Revolutions sometimes start with small steps. The resolution passed by the NAACP Mississippi state board of directors on May 12, 1963, was one such small step. It had been a tense negotiation within the NAACP board meeting in Jackson. Tempers had flared. National NAACP representatives questioned the efficacy of such an in-your-face statement. But in the end, the state board passed this resolution (after modest changes), perhaps not fully realizing the extent to which Jackson would be thrown into turmoil by its determined authors.
Those authors were John Salter, advisor to the NAACP North Jackson Youth Council, who had fomented for change since his arrival in Mississippi in August of 1961; Medgar Evers, who was seeking ways to energize the black populace of Jackson after more than eight years of spirit-breaking resistance to an unrelentingly brutal and unyielding racist system; Pearlena Lewis, 22-year old President of the North Jackson Youth Council; and, Doris Allison, president of the Jackson branch of the NAACP. These four would form the core, the backbone of the Jackson Movement as it slowly ratcheted up pressure for change on the Mayor and the city’s power structure.
This resolution, released in the form of a letter to long-time Jackson Mayor Allen Thompson, to the Chamber of Commerce, and to other power institutions within the city, so unnerved the mayor that he took to the airwaves the next day to denounce it and to reassure Jackson’s citizens that “any agitator who comes to this city will be prosecuted without any exception whatsoever.” Thompson pleaded with Jackson’s “Nigra” citizens: “Refuse to pay any attention to any of these agitators” and particularly targeted the NAACP for attempting to stir up trouble.
Like so many public relations disasters, Thompson’s mistake was reacting. In doing so, and in mentioning the NAACP, he opened up an opportunity for the NAACP—and Evers as its local spokesperson—to seek equal airtime. The FCC granted exactly that, and on May 21, Evers, on primetime television, debunked the mayor’s phony assessment of harmonious race relations and demanded change or else. The showdown would cost Evers his life—an incalculable loss—but it would also rally black Jackson to begin to demand more from their leaders, both black and white. Gradually change began to occur.
Revolutions sometimes start with small steps. Let us honor those courageous NAACP board members and the leaders of the Jackson Movement for their small, momentous steps forward 50 years ago this week. WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED ….