Hattiesburg today is almost unrecognizable from its former self almost 60 years ago.
Most folks under age 50 probably know little to nothing of those days of segregation, whites only public places, and white control of government and commerce.
Not long ago, Southern Miss sponsored a speaker’s forum and hosted a somewhat frail and soft-spoken octogenarian New Yorker named Bob Moses.
He traveled to the Hub City with little fanfare, and similarly departed as innocuously as he arrived. Few Hattiesburgers realized that for those couple of days, we were in the company of one of our areas most transformative figures for the cause of civil rights, beginning in 1961.
A young Harvard educated mathematician and philosopher from Harlem made the courageous decision to journey to the “Closed Society,” an unflattering name given to Mississippi.
Amzie Moore, a NAACP leader from the Delta, suggested Moses lead a group of activists for a voter registration drive. With encouragement from McComb’s C. C. Bryant, Moses traveled to southwest Mississippi in August of 1961.
Joining several brave local black citizens, Moses helped form Freedom Schools to educate local blacks in civil rights initiatives, including how to pass the voter registration tests, which were administered by white registrar clerks who asked questions impossible to answer, like how many words were in the Mississippi Constitution.
When the local newspaper printed the story of Moses, white leaders began widespread threats on any person helping the cause, causing major decline in attendance at the Freedom Schools.
Moses personally drove citizens to the local courthouse where they were harassed, tailed by police, arrested and thrown in jail. Not deterred, Moses went back to the same courthouse where he was met by a cousin of the local sheriff who promptly severely beat Moses on the courthouse lawn. The suspect was arrested and later acquitted for the assault.
Moses faced a “high probability of death” that year. Yet, his actions encouraged many young black citizens to get involved with the movement, including sit-ins at white establishments.
Unfortunately, the violence overwhelmed Moses.
A month after his efforts began, a black farmer and father of nine children, Herbert Lee, was shot and killed by a local state legislator. The perpetrator, E. H. Hurst, was later acquitted by an all white male jury, effectively ending the movement in 1961.
But every change needs a spark. Moses said of the time, “We got our feet wet.”
Those experiences revealed how much resistance actually existed. Most black citizens were intimidated and harassed away from the movement, but just like every seed needs soil, Moses and others planted the seeds.
Three years later, a much larger number of civil rights workers from the state and beyond set up civil rights projects statewide, including the Pine Belt. It was the summer of 1964, a long, hot, and bloody summer. The motives were simple, to fight for equality, at the voting booth and beyond.
Thanks to Bob Moses and countless others, the seeds sprang forth and blossomed into uncontrollable societal change for black citizens.
Today, my hope is that names like Bob Moses will ring in every ear of every Mississippi student.
Sixty years ago, a handful of people in Hattiesburg and other towns sang, “Freedom is a constant struggle. We must be free.” That hope then is closer to a reality today.
Clark Hicks is a lawyer who lives in Hattiesburg. His e-mail is clark@hicksattorneys.com
