Right of Negro Children in Carthage, Miss. to Attend Integrated Schools
Press Release
December 27, 1965

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Press Releases, Volume 3. Right of Negro Children in Carthage, Miss. to Attend Integrated Schools, 1965. 9c7b7695-b692-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/6915d2f3-6bb5-4e99-9e9d-5cc70c388398/right-of-negro-children-in-carthage-miss-to-attend-integrated-schools. Accessed July 20, 2025.
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JUdson 6-8397 NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund PRESS RELEASE De Alas Knight Chalmers Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg a NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & ED, FUND, INC. 5384 NORTH FARISH STREET, JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI December 27, 1965 Mrs. Betsy Talbot Blackwell Editor in Chief MADEMOISELLE MAGAZINE 420 Lexington Avenue New York, New York After extended litigation, the Legal Defense Fund was able to win the right for children from nine Negro families in Carthage, Mississippi to attend integrated schools, last September, for the first time. A campaign of intimidations, threats and economic reprisals was immediately launched with intensity that caused eight of the families involved to withdraw their children. As a result, 6-year old Debora Lewis was the only child to be enrolled in a Leake County white school. Her father, Mr. A, D. Lewis, was ce. fired from his lumber company job the day after she entered school and the family was ordered to move. We have tied that action up in court. Mr. Lewis has not been able to secure employment in Leake County. The Legal Defense Fund pledged legal and economic assistance to the Lewis family at that time. On Friday evening, December 24, Christmas Eve, Mr. Lewis was struck from behind while Christmas shopping, and mercilessly beaten. The police arrived, but stood by. Mr. Lewis was subsequently taken to police headquarters in a state of semiconsciousness, where he was arrested for assault and battery. His trial comes up tomorrow, December 28 in Municipal Court in Carthage, Miss. Our other attorneys are tied up in representing the Natchez demonstrators, and I must take depositions today and prepare our defense. It is with great disappointment that I will be unable to participate in your annual award ceremony today. I had looked forward to this honor in behalf of the young women who have contributed so much to the Mississippi Freedom Movement. Many of these young women are readers of MADEMOISELLE and I was particularly anxious to spend time with their representatives, My sincere wishes for a i prosperous and effective New Year. MARIAN WRIGHT, ASSISTANT COUNSE NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATIONAL FUND Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487 Ss