SNCC Field Secretary Report from McComb, Mississippi in Response to Bombings [with] Letter to Friends and President

Atlanta, Georgia: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1964. Softcover. Near Fine. Three quarto sheets. Two sheets in mimeograph, one printed printed on both sides; the is third a draft of a typed letter. Overall very good or better with creases from being mailed, a touch of toning to one sheet and the draft letter with wear at the edge include a small chip.

A group of materials from Ruth Steward who volunteered to be part of Freedom Summer in 1964. According to her application in the Freedom Summer Digital Collection at the Wisconsin Historical Society, she was a 29-year-old, Yale educated chemistry teacher from Vista, California who was affiliated with Council of Federated Organization. She spend time in Camden and McComb, Mississippi, the latter became one of the most dangerous location in American in the summer of 1964.

The material here includes two-page SNCC report written by Steward as "field secretary" and dated September 21, 1964 under the heading: "A Response to the 13th and 14th Bombings in McComb, Mississippi." The report, more of an emotional plea to America, lays out the painful details of the two most recent bombings in McComb including the home of Mama Quinn who until recently a local cafe that served both black residents and white volunteers before being forced to close. She lays out the lack of police response, how bombing victims and their family member were often thrown in jail, and the lack of federal intervention. While "copy" is noticed at the top of the first page we could find no reference to his report.

Accompanying it is a one-page mimeographed letter dated about a week later from Steward upon her return to California. Addressed to "Dear friends" it described the dire situation in McComb, Mississippi and other locations around the state with red underline throughout for emphasis, and with a holograph note at the top to a friend in the Peace Corps in Africa the ends: "Dear Jack, Where are you? I'm teaching in El Camino College - Physical Science. More later. Ruth. PS - Miss did remind me a good deal of Nigeria. But there's much more terror in Miss." And finally, there is a partial draft of a letter from Steward to President Johnson dated November 16 listing the terrible toll of the violence in the South and a plea for action.

A small but effecting archive capturing one Freedom Summer volunteer outrage and frustration that was about to final capture the attention of white America.