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.
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173108-14-011.pdf
Date: 1966-09-16
Description: Newspaper clippings from The Clarion-Ledger, "Whites, Negroes Claim Grenada Cops Fail Duty" by Associated Press.
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-012.pdf
Date: 1966-09-15
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Enterprise-Tocsin, "Law and Order."
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-013.pdf
Date: 1966-09-01
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Summit Sun, "Mississippi Notebook: Says Award Insults Our State Press" by Tom Ethridge.
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-014.pdf
Date: 1966-09-18
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Commercial Dispatch, "Seeds Of Racial Violence Planted Last June" by James K. Cazalas.
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-015.pdf
Date: 1966-08-25
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Mississippi Sun, "The Grenada Boycott. 'An Open Letter To Our Friends and Customers.'"
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-016.pdf
Date: 1966-09-15
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Grenada County Weekly, "Seen, Heard and Told" by Andrew Whitaker.
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-017.pdf
Date: 1961-06-22
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Village Voice, which includes circled articles "Freedom-Rider Peck To Speak Here" and "Glass, Harrington On Socialist Ticket."
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-018.pdf
Date: 1961-06-18
Description: Newspaper clippings from The Clarion-Ledger, "FBI Arrests 13 Whites On Conspiracy Charges" by Associated Press.
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-019.pdf
Description: Newspaper clipping from an unidentified newspaper, "Make Records Public."
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-020.pdf
Description: 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."
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-021.pdf
Date: 1961-07-01
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Times-Picayune, "Birdsong Tells of New Group."
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-022.pdf
Date: 1961-06-05
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Philadelphia Inquirer, "'Freedom Rides' Set To Continue Despite Federal Court's Ban" by Associated Press.
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-023.pdf
Date: 1961-05-31
Description: Newspaper clipping from Jackson Daily News, "Here is Why We Guard Those Southern Customs."
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-024.pdf
Date: 1961-05-27
Description: 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.
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-025.pdf
Date: 1966-08-18
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Mississippi Sun, "Time to Get Angry" by Paul Harvey.
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-026.pdf
Date: 1961-06-18
Description: 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."
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-027.pdf
Date: 1960-11-01
Description: Common Sense, Issue No. 352, November 1, 1960, with the headline "Zionists Control NAACP. How Red Is NAACP & Its Leaders?"
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-028.pdf
Date: 1960-10-15
Description: Common Sense, Issue No. 351, October 15, 1960, with the headline "Zionists Maneuvering United States into Their War to Hold onto Palestine."
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-14-029.pdf
Date: 1961-06-29
Description: Newspaper clipping from Jackson Daily News, which includes the circled article "Reds in Havana Planned Rides: Russians Sparked Mixing 'Seminar'" by W. C. Shoemaker.
Folder Title: Civil Rights Clippings
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173108-15-001.pdf
Date: 1966-09-22
Description: The Enterprise-Tocsin, Vol. 81, No. 37, pages 1 and 2.
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2
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173108-15-002.pdf
Date: 1966-10-27
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Commercial Dispatch, "Saturday Sidelites."
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2
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173108-15-003.pdf
Date: 1966-11-17
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Lexington Advertiser, "General Birdsong Urges Caution On Holiday Weekend."
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2
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173108-15-004.pdf
Date: 1966-11-02
Description: Newspaper clipping from the Meridian Star, "'Free Movie' Offered By D. L. Tester."
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2
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173108-15-005.pdf
Date: 1966-11-18
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Clarion-Ledger, "Law Enforcement Now Within Computer Age" by Kenneth Fairly.
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2
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173108-15-006.pdf
Date: 1966-10-10
Description: Newspaper clipping from the Jackson Daily News, "First Class Advancing Through Highway Patrol Academy" by Pic Firmin.
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2
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173108-15-007.pdf
Date: 1964-06-24
Description: 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.
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2
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173108-15-008.pdf
Date: 1964-06-24
Description: The Pittsburgh Press, Vol. 81, No. 2, second section, pages 21 through 64.
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 1 of 2
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173108-16-001.pdf
Date: 1966-10-14
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Clarion-Ledger, "Police Hosts News Media October 19."
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 2 of 2
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173108-16-002.pdf
Date: 1966-11-06
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Clarion-Ledger, "What Happened to Earhart? Accepting Goerner's Answers Depends on Reader's Credulity" by Bill Coppenbarger.
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 2 of 2
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173108-16-003.pdf
Date: 196x
Description: Newspaper clipping from an unknown newspaper, "Board of Supervisors Allowances."
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 2 of 2
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173108-16-004.pdf
Date: 1966-11-01
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Clarion-Ledger, which includes photographs of "A Columbia Officer" and "Donald Butler."
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 2 of 2
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173108-16-005.pdf
Date: 1964-07-02
Description: Newspaper clipping from The Neshoba Democrat, "Emergency Communications Center."
Folder Title: Traffic Safety and General DPS Clippings, Part 2 of 2