Freedom Rider Files, 1960-1966 Series 2985
This is a collection of records transferred from the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to the Department of Archives and History in March 2026. The files document Commissioner Thomas Butler (T. B.) Birdsong’s response to civil rights events in Mississippi during the early 1960s. Of primary interest are Birdsong’s files and correspondence related to the Freedom Rides during the summer of 1961. Individuals throughout the country sent letters expressing support for and opposition to Commissioner Birdsong’s statements regarding the Freedom Riders. There are also nine folders of Freedom Riders’ arrest records and mug shots, which appear to be duplicates of material found in the State Sovereignty Commission Records. A few memoranda also mention James Meredith’s March Against Fear in 1966. The bulk of the material is newspaper clippings related to the Civil Rights Movement, and also general articles of interest to DPS at the time. All pages were scanned and can be accessed here. The original documents can be viewed in the William F. Winter Archives and History Building. Ku Klux Klan related documents transferred by DPS are also available for research.
Read MoreThis is a collection of records transferred from the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to the Department of Archives and History in March 2026. The files document Commissioner Thomas Butler (T. B.) Birdsong’s response to civil rights events in Mississippi during the early 1960s. Of primary interest are Birdsong’s files and correspondence related to the Freedom Rides during the summer of 1961. Individuals throughout the country sent letters expressing support for and opposition to Commissioner Birdsong’s statements regarding the Freedom Riders. There are also nine folders of Freedom Riders’ arrest records and mug shots, which appear to be duplicates of material found in the State Sovereignty Commission Records. A few memoranda also mention James Meredith’s March Against Fear in 1966. The bulk of the material is newspaper clippings related to the Civil Rights Movement, and also general articles of interest to DPS at the time. All pages were scanned and can be accessed here. The original documents can be viewed in the William F. Winter Archives and History Building. Ku Klux Klan related documents transferred by DPS are also available for research.
| File Name | Folder Title | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 173108-14-007.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Enterprise-Tocsin, "Editor's Note" by Wallace Dabbs, discussing Kenneth Toler's tenure as editor of The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee). | 1966-10-20 |
| 173108-14-008.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Clarion-Ledger, "ACLU Seeks Injunction On Pictures" by Associated Press. | 1966-09-08 |
| 173108-14-009.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from Jackson Daily News, "Students and Guards," Daily News AP Wirephoto. | 1966-09-15 |
| 173108-14-010.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Clarion-Ledger, "Johnson Says His Answers 'Distorted.'" | 1966-09-21 |
| 173108-14-011.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clippings from The Clarion-Ledger, "Whites, Negroes Claim Grenada Cops Fail Duty" by Associated Press. | 1966-09-16 |
| 173108-14-012.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Enterprise-Tocsin, "Law and Order." | 1966-09-15 |
| 173108-14-013.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Summit Sun, "Mississippi Notebook: Says Award Insults Our State Press" by Tom Ethridge. | 1966-09-01 |
| 173108-14-014.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Commercial Dispatch, "Seeds Of Racial Violence Planted Last June" by James K. Cazalas. | 1966-09-18 |
| 173108-14-015.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Mississippi Sun, "The Grenada Boycott. 'An Open Letter To Our Friends and Customers.'" | 1966-08-25 |
| 173108-14-016.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Grenada County Weekly, "Seen, Heard and Told" by Andrew Whitaker. | 1966-09-15 |
| 173108-14-017.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Village Voice, which includes circled articles "Freedom-Rider Peck To Speak Here" and "Glass, Harrington On Socialist Ticket." | 1961-06-22 |
| 173108-14-018.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clippings from The Clarion-Ledger, "FBI Arrests 13 Whites On Conspiracy Charges" by Associated Press. | 1961-06-18 |
| 173108-14-019.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from an unidentified newspaper, "Make Records Public." | |
| 173108-14-020.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Commercial Appeal, which includes articles "Birdsong Clarifies Subversion Inquiry: No Special Bureau Set Up To Investigate 'Riders'" and "Protest Rides Are Harmful, Negro Claims." | |
| 173108-14-021.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Times-Picayune, "Birdsong Tells of New Group." | 1961-07-01 |
| 173108-14-022.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Philadelphia Inquirer, "'Freedom Rides' Set To Continue Despite Federal Court's Ban" by Associated Press. | 1961-06-05 |
| 173108-14-023.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from Jackson Daily News, "Here is Why We Guard Those Southern Customs." | 1961-05-31 |
| 173108-14-024.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from the New York Journal-American, which includes the article "'We Had the Urge to Kill': Slayer's Own Story" by Dom Frasca. | 1961-05-27 |
| 173108-14-025.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from The Mississippi Sun, "Time to Get Angry" by Paul Harvey. | 1966-08-18 |
| 173108-14-026.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from the front page of the Sacramento Union with a handwritten note, "No integration problem here in 'tolerant' Sacramento. That's the expression they use." | 1961-06-18 |
| 173108-14-027.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Common Sense, Issue No. 352, November 1, 1960, with the headline "Zionists Control NAACP. How Red Is NAACP & Its Leaders?" | 1960-11-01 |
| 173108-14-028.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Common Sense, Issue No. 351, October 15, 1960, with the headline "Zionists Maneuvering United States into Their War to Hold onto Palestine." | 1960-10-15 |
| 173108-14-029.pdf | Civil Rights Clippings | Newspaper clipping from Jackson Daily News, which includes the circled article "Reds in Havana Planned Rides: Russians Sparked Mixing 'Seminar'" by W. C. Shoemaker. | 1961-06-29 |
| 173108-15-001.pdf | Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2 | The Enterprise-Tocsin, Vol. 81, No. 37, pages 1 and 2. | 1966-09-22 |
| 173108-15-002.pdf | Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2 | Newspaper clipping from The Commercial Dispatch, "Saturday Sidelites." | 1966-10-27 |
| 173108-15-003.pdf | Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2 | Newspaper clipping from The Lexington Advertiser, "General Birdsong Urges Caution On Holiday Weekend." | 1966-11-17 |
| 173108-15-004.pdf | Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2 | Newspaper clipping from the Meridian Star, "'Free Movie' Offered By D. L. Tester." | 1966-11-02 |
| 173108-15-005.pdf | Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2 | Newspaper clipping from The Clarion-Ledger, "Law Enforcement Now Within Computer Age" by Kenneth Fairly. | 1966-11-18 |
| 173108-15-006.pdf | Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2 | Newspaper clipping from the Jackson Daily News, "First Class Advancing Through Highway Patrol Academy" by Pic Firmin. | 1966-10-10 |
| 173108-15-007.pdf | Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2 | The Pittsburgh Press, Vol. 81, No. 2, first section, pages 1 through 20, with the lead headline "Ex-CIA Chief Spurs Hunt For Three Rights Workers: Auto Burned Near Swamp; Dulles Called" by John A. Lynch. | 1964-06-24 |