In a letter to Rev. Henry L. Bird, the text of which follows, Mrs. Robert W.
The following Statement of Interpretation was given at Grace Church, Vineyard Haven, on Sunday morning, by the Rev. D. Norman Brady of Falmouth. Mr. Brady was supplying at the service of morning prayer in the absence of the Rev. Henry L. Bird, rector. The statement:
In a letter to Rev. Henry L. Bird, the text of which follows, Mrs. Robert W. Nevin of Edgartown has expressed her support and admiration for his decision to join the civil rights demonstration in North Carolina:
“As one of your parishioners and a fellow citizen, I want to give full support to your decision to join an anti-segregation demonstration in Williamston, N. C., with its almost inevitable result of your having been jailed there.
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
The action which led to the jailing of the Rev. Henry L. Bird in Williamston, N. C., last week, is reminiscent of an anecdote about Henry Thoreau of Massachusetts. Thoreau was put into Concord jail because he refused action which he believed was immoral. Emerson strolled down to the jail to visit his friend. “Why are you here, Henry?” he said. “Why are you not here, Waldo?” replied Thoreau.
The Rev. Henry L. Bird, rector of the Episcopal Parish on Martha’s Vineyard, is with a group of ten clergymen, this week in Williamston, N. C., engaged in non-violent action in the cause of civil rights. His decision to go was announced during the service of morning prayer, Sunday at St. Andrew’s Church, Edgartown.
A near-capacity crowd turned out late Sunday afternoon at the Oak Bluffs Tabernacle to cheer an unprecedented event on the Vineyard - the first Freedom Fund rally to support equal rights for Negroes throughout the country. The sponsor of the affair was the Cape Cod branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The site was highly appropriate, for Oak Bluffs and, more specifically, the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association which operates the historic Tabernacle, have long epitomized the goals of equality that the NAACP actively promotes.
