Joe Hendricks

HUNTLEY: This is an interview with Mr. Joe Hendricks for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute's Oral History Project. I am Dr. Horace Huntley. We are at Miles College. Today is June 23, 1995.

Mr. Hendricks, thank you for taking the time out to come and sit and talk with us today. What I would like to do initially is start with some general kinds of 00:01:00questions about your background. Tell me a little bit about your parents. Where were your parents from?

HENDRICKS: My parents were raised in Green County a place called Boligee.

HUNTLEY: Boligee, Alabama near Menchway, Alabama?

HENDRICKS: Yes.

HUNTLEY: Were you also born in Boligee?

HENDRICKS: Right.

HUNTLEY: How many brothers and sisters did you have?

HENDRICKS: I had eight brothers and four sisters.

HUNTLEY: Where did you fit in there?

HENDRICKS: I'm close somewhere in the 7th child or 8th, somewhere in that area.

HUNTLEY: Tell me a little bit about your parents education. How much education did they have?

HENDRICKS: Well, it wasn't very much education going with my parents because my parents' daddy and mother were under slave masters. And out of that they had to get whatever was pretty well left and they was under the Hoover days. Back in that day, when there wasn't anything very much to do, especially on a farm. And they didn't have anything to get an education with. As a matter of fact, even after I got up, it was left to a community to educate a child, not a family.

HUNTLEY: How do you mean, "it's left up to the community?"

HENDRICKS: When they met like we meet on Sunday now, they would raise money to send that girl off to college so she could continue her education along with the 00:03:00community. It wasn't enough money for most families to send a kid to school. The first started by the churches and the community getting involved with a kid when you found a good student. So, out of that it wasn't any chance for very much education. Because under the slave master it wasn't allowed.

HUNTLEY: That's right. In fact it was against the law to teach Black people to read and write. What about their occupations? What kind of work did they do?

HENDRICKS: Farming is the only thing that they had. And maybe go out to cut timber in the winter to do something like that. And that's about all they had to do.

HUNTLEY: Was your father a farmer?

HENDRICKS: My father was a farmer.

HUNTLEY: And your mother worked at home, I assume. Did she work outside the home?

HENDRICKS: No. At that point there was no such thing as nobody worked at home. Everybody farmed in our house. My mother went to the field, daddy went to the field and the children went to field. They put me in the field when I was five years old and I been there ever since.

HUNTLEY: Did your family own the farm?

HENDRICKS: No.

HUNTLEY: Were you sharecropping?

HENDRICKS: They rented it.

HUNTLEY: Tell me a little about your education.

HENDRICKS: I went to Jane Wood Jr. High and I went to the 9th grade. After that 00:05:00I came to Birmingham.

HUNTLEY: Did you attend school here in Birmingham?

HENDRICKS: No. I came here and started to work.

HUNTLEY: Tell me what do you remember about your school?

HENDRICKS: Going to school there, they had teachers were very smart. At that time anybody who finished high school seemed to have been teachers because it was in the area where very few people went to college and more or less our teachers were 12th grades to a B.S. degree. And that's what more or less that they had to offer.

HUNTLEY: How regular did you attend school? Were you in school every day for nine months out of the year or how did that process work?

HENDRICKS: Well, my schooling was very scarcely done because I went to school like three months out of a year. Most other times until I got 14 years I was out 00:07:00of school. I only went about three months because everything was real bad and we didn't have the sufficient clothes and things to attend as we should have. So those kind of things made it kind of rough. But after 14, then I started going pretty regular after that.

HUNTLEY: Then, after 9th grade, you left and came to Birmingham?

HENDRICKS: Right.

HUNTLEY: What were the circumstances? Why did you come to Birmingham?

HENDRICKS: There wasn't any money there, too much. And, I felt that I could here 00:08:00because I had some brothers here, they had left and had done pretty well and I decided I would come here too.

HUNTLEY: So where was your first job in Birmingham?

HENDRICKS: I came here and went to Jim Dandy and stayed there for 38 years.

HUNTLEY: You started at Jim Dandy and was there for 38 years and never had another job?

HENDRICKS: Yes. And worked there until they closed. I left there and I went to Lumber Jack Meat where they kill and prepare meat for market. And I left there and went to Hayes Aircraft and that was about it until I started working some for myself.

HUNTLEY: In coming to Birmingham, you came in the mid-40's?

HENDRICKS: '46.

HUNTLEY: In 1946. At that time the NAACP was probably the Movement in 00:09:00Birmingham. Did you get involved with the NAACP?

HENDRICKS: Yes, I was involved with Mr. before the Movement and when the Movement started I thought that was the biggest thing that really helped our people, so that's what I did. I got with them and tried to do whatever I could.

HUNTLEY: What community did you live in in the 40s and 50s and early 60s?

HENDRICKS: 14th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues across from Edward Chevrolet.

HUNTLEY: All right. That's really in the Civil Rights district now, right?

HENDRICKS: Yes.

HUNTLEY: Did you become a registered voter?

HENDRICKS: Yes, as soon as we could.

HUNTLEY: What were the circumstances?

HENDRICKS: We had a lot of hassle with it. Registration started like -- they 00:10:00gave us a real hard time. We had an application to fill like the Bessemer Short Route, all of the senators that we had in Washington. All of the officers in Montgomery, our Birmingham district, all those kinds of questions we were to answer before we could vote. Then, after we got into that then some people could pretty well handle it pretty good and they felt that we shouldn't be making any progress so they put the damper on it. And, they started asking questions that they could not answer.

HUNTLEY: For instance? What kind of questions?

HENDRICKS: They would ask you, "How high is height?" "How far is distant?" "How 00:11:00many bubbles in a bar of soap?" Those kind of questions. And, that put the damper on to start with. After that, then, after we got some clearing on to go ahead to move that, then we moved into the area of getting some voters qualified.

HUNTLEY: Do you remember the day that you qualified to become a voter?

HENDRICKS: No. Really, as years passed you don't keep up with this day after day.

HUNTLEY: But you do remember some of the questions that were asked you in qualifying you to vote?

HENDRICKS: Yes. Those were the questions, some of the things we ran into in the process of registering to vote.

HUNTLEY: In 1956 the NAACP was outlawed from operating in the State of Alabama. In that same week, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights was 00:12:00organized. Were you involved in the initial organization of the Movement?

HENDRICKS: I didn't hold office, but I did go to the meeting. I was active from the day that it started because everything went well, I thought. And, I thought that was the biggest thing, the best thing that had ever happened on my part. So I gladly started taking part and stayed with it as long as it was seemingly doing something worthwhile.

HUNTLEY: What do you remember about the first days of the Movement?

HENDRICKS: Well, I think the first days of the Movement, they said they were going to meet somewhere and they finally ended up meeting at, I believe at Sardis. And, they organized there. And from that day, they went forward. I 00:13:00believe that was something like '56.

HUNTLEY: That's right.

HENDRICKS: And, from that day they started meeting. Later on they started every Monday night, you would have mass meeting. Everybody was looking forward to Monday night.

HUNTLEY: How would you describe the typical mass meeting?

HENDRICKS: Well, the mass meeting was set upon mostly what we know. It was based on prayer. Someone would speak. The pastor got a musical department and we had a choir, mass choir and those kind of things. That's what it was based on, and 00:14:00they would take up collection and this is the forum that we used to fight the cases in court.

HUNTLEY: Some people have described the meetings to be like revival sessions. There would be preaching, there would be people that testified in relation to what they had experience. Rev. Shuttlesworth and others would speak as well.

HENDRICKS: Well, they would have a speaker every night. It was based on the same operation as a church service. That's what it was, and we would have a minister and the choir and devotion with prayer and those kind of things.

HUNTLEY: Were police present at the meetings?

HENDRICKS: Yes. More policemen were outside at some point. But they weren't 00:15:00really -- we didn't feel that they were there for the right purpose, so we had our own guards along with the policemen on the outside. Someone always stayed outside with the police where the mass meeting was held.

HUNTLEY: Did you look at the policemen being there to protect you?

HENDRICKS: We didn't feel like that was the purpose of them being there and we would tell them sometimes. "We appreciate you're being here, but we don't feel comfortable with you."

HUNTLEY: Were there any incidences, for example, on the way to the mass meetings or after the mass meeting, when you are headed home, that you may have been stopped by the police?

HENDRICKS: Well, I was going to guard duty out to Rev. Shuttlesworth house when I was stopped by the policemen. And, they asked me for my driver's license and I pulled out the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights card and give them that. So there were about 15 cars of policemen in a dark place, you couldn't see anything. And, they said to me, "Give me your driver's license." And it was courtesy at all and they were using the word nigger and this kind of thing. I was kind of shook up.

HUNTLEY: Why did you give them your Movement card?

HENDRICKS: Well, I couldn't see anything.

HUNTLEY: So it was a mistake?

HENDRICKS: Yes. I went to my billfold, the Movement card was hard like the driver's license with the little plastic. The driver's license had plastic, hard 00:17:00and I just felt something hard, because there wasn't any light. And when he shined the light on it, he said, "Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights" rather than a drivers license. I thought it was a driver's license when it wasn't.

HUNTLEY: Were you afraid at that point?

HENDRICKS: Yes.

HUNTLEY: You said there were 15 police cars?

HENDRICKS: The way they surrounded me I knew it wasn't a good sign. They just pulled around me and stopped real quick. I knew it wasn't a good sign. And, where they stopped me at, it was real dark, no light at all. So, they seemed to meet and they said to one another out there, saying, "What we going to do with this nigger?" And, the other one said, eventually I heard him say, "If, we kill 00:18:00him, then what are these other niggers going to think that belong to this Movement?" So at that point, I said then, this is just it. And when they finally made their suggestion, one of them asked the question, "If we kill him, then if it beats back to us, then what these others going to think." So they finally said, "Well, we better let him go because if it leads back to us then we are going to have to answer to the call." So, they let me go.

HUNTLEY: So actually, the card probably saved you that night?

HENDRICKS: Yes. I think the card worked in my favor. But sometime God has a way that you don't have to get things done. That's my feeling. That's what I really ended up saying afterwards.

HUNTLEY: So you then were one of the guards for Shuttlesworth home and church and I assume other places as well. Can you tell me how that operation was set up?

HENDRICKS: The next door neighbor to Rev. Shuttlesworth house had a screened in porch where you could see off the porch, all the way around, and we would sit straight across from the church and we could see on the side and all way on both sides of the church and the front and we had a fence on the back. So, that's where we would sit in. And, we could stay there if it was raining or whatever and be able to see. We were close enough to the church to see anything that goes on.

HUNTLEY: Were you armed?

HENDRICKS: We had a few shotguns hid out.

HUNTLEY: Did you ever have the occasion to have to use any of the guns?

HENDRICKS: No. We didn't. We had an occasion where maybe someone might have thought that we had bombs brought there, and the man say he wanted to get into the church so the preacher could pray for him. He had a whole five gallon of dynamite under a rain coat.

HUNTLEY: Was this a White man?

HENDRICKS: A White male. And when we pursued to find him, find out what he had or check him out, he would never let us get close to him so he finally tried to take out and it ran and it blew about four to six feet in the street out there 00:21:00when he dropped it.

HUNTLEY: You were on guard the night that this happened?

HENDRICKS: Yes.

HUNTLEY: And you approached him and he wouldn't allow you to get very close to him?

HENDRICKS: And then he ran. I believe a fellow named John L. Lewis did the closing in on him, more so.

HUNTLEY: I see.

HENDRICKS: We called him that, I don't know what his name was. But, all of us called him John L. Lewis, but, he was out there, too. And, so he closed in on him real close and somehow he dropped this dynamite. And it blew the windows out the church and a big hole in the street.

HUNTLEY: Were there any other encounters that you had while you were on guard duty, that you remember?

HENDRICKS: Well, we had several cases where they would come out there with threats, you know. But you couldn't pursue anything. Our job was to try to stay 00:22:00away from trouble, not make it.

HUNTLEY: I know that you were arrested once because you sat on a bus?

HENDRICKS: Yes, the first case.

HUNTLEY: Can you describe that experience to me?

HENDRICKS: I came through town and they were on every corner.

HUNTLEY: Who are "they?"

HENDRICKS: White brothers. White people had congregated on the corner. They had chains and billy clubs and sticks and they said to one another, "What time Shuttlesworth going to get here." That's what they called him. And, I go to the next corner and they was asking for him. So I then turned and went on out to 00:23:00Rev. Shuttlesworth house. And I said to him, "This is the wrong day for you." I said, "You better give me that pass and let me go to town." He said, "Well, what about your job?" I said, "Well, the job won't mean as much as your life or whatever those planned. This just ain't the right day for you." So, I pursued to go and follow through with whatever he had planned. And what I felt was best to, that I should do rather than, you know, let him walk into that kind of situation.

HUNTLEY: And what had he planned for that day that you eventually did?

HENDRICKS: What had I planned?

HUNTLEY: What had he planned? You went on to do what he had planned for that particular day?

HENDRICKS: No. I was planning to go with him anyway. And, after it was seeming 00:24:00they were going to make a problem for him, then I was willing to do whatever was necessary to do on my part.

HUNTLEY: Did anyone else go with you?

HENDRICKS: Yes, we had like 15 to 20 people. I don't know exact. At least 12.

HUNTLEY: How did it actually happen? What did you do to be arrested?

HENDRICKS: Well, we went and sat on the bus and the bus driver say, "Move to the back." And we said, "We were comfortable where we are. I don't see any reason why we should go to the back. We paid our fare and we feel that we are comfortable where we are sitting." And we stayed where we were sitting. So, instead of them, I caught a bus going to Ensley, instead of them taking me to Ensley, they took me to the bus terminal and pulled us up in between some more 00:25:00buses there and called the policemen before we left town. They called the dispatcher and they were the ones that ordered them to not go on the route. To take us down to the bus terminal. And, from there, they called the paddy wagon to take us to jail.

HUNTLEY: So they arrested all 14 or how ever many there were?

HENDRICKS: All those people that were on the bus, that were on the other side of the Black/White board.

HUNTLEY: So, how many days did you spend in jail?

HENDRICKS: Five days and six nights. But the worst part of it was, they sent up and, then, the judge turned around and said, send them back a day, the last night, sent us back to jail for the respect he had for the other judge and, then, bring us back to court the next day, which I never did understand.

HUNTLEY: What do you mean "the other judge?" What happened to the other judge.HENDRICKS: The one who sent us had sent us back to jail overnight. And, then, we had to come back to court the next morning before another judge and he released us after that, for some reason, I don't know.

HUNTLEY: Were you ever arrested at any other time?

HENDRICKS: I don't think I was arrested any other time.

HUNTLEY: Did you take part in the sit-in out at the airport?

HENDRICKS: Well, they didn't arrest us at the airport. At the airport it was a matter of trying to be served as any other citizen in the airport restaurant. And, they refused to serve us for a whole week. So, that day, we set up three 00:27:00groups. The first group would go on when they opened. The second group would come on at 10:00. And, I happened to be on the 10:00 to 12:00. Mamie Brown, Jim Hendricks and Joe Hendricks and I believe Hattie Felder, I think that's right. But, I know Mamie, Joe and three other people. But, instead of them serving us. I think it was a ham sandwich and a drink is what we ordered. It was $1.85. But, the manager came out and instructed them to charge us $5.85 for $1.85 sandwich.

So, some of them didn't want to pay it. So, I offered whoever didn't want to pay 00:28:00it, I'd pay it if she give us a receipt. So she pursued that she would. And whoever didn't want to pay it, I went on and paid it. And, that was public accommodation, she said. And, she didn't feel like she should serve us and she felt that we were special guests, so she charged us $5.00 extra. So, we paid it and we took it on to court. And, Constance Marley represented that case and she did real well. She really represented us. And, wherever she is now, I can appreciate the way she done it, because she turned and give all of the lawyers 00:29:00that were there too, sit on the case. Every book that was in the library, she asked them to go get it, and then she would turn and give them the book she had. And, then, she went from page to page which protected the public accommodation and she turned to them and give them her book. And she went to them, she said, "Article VI, Paragraph VII, Page 26." And she give the statement through the whole thing without reading any of it. So she really knew what she was doing.

HUNTLEY: She knew the law. But, she used that sandwich, that $1.80 sandwich that you paid $5.80 for, you used that as evidence in that case?

HENDRICKS: Yes. So, this was I think the best case for the people because it 00:30:00read that no Black or White can be seated in a public building in the State of Alabama. And, that's what they had on as law. Whether the person who ran the restaurant wanted to serve you. They would be in violation of the state law. So this came to the test and we won this. So, this was a big effort, I thought.

HUNTLEY: In 1961, we had a group of people called Freedom Riders who started their trip in Washington, D.C. and was headed to New Orleans. And, when, they arrived in Alabama, some things took place. You played a role in that, can you explain that to me? What role did you play?

HENDRICKS: After these people had been there for something like a week, or three or four days or something.

HUNTLEY: Had been in ... HENDRICKS: In Anniston.

HUNTLEY: Anniston, Alabama.

HENDRICKS: Yes. And, I felt that they was trapped there. And I consulted the leader about it who was Rev. Shuttlesworth. And he said, if I felt that way or if we felt that way, we should go. He thought somebody should go check on them, that's the way he put it. So we pursued to go there. And those people were vicious, seemed to be mad about something, I don't know what. And they had formed the White people on the street out there to stand over us with guns and intimidate us.

HUNTLEY: This is in Anniston?

HENDRICKS: In Anniston.

HUNTLEY: Just before you get to Anniston, though, how was the decision made that you were going

to Anniston and how many people went with you?

HENDRICKS: Well, we formed a car pool to go there to pick them up in cars.

HUNTLEY: How many cars?

HENDRICKS: We had like 15 or more cars. And we went there to pick them up.

HUNTLEY: How many people were you going to pick up?

HENDRICKS: Well, we carried like one person to a car, not more than two. Because we left space for the people were there, if we could get them to bring them back. So that's the way we went.

HUNTLEY: Was there any difficulty in getting them to come back with you?

HENDRICKS: We had difficulty out of the sheriff's department. The sheriff's department at that point was on duty at the hospital. They had them in the 00:33:00basement at the hospital.

HUNTLEY: So they were not at the bus station, they were at the hospital?

HENDRICKS: Yes.

HUNTLEY: Was it because they had been beaten, had they been treated at the hospital?

HENDRICKS: Right. They were downstairs in the basement at the hospital and we couldn't get in there until these sheriffs let us in. And, they made us stop out on the lot before we got to the hospital. And, we had to communicate with them, so I asked the other people to stay back because the tension was so high. And the people were so brutally mad and they had all those guns. So I asked the other people to not go and let me go up and see if I could get them released. So, he finally said to me, "If you want to take the chance, I wouldn't do 00:34:00anything to help you. I won't protect you even if something would happen to you on this hospital yard. You are on your own."

HUNTLEY: So in addition to the sheriff's and police that were there, there were other Whites who were mingling in that area?

HENDRICKS: Yes. There were other Whites on the street before we got on the lot. They had stopped us and stood over us with all kind of guns. I had a flat and they stood over me the whole time I was fixing my flat. And they ran me out of the service station. They wouldn't let the people in the service station fix it. So, we pursued to go ahead and get my spare out the trunk and fix it that way. And, they just stood there with the guns as if they were out there hunting for us or something, like we were animals or something.

HUNTLEY: Birmingham is about 60 miles from Anniston, how did you know the people were in Anniston and stranded?

HENDRICKS: Well, it was on the news and by me being active in the Movement, we knew that they were there and he had the location of where they were.

HUNTLEY: Now, were these Black people or White people that were stranded in Anniston?

HENDRICKS: Black and White. We had even four White ladies in the group. And the men who were with me were actually afraid to let them ride back because it was so much animosity and so much bitterness there. And I just took the initiative to load them in my car, the White ladies, and into my best friend's car, which was Forest Washington. And, we got them back to town. But no one wanted the White ladies in their car.

HUNTLEY: Why not?

HENDRICKS: Because of the guns and the way the people were acting and the way 00:36:00they was treating them. And, so, that was the reason. And by them being White ladies, in a Black man's car, riding down the street, by these guns and all these people and you know how they feel about that, that was the reason.

HUNTLEY: And you had 60 miles of rural route to get between Anniston and Birmingham?

HENDRICKS: Right. So they came back to Birmingham. And when I got here I had the same problem. No one wanted to deal with the White ladies. When nobody would take them, I said, "Well, then all White ladies load back in my car and come and go home with me." They hadn't had a bath. They hadn't had anything of that sort. So I taken them home and my wife, I told her to go in there and make a way for them to take a bath and give them some clothes. She give all of them something 00:37:00to put on and change in. They put the clothes on, wore them back home and mailed them back.

HUNTLEY: What part of Birmingham did you live in at the time?

HENDRICKS: Over in Titusville. Honeysuckle Circle.

HUNTLEY: All right. So you brought them to your house?

HENDRICKS: Right.

HUNTLEY: Were you approached at all by the police when you got into Birmingham? Did they know that you had gone to Anniston and you were coming back with the Freedom Riders with White women in your car? And, did they approach you, or did you have any difficulty once you got back to Birmingham?

HENDRICKS: No. I didn't have any difficulty after I got here. Somehow I have been blessed that difficulty would go up to a point and I feel that somehow God 00:38:00has always held it off for some reason. I have never been hurt violently. I have seen everything up to that. But I have never been really hurt. I been pushed. I been through a few things like that, but really, to be struck like I looked and seen them do other people, I've never been hit. I've seen them hit other people.

HUNTLEY: So you have been rather fortunate in that regard? You've never been attacked?

HENDRICKS: I feel that the prayer I've prayed and the prayer that I have said, have been answered to that point. I don't feel that it's nothing that I've done that has been so protective for me. But I feel that outside of me, that somebody 00:39:00was big enough to really get it done through him. And that's my feeling. I don't feel even today that I am credited for nothing that has been done, but only through what I've been allowed to do as a tool and instrument for Him. And, I've heard the impact of Dr. King with the same idea. Don't give me the credit. And, if you ever get yourself into it, you'll find that you don't want the credit. I'm not here feeling that I ought to have any credit for what happened. I feel that the glory to God, glory to whatever it was bigger than me. Somewhere something happened bigger than me to make it be what it was because I've been shot at, I've been missed. I've been talked about in the death row line and it 00:40:00has been settled before it got to me. The bullet has been turned before it hit me and it somehow I feel that it's just one of those things that somebody did something that had something to do with it more than me. Now, that's my feeling.

HUNTLEY: Did you participate in the demonstrations during the '63 marches, between April and May of 1963?

HENDRICKS: Yes. I was even out there when we set up the strategy for downtown sit-ins. When they set up that strategy, there was a man sitting out there with overalls on, which wasn't seeming to have anything to say. And he came out and 00:41:00set up the strategy for getting downtown. Everybody go out there and they knocked Fred down with the hose, and everybody go out there. They just turn them over with the hose. So, he's sitting out there without, he wasn't even thinking about anything. He got up and he said, "Let me help." So he stood up. He said, "All y'all line up." He said, "Give me four men over here, four men over here and four men over here. And, all y'all ladies get in the middle." And when he set it up like that, then they took off. He said, "Now, y'all go on through." He said, "When the water hose hit you, all of you lean this way." And when the water hose hit us, we didn't stop walking. Like I said, just people, when they organize their strength against the other person, they went on downtown.

HUNTLEY: Who was the man in the overalls?

HENDRICKS: I can't think of his name. But, all I know at that point, he had on some overalls and was just sitting there, just an ordinary person. But, that's the way we got downtown. As long as we were single, trying to get downtown, as fast as we get to the water hose, they turn us over. But, in that day, I refused to go to jail because my job was more important out of jail, I felt. I had two cars which people didn't want to be done, carrying those wet children home. And I went as far as the airport. I went as far as Bessemer. I went far as Brighton. I went to all of those places to take these children home after they got wet. And, I felt that that was that day it was more important than going to jail. 00:43:00Because a lot of us wouldn't want a wet, wet child, five or six of them in their car wet. But, service, to me, has more to do than a car.

HUNTLEY: So you didn't mind the children getting in your car and wetting your seats up? This was a service that was necessary at the time. So whatever was necessary that's what you did. Your family was intimately involved in the Movement.

HENDRICKS: My whole family was involved. My oldest daughter, I guess she's already been here for an interview. She went to jail. My wife was secretary for the Movement. My baby was in line for the jail, but they begged us to bring the oldest one back home after she went, so that saved the baby so I was going to 00:44:00take her to jail the next time I went. But, the whole house was in motion to go. I never felt more better. I didn't know how my wife was going to take it, losing my job and losing all I had. But she supported.

HUNTLEY: Did you ever lose your job?

HENDRICKS: Yes.

HUNTLEY: You did lose your job at Jim Dandy's?

HENDRICKS: Yes. But, I regained it. I feel like if you ever read the story of Job, everything that has been taken from me or everything I thought was going down the drain, has been given back to me. So, I don't feel like I was a loser. I feel like there is more of this that all of us should find to do until we 00:45:00balance out. I even feel today that we could regain our community back.

HUNTLEY: Well, tell me, just briefly about the circumstances of you losing your job? Why did you lose your job?

HENDRICKS: Well, when I got involved with that I got in the paper. And, the person who I worked for was White. And, he was with his White brothers. He said, they said that they didn't want to work with me. So, he said to me that their job was more important to them than my one job. So he had to let me go because nobody who was White wanted to work with me. So he pursued to take me in the 00:46:00office and we sat there and talked. And we kind of versed like this. He said to me that "I got to run this job with these people." And I said to him that, "If you run this job, aren't you supposed to make decisions?" He says, "Yes." I said, "Well, I'm confused." He said, "Why are you confused?" I said, "I'm confused because you make decisions and you are telling me about who works on the job when it's time for you to make a decision. And it's not based on what they think. So, I would like for you to make a decision.

HUNTLEY: And, he made the decision?

HENDRICKS: I rode the bus. I was trying to go to Ensley and I end up in jail. He said to me then, "What you doing on the bus?" I said, "Well, I was going to 00:47:00Ensley and I end up in jail." He said, "Well, I don't feel that you should have rode the bus unless you rode it where you supposed to have rode it at." I said, "I rode it where I was supposed to. I paid my fare and I just got on there, I was comfortable and sat down." But I was confused. I said, "Now, you feel that I should be fired and you got people who is on this job who have stole from the company, you didn't fire them." I say, "You got people on this job who have 00:48:00killed and been convicted for murder, you didn't fire them." I said, "Why is it that you are firing me for riding a bus and you can't fire the people who stole from the company and who have killed people?" So he said to me then, "You were off sick wasn't you?" I said, "Yes." "And you rode the bus?" He said, "Yes, well you go back to the doctor and come back to work tomorrow." So he haven't answered me yet. I'm still waiting on an answer.

HUNTLEY: So he didn't fire you then?

HENDRICKS: He did. But when I asked him the question rather than an answer it seem like he give me my job back.

HUNTLEY: So you talked him back into it. Those were some very interesting pieces. Is there anything else that you would like to add that we may not have covered that relates to the Movement?

HENDRICKS: I think that the area of success has been the Movement. And I think 00:49:00that all of us as Blacks should look at the jobs that we have and try to stay within the area of where we are, not retreat to become so complacent that we feel that this automatically happened. We should always be mindful of what are and where we are. And we don't have anything to lose. We only ask for what we own because it rightfully belongs to us and that is my feeling. That has always been my feeling. We only ask the people to move over and give us -- as they call us at night, "What you niggers want now?" I would always answer them by saying, "We want the same thing you all want." "Well, I'll be over there. Come on and I 00:50:00always entertain my guests." And this is the way I would put them when they called me at 3:00 in the morning, 2:00 at night. I feel that the people should feel the same way now. We only are trying to claim what we rightfully own. We are not trying to claim anything that belongs to anybody else.

HUNTLEY: They attempted to intimidate you, to scare you so that you would leave the Movement and your advances.

HENDRICKS: Oh, yes. I had two or three cars come and watch me cut grass. I had White ladies to call me and try to get me out at 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning. I've had all this. All these good things happen. It's just one of those things, you have to be aware.

HUNTLEY: Mr. Hendricks I want to thank you for coming and taking your time out 00:51:00of your busy schedule to talk with us today. And we will definitely be in touch with you in very short order. We will make copies of this and have you to review them. Thank you for coming.