JFK & Civil Rights

1. JFK & Civil Rights

2. an interracial group of bus riders set out to test a new law outlawing segregation in transportation terminals. The rides began in Washington, D.C. The planned route would have the riders arriving in New Orleans, Louisiana, to celebrate the May 17th anniversary of the Brown v. Board decision. Freedom Rides- 1961 Freedom Rides Route

3. The other bus managed to arrive in Birmingham, only to be greeted by an angry gang who beat the Freedom Riders. • Just outside of Anniston, Alabama, a mob attacked and fire-bombed one bus. Only the quick intervention of state safety officer saved the lives of the riders. DON’T WRITE: In Anniston, Alabama, a white mob awaited the arrival of the first bus bearing the Freedom Riders at the Greyhound station.  As it arrived, they attacked the bus with iron pipes and baseball bats and slashed its tires.  The terrified bus driver hastily drove out of the station, but the punctured tires forced the bus to pull off the road in a rural area outside of Anniston. The white mob who pursued the bus, fire bombed it and held the doors shut preventing riders from exiting the burning bus. Finally an undercover policeman drew his gun, and forced the doors to be opened. The mob pulled the Freedom Riders off the bus and beat them with iron pipes. The bus became completely engulfed in flames, and was completely destroyed. 

4. DON’T WRITE: In Birmingham, an FBI informant in the Klan learned of a detailed plan in which Police Chief Bull Conner had agreed to give the Klan 15 minutes after the bus arrived to beat the riders before local police would arrive.  The plan was reported to the FBI headquarters, but no action was taken. The Trailways station was filled with Klansmen and reporters (including Howard K. Smith). When the Freedom Riders exited the bus, they were beaten by the mob with baseball bats, iron pipes and bicycle chains, and then, battered and bleeding, they were arrested. White Freedom Riders were particularly singled out for frenzied beatings. Two riders were hospitalized, including white Freedom Rider Jim Peck with 51 stitches in his head. On May 21, 1961, the surviving contingent of Riders took a bus from Birmingham to Montgomery, Alabama, protected by a contingent of the Alabama State Highway Patrol.  However, when they reached the Montgomery city limits, the Highway Patrol abandoned them.  At the bus station, a large white mob was waiting with baseball bats and iron pipes. The local police allowed them to viciously beat the Freedom Riders uninterrupted. There is a famous picture of Jim Zwerg with blood running all down his suit. Justice Department official Seigenthaler was beaten and left unconscious lying in the street. Ambulances, manned by white attendants, refused to take the wounded to the hospital. Brave local blacks finally rescued them. A number of the Freedom Riders were hospitalized.  Jim Zwerg

5. Sep. 1962- James Meredith is barred from becoming the 1st black student to enroll Sep.-Oct. 1962- Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black orders him admitted 1962- integration of Ole Miss http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=9D23F187-CE1C-4E97-A1C0-8D51748F5E13&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

6. Jan. 1963- “I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” June 1963- stands in the schoolhouse doors of the Univ. of AL National Guard put under Pres.’s control & Univ. of AL forced to integrate (James Hood & Vivian Malone) George Wallace http://www.history.com/audio/segregationist-george-wallace-gives-press-conference#segregationist-george-wallace-gives-press-conference http://www.history.com/videos/george-wallace-opposes-intergration#george-wallace-opposes-intergration

8. Since Brown v. Board, there had been 40 bombs set off in Alabama, most in B’ham. Blacks still did not have equal access to lunch counters, rest rooms, and drinking fountains; 40 percent of the population, but no black clerks, policemen or firemen. responded to a 1962 federal court desegregation order by closing down more that a hundred playgrounds, swimming pools and parks; rather than accept interracial sports, it lost its minor league baseball team. Bombingham Eugene “Bull” Connor

9. Letter from a B’ham Jail*DON’T WRITE!* • King’s men were in low spirits when they sat in Room 30 of the Gaston Motel arguing until the early hours of Good Friday morning. Martin Luther King, Sr., the stern minister of Atlanta’s most prominent black congregation, urged his son to obey the injunction, stay out of jail and raise money. King said nothing. At length, he went silently into the bedroom and emerged in a work shirt, blue jeans, and “clodhopper” walking shoes. He was ready for jail. “There he goes. Just like Jesus,” cried black onlookers as he led a small group down Birmingham’s Fifth Avenue. Police manhandled him into a paddy wagon. Ralph Abernathy and 50 others were arrested, but King was put in solitary; in “the hole.” Lying on his metal bed, the only light a ray of spring sun filtering through prison bars far above, King was “in a nightmare of despair.” On April 16, his despair turned to anger. In a newspaper smuggled into jail, he read a denunciation of him and his movement by eight white clergymen, led by Episcopal Bishop C.C. Jones Carpenter. They condemned him as an outside agitator, his campaign as unwise and untimely and civil disobedience as unjustified because it incited hatred and violence. King began writing furiously, in the margins all over the newspaper, what would become the 20-page “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” one of the enduring documents of the American black experience, modern Christianity and freedom movements everywhere.

10. Quotes from the letter*don’t write* • Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. • We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant “Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

11. The Children’s Crusade *May 1963“Project C” • James Bevel (with some hesitation from MLK) launches his “D-Day” youth march • 900 elementary & junior high school students arrested, along with adults • Bull Connor ordered the firemen to “fire” the hoses point blank range at the children/adults and the police to let the dogs loose on them.

19. Would you be willing go to jail to challenge an unjust law? Would you let your child go to jail in an effort to overturn an unjust law?

20. Role Play • Teenager You want to participate in the meetings at the 16th Street Baptist Church. Students your age are leaving school everyday to be trained by James Bevel and other leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King. They are training students in the philosophy of nonviolence. You want to be a part of the movement to desegregate Birmingham. School is not more important than freedom! • Parent You do not want your son or daughter to go to these meetings because it is too dangerous. Furthermore, you forbid them to leave school in the middle of the day. You are afraid s/he will get arrested and you are worried about how s/he will be treated by the police. You know the police have used dogs to intimidate protestors. You are also aware that the SCLC does not have enough money to post bail for your daughter/son. Your family does not have the money to post bail.

21. American black civil-rights activist killed in front of his home in Mississippi his murder received national attention and made him a martyr to the cause of the civil rights movement. Byron de La Beckwith, a white segregationist, was charged with the murder. Don’t write: He was set free in 1964 after two trials resulted in hung juries but was convicted in a third trial held in 1994. Beckwith was given a life sentence, and in 2001 he died in prison. Medgar Evers murdered June 1963 Beckwith Medgar Evers

22. March on Washington and the I Have a Dream speechAugust 1963 http://www.mlkonline.net/sounds.html http://www.history.com/videos/martin-luther-king-jr-leads-the-march-on-washington#martin-luther-king-jr-leads-the-march-on-washington

24. Thomas Blanton, Bobby Cherry and Robert Chambliss, members of the KKK, planted 19 sticks of dynamite outside the basement of the church. The bombs exploded, killing four young girls and injuring 22 others.  DON’T WRITE BELOW PART Thomas Blanton, Jr. (1938–) was convicted in 2001 of murder Bobby Frank Cherry (1930 –2004) was convicted of murder in 2002 Robert Chambliss (1904 – 1985) was convicted in 1977 of murder for his role as conspirator *16th Street Baptist Church bombing*Birmingham, Alabama Sept. 1963 14 14 14 11

25. I Have a Dream too! Part I Directions: Create your own "I Have a Dream Too!" speech by filling in the blanks • I have a dream that one day this nation will ____________________________________ • I have a dream that one day _________________________________________________ • I have a dream that one day _________________________________________________ • I have a dream that ________________________________________________________ • I have a dream today. • I have a dream that one day _________________________________________________ • I have a dream today. • I have a dream that one day _________________________________________________ • This is my hope and faith. With this faith we will be able to _______________________ • ________________________________________________________________________ • This will be the day when __________________________________________________ • When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

26. I have a Dream too! Part II • Using your Part I, create a poster with images and words to depict your dreams. • Use 11 x 17 piece of paper • (I have the 11 x 17 paper) • On the left side of the paper, attach your Part I info. On the right side of your paper, attach pictures & words or draw the images & words • Everything should be on one side of the paper! • Be colorful and creative (I have colored paper) • DUE by Friday (April 2nd)!