Try to hush them up. To hush them up quietly, without the cameras rolling. Remember, that visual image was absolutely essential for movement. To be able to see the vibrancy of jim crow. But that did not mean that this moment was over. Antibody kennedy the wood, and jack kennedy knew it. Kennedy is getting his state of the Union Address and areident kennedy is all, we fighting for democracy and freedom and there is an opportunity for what is happening here on the globe because we have all of these people. This is the middle of decolonization. Africans, asians, arabs. Latinos, those nations are becoming free. Are loosening and he sees this as an incredible moment. For freedom. In the global south. Mention thet american south. This freedom struggle. A kind of silence. But he needed that silence, because what he was dealing with, he had just come back from that summit. Remember the one that his brother was really trying to get the freedom riders to buy it out on . That summit did not go so well. Khrushchev and khrushchev took him to school. This wasnt pretty. It really wasnt pretty. And it was kennedys fault. He knowledge that later on, he thought that what he could do, because he thought he could just walk in there and charm you know, one of those charm fellows khrushchev. Khrushchev, who has survived joseph stalin. I love ariannas face right there. She is like, survive that. She wasnt prepared. Imagine going into a summit meeting with the head of the soviet union, and you havent done your homework. Iyou ever walked into am seeing the hands. [laughter] he just wasnt ready. Afterwards, he told a New York Times reporter for shift bp beat the hell out of me. That they of was pigs when the u. S. Tried to invade cuba after fidel castro had taken over the island. Went about of pigs as well as the the and a summit. Out, howing to figure do i begin to rethink, authority, reestablish democracy, reestablish strength . After i have had the bay of pigs and vienna . Well, there was a problem with wanting to reestablish. Because you also had the south blowing up. Black folks struggling to be free. And refusing to be quiet. Brutalitycrow and the of jim crow. So bobby has got to figure out something. Is what bobby figures out that i got to find a way to find the sweet spot. That thing that allows my brother to be president ial, for torica to be calm, resonate that aura of strength, democracy, and freedom. Also providing something to the civil rights folks so that they feel that they are being heard and their needs are being met. What on earth could there be . What could i do, what can i offer them that is so vital and essential but boring . Really boring. So that no cameras will want to be there . That nothing is going to jump off. And you know what he came up with . Registering black folks to vote in mississippi. Lets talk about that. [laughter] this is where you know youve got this kind of juncture between policymakers and what they think is happening, and what is really going on on the ground. Because if he had really spent a minute thinking through it, saying, wait a minute, i am seeing folks getting burned up because they are trying to ride a bus. I mean, just ride a bus. Then, what am i going to see happening when they are trying to vote or even registered to vote . Remember, so much of the power of the south is predicated on disfranchisement. Massive disfranchisement. This is why you have the power of the southern democrats in congress. Because they are getting elected over and over and over and moving up the ranks in terms of seniority. Because they only have to be responsive to a small band of the electorate in the south. And so, you are pretty much almost assured of getting reelected and reelected and reelected and reelected and reelected and reelected and reelected and reelected. Power, they are not going to give it up easily. But hes thinking, we got this. We got this. So he sets up an arrangement fund ahe irs is going to new organization, provide taxexempt status review organization, dealing with Voting Rights, and hes going to try to funnel four of the big civil rights organizations under the heading of this organization. This would be the Voter Education project. And it sounds brilliant on paper. Because again, what it is designed to do is to provide something that the civil rights workers want. While apparently being boring enough, because you are just registering folks to vote. Youve got this image. Think about registering folks to vote. There is a table, there is some registration cards. If you think about it the way we think about it now, well, not quite right now, you just do it. But remember, this is mississippi. Remember, we have a poll tax. We have a literacy test. We have the understanding clause. We got election day terrorism. Theree the power sitting to reinforce massive disfranchisement. And so, just registering folks to vote is not going to be that easy. But this is the name of the organization. The council of federated organizations. And what he is going to do, and it is going to be tricky, he is going to try to bring sdlc, the southern christian leadership conference, and the naacp together. Now, there is already a bit of, um. The naacp, the dogs. 1909. E been here since right . Roy wilkins. Since been with the naacp the early 1930s. And he waited his time, did his work, moved his way up the organizational ladder, and finally in 1955, became the head of the naacp. What else happened in 1955 . It still and it killed emmett till . Rosa parks. Who was head of the Montgomery Improvement Association . Martin luther king. Imagine you have waited 20 some years to the head of the civil andts movement leadership, within the moment, the year that you become the head, there comes a guy out of montgomery, alabama, that all of a sudden, the media is all around, talking about the leaders. The leader. There was this kind of rivalry there. Wilkins would help king out of numerous jails. Dont get me wrong. But we also have to take into account when we are talking about alliances, we are also talking about the kind of real deal stuff about people and organizations working together in the friction that happened when youre dealing with people who believe that they should be here and somebody else is getting something that they should have. So, kennedy was also going to have to try to work through this relationship between them. To what he really wanted was defuse the power of the student shock troops coming out of sncc and core. Because students are fearless. ,ou think about that moment after that beating at the bus station and it looked like the rewrites were over. Core is just like, and diane nash is like, weve got this. Lets send more students down. You dont stop us simply because you are going to beat somebody. We are stronger than that, democracy is stronger than that. And the students kept coming. Going, we looking up got him in parchman prison right now, but there are more students. And we have got to figure out how to defuse the power and the energy of these students. Happened that was going to help with that conversation. Members something was sncc met with Bobby Kennedy at the department of justice. Remember, hes the attorney general. And they are demanding protection from the federal government for freedom riders. And protection does not mean shepherding them into parchment present. This means real parchment prison. This means real protection. They are on it. And he is coming back. And what they are dealing with here, finally he is like, look. And you know when you get look. And he is like, look. Freedom rides are not working. Not working. In my clear . But there is something that will work. You want real civil rights . You want real freedom . You one real protection . That comes from the vote. Let me see you fight for the vote. Fight going to help you for the vote. We have this wonderful organization that we have just created, the council of federated organizations. And we are going to help you in terms of providing protection and resources for you to go into mississippi and register black folks to vote. What do you think . Well, you didnt answer that quite the way i was hoping, so let me help you with that. Know, weve got this war going on. Right now, you have deferments. I will see to it that you keep your deferments, you go to mississippi. You dont go to mississippi, youre going to vietnam. I want you to think about that right now. Im just assuming all of you are about 18 or 19. The 29yearold is going, ill take that. [laughter] vietnam . Mississippi . Which one are you choosing . A to be honest, though, it good in mississippi, either. It aint really good in mississippi, either. This is what you are choosing between. Vietnam, and mississippi. But then you are having to make another choice. Where do i think i could do the most good . And that is the parameter. Where do i think i can be the change agent . He chose mississippi. Would anyone choose vietnam . Not that i know of. Not that i know of. That is not to say it didnt happen. While this debate is going on, there is a member in massachusetts, a harvard trained philosopher. He had an aura status in sncc because he had what i call quiet power. The one that thing, not who is clustering the most, not the one hollering most, not the one who is the flashiest, but there is just something. Yeah. Quiet power. And moses had. Yeah, i got quiet power. [laughter] i saw that. Moses had that. By thees had been asked head of the naacp down in the comb, mississippi, to come down to mississippi and help register folks to vote. From the bobbye kennedy organization, moses is on his way down. And he gets to mississippi with and only000 residents 250 africanamericans registered to vote. Volunteering . Is volunteering. That is moses. This is the man who would be appropriately named. He went down to mississippi and begins setting up classes. Because one of the things remember, when we are talking about schools, were talking about the textbooks in the schools, and in these jim crow schools, the textbooks for black children did not mention that there was a 13th amendment, a 14th amendment, or a 15th amendment. So, if what you are reading is what you know, then you dont have a false sense that slavery has been abolished, that you have People Protection under the law, due process, and birthright citizenship and the right to vote. So, when you begin to set up these Civic Education classes, it begins to help the folks understand they are not just mississippi citizens. They are citizens of the United States of america. Rightswhole range of that a state of mississippi has not yet fully and knowledge for africanamericans. And you know, it is one of those things. Once you begin to see, it is enough andst wide wow. Re thinking, then, he sets up registration classes. What is it going to take to get through a literacy test . Remember, about half of black adults in mississippi have of formalwer years education, of formal jim crow education. Being able to read a constitution and then interpret it, and there was moses. Folks, down with the working them through how to get through the literacy exams. You are beginning to see the power of this thing, yeah . Church, i made to understand a lot of these people were working class. Whenever and wherever. That is one of the things about movement holding. You go are the people are. You go when they are, you go where they are. And so, with all of these courses and literacy test and helping folks with Civic Education classes and Voter Registration classes, he begins to try to register black folks to vote. There was a young man in mississippi named hollis watkins. And he is noticing the work that moses is doing. He is depressed. Time, why is the sky coming down here . Doing this work . Moses, but says to you know, if you really want to be about it, mccomb is easy. Where you really need to go is to amity. Because there is about one black person registered to vote between the two counties. And what moses knew is that he took the easy route. Understand ive got that in big quotes. He knew that in order to fully gain the trust because Movement Building is also about trust in order to gain the trust of black mississippians, he was going to have to go where they live. So, he went into amity county. A got quiet in here. He started doing the Civic Education classes, started doing the Voter Education classes, and then he went to go register some folks to vote. He got arrested. Think about that. You just got arrested for registering american citizen to vote. But he knows that he has the protection now of the federal government. Doerr, who ishn an assistant in Bobby Kennedys office, and he calls in with that one phone call that he gets and he calls john doerr and he is like, i need you to know, i have just been arrested for registering black people to vote. I believe that is what that federal protection is all about. Like, thankrr is you so much for conveying that information. Naacp bam. Ter, the bob moses out of jail. Back, he continues to work with the people. Then, he finds another group and they go register to vote. Problem is that where moses had been staying was right across the street from state representative eh hearst. Eh hearst was a segregationist white supremacist of the first magnitude. And moses was staying right across the street from them. Worse than hearst, and that is bad, was his soninlaw. Billy jack caston. Billy jack had terrorized black people as long as early jack could terrorized black people. And he saw what moses was doing. And you begin to think how this threatens the power structure. When you have counties that are 50 black, but you have only got one registered voter, if you can get all of them registered in voting, all of a sudden, you have different officials, which means you are getting different policies, which means, i dont know, maybe eh hearst isnt going to be a state representative for long. Going after a segregationist, white supremacist power structure. So, moses goes down to the courthouse, he has got a couple of guys with him. And Billy Jack Caston shows up, pulled out a knife, turned the handle around and bam, its moses. Moses staggers. Billy jack is not done, he starts wailing on him, and remember nonviolence. You learn how to take the blows. Because what you know, we talked about these ethnic notions, what you know is that the moment you swing back, it becomes justifiable homicide when they kill you. Multiple reasons for nonviolence. It is a strategy. And so, wailing on him. And moses just goes into a zone, that kind of zen zone. The two black guys who were with saw billy jack and they took off running. Boys just up your and leave you. [laughter] done, when billy jack is moses is a bloody mess. Billy jack is really proud of what he has done. He and his boys walk away. When they are gone, moses stands up. Bleeding. Just bleeding. Away,o guys who had run they are like, are you ok . And he says, are you ready to go register to vote . You see that kind of strength. That is the quiet power leading. He calls john doerr when he gets back to the house across from eh hearst going, i want to going, i want to report to you a beating. I was beaten. And do or says yes, i know. And he says, you know . He is like yes, i know. Ive already got the fbi report, but i will come down and the what i can do, see what is going on. Hoover was the head of the fbi. Hoover, who was not a how does one say . The civilnot feeling rights movement, civil rights leaders, civil rights goals, civil, civil, no. That is j edgar. As far as he was concerned, they were communist. Doerr has this fbi report that says he says, eh. He then gets down to mississippi and he sees moses. Bruised. That is not what the fbi report said. What doerr was expecting was maybe a bruise here. He was not expecting what he saw. And he stepped back. He thought, this has got i have got to begin to rethink the fbi commitment to civil rights protection here. Because what this report is saying is not what the evidence is. Themo, what moses tells yeah, ill be all right. I just wanted you to know the depth of the violence. And the depth of the violence is going to get worse because there is a man who has been helping me named herbert lee, and herbert , drivingdriving around me from place to place, from house to house. Anybody live out in the country . Own it. [laughter] houses are not like they are in the city where they are right up against each other. Up toyou can look right the window and see what your neighbor is fixing for dinner . Youve got acres between these homes. So walking them is not always the most efficient way if you are trying to get something done. Herbert lee was driving moses to these homes, helping folks. With Civic Education classes. Remember, moses is living right across the street from eh hearst. Eh hearst sees what is happening. Eh hearst sees herbert lee facilitating. Voter registration and mississippi. Moses tells doerr, protect herbert lee. I fear for his life. Protect him. Protective. Protect him. Doerr says, okay. Will do. Get on a plane, flies back to d. C. To protect him, work on some stuff. The moment he gets there, he sees a notice. Herbert lee has been found shot to death. Hearst shot him. State representative eh hearts shot him. That how do you say this . It was selfdefense. Ongoing to walk you through this like we walked through scottsboro. Lee drove up in his , got out of his truck with a tire iron, swinging it at Mississippi State representative eh hearst. Story,l who believe that please raise your hands. [laughter] what, are you saying it lacks credibility . It does. But he had witnesses. Of course. And a black man. Like, what . T look named lewis allen. Who saidyeah, it happened just the way representative hearst said it happened. He got out of the truck swinging a tire iron and so representative hearst had to protect himself and so he shot him. Thisoses is listening to like, that is not adding up. That is really not adding up. He begins to talk to lewis allen. Is that how it really happen . Yes. No, really . Yes. Is that how it really happen . No. Was afraid for his life. But heelieve mississippi promised bob moses he would come back and tell the truth. That herbert was lee drove up, the moment he got out of his truck, eh hearst shot him and then took a tire iron and planted it under his body. Lewis allen would come back to mississippi. Lewis allen suffered three shotgun blast to the face on his last trip back to mississippi. On hises took that death shoulders and in his heart and like, soul because he was lewis allen, if i had not convinced him to tell the truth, that man would still be alive. But one of the things that , what really clear to him wasme really clear to them that it was going to take more than what snake had been able to do. To bring Voting Rights to mississippi. The going to take more than this of the council of federated organizations. Because there are bodies piling up and nothing is changing. How do you create change . What moses comes up with his freedom summer. And freedom summer will be that moment where he says, we have to bring in students. Because you know, you all are fearless. Students from around the nation to come to mississippi and set up freedom schools and register to vote. Now, the people that he is black students and white students. And not just white students. White students from the ivs. Ivys. Whose fathers and mothers are judges and senators. The thought, even mississippi is not crazy enough to do damage to the students. We can get work done here in changing the power structure. Questions . How are the finances looking . How are they going to sustain all these volunteers . Hes asking about finances. Fundraising for the movement is always precarious. So, this is where you have celebrities like harry belafonte, fully engaged in fund raising. You have a man named Stanley Levinson that J Edgar Hoover was and heed was a communist worked handinhand with Martin Luther king, particularly up north. There is a wonderful article and it talks about that fundraising effort because money is always tight. So you said that he said mississippi was not crazy enough to damage the students, but every time we seen that stay in this course, it seems like mississippi is crazy enough. Are you running a spoiler alert . Im just skeptical. That is going to be next weeks lecture. Did eh hearst ever face repercussions . He walked. Remember, what we are dealing with is the lack of value on black light. Black light has no value. And so, gunning down a black man who is trying to help register people to vote, that has no value. How bob mosesring attracted white students from the north and other places with substantial backgrounds. Hes out of harvard, hes really, hes got that quiet power and charisma. And this is a moment in the 60s were students believe they can make a real difference. Where they can change the course of this nations history. Of take that sense fearlessness and mix it with that visionary zeal and a cause, they flocked down to mississippi. Going back a little bit, was J Edgar Hoover ever can run did about the falsified fbi report . In this specific case . J edgar hoover was interesting. With J Edgar Hoover, kennedy did not like hoover. He wanted him gone. That hoovermeeting had with kennedy, jack kennedy, oneonone. Just those two. After that meeting, the you are hereby fired notice was rescinded. Hoover really did not face the consequences of a lot of the bad stuff that he did. And he was in power until 72. He died somewhere in the middle of watergate. But he came into power in 1920. Right, during the first red hair. Right around the end of the first world war. And died during watergate. Somewhere in that era. He put his stamp on that organization. Can you tell us more about what actually happened in that meeting . Where there any other attempts on behalf of the Kennedy Administration to undermine the work that hoover was doing . That kennedye it liked women. [laughter] a lot. And that there was evidence about how much. That is a rumor. There was nobody else in that meeting. It is really hard to tell. And it appears that, again, rumor, that one of the women , this is a g a lot rated show. She may have been compromised in terms of being a spy. [laughter] emory just said, why didnt he just stay single . But again, these are rumors. These are these are the little pieces that folks are trying to put together. What you know is that he could not stand hoover, and Bobby Kennedy really cannot stand him. Bobby kennedy is actually hoovers boss. Bobby kennedy is the attorney general. And those two clashed. Bobby wanted him gone. Meeting,. You said that the Voter Education project was like some of kennedys reasoning behind that specific thing that would have less press coverage and therefore on the download be helping the support, but without too much press, what was the immediate coverage like . Coverage was not as high profile at this moment. But it would be during freedom summer. So, when we get to freedom summer, the press is going to really come in the are going to be the main thing. I was wondering during the Voter Education and freedom summer, how do local mississippians respond and overcome terrorism and their fears of that to work with folks like bob . That is a great question. You mean how did africanamericans in mississippi . Especially lewis allen and herbert lee. Fannie lou says when you get sick and tired of being sick and tired. There comes a moment when you are just not going to take it. Not everybody stood up. What you have enough oaks in mississippi. She was using her independent business, she was a hairdresser. Spotas using that as a were people were organizing. And because she did black womens hair, and she owned her shop, she wasnt dependent upon anyone else for her financial wellbeing. That economic independence allowed her. It was not like she did not get harassed. You have folks who just were sick and tired of being sick and tired. And ready to put it on the line for a better future. About it,ou think that is what we keep talking about in the movement. We dont have everybody standing up. But we have enough people. Ok. Thank you. Yes . What was Bobby Kennedy up to while border education was happening in the 50s . That is a great question. Im not quite sure. They were not getting the protection that bobby had promised and that lack of protection that he had promised was then sending moses into a direction that bobby really did not think this thing is going to go. So it backfired. Ok, thank you. Dont you dare. [applause] go another hour. Announcer youre watching American History tv, covering history cspanstyle with event coverage, eyewitness accounts, archival films, lectures in college classrooms, and visits to museums and historic places. All weekend, every weekend, on cspan3. On june 8, 1972, the Associated Press photographer snapped a prizewinning image of who wasrold kim fook severely injured in a friendly fire napalm attack by self vietnamese jeff. The napalm girl is not a goodwill ambassador and helped with a memoir. Up next, Mark Boughton and a jazz composer who performs parts of a musical response to the image, joined her on the National Constitution center stage to discuss the legacy of the war in an event titled girl in the picture memory vietnam. [applause]
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