Beecher Criminal Syndicalism Case, McComb, Mississippi (Side 1)
This project is part of an AudiAnnotate lesson plan that uses the audio recording “‘Criminal Syndicalism’ case, McComb, Mississippi,” from the Harry Ransom Center’s John Beecher Sound Recordings Collection. This project page exists as a sample project to facilitate understanding of what a collaborative classroom project could look like.
You can access our Introduction to Annotating and Presenting Sensitive Audio Using AudiAnnotate here and the asynchronous lesson plan here.
In this example, layer titles represent annotation categories. Annotation categories are groups of annotations that relate to particular characteristics of the audio recording. These categories are reflected in the layer title. Fore example, the layer with the layer tite “Environment_Kylie” includes annotations in the “Environment” category (described below). The use of an underscore keeps the layer titles sortable. Adding a name to the layer indicates who created the annotations.
In the lesson, students will work collaboratively to select categories for annotation, and will each contribute annotations in their group work. In this example, we chose to annotate in the following categories:
- Environment: Environmental sounds, which could be any noise in the recording (e.g., cars horn, footsteps, noise from the recording device)
- External References: References to other events/people (e.g., rally, bombing)
- Speakers: Named and unnamed speakers
- Transcription: Selected sentences transcribed from the audio recording
- Topics: Thematic tags or phrases based on the conversations and events in the recording
Warning: In this recording, a racial slur is used at 16:06 by a student quoting the language said to them by a police officer while in jail. There is also explicit language used at 15:49, 16:30, and 16:39 by students quoting white police officers. Racial slurs are time-stamped below, in the layer titled “Trigger_Warnings.”
Annotations by Kylie Warkentin and Bethany Radcliff
| Time | Annotation | Layer |
|---|---|---|
| 1:39 | Freedom House | External_References_Kylie |
| 2:05 | "houses were bombed" - which houses? | External_References_Kylie |
| 4:19 | rally on sunday, freedom day on Monday - which events - in Magnolia? | External_References_Kylie |
| 4:43 | Sheriff Warren, Chief Guy, Mayor Burt | External_References_Kylie |
| 5:05 | Goodbye to Guy - slogan? | External_References_Kylie |
| 5:19 | Jesse? | External_References_Kylie |
| 5:43 | Dunnis and Sepis? | External_References_Kylie |
| 5:54 | Dunnis speaking | External_References_Kylie |
| 6:45 | AOS? LS? | External_References_Kylie |
| 6:56 | Attorney Reaves | External_References_Kylie |
| 7:22 | mention of getting an affidavit from LS about what Reaves said to him | External_References_Kylie |
| 0:25 | "you became a political prisoner" - threw a brick | Transcription_Kylie |
| 0:36 - 0:44 | "This [throwing a brick] we shouldn't have done, because we need discipline. We have to have far more discipline than the white man if we're gonna win this, uh, struggle." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 0:44 - 0:59 | "Because the Mississippian is fighting a fool's battle, a battle that he has to lose. And in winning it, we need control and restraint, so that when we strike we strike when we're on good grounds."..." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 1:05 - 1:24 | "he used you as a tool, as an instrument, he made something of a thing of you because he was trying, by keeping you in jail...to strike fear into the hearts of your parents and others in the community" | Transcription_Kylie |
| 1:43 - 1:55 | "to gain the kind of justice, the kind of right action and good living that is necessary if any of us are going to live in a free America, particularly in a free Mississippi." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 1:58 | "know you were used. Some of you, no doubt, will be bitter about it." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 2:10 | "if you're angry, good. I think you have a right to be angry." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 2:15 | "the question now is, not whether you're angry or if you like somebody, but whether you will take action take steps to change the kind of city and county where people can be held for things like this" | Transcription_Kylie |
| 2:48 - 2:53 | "syndicalism. some of us, you know, stumble over (when we gotta?) pronounce the word" | Transcription_Kylie |
| 2:53 - 3:05 | "[syndicalism] basically means that anyone who tries to work for justice in our society is doing something against the law - this is ironic, this is a mockery." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 3:21 - 3:31 | "as students, you're going to have to speak in your community and perhaps out of your community to tell people what's happening to tell people why they must try and change this." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 3:31 - 3:43 | "those of you who are students are still at the same congregate (?) to have to be working very hard at your studies so that you're not losing ground there as we're trying to win it in another field." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 3:49 - 4:03 | "unless you enjoyed being in jail. If you didn't enjoy it, then you must do something to change it and not imply turning your back and saying 'it can't happen again,' because it can happen again and it might happen tomorrow unless you're ready to do something." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 4:33 - 4:42 | "you realize that if your parents, if you, were voters, this could not have happened to you." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 4:50 - 4:60 | "He's in power, he's in office, because you don't vote. He treats you the way he does because you or your parents don't vote." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 5:25 - 5:32 | "we want the people to see you, to know who you are, to know that you suffered something for them." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 5:32 - 5:36 | "you'll be called on many times - be ready and be available." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 6:02 - 6:06 | "that was when I was in the cell downstairs but I was out in a day" | Transcription_Kylie |
| 6:17 | "how it must make you feel to know that a, you know, a white civil rights worker can be picked up and out of jail in a day, and you have to stay in jail and stay in jail and stay in jail" (mhmm heard in background) | Transcription_Kylie |
| 7:04 - 7:13 | "I just want to apologize for the way that system works in that particular case and I know how you must feel and um that's really why y'know we're here." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 7:33 | "all I want to say is welcome back" (laughter) | Transcription_Kylie |
| 7:46 - 7:60 | "right now everybody's y'know ready to uh fall back to into the normal uh procedures in like y'know living sort of as we did before but I hope not completely as we did before." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 8:04 - 8:12 | "after you've had a chance to sleep on your own beds and uh eat at your own tabels among real friends." | Transcription_Kylie |
| 8:27 - 8:31 | "I didn't understand exactly what he means about coming back" | Transcription_Kylie |
| 8:30 - 8:32 | "he said something about court on the 20th" | Transcription_Kylie |
| 9:35 | Willie - one of the arrested students | External_References_Bethany |
| 8:30 | reference to the court case/date | External_References_Bethany |
| 16:10 | three police officers/jailers - Bagwell, Bates, Owen | External_References_Bethany |
| 5:11 | people walking in? | Environment_Bethany |
| 5:19 | coughing | Environment_Bethany |
| 5:22 | chairs moving, scraping on floor | Environment_Bethany |
| 5:33 | chairs moving, scraping on floor | Environment_Bethany |
| 5:37 | people entering room? | Environment_Bethany |
| 8:59 | papers rustling | Environment_Bethany |
| 9:10 | microphone noises | Environment_Bethany |
| 5:53 | more people entering the room? | Environment_Bethany |
| 9:04 | walking around, movement | Environment_Bethany |
| 10:55 | tape restarted? | Environment_Bethany |
| 15:36 | children playing outside? | Environment_Bethany |
| 12:03 | door opens and closes | Environment_Bethany |
| 14:56 | tape paused and restarted? | Environment_Bethany |
| 14:57 | outdoor noises (birds?) | Environment_Bethany |
| 11:48 | mic noises and footsteps - microphone switch between speakers? | Environment_Bethany |
| 12:47 | mic noises - sounds like breathing (or wind?) | Environment_Bethany |
| 14:37 | laughter | Environment_Bethany |
| 15:06 | slapping sounds | Environment_Bethany |
| 15:35 | cat meowing? Or children playing? Or birds? | Environment_Bethany |
| 16:06 - 16:07 | [Trigger Warning] Racial Slur | Trigger_Warnings |
| 15:49 - 15:51 | [Trigger Warning] Explicit language | Trigger_Warnings |
| 16:29 - 16:31 | [Trigger Warning] Explicit language | Trigger_Warnings |
| 16:38 - 16:40 | [Trigger Warning] Explicit language | Trigger_Warnings |
| 0:21 - 0:43 | "It's very uh -- it's very much important that you became a political prisoner and this is what you were in many ways. Not that we say you should have thrown a brick [unclear] if you did. I don't know whether you did or you didn't.Maybe some of you did. This we shouldn't have done because we need discipline. We have to have far more discipline than the white man if we're gonna win this uh struggle." | Transcription_Bethany |
| 1:00 - 1:22 | "Whether you threw a brick or didn't, the fact still remains that he used you as a tool, as an instrument. He made something of a thing of you. Because he was trying, by keeping you in jail, by setting a bond at 5/000 finally reducing it to 500, to strike fear in the hearts of your parents, and other people in the community." | Transcription_Bethany |
| 1:23 - 1:30 | "He was trying to cut off one segment of the Negroes in McComb from another segment" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 1:56 - 3:17 | "You were used. Some of you no doubt will be bitter about it. I know a lot of people were bitter the night that the [or our?] houses were bombed. Bitterness alone is not going to suffice. If you're angry, good. You have right to be angry. The question now is not whether you're angry or you dislike somebody, but whether or not you will take actions take steps to change the kind of city and county where people can be held in jail for things like this, where they can create a law to arrest any negro or any white person in the movement on just about any charge they want to and they you know, give it an nice sounding name. They say "syndicalism." Some of us [unclear] stumble over it [when we couldn't?] pronounce the word. But it still basically means that anyone who tries to work for justice in our society is doing something against the law. This is ironic, this is a mockery. You know. During the next few weeks, months, or years, everyone here, in Mississippi and in the south is going to be embroiled in a battle, and you're going to have to do something." | Transcription_Bethany |
| 2:46 | "They give it a nice sounding name-- they say 'syndicalism'" - the charge used to arrest the group of students | Transcription_Bethany |
| 3:43 - 3:49 | "You're going to have to be out canvasing, talking to people, doing something to bring about justice, unless you enjoyed being in jail" - this sounds threatening | Transcription_Bethany |
| 3:49 - 4:00 | If you didn't enjoy it then you must do something to change it and that's simply turn your back and say "it can't happen again" cause it can happen again and it might happen tomorrow. | Transcription_Bethany |
| 4:00 - 4:02 | unless you're ready to do something | Transcription_Bethany |
| 4:04 - 4:15 | plus you, your friends and your parents are ready to band together as a united people seeking to bring about a full good free society and world in which to live | Transcription_Bethany |
| 6:00 | "I was out in a day" - one of the white protestors arrested | Transcription_Bethany |
| 6:09 - 7:33 | "I thought...what you must be thinking about and how it must make you feel to know that, you know, a white civil rights worker can be picked up and out of jail in a day when you have to stay in jail and stay in jail and say in jail. And, it's not fair, it's.. I don't know what to say about it, except that that's why we're down here, and we're not gonna leave, until such a time arrives that, you know, people aren't treated that way." | Transcription_Bethany |
| 7:44 - 7:33 | woman in audience - "yes, lord" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 8:40 - 8:59 | "That sounds huh absolutely stupid to me, but we will check with our lawyer, to make absolutely certain. We will, you know, find out, cause we don't want them to pulling you back in on a technicality. They would try and do something as asinine as that, but uh, we want to check that out" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 9:50 - 9:51 | "They wouldn't even let my father give me not clothes or nothing" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 9:55 - 9:56 | "They wouldn't even let me talk to nobody" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 10:07 | "Louise Banks -- they wouldn't even let me talk to nobody, the whole 30 days" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 10:14 | "They let my uncle come one time and they told him to hurry up because they didn't have but a few seconds" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 9:35 - 9:37 | "It was a week before they let me even see Willie" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 9:12 - 9:25 | "What were the conditions there, first in terms of the parents being able to get in and see the children? I know some were able, and some were not able to see their children." | Transcription_Bethany |
| 9:39 - 9:42 | "It's according to how they feel whether they let you see their parents or not" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 9:49 - 9:50 | "the white people could come in" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 10:07 - 10:13 | "Louise Banks. They wouldn't even let me talk to nobody. In the whole thirty days." | Transcription_Bethany |
| 10:15 - 10:23 | "They let my uncle come one time and told him to hurry up because they didn't have but a few seconds. And out of the thirty days they let me see nobody else" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 11:11 - 11:16 | "...some days they were mean to us. They cursed at us." | Transcription_Bethany |
| 12:54 - 12:59 | "they told us they were going to quit feeding us and quit letting our parents see us and quit letting them bring us anything" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 14:06 - 14:13 | " I would like to ask you about what recreation privileges did you have?" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 14:13 - 14:15 | "None" and "None at all" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 14:15 - 14:16 | "Were you able to get out of the cell at all?" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 14:19 | "[unclear ] play cards" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 14:34 | "How about the food that they gave you there?" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 14:36 - 14:44 | unanimous response that food was awful: "terrible," "it's cold," "cold beans," "cold pork and beans out of the can" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 14:45 - 14:46 | "potatoes mashed up with eggs" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 15:06 - 15:08 | "about two weeks ago, they stopped giving us coffee" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 15:11 - 15:12 | "What did you have for breakfast?" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 15:12 - 15:16 | "grits," "bread," "little old small pieces of bacon" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 15:22 - 15:25 | "How about your singing? Have they discouraged your singing in the cells?" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 15:26 - 15:28 | "They cursed us, so many times, every night" | Transcription_Bethany |
| 14:52 - 14:55 | "shhh" Barbara Beecher (?) shushes attendees (for better recording quality?) | Transcription_Bethany |
| 13:06 - 13:07 | "Wait, John. Wait. Let one talk" - Barbara Beecher (?) | Transcription_Bethany |
| 0:00 | muted jostling, static noise | Environment_Kylie |
| 0:11 | sudden increase in background/recorder noise | Environment_Kylie |
| 0:21 | sudden increase in background/recorder noise | Environment_Kylie |
| 0:30 | jostling of recorder/background noise | Environment_Kylie |
| 0:33 | decrease in background noise | Environment_Kylie |
| 0:38 | pages rustling | Environment_Kylie |
| 0:44 | pages rustling, movement in environment | Environment_Kylie |
| 1:07 | sliding, scraping noise | Environment_Kylie |
| 1:18 | horns/music in background | Environment_Kylie |
| 1:23 | cough/sneeze | Environment_Kylie |
| 1:54 | distant rush | Environment_Kylie |
| 1:58 | cough | Environment_Kylie |
| 2:09 | vehicle in background | Environment_Kylie |
| 2:17 | cough | Environment_Kylie |
| 2:21 | rustling | Environment_Kylie |
| 2:56 | vehicles in background | Environment_Kylie |
| 3:01 | horn | Environment_Kylie |
| 3:05 | pages rustling | Environment_Kylie |
| 3:13 | scraping | Environment_Kylie |
| 3:31 | recorder adjusted | Environment_Kylie |
| 3:33 | cough | Environment_Kylie |
| 3:43 | exhale | Environment_Kylie |
| 3:57 | tapping | Environment_Kylie |
| 4:04 | sudden increase in volume | Environment_Kylie |
| 4:18 | tapping | Environment_Kylie |
| 4:24 | pages rustling | Environment_Kylie |
| 4:37 | recording device | Environment_Kylie |
| 4:41 | sigh | Environment_Kylie |
| 4:41 | pages rustling | Environment_Kylie |
| 4:42 | cough | Environment_Kylie |
| 4:54 | sigh | Environment_Kylie |
| 4:59 | dog barking | Environment_Kylie |
| 5:05 | ducks? | Environment_Kylie |
| 5:12 | rustling | Environment_Kylie |
| 5:14 | background music | Environment_Kylie |
| 5:19 | cough | Environment_Kylie |
| 5:21 | chair movement | Environment_Kylie |
| 5:23 | speaking | Environment_Kylie |
| 5:25 | laughter? | Environment_Kylie |
| 5:28 | cough | Environment_Kylie |
| 5:32 | chair movement | Environment_Kylie |
| 5:35 | conversation | Environment_Kylie |
| 5:43 | Beecher coughs | Environment_Kylie |
| 5:56 | recorder | Environment_Kylie |
| 6:20 | horn | Environment_Kylie |
| 6:26 | "mhmm" in background | Environment_Kylie |
| 6:31 | rustling | Environment_Kylie |
| 6:36 | cough/sneeze | Environment_Kylie |
| 7:20 | cough/sneeze | Environment_Kylie |
| 7:37 | group laughter, exclamation | Environment_Kylie |
| 7:49 | rustling | Environment_Kylie |
| 8:02 | cough | Environment_Kylie |
| 8:03 | horn | Environment_Kylie |
| 8:09 | laughter/exclamation | Environment_Kylie |
| 8:20 | pages rustling | Environment_Kylie |
| 8:27 | coughing | Environment_Kylie |
| 0:11 | John Beecher | Speakers_Kylie |
| 7:33 | unknown male speaker - Jesse? | Speakers_Kylie |
| 7:37 | multiple speakers | Speakers_Kylie |
| 7:46 | unknown male speaker | Speakers_Kylie |
| 8:01 | multiple speakers | Speakers_Kylie |
| 8:08 | multiple speakers | Speakers_Kylie |
| 8:11 | unknown male speaker - Jesse? | Speakers_Kylie |
| 8:17 | unknown male speaker | Speakers_Kylie |
| 8:26 | multiple voices | Speakers_Kylie |
| 8:40 | inequality of court requirements | Topics_Bethany |
| 9:15 | conditions at prison | Topics_Bethany |
| 10:11 | lack of communication | Topics_Bethany |
| 10:21 | isolation | Topics_Bethany |
| 11:09 | police stealing from those imprisoned | Topics_Bethany |
| 11:53 | hygeine at prison | Topics_Bethany |
| 12:45 | police threatened students | Topics_Bethany |
| 13:15 | police threatened isolation | Topics_Bethany |
| 14:11 | lack of recreation privileges in prison | Topics_Bethany |
| 14:35 | inadequate food in prison | Topics_Bethany |
| 15:12 | breakfast in prison | Topics_Bethany |
| 15:24 | singing discouraged | Topics_Bethany |
| 0:26 | political prisoner | Topics_Kylie |
| 0:30 | students accused of throwing a brick | Topics_Kylie |
| 1:08 | using $5000 bond of high school children to divide community | Topics_Kylie |
| 1:44 | justice | Topics_Kylie |
| 2:05 | bitterness | Topics_Kylie |
| 2:18 | anger vs. action | Topics_Kylie |
| 2:36 | syndicalism | Topics_Kylie |
| 3:13 | coming battle | Topics_Kylie |
| 3:29 | action items for students (tell people, how) | Topics_Kylie |
| 4:07 | banding together - united people | Topics_Kylie |
| 4:18 | upcoming events | Topics_Kylie |
| 4:29 | working primarily with adults | Topics_Kylie |
| 4:30 | voting | Topics_Kylie |
| 5:15 | rally | Topics_Kylie |
| 5:50 | introduction about questions about jail | Topics_Kylie |
| 6:01 | Dunnis discusses his treatment vs. students | Topics_Kylie |
| 7:05 | apology | Topics_Kylie |
| 7:37 | welcome back from jail | Topics_Kylie |
| 8:16 | question about coming back every day | Topics_Kylie |
| 9:25 - 0:09 | Mrs. Thomas | Speakers_Bethany |
| 9:54 | Louise Banks | Speakers_Bethany |
| 10:58 | Christine Anderson | Speakers_Bethany |
| 14:52 | Barbara Beecher (?) | Speakers_Bethany |