[Dialogue] Selma

[Del Morril]

What an amazing story, Charles; it brings back so many memories. I remember
Justin and I taking part in a march in Chicago, but it certainly didn't have
nearly the drama you were involved in - you had already forged the way for
other such marches.

Del

 

  _____  

From: dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Charles or Doris Hahn
Sent: Saturday, August 06, 2011 2:48 PM
To: Colleague Dialogue
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Selma

 

Selma seems to have captured us.  So I shall tell an expanded account of
Selma.  Bob Fishell and I were the first to go from EI/the Order. We were
working in the Local Church Project (what was to become Fifth City).  The
day after the terrible attack on MLK's attempt to march across the bridge,
King put out an appeal for clergy from across the country to come and help.
Fishel said lets go.  I said OK.  We asked JWM for permission to go and to
be sent.  He said yes.  So that night (Monday night) we were on a flight to
Montgomery.  Also on the plane we met two Chicago pastors who were a part of
the Clergy Cadre we had just formed.  We were met at the airport and driven
to Selma by a woman from Detroit who was helping the cause.  

 

It was a very exciting event with great services in one of the Black
churches at least twice  a day and almost continuous rallies of one kind or
another.  We stayed with black families in Selma.  I think it was the second
day after we arrived a Congregational Pastor from New England was beaten to
death with baseball bats at a restaurant in Selma.  We had been urged to
stay in the neighborhood of the church, but two or three pastors decided it
would be safe go for a meal in the center of town.  How wrong they were.

 

The decision had been made to keep a significant contingent of people ready
to march toward and across the bridge toward Montgomery.  The third or
fourth night we were there Fishel and I were assigned to be in the "ready to
march"  contingent.  There were other clergy and many students, both black
and white---perhaps 75-100 altogether.  We all were singing Freedom
Movement songs and dancing, etc.   After a while The two our three rows of
students ahead of us began to surge toward the line of heavily armed State
Police blocking the way to the Bridge, and the whole contingent joined in.
Off to the side officers from the Alabama Bureau of Investigation were
photographing us.  The surge would go directly up to the faces of the
offficers almost bumping into them.  Fishel and I were in the third row.
This really frightened me.  If someone should trip and fall into an officer,
I could not imagine what might happen.  I turned to Fishel and said: "We
have to stop this. It's too dangerous.  He broke into raucus laughter, and
just shook his head.  It suddenly dawned on me the reality of the famous
phrase of the period "You can't trust anyone over 30."  Fishel was 26 and I
was 34.  We survived the night.

 

After a few days it was decided that I should return to Chicago and help get
the busload of people from Fifth City recruited and ready to go for the
final push.  David Scott was sent to replace me, and to help prepare for the
arrival of the bus. I was to stop in Washington on my way and visit two
Texas Senators and two Texas Representatives I knew.  Particularly, we
wanted to thank Senator Ralph Yarborough of Texas, who was the only Southern
Senator to express outrage in the Senate over what had happened on the
Bridge.

 

I cannot remember who was on the bus; however, I am certain that Joe was
not. 

 

I hope I have shed a little common memory on the subject and that this has
not been too verbose.

 

Grace and Peace,

Charles

 

  _____  

From: Norm and Judy Lindblad <nj.lindblad at gmail.com>
To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue at wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Sat, August 6, 2011 11:25:45 AM
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Selma

Thank you Anne for this vivid retelling.  There are so many stories!  We are
blessed to have them and to have folks like you, who were eye witnesses to
history, share them with us.   

 

In our pre-EI days, we were at First Presbyterian Church, Hartford, Conn.
When our pastor, George Cox, told the congregation that he felt called to go
to Selma, Norm and I dug into our newlywed pockets and contributed for his
bus fare.  

 

These are still the times and we are still the people.

 

Grace and peace, Judy Lindblad

On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 3:17 PM, Anne Wood <awoodewm at aol.com> wrote:


Betty Pesek was not there and neither was Joe Mathews.

 

My memory of the event is vivid but the cast of characters is blured....

 

I remmeber Donna McClesky was there and she was very pregnant at the time. I
also think that Joe Slicker and Fred Buss were there.

 

We rode all night on a Greyhound bus........We arrived at some field where
they were putting up a huge tent.... there was to be some sort of
entertainment that night.

 

There had been much reported in the news about the "kind of trash" that was
particapating in the march (including the easy availability of prostitutes).
Sooooooooo I had worn my most expensive "David Dow" suit, heels and yes
white gloves.

 

As we got off the bus and strolled across the field to the tent suddenly out
of no where came wind and sheets of rain! We rushed under the tent for cover
just as the tent pole pulled out of the ground...into the air.....and we
were all knocked into what had become a mess of mud and we were trapped
under the collapsed tent. So much for a respectable apperance!

 

There's lots more to this story......it was indeed an awesome event and I
will never forget a moment

 

Anne Wood.


 


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