Pauline Knight-Ofos
Photos and information from Eric Etheridge’s book “Breach of Peace” (Atlas, 2008).
Meet more civil-rights heroes at www.mscivilrightsveterans.com/ and www.crmvet.org.
Pauline Knight-Ofos
20 years old when arrested.
Graduated from Tennessee State in 1962 and from St. Vincent School of Medical Technology in Indianapolis, Ind., in 1963.
Worked as a lab technician and taught lab techniques at Howard University after moving to Washington, D.C., in 1964.
When she joined the Environmental Protection Agency in 1972, she become its first female pesticide inspector.
"That was something I remember—you cannot hate. You cannot hold this person in error. You've got to see them for who they are."
Peter Ackerberg
22 years old when arrested.
Reporter at Minneapolis Star 1965-1982.
Attended Antioch College and Columbia Journalism School.
Worked at Minnesota state attorney general's office from 1985-1999.
"I thought to myself, 'You know, I talk a big radical game, but I've never really done anything. What am I going to tell my children when they ask me about this time?"
Catherine Burks-Brooks
21 years old when arrested.
Worked for voter registration 1961-62.
Attended Tennessee State University, Nashville
Currently works as a substitute teacher in Birmingham, Ala., schools.
Raised money for SCLC.
"I remember in one of the demonstrations, a white fella with a cigarette coming toward my face. I was just standing there, and I was not going to move. My girlfriend, Lucretia (Collins), was behind me. She told me that she was gonna put her hand in front of my face. He didn't put the cigarette on me, but I had planned, in my mind, I was gonna stand there."
Robert Singleton
25 years old when arrested.
Studied economics as a grad student at University of California, Los Angeles.
Head of his university's NAACP chapter.
Earned a doctorate in 1964.
Taught at UCLA and has taught economics at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
Protested against discrimination in employment and in housing
"A policeman came up on the side (of the paddy wagon) and looked in the window and said to me, 'You're a black son of a b*tch, ain't you?' I said to him, 'Isn't that a beautiful color?' And he just froze. He didn't know how to respond to that. Alan Kaufman just patted me on the back."
Source: "Breach of Peace" (Atlas, 2008, $30).
Hezekiah Watkins
13 years old when arrested.
Graduated from Jackson's Lanier High School in 1965.
Attended Utica Junior College.
Served two years in the Army after being drafted in 1967.
"We would encounter white police officers and white teenagers who would basically run us home, run us between house. They ran us under houses."
Peggi Oakley
22 years old when arrested.
Worked often with CORE.
Graduated from San Francisco State in 1975.
In 1980, began a typesetting and word-processing business.
Retired in 2003.
"(An FBI agent) wanted to know, 'Why are you doing this?' I said something about defending some amendment. I can't even remember—I keep thinking the 14th Amendment, but I don't know if that's the appropriate one or not. He said, 'Don't you know nobody believes in those things anymore?'"
Dave Dennis
20 years old when arrested.
CORE field secretary from 1961 to 1965.
Co-director of COFO and the 1964 Freedom Summer.
Began working on the Algebra Project in 1991.
"We were prepared, mentally, to expect the worst. We weren't ready to give our lives, but we were not afraid to die."
Support our reporting -- Follow the MFP.
