While I was in high school in Boston, I worked in the Friends of SNCC office.
After graduating, I spent the summer of '65 in Pine Bluff with the Arkansas Summer Project.
Aterward, my organizing continued in the civil rights, student, anti-war, Black Power and labor movements for over twenty years. I've also lived, worked and organized in Beloit WI, Baltimore MD and Atlanta GA.
Based on my experience as Lt. of Information in the Black Panther Party's New Haven chapter, I periodically speak about "Political Lessons from the Black Panthers."
I earned a Masters in Political Science from Goddard College [1973], and am currently working on my doctorate in Sociology at Boston College. My fields of specialization focus on social movements, race relations, and media studies.
When speaking, I usually tell the following stories about SNCC: How I joined SNCC: When I was a sophomore in high school, my parents gave a fundraiser for SNCC with Dick Gregory the featured speaker. A few days later, I decided to take the leftover posters back to the SNCC office - and kept on going back.
The Radicalization Process: Before joining the Arkansas Summer Project in Pine Bluff, I attended the SNCC orientation program for summer workers in June 1965 in Wash. DC. The organizers planned an excellent radicalization experience for us. During the orientation program, we held a 24 hour vigil in front of the Justice Dept. beginning on the eve of the first anniversary of the disappearance of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner. We then went directly into a pre-arranged meeting with John Doar, Ass't Atty. General for Civil Rights. We had been prepped to ask some pointed questions. As we started, US Atty. General Nicholas Katzenbach walked in so we put the questions to him. The one I remember was "Why won't you authorize FBI agents to make on the spot arrests in the presence of the commission of a felony as is authorized by the US Criminal Code." Katenbach's reply was that it was Justice Dept. policy in civil rights cases to take notes and submit them to a local jury. This experience helped me to begin a serious re-evaluation of my political and philosophical perspectives on non-violence, pacifism and political power.
Copyright © Charles Pinderhughes, 2004
Copyright © 2004
Last Modified: December 14, 2004.
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