The House by the Side of the Road: The Selma Civil Rights Movement

14. Guests in the House

14 Guests in the House on february 1, 1965, Martin led a group of over 250 demonstrators to the Dallas County Courthouse in an attempt to register to vote, only to be all arrested, including Martin, by Sheriff Clark for “parading without a permit.” The sheriff was beginning to get excited and nervous; perhaps those he answered to were beginning to feel uncomfortable with the steady unfavorable national and international attention Selma was getting, or perhaps Clark himself thought he could end the demonstrations and voter drive with harsh treatment. A few days later he arrested more than 150 other marchers, mostly high school students, and as the county jail was already full, Clark and his deputies forced the youngsters to run to the national Guard armory outside town where they were to be held. We didn’t know it yet but Clark and other law enforcement officials were beginning to get desperate and even a bit panicked by the demonstrations, which weren’t ending; indeed, they were growing. The violent overreactions of Jim Clark and people like him who didn’t know what to do when negroes clearly were no longer ruled by fear would soon result in the beginning of the end for the whole system Clark was desperately trying to save. if so many people hadn’t gotten hurt and some even killed, it might be funny to think Jim Clark was probably do- 58 / Chapter 14 ing as much as Martin Luther King to end segregation and secondclass citizenship! We hadn’t expected that Martin was going to jail, but once we found out he was indeed there, tension mounted. How he would be treated in the Selma jail was our number one concern. yet Martin was skilled at turning his arrest to the movement’s advantage; a few days later his “letter from the Selma jail” was in the New York Times, pointing out that there were more negroes in jail with him than were on the voting rolls in the whole county. That same day Martin was released; i don’t know who pushed whom, but it’s my guess Clark was told to let him go. The day before he was released Martin called me from jail and asked if i would prepare a luncheon for forty congressmen. “Who?” i said. “i have invited congressmen to come to the house and talk and see for themselves the need for this movement, and to garner their support . This may give our cause some visibility,” he replied. “Martin, do you mean United States congressmen?” “you can do it; just cook for us, do your usual thing.” “When?” “Tomorrow, february 5. i know this is short notice but i also know you can do it!” After i hung up and caught my breath, all sorts of problems and questions presented themselves. We were boycotting the white grocery stores in town, so now where do i get food? i need to get out the good china and the silver needs cleaning. We can’t serve this group on paper plates! Some serious dust needs to be pushed out of the way. How am i going to get all of this done? forty plates? Where do i get forty plates and sets of table silver? After going to get Mamma’s set of twelve and checking with all my aunts, yes, i decided, i could prob- Guests in the House / 59 ably produce forty plates and i already had silver coming out of my ears! After all, i had inherited a few pieces over the years. Pull it all together and it will be enough. i didn’t have an industrial stove for all of the cooking that was done during January through March 1965, just a regular four-top burner stove found in all households. My stove did get a workout from morning through the day and far into the night. Themainingredientforcookingisorganization.Startbydeciding what you are preparing. Make sure you have what it takes to make all the dishes you will serve. Start with one dish, put it together, and clean up as you go along, putting away used items when finished with them. never start two or three dishes at the same time. your kitchen should be clean and ready for a new preparation at all times. Prepare as much as you can ahead of time and put dishes into the refrigerator or freezer. My refrigerator is regular size, but i also had a full upright...