Last update: July 24, 2004 at 10:45 PM
'64 convention stand drew all eyes to Freedom Party
Shelia Hardwell Byrd, Associated Press DURANT, MISS. -- With hands hard
July 25, 2004
One postcard image shows Bruce himself, in dark suit and tie, speaking at a meeting of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a group that briefly caught the nation's attention by dramatically challenging the political establishment in the rigidly segregated South.
For many Americans, the Democratic National Convention in 1964 provided a glimpse of the passionate activists of the Freedom Democratic Party. Then they faded from the national consciousness.
Today, the 75-year-old Bruce is president of what is believed to be the only chapter of the party that remains active.
In the 1960s, many blacks joined the movement after seeing friends and family members lynched or firebombed. Many suffered economic retaliation; Bruce worried that white people would get someone else for their carpentry work.
Still, he says now, "I thought, what good is a job without freedom?"
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4892047.html---------------------------
Lotsa attention it seems:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10213-2004Jul23.htmlhttp://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040723/NEWS01/407230361/1002http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12206-2004Jul24.htmlhttp://www.gulflive.com/news/mississippipress/index.ssf?/base/news/1089627334202420.xmlhttp://www.cresswellslist.com/ballots2/mfdp.htm