May 29, 1963 - Nineteen integrationists were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi today in a series of demonstrations in front of downtown stores. Fifteen of them were pickets who were seized minutes after they unfurled protest signs they had smuggled into the downtown area. The four others were Negro girls who tried to enter a restaurant. In one of this afternoon’s demonstrations, four Negro men sat on the sidewalk in front of the J.C. Penney Company store. The police ordered four Negro prison trusties, who had been brought to the scene, to lift the demonstrators into a patrol wagon. Commenting on the use of prisoners to move the demonstrators, Chief of Detectives M.B. Pierce said: “Now the demonstrators won’t be able to go to the FBI and say we abused them.” Jackson is the capital of Mississippi. It has a population of 97,500 whites and 52,500 Negroes.
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