Word: americus
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...jury of 12 white men began hearing testimony in Americus, Ga., yesterday in the case of John W. Perdew '64 and three fellow civil rights demonstrators standing trial for charges of assault with intent to murder...
...four were indicted by a grand jury last week in the assault charge, a felony punishable by a maximum of ten years in prison. They also face charges for participating in rioting which allegedly followed a civil rights demonstration in Americus...
...tradition in which Negroes have "suppressed any desire for human dignity" is slowly crumbling. Perdew pointed to an upsurge of voter registrations in Americus and an increase in the number of mass protest meetings as causes for some optimism in the civil rights movement...
...three months the Sumter County, Ga., jail held four young men-three white, one Negro, all Northerners-who were arrested last August in Americus, during civil rights demonstrations. They were charged with "inciting insurrection," a capital crime in Georgia, so there was no bail (TIME, Nov. 1). Their lawyers believed the state did not care whether the four were ever brought to trial. Said Attorney Morris B. Abram: "These people are being held and offered bail only if they give up their constitutional rights, that is, leave the county, leave the state." And Sumter County Prosecutor Stephen Pace Jr. admitted...
Prosecutor Pace and other county, city and state officers were given until January by the court to prepare their defense on charges that they engaged in a conspiracy to suppress the civil rights movement in Americus by imposing the insurrection charge. If the action against them succeeds, it would become a precedent that could be used throughout the South to foil official suppression of civil rights activities...