Mississippi: Black Delegates

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The old guard of Mississippi's white supremacy has been mindful of threats to unseat the state's delegation to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago if Negroes are excluded from the party. So last week the old guard retreated. For the first time since the 1870s, Mississippi's party chiefs decided to admit Negroes to a statewide caucus that will meet at Jackson on July 2 to select 48 convention delegates and 24 alternates. In eight of the state's 82 counties, disciplined blacks and a smattering of young white allies elected 47 Negroes. Jefferson County, over 70% black, chose Civil Rights Leader Charles Evers as delegation chairman.

The Democratic national leadership hopes to avert a replay of the turmoil at Atlantic City in 1964 when insurgent blacks and white civil rights activists, calling themselves the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party, invaded the convention floor. Nonetheless, the Negroes' success last week may prove short-lived. Segregationists among more than 400 whites dominating the state meeting in July could still bulldoze through an all-white slate of delegates, arguing that Negroes had been duly included in the initial selection process. Evers and other black delegates are preparing for an eventual challenge, joining the Freedom Democrats in what could become another furious fight for Mississippi's seats at Chicago.