A Price Paid

A Price Paid. . Threatened by the potential four-to-one advantage of the black vote, whites retaliated by ousting black families from white-owned lands. The African American families who lived here paid dearly to earn their right to vote. Crowded into canvas tents with no running water, indoor plumbing, or electricity, families lived out a harsh day-to-day existence for nearly two and one-half years., Drive-by shootings into Tent City were commonplace, according to SNCC staffer C.J. Jones. "Tent City was like a shooting gallery.... They used to come by three or four times a week and shoot into Tent City." For protection residents took turns guarding the camp and often hid in the bushes at night., There were some people who had no option but to live in Tent City and we provided for those people as, as best we can...the community was always supportive to bring them food, clothing and anything else. I recall one...hepatitis outbreak there, and there was a lady who had a baby in the dead of winter and we thought we would lose her and the baby. , Leaving the tenant farms behind, Tent City residents moved into tight confines, surrounded by all their earthly possessions (left).