What thoughts and images enter your mind when you think about the Civil Rights movement? Do names like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks pop into your head? What about the events that took place during that time like, the boycotts, certain dates like March 7, 1965, the assassination of people like Medgar Evans, Martin Luther King Jr, or Malcom X? Do any images pop into your mind, like white and colored only signs, or people being hosed and attacked by police dogs? What comes to mind when you think of the Civil Rights movement?
I know personally for me I always think about the horrid images of black people being hanged, Bloody Sunday, Emmett Till, and people like Martin Luther King Jr. However, some of the knowledge that I do know about the civil rights movement came from the education I did receive during my elementary, middle, and high school years, but there was a limit to what I was being taught. For instance, I can remember during Black History Month the same names and events being brought up, like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, yet my previous educators didn’t go beyond that. For me I learned more about my Black History outside of school and with learning new information like the Rosewood Massacre, Emmett Till, Claudette Colvin, and organizations like the NAACP. I realized that if I wanted to know more about my Black History, I would have to do some of my own research and educate myself.
With my blog post I would like to share moments and the people who I feel contributed to The Civil Rights Movement.
During The Civil Rights Movement many protests took place. There were also people behind the Civil Rights movement that helped make change for the Black community in terms of drawing attention to racism. For instance, many movements were taking place for various reasons, like the Albany Movement, Birmingham Campaign, Chicago Freedom Movement, Vietnam War Opposition, and Poor People’s campaign. I’ll be focusing on three of the following movements: Albany Movement, Chicago Freedom Movement, and the Poor People’s Campaign.
The Albany Movement took place on November 17,1961. This movement “...aimed to end all forms of racial segregation in the city, focusing initially on desegregating travel facilities, forming permanent biracial committee to discuss further desegregation, and the release of those jailed in segregation protests” (Standford the Martin Luther King Jr Research and Education Institute, Albany Movement, 2017, para.3). The movement was organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or for short SNCC, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or for short the NAACP, along with other churches and organizations. Though the Albany Movement was centered around non-violence it still didn’t prevent the numerous arrests of those who protested, did sit-ins, or boycotts. However, the movement drew media attention to such people like Martin Luther King Jr, but things were starting to take a sour turn towards two organizations part of the movement. For instance, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee were having power struggles whether it came down to finances and simply over having the role of power. Another issue was Martin Luther King Jr, joining the movement, which he eventually dropped away from in the year 1962 to lessen any problems.
Martin Luther King Jr was part of The Chicago Freedom Movement for various reasons. The main two reasons being: Martin Luther King Jr and his family had moved to Chicago and at the time he was directing his attention up north especially with the housing issues taking place in Chicago. The African American population in Chicago increased “After World War II...as many moved to the city from the South during the Great Migration to flee racial violence and seek economic opportunity” (National Low Income Housing Coalition, The Chicago Freedom Movement, 2018, para.3) While this was happening discriminatory strategies were taking place in terms of what neighborhoods were not receiving any money or prevented Black people from moving into white neighborhoods. But on July 10, 1966, Sunday Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these words to those who resided in Chicago “I am still convinced that there is nothing more powerful to dramatize and expose a social evil than the tramp, tramp, tramp, of marching feet''(National Low Income Housing Coalition, The Chicago Freedom Movement, 2018, para.6). Many of the white residents in Chicago didn’t respond to The Chicago Freedom movement well and violence broke out among white mobs who would throw such objects like rocks and glass, while yelling out racial slurs at Black people. It has been fifty-four (54) years since The Chicago Freedom Movement took place and it has helped with things like the Fair Housing Act, but still many people are facing discrimination when it comes to housing in the African American community indicating more changes still need to be made.
The last movement I’ll write about in my blogpost is the Poor People’s Campaign. The Poor people Campaign took place during the summer from May to June during the year of 1968. This was another Campaign that Martin Luther King Jr. was part of. For example, “...the Poor People’s Campaign was seen by King as the next in the struggle for genuine equality” (Stanford the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, Poor People’s Campaign, 2018, para.2). Yet, there were some who had negative views of Martin Luther King Jr being part of the Poor People’s Campaign. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference or SCLC felt Martin Luther King Jr’s was a little too ambitious in wanting to achieve many things during the campaign. Sadly, during the Poor People’s Campaign Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April but the new president of SCLC along with the help of other women, like Corretta Scott King on Mother's Day that year were able to have demonstrations. During the Campaign though another killing took place of Robert Kennedy, which the campaign was put to a halt in respect for Kennedy. The Poor people’s Campaign still has a lasting effect today like creating free food resources.
.
The next part of my blog post I would like to highlight three people who I felt made contributions to The Civil Rights Movement. For my midterm presentation I touched on Emmett Till and his mother Mamie Till. Emmett Till was 14 years old when he was lynched in Mississippi due to the lie of a woman named Carolyn Bryant Donham who falsely claimed Emmett Till said “You needn’t be afraid of me, baby I’ve (done nothing) with white women before” (Glanton, 2017, para.1). However, Carolyn Bryant Donham's story has changed overtime. Though it is horrific and disgusting that Emmett Till was murdered at a young age Emmett Till’s mother used her son’s slaying as a way to bring attention to racial discrimination in the south. For instance, some people probably would have provided a closed casket funeral, but Mamie Till decided against this. From her own words she stated, “Let the world see what I’ve seen” (Pius, 2017, Mamie fought hard to see Emmett’s body- and let others see him section, para.8) Mamie Till lost her son to lies and ignorance of racism, but she still used her son’s murder as way to bring awareness of the problems of racism.
Another person who I feel no one really talks about is Claudette Colvin. For most it may be easy to think of Rosa Parks as the first woman who refused to give up her seat on the bus during a time segregation was very prevalent, but it was actually Claudette Colvin who did this. Claudette Colvin was fifteen years old when got on a bus on March 2, 1955. At some point the bus was picking up more passengers and Black people were told to give up their seats, but Claudette Colvin didn’t listen to the bus driver, and “She was taken off the bus by two police officers whose behavior made her fear she might be raped. She was charged with violating segregation laws, misconduct, and resisting arrest” (Claudette Colvin Americans Who Tell the Truth, 2019, para.4) Once news of this got out outrage took place and Martin Luther King Jr. even went to Montgomery to fight for Claudette Colvin. Yet, Colvin’s bravery and the story of her wasn’t enough to make her the face of the movement due to “...She was deemed too young and her complexion too dark to be the right fit” (Claudette Colvin Americans Who Tell the Truth, 2019, para.5). Nine months later though the same incident happened with Rosa Parks who became one of the many faces of The Civil Rights Movement. But Claudette Colvin didn’t stop her fight for justice as her and the three other women were part of Browder vs. Gayle case that went all the way to the supreme court and it was ruled “...Montgomery’s bus segregation was in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, a significant civil rights victory(Claudette Colvin Americans Who Tell The Truth, 2019, para.7).Claudette Colvin was someone who influenced change for racial justice, but the recognition she could have gotten like Rosa Parks was cut short over such things like her skin tone and age.
Ending this blogpost, I would like to ask, what comes to mind now when you think of the civil rights movement?
Below I have linked some videos for the topics I wrote about.
The Murder of Emmett of Till
I would also like to point out if someone has a weak stomach and simply can’t handle certain gruesome images be cautious because there are a lot of images of Emmett Till after he was murdered.
Claudette Colvin
Michele Norris Interviews Civil Rights Pioneer, Claudette Colvin | Embrace Ambition Summit - YouTube
The Albany Movement
The Chicago Freedom Movement
The Chicago Freedom Movement; The First Step in an Incomplete Journey - YouTube
Mahalia Jackson - I Am a Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow (Chicago Freedom Movement 1964) - YouTube
The Poor People Campaign
Music is the Soul of the Movement | Poor People's Campaign - YouTube
Moral Witness Wednesday w/ Poor & Low-Income Americans, Faith Leaders & Nat’l Partners - YouTube
I would also like to recommend a page you can follow called wearepushblack on Instagram. This page gives out daily information of black history.
References
Albany Movement. (2017, April 24). The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/albany-movement
Claudette Colvin | Americans Who Tell The Truth. (2019). Americanswhotellthetruth.org. https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/claudette-colvin
Glanton, D. (2017, January 27). The Woman Who Claimed Emmett Till Wolf-Whistled At Her Admits She Lied. All That’s Interesting. https://allthatsinteresting.com/carolyn-bryant
Library Of Congress. (2015). The Murder of Emmett Till | Articles and Essays | Civil Rights History Project | Digital Collections | Library of Congress. The Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-rights-history-project/articles-and-essays/murder-of-emmett-till/
Pius, V. (2017, November 3). 12 Things You Might Not Know About Mamie Till-Mobley. National Parks Conservation Association. https://www.npca.org/articles/3036-12-things-you-might-not-know-about-mamie-till-mobley
Poor People’s Campaign. (2017, July 7). The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/poor-peoples-campaign
The Chicago Freedom Movement. (2018, October 23). National Low Income Housing Coalition. https://nlihc.org/resource/chicago-freedom-movement
Put in some links, please, particularly in the case of proper names... and Albany Movement, Chicago Freedom Movement etc.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to take a look at David Halberstam's great book on the civil rights movement centered in Nashvillle, "The Children"...
"The Children is Halberstam's moving evocation of the early days of the civil rights movement, as seen thru the story of the young people--the Children--who met in the 60s & went on to lead the revolution. Magisterial in scope, with a strong you-are-there quality, The Children is a story one of America's preeminent journalists has waited years to write, a powerful book about one of the most dramatic movements in American history. They came together as part of Rev. James Lawson's workshops on nonviolence, eight idealistic black students whose families had sacrificed much so that they could go to college. They risked it all, & their lives besides, when they joined the growing civil rights movement. Halberstam shows how Martin Luther King Jr recruited Lawson to come to Nashville to train students in Gandhian techniques of nonviolence. We see the strength of the families the Children came from, moving portraits of several generations of the black experience in America. We feel Diane Nash's fear before the first sit-in to protest segregation of Nashville lunch counters. Then we see how Diane Nash & others--John Lewis, Gloria Johnson, Bernard Lafayette, Marion Barry, Curtis Murphy, James Bevel, Rodney Powell--persevered until they ultimately accomplished that goal. After the sit-ins, when the Freedom Rides to desegregate interstate buses were in danger of being stopped because of violence, it was these same young people who led the bitter battle into the Deep South. Halberstam takes us into those buses, lets us witness the violence the students encountered in Montgomery, Birmingham, Selma. He shows what has happened to the Children since the 60s, as they have gone on with their lives." https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/715192.The_Children