MONEY, MISSISSIPPI MEMORIES

In 1971, I was a poll-watcher in Money, MS, 8 miles north of Greenwood. This is where Emmett Till was lynched in 1955, for whistling at a white woman. Voting took place in a ramshackle cotton gin, when a truck rolled up. A white man with a shotgun entered and stood on one side of the entrance; then, another white man with a switch blade entered at stood on the other side of the entrance. Finally, about 30-40 black men trooped in; voted on the flat table top with paper ballots and trooped out. Then, each white man, in turn, pivoted and exited and the truck left. Nary a word was spoken the whole time. My friend, William Lightfoot, a Howard Bison brother, and now an esteemed attorney, who was paired with me to poll watch, exchanged meaningful glances with me, after which we both split! Greenwood's Broad Street Park is where Stokely Carmichael also called publicly for "Black Power!" in Greenwood in June 1966, during the Meredith March for Freedom. We do not know who those voters or their guards were, nor did we care! Greenwood, MS - Official Website - African-American www.greenwoodms.com African-American