"Claremont Officials Hide Negroes; Fear Unjust Reprisals for Blasts"

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In this article from the days following the bombings, Claremont Colleges Provost Mark Curtis is quoted describing how his administration had decided to move the 65 Black students at the Colleges to off-campus housing. Although there was no evidence that the Black students were responsible for the bombings, Curtis feared that “the students would become targets for retaliation.” Curtis states clearly that there were already accusations against the Black students, and that they were unfounded, but not everyone was convinced: according to documents recently made available to the public by Pomona College, a vigilante group, led by the Pomona College bomb victim Mrs. Keatley’s husband, was being formed to carry out retaliatory violence against Blacks at the Colleges.