New Pittsburgh Courier from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 3

The following it a confidential Utter to editors of The Pittsburgh Courier from fveyn who was sent by this paper to Alabama lo report the mats but protest In Montgomery and to Interview Autherine Lucy. Her letter dealt directly with' the Montgomery situation. Although confidential wo are passing it along to you because we feel It expresses her real thoughts. The letter follows: This situation here is something like I've never in life seen. It'a difficult to believe what these people are doing and the almost Christ like manner in which they're doing it.

It is my considered though womanlyopinion that this deal Montgomery (Ala) BgM ifor freedom oes tn By EVELYN CUNNINGHAM MONTGOMERY, Ala. Designed to put the fear of God into the South's "new Negro," last week's indictment of 115 Negroes, charged with taking part in the historic twelve week old bus boycott, has boomeranged and has given the movement significance equal to the Supreme Court decision on education. Reaction to the mass arrests and indictment was im mediate and positive: MIAMI The shocking arrest of twenty four ministers and other leaders in the Montgomery (Ala.) bus boycott teas denounced hsj Fir ill'IAM t)rtfWttf I the National Baftist Convention, U. S. A.f who is vacationing in Miami.

Negroes were more determined than ever to continue their non violent protest. Resentment grew as Montgomery's most prominent citizens were subjected to the indignities of finger booking and mugging. Both the Montgomery Improvement Association and individual citizens stood ready at the indictments to post the $300 bonds each for those arrested. THURSDAY NIGHT'S mass meeting of the MIA was thrown open to all local reporters, previously banned from any of the many meetings. Friday's all day.

Prayer and Pilgrimage in which Negroes agreed not to use Vehicles of any kind all day was a powerfully mute testimony to the determination of leaders of the movement to avoid any form of violence. And one elderly lady who seemed to express the sentiment of thousands of others said, "Now they're really going to see some walking Letters. vire3 and contribu tions from all parts of the world have streamed into Montgomery since Dec. 5 of last year, when a combination of timeliness and leadership gave Negroes the weap on they nave not wielded at any time in modem history: unity, Both outsiders and natives have been caught up in a kind of spirit ual and physical unity that has given them a new dignity and pride and they don't mean to iose it. THIS MOVEMENT which the MIA insists is a protest, not a Pus Boycott Leaders Say: 'V 7 PrAorc For luciro rrayers ror jusnce jammed both inside and outside boyfott sprang out of the ar rest last Dec, 1 of Mrs.

Rosa Parks, an attractive, soft spoken seamstress who had refused to move from hor seat on a bus to make room for white passengers. She was jailed and subsequent ly fined $14. Four days later, Monday morning, Montgomery Negroes commenced their "Walking for Freedom." No one rode the buses. A car pool was organized. Many simply walked.

Within a few days the entire nation had its ears perked and its eyes open and the Montgomery City Bus Lines had Us pockets pinched. In a ew weeks bus had to be raised to meet the loss in revenue. Today what few buses are left ru. ning on the streets are all more than half empty. NATURALLY, ROAD blocks were placed along the way.

Police officers began and still ar? giving out tickets to Negro motorists at a wholesale rate. Nero drivers are stopped for the" flimsiest of reasons. Still, nobody is scared. Veiled threats have been made and overt actions have been taken against leaders of the movement. Nobody is frightened.

Iast week, a new tack was taken. A proposition was made to leaders of the boycott that if they return to the buses, certain concessions ould be made 'them. Negroes were promised that they would Ik? treated more wnirtrouslv. that more seats would be allotted them, but they would still be segregated. The proposition was turned down by a vote of 3.99S to 2.

One of the rtiecpnters was Toy Ben net of Mount Zion AME Church; nvcUtnnT ioined hum in dtesenL WEDNESDAY'S indictments of a Mrh 1, I9S4 i3 11 1 1 An estimated audience of nearly 7 000 Negroes of Montgomery's (Ala.) First 115 persons were returned under seldom used state statute which makes conspiracy to boycot a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months and a fine. Serving on the grand jury r.hch returned the indictments was a Negro, E. T. Sinclair, head waiter at the Montgomery Country Club. There was no indication as lo how he voted.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. A Greene County legislator proposed thnt the state cmcel a a year grant to Tuskegee Institute if a Negro student is allowed remain permanently at an all' ichite state lollege. Rep. W. L.

Martin, icho hails from a county that is 8i per cent Negro, first atked the state school superintendent if he would bj willing to terminate a state contract with Tuskejce, should such a situation develop, then prop sed to offer a bill in the Legislature to require it. As each of the was arrested, others stood by posting the S300 bonds. Despite the fact that police were called as hun dreds of Negroes stood outside the courthouse while others were being arrested, there was no disorder or suggestion of violence. FROM EARLY Thursday morn ing, defendants were parading in and out of the offices of Atty. Fred D.

Gray, 25.. himself under another indictment. They went Jto sign retainers, stating that they will consent to having the NAACP represent them. Attorney Gray was Indicted earlier after having been accused of filing an anti segregation suit in U. S.

District Court without the consent of one of the five women whose name appeared on the complaint. Mr. Gray said that Mrs. Jeaneatta Bmv had signed papers giving hfm power to represent her. Thursday alternoon, at a meet X'' THl PITTSBURGH COURIER will be seen as bigger than the Supreme Court decision and that you ought to have somebody real close here for the next few months.

I've never seen Negroes "cool it" like these people. They KNOW they're right and they aren't going to quit for nothing or nobody. They aren't being excitable and emotional as we've always been. And they're slowly realizing that they've got a key to the whole race thing right in their pockets. In short, they don't give a damn what the white peoplo do.

They're ready, spiritually and psychologically, to be martyrs if needs be. 1 Honest to God, I've never been prouder of being a Negro. Love and kisses and forgive the sentimentality, but I'm moved. EVELYN 5 Baptist Church last Thursday night during the mass prayer meeting held in protest over the arrest of 1 15 boycott leaders. ing of the MIA's executive board, held in the Citizens Clubra group of about thirty heard Atty.

Arthur Shores, currently involved in the Autherine Lucy Alabama University case. Mr. Shores said that he had been greatly concerned with the speed with which actions had been taken against the defendants. He announced that he had asked for and had gotten a week in which to file papers on which they will predicate their defense. At the arraignments Friday morning all of the defendants pleaded, "not guilty." ASKED WHAT further steps Negroes might expect will be taken against them, Atty.

Peter Htll of Birmingham, Mr. Shore's assistant, asserted, "We must expect and be prepared for anything. They will do anything they can to stop the Negro from getting what they think he wants." Nearly 7,000 persons in and outside of First Baptist Church Thursday night at a mass prayer meeting shouted approval of their leaders insistence upon non violence. They were told that "this is not a hate campaign. This not Ne 1 JF sv 5 groes against whites, but justicf against injustice!" DESPITE THE relative calm of the meeting, white Montgomery posted six police in the vicinity of the church and during the meeting two fire trucks made an appearance outside the church.

Far from creating excitement, the fire trucks were an object of amusement. Taking part in the meeting were the ministers who are under Indictment. Among those indicted were the Rev. M. L.

King 27, pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and president oT the Montgomery Improvement Association; the Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, First Baptist Church, and one of the foremost pokes rr an for the movement; the Rev. R. James Glasco, director of the Alabama Negro Baptist Center; the Rev.

Aaron Hoffman, Shlloh Baptist Church; the Rev. H. II. Hubbard; Oak Street Baptist Church; the Rev. L.

R. Bennett, Mount Zlon AME Church; the Rev. W. J. Powell, Old Ship Methodist Church; the Rev.

A. W. ilson, Holt Street Bap. tlit Church, and the Rev. Joseph H.

Cherry. wx 1 4 IF 1 AS I IS? Wl $3 lw Here are sc of the key figures in iey rigures Mont fy boycott. Left to right: Mrs. Rosa Parks, whose arrest triggered the boycott; the Rev. M.

L. Kina president of Montgomery's Improvement. Association; the Rev. R. D.

Abernathy, key figure in boycott planning, and Atty. Fred G. Gray, legal counsel for Montgomery's Negro citizens..