A Freedom Rider Remembers
A lecture series features civH rights leader's story
of bus ride through hostile region that helped disman
tle segregation.
GREENSBORO, N.C ? James Farmer, founder
and once president of the Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE), spoke to an audience here recent
ly about the "Freedom Riders" of 1961 who sought
to end segregation in interstate bus travel.
Currently a professor of American History at
Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va.,
Farmer, 77, was the third in a series of lecturers to
speak at the newly opened International Civil Rights
Center and Museum on the site of a now famous
Woolworth's Department Store. When four black
college students refused to move from "white only"
seats in the store's cafeteria, they sparked yet anoth
er civil rights protest of note, "The Sit-in
Movement."
During the lecture, sponsored by Philip Morris
Companies Inc., Farmer told how mob violence on
the part of white supremacists had caused grave
physical injury to Freedom Riders in Alabama cities
during those demonstrations.
Farmer described how he played "crazy Negro"
as he followed closely behind the Rev. Fred
Shuttlesworth through an angry crowd of white
men. The two pushed, pulled and shouted their W*y
through the angry mob. Their bravado worked,
Farmer said, and the two black men maneuvered
their way into the First Baptist Church of ? |
Montgomery, Ala., to join a rally of local blacks tad
of Freedom Riders.
Farmer reported that in the church's back room,
the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was talking by tele
phone with U.S. Attorney General Robert F.
Kennedy. Kennedy urged King to convince Farmer
to stop the Freedom Rides as a "cooling off" ges
? ' I
See FREEDOM on A3
?
James Farmer
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75 cents , W INS TON-SAL EM GrEENSKOKO HlGH POINT Vol. XXIV No. 12
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Former HAWS
head moves on
By Michele Drayton
The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA ? The man poised to lead the
biggest revitalization in Tampa's public hous
ing resigned abruptly Thursday to take a job
Bin Atlanta.
Art Milligan Jr.,
executive director of
the Tampa Housing
Authority, told a
solemn board he
would become vice
president of opera
tions for H.J. Russell
& Co., the Atlanta
construction company
that helped build the
Art Milligan Olympic stadium.
The offer, Milligan
said, is the opportunity of a lifetime. Two
weeks ago he had a shot at another unsolicit
ed offer: He was a finalist for the top job at the
Philadelphia Housing Authority.
"Opportunities don't come when you want
them to come. They come when they come,"
said Milligan, 40.
Milligan has only been on the job since
January. He said Russell approached him in
July with an offer, and he declined. They came
back three weeks ago with a better offer, he
said.
Board members and Milligan said his
planned departure in January will not affect a
$32.5 million federal grant that's part of a
plan to demolish College Hill and Ponce de
Leon, two of Tampa's largest housing com
plexes.
The HOPE VI grant is a small piece of a
$183 million project to replace obsolete units
with a mixed-income community where public
housing units and fair market homes would be
indistinguishable.
The U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development, which awarded the
grant, took Milligan's news apprehensively but
seemed satisfied after the board announced
Milligan would be replaced temporarily by
Kris Warren, the general deputy executive
director at the authority and a former HUD
executive.
"Without an interim plan, it could have put
HOPE VI in jfeopardy," board Chairman
Craig Campbell said.
HOPE VI may survive the change, but res
idents may face a greater adjustment.
"When I heard, I just had to cry," said
Clareatha Johnson, resident council president
at the 700-unit Ponce de Leon.
I She praised Milligan's responsiveness, not
ing how fast he had rusted pipes repaired at
Ponce. "In less than two weeks, that water
looked like it came from a spring."
- The board plans to mount a nationwide
search once again to find a permanent replace
ment. Milligan, a Citadel and Wake Forest
University graduate, left his director's job at
the Winston-Salem, N.C., housing agency, for
a bigger job in Tampa that pays $ 117,000 a
year.
His straightforward management style
See MILUGAN on A5
Sharon Bibb* rood* to youngtter* at the Children t Houm on too Bennett College compos In Oreentboro.
For the Children
by Paul B. Johnson
Greensboro Correspondent
GREENSBORO ? Sharon
Bibbs, the director of Children's
House at Bennett College, can see
her hopes and dreams for Guilford
County's Smart Start program each
day she works.
Bibbs directs the laboratory
preschool for 3- and 4-year-old
children that has served for decades
as a model for quality child care.
The three teachers at Children's
House have college degrees. Bibbs
said. The teachers create lesson
plans and set goals for the 31 girls
and boys.
Bibbs said the quality and stan
dards of Children's House can
serve as one guide for the ambi
tious Smart Start program, which is
in its infant stage in Guilford
County.
Smart Start is an initiative
launched earlier this decade by
Gov. Jim Hunt and state leaders to
try to set up comprehensive pro
grams to prepare
young children for kindergarten
and beyond.
Guilford County, which became
a Smart Start county last year, is in
the process of implementing 22
activities to benefit preschool chil
dren and their parents, said Jean
Goodman, executive director of
the Guilford County Partnership
for Children. The partnership is the
agency implementing Smart Start
in the county.
The activities planned for
See SMART on A3
Police seek
access to
school files
<3?
A Superintendent Martin says
parents have not been consulted
By Sharon Brooks Hodge
The Chkonicle Editor
Collaborating and sharing resources.are two
things government agencies in Winston-Salem "
say they can do to reduce juvenile crime.
The U.S. Justice Department agrees, and is
putting up $133,000 to help make it happen.
Last week, federal officials visited the Triad to
participate in an overall review of community
strategies to curtail criminal activity, particular
ly offenses committed by teenagers.
Federal and local authorities met for two
hours at the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County
School Administration Office before visiting
Greensboro for a tour of a Weed and Seed com
munity policing site. The meetings held Friday
in Forsyth and Guilford counties came a week
after Gov. Jim Hunt outlined his priorities for
tackling juvenile crime in North Carolina.
"First, it is going to take a combination of
swift and tough punishment for violent juvenile
offenders," Hunt said. He made his remarks to
the Juvenile Crime and Justice Commission.
"We need to make sure all young offenders see
? the very first time and every time ? that
breaking the law carries consequences, in or out
of courts."
In addition to being tough on those who
break the law, the governor says effective pre
vention programs are needed to steer young
people away from drugs and guns, which ulti
mately could lead to prison. To that end. Hunt
urged communities to work together.
In Winston-Salem, working together is the
goal of Forsyth Futures. The group describes
itself as a "a community support system for
children and youth." Now two years old.
Forsyth Futures was formed to address the
See RECORDS ok A2
Black community less than outraged at Cavanagh's salute
Staff Reports
Black people in Winston-Salem are concerned, but
not outraged that their mayor-elect saluted the
Confederate battle flag last weekend.
"I've heard a lot of people talking about it, but
they're not incensed," commented Geneva Brown, an
African-American member of the local school board.
Brown, of course, was referring to the much-talked
about salute Mayor-elect Jack Cavanagh bestowed
upon the rebel flag during a meeting of a conservative
group convening in the city Saturday. Here's what
Cavanagh says happened.
"I was invited to welcome the National Council of
Conservative Citizens," Cavanagh recalled. "The whole
thing wasn't more than 15 minutes long."
During those famed 15 minutes, the city's newly
elected leader said the
group rose to pledge alle
giance to the United
States flag. Everyone sat
down. Then they were
asked to rise again, to
"salute the Confederate
flag in honor of the peo
ple who lost their lives in
the Civil War, both black
and white."
According to
Cavanagh, the group
used a hand gesture that he had never seen before dur
ing that salute. He mimicked everyone else and saluted
the Confederate flag, too. .
"I followed because of what I thought was a good
Jack Cavanough
reason, honoring everyone who died in the Civil War,"
Cavanagh explained.
It wasn't until later that he realized the significance
of his actions. The Sunday morning paper linked the
group to the Ku Klux Klan. Cavanagh, though, says he
didn't see any of the subtle clues that might have tipped
him off that he was associating with a group of white
supremacists. He insists that he is not guilty by associ
ation.
"H didn't happen the way the paper painted it."
Cavanagh said, referring to the account in the Winston
Salem Journal. "What concerns me is the attempt to
paint me as a racist. And there's an element that wants
to divide this community. My intention was merely to
welcome a national meeting into the city."
It didn't take long for Cavanagh to apologize. On
See CAVANAGH on A5