14 Mar 1957
Page 1
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This newspaper page contains 7 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Petal Paper
Location
Petal, Mississippi, United States of America
Date
Mar 14, 1957
Page
1
A speaker writes to his mother praising a February 1957 Citizens' Council issue that advocates a racial-biased education manual for Southern children. He cites progressive education as harmful, claims God made distinct races, and urges adults to read and enforce the manual, including admonitions against "Yankees."
Fragment from a reflective piece on American origins and race, noting white settlers as builders of the nation and Southern identity. It includes a dialogic child voice questioning racial myths and a passage praising George Washington, with continuation teased.
An article from 1957 notes Cornpone P. Neanderthal, a Mississippi politician and Ku Klux Councils member, declares intent to run for the U.S. Senate seat held by James Eastland in 1960. The piece cites his platform to follow, plus his ties to Mississippi leadership and coon hunting. The editor later backs out, saying Neanderthal was already elected.
Episcopal Bishop Girault M. Jones and two white colleagues oversee the deconsecration of New Orleans Girod Street Cemetery, the first non Catholic burial ground there. Since 1822 the site mixed white and Black burials, but the decommissioning proceeds amid Jim Crow era tensions.
A speaker recounts accepting an invitation to address Dillard University eight weeks earlier and frames his talk as a confession of personal guilt and moral obligation. He reflects on family, race, and Southern history, presenting himself as a self proclaimed unqualified quack diagnosing the South as a sick patient in need of reform.
State welfare figures show 3,144 more children on Aid to Dependent Children between mid 1956 and Jan 1957, with only 349 illegitimate children reinstated. From 1956 to 1967, 3,900 families with 13,40 children were approved, driven by income loss, budget standards, or transfers, while 240% of cases closed involved 7,319 children, amid complex accounting of homes and welfare eligibility.
The Petal Paper editorial notes its stance on fairness and human dignity, rejecting racial or religious prejudice. Editor P. D. East writes about opposing forceful dominance, urging readers to consider Christ’s words and the Bill of Rights, and hints at mainstream subscription pressures while cryptically mentioning a Ku Klux Klan association as a joke. The piece ends with a subscription request and blank address fields.
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