Myebook - The Story of the Civil Rights Movement

Myebook - The Story of the Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Personality: Tommie Smith

http://funnyfames.com/images/tommie-smith-10.jpg

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/CRsmithT1.jpg

http://socialistworker.co.uk/chimage.php?image=2008/2123/tommie_smith.jpg

http://simonhickson.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/tommie-smith-john-carlos.jpg?w=460

http://todayinafricanamericanhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/tommie-smith.jpg

http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article930226.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/Tommie+Smith+and+John+Carlos

http://as.sjsu.edu/legacy/img/TS.jpg

http://as.sjsu.edu/legacy/tommie.htm

http://www.tommiesmith.com/
dedication to Tommie Smith by Claude Harris Jr

Class Summary 3.18.13

In the previous lesson, we learned about the freedom rides. In May 1961, the Committee on Racial Equality (CORE) decided to test the Supreme Court ruling that prohibited segregation on interstate bus travel. This movement, which was supposed to take participants from Washington D.C. to New Orleans, LA became known as the Freedom Rides. Three white men and three white women, along with seven African Americans boarded two buses headed south on May 4, 1961. In Anniston, AL, the first bus was met by an angry mob who tried to break in the bus and successfully slashed the tires. When the bus was forced to pull over on route to Birmingham due to flats, the mob followed the bus and chaos ensued. The mob of 200 men threw fire bombs into the bus and proceeded to beat the demonstrators as they fell out of the bus door. When the second bus arrived in Birmingham, the same occurred. Local police gave men 15 minutes to do "what they could" before they would have to interfere and break up the beating. The trip was forced to stop in Jackson, Mississippi, short of the New Orleans goal and President Kennedy provided Federal Marshalls to protect the freedom riders.

Today, in four groups, we studied the actions of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. After the investigation of one of the leaders, we assembled in groups of four, each with one of the four documents to compile a general knowledge of the two public figures. King, arguably the most influential leader of the Civil Rights movement, was the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC). He organized numerous marches, rallies, and strikes to bring attention to the discrimination against minorities. He preached for nonviolent protests and urged demonstrators to act with love and with God. Malcolm X, member of the Nation of Islam and the founder if the Organization of Afro-American Unity, believed that violence was the only way to gain independence and that they should not try to integrate with whites. The two demonstrated the opposite sides and approaches to the Civil Rights movement.

Class Summary 3.14.13

With a substitute, we watched a documentary which gave a general summary of the events that occurred during the Civil Rights movement. By the end of the end of the video, there were two questioned that prevailed in my mind. First, why, after having two men (Mylum and Bryant) being found innocent for the murder of Emmett Till and weeks later admit to the crime in the press; were whites still willing to stand behind segregation? How were they able to continue to push for white supremacy with such monstrous acts occurring? Secondly, why is it that Martin Luther King Jr. had to ask African Americans that when desegregation finally came that blacks go into situations with a sense of reasonableness? Why, after the hell they were out through were such things being asked of them? I have found myself struggling while learning about these events, completely consumed by disgust over what occurred in our country.

Following the movie we discussed sit-ins, which were the most effective tactic of the Civil Rights movement. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) gave young African Americans the oppertunity to make decisions about the direction the movement was headed. In Greensboro, NC on February 1960, four black students sat at a segregated lunch counter at Woolworths store. Angry whites poured condiments over the demonstrators, even dropping lit cigarettes down the backs of the demonstrators shirts and dressed. after King showed his support of these demonstrations, more than 70,000 students participated in sit-ins in 1961. This form of nonviolent protest occurred throughout the 1960's.

Class Summary 3.13.13

Following the decision made in the Brown v. The Board of Education, 9 African American students were set to attend Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Kansas. In the fall of 1957, Governor Orval Faubus declared that he could not keep order if forced to integrate the all white school. He posted Arkansas National Guard troops at the school and instructed them to turn away the nine African American students. Outside the school, a mob of angry protestors gathered to prevent the students from entering. Eisenhower placed the National Guard troops under federal command and sent soldiers to Arkansas to protect the students. A guard had to follow each student throughout the day in order to ensure the child's safety. Only one out of the nine students would graduate that spring.

Throughout this time period, small, non-violent protests were taking place all throughout the south. However, as more people pushed for change, the more whites tried to cling to the past. Local police and government officials cracked down on civil rioters, jailing many and beating them down at every opportunity.

Class Summary 3.7.13

The murder of Emmett Till is arguably the catalyst for the Civil Rights movement. At just fourteen, Emmett went down south with his uncle to work in the fields for the summer. Before leaving, Mamie Till, Emmett's mother tried to teach him the ways of the South. Explaining how careful African Americans had to be, stating "anything can happen to anyone at anytime." After stoping at a local store one hot afternoon and making a suggestive comment to the white female store clerk; Emmett was kidnapped and beaten to death. He was beaten so badly and was so disfigured, he could only be identified by the initialed ring he wore on his pinky finger. After the accused were decided innocent and the young boys body was shown publicly, African Americans every where felt as if they were under attack. It was the necessary spark that drove people to action.

Following this tragic event, we learned about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. After dissecting the movement, we found a general claim of why it was so successful. First, the boycott attacked white economic industries. Most importantly, it was the being of the non-violent protests which would prove to be very successful. The fact that it was an organized effort , with continued support and dedication , dealt with orderliness and discipline went a long way to the success of the boycott. Factors such as car pools, the Highland Folk School, and the fact that it was a spiritual movement based on a moral ethic went a long way. This first success launched many more movements to follow.

Class Summary 3.5.13

Once again, it's been too long. Since I wrote last we have dug further into our civil rights unit. We started looking at the major faces of the time period: Booker T. Washington, who believed equality would take time and that African Americans should learn a trade, earn money, and that from this they will gain the respect of whites. Second, is W.E.B. DuBoise who wanted equality immediately, and believed that if changes were not made, blacks would always be inferior to whites. He also was the founder of the NAACP. Lastly, is Marcus Garvey, who was a major activist for black nationalism, who preached for separation and the return of African Americans to their home land. With Garvey's leadership, and the UNIA there was a major migration of blacks from the south to the north. Eventually, Harlem became a center for African American culture to flourish.

After this, we began our investigation of the Scottsboro trials, the arrests and convictions of 9 young, African American males accused of assault and rape on a train ride to Paint Rock, Alabama. After, many, many trials and debates, 6 out of the 9 were convicted. Many of the convictions ending with life in prison.

Today we look a look at segregation in the south, the idea that was allowed after the Plessey v. Ferguson case, passed by the Supreme Court; stating that segregation is illegal as long as the separate facilities are equal. As we all know, this was not the case. Especially in regards to education. This was the bases of the Brown v. Board of Education case in which the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments of five separate cases, all regarding the constitutionality of segregation in schools, all under one collective case title. In the end, the courts did decide that segregation in schools is unconstitutional and that the desegregation of schools must commence "with all deliberate speed." Not quite the win activists were hoping for.