Jim Peck

Southern Exposure Contributor

Jim Peck is a former staffer for CORE, and now works for Amnesty International. He is currently active in demonstrations against draft registration. Following the recent testimony of Gary Rowe, Jr., undercover agent for the FBI in the Klan (and one of the men accused of assaulting Peck in Birmingham in 1961), Peck filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the FBI. The suit is based on Rowe’s testimony that the FBI and police chief “Bull” Connor agreed that the police would be absent for 15 minutes after the arrival of the Freedom Riders to leave Klansmen time to clobber the demonstrators. During the melee in which Rowe took part, Jim Peck and Walter Bergman were severely beaten. This account is excerpted from Peck’s 1962 book, Freedom Ride, published by Simon & Schuster. (1981)

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