Oh, freedom oh, freedom afraidwont be ill be standing in my grave and go home to my lord and be free all right freedom, freedom come and i want to go home freedom, Freedom Freedom come and i want to go home oh, freedom, my lord i will be free shall overcome involved a federal boycott, involve the use of federal troops, killed and been killed, we are about to see them all. As we see them, we will also see the growing participation of young whites in the battle. They have taken part in increasing numbers, particularly sitting demonstrations. It sitting demonstrations. It was a tactic employed by new grow College Students in greensboro, north carolina. On february 1, 1960, a group of freshman from greensboros all freshman from greensboros all nigro all negro agricultural college, they were asked to leave, but they just sat on studying their textbooks. The police came and took them off to jail. The lunch counter was closed, but the rebellious child flourished. Later, the sit and had taken from root at the university of tennessee. It was to become more than just a hopeful stirring in the collective negro breast. The sons of segregation hung all over the city, a constant provocation. The attitude of the segregationminded whites could not have been stated more blatantly. Im sorry. I management. Im im management. You cannot be served here. I went to the south, and on this particular night, they were having a roleplay, and in some of the scenes, we almost cried. Indiscernible shouting and [indiscernible shouting and jeering] thisth such training as that bolstered their dedication, the sit movement became one of esmost effective weapons. Mark on theleft its entire south. In jackson, mississippi, this year, a sitting group of whites as well as knee gross as well as negroes faced violence. One negro student was dragged and removed. L [indiscernible shouting] move on, move on n, move the sitters, white and negro, spattered with catsup and mustard, work carted off to jail were carted off to jail. Every society based on slavery in in fear of slave insurrections, and they occurred. Spartacus lead i. 18 centrist 18 centuries later, not turner lead i. Nat turner lead i. Both died for their efforts. The potential is there and hangs as ominously over the nation today as ever at home on the plantation yesterday. A major stronghold of the black muslims, for more on that story, here is bob. According to the muslims, the white man is the devil, the all people. He hates black men, and black men should hate him in return. He also teaches his followers that christianity has failed black men. The American Government has failed black men. The muslim solution, a separate black fate. Right after world war i, a negro leader named Marcus Garvey organize a Campaign Based on the same principles. One of the men who opposed the movement recalls conditions that led hundreds of thousands of negroes to join the garvey parade. They had come out of the war fought and died and come into the southern communities where they met a violence of racial discrimination. Many soldiers were the victims of police brutality. Some were lynched. Therefore, there was widespread frustration and discord and discontent among negroes. Garvey came along with his doctrine of back to africa, and he painted glowing pictures of what negroes could do, where they to migrate to africa. How they could build Great Enterprises and things of that sort, and this copy interest and imagination of the negroes. Many of them flocked into the garvey movement. The black muslims say theres been little change in the recent the racial picture since garveys days. At a recent rally, the number one spokesman, malcolm x, said their main changes have been brought about not by whites, not by integration groups, but by elijah mohammed. The question is how does mohammed go about helping negroes . You find a negro drunk, he doesnt know the truth. Negroes get drunk because they see white people get drunk. They Smoke Cigarettes because they see white people Smoke Cigarettes. They want to be like the white man, so they copy his immorality. Mohamed comes along and teaches black people the glory of blacks. He tries to display high moral lowities rather than the moral qualities. It is feared by some whites that the muslims advocate violence, but thats not exactly the case. They say they dont believe in starting a fight, but if whiteman if white men defeat them, they will not turn the other cheek. It is the implied threat of increasing muslim power that makes some whites more willing to negotiate with the socalled moderate groups. To that extent, the black muslims are making a major contribution to the drive for equal rights. There are several organizations emphasizing several methods of attack and at times competing for leadership of the revolution. The National Association for the advancement of colored people, born when the sentry was 10 years old, took what it called a renewed struggle for civil and political liberty into the courts. Southern christian leadership conference, born of a bus boycott in comer, alabama,early half a century later took its battle to the streets. As the movement has mushroomed, its methods have merged and led to largescale demonstrations that include children against a spectrum of targets. The tactic is called a Massive Campaign of direct access. Sometimes the campaign strands its limited policy of nonviolence, and sometimes it thets from its leaders highest price death. It happened in jackson, mississippi. After midnight on june 12, medgar evers stepped into his car on his driveway. He was silhouetted against the carport light behind him. A shot from a highpowered rifle shatters the nighttime silence. He fell, fatally wounded. He was 37. He had been secretary of the naacp mississippi for nine difficult years. Lets let the merchants down on capitol street feel the economic pinch. Dont shop for anything on capitol street. I had one merchant call me and he said, i want you to know that i talked to my National Office today, and they want me to tell rou that we dont need nigge business. These are stores that help support the white citizens council, a council dedicated to keeping you and i secondclass citizens. Let us not trade at these stores. Lets serve our friends, our friends, relatives, neighbors not to trade at these stores. Finally, we will be demonstrating here until freedom here in negroes jackson, mississippi. [applause] late male in late may, they opened a fullscale action committee. Lacked mass support from the citys 50,000 new gross. At a lunchonstrators counter were doused with mustard and ketchup the first day. Jackson police use this violence as justification for arrests during later demonstrations. They clubbed demonstrators and heres a variety of tactics designed to break their spirit. Negroes negroe risen buses were often used to carry the protesters negro prison buses. Intogers were loaded garbage trucks and into garbage trucks and taken to a compound set up at the state fair ground. The city had converted fair the fatal bullet was fired from a vacant lot across the street from evers home, crashing through his body through the window of his home. Evers had considered himself a soldier for the cause of human rights and said he was ready to die for that cause. He died a soldiers death. As a veteran of world war ii, he was buried in Arlington National cemetery. The killing set off a new wave of mass demonstrations. Following saturday, mourners, including civil rights leaders from all over the country, marched in the funeral procession. After a peaceful march, the tension rising since evers murder reached the point of explosion. Chargedof negroes widely down main streets. Negroes threw rocks and at police. At police. More Serious Violence was averted when a civil rights attorney walked in and combed the crowd. Matter of two races , working outyside a peaceful solution to every problem that is presented. Young militants were not at all pleased. Hire negroesn to policeman and School Crossing guards for negro districts. It was in effect a jim crow settlement that did not crack jacksons racial barriers. An intense investigation into the murder led eventually to a 42yearold fertilizer salesman from greenwood. The hard core segregationist was charged with evers murder. Is nowkson movement concentrating on a Voter Registration drive and the boycott of white businessmen. Them where thet segregationists, who have the best organized force in the city and in the state. They are dedicated to maintaining mississippis monolithic social and political structure. The voices of moderation are stifled here, even afraid. The danger is that between the new new grub determination and the old white resistance lies enormous potential for violent conflict. Wj seven evaluated the revolution for this report. I thank you. On the revolution has increased at a geometric rate in ,he last two months particularly since the negro leaders in the south have displaced white liberals in charge of the power movement. This grew out of politics and was adopted by the negro leaders at a summit last thanksgiving where the entire Negro Movement in the United States was identified with the movement for african nationalism in africa. Is a development of extreme significance, i think, because possibility for nonwhite possibility for nonwhite domination of the United States through three through mass integration, which is favored by colored elements in our country. Segregation, there was no such disturbance as this, and this is not entirely unreasonable because these people have found through the encouragement of the president and attorney general that it pays to get out in the streets and demonstrate and carry on, and i would predict that if the civil rights bills pass, that would mean further, more violent demonstrations. The whole thing is and its a entireity that this Integration Movement is based on false legal grounds. The grounds being the socalled Supreme Court school decision. In a similar case, on undisputedn testimony decided it was entirely wrong. The outcome of all this i think as to iften a showdown the United States will remain a ifdominantly white nation or it will become increasingly africanized. Murder, the willful and wanted destruction of human life has been rare in this revolution, but threats against life have been numberless, and the new group the negro who knows the history of this country cannot dismiss that lightly. 3819 negroes were lynched in america during which Time Congress has steadfastly refused to pass an antilynching law. We have not now. A white man who freely acknowledge the history of Mental Illness set out to walk from chattanooga, tennessee, to jackson, mississippi, where he hoped to persuade the government to alter his racial stance. He made it to alabama where a white man shot him dead. Simpson is free on bond after being charged with the murder. Killed a whiteo man in lexington, north carolina. The victim died on the way to the hospital. At 24yearold auto mechanic, who, like hundreds of others in lexington that june night, had been caught up in an emotional storm. Rioting had broken out at the edge of the white and negro sections, apparently stemming from attempts of a small negro group to enter restaurants. 500 whites faced the negro. Line search, rocks were hurled and shots fired from the negro side. Fred leach fell to the street. Another man was wounded but not seriously. Eventually, three of the negroes , 18 to 21 years of age, were charged with the killing. They will stand trial in october. Leach apparently was only an innocent bystander. Lines surged. The mob had developed an additional weapon in the battle, federal intervention. It was that that placed racial tensions on the front page of the capital. Er in the the circumstances got out of control and Central High School became the pivot in this federalstate struggle. I remember the night of september 24, 1957, when the first battledragged army troops arrived on this street. It was a scene income principle to the 50 or so townspeople looking on. One man turned to a companion and said, you wont get many people to full around with those guys, which fronted the response, yeah, but its a hell school run a which school which prompted the response. President eisenhower sent in the troops of the 101st airborne. The mob reacted in bitter violence on learning nine negroes had entered the school as students. A couple of weeks earlier, state barred the new growth from the barred the new growth from the school barred the negroes from the school. Than 2 ofgroes students. Elsewhere, there has been voluntary desegregation of the city. Stores in plans are the city. Plans are under way for restaurants. The City Auditorium and parks have been desegregated. The Swimming Pool has not. Dissidents, riots, violent and nonviolent political action, are methods in the struggle, but another struggle has raised among negroes and the validity of these methods. Those close to him said he was to atone for having said that to atone for having said that the the most celebrated in los angeles, california, and orthodontist seem to have made it. With his wife and two children, he has lived and worked in this segregated world for seven years, but even here, there is still that subtle, barely discernible, yet essential difference between the worlds of the white and the negro. Coming to los angeles, i decided that i was i would not segregate myself, that i would seek an office in an area open to any person who would seek my services. Area appearminent to be welsh boulevard, and this was the only place where i look for office space. I contacted the landlord, who said he would be happy to rent to me, but that he thought he should check with the other were anyo see if there objections to my presence. Obviously, there were none, so i opened a practice there. We looked at apartments and would have taken a couple, but it was obvious they were not open to us, so that we moved thereafter, aly residence became available for sale, which is where we now reside. I did not want anyone, caucasian or negro, to feel that i had come into the area to develop a caucasian practice. Myself,thout prejudice my office open to anyone seeking my services. However, i made no special effort to cultivate any of the dentists in the area, which may or may not have been a mistake, so that as it stands now, my practice is predominantly negro. I enjoy living in this neighborhood in los angeles for several reasons. Lives a girlfriend who not too far away from me, whom i met on the Tennis Courts when we were going over to one of the playgrounds for tennis instruction. This has been several years ago, and from this, we have developed a very close friendship. She happens to be a caucasian. This is incidental. Theres a meeting of two friendships, two people who have common this is the meaning of true friendship, two people who have much in common. I find myself enjoying friends for friends sake. Race has nothing to do with this. Many times when i am in areas where i meet people, i feel that usually, i am meeting them as an individual, and if it were not for the fact of my high visibility, i would say that they would possibly face me the same way, and this is the thing that we are hoping could be erased, that we will meet one another as individuals and just enjoy each other as persons. East last summer to visit my wifes mother and summer to visit my wifes mother and father in south carolina. We had some trepidation about too a segregated facility. Which was not to a segregated facility. The thing that hurts is when you it to find it. We had it happen to us in cedar rapids, iowa, when we were on the way to california from chicago. I was tired too tired to drive further safely and stopped at a motel that had a sign outside, vacancy, until the attendant came out, saw my face, went back into the office and came back to report that vacancy. No on our trip to south carolina, i visited we were visiting our cousins in charleston. One day, we wanted to go to the store, and the store was across the playground, and the playground was right in the middle, so we had to walk around the playground and get to the store, and i thought the fastest way to get to the store was ride park. H the it felt kind park. It felt kind of was right through the park. It felt kind of odd that you not put your foot in something because something might happen. You didnt want to disturb anything. We had lived in california for the greater portion of the time the children have been growing. Gayles schooling has been all along in schools where there was no segregation so that after graduating from los angeles high school, we decided to send gail college in greensboro, north carolina. In theten, we find that integrated schools, that there is not enough activity for the negro girls, meaning they are not able to participate from the standpoint of just being other girls. As far as the need grow girls, here again, this race issue comes up as far as the negro girls. I went to an integrated high school, and i found no problems here with racists. In los angeles, we call it one Big Happy Family because nobody has any problems, and i have gone out with caucasian boys before, and i found no problems here because i was welcomed into just one of their gang, and i have had parties of my own where i have invited all of my friends white, caucasian, and oriental, and i no problems here, but going to school, to an allnegro college, when people talk about the other races, there is a problem they do not like to since they lived in the south, they dont associate with these people. I found it the same myself. When we went to charleston, i was left there because the expense would have been too great for me to come back and go to school. I like to swim a lot, and i could not go anywhere because where negroo pools where negro es could go. These things happen in los angeles. Where you do not expecting to happen, unfortunately, they still do. This is part of the process we feel must be eradicated. I might add that when i outgrow at myesent facilities office, facilities of my office, which i hope to do, i would like newer onee of a of the newer, class a buildings. To if i wouldas be accepted or acceptable in the building of my choice. I dont feel, still today, that i can go to any institution and present my Financial Statement and have this Financial Statement examined simply on facts of financial compatibility with my ability to repay or whatever it is i desire to do, but that is the factor of my being a negro. I feel likewise that should i desire to purchase a home, shall we say, in bel air or brentwood, or some of the prime residential areas in los angeles, i dont feel that i acceptable byly the realtors, possibly by the neighbors i dont know but these are things that are the snags in this almost perfect picture. The fact that i still feel that i do not have the right of free choice in a socalled free society. In durham,change, as north carolina, nashville, tennessee, louisville, kentucky, and austin, texas, has been given little attention. Theres no question that the speed of todays communications has decidedly increased the tempo of this revolution. Tactics in one place are adopted in another. We had the mayor of chicago echo hundred seven officials southern officials. Television and its adjunct are playing a role, and they are to be found in what is both a place and expression, madison avenue. Outside the building from which i speak to you, there were pickets last week. Negro actors who claim television does not fairly employ or depict negroes. Herbert hill, an outspoken critic of the contribution madison avenue has made to the Integration Movement. The contribution madison avenue has made to the negro revolt i think is an inadvertent one, and that is they have so dramatized some of the fantasy of the American Dream that they made the of the american seem that they made the of the american scene that they made acutely acutely aware he was not part of that scene. They drive automobiles and by the products sponsored on radio and television, yet, i have never seen a negro on a commercial, nor have i heard a negro used on a commercial on radio. We do not have special Advertising Campaigns for the Negro Community. Purchasers, purchasers, the neo housewives should be part of the campaign. The negro family, especially the , who youngsters consistently watches the screen, and has a great sense of unreality after a while because he is never there. Not in the commercial, nor in the future program, nor in the movie. The people who run madison avenue are frightened little in many cases are the victims of their own fantasy, the victims of their own makebelieve. Question ise negro issue, thental moral issue that permeates all the Current Issues of society. It is precisely the treatment of of thero that all hypocrisy in American Life comes out. Exerting political power is the classic means of advancement of minorities in america, but apparently seems to slow. But their political power is increasing, both as voters and holders of public office. This canthis can be seen in massachusetts. The highest elected negro Public Servant in the United States is the role of politician as one working in the area of government and the area of law thatoduce those forces will react on the economy of the extent that big business will begin to realize that they, too, have a part to play in this revolution. Although jones today is the real power behind harlem politics, congressman powell still commands great popular support. Lately, however, powell seems to be losing interest in his influential Congressional Committee chairmanship, and the reverent powell courts the favor of black muslim leader malcolm x, who advocates separation of the races. Washington,cenes in negroes play an Important Role a ministryulation of to policy. The deputy chairman of admin a strata policy feels strongly the new negro and politics must be a decisionmaker. I think they unquestionably will be a decisionmaker. They are now in many instances. I must point out that in the candy the kennedy administration, the negroes who have been given an office of power, like the housing wielding power. I think you will find the treasure of connecticut thats a decisionmaking job. Same thing with members of the state legislature, members of the Supreme Court like otis smith in michigan. These are not token jobs. These are jobs where they have a real responsibility for carrying office,oath of their and i think they are expected to live up to them in terms of all the people. Until a year ago, no negro since reconstruction days has held a seat in the georgia legislature. Now lee Roy W Johnson occupies a seat in the senate and has become a respected member of the body. , johnson leads young negroes through the state capital. Councile citizens organized in the mid1950s advocated a new means of controlling southern egos economic reprisal. Ironically, the negroes borrowed the concept and used it to score their first big breakthroughs in montgomery, alabama. As it happened, i lived in montgomery at the time and was the news director of a television station. Groupd of a small negroe called the montgomery improvement association. It was trying to persuade the government to make improvements in the segregated park. It wasnt a park. It was a large, vacant lot with a water pipe taking up of the weeds peeking above the weeds. Until december 1, 1955. On that day, a negro seamstress, rosa parks, boarded a bus and took a seat. She was told to give her seat to a white passenger who had just boarded. She refused. For those who insist that a moment be pinpointed when the American Revolution of 1963 began, that moment will serve. 4 days later, the negroes declared a boycott for buses. Montgomery was not disturbed. The citys whitemontgomery was. The citys white and negro communities still had their lessons to learn. Old and proud of what it considered its good race relations, and it was not an evil city. It did not realize that negroes demanding better treatment could no longer be treated as teenagers demanding the right to stay out after 9 30. The city did not budge. They waited for the boycott to for negro leaders to quarrel among themselves and fall out. That did not happen. And meetings kept negroes and their spirits lifted. Then came the threats. Then the White Community learned that the Negro Community was not afraid. Meetings were held in crosses burn, and the jokes circulated that every negro seamstress in town was working overtime selling up selling bedsheets sewing for her white customers. The Supreme Court outlawed segregation on the buses. Montgomery gave the negro the tactic of economic boycott. It provided him a knowledge of his strength. Developed a method for sustaining enthusiasm during a long struggle. It told the nation and the world , and nixon, who nominated king we made asays, guess and we got moses, for perhaps washington, more than ayone else, has made king leader. I have given thought to this, feeling on with the that this is a righteous cause and that we will have to suffer in this cause, and that if physical death is the price some must pay for the price i must pay to free my children and the children of my brothers and sisters and my White Brothers from a psychological death, then nothing can be, then nothing can be more redemptive. I have always believed unearned suffering is redemptive. If a man has not discovered something so precious that he would die for it, he does not have much to live for. In 1960, 4 africanamerican students sat down at a segregated woolworth lunch counter in greensboro, north carolina, launching a Civil Rights Movement that would spread to other cities. Live sunday at 9 00 a. M. Eastern, author and university of massachusetts amherst professor tracy parker joins American History tv and washington journal to take viewer questions about protests against desegregation during that time. That is live sunday at 9 00 a. M. Eastern. The cspan cities tour travels the country, exploring the american story. Since 2011, we have been to more than 200 communities across the nation. Like many americans, our staff is staying close to home due to the coronavirus. Next, a look at one of our cities tour visits. [band plays hail to the chief] the exhibit you are about to see is one we started putting together shortly after the president died. The people here really
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.