Civil Rights Project | Oral History of Annie Pearl Avery

I met Ms. Annie Pearl Avery last summer in an unusual, hilarious way. Mrs. Brenda Travis and I traveled together from Jackson to Indianola for the 60th commemoration of Freedom Summer. While there, Ms. Avery called sharing that she was lost. She traveled from Alabama with no GPS. For some odd reason, Mrs. Travis handed me the phone to give her directions. May I note, I am neither from Mississippi and I get lost with a GPS. But thirty minutes later and with a lot of help from locals, Ms. Avery pulled up in front of Club Ebony, where we had gathered.

So of course, when I processed a folder—“Adams County-Natchez”—the first document is a report by Ms. Avery.

An image of the original document in the archive. It is not the most legible document.

Natchez, Mississippi Project
Report by Annie Pearl Avery (c. 1964)

“I came to Natchez, Mississippi to work as a member of the staff there. When I arrived, we were in the process of moving into our new house. There were four staff people. There was a project for each. The projects were—F.D.P., Voter Registration, Communications, and the Freedom Schools.

In October, we had our first precinct meeting which proved to be very fruitful. In about the middle of October we started working on the freedom vote. I covered the Northside of town. We called a precinct meeting and explained to some twenty or thirty people what the freedom vote was and how important it was. When the freedom vote got started, we worked from door to door and went into cafes to obtain freedom votes. I went to churches and tried to get a place to set up voting boxes. At one of the churches I went to talked to the assistant pastor. He said that he could not give us his church so I asked him if he would be able to get a place for us and he said he might. I gave him my name, address, and telephone number, but I never received a call from him. So we finally ended up using the office.

Janet Jemmott and Eugene Rouse went to Fayette up in Franklin county. Dorie and I stayed in Natchez. We left for Waveland to a Staff Retreat. During the retreat, we got a telphone call saying that there was a meeting and there might be trouble in Natchez. Then Eugene’s sister got sick and he had to go home. Chico had to drive Eugene to the airport in Memphis. So nobody was in Natchez, but Dorie and I. Two or three days later Dorie left for home to see about her sister who became ill. I then went home to attend to some business. I was back in the state within one week. When I got back I found that the local kids were doing public accommodation testing on their own in Natchez. Two days later, I went to Biloxi to the F.D.P. workshop. After that, we had a District Meeting for the third district. We got back home and had a staff meeting which lasted until 5:00 A.M. this morning. It was decided that Eugene is to work on F.D.{. and I am to assist him. Alberta Watkins, a new person, is to work on communications. Janet is to work on Mississippi Student Union and the Freedom Schools. I also think that Dale Smith and Alberta Watkins should be put on staff. Everybody will be assigned to an area of work for the Congressional Challenge in Washington D.C.

I feel that I should be put on the mailing list for here for information concerning things going on in Atlanta and around the other areas. SNCC is raising money in areas where people are working.

I also think people should be grounded if they can’t drive cars properly and within the speed limit, unless it is necessary to speed. I think one of the reasons people don’t drive carefully or don’t care about getting a ticket is because they figure SNCC or COFO will go them out [sic] and my fesling [sic] is that if people can’t drive within the law, unless they are being chased, the car should be taken away no matter who it is.”

And yes, as I typed this I read it all in her voice.

Christina