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Mississippi - Canton: Charles Pernell Interviewee

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Tom Dent interviews Charles Pernell in Canton, Mississippi. Pernell states he became active in the Civil Rights movement in 1961. He ran into some canvassers from Hattiesburg and helped show them around Canton. One was named Maddie Bivans. He helped them find a place for their meeting that night. He recalls meeting George Raymond shortly after he came to town. Pernell lists the people he remembers being active in the movement early on: C.O. Chinn, George Raymond, James Stokes, and Eugene Patterson. He recalls hitchhiking back to Canton when he was a student in Tupelo and being picked up by Medgar Evers. They discussed voting rights and Evers convinced Pernell to register that afternoon. He was one of the first in the area to do so; he was around 20 at the time. Pernell recalls that the meetings held in Chinn's bar always started by singing a prayer. In the beginning they mostly talked about the problems without acting. Slowly more and more people began coming to the meetings. He said that the early add-ons were probably just young people without much to do. Eventually they began meeting every night. After about six months the meetings moved to rural churches and the ministers began getting involved. Dent asks about Raymond and Pernell says he was very effective: he was a good speaker, sincere, and connected with people. He was a good leader, he would not ask others to do things he was not willing to do himself. Pernell recalls that...
Type:
Sound
Created Date:
1991 11 19
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Physical rights are retained by the Amistad Research Center. Copyright is retained in accordance with U. S. Copyright Laws.
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From Collection

Southern Journey Oral History Collection

Record Contributed By

Amistad Research Center