You will be asked to examine and post responses to a question regarding this unit (chapters 38-39). Then you need to REPLY to two different posts from within you assigned question. In total you will be creating THREE posts. In each case you need to follow the usual rules of posting (do not repeat information, build off of one another’s posts) and be sure to include a link or video that reinforces your evidence.
Examine the black movements of the sixties, from civil rights to black power.
Since I am the first one to post I would like to start off this conversation by going back to the very early 1960’s. Segregation in the South was still very preeminent even though laws were passed by the Supreme Court like in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas which made it unconstitutional for schools to be segregated. Even though the Supreme Court, who made the laws for the whole land to follow, said it was unconstitutional, people in the South still resisted the segregation of blacks and whites in their communities. An example of this resistance comes from Greensboro N.C. when four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College began a sit-in at a Segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter. A sit-in is a form of civil disobedience in which the people involved refuse to give up their seats. This act by these four black students was the beginning of the peaceful protests all throughout the South by Black Americans. Ironically, only six months after this incident occurred the same four students went to the same lunch counter and were served. These four blacks could have been inspired from Rosa Parks herself when she refused to give up her seat to a white person on a segregated bus.
ReplyDeleteInspirational indeed, Rian. Rosa Parks, like many greats of the 60s led others to the world we live in now. The greats took the initiative to give black girls and boys today the same life and rights as white girls and boys. Like Rian stated, even though the Supreme Court dubbed something unconstitutional, people in the South disregarded it and did what they thought was right, which ironically wasn’t right at all. Regarding Mrs. Rosa Parks and other civil rights activist who participated in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, there was a Supreme Court case that I mentioned in my post about the 1950s, the Browder vs. Gayle case. December 20, 1956 was when the Supreme Court dubbed the segregation on public transportation unconstitutional. Now, this ruling is the same exact ruling like the Brown vs. Board of Education case, so what makes anyone think that a society who denied those people education would not deny them the right to sit in the front on the public bus? Another law that was disregarded was a federal law, the 15th Amendment. This reconstruction amendment, ratified on February 3, 1870, prohibited the government from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen’s “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” However, blacks steered clear away from the polls whether it was because of the Ku Klux Klan, poll taxes or the educational tests. It was in 1939 when the poll taxes came about and this was effective to keep blacks away from voting and using their right granted from Amendment 15. Nonetheless, during the “freedom summer” of 1964 the 24th Amendment was ratified. This amendment eliminated the poll taxes that voters had to pay. Now with easiness black voters can use their voices to vote for the president.
DeleteIntimidation was a major part of the civil rights movement. Intimidation came from both sides of the movement. Two major groups behind the intimidation was the KKK and the Black Panthers. Although many were behind Dr. Martin Luther King the Black Panthers were a radical group that believed a peaceful revolution was doomed to fail. The Black Panthers was a grouped formed in 1966 in California, there ideals were a violent stand for equality. The group was formed with four desires it pushed for, Equality in education, housing, employment, and civil rights. The Black Panthers were also formed on a basis of ten points. The Black Panthers were a pro-violence group, however they had a cause. The Black Panther Party (BPP)set up many programs to help those in need, including free food programs and free medical research clinics. The philosophy of the BPP was if nobody was going to help the minorities they'd have to help themselves. The BPP was a radical pro-violence group during the civil rights movement that contrasted the popular peaceful protest policy. The BPP used intimidation tactics against many white citizens to get what they wanted. although there tactics were controversial the BPP played a major role towards equality in America
DeleteLike Colin said,The Black Panthers were another civil rights group to add to the laundry list of names. I went in a little deeper on this organization. The Black Panther Party was an African American leftist organization in the United States from 1960 to 1982. Black Panthers were involved in United States politics and the Black Power movement, which was a movement that emphasized racial pride and creation of black political and cultural institution to nurture and promote black collective interests. It was founded on October 15, 1966 in Oakland, California by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. It was initially started by these gentlemen as a protection for African American neighborhoods from police cruelty. This political party also raised black nationalistic values, but every person’s beliefs were different which brought on many arguments. The Black Panthers were a legit organization; in fact, they had their own newspaper that started in 1967, called The Black Panther. In years following, membership increased and they had followers in many cities such as Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore, and 19 other cities. In 1969, their membership reached its all time high, 10,000 members. This organization gained national prominence and became an icon. However, not all good things last. The years that followed the FBI gradually took out The Black Panthers with any means necessary, even stooping to assassination. By 1980, The Black Panthers were lefty with 27 members in the organization not only from the causes from the FBI, but with rumors spreading of the organization selling drugs and getting involved with extortion schemes.
DeleteMost of these incidents by the black panthers were extremely public in the way that they presented their views. like she said they even had their own newspaper at one point. however this may not be the most public action taken during the civil rights movement. there is one incident that will stick in the minds of Americans forever and that took place during the 1968 Olympics. the two men involved were Tommie Smith and John Carlos. These two men raised their fists on the podium at a award ceremony and it made one of the boldest political statements of the 20th century. They went in front of the whole world and showed their support for the civil rights movement and the equal treatment of African Americans. This action would earn them a lifetime ban from the Olympics but it would make a statement like nobody else could make at the time.
Deletestart the video at 2:38 to see the event
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fML9GOfiuBs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmSREC-zOHA ( ONLY WATCH THE UP UNTIL 0:23)
DeleteI wrote about The Black Panthers because I remembered this one specific scene out of a movie I had watched beforehand. Anyone recall the movie Forrest Gump? Well, this dialogue is from The Black Panther Party scene (the scene where Forrest beats up Jennie’s abusive boyfriend). Even though Forrest isn’t really listening to the Black Panthers that are talking the watchers, or listeners in this case, can hear how dedicated and radical they are.
To expand on Rian's mention of the brown vs board of education this was a small issue in Kansas that expanded to gain national attention. The case went all the way to the supreme court. The court started as a case of traveling distance. it started over the unreasonable fact that Linda brown had to walk six blocks every morning from her house to a bus stop that would then take her 1.2 km in the opposite direction, the issue was that the segregated school that the white citizens attended was seven blocks from her home. Her father Oliver brown decided to take a stand. This was the beginning of the fight against segregation in schools to rule "separate but equal unconstitutional". the case went all the way to the supreme court were it was combined with four other cases, from four different states. The ruling in the supreme court ruled separate but equal as unconstitutional. this decision overturned the previous ruling of the Plussy v. Ferguson case of 1896. This was the first major step of the desegregation of Americas public society.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine
DeleteThis is a similar case to the one Colin mentioned in his post above. The ‘Little Rock Nine’, as they came to be known as, was a group of students, of African American decent, who were granted enrollment in a Little Rock high school because of their grades. The admission of these students was controversial and the students faced harassment from parents and fellow students upon arriving. This was another case of the US Supreme Court declaring the segregation of schools unconstitutional. After this decision of the Supreme Court, the NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, attempted to enroll other black students in what were previously all-white schools.
Going along with The Little Rock Nine as Kate mentioned before, they were not welcomed at all in the school. The Governor himself sent the Arkansas State National Guard to prevent the nine students from coming anywhere close to the school. This was a bold move by the Governor because the Supreme Court made it unconstitutional to have schools segregated. It was three years since the Supreme Court announced this decision and they continued to resist regardless. This shows that even after a century since the civil war the South still felt that they were different from the North. They had no intention on changing their ways no matter what anyone said. This act by them could almost be seen as the South still believing that the Civil War never ended and that they were still fighting the North. After the National Guard was deployed the Mayor of Little Rock, Woodrow Nilson Mann asked the president to send in Federal troops to maintain order and force integration in the school. And even though these nine kids were admitted into the school later in 1957 they still had to suffer a full year of verbal and physical abuse by the other white students. Through this year of physical and verbal abuse they were still looked down upon by everyone. White kids would harass them and would never be punished unless it was witnessed by and adult. On the other hand when one of the black students dropped a bowl of chili onto some boys who were verbally abusing her she was suspended for six days.
DeleteMartin Luther, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X only some of the powerful leaders fueling on the civil rights movement. They preached peaceful protest, inspired by Indians Gandhi. The goal of these leaders was to open the eyes of our nation and the planet as a whole to show the inequality between races. The idea was to show the rest of the world that African Americans (along with all cultural) were people just as Caucasians in America. to get there point across they organized protest that never had to raise a fist. Bus boycotts, diner sit ins, and peace marches were all ways to take notice of there unfair treatment. The Bus boycott perhaps gained the most attention as it took its toll on the economy.The African Americans mentality was they play just as big a role in society as any other race so why should they not be treated as so. Diner sit ins were peaceful protest were African Americas sat in diners trying to order and would sit until they were served of forcefully removed. Peace marches were large groups parading through the streets to show the unity and power of a cause that again were often broken up by violence. Majority of African American leaders preached peaceful protest to get the attention of the rest of the world. Civil rights movement was the beginning of a truly free and equal country.
ReplyDeleteSit-ins were a popular non-violet protest chosen during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. A popular sit-in is the Greensboro sit-in which Rian discussed in his post. Another famous sit-in is the Nashville sit-ins. This was the largest and best organized of the sit-ins. The Nashville sit-ins involved hundreds of participants and led to the successful desegregation of Nashville lunch counters. Most of the participants were college students and many of them went on to lead other movements during the Civil Rights Movement. During these sit-ins, over 150 students were arrested because they refused to leave the lunch counters when they were ordered to by the police. These students were represented in court by a team of 13 lawyers headed by Z. Alexander Looby. On April 19, Looby’s home was bombed because of his involvement with the case. Later that day, 4000 people marched to City Hall to confront the Mayor about the violence.
DeleteTo go in to more detail about the peaceful marches that Colin had mentioned, one in particular, which had an immense amount of people, was the one that took place to Washington D.C. in 1963. This image (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/March_on_Washington_edit.jpg) shows just how big the crowd was. What made this march so much different from previous Civil Rights marches was that this crowd of people included all of the major civil rights organizations, the more progressive wing of the labor movement, and other liberal organizations. Unlike the planned 1941 march that included only black-led organizations in the planning, the 1963 march was a collaborative effort. Among this giant peace-crows were six goals.
Delete- meaningful civil rights laws,
- a massive federal works program,
- full and fair employment,
- decent housing,
- the right to vote
- adequate integrated education.
In addition, this march which was held at Washington was the very march that MLK delivered his "I have a dream" speech. Believe it or not, this eventful day almost didn't happen due to the Kennedy administration, which pressured MLK and his colleagues to "call it off," but that failed and the march was held on August 28, 1963. Overall this march was a huge success as the national media covered such a huge event (200,000-300,000 people). Over five hundred cameramen, technicians, and correspondents from the major networks were set to cover the event. At this march, more cameras would be set up than had filmed the last presidential inauguration, which I found to be astounding.
Malcolm X, as Colin mentioned, was a powerful leader during the civil rights movement. However, similar to the Black Panthers Malcolm advocated violence to achieve his goals. He didn't agree with the ideals of activist like Martin Luther King Jr. as he believed that non-violence could not be effective in earning blacks their rights. Instead he called for more forceful action.
DeleteMalcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam while in prison for breaking and entering. Following his parole he became a powerful leader of the group. While most other civil rights leaders of the time were calling for integration Malcolm was preaching black supremacy and called for black separatism. Black separatism calls for separate institutions for African-American's and sometimes even for a separate homeland.
However in March of 1964, after a falling out with the head of the Nation of Islam Elijah Muhammad Malcolm left the organization. He founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. After his separation from the Nation of Islam he slowly began to embrace the Civil Rights Movement and integration. But on February 21, 1965 he was assassinated by three gunman belonging to the Nation of Islam while addressing the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjEO05mrLdQ
DeleteThis is a link to Malcolm X's famous "The Ballot or the Bullet" speech which called for African-American's seeking their rights to "stop singing and start swinging" if they wanted to see a change.
Thought there were many pivotal leaders in the Civil Rights movement, the most important was, without a doubt, Dr. Martin Luther King. He had a majestic way with words, a prime orator, he was able to control countless amounts of people with his words, and his nonviolent protests, filled with pride and bravery proved importance in the Civil Rights Movement. For his leadership in the movement and his nonviolent protests Dr. Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a very prestigious award given to very important people throughout history. He received it on October 14, 1964 in Oslo, Norway. He was the youngest person ever at the time to receive the Nobel peace prize at age 35. He received $54,000 as well and all of it, he ensured, would go to the Civil Rights movement. Martin Luther King has left a great mark on United States history as well as the world, speaking against segregation and for the rights of all humans.
DeleteHere is the video of him receiving the Nobel peace prize.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnyU2ujGrp4
The event that I chose was the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964. During the summer of 1964, close to 1,000 activists were sent to Mississippi to join with the local African American activists to register voters and organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. However, these activists were deeply resented by the white residents. The White Citizens’ Council teamed up with the Ku Klux Klan and together, they used tactics to intimidate and harass the activists such as: arrests, beatings, arson, murder, spying, firing, and evictions. The Mississippi Freedom Summer took a turn with the disappearance of three civil rights workers on June 21, 1964. James Chaney, a young African American Mississippian, Andrew Goodman, a Jewish activist, and Michael Schwerner, also a Jewish activist, were found four weeks later, murdered. This angered the US Justice Department and later the FBI became took action. These events also helped push the Civil Rights Act.
ReplyDeleteI would like to expand on the murders that Kate mentioned during the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964. These murders were a defining moment of that summer and it absolutely enraged the activists of the time. The people who were murdered were lynched on the night of June 21, 1964. The three men were killed based on their efforts to establish voting rights and for standing up for a black store assistant who was not allowed to be hired because of his color. The FBI came in to investigate the murders a few days after the national uproar began. However, the end of the investigation ended with much turmoil. Only 7 of the original 18 men that were accuse were found guilty. Those found guilty were only sentence to 3-10 years in prison. But, the max served by any of these people was six years. This was alarmingly lenient and in my opinion they weren't prosecuted to the fullest extent.
DeleteIn my opinion the Mississippi Freedom of Summer 1964 really demonstrates the real mentality that still existed in the south 100 years after freedom for all African Americans. The light punishment is a prime example of this feeling. It also still shows the authority that the KKK still had in the south. Murdering three protestors and getting a few years in prison is an outrage. The whole Mississippi Freedom was to get more protestors and get more voters to go along with the cause of civil rights. They also tried to build freedom schools which were voluntary schools of integration. After the of civil rights the KKK pretty much died down and civil rights became an new thing and idea.
DeleteAll of these points about the civil rights movement are very important and equally as groundbreaking. however i think one major thing has yet to be mentioned; the black panthers. this was an organization led by African Americans against the mistreatment of African Americans. This organization was dedicated to helping their cause in many ways but the issue they clearly gravitated towards was the involvement of African Americans in the Army. This is highlighted through the sixth of the ten rules of the Black panthers. this stated that they believed that all African Americans should be exempt from military service. their thinking behind this was that they should not be forced to defend and die for a country that would in turn defend them. this is a strong argument and although it may be true it highlights the extreme actions and opinions of this extremist group. Everything that the black panthers stood for began with extremes. this extremism is shown through the black panther's retaliation to the police and their links to violence. Unlike the peaceful protests of MLK Jr. the black panthers did not stray from violence. they showed that they were not afraid to take action against the police and people did wrong by them. This violence reached a peak when they were accused of the murder of Betty van Patter. this event is a dark cloud over the organization even though the murder charges never fell on a member of the black panthers.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joc3CRL6x4E
DeleteThis video goes along with what matt said about how the police mistreated blacks. In 1963 in Birmingham Alabama kids who were protesting were beaten, hosed, and attacked by dogs by the police themselves; The same police that should be protecting every citizen in the town and not just the white people. Even though the protestors caused no harm to anyone or anything the police unleashed all the damage that they could cause of the kids without knowing what they were really doing. The video link above was also shown around the world to other countries. This act by the Birmingham police disgraced all of America and other countries looked down on America. This attention caused President Kennedy to pay more attention to the civil rights movement and to stop segregation as quickly as possible. This peaceful protest by black students and the inhuman violence that the police committed helped establish the Civil Rights Bill by the Kennedy Administration.
Rian mentions the protest in Birmingham, Alabama and i just want to discuss more about it. t was led by Martin Luther King Jr. The protest started when colored citizens wanted businesses to hire people of different races and end segregated facilities. This protest lasted for about two months in 1963. The protesters used nonviolent methods to go against the laws they thought were unfair to them. They actually wanted to get the police to arrest them to fill the already over flowing jails. They also started something called Project-C which was a bunch of sit-ins and marches to get them arrested. So many adults had already participated that children started to them as well. They were called the "Children's Crusade". As Rian said before, they were getting hosed down and attacked by dogs and the police as well. After this movement, public places began to be a bit more welcome to the blacks.
DeleteSince I haven't seen anyone mention the Watts Rebellion yet, I would like to touch upon that subject. For starters, the Watts Rebellion was a group of riots which lasted for six long and grueling days. This took place in Los Angeles where a black man by the name of Marquette Frye had been stopped with his brother Ronald blocks away from their home for being drunk while driving. As his brother ran home to tell his mother both of them were shocked to witness Marquette being forcefully arrested after they came back to the scene. A small fight between the family members and the cops led to the arrest of all three Frye's, leaving hundreds of witnesses in awe of such a mistreated situation. This lead to rumors being spread about very quickly and enraging the black community that resided in Watts. For the next six days, riots were happening all over Watts and looting was rampant. Fires were set to factories and buildings only to have firemen try to put out the flames while being shot at by residents in Watts. This was a horrible time of chaos, which showed the other side of the "non-violence" movements Dr. King followed. In short, the National Guard was called in to subside the raging riots. The results of these riots were 36 deaths (19 being African American), over 1000 injured and over 4000 arrests. Days after the riots and after the curfew set by the National Guard had been lifted, Dr. King made his way out to Watts to hopefully restore peace and confidence in the small ghetto. Overall, Dr. King did not blame race as the cause, but the environmental conditions as the real start of the riots, saying that he had never seen unemployment rates this bad since the 1930s. I thought this subject would cast a different view on the nonviolent and peaceful movements we always here about. It's pretty intense to think of a small ghetto as a small war-zone for 6 days, injuring thousands of people. Lastly, Dr. King was able to talk to LBJ (Former President) about what could be done to prevent this from happening again. Kind suggested that an anti-poverty program be made immediately in Los Angeles, California, which Johnson agreed to.
ReplyDeletePure chaos.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my3doRW-HWA
After looking at these riots and the horror going on out there it is hard to believe 2 years after almost the same thing was happening in New Jersey. In Newark there was a lot of civil unrest this all lead to a bloody six days of riots. Researchers have concluded some of the causes for the riots. This first is the way the African Americans were treated. They were barley given the right to vote. This angered the people a lot they felt they were not being represented. The other reasons were there were no jobs available to blacks and there was a lot of discrimination on them. The final straw was when two white policemen arrested a black cab driver and took him to jail. Witnesses said they saw the cab driver get dragged in and that he was killed in custody. In fact he was just taken to the hospital and was released and was fine. This was the tipping point. So on July 12 1967 they began rioting. There was mass looting and many fires. It was hard for the cops to keep people in control. The riots eventually stopped six days later on July 17. The rioting killed 26 people left &25 injured and over 1500 people got arrested. There was also 10 million dollars of property damage. These events show that this was happening everywhere.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC2ObNqHq7E&feature=related
Even after the civil rights movements and all of the sacrifices that were made during the sixties, Las Angles continues to be a hot bed for racial tension. This can be proven by the 1992 LA riots that lasted for six days in response to the Rodney King trial.
DeleteOn March third 1991 Rodney King was pulled over for speeding through Lake View Terrace LA. It is said that King was under the influence of PCP, resisted arrest and even attacked officers. Also the officers on scene were accused of using excessive force on a defenseless person. The whole event was captured on film by a nearby citizen. The video showed king being tasered, kicked and beat with batons while he was crawling on the ground. However, when put on trial the entire videotape was not available therefore it made it difficult for the jury to reach a decision.
On April 29, 1992, the seventh day of jury deliberations, the jury acquitted all five officers of assault and acquitted three of the five of using excessive force. The jury could not agree on a verdict for the fourth officer charged with using excessive force. The verdicts were based in part on the first two seconds of a blurry, 13-second segment of the video tape that, according to journalists, was edited out by television news stations in their broadcasts.
The proceeding riots started in south central LA an area that has a history for police brutality, and strong tensions between black citizens and white police officers. The intersection of Florence and Normandie ave. was the flashpoint. A mob of black citizens gathered here, began looting and attacking people and cars. For the next six days the riots spread throughout the rest of south central and parts of LA. Widespread looting, assault, arson and murder occurred, and property damages reached roughly $1 billion. In all, 53 people died during the riots and thousands more were injured.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAt 6:45 pm, Reginald Oliver Denny, a white truck driver who stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Florence and Normandie Avenues, was dragged from his vehicle and severely beaten
Deletehttp://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1cb_1304689062
- check out the guy doing the dirty bird after he spikes the brick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc_SgpyJWRY
The event I am going to talk about is the death of martin Luther king and the proceeding events. MLK was an amazing civil rights leader he did so much for the black community. On April 4th 1968 he was shot in the head by a lone assassin. The assassin was James Earl Ray. http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/images/3/39/Photo_mlk_JamesEarlRay-mug.jpg
ReplyDeleteRay is a very complex person and was almost not even able to do the assaination many times. Ray was a criminal who served some time in jail a couple armed robberies mail fraud and stealing money orders. After his last armed robbery in 1967 he was scheduled to 20 years in jail. Not too long after getting into jail he escaped. He then spent the next two years everywhere in the country building up his hatred towards black people. After being inspired by George Wallace’s presidential campaign he set out to do the assassination. He used a couple fake names to get supplies a couple maps and a gun. He then heard the MLK would be in Memphis. On April 2nd he set out. He shot him from across the street in another room. He watched MLK through binoculars until he finally took the shot killing Martin Luther King jr instantly. He was almost able to get away there was a two month manhunt after him. He was finally caught in a London airport. He was brought back to America where he pleaded guilty and got a 99 year sentence. He was actually able to escape from jail again in 1977 he was caught 3 days later. He died in jail in April 1998 of hepatitis C. Ray was just a man who got caught up in the racism of the time and acted on it. After the Kings Death president Johnson knew something had to be done for civil rights. One week after his death he signed the Civil rights Act of 1968. This finally ended segregation in America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmOBbxgxKvo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPeJOdX5SsY
DeleteThis video summed up a lot of aspects for Segregation back in the 60's.
To follow up on what Al said, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 was a follow-up to the previous 1964 Civil Rights Act. The new 1968 Civil Rights Act would expand upon previous laws and outlaw segregation and discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race or religion. This new law also provided protection for Civil Rights workers.
A more specific list of the prohibited discrimination would be:
-Refusal to sell or rent a dwelling to any person because of his/her race, color, religion or national origin. People with disabilities and families with children were added to the list of protected classes by the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988.
-Discrimination against a person in the terms, conditions or privilege of the sale or rental of a dwelling.
-Advertising the sale or rental of a dwelling indicating preference of discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin (amended by Congress as part of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to include sex[4] and, as of 1988, people with disabilities and families with children.)
-Coercing, threatening, intimidating, or interfering with a person's enjoyment or exercise of housing rights based on discriminatory reasons or retaliating against a person or organization that aids or encourages the exercise or enjoyment of fair housing rights.
This was a major turning point for African Americans, as they were finally being recognized for their peaceful protests, and their rights as equal human beings. Although some were still outraged by this upcoming change, it would eventually take part in the entire country and begin the end to a movement for equality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgbNc-9Di7k
ReplyDeleteSome people just don’t take “no” for an answer. June 11, 1963 Governor of Alabama George Wallace literally stood in front of the door to the University of Alabama to prevent two black students from registering at the university. In his defense, I suppose he was defending his running campaign and his own beliefs; he ran on the slogan “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” Nonetheless, all his actions were absurd. Federal forces, the Alabama National Guard, were sent in by President John F. Kennedy to remove him. General Henry Graham ordered Governor Wallace to step aside to let the students enter. In result, they were registered at the University of Alabama. This made civil rights activist happy because the federal government was getting involved with this mistreatment of black people. That same night, he addressed the public with a speech broadcasted on a television network. He stated the new amendment, the 24th Amendment. This amendment eliminated poll taxes. This was important because it shows a transfer of how politics and other information were given to the public. It was also important because President John F. Kennedy wasn’t a frequently active member in the fight for civil rights; this was far better than him just ignoring segregation all together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLLDn7MjbF0
DeleteIt is very hard to believe that a man could say these things and have millions of people cheer him. It shows how much people have changed. There was a time when this was the way people thought and there was places where this was the right way of thinking. It is a scary thought to imagine if this man actually won the presidential election. He would have turned the country into a terrible thing. He used people’s hatred toward black people to gain power and to grow supporters. Many people did nothing about him at first. Our country started to change though and in 1972 there was an assassination attempt. People finally started to realize what he stood for and horror he encouraged. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt6pgvYU2fw&feature=related
This shows the change people had. There was less and less support for him. Other people knew they had to take matters into their own hands and stop him.
As Al said, it is very astounding to see that segregation was a common thing in America. Since the founding of America, a superiority to other races of color has always been present. African Americans had always been oppressed and they kept silence for the longest time. There might have been a few rebels here and there but the population as a whole believed it was safer to stay quiet. It is sad to think that nothing could be done when families were torn apart and even taken advantage of. But, this was normal for white citizens in America because they believed they were superior to these colored peoples. The effects of the belief that whites were better than blacks was carried on for generations. African Americans finally decided to take a stand, in the 1960s, against the injustices that were done to their people at the time and throughout American history. With their resistance to segregation, blacks were treated even more poorly but they did not care, they wanted to make a difference and eventually they did. Politics in America began to take a turn for the better when many people became aware of the mistreatment of blacks, granting many African Americans more freedoms. As Adaobi stated, the 24th amendment was a big step towards restricting discrimination and it showed how the government was becoming involved in this issue that divided America. Eventually, segregation was eliminated, for the most part, and African Americans were allowed to pursue whatever dreams they had. By standing for what they believed in they made a huge difference in America.
DeleteBelow is a link to a video that shows pictures of African American history up to date.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=ClvBRWZXgPw
As astonishing as this sounds, during the 1960s blacks were mistreated so much. From civil rights to black power life was harsh for black people. But, blacks stepped up and showed the world what they could do to earn their own respect. Black power emerged when Martin Luther King Jr., who led many movements during the sixties. MLK was a baptist minister who felt it was his duty to stand up for what he thought was fair for black people. He led many peaceful boycotts like the Montgomery bus boycott. The Montgomery bus boycott made a huge impact on the Montgomery public transit system. This is because, the city's black population, main boycotters, were also the a big portion of the system's paying costumers. This caused the Montgomery public transit system to lose a lot of money and they were greatly effected. Black power increased even more through the sixties and its progress was displayed at the 1968 Olympics. At the 1968 Olympics, Olympic runners, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, raised their fists in the air during the National Anthem signaling what many people thought was a black power sign, when Tommie Smith, in his biography, says that it was a human rights sign. Many people were shocked at the sight of this gesture. And no one really knew what to do about it besides criticize and criticize them even more than before.
ReplyDeleteHere is a video talking about the civil rights movement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FarzJ2jjbOc&feature=related
This is a video that talks about the 1968 Olympics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fML9GOfiuBs