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10. Excerpts from an Interview with Bob Cableton ROBERT WRIGHT, CIVIL RIGHTS DOCUMENTATION PROJECT Robert Cableton was born in Arkansas and raised in Mississippi. He worked as a SNCC field secretary in Gould, Arkansas, between 1965 and 1967. While in Arkansas, he married Essie Mae Dale, a local civil rights activist. Later he returned to Indianola, Mississippi, where he died in 2007 at the age of sixty-eight. WRIGHT. This is Robert Wright, the date is September 24, 1968, and I’m in Indianaola, Mississippi. I’m interviewing Mr. Bob Cableton, who is a former field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Arkansas . . . CABLETON. I was born in Arkansas and brought up in Mississippi as a farmer . . . December of ’64, I believe it was—or ’63—I’m not clear on it— some whites infiltrated the state of Mississippi; it is called the Summer Project, I believe . . . I more or less was lured into the movement because of the things in Mississippi that most black Mississippians at that time was afraid of, and that is the white man, what he would think and how he would react to one’s being involved in a so-called Civil Rights Movement . . . And I was reluctant, to be very honest. I was very reluctant. At that time, I was working at Ludlow’s, owned and operated by white people— WRIGHT. This is in Indianola? 126 Source: Civil Rights Documentation Project, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University CABLETON. Right. And more and more, I would see these people walking to and fro in town and in the country areas, trying to get people out to register; talking about MFDP.1 And so, I felt, being a Mississippian, myself, that I—I felt that I was being walked on, in a sense, by the northerners from Philadelphia, San Francisco, various northern cities, coming to Mississippi to liberate me. That made me feel sort of little, but I never told a person about this. And so, at this particular time, John Harris was here. I think he’s from San Francisco—no, I’m sorry, from Alabama— WRIGHT. Birmingham. CABLETON. Birmingham, Alabama. John Harris, he was the project director here in Sunflower County. He wasn’t really to me an inspiration because to me he didn’t have the people heart. To me, John was a glory boy, but maybe at the time I didn’t understand John . . . Well, John Harris, as far as he was concerned, it seems that—I don’t know, it just might have been an element of jealousy between John and myself—but I tried to get on SNCC staff here, but John always told me it was better to be a part of MFDP, than to be a part of SNCC, as such . . . Well, maybe he could have been right, I don’t know, but Ben Goodings from Arkansas—you ever know Ben? Reverend Benjamin Goodings?2 We met in Knoxville . . . WRIGHT. When was that? CABLETON. At the workshops . . . on Federal programs . . . And being I told him about the situation in Mississippi, he asked me was I working for SNCC or what my position was. I said no. I said in Mississippi I can’t get a hold, you know, because the brothers, you know. He say, well, I tell you what—say, I believe I can use you—you look like a good organizer. I believe I could use a good guy like you in Arkansas. I said, I don’t know, man. Tell you what, he said, here’s my address and phone number . . . So I gave Greenwich a ring and told him what was going on.3 So, the next thing I know, Greenwich pops up to pick me up to take me over to Arkansas. So there in Arkansas, he was the state project director, and our office was in Little Rock on Ninth Street. At that time the staff was integrated; Bill Hansen and other whites was involved in the movement. WRIGHT. Was Jimmy Jones working there then? CABLETON. Oh, yes—no, pardon me—at this time Jim Jones was project director, right; because Jim had to stop work and go to school . . . In Arkansas I helped to organize an organization called the Gould Citizens for Progress. WRIGHT. This was in Gould, Arkansas? CABLETON. Right, Lincoln County. WRIGHT. How far is this from Little Rock? CABLETON. About 76 miles. EXCERPTS FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH BOB CABLETON 127 [3.143.218.146] Project MUSE...

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