Use Mississippi Sovereignty Commission Files to Write Your Own Fiction or Nonfiction Books, Author Susan Klopfer Says

Adlena Hamlett: You will find her files in the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission data base. Family members once loaned me this photograph of her for my book, Who Killed Emmett Till? and I've always appreciated their assistance. sk

Have you ever wanted to write your own book? This link to files on the story of Horace Germany would make a great short novel. It's a fascinating story about a man who wanted to make a difference in Mississippi, and almost lost his life. And -- no one has done this yet (as far as I can tell).

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/imagelisting.php?foldercheckbox%5B%5D=49%7C1%7C32%7C%7C0&searchimages=Submit+Query

An update on my book, The Plan --


The Plan is about to go to the editor. Yea! I've been working eight hour days to get the final chapters completed. The wonderful thing about digital publishing is that readers don't have to wait for a year or more to get a book in their hands.

Important News: The Writers in Transition (WIT) group is giving our  monthly reading and you are invited. It's free at the California Kitchen in Cuenca. I'll be presenting Chapter 2 of The Plan, so I really look forward to your presence. Here's more information:

WIT Presentation - Click Here for Time and Day

Just recently, new information about a horrid prison camp in the southern Andes of Chile, Colonia Dignidad, made international news. Former victims and their families are suing the state of Chile over this horrid prison that was allowed to stay open until very recently.And what does this have to do with my new book? Plenty, believe me. So I've needed a little extra time to make updates.

Susan

Olen Burrage dies at 82; suspect in slayings of Mississippi civil rights workers

Olen Burrage, KKK, farmer -- Mississippi -- dies

Olen Burrage dies at 82; suspect in slayings of Mississippi civil rights workers

Burrage was acquitted in the deaths of 3 men whose bodies were found buried under a dam on his property in 1964. The case led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Reported March 24, 2013|Times Staff and Wire Reports

Olen Burrage, a farmer and Ku Klux Klan member who owned the Mississippi land where the bullet-riddled bodies of three civil rights workers were found buried in the 1960s, has died. He was 82.

Burrage, who was acquitted on civil rights charges related to the murders, died March 15 at a medical center in Meridian, Miss., the McClain-Hays Funeral Home announced. The cause was not released.

LINK -- http://www.latimes.com/membership/

Interesting links in the Mississisppi Sovereignty Commission files --

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd05/038329.png&otherstuff=2|112|1|49|2|1|1|37735|

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd09/068278.png&otherstuff=10|60|0|30|22|1|1|67401|

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd05/038408.png&otherstuff=2|112|2|7|2|1|1|37814|

"Swift Moving FBi Agents Arrest 21 Across the State" http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd05/038331.png&otherstuff=2|112|1|49|4|1|1|37737| "2 Neshoba Officals Return to Law Duty" http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd09/068035.png&otherstuff=10|60|0|19|1|1|1|67163| ***** Lots more in Mississippi Sovereignty Files under under Olen Burrage, Olen L. Burrage, Olen Lovell Burrage Search here: http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/#basicname ***** Mississippi Burning Background (from Wikipedia) "The Mississippi Civil Rights Workers Murders involve the lynching of James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael "Mickey" Schwerner by white Mississippiansduring the American Civil Rights Movement. On the night of June 21–22, 1964, Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were threatened, intimidated, beaten, shot, and buried by members of the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Neshoba County's Sheriff Office and the Philadelphia Police Department located in Philadelphia, Mississippi. After the largest and most televised search at the time, their bodies were found 44 days later in an earthen dam near the murder site. Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner's murders sparked national outrage and spurred the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. African Americans and other minorities in Mississippi, as throughout the former Confederacy, lived under racial segregation and Jim Crow laws, and had been essentially disfranchised since the passage of the state constitution of 1890. The Federal Bureau of Investigation referred to this investigation as Mississippi Burning or MIBURN. Due to the conspiracy's sophistication and complexity, the MIBURN case is renowned as one of the Bureau's greatest accomplishments." (Wikipedia --  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_civil_rights_workers'_murders )

Who was Otto F. Otepka and Why Did Mississippi Sovereignty Commission Keep a File?

Beginning in 1957, Otto F. Otepka served as Deputy Director of the State Department Office of Security. This meant that Otepka was in charge of granting security clearances for all State Department personnel. A cadre of people worked under his supervision. From this position of considerable responsibility, Otepka was plunged into a nightmare universe of harassment and surveillance. He was reassigned and removed to a position from which he could no longer reveal inconvenient truths. Yet he had done nothing wrong. It is an extraordinary tale of a career government officer being framed from within the government, his only sin the scrupulous manner in which he performed his duties.

Now, why would there be a small file of clippings about this man in Sovereignty Files? His story has recently been tied to the assassination of JFK -- but this comes years later, as researchers like Joan Mellen do this work on John F. Kennedy's demise.

Here's is a Sovereignty Commission Link

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd06/045916.png&otherstuff=6|44|0|34|1|1|1|45243|

There's a couple more files you can pull up, too.

And here is a link to a free online book about this man by author Joan Mellen. You might take a look; it's quite fascinating. For myself, it helped answer a question of why one of Kennedy's closest friends and cohorts turned on Jim Garrison, making it so rough for him to convict Clay Shaw.

Link to online book --

Names Sometimes Associated With JFK Assassination Found in Mississippi Sovereignty Commission Files

Index to Medgar Evers Files -- LINK
Ran into this while doing the JFK research and it looks interesting.
*****
Looking for names sometimes associated for various reasons with the JFK assassination?? Well, I can't say look no further -- because I have the ultimate guide. However -- Here’s a partial list of some pretty interesting names that can be found in the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission files. (I will update this list as I run into more names.)

I think it's quite fascinating that any records on these folks were collected, since most weren't Mississippi residents. Anyway, I've included one or two links for each name. None are particularly representative of what is in the Commission's treasure chest; But take a look; there are some real gems.

Remember, when using these files look for all sorts of spellings and combinations of names. Even Guy Banister's contract employee, John D. Sullivan, spelled the old coot's name with two n's! Also, all of the files are not thoroughly indexed, so names can appear in reports but not be found through the main index. SUSAN

Guy Banister

Jack Brown (as named by Joe Milteer). 

Robert DePugh

Wickliffe P. Draper 

James O. Eastland

David Ferriie

Jim Garrison

J. Edgar Hoover

H.L. Hunt

Lamar Hunt

Lyndon B. Johnson

John F. Kennedy

Robert F. Kennedy

John Lechner (name foud in Richard Nagell’s notebook) 

Carlos Marcello

Robert D. Morrow


Robert Morris

Lee Harvey Oswald

(Fair Play For Cuba)

Marina Oswald


Henry Palmer

David A. Phillips

Alex Rorke, Jr. 

John Roselli

John H. Rousselot

Jack Ruby


John C. Satterfield

Jay Sourwine (note: Pacifica Foundation was chaired by Andrew Goodman's father)

Clay Shaw

Willie Somersett

John D. Sullivan

Robert Surrey

Wesley Swift

Ned Touchstone

Gen. Edwin Walker

As Long as Kennedy is in power -- (Mississippi and JFK)

In June of 1963, the University of Mississippi must decide whether or not to block the entrance of a second black student to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). But "so long as the Kennedy's are in power, situations like this will have to be endured..." notes an investigator for the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission. Did he know anything about the upcoming assassination? Most of the Commission's investigators had ties to the FBI, so it's a fair question.

Check out this report --

 http://bit.ly/X8FIT3

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd01/005634.png&otherstuff=1|75|0|12|1|1|1|5481|

Who Knew What Before Freedom Summer

Months before the murders of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney Mississippi Sovereignty Commission officials were talking about "doing something about the outsiders." Here's a fascinating memo sent to the head of the Commission by Vicksburg detective John D. Sullivan who did investigative work for the state-funded spy organization. Interestingly, a year before this memo was written, Sullivan, a former FBI agent in Chicago, had been working for Buy Banister in New Orleans.

The three young men, volunteers for Freedom Summer, were killed shortly after coming into the state. outside of Philadelphia, a small town northeast of Meridian.

LINK

Take a look --

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd05/039906.png&otherstuff=3|74|0|6|1|1|1|39304|A

Meanwhile -- while I was looking at old Sullivan reports, I found this one rather fascinating. Back from working with Banister, old John D. got busy coming up with new ideas for the Saovereignty Commission. Here he names names of a helpful newsreporter (Jimmy Ward), talks about the dangers of church collectivism (those darned Methodists) and tells of a mother who's concerned about her kid becoming a Communist at Millsaps College.

Sullivan is still trying to get the Sovereignty Commission to go after Tougaloo's accreditation and has some really keen ideas about how to do this.  Great reading.

March 1964

LINK

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd05/039906.png&otherstuff=3|74|0|6|1|1|1|39304|A

Fr. Nathaniel and the Greenwood, Mississippi Movement (civil rights)

Interesting reading -- Fr. Nathaniel and the Greenwood Movement.

Rev. Nathaniel Maciejewski, O.F.M. (St. Francis Mission - Greenwood, MS)

Here is a fascinating link to a scholarly paper by PAUL T. MURRAY, professor of sociology at Siena College in Loudonville, New York. This article is part of a larger research project on the involvement of 
Catholics in the Civil Rights Movement

http://mdah.state.ms.us/pubs/JMH_fall2010_murray.pdf

and a link to a Mississippi Sovereignty Commission file on Fr. Nathaniel

CLICK HERE

You can also search for this file, here.

Cleve McDowell Autopsy; interesting... (Mississippi civil rights advocate, lawyer. Murdered in 1997)

Many of you may be interested in looking at the entire autopsy of Cleve McDowell. I believe that I own the only copy, since the state of Mississippi said it "disappeared" with time...

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwmgTfJtEx11SW5lMmU0VDJEQUk/edit#

Pretty interesting stuff, and I have written quite a bit about the person who conducted this autopsy and the observations of a physician/lawyer:

http://emmett-till.blogspot.com/2011/08/mississippi-attorney-meets-early-death.html

Related Posts

News Release on McDowell Autopsy

Asa Earl Carter -- the Forrest Bedford of the Native American literary world?

I was fascinated by a recent public television documentary about a man named Asa Carter who changed his name mid-life name to Forrest Bedford Carter, becoming an author of a controversial memoir, now recognized as a work for fiction, The Education of Little Tree.

Asa Carter, segregationist, aka Forrest Bedford Carter, the Native American author

Asa Earl Carter (September 4, 1925--June 7, 1979), was a devote of  Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 – October 29, 1877),  a notorious and racist  lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Like the real Gen. Forrest, Carter was a rabid segregationist and an infamous racist propagandist, as well, in the 1960s. A leader of the (White) Citizens Councils (a group dedicated to opposing desegregation and one that was generally considered to be a front group for the Ku Klux Klan) of North Alabama, Carter was the head of a "klavern" of the Ku Klux Klan and was an unofficial speechwriter for segregationist Governor George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama in 1968 and candidate for the Presidency in 1972.

Since its first publication by Delacorte Press in 1976, the book was quite popular, with many people drawn to its message of traditional, simple living and love of nature. However,The Education of Little Tree was the subject of controversy after the publication of an article years later, on October 4, 1991, by Dan T. Carter (a history professor and distant cousin of Asa Carter) called "The Transformation of a Klansman" in the New York Times. 


Little Tree, it turned out, was a sham -- any student of Native Americans would have known this from the start, but the book found its home with people who wanted to believe what Carter had written.

Originally accepted as an actual work by a Cherokee Indian, The Education of Little Tree ranks as one of the great literary hoaxes of American literature. Carter also published two Westerns, including The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales that actor Clint Eastwood made into the 1976 hit movie The Outlaw Josie Wells (1976). After the Eastwood film was released, the New York Times published the truth about Carter, revealing that "Forrest Carter" was actually Asa Earl Carter, the segregationist. 

Since Carter was part of the Citizens Councils -- originating in 1954 in Mississippi -- and a well-known segretationist writer, I wanted to see if there were any records on him in the Sovereignty Commission. And...

Go to the Main Search Page at


http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/

and plug in Asa Carter.... for two results that will lead you to three links. Be sure to put in the last name, first. Carter...Asa.

I would provide the direct links, but the state library is playing games this days, so you have to bring these up on your own.

Good luck and have fun. Susan

(Not much there, just some newspaper articles and column, but enough to bring some fascinating history to life. sk)

Related Blogs:


Civil Rights News Releases


The Emmett Till Blog