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5 - Enforcement Networks and Racial Contention in Civil Rights–Era Mississippi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2020

By
David Cunningham  and
Peter B. Owens
Edited by
Grzegorz Ekiert ,
Elizabeth J. Perry  and
Xiaojun Yan
Grzegorz Ekiert
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Elizabeth J. Perry
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Xiaojun Yan
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
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Summary

Early in the fall of 1964, the governor of Mississippi, Paul B. Johnson, embarked on an unusual journey. His destination was the small railroad city of McComb, located halfway between Jackson, the state’s capitol, and New Orleans. Awaiting him at the end of the 80-mile drive were the area’s two top policing officials: McComb Police Chief George Guy and Pike County Sheriff R. W. Warren. The situation was urgent for all concerned, as McComb had become a steady presence in the national news for its charged racial situation – a series of vicious bombings had targeted supporters of a voter registration campaign mounted by a coalition of civil rights organizations. Local residents and national reporters alike were in on the open secret: the bombings had been perpetrated by members of local chapters of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a violent vigilante outfit that had mobilized extensively in McComb over the past year.

Type
Chapter
Information
Ruling by Other Means
State-Mobilized Movements
 , pp. 110 - 139
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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