"We Are Not Afraid"
Janifer, Ellsworth
Sunday, March 6, 1960 dawned clear and cold in Montgomery, Alabama. It was like any other quiet Sunday morning, yet a feeling of unrest pierced the deceptive calm. Two days before, the...
...IN A SENSE, these white citizens had been subtly invited to violence by the demagoguery of such responsible men as the police commissioner and mayor of the city...
...The atmosphere was uneasy, but there were no overt signs of fear or panic, even though the white gathering outside had mushroomed to some 5,000 and had churned itself to a feverish pitch of excitement...
...The solemn procession, led by the ministers, began to flow slowly down the center aisle of the church: Father DuBose immaculately attired in cassock and surplice, holding his Bible...
...If anyone is afraid," he added, "remain in the church and we'll understand...
...two other ministers closely following...
...As Reverend Abernathy ascended the pulpit, the congregation spontaneously burst into their rallying chant: We are not afraid, we are not afraid, We are not afraid today...
...After about an hour of further prayers, testimonies, and hymn singing inside the church, a lady speaker informed us that Reverend Abernathy and the others had not been harmed and were continuing the service...
...Occasionally, we heard the group outside bravely continuing their service...
...But those of us inside could not see the action on the outside...
...229 Paradoxically, on the Saturday afternoon before the prayer meeting, police permitted white demonstrators to gather at the capitol (under the watchful eye of the Governor) and later to drive through the down-town area with such signs as "Preserve Our Rights—Fire Your Negro," "Act Now —Fire Your Negro," and "Remember Our Rebel Forefathers...
...We had no way of knowing whether or not our leaders had been set upon, or if the crowd was storming the beseiged church...
...AN OLD FASHIONED prayer meeting then developed, complete with fiery testimonies, hymn singing, and impassioned praying...
...He told us that we had gone as far as we could and had proven our point...
...Some persons fainted, and some shouted, patted their feet and clapped their hands in utter frustration...
...After the procession was forcibly stopped, word was passed (according to plan) for those inside the church to remain there...
...At about one forty-five, the Reverend Ralph D. Abernathy, president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, entered almost casually, nodding and speaking to the congregation...
...Had the authorities really been interested in fair play, they would never have permitted large numbers of whites to gather in front of the Capitol and along Dexter Avenue and Decatur Street...
...The singing gradually swelled, reaching an impassioned climax and soaring high up into the gabled ceiling of the church and out into the streets...
...During the morning, it became increasingly clear that the Negroes had no intention of calling off their meeting...
...Tension and anxiety melted...
...AFTER MORE REMARKS by Father Robert E. DuBose and the Reverend 230 S. S. Seay, both of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the drama moved towards its climax...
...It was only natural, then, that the atmosphere inside the church was charged with fear and panic, and the situation there in grave danger of chaotic eruption...
...In view of the situation that exists in Montgomery," he warned, "if the Negroes persist in flaunting their arrogance and defiance at the Capitol Sunday the police will have no alternative but to take whatever action might be necessary to disperse them...
...My friend Samuel Green and I were among the first to arrive...
...He warned that there would possibly be name-calling and perhaps even some violence by the whites...
...Some sang, some prayed, and many others sat in firm resolution...
...They came from all areas of the city...
...It had only advanced a few paces from the church steps when Father DuBose was pushed back and almost knocked to the ground by police officers...
...The March 6 prayer meeting, then, was called to protest peacefully this one-sided justice as well as the expulsion of the Alabama State College student demonstrators...
...This simple song assumed a significance far greater than its musical worth...
...If repulsed, he advised, the procession would return to the steps of the church and the prayer meeting would be held there instead...
...Closing his instructions, Reverend Abernathy advised that "Our hour has come to make a stand and for this, we must be willing to sacrifice everything— even life itself...
...Breathing came easier and smiles reappeared...
...The white crowd surged menacingly towards the Negroes...
...the entire congregation on its feet, facing the procession, each member nervously poised, waiting his turn to join the march...
...Moreover, there is nothing in the State Constitution or in city or county statutes to prevent this...
...232...
...A little later, Reverend Abernathy returned and was seemingly unshaken by what surely must have been one of the most shattering experiences of his life...
...The air was electric with tension and one minor incident could well have erupted into violence...
...Two days before, the Negro ministers of the city had scheduled a mass prayer meeting on the State Capitol grounds for 1:30 Sunday afternoon...
...Again, the congregation burst forth triumphantly into the rallying chant: "We are not afraid...
...The entire meeting was gripped by a profound spiritual and communal force...
...The Negroes, having backed up to the church steps, stood facing the angry crowd, intent upon making their protest...
...Yet we could hear the deafening screams of the crowd and the voices of the policemen as they assured the whites that they had the situation well in hand and thanked them for their "patience and restraint...
...He further stated, "anyone who wishes to respond with violence is not needed...
...How stimulating it was to hear the adults of the community make a stand in support of the young students who were fighting for what they sincerely believed to be basic freedom...
...The meeting was called to protest the expulsion of nine Alabama State College students who participated in a "sit-down" demonstration at the Montgomery County Court House on February 26...
...As the advanced section of the column (the first twenty-five or thirty) left the church, the whites outside chanted such slogans as "Come on niggers, make your move," and "Alright niggers, come on...
...The white gathering was, in fact, a counter-demonstrationand on the forbidden Capitol grounds at that...
...But most of this was drowned out by the churning and braying of the unruly crowd...
...Therefore, he continued, "we plan to make our protest known in a peaceful, non-violent meeting on the capitol grounds...
...The advancing crowd was held at bay by police officers...
...However, there were no plans to force through police lines or to pass through the white crowd...
...Yet the city police commissioner issued a statement on Saturday afternoon designed to intimidate the Negro community and to thwart the proposed meeting...
...For deep in my heart, I do believe, We are not afraid today...
...On Sunday morning, then, the city of Montgomery was anxiously waiting to see if the Negroes would assert their legal right and go on with the scheduled meeting...
...Their statements regularly appeared in city newspapers and did more to incite riots than the various student demonstrations about the city...
...Though we have been warned against this, we have informed the country and the world of our intentions, and we must go...
...Fortunately, several persons took control of the meeting and were able to persuade the excited congregation to be seated and to turn their attention back to the purpose of the day...
...Snatches of The Star Spangled Banner, America, and The Battle Hymn of the Republic floated through the opened church doors...
...We had shown the world where we stood on the issue of segregation...
...At various intervals, we could even hear the speakers' voices, firm and resolute...
...There were representatives from all social levels, income and age groups, though most were students and workers...
...At the same time, however, groups of whites were also gathering on the Capitol grounds, forming a solid phalanx in front of it and along its adjoining approaches at Dexter Avenue and Decatur Street...
...Even worse, just one week earlier bat-carrying white men freely patrolled Dexter Avenue in search of trouble...
...Bernard Lee, student protest leader, offered prayer for the Governor and for all our oppressors...
...Some of the younger students wept in fear...
...It supported the speakers by chanting "We are not 231 afraid" and such hymns as "I Need Thee Every Hour...
...Father DuBose and Reverend Seay were the first to return to the church...
...We have examined the state law," he reported, "and find nothing in it that prevents our holding services there...
...Since the Capitol grounds were preempted by the whites, Negroes gathered at nearby Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, some five or six hundred strong...
...This meant that the Negroes in the church, completely defenseless, were encircled by a howling mass of whites, shouting obscenities...
...Many ministers announced it from their pulpits and urged their congregations to attend in full force...
...He made it clear that the Negro adults of the community believed that the expulsion of nine Alabama State College students was illegal and unwarranted...
...Fire trucks were then rushed between the Negroes and the white crowd, but curiously, fire hoses were aimed only at the Negroes...
...The congregation as a whole was rarely silent...
...The procession, headed by Father DuBose, marched forward...
...Interestingly enough, the police permitted the whites to congregate in spite of the police commissioner's grave warning...
...The Capitol grounds are state property, and the Negroes, of course, were well within their rights to stage an orderly meeting there...
...Reverend Abernathy in a plain black robe, hands clasped and head high...
...It was deeply moving to hear some of the older members who had lived for years under the degrading yoke of segregation pray for the whites outside and fearlessly affirm their faith in freedom and justice—abstractions which many of them could never have known...
...By 1:U0, the Negroes began to congregate at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church just opposite the Capitol grounds...
...Yet, the blame for inciting public disorder was always placed on the Negroes...
...After the singing, Reverend Abernathy quietly began to brief the congregation on the procedure to be followed...
...During a moment of silent prayer, eerie cat-calls, rebel yells, and police signals drifted in from the outside...
...The immediate ordeal was over...
...Despite the fact that one of them—a convicted arsonist— clubbed a Negro woman on the head, police saw fit to make no arrests...
Vol. 7 • July 1960 • No. 3
