They discussed means of protecting Tracy, but he assured them he was amply able to take care of himself. He had sent his parents that day to stay with friends until the trouble had blown over, telling them nothing of the warning, as he did not want them to be worried by it. Two of his friends had agreed to stay with him at night. He was well supplied with ammunition and was sure the three of them could successfully repel any attack that might be made upon him. Such trying periods have happened to Negroes so frequently in the South that they have become inured to them. The subject was soon dropped.
Then Kenneth presented his plan. He outlined in detail how the society should be organized. He proposed that the first lodge be formed at Ashland, then gradually spread until there was a branch in every section of the county. They left until later the problem of extending the society’s activities to other parts of Georgia and the neighbouring States. Each member would be required to pay an initiation fee of one dollar. Men would pay monthly dues of fifty cents each, women twenty-five. The sums thus secured were to be pooled. Half of the amount was to purchase supplies like sugar, flour, shoes, clothing, fertilizer, seeds, farm implements, and the other things needed to satisfy the simple wants of the members. To make up any deficit, Kenneth and Mr. Phillips agreed to lend money that the supplies might be purchased for cash, effecting thereby a considerable saving. The other half was to be used as the nucleus of a defence fund with which a test case might be made in the courts when any member was unable to secure a fair settlement with his landlord.
Similarly were other details presented and discussed and adopted or modified. A name had to be chosen. Kenneth would have preferred a short, simple one, but here he was overruled. That it might appeal to the simple, illiterate class to which most of the prospective members belonged, a sonorous, impressive name was necessary. They decided on “The National Negro Farmers’ Co-operative and Protective League.”
At first the plan was considered a bit too ambitious, but as Kenneth warmed up to it in presenting it as simply and forcefully as he could, the objections, one by one, were overcome. One change, however, had to be made. It came from Hiram Tucker.
“Ain’t you figgerin’ on havin’ no signs and passwords and a grip like dey have with de Odd Fellers and de Masons and de Knights of Pythias?” he asked.
“I didn’t think that was necessary,” replied Kenneth.
“Well, lemme tell you somethin’, son. Ef you figgers on gettin’ a big passel of these cullud folks ’round here to jine in with us, you’ll have t’ have some ‘ficials with scrumptious names, and passwords and grips. Dese here ign’ant folks needs somethin’ like dat to catch their ’magination. If you put dat in, they’ll jine like flies ’round molasses.”
Kenneth had hoped that the society would be run on a dignified and intelligent basis, but he realized that Hiram Tucker might be right after all. Most of the share-croppers were ignorant—at least, illiterate. Mere show and pomp and colourful uniforms and high-sounding names played a large part in their lives, which, after all, wasn’t so much a racial as a human trait. Hadn’t the Ku Klux Klan outdone, in absurdity of name and ceremony and dress, anything that Negroes had ever even thought of?
This question was disposed of, after more discussion, by the adoption of Hiram Tucker’s suggestion. Kenneth was appointed to work out the details of organization, and the meeting adjourned. The National Negro Farmer’s Co-operative and Protective League had been born.