Full Text of the Excerpt

CLARK FOREMAN:

I became the secretary for the Committee for Georgia. Arthur Raper talked about it yesterday a little bit. And set up these committees around the state. For instance, I went to Augusta, Georgia, and went to see some people there. I went to see the leading white people that I knew about and talked to them. And they said "Look, we don't have any trouble in Augusta. Everything is fine here. We have the best niggers in the South. No trouble at all." Then I went to see the Negro leaders and talked to them and they said more or less the same thing. "We don't have any trouble in Augusta. Everything's fine here. The white folks just treat us fine. Everything's good." I said "Well, I noticed when I came out here, that the paving stopped when it got to the Negro part of town." "Oh yes, that's true, and there's no water, no sewer . . . " There were no public facilities for the Negroes who lived in Augusta. So I said, "Isn't that something that we should do something about?" They were all very interested in doing something about that. Then I went back to talk to the white people and told them, the white leaders. And they didn't know about it at all. They claimed they didn't. Sort of like the Germans didn't know about the Nazis, you know. BILL FINGER What kind of leaders? Were these church leaders or business leaders, bankers?

CLARK FOREMAN:

Both. Church, largely. I don't think there were many bankers in the Negro community in Augusta at that time.