Birmingham News Clipping, March 26, 1956

A contemporary news clipping identifying Dr. Rodgers as president of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, speaking at a Chattanooga memorial service for longtime NAACP executive secretary Walter White. This is the earliest dated documentary evidence of his state NAACP presidency. Burger read this clipping aloud to Dr. Rodgers during the 2002 interview. The photocopy is heavily degraded on the left column and cut off at the right margin; illegible portions are marked below.

Full text transcription

[hand-dated: Birmingham News, Mon. 26 March 1956, P.11]

[Left column: illegible — solid black/streaked in the scan, no text recoverable.]

[Middle column, top — continuation of an unrelated article already in progress:]
...was to have discussed various provisions of the Senate bill with committee members, but Cooley said he wanted to head off “any more propogandizing” by Benson. Instead, Cooley said he would ask for Benson's views in writing. Cooley said he acted after a news story quoted Benson that

[Boxed headline, same column:]
State NAACP chief says court edict gives Negro chance

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., March 26 — (AP) — The president of the Alabama state conference of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People says “This is our chance to leave the bayous and backwaters and get into the main stream of American life.”

Dr. Gordon A. Rogers Jr. of Anniston was principal speaker at a memorial service for the late Walter White, for more than 25 years executive secretary of the NAACP. The service was tied in with an NAACP membership drive in the city.

“I was happy about the (U.S. Supreme Court) decision,” Rogers said, “but I couldn't avoid a fear that we might lack the guts to see that it is enforced. This is a time of testing for us, when we will prove what we really are. We'll find out whether we're men or craven cowards. This is our chance to leave the bayous and backwaters and get into the main stream of American life.”

[Same column, below, next article:]
Cancer fighters making fast progress
Although more than 3000 Alabamians are still dying of cancer each year, the American Cancer Society is making rapid pro— [cut off at bottom of visible scan]

[Right column — partial, right edge cut off, likely continuation of a farm-bill/parity-supports story:]
...storation of mandatory 9 [per] cent of parity supports o[n cot]ton, wheat, corn, rice and [pea]nuts and an increase in the [mini]mum level of dairy su[pports] from 75 to 80 per cent of p[arity]...

[Below that, a wire photo with a partially visible caption:]
Takes fatal leap — [name] Ferguson, 28, leape[d]... [remainder cut off/illegible]

The Birmingham News, March 26, 1956, p. 11. Via the Burger research file. View the original at The Birmingham News.