The funds were placed in the hands of one of their number, Frederick Stover, who went to Canada as their agent, purchased the land, and settled colored people upon it, which comprised nearly all of the Wilberforce settlement."

Steward returned to Monroe County in 1837 where he became a businessman and served on a committee appointed to oversee black schools in the area. After fire destroyed his business, Steward moved to Canandaigua where he became a schoolteacher. He also became involved in the anti-slavery and temperance campaigns. He was also a strong opponent of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. Steward's autobiography, Twenty-Two Years a Slave appeared in 1857 and is considered one of the best slave narratives available.

Austin Steward died in Rochester in 1860.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASsteward.htm

The answer to this problem is to get a girlfriend with small hands.

Gordon Brown phone-hacking inquiry halted by civil service

Sir Gus O'Donnell, the cabinet secretary, blocked attempt by former PM to hold judicial inquiry into phone-hacking allegations

By Nicholas Watt, Patrick Wintour and Dan Sabbagh

guardian.co.uk,

Sunday 10 April 2011 22.15 BST

Sir Gus O'Donnell, the cabinet secretary, blocked an attempt by Gordon Brown before the general election to hold a judicial inquiry into allegations that the News of the World had hacked into the phones of cabinet ministers and other high-profile figures.

It seems that even the the cabinet secretary is also in the pay of Rupert Murdoch.

"Several senior figures in the CIA insisted that the plot to kill Castro came from the White House."

The CIA said it, and you believe it....(sigh)...

Are you really saying that everything every CIA official says is a lie?

Alex von Tunzelmann has just published his book, "Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder and the Cold War in the Caribbean". The book explains how the US and Soviet governments have attempted to control the leaders of Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic over the last 70 years. He argues that Kennedy was no different in his approach to these islands than that of Truman and Eisenhower. "The underlying problem was that Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations were substantially Marxist in their thinking; that is, they believed in the historical inevitability of international communist success - unless they could forestall it by any means necessary."

I have not read the book but Jad Adams' review in The Guardian states: "Robert Kennedy suggested staging a terrorist attack on the American consulate in the Dominican Republic, blaming it on the Dominicans and sending in the marines. With even less restraint, the joint chiefs of staff in March 1962 suggested they could stage a terrorist campaign in Miami and Washington DC and blame it on the Cuban government."

So far there has been no admission to hacking the phones of Labour politicians. There are two reasons for this. One is that it might suggest that is why David Cameron protected Andy Coulson for so long. His job was to provide news of scandals that would hurt Labour. The second reason concerns national security. For example, were they targeting the phones of treasury ministers? This information could be used to clean-up on the stock exchange.

Phone hacking: Rupert Murdoch 'urged Gordon Brown' to halt Labour attacks

Former PM was asked to 'defuse' NoW row, says ex-minister

Ed Miliband calls for full details of 'criminal behaviour'

By Toby Helm and James Robinson

guardian.co.uk,

Saturday 9 April 2011 22.16 BST

Brown, who became increasingly concerned at allegations of phone hacking and asked the police to investigate, had claimed that he was a victim of hacking when chancellor.

This takes the story to a new level. Knowledge about future budget changes enables people to make a fortune from the stock market.

Henry Box Brown

Henry Brown was born into slavery in Louisa County, Virginia, in 1815. When he was 15 years old he was sold to a plantation owner in Richmond. He later recalled: "My father and mother were left on the plantation; but I was taken to the city of Richmond, to work in a tobacco manufactory, owned by my old master's son William, who had received a special charge from his father to take good care of me, and which charge my new master endeavoured to perform."

The Nat Turner Rebellion took place in 1831 in neighbouring Southampton County. Brown later explained the impact that this had on the slaves on his plantation: "About eighteen months after I came to the city of Richmond, an extraordinary occurrence took place which caused great excitement all over the town. I did not then know precisely what was the cause of this excitement, for I could got no satisfactory information from my master, only he said that some of the slaves had plotted to kill their owners. I have since learned that it was the famous Nat Turner's insurrection. Many slaves were whipped, hung, and cut down with the swords in the streets; and some that were found away from their quarters after dark, were shot; the whole city was in the utmost excitement, and the whites seemed terrified beyond measure. Great numbers of slaves were loaded with irons; some were half hung as it was termed - that is they were suspended from some tree with a rope about their necks, so adjusted as not quite to strangle them - and then they were pelted by men and boys with rotten eggs."

Brown met another slave, Nancy, who he wanted to marry. "I now began to think of entering the matrimonial state; and with that view I had formed an acquaintance with a young woman named Nancy, who was a slave belonging to a Mr. Leigh a clerk in the Bank, and, like many more slave-holders, professing to be a very pious man. We had made it up to get married, but it was necessary in the first place, to obtain our masters' permission, as we could do nothing without their consent. I therefore went to Mr. Leigh, and made known to him my wishes, when he told me he never meant to sell Nancy, and if my master would agree never to sell me, I might marry her. He promised faithfully that he would not sell her, and pretended to entertain an extreme horror of separating families. He gave me a note to my master, and after they had discussed the matter over, I was allowed to marry the object of my choice." Over the next few years Nancy gave birth to three children.

In 1848 Nancy and her three children were sold to a slave trader who sent them to North Carolina. Brown later recalled: "I had not been many hours at my work, when I was informed that my wife and children were taken from their home, sent to the auction mart and sold, and then lay in prison ready to start away the next day for North Carolina with the man who had purchased them. I cannot express, in language, what were my feelings on this occasion. I received a message, that if I wished to see my wife and children, and bid them the last farewell, I could do so, by taking my stand on the street where they were all to pass on their way for North Carolina. I quickly availed myself of this information, and placed myself by the side of a street, and soon had the melancholy satisfaction of witnessing the approach of a gang of slaves, amounting to three hundred and fifty in number, marching under the direction of a Methodist minister, by whom they were purchased, and amongst which slaves were my wife and children."

The following year Brown, with the help of Samuel Smith, a store-keeper in Richmond, decided to try and escape. "I then told him my circumstances in regard to my master, having to pay him 25 dollars per month, and yet that he refused to assist me in saving my wife from being sold and taken away to the South, where I should never see her again. I told him this took place about five months ago, and I had been meditating my escape from slavery since, and asked him, as no person was near us, if he could give me any information about how I should proceed. I told him I had a little money and if he would assist me I would pay him for so doing."

The two men devised a plan where the slave would be shipped to a free state by Adams Express Company. Brown paid $86 to Smith, who contacted the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, who agreed to receive the box. Smith sent the box to Philadelphia on 23rd March, 1849. According to one account "Brown's box traveled by wagon, railroad, steamboat, wagon again, railroad, ferry, railroad, and finally delivery wagon. Several times during the 27-hour journey, carriers placed the box upside-down or handled it roughly, but Brown was able to remain still enough to avoid detection." The box containing Brown was received by William Still and James Miller McKim.

Henry "Box" Brown became active in the Anti-Slavery Society and became one of their most important speakers. In 1849 he published Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown. After the passing of Fugitive Slave Law Brown moved to England. A second edition of his autobiography was published in Manchester in 1851. Over the next ten years he made speeches all over Britain.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASbox.htm

If JFK's civil rights policies seem tepid from the perspective of 50 years later, I think it is good to remember how radical it seemed at the time to the defenders of the segregated status quo.

That is of course true. However, I prefer my politicians to have vision and to see beyond the prejudices of the time. JFK's supporters have claimed for him more than he deserves. As I have said before, I do believe that after the Cuban Missile Crisis he did move to the left, but before that, he was just your typical Cold War politician.

I, too, used to believe that neither RFK (nor JFK) could (or would) have anything to do with plots to kill Castro. But I came to change my view, starting around 2001. I came to believe not only that they did, but also why. I can cite you chapter and verse that Bobby Kennedy were involved in some of the plots. Yes, the AG of the USA, and that's what's so upsetting (and tragic) about it. An important book to read is Joseph Califano's "INSIDE", published around 2004--and specifically, his chapter "Getting Fidel." Extremely revealing. Califano was an eyewitness to what was going on.

Another important item: "The Old Man and the CIA: A Kennedy Plot to Kill Castro?" by David Corn and Gus Russo published in the March 26, 2001 Nation Magazine. A critical part of this article arose out of the discovery of the March, 1962 "Lansdale memo" which came to me as part of a large FOIA order, and which I copied for Professor Larry Haapanen. He discovered the memo, spotted its significance, and we decided we could not just "sit on it," even though we knew how it would be interpreted.

The bottom line (imho): The Kennedy brothers believed that Castro was a reckless out-of-control Marxist who had already brought the world to the precipice of nuclear war, and didn't ever want to go near that situation again. That's my personal opinion. They had a two-track policy--diplomatic (if possible) but overthrow if not. They had no intention of going into the 1964 election with Castro still in power. Again, imho. (But you can find plenty of support for this in Evan Thomas' bio of RFK.)

DSL

4/8/11; 6:40 PDT

Los Angeles, CA

I completely agree David. All the evidence suggests this is the case. Several senior figures in the CIA insisted that the plot to kill Castro came from the White House. It was also claimed that it was RFK who was the main player in these events. Although I don't believe it, I suspect RFK believed the plots against Castro was the reason for the assassination of JFK. This helps to explain why he was willing to believe the Warren Report.

So far there has been no admission to hacking the phones of Labour politicians. There are two reasons for this. One is that it might suggest that is why David Cameron protected Andy Coulson for so long. His job was to provide news of scandals that would hurt Labour. The second reason concerns national security. For example, were they targeting the phones of treasury ministers? This information could be used to clean-up on the stock exchange.

James Ramsay

James Ramsay was a surgeon on board The Arundel when they intercepted the British slave ship Swift on 27th November 1759. According to his biographer, James Watt: "On boarding her, Ramsay found over 100 slaves wallowing in blood and excreta, a scene of human degradation which remained for ever in his memory and so distracted his attention that, on returning to his ship, he fell and fractured his thigh bone. It was the more serious of two such accidents and he remained lame for life. With an end to his naval service in prospect, Ramsay sought ordination in the Anglican church to enable him to work among slaves."

In July 1761, Ramsay left the navy and in November he was ordained by the Bishop of London. Soon afterwards he travelled to St Kitts. In 1763 he married Rebecca Akers, the daughter of a plantation owner on the island. Over the next few years they had four children. Ramsay was appointed surgeon to several plantations and was shocked by the way the slaves were treated by the overseers. Ramsay later recalled: "At four o'clock in the morning the plantation bell rings to call the slaves into the field.... About nine o'clock they have half an hour for breakfast, which they take into the field. Again they fall to work... until eleven o'clock or noon; the bell rings and the slaves are dispersed in the neighbourhood to pick up natural grass and weeds for the horses and cattle (and to prepare and eat their own lunch)... At two o'clock, the bell summons them to deliver in their grass and to work in the fields... About half an hour before sunset they are again required to collect grass - about seven o'clock in the evening or later according to season - deliver grass as before. The slaves are then dismissed to return to their huts, picking up brushwood or dry cow dung to prepare supper and tomorrow's breakfast. They go to sleep at about midnight."

Richard Reddie, the author of Abolition! The Struggle to Abolish Slavery in the British Colonies (2007) has pointed out: "Ramsay's evangelical brand of Christianity brought him immediately into conflict with West Indian planters who were appalled that he insisted on racially integrating his religious services. He also carried out missionary activities among enslaved Africans, which brought him into further conflict with the white West Indian authorities." The planters were always suspicious of any social action amongst Africans and they quickly turned against Ramsay, accusing him of everything from seditious preaching to serial philandering."

Ramsay was particularly concerned about slave punishments: "The ordinary punishments of slaves, for the common crimes of neglect, absence from work, eating the sugar cane, theft, are cart whipping, beating with a stick, sometimes to the breaking of bones, the chain, an iron crook about the neck... a ring about the ankle, and confinement in the dungeon. There have been instances of slitting of ears, breaking of limbs, so as to make amputation necessary, beating out of eyes, and castration... In short, in the place of decency, sympathy, morality,and religion; slavery produces cruelty and oppression. It is true, that the unfeeling application of the ordinary punishments ruins the constitution, and shortens the life of many a poor wretch."

On his return to Britain in 1777 he became friends with Sir Charles Middleton at Barham Court, Teston, Kent. His stories about life on a slave plantation helped Middleton and his wife to be opponents of the slave trade. In April 1778 he rejoined the navy as chaplain to Admiral Samuel Barrington on the West Indies Station. During this period he wrote Sea Sermons for the Royal Navy (1781).

In January 1782, Ramsay was appointed as vicar of Teston and rector of Nettlestead. He also acted as Middleton's confidential secretary. Ramsay's Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies appeared in 1784. This book inspired a generation of anti-slavery campaigners. Thomas Clarkson argued that as a result of Ramsay book the "first controversy ever entered into on the subject, during which, as is the case in most controversies, the cause of truth was spread."

Adam Hochschild, the author of Bury the Chains: The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery (2005), argued: "Almost everything else written against slavery was... a mixture of biblical citations, philosophical argument, and second-hand accounts. Ramsay, by contrast, offered a searing eyewitness picture. He vividly described beatings he had seen; he told of weary slaves carrying cane to the mill by moonlight, and how new mothers had to bring their babies to the fields, leaving them in furrows exposed to the sun and rain."

Ramsay was attacked in the press and one plantation owner from St Kitts, Crisp Molyneux, Ramsay's character and professional reputation. As Richard Reddie pointed out: "The planters were always suspicious of any social action amongst Africans and they quickly turned against Ramsay, accusing him of everything from seditious preaching to serial philandering." Although Olaudah Equiano, an emancipated slave, confirmed all that Ramsay had written, he never recovered from this attack. He developed increasingly severe abdominal pain and died from a gastric haemorrhage on 20th July 1789.

James Watt has argued: "His enemies acknowledged his exemplary qualities, while deploring the intemperate language of his books; and the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807 probably owed more to James Ramsay's personal integrity, ethical arguments, and constructive proposals than to any other influence."

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REramsay.htm

Aṣa (pronounced "Asha") was born in Nigeria in 1982. She is now a French singer-songwriter and recording artist.

Questions:

Be My Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCmiJHixp4k

Harris Wofford was a member of Martin Luther King's team and was involved in negotiations with John Kennedy and Richard Nixon during the 1960 Presidential Campaign. He later recalled: "He (King) was impressed and encouraged by the far-reaching Democratic civil rights platform, and preferred to use the campaign period to negotiate civil rights commitments from both candidates, but particularly from Kennedy." After his election victory John Kennedy appointed Wofford as as his Special Assistant for Civil Rights. Wofford also served as chairman of the Subcabinet Group on Civil Rights.

JFK agreed to move Wofford in April 1962. Robert Kennedy told Anthony Lewis: “Harris Wofford was very emotionally involved in all these matters and was rather in some areas a slight madman. I didn’t want to have someone in the Civil Rights Division who was dealing not from fact but was dealing from emotion… I wanted advice and ideas from somebody who had the same interests and motivation that I did.” Wofford became the Peace Corps Special Representative for Africa. Later he was appointed as Associate Director of the Peace Corps.

In his book, Of Kennedys & Kings (1980) Wofford wrote about the assassination of JFK:

In 1967, when Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson wrote a column reporting that the CIA may have conspired with the Mafia to murder Castro and that "Bobby, eager to avenge the Bay of Pigs fiasco, played a key role in the planning," Kennedy told his aides, "I didn't start it. I stopped it." The record available to the public, however, is not so clear.

The Attorney General certainly didn't start it, and before the Bay of Pigs he apparently had little to do with the CIA or Cuba. But in the aftermath of the invasion, he became the President's representative in Operation Mongoose, the ClA-led, interdepartmental secret campaign against Castro. He persuaded his brother to issue a top-secret order "to use our available assets... to help Cuba overthrow the Communist regime." In January 1962, Robert Kennedy assembled the Mongoose planners at the Justice Department and said that the operation had "top priority"; he urged that "no time, money, effort - or manpower... be spared." How could he be sure that his pressure had not encouraged the CIA to reactivate or intensify its assassination efforts?

His involvement may have gone deeper. At least one of those familiar with his role in Operation Mongoose thinks that his fascination with violent counter-insurgency and his frustration with Castro would have invited the assassination planners to make him privy to their plots (even as McCone's aversion to unsavory operations may have led them to keep him in the dark). Since the cost of the various expeditions of sabotage sponsored by Mongoose was excessive, in comparison to any damage they did in Cuba, the CIA planners needed an ally. They had one in the Attorney General. A rationale for Operation Mongoose was always inadequate, according to a non-CIA participant in the planning, but it was approved because of the Attorney General's insistence. In retrospect, that official thinks Mongoose made sense only as a cover for the attempts at murder. The assassination plotters needed just such a large unchecked budget, repeated landings of sabotage teams, and secret agents.

If Robert Kennedy understood and supported this secret plan within the larger covert operation, he himself may have been the source of "terrific pressure" for the assassination. Nothing in the testimony before the Senate committee suggests that the circumlocutious and evasive leaders of the CIA would have put such direct pressure on the President. Then who did? "Terrific pressure" is what anyone, including his brother the President, would have felt if he tried to resist a course strongly advocated by the Attorney General.

Wofford also commented on the House Select Committee on Assassinations:

From the findings of the Senate committee, we could begin to understand the burden of knowledge - even of guilt - that Robert Kennedy was carrying in the last years of his life. Together with the findings of the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1979, these facts can account for the grief beyond ordinary grief with which Robert Kennedy wrestled for long months and years. They do not prove that John Kennedy was killed as a result of a conspiracy, but they do suggest that it was not a tragedy without reason.

Robert Kennedy must have considered the story those facts told to be worse than the most terrible fiction. Adding to his burden was the obligation he felt to keep all the key facts secret from most, if not all, of his family and friends, and to try to withhold them forever from the people of this country and the world. Those secrets provided motives for Castro, or the Mafia, or the ClA's Cuban brigade, or some people in the CIA itself to have conspired to kill the President, yet to preserve the good name of John Kennedy and of the government of the United States they had to be kept from the Warren Commission and from the eyes of history. Also weighing on Robert Kennedy's mind must have been the risks of blackmail against the government and the family of the murdered President which threatened to make a special hostage of the Attorney General.

From the reconstruction of the record made possible by the Senate and House reports, and from everything we know about the character of Robert Kennedy, I believe that the shock of these discoveries and his realization of what violence, crime, and secret conspiracies can lead to were significant factors in his transformation. Thus, in order to understand Robert Kennedy and his times, the truth about these stories must be sorted out and the painful facts faced. That is what I believe Robert Kennedy did.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKwofford.htm

Seigenthaler wrote a book, A Search For Justice, in 1971, in which he compared the manner in which some recent trials had been conducted. The 3 trials, as I recall, were the trials of Jack Ruby, James Earl Ray, and Sirhan Sirhan. If I recall correctly, he was very critical of the manner in which these trials were handled, and was particularly disturbed by the plea bargain given Ray.

While not actually questioning the guilt of the accused, I suspected from my browse through his book that Seigenthaler was open-minded.

Does anyone know where he stood on the HSCA? It wouldn't surprise me if he wrote an editorial endorsing its creation.

I don't know the answer to that question. However, in December 1966, Seigenthaler and Richard Goodwin represented the Kennedy family when controversy developed about historian William Manchester's book about the John F. Kennedy assassination, The Death of a President. Seigenthaler had read an early version of the book, which led to Jacqueline Kennedy threatening a lawsuit over inaccurate and private statements in the publication.

In these interviews RFK is very honest about their attitude towards the subject of civil rights.....RFK explains that they were not interested in the subject of civil rights: “We weren’t thinking of the Negroes in Mississippi or Alabama – what should be done for them. We were thinking of what needed to be done in Massachusetts.”

I'd say RFK is being unduly modest here. Once JFK began running for national office, he made ending racial discrimination one of his goals as president. His campaign speeches often reflected that, and of course his phone calls to Martin Luther King & Coretta King, when King was arrested, were widely publicised during the campaign.

RFK also petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to draft regulations to end racial segregation in bus terminals. The ICC was reluctant but in September 1961 it issued the necessary orders and it went into effect on 1st November.

This is indeed a significant development. Both men held very senior positions at the News of the World. Neville Thurlbeck, is chief reporter and Ian Edmondson, was news editor until he was suspended in January.

Another important development today was Keir Starmer QC, the director of public prosecutions, gave fresh evidence to MPs which appeared to contradict the evidence of John Yates, acting deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Yates had previously told the home affairs committee that there were only a small number of victims. That was based on what he said had been legal advice that the police would have to prove that messages had been intercepted and also listened to before being heard by the recipient. But in a letter clarifying the affair, Starmer said that advice from CPS lawyers to detectives "did not limit the scope and extent of the criminal investigation". The letter says that even though parts of the law were very much untested, one particular offence did not require police to prove that a message had been intercepted before the recipient heard it.

In May 2005, an anonymous user, created a Wikipedia article about John Seigenthaler which claimed "was thought to have been directly involved in the Kennedy assassinations of both John, and his brother, Bobby." Wikipedia said they could not trace who submitted the entry. After investigative work by Daniel Brandt, the culprit was identified as Brian Chase, a manager at a small delivery service in Nashville.

John Seigenthaler was of course not involved in the assassination. However, he was an interesting choice to make this claim. In 1949 Seigenthaler was employed by The Tennessean. In July 1957, Seigenthaler began to investigate corruption within the local branch of the Teamsters. He also looked into the criminal activities of Dave Beck and Jimmy Hoffa. His articles led to the impeachment trial of Chattanooga Criminal Court Judge Ralston Schoolfield. In 1958 Seigenthaler became an assistant city editor and special assignment reporter. Seigenthaler was a supporter of John F. Kennedy in the 1960 Presidential Election and after his victory he was appointed as administrative assistant to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

During the Freedom Riders campaign Robert Kennedy sent John Seigenthaler to negotiate with Governor James Patterson of Alabama. Harris Wofford, the president's Special Assistant for Civil Rights, later pointed out: "Seigenthaler arrived in time to escort the first group of wounded and shaken riders from the bus terminal to the airport, and flew with them to safety in New Orleans."

The Freedom Riders now traveled onto Montgomery. One of the passengers, James Zwerg, later recalled: "As we were going from Birmingham to Montgomery, we'd look out the windows and we were kind of overwhelmed with the show of force - police cars with sub-machine guns attached to the backseats, planes going overhead... We had a real entourage accompanying us. Then, as we hit the city limits, it all just disappeared. As we pulled into the bus station a squad car pulled out - a police squad car. The police later said they knew nothing about our coming, and they did not arrive until after 20 minutes of beatings had taken place. Later we discovered that the instigator of the violence was a police sergeant who took a day off and was a member of the Klan. They knew we were coming. It was a set-up."

The passangers were attacked by a large mob. They were dragged from the bus and beaten by men with baseball bats and lead piping. Taylor Branch, the author of Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63 (1988) wrote: "One of the men grabbed Zwerg's suitcase and smashed him in the face with it. Others slugged him to the ground, and when he was dazed beyond resistance, one man pinned Zwerg's head between his knees so that the others could take turns hitting him. As they steadily knocked out his teeth, and his face and chest were streaming blood, a few adults on the perimeter put their children on their shoulders to view the carnage." Zwerg later argued: "There was noting particularly heroic in what I did. If you want to talk about heroism, consider the black man who probably saved my life. This man in coveralls, just off of work, happened to walk by as my beating was going on and said 'Stop beating that kid. If you want to beat someone, beat me.' And they did. He was still unconscious when I left the hospital. I don't know if he lived or died."

Some of the Freedom Riders, including seven women, ran for safety. The women approached an African-American taxicab driver and asked him to take them to the First Baptist Church. However, he was unwilling to violate Jim Crow restrictions by taking any white women. He agreed to take the five African-Americans, but the two white women, Susan Wilbur and Susan Hermann, were left on the curb. They were then attacked by the white mob.

John Seigenthaler, who was driving past, stopped and got the two women in his car. According to Raymond Arsenault, the author of Freedom Riders (2006): "Suddenly, two rough-looking men dressed in overalls blocked his path to the car door, demanding to know who the hell he was. Seigenthaler replied that he was a federal agent and that they had better not challenge his authority. Before he could say any more, a third man struck him in the back of the head with a pipe. Unconscious, he fell to the pavement, where he was kicked in the ribs by other members of the mob. Pushed under the rear bumper of the car, his battered and motionless body remained there until discovered by a reporter twenty-five minutes later."

Harris Wofford, the president's Special Assistant for Civil Rights, pointed out: "Seigenthaler went to the defense of a girl being beaten and was clubbed to the ground; he was kicked while he lay there unconscious for nearly half an hour. Again FBI agents present did nothing, except take notes." Robert F. Kennedy later reported: "I talked to John Seigenthaler in the hospital and said that I thought it was very helpful for the Negro vote, and that I appreciated what he had done."

In March 1962, Seigenthaler was appointed as editor of The Tennessean. He continued his campaign against Jimmy Hoffa. As a result Hoffa's lawyers attempted to move his jury tampering trial from Nashville. Seigenthaler admitted he personally wanted Hoffa convicted and the trial was moved to Chattanooga, but Hoffa was still convicted in 1964 after a 45-day trial.

Seigenthaler was given leave from his newspaper to work on Robert Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign. Seigenthaler served as one of the pallbearers at his funeral, and later co-edited the book An Honorable Profession: A Tribute to Robert F. Kennedy (1993) with Pierre Salinger.

On 8th February, 1973, Seigenthaler was promoted to publisher of The Tennessean. He worked closely with Al Gore on investigative stories about Nashville City Council corruption. On 5th May, 1976, Seigenthaler dismissed Jacque Srouji, a copy editor at the newspaper, after finding that she had served as an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). At the time she was writing a book critical of Karen Silkwood. Seigenthaler tried for a year to get his own FBI dossier, and finally received some highly expurgated material including these words: "Allegations of Seigenthaler having illicit relations with young girls, which information source obtained from an unnamed source."

I wonder if the FBI were involved in this smear of Seigenthaler?

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKseigenthaler.htm

The characters involved in the assassination of Albert Patterson:

http://www.aceatkins.com/Extras/WickedCity/TheMachine.html

I found this clip on YouTube:

Has anyone researched John Malcolm Patterson in relation to the assassination of John F. Kennedy? Robert Clem made a 90-minute documentary film on John Patterson that was completed in 2007. "John Patterson: In the Wake of the Assassins", features an extended interview with Patterson himself as well as interviews with journalists and historians. Robert Kennedy explained in his interview with Anthony Lewis (1964): “I had this long relationship with John Patterson (the governor of Alabama). He was our great pal in the South."

Patterson was born in Goldville, Alabama, on 27th September, 1921. He joined the US Army in 1939 and during the Second World War and took part in the campaigns in Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. By 1945 he had achieved the rank of major. On his return to the United States he obtained a law degree from the University of Alabama. In 1951 he rejoined the army and took part in the Korean War. In 1953 he joined the law practice of his father, Albert Patterson.

The following year his father campaigned to become the Attorney Gerneral of Alabama. He claimed that he would tackle the corruption occurring in Phenix City and Russell County. His opponent in the election, Lee Porter, was accused of buying and stealing votes but on 10th June, 1954, he was declared the winner. On 18th June, Patterson was walking to his car, which was parked in an alley off Fifth Avenue in Phenix City, when an unidentified gunman walked up to him and shot him three times. Governor Gordon Persons declared martial law in the city. Three state officials, Chief Deputy Sheriff Albert Fuller, Circuit Solicitor Arch Ferrell and Attorney General Si Garrett, were arrested for the murder. Of the three, only Fuller was convicted; he was sentenced to life imprisonment, but was released after 10 years.

Later that year John Patterson was elected to the post of Attorney General on a policy of tackling organized crime and public corruption. However, once in power, he concentrated on dealing with the emerging civil rights movement. In the 1950s the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) was involved in the struggle to end segregation on buses and trains. In 1954 segregation on inter-state buses was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. However, states in the Deep South, including Alabama continued their own policy of transport segregation. This usually involved whites sitting in the front and blacks sitting nearest to the front had to give up their seats to any whites that were standing.

African American people who disobeyed the state's transport segregation policies were arrested and fined. On 1st December, 1955, Rosa Parks, a middle-aged tailor's assistant from Montgomery, Alabama, who was tired after a hard day's work, refused to give up her seat to a white man. After her arrest, Martin Luther King, a pastor at the local Baptist Church, helped organize protests against bus segregation. It was decided that black people in Montgomery would refuse to use the buses until passengers were completely integrated. King was arrested and his house was fire-bombed. Others involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott also suffered from harassment and intimidation, but the protest continued. Patterson responded to this crisis by banning of NAACP from operating in the state of Alabama.

With the backing of the Ku Klux Klan, Patterson defeated George Wallace, backed by the NAACP in the Democratic primaries and was elected Governor in 1958. It has been claimed that this defeat turned Wallace from a civil rights supporter to an ardent segregationist. A supporter of the state's segregationist policies, Patterson ordered the expulsion of black students for staging a sit-in at Alabama State University, and defended the state's voter registration policies against leaders of the civil rights movement.

Transport segregation continued in some parts of the United States, so in 1961, a civil rights group, the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) began to organize Freedom Rides. After three days of training in non-violent techniques, black and white volunteers sat next to each other as they travelled through the Deep South.

James Farmer, national director of CORE, and thirteen volunteers left Washington on 4th May, 1961, for the Deep South. The group were split between two buses. They travelled in integrated seating and visited "white only" restaurants. When they reached Anniston, Alabama on 14th May the Freedom Riders were attacked by men armed with clubs, bricks, iron pipes and knives. One of the buses was fire-bombed and the mob held the doors shut, intent on burning the riders to death.

The Freedom Riders now traveled onto Montgomery, Alabama. One of the passengers, James Zwerg later recalled: "As we were going from Birmingham to Montgomery, we'd look out the windows and we were kind of overwhelmed with the show of force - police cars with sub-machine guns attached to the backseats, planes going overhead... We had a real entourage accompanying us. Then, as we hit the city limits, it all just disappeared. As we pulled into the bus station a squad car pulled out - a police squad car. The police later said they knew nothing about our coming, and they did not arrive until after 20 minutes of beatings had taken place. Later we discovered that the instigator of the violence was a police sergeant who took a day off and was a member of the Klan. They knew we were coming. It was a set-up."

John Patterson appears to have forgiven President John F. Kennedy for interfering in Alabama's racial segregation policies. According to Seymour M. Hersh, Patterson played an important role in the Bay of Pigs Invasion against Fidel Castro and his new government in Cuba. Patterson gave permission for the Alabama Air National Guard aircraft to be used to transport Cuban emigres to training grounds in Nicaragua.

Does anyone know if Robert Clem's documentary deals with JFK's assassination?

James Zwerg came from a non-political white family from was Appleton, Wisconsin. He studied sociology at Beloit College but developed an interest in civil rights after his roommate, Robert Carter, who was an African-American from Alabama, gave him a copy of Stride to Freedom to read. Zwerg later recalled: "I witnessed prejudice against him... we'd go to a lunch counter or cafeteria and people would get up and leave the table. I had pledged a particular fraternity and then found out that he was not allowed in the fraternity house. I decided that his friendship was more important than that particular fraternity, so I depledged." Zwerg decided to signed on for an exchange semester at the predominately black Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Zwerg met John Lewis, who was active in the civil rights movement. Zwerg later recalled: "I was almost in awe of this young man. He was my age - 21 - but I had never met another person my age with his commitment. He exuded a quiet strength, almost an absolute certainty that he knew what he was doing -- very open and very honest." Lewis had been involved in staging a sit-in at Woolworth's lunch counter with the intention of integrating eating establishments in Nashville.

In October, 1960, Lewis and students involved in these sit-ins held a conference and established the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The organization adopted the Gandhian theory of nonviolent direct action. Zwerg joined the SNCC and his first demonstration was at a "whites only" movie house. According to one account: "Zwerg bought two movie-tickets, then handed one to an accompanying black man. When they tried to enter the theatre, Zwerg was hit with a monkey wrench, knocked out cold and dragged to the edge of the sidewalk."

Transport segregation continued in some parts of the United States, so in 1961, a civil rights group, the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) began to organize Freedom Rides. After three days of training in non-violent techniques, black and white volunteers sat next to each other as they traveled through the Deep South.

James Farmer, national director of CORE, and thirteen volunteers left Washington on 4th May, 1961, for Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. The group were split between two buses. They traveled in integrated seating and visited "white only" restaurants. When they reached Anniston on 14th May the Freedom Riders were attacked by men armed with clubs, bricks, iron pipes and knives. One of the buses was fire-bombed and the mob held the doors shut, intent on burning the riders to death.

James Peck later explained what happened: "When the Greyhound bus pulled into Anniston, it was immediately surrounded by an angry mob armed with iron bars. They set about the vehicle, denting the sides, breaking windows, and slashing tires. Finally, the police arrived and the bus managed to depart. But the mob pursued in cars. Within minutes, the pursuing mob was hitting the bus with iron bars. The rear window was broken and a bomb was hurled inside. All the passengers managed to escape before the bus burst into flames and was totally destroyed. Policemen, who had been standing by, belatedly came on the scene. A couple of them fired into the air. The mob dispersed and the injured were taken to a local hospital."

The surviving bus traveled to Birmingham, Alabama. A meeting of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee decided to send reinforcements. This included Zwerg, John Lewis, and eleven others including two white women. The volunteers realized their mission was extremely dangerous. Zwerg later recalled: "I called my mother and I explained to her what I was going to be doing. My mother's comment was that this would kill my father - and he had a heart condition - and she basically hung up on me. That was very hard because these were the two people who taught me to love and when I was trying to live love, they didn't understand. Now that I'm a parent and a grandparent I can understand where they were coming from a bit more. I wrote them a letter to be mailed if I died. We had a little time to pack a suitcase and then we met to go down to the bus."

During the Freedom Riders campaign the Attorney General, Robert Kennedy was phoning Jim Eastland “seven or eight or twelve times each day, about what was going to happen when they got to Mississippi and what needed to be done. That was finally decided was that there wouldn't’t be any violence: as they came over the border, they’d lock them all up.” When they were arrested Kennedy issued a statement as Attorney General criticizing the activities of the Freedom Riders. Kennedy sent John Seigenthaler to accompany the Freedom Riders.

The Freedom Riders now traveled onto Montgomery. Zwerg later recalled: "As we were going from Birmingham to Montgomery, we'd look out the windows and we were kind of overwhelmed with the show of force - police cars with sub-machine guns attached to the backseats, planes going overhead... We had a real entourage accompanying us. Then, as we hit the city limits, it all just disappeared. As we pulled into the bus station a squad car pulled out - a police squad car. The police later said they knew nothing about our coming, and they did not arrive until after 20 minutes of beatings had taken place. Later we discovered that the instigator of the violence was a police sergeant who took a day off and was a member of the Klan. They knew we were coming. It was a set-up."

The passangers were attacked by a large mob. They were dragged from the bus and beaten by men with baseball bats and lead piping. Taylor Branch, the author of Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63 (1988) wrote: "One of the men grabbed Zwerg's suitcase and smashed him in the face with it. Others slugged him to the ground, and when he was dazed beyond resistance, one man pinned Zwerg's head between his knees so that the others could take turns hitting him. As they steadily knocked out his teeth, and his face and chest were streaming blood, a few adults on the perimeter put their children on their shoulders to view the carnage." Zwerg later argued: "There was noting particularly heroic in what I did. If you want to talk about heroism, consider the black man who probably saved my life. This man in coveralls, just off of work, happened to walk by as my beating was going on and said 'Stop beating that kid. If you want to beat someone, beat me.' And they did. He was still unconscious when I left the hospital. I don't know if he lived or died."

According to Ann Bausum: "Zwerg was denied prompt medical attention at the end of the riot on the pretext that no white ambulances were available for transport. He remained unconscious in a Montgomery hospital for two-and-a-half days after the beating and stayed hospitalized for a total of five days. Only later did doctors diagnose that his injuries included a broken back."

John Seigenthaler was knocked unconscious when he went to the aid of one of the passengers. James Zwerg, who was badly beaten-up claimed: "Segregation must be stopped. It must be broken down. Those of us on the Freedom Ride will continue. No matter what happens we are dedicated to this. We will take the beatings. We are willing to accept death. We are going to keep coming until we can ride anywhere in the South."

The Ku Klux Klan hoped that this violent treatment would stop other young people from taking part in freedom rides. However, over the next six months over a thousand people took part in freedom rides. With the local authorities unwilling to protect these people, President John F. Kennedy sent Byron White and 500 federal marshals from the North to do the job. Robert Kennedy was a close friend of Governor John Patterson of Alabama. Kennedy explained in his interview with Anthony Lewis: “I had this long relationship with John Patterson (the governor of Alabama). He was our great pal in the South. So he was doubly exercised at me – who was his friend and pal – to have involved him with suddenly surrounding this church with marshals and having marshals descend with no authority, he felt, on his cities… He couldn’t understand why the Kennedys were doing this to him.”

During the summer of 1961 freedom riders also campaigned against other forms of racial discrimination. They sat together, in segregated restaurants, lunch counters and hotels. This was especially effective when it concerned large companies who, fearing boycotts in the North, began to desegregate their businesses. Robert Kennedy petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to draft regulations to end racial segregation in bus terminals. The ICC was reluctant but in September 1961 it issued the necessary orders and it went into effect on 1st November.

Later that year Martin Luther King presented Zwerg with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Freedom Award. After leaving Fisk University he attended the Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston before becoming a minister in the United Church of Christ.

Zwerg's activities had a major impact on his family: "My dad did have a mild coronary and my mother came close to having a nervous breakdown. One of the things that I have discovered since, after having had a chance to really talk with several of the others, is that almost all of us had some form of real emotional problems with family or personally, in one way or another. Some people had a really hard time - after having had such a tremendous support group and atmosphere of love - having to readapt... For years and years, I was never able to discuss it with my dad. He just... you could just see the blood pressure go up. I think my mother ultimately understood. I went through some psychotherapy when I was in seminary, just because of the anger that developed. Again, these people who loved me and taught me to love didn't love what I was doing when I put my life on the line. I had to wrestle with that and work it through."

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAzwerg.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAfreedomR.htm

You can see an interview with James Zwerg here: