January and February, 1961, 1961

Mitchell became deeply involved in a civil rights crisis in Fayette and Haywood Counties, Tennessee, where black sharecroppers who had attempted to register for voting had received threats of eviction from their homes. On this subject, see Mitchell's detailed memorandum (Jan 17), the minutes of a meeting held at Le Moyne College in Memphis to deal with the problem (Jan 21), and a report by "Operation Freedom" (Feb 2). Legal papers relating to a suit filed against the White Citizens Council in Jackson, Mississippi appear in the undated section for January. On the situation in California, the papers include two letters from Gorman to Mitchell (Jan 9, 25) as well as one from Gorman to Norman Smith, protesting against excessive UPWA influence in AWOC (Jan 26). There is a long letter from Mitchell to Gorman, proposing that the AMC set up an "organized migration" program to provide southern farm workers with jobs in the North (Jan 19).