Excerpt from Mississippi Challenge

by Mildred Pitts Walter

“On May 7, 1955, Aaron Henry, a pharmacist and a leader in the NAACP, organized the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO). The council members were educators; community leaders; ministers and leaders of the NAACP. COFO came into being as a direct result of the Court order for integration of schools. However, there seemed to be little interest in integration in Mississippi; therefore, the council lay dormant until 1960.

Governor Ross Barnett labeled the leaders of COFO Communists. In October of 1955, in Indianola, Mississippi, the White Citizens Council was organized. Its aim was to resist any changed in the South that might occur because of the Supreme Court ruling (Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case on school desegregation). ...The council promoted activities that denied blacks work, credit, or a chance to survive.

Also in 1955, Amzie Moore, a postal worker and gas-station owner and a native of Grenada, Mississippi was elected president of the Cleveland branch of the NAACP. Amzie, a World War II veteran, had returned to Mississippi in 1946 at a time when an organization known as the home guard was terrorizing blacks. ...

Those who knew Amzie Moore had great respect for his fearlessness, his courage, and his leadership capabilities.”