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Friday, November 30, 2018

The Mueller Investigation.



The truth is known now about the Trump regime. When you have numerous Trump administration not only allies, but cabinet members resigning, being convicted, being under investigation, or just being caught in corrupt actions, then you have a problem with that Trump regime. Today, Michael Cohen (who was once an ex-Trump ally) plead guilty on lying about the Trump Tower Moscow project. The plea deal was personally signed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller is very serious in this investigation, and he has already convicted many people. Immediately, Trump has called Cohen weak and a liar when Trump is the epitome of a habitual liar. This is Cohen's second plea deal. Cohen tried to cover up Trump's ties to Russia. Today, Cohen rejects the agenda of Trump and is willing to accept his consequences while working with the Mueller team. The plea indicates that discussions about the project extended longer into the 2016 presidential campaign than Cohen had said, and involved conversations with Mr. Trump about a trip to Moscow. The ties between Russian oligarchs and Trump allies are authentic and transparent. Credico continued to give Stone updates on the upcoming Wikileaks release of numerous emails stolen from Podesta and the Clinton campaign. The emails were released beginning on October 7, 2016.

This goes back to the Russian election interference, and Mueller is investigating whether Trump used collusion to make sure that he won the 2016 election. The irony is that Michael Cohen could be the one person out of many that could bring down the Trump administration. It isn't over either. Trump faces multiple charges and investigations after he leaves office too (especially in New York state). Some of these new revelations are found in the Steele dossier. The Senate committee wants further investigations of this and to interview Cohen in Congress under oath. This is a new era of the Mueller investigation, and it's historic since Trump is known for his lies, bigotry, hatred of democratic institutions, and hopefully more positive change can happen in the future.

Michael Cohen sat down for hours in interviews with the Mueller team. In essence, Cohen admitted to lying about the Moscow Project. He admitted to wanted to set up the Trump/Russia deal involving a hotel. The Trump team never heard of this until today. Trump has lied in previously saying that he has no deals with Russia and has nothing to do with the Russians. Trump is feeling the heat which is why he is concerned. Tonight, we witness a new chapter in history. Trump could have perjured himself and impeachment could come. There is no question that the Trump regime had links to Russian authorities. Lying or perjury is an impeachable offense. We have to hope for the best that shortly that a modern authoritarianism is out of office by Congressional action. Dreams exist, and you can fulfill team with faith, action, and determination. When you have babies experiencing tear gas and the person Trump condoning this, then Trump is amoral. Mia Love talked about Donald Trump's transactional actions and how many politicians disrespect African Americans and minorities. She is right because it is no secret how Trump views people who look like me. Trump is campaigned in Mississippi for a white racist while disrespecting Mia Love in immature terms. That reality tells you all that you need to know about Trump's arrogance and habitual lying.

Yesterday was a Birthday of a great quarterback, a Super Bowl victor, a husband, a father, and a great role model. He has shown the world the truth that you don't have to be a cruel brute to be a man. You can be kindhearted, strong, caring, upright, embrace leadership, and loving to be a man. His name is Brother Russell Wilson, and it's his Birthday today. He is now 30 years old, and he was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He grew up in Richmond, Virginia where many of my relatives live at. He played football as a youth, and many of his ancestors were prominent people. For example, his paternal grandfather, Harrison B. Wilson Jr., was a former president of Norfolk State University who played football and basketball at Kentucky State University, and his paternal grandmother, Anna W. Wilson, was on the faculty at Jackson State University. As a high school player in Richmond, Virginia, he made a great career. He came into college at NC State and Wisconsin. Now, he plays for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL. In 2012, he tied Peyton Manning's record for most passing touchdowns by a rookie (26) and was named the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year. In 2013, he led the Seahawks to their first-ever Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl XLVIII over the Denver Broncos, and in 2014, led them to a second straight Super Bowl berth. Wilson has won more games (65) than any other NFL quarterback in his first six seasons and has the second highest NFL career passer rating of all time behind Aaron Rodgers, the only two quarterbacks to have a regular season career passer rating of over 100. Russell Wilson married the famous singer Ciara. Both have a great, strong spirituality and respect each others' talent in their respective fields. Russell Wilson actively is involved in charities in Seattle, fights diabetes, and helps people all of the time. I wish Brother Russell Wilson more success.

Today is a Birthday of another great person who has been part of some of the most legendary films of the 21st century. He is an actor with great talent, and his name is Brother Chadwick Boseman. His name is 41 years old, and he was born in Anderson, South Carolina. DNA testing proves that he has ancestors from Nigeria from the Yoruba and Limba from Sierra Leone. He graduated from Howard University in 2000 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Directing. He taught actors at the famous Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York. He came to act in many shows like CSI: NY. He was in the film The Express in 2008 about Ernie Davis. I saw that movie before. He also starred in sci-fi films like Captain America: Civil War. He also was in the movie 42 about the life of Jackie Robinson. In 2018, he was part of the historic Black Panther film. The Black Panther film is not only historic for us as black people, but it is a testament to the creativity found in humanity in general. It has inspired confidence in black youth and inspired actors and actresses to pursue their own dreams and aspirations. He is a religious man and continues to give back to his community. He reminds us that our excellence is in our souls and we have the right to seize the time (plus show our gifts to the world). I wish Brother Chadwick Boseman more success.

By Timothy


New Words in Late November 2018.



There is a lot of news today. First, the bad news is that Cindy Hyde-Smith won the Senate seat race in Mississippi. This isn't surprising as most voters decided to vote for a white racist who glamorized a Confederate traitor (i.e. Jefferson Davis), went into pro-segregation schools, and joked about lynching plus voter suppression. Most people in Mississippi are poor. Many of them lack health care and educational opportunities. Yet, most of them voted against their economic interests. The irony is that Epsy not only is a better candidate, but he ran a better campaign that talked about real issues. One shining light is that the South is changing. Cindy Hyde-Smith represents the last generation of the old racist class and in the near future, new progressive leadership will take over the South to make it much better. Also, Mueller said that Manafort is lying and reports say that the Manafort's lawyers have briefed the lawyers of Donald Trump. This could be an example of tampering with a witness. Also, Corsi admitted that he communicated with the reactionary Roger Stone (who supported the criminal Richard Nixon). Mueller said that there are emails showing talks between Corai and Stone on the Wikileaks email release. Corsi is the one who invented the lie that Obama wasn't born in America. Jerome Corsi is a far right person and criticizes anyone who believes in universal health care, equal rights, and social justice.

There are many people who ask me why do I support immigrants and I'm black American. Yes, I am an African American and I support immigrants because of many reasons. One reason is that they are human and when the rights of one man or one woman are threatened, then all of our rights are threatened. Also, immigrants established tons of contributions to Americans society from inventions to political development. Not too long ago in America, America had an unjust quota system that banned Chinese people, Eastern Europeans, and other ethnic groups from coming into America. It took a law in 1965 to ban the insidious quota system. Also, as a black man, I know what it is like to experience racism and discrimination. Therefore, I don't want that same bigotry that I have experienced to be enacted against an immigrant. Therefore xenophobia and racism have no place in any place in the world.

Also, many people of black African descent are immigrants, so these are my Brothers and my Sisters too. We have a so-called President condoning tear gas being used against men, women, children, and babies near the U.S./Mexico border. It doesn't get more callous than that. You have a white racist candidate in Mississippi joking about handing, voter suppression, and noses are found at the state Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi. Therefore, we have to continuously fight for our freedom. This is our land. Our ancestors lived in this land for centuries under bondage without pay (I can trace my direct ancestors to slaves too). My ancestors built up Mississippi, Virginia, and even the White House. For Trump to question Espy's right to be a candidate in Mississippi shows his wicked agenda. Trump is a notorious xenophobe and a racist. We have the right to advocate for the liberation of black people and to show respect to the sojourner. Today, there have been debates about the asylum seekers. Many U.S. authorities used tear gas against those who wanted to go to the U.S.-Mexican border. This act was excessive in my view. Trump claims that the Democrats started this crisis when it is more complex than that. For decades, many in the West exploited many Central American nations to prop up far right authoritarian rulers. Later, these rulers have brought corruption and this has caused many immigrants to leave as a means for them to survive. A comprehensive solution is needed to make sure that rights aren't just meant for us who are Americans. Rights is an universal value.

Some sad news is that another hero passed away recently in a few days ago. Her name was Sister Olivia Hooker. She was the last living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa pogrom against Black Americans. That event was when racists and even some governmental authorities used guns and even aircraft to bomb the prosperous African American community in Tulsa. They did this because of hate, racism, and jealousy. Olivia Hooker survived this tragedy and she lived to be 103 years old. She promoted African American women to be in the Navy. She worked hard to earn her PhD. and she was the first black woman to be in the Coast Guard in February 1945 during World War II. She studied psychology and helped people to achieve job opportunities. She joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary at age 95 and served as a volunteer in Yonkers, New York. She lived in White Plains, NY before her passing. She was a hero and living reminder of the value of courage. Olivia Hooker stands out as a woman who shined her light on us for over one century.
Rest in Power Sister Olivia Hooker.


Many people have learned of the news of Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. murdered by the Hoover, Alabama police recently. Emantic was not the gunman in the mall. He was an innocent man who tried to stop the violence from continuing. Witnesses said that the man wasn't a criminal. Yet, the cop murdered him quickly. April Pipkins is Mr. Bradford Jr.'s mother. She said that Bradford wanted to help people all of the time. Mr. Bradford’s father, Emantic Bradford Sr. is mourning the lost of his son too. A protest at the Alabama mall existed and people want answers. The name of the officer involved in the shooting is not released right now. This is another reminder that respectability politics doesn't work and many officers believe in the sick view of shooting first and asking questions later. I send prayers and condolences to Bradford's family and friends.

Black Lives Matter.


Monday, November 26, 2018

Nixon's Legacy.



The legacy of Richard Nixon is complicated and controversial. He represented the reactionary counterrevolution. He was a President who made history in many respects and made horrible mistakes. He had paranoia, insecurities, jealousies, and a hatred of revolutionary progressive activism. Now, it is the time to outline the breadth of his presidency from the beginning to the end. He used the Southern Strategy for him to win the 1968 election. The Southern Strategy was about Nixon appealing to mostly white blue collar workers to gain votes in the Midwest and the South. Many of these people were former New Deal Democrats who switched to vote for Republicans by 1968. Richard Nixon was clear that he wanted law and order, opposed many policies of the civil rights movement, he tried to attack liberalism, and he supported the repression of progressive protesters. He promised to end the Vietnam War with the phrase of ‘peace with honor.” He made many changes regarding Cold War policies as well. Nixon constantly talked about the silent majority or those in middle American (mostly white Americans) who agreed with his plans. It is no secret that Nixon hated student activists, Black Power leaders, and media figures who questioned him. Vice President Spiro Agnew was known to attack the media and student leaders too.

His Presidency started in January of 1969. His inaugural address called for national unity in the midst of political divisions. He criticized the big government programs of Johnson but believed that most Americans wanted government involvement in combating pollution. He was obsessed with getting tough on crime rhetoric. Before the 1970’s, Americans profoundly believed in the us vs them mentality in dealing with Communism worldwide. Nixon allied with Henry Kissinger to formulate a new Cold War policy. Nixon was a conservative Republican. Progressives promoted a new politics with intellectuals, people of color, women, environmentalists, and activists plus feminists in supporting social justice causes (as explained by Newfield). Conservatives grew in power in the Sunbelt in the Southwest and the South. New industries dealing with technology, space exploration, and aerospace, in general, flourished (in Miami, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, etc.). Many former liberals became neoconservatives or conservatives. They were more concerned with decentralization and war mongering foreign policy than progressive pro-general welfare policies. Many of these same neo-conservatives were complicit in the future disastrous Iraq War policy.
The resurgent Right was made up of conservative religious people, libertarians, former liberals, pro-Vietnam War activists, and hardcore Republicans. These human beings were increasingly Republican. Henry Kissinger is a moderate East Coast political figure.  Kissinger was educated at Harvard and was a Jewish émigré from Germany. They promoted the realpolitik philosophy. This view was that American interests must be developed in dealing with the Cold War beyond any ideological views. They wanted to use tactics to make China and the Soviet Union break against each other so American interests would dominate international affairs more thoroughly. They viewed foreign policy in complex terms instead of monolithic interpretations. Nixon and Kissinger didn’t believe in a monolithic communist conspiracy to rule the world as LBJ thought. They knew of the nuisance, different communist policies in North Korea, Yugoslavia, North Vietnam, and in other locations. That is why Nixon focused more on international affairs than domestic policy affairs during his Presidency.

Nixon, as early as 1969, wanted a different relationship with China. China back then wasn’t recognized by the United Nations. The Nationalist government of Taiwan was recognized by America more than China. Nixon wanted to reach out to China because of many nations. China is the most populous nation on Earth. Nixon felt that if they allied with U.S. markets, then U.S. markets would benefit economically with tons of consumers. Also, Nixon was known as an anti-communist radical, so many saw Nixon as having more credibility in following this new course. He also wanted to divide China and the Soviet Union. If China had normal relations with the Americans, then Nixon felt that the Soviet Union would be weakened. He also wanted China to pressure North Vietnam to establish a negotiated peace to end the Vietnam War. By April 1971, China publicly wanted American leaders to talk with them. Henry Kissinger worked with Premier Zhou Enlai on setting up a meeting. By February 1972, President Nixon visited China and the Great Wall. Later, Americans increasingly visited China and America normalized relations with China. That was a significant historical development. By 1979, full diplomatic ties were formed between America and China. The Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev feared that Nixon working with China would weaken his nation. So, he wanted a meeting with Nixon. Nixon came into Moscow in May 1972. Nixon and Brezhnev formed agreements on many issues. Nixon told Congress on June 1, 1972, said that he and the Soviets agreed to fight environmental pollution and fight cancer plus heart disease. Nixon considered a joint U.S./USSR space mission. He and the Soviets signed Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty of SALT I. This froze the deployment of ICBMs or intercontinental ballistic missiles. It gave limits to ABMs or anti-ballistic missiles. It didn’t alter dangerous multiple independent reentry vehicles or MIRVs. It was a step towards détente. This was a more pragmatic approach toward Cold War political engagement. Domestically, Richard Nixon believed in new federalism or stripping powers from the federal government and sending it to the states and local communities. He stated this goal in his 1971 State of the Union address. He ironically allowed the creation of new federal government programs like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in regulating workplaces to make them safer. He supported the War on Drugs and helped to form the DEA or the Drug Enforcement Administration. He saw the creation of EPA or the Environmental Protection Agency that enforced environmental standards. He signed the 1970 Clean Air Act. He also cut welfare by him decreasing of the power of the Office of Economic Opportunity. This was a crucial part of LBJ’s Great Society and the war on poverty agenda. He enacted a Family Assistance Plan to try to give a minimum income to every American family. The FAP didn’t become law. Federal spending on social programs like Medicare, public housing, etc. grew.


Richard Nixon executed the repressive programs of the FBI against progressive activism. Such FBI suppression efforts existed long before 1969 too. During Nixon’s time, the economy experienced struggles with stagflation or inflation and recession at the same time. Attorney General John Mitchell indicted tons of people from the antiwar, women's Chicano, Black Power, and Native American movements. Nixon in May of 1969 ordered the illegal monitoring of various reporters and 13 members of his own National Security Council. Nixon pressured the FCC and news companies to downplay the anti-war movements' protests. This was caused in part by the burden of the Vietnam War from LBJ’s time. It grew under Nixon’s Presidency. More spending on Vietnam grew inflation. More inflation means that prices on goods and services will increase which stagnates the economy.

Also, economic problems existed because of more competition for the economy by West Germany, Western Europe in general, and Japan (which flourished in part by the Marshall Plan and American investments). Their economics grew industries like steel and automobiles. Foreign competition increased the burden on the U.S. economy. Some Americans lost jobs. Also, the price of oil increased. During the 1973 Arabic war against Israel, Arabic members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) issued a boycott or embargo on Israel’s allies including America. They did this since America supported Israel in the Yom Kippur war. Oil prices increased by 400 percent. Gas lines existed by 1974. Nixon responded to stagflation by having a 90-day freeze on all wages and prices. It worked for a short time, and economic growth existed. Long-term, price control couldn’t stabilize the economy, and the economy became worse by the mid-1970’s. Domestically, busing was a big issue in the Nixon presidency. Busing was about making integration real by using busing to send students to various schools in making them heterogeneous ethnically. Supporters of busing believe that it promotes integration. Opponents of busing say that it violated parents’ rights, states’ rights, and community schooling. Some people who opposed busing were racists also. Nixon promoted conservative judges in the court system. Both Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell failed to be in the Supreme Court since they supported segregation years prior. Nixon opposed court-ordered busing. He reached out to southern whites and urban blue collar workers. The federal court ordered school busing in 1971. Nixon wanted a freeze on it. He also believed in black capitalism and the Philadelphia Plan (which was about affirmative action with timetables to give federal contractors and labor unions to give consideration to women and minorities in employment and education). Black capitalism (or Nixon wanted investments in black corporations to help black people) was opposed by the Black Panthers since it benefits mostly the upper middle and wealthy of the black community. Also, the Black Panthers were socialistic.

Newly released tapes show that Richard Nixon didn't care about black people. He allocated few funds to black businesses. Nixon cut other federal programs that were helping people of color. He refused to support the extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and he lobbied Congress to try to defeat the fair housing enforcement program.  Richard Nixon opposed making Dr. King's birthday a national holiday. That is why civil rights leaders opposed Nixon for his evil record on civil rights. Nixon’s Southern Strategy caused him to have a significant victory in the 1972 election. His Democratic opponent was George McGovern. McGovern was a sincere liberal who opposed the Vietnam War and wanted social justice. By 1972, the Democratic Party moved into the left, and this was one of the few times when an unapologetic liberal ran for President. Nixon had immense popularity, and McGovern lost the election. Wallace ran for President and ended it when a gunman shot him. He was later paralyzed for the remainder of his life. Nixon tried to portray himself as moderate, and he condemned McGovern as an extremist when McGovern wasn’t. Spiro Agnew continued to be Nixon’s Vice President. Nearly every electoral vote came for Nixon, and 60.7 percent of the popular vote also went for Nixon while 37.5 percent of the popular vote came for McGovern. Richard Nixon was the first Republican President to sweep the South. Nixon ended mandatory wage, price, and rent ceiling regulations. This caused a hike in inflation since the price controls were stopped. With the Kent State disaster, the illegal bombing of Cambodia, the Pentagon Papers were released, and the other revelations, Nixon decided to be stubborn and maintain his views.

In the midst of his victory, storm clouds came his way. It was Watergate. Even in 1972, Watergate was discussed, but it wasn't the primary political discussion. Things would change. June 1972 was the time when right-wing extremists had a botched burglary at the Democratic Party headquarters (called Watergate in D.C.). The Watergate burglars were in trial by 1973. One burglar was named James McCord. He said that Nixon administration officials were involved in the break-in. James McCord was part of the Committee to Re-Elect the President as a security chief. This group was known as CREEP, and it was head by former attorney general John Mitchell. CREEP used intelligence monitoring of Democratic candidate drinking and sexual habits to try to discredit them. CREEP (one member of this group was G. Gordon Liddy) used false literature and other lies in trying to defeat Democratic opponents. The Senate investigated this charge. Hearings existed. Many witnesses said that President Nixon and his top aides were involved in the cover-up. Nixon denied any wrongdoing. As time went on, investigators found links between the burglars and top Nixon administration officials. Young Washington Post journalists named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein helped to expose Watergate for the public. A source called “Deep Throat” gave them sources on the events. Deep Throat was later found to be an FBI official. Woodward and Bernstein reported that the men who tried to burglarize the Watergate hotel had total links to the Nixon reelection committee. Nixon proclaimed his innocence multiple times. Nixon said the famous “I am not a crook” in November 1973. Most Americans viewed Nixon as not honest about the Watergate scandal. Congress had to act. By the fall of 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in the face of a corruption scandal. Agnew was caught accepting bribes and evading income taxes. He was a hypocrite. Nixon named Gerald Ford as the new Vice President as following the 25th Amendment. Nixon secretly taped his White House conversations. Some believed that those tapes would show his role in covering up the break-in. June 1973 was when former White House counsel John Dean would tell investigators that Nixon authorized a cover-up. Nixon refused to release the tapes citing executive privilege. This was in July 1973. By October of 1973, Nixon wanted to reveal summaries of the recordings.

Justice Department special prosecutor Archibald Cox refused to do this, so Nixon fired him. He fired other people that was known as the Saturday Night Massacre. People protested that decisions and newspapers called for Nixon to resign. Calls for impeachment grows loudly. Many people from the Nixon team are indicted by March 1974 for conspiracy in the Watergate break-in. Nixon was named as an unindicted co-conspirator. The Supreme Court in July 1974 (via the United States v. Nixon) unanimously voted that Nixon must release White House recordings as required by the new special prosecutor.  Chief Justice Warren Burger explicitly rejected Nixon’s claim of executive privilege. The House Judiciary Committee recommended impeachment. By August of 1974, transcripts of tapes show that Nixon ordered a cover-up of the Watergate break-in. The House Judiciary Committee approved the action to impeach Nixon for the crimes of obstructing justice in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in, misuse of power, refusing to comply with House subpoenas. Many Republicans wanted Nixon to be impeached too. By August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. President to resign since he faced impeachment.  Nixon’s crimes weren’t just about Watergate. It was about him using dirty tricks to secure his election, forming an enemies list in allowing the federal government to harass his opponents, and using wiretaps against reporters plus others who disagreed with his administration. Watergate shocked the confidence of the American people in governmental institutions. It showed the world that no President is above the law. Trust in government went down. Nixon never saw prison. 25 Nixon Nixon administration officials would go prison including Ehrlichman, Haldeman, and Mitchell. Nixon who lectured others on "law and order" was one of the most lawless and corrupt Presidents of American history. The aftermath of Watergate made Congress pass many laws to promote government transparency and ethics like the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments in 1974, the Freedom of Information Act in 1974, the Government in Sunshine Act of 1976, and the Ethics in Government Act in 1978. Watergate showed that we need checks and balances in any government. The nation weathered and survived and political storms, and later Gerald Ford would be President. Gerald Ford’s time as President was brief but critical in American history.

By Timothy







The End of the Vietnam War.


The last 11 years of American involvement in the Vietnam War caused global change. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident, President Johnson decided to retaliate. LBJ allowed the first overt American bombing of North Vietnam. He gave a midnight TV appearance saying that the attack will not be part of a wider war. Soon, two Navy jets were shot down. There was the first American prisoner of war named Lt. Everett Alvarez of San Jose, California. He was taken to a prison in Hanoi called the Hanoi Hilton. Almost six hundred American airmen would be POWs. Back then, 85 percent of Americans supported President Johnson’s bombing decision. Many newspapers editorials supported the President. The Defense Secretary McNamara lobbied Congress to pass the resolution to promote the Vietnam War. He was confronted by Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon. He had been tipped off by someone in the Pentagon that the Maddox had in fact been involved in the South Vietnamese commando raids against North Vietnam and thus was not the victim of an "unprovoked" attack. McNamara responds that the U.S. Navy "...played absolutely no part in, was not associated with, was not aware of, any South Vietnamese actions, if there were any..." Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964. This gave large power to President Johnson involving war policy. The Resolution passed unanimously in the House and 98-2 in the Senate. The only Senators voting against the Resolution are Wayne Morse, and Ernest Gruening of Alaska who said: "all Vietnam is not worth the life of a single American boy." Many Buddhists protested against General Khanh’s military regime. Khanh later resigned as the sole leader and promoted a triumvirate with himself, General Minh, and General Khiem by August 21, 1964. Saigon had chaos, and mob violence grows. President Johnson continues to say that he doesn’t want extensive American involvement in the Vietnam War during his 1964 Presidential campaign. He said, “We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves."

By September 1964, LBJ and his aides in the White House discussed the future course of action. China had troops on the Vietnamese border in response to American military action in Vietnam. By November 1, 1964, North Vietnam forces attacked Americans at Bien Hoa airbase. Five Americans were killed, two South Vietnamese people were killed, and nearly 100 people were injured. Johnson dismissed all recommendations for a retaliatory air strike against North Vietnam. LBJ was re-elected by November 3, 1964. The Democrats had large majorities in the House and in the Senate. 10,000 NVA soldiers use the Ho Chi Minh trail to send supplies to North Vietnamese troops. December 1, 1964, was when President Johnson's top aides, including Secretary of State Dean Rusk, National Security Advisor George Bundy, and Defense Secretary McNamara, recommend a policy of gradual escalation of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. Another coup happened on December 29, 1964. This was when General Khanh worked with other leaders like Nguyen Cao Ky and Nguyen Van Thieu to oust older generals like General Minh from power. Ambassador Taylor was angry over these coups and criticized young officers at the U.S. embassy. General Khanh then criticized Taylor and the U.S. by saying that the U.S. wants to follow colonialism in its treatment of South Vietnam. By the end of 1964, a car bomb hit the Brinks Hotel where American officers lived at. 2 Americans were killed 58 were wounded. LBJ dismissed recommendations for a retaliatory air strike against North Vietnam. American military advisers were about 23,000 by the end of 1964. About 170,000 Viet Cong/NVA forces fought in South Vietnam.

1965 was the start of the military war growing into a higher level in Vietnam. General Khanh controlled all of the South Vietnamese government. Johnson aides, National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, sent a memo to the President stating that America's limited military involvement in Vietnam is not succeeding, and that the U.S. has reached a 'fork in the road' in Vietnam and must either soon escalate or withdraw (on January 27, 1965). This was the turning point. After this, LBJ ordered attacks on North Vietnamese targets by February of 1965. He also promoted Marines to protect the military air base at Da Nang by February 22, 1965. Her advanced Operation Rolling Thunder on March 2, 1965, where American fighters in about 100 attacked targets in North Vietnamese. This continued until 1968. More Marines came about. Operation Market Time was when the South Vietnamese Navy and the U.S. Navy fought North Vietnamese targets. The U.S. embassy in Saigon was bombed. More Marines are sent. By April 17, 1965, 15,000 students protested against the U.S. bombing campaign. LBJ wanted Hanoi to negotiate, but that fails. Nguyen Cao Ky ran South Vietnam by June 18, 1965.

Both sides attacked each other. A U.S. Marine rifle company destroyed suspected Viet Cong villages near Da Nang. It caused controversy. By August of 1965, President Johnson banned draft card burning. Anti-war rallies grew in 40 cities and in London plus other international cities by October 16, 1965. As the war continued, American forces continue to fight using the Army, Marines, Air Force, and the Navy. Ky faced new problems of more resistance to his regime. 1967 was when the anti-Vietnam war movement reached into new heights of power. On January 23, 1967, Senator J. William Fulbright published The Arrogance of Power a book critical of American war policy in Vietnam advocating direct peace talks between the South Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong. By this time, Fulbright and President Johnson are no longer on speaking terms. Instead, the President uses the news media to deride Fulbright, Robert Kennedy, and a growing number of critics in Congress as "nervous Nellies" and "sunshine patriots."

About 4.5 billion dollars from Congress fund the war by March 8, 1967. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. opposed the war in New York City’s Riverside Baptist Church with a great speech on April 4, 1967. On April 15, 1967, Anti-war demonstrations occur in New York and San Francisco involving nearly 200,000. Rev. Martin Luther King declared that the war was undermining President Johnson's Great Society social reform programs, "...the pursuit of this widened war has narrowed the promised dimensions of the domestic welfare programs, making the poor white and Negro bear the heaviest burdens both at the front and at home." Peace initiatives come about and fail. Protests in the Pentagon existed. At the end of 1967, Eugene McCarthy ran for President on an anti-war platform. 463,000 troops came into Vietnam by the end of 1963 with 16,000 combat deaths. The Tet Offensive in early 1968 harmed American morale. Americans had a victory, but it showed the world that the Vietnam War was a long circumstance. In 1968, more pressure came unto Johnson to promote a peaceful, negotiated settlement. The My Lai massacre happened in 1968. The Wise Men in March of 1968 wanted the President to withdraw troops from Vietnam. April 4, 1968, was when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. It was a tragic time. RFK was assassinated at June 1968. The Democratic Party was split, and Nixon promoted the view of peace with honor. His problem was that he secretly stopped negotiations between South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and America for his plan to be promoted. LBJ accused Nixon of doing treason by preventing a negotiated settlement to the war from happening in 1968. The end of the Vietnam War was bitter. Nixon contradicted himself by having the draft ended and gradually eliminated troops, but he illegally sent troops into Cambodia, and he expanded bombings in many cases. Nixon followed the view of Vietnamization or gradually sending American troops home while building up the South Vietnamese armies to defend South Vietnam. It didn't work. Scandals ended his Presidency. Henry Kissinger organized settlements, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Without a large number of American troops in Vietnam by the early 1970's, North Vietnamese forces came massively into South Vietnam to win the war by April 30, 1975.


By Timothy

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Thanksgiving 2018 Part 4



Image result for wwi 100 years later


Conclusion


It has been over 100 years after WWI. A lot of things have changed with society having a more  service economy and dealing with information technology now than back then. Yet, some issues remain even after one century. Trump didn't want to go to one cemetery in France because of the rain which is disrespectful in my eyes. Also, while Trump praised nationalism, WWI existed in part because of nationalism, militarism, alliances, and capitalist markets competing against each other. WWI occurred because imperial powers wanted to lust after resources in Europe, Asia, Africa, and other places of the world. Marcon talked about patriotism being antithetical to nationalism, but Marcon also praised the pro-Nazi enemy named Petain. Also, Marcon said racist comments about Africa. You can Google this too. Therefore, Trump is no hero and doesn't deserve respect. Likewise, we have to look at the bigger picture about how xenophobia is throughout both Europe and America. Hate crimes against immigrants including black people exist in Germany, Italy, and other places of the world. Trump's radical nationalism is only permitting more trade wars and agitation that doesn't equate into international peace. Because of Trump's actions, we have Marcon saying that he wants the EU to have an army to try to act as a buffer against Russia, China, and even America. Trump questions elections, hates the press that disagrees with him, and abhors the rule of law. So, we must be firm to defend democratic rights even when Trump is an enemy of democracy. We have to be abreast of domestic and international affairs, so our minds are comprehensively grown.

The extreme right wing person Jair Bolsonaro is the President of Brazil now. In Brazil, many Afro-Brazilians and the poor suffer in favellas. The police is replaced with the military to monitor the favellas. There is also a serious problem of Afro-Brazilians being murdered by the police or military forces in Brazil. Also, we have to realize the threat to democracy by Trump. Involving Puerto Rico, he has failed to advance an adequate federal response to help the people in that location. He has revoked the immigration status of black and Latino immigrants. He once allowed the splitting of families and their children at the Southern border. He refused to strongly enforce civil rights enforcement and he has promoted an immigration ban involving many majority Muslim nations. He is a stone cold racist and xenophobe. That is evidence about his profane tirade about majority black nations and his words that a Mexican American judge can't be involved in an immigration case because of his Mexican heritage (which is the textbook definition of racism). He defended white neo-Confederates and Neo-Nazis in Charlotessville, Virginia by calling them "nice people." This isn't new either. Woodrow Wilson segregated D.C. America itself was founded by slavery and the genocide of Native Americans. Chinese people were once banned to go into America. Black slaves were split from their families constantly during the antebellum period. Many of my immediate ancestors were slaves like Esther Brickhouse Bailey (who was born in 1862 and she was my 2nd great grandmother). So, we have a long way to go. Yet, we have hope. I believe in black liberation and we should unite with working class people, the poor, and any oppressed people in achieving justice for all.

It is essential always to have hope. You being born during this time is a miracle. The reason is that we are all made up of DNA including millions of cells with specific functions. Also, many of our ancestors experienced societies a whole lot harsher than our time. We are blessed enough to witness advanced technological developments and other improvements in our standards of living regarding ways to increase life expectancy. Industrialization caused more urbanization, and it inspired the labor rights movement to fight for the legitimate reforms of collective bargaining and higher wages. The Industrial Revolution also had a price with massive pollution during the 20th century. Tons of New Yorkers and Londoners died as a product of air pollution during the 1950's which is why environmental regulations existed to improve air quality. Likewise, we have other issues or problems from economic inequality to outright poverty. That is why we have to maintain the faith in our souls. Faith without works is dead. So, we can have faith and get out to work in favor of the principle of justice too. Life merits our participation, therefore, we will humbly be part of the solution. We know the problems of our world are. It is also essential to develop solutions since we have imaginative minds as human beings. We can form abstract thoughts, we can invent, and we have the capacity to self-reflect.


Part of the solution is a working-class coalition with the poor including other oppressed communities in fighting for living wages, universal health care, a stronger infrastructure, better education, the protection of our civil liberties, a stronger environment, compassion to the poor, and other progressive aims that represent the best of our ideologies. Yes, this requires a radical redistribution of political and economic power as the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has said and written before. Not to mention that we must always continue to confront police brutality. We have to embrace the truth that progress is more than about individual pursuits. Progress deals with the collective benefit of communities as a whole. In order words, we must confront systematic oppression and other evils for us to build up society. That means that inanimate objects, which are used to kill, are not superior in value to human life. There is nothing wrong with our individuality, but we also need to embrace the collective power found within us to establish a better civilization.


By Timothy

Thanksgiving 2018 Part 3



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The History of the United States of America Part 7 (1945-1964): Part II

The Early Civil Rights Movement (1945-1964)

It is always important to recognize the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. It was a movement that existed long before the 20th century, but whose impact is national in America plus global internationally. Also, it is important to note that the Civil Rights Movement was a collective movement of brave women, brave men, and brave children who worked together to fight for the freedom of black people and humanity in general. The leaders of this movement desired freedom and justice. Many of them were murdered, abused, mocked, and slandered, but they continued onward in their cause for human liberation. By 1945, the world has changed. From April 5-6, 1945, it was  the time of the Freeman Field Mutiny. This was when black officers of the U.S. Army Air Corps wanted to desegregate an all white officers’ club in Indiana. In August of 1945, the first issue of Ebony was released. Ebony shined the light of black culture and inspired people to promote Blackness unapologetically. In 1946, in  Morgan v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated provisions of the Virginia Code which required the separation of white and black passengers where applied to interstate bus transport. The state law is unconstitutional insofar as it is burdening interstate commerce – an area of federal jurisdiction. In the same year of 1946, black police officers existed for the first time in Daytona Beach, DeLand, Sanford, Fort Myers, Myers, Tampa, and Gainesville (in Florida). Black officers existed in  Little Rock, Arkansas; Louisville, Kentucky; Charlotte, North Carolina; Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio in Texas; Richmond, Virginia; Chattanooga and Knoxville in Tennessee. Paul Robeson (who was a renowned actor and singer) founded the American Crusade Against Lynching organization. Robeson was a great hero who  spoke out against imperialism, against colonialism, against racism, against capitalist exploitation, and against all injustices.

The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE did something on April 9, 1947. CORE wanted equality. On that date, CORE sent 16 men on the Journey of Reconciliation to protest Jim Crow apartheid. Jackie Robinson played his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. This was the first time when a black baseball player played in the major leagues in 60 years. From Slavery to Freedom was the classic book written by John Hope Franklin in 1947 as well. John Hope Franklin was one of the greatest historians of all time. In 1948, the United United Nations, Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights banned slavery globally. On January 12, 1948, in Sipuel v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla., the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the State of Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma Law School could not deny admission based on race ("color"). By May 3, 1948, in Shelley v. Kraemer and companion case Hurd v. Hodge, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government cannot enforce racially restrictive covenants and asserts that they are in conflict with the nation's public policy. On July 12, 1948, Hubert Humphrey gave a courageous speech in favor of American civil rights and racial equality at the Democratic National Convention. Many white racist segregationists walked out to form their short-lived Dixiecrat party. On July 26, 1948,  President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 ordering the end of racial discrimination in the Armed Forces. Desegregation comes after 1950. Also, in 1949, the city of Atlanta hired its first black police officers. On January 20, 1949, the Civil Rights Congress protested the second inauguration of Harry S. Truman.

In June 5, 1950, in McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a public institution of higher learning could not provide different treatment to a student solely because of his or her race. By June 5, 1950, in Sweatt v. Painter the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a separate-but-equal Texas law school was actually unequal, partly in that it deprived black students from the collegiality of future white lawyers. In the same day, in Henderson v. United States the U.S. Supreme Court abolished segregation in railroad dining cars. The University of Virginia, under a federal court order, admitted a black student to its law school. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights was created in Washington, DC to promote the enactment and enforcement of effective civil rights legislation and policy in 1950. In the same year, Orlando hired its first black officers, Dr. Ralph Bunche won the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize, and another thing happened. In 1950, Chuck Cooper, Nathaniel Clifton and Earl Lloyd break the barriers, so they were in the NBA.

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The Martinsville Seven were executed on February 2 and 5 1951. In February 15, 1951, the Maryland legislature ended segregation on trains and boats; meanwhile Georgia legislature votes to deny funds to schools that integrate. On April 23, 1951, high school  students in Farmville, Virginia, go on strike: the case Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County is heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 as part of Brown v. Board of Education. Segregation is upheld by a federal court ruling in South Carolina public schools on June 23, 1951. White residents riot in Cicero, Illinois when a black family tried to move into an apartment in the all-white suburb of Chicago; National Guard disperses them by July 1951. The United States Army high command desegregated the Army by July 26, 1951.  "We Charge Genocide" petition presented to United Nations by the Civil Rights Congress accused the United States of violating the Genocide Convention existed by December 17, 1951. The Civil Rights Congress was right. By December 24, 1951, the home of  NAACP activists Harry and Harriette Moore in Mims, Florida, was bombed by a KKK group; both die of injuries. In December 28, 1951, the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL) was founded in Cleveland, Mississippi by T.R.M. Howard, Amzie Moore, Aaron Henry, and other civil rights activists. Assisted by member Medgar Evers, the RCNL distributed more than 50,000 bumper stickers bearing the slogan, "Don't Buy Gas Where you Can't Use the Restroom." This boycott campaign successfully pressured many Mississippi service stations to provide restrooms for black Americans. On January 5, 1951, the racist Governor of Georgia Herman Talmadge criticized television shows for depicting black people and whites as equal.

By January 28, 1951, there was Briggs v. Elliott: after a District Court had ordered separate but equal school facilities in South Carolina, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case as part of Brown v. Board of Education. On March 7, 1952, another federal court upheld segregated education laws in Virginia. By April 1, 1952,  Chancellor Collins J. Seitz finds for the black plaintiffs (Gebhart v. Belton, Gebhart v. Bulah) and ordered the integration of Hockessin elementary and Claymont High School in Delaware based on assessment of "separate but equal" public school facilities required by the Delaware constitution. On September 4, 1952, eleven black students attend the first day of school at Claymont High School, Delaware, becoming the first black students in the 17 segregated states to integrate a white public school. The day occurs without incident or notice by the community. On the next day, the Delaware State Attorney General informed Claymont Superintendent Stahl that the black students will have to go home because the case is being appealed. Stahl, the School Board and the faculty refused and the students remain.

The two Delaware cases are argued before the Warren U.S. Supreme Court by Redding, Greenberg and Marshall and are used as an example of how integration can be achieved peacefully. It was a primary influence in the Brown v. Board case. The students become active in sports, music and theater. The first two black students graduated in June 1954 just one month after the Brown v. Board case. Ralph Ellison authored the novel Invisible Man in 1952. It exposed racism in real terms and the novel won the National Book Award. Segregation laws were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 8, 1953. By August 13, 1953, Executive Order 10479 was signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as it established the anti-discrimination Committee on Government Contracts. In the landmark case Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, WAC Sarah Keys, represented by civil rights lawyer Dovey Roundtree, became the first black human being to challenge "separate but equal" in bus segregation before the Interstate Commerce Commission (on Sepember 1, 1953). Also in 1953, James Baldwin’s semi-autobiographical novel Go Tell It on the Mountain was published. It was ahead of its time.

On May 3, 1954, in Hernandez v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Mexican Americans and all other racial groups in the United States are entitled to equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The historic day of May 17, 1954 was when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the "separate but equal" doctrine in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans. and in Bolling v. Sharpe, thus overturning Plessy v. Ferguson. July 30, 1954 was when at  a special meeting in Jackson, Mississippi called by Governor Hugh White, T.R.M. Howard of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, along with nearly one hundred other black leaders, publicly refused to support a segregationist plan to maintain "separate but equal" in exchange for a crash program to increase spending on black schools. On September 2, 1954, in Montgomery, Alabama, 23 black children are prevented from attending all-white elementary schools, defying the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Washington, D.C. ended segregated education and Baltimore, Maryland does the same thing on September 8, 1954. On September 15, 1954, protests by white parents in White Sulphur Springs, WV forced schools to postpone desegregation another year. This was the start of the white resistance movement against desegregation.

Mississippi responded to the Brown v. Board of education decision by abolishing all public schools with an amendment to its state constitution on September 16, 1954.  Integration of a high school in Milford, Delaware collapsed when white students boycotted classes on September 30. There were students demonstrations against integration of Washington, D.C. public schools on October 4, 1954. By October 19, 1954, the federal  judge upheld an Oklahoma law requiring African American candidates to be identified on voting ballots as "negro"..” The total completion of the desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces were said to be finished by October 30, 1954. By November 1954, Charles Diggs, Jr., of Detroit is elected to Congress, the first African American elected from Michigan. Marie Frankie Muse Freeman was the lead attorney for the landmark NAACP case Davis et al. v. the St. Louis Housing Authority, which ended legal racial discrimination in public housing with the city. Constance Baker Motley was also an attorney for NAACP: it was a rarity to have two women attorneys leading such a high-profile case.

On January 7, 1955, Marian Anderson (of 1939 fame) became the first African American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10590, which established the President's Committee on Government Policy to enforce a nondiscrimination policy in Federal employment on January 15, 1955. Demonstrators from CORE and Morgan State University stage a successful sit-in to desegregate Read's Drug Store in Baltimore, Maryland on January 20, 1955. On April 5, 1955, Mississippi passed a law penalizing white students who attend school with black Americans with jail and fines. NAACP and Regional Council of Negro Leadership activist Reverend George W. Leeis was killed in Belzoni, Mississippi on May 7, 1955. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in "Brown II" that desegregation must occur with "all deliberate speed" on May 31, 1955. The University of Oklahoma decided to allow black students on June 8, 1955. Virginia’s governor and Board of Education decided to continue segregated schools into 1956. The NAACP won a U.S. Supreme Court suit which ordered the University of Alabama to admit Autherine Lucy by June 29, 1955. A federal appeals court overturned segregation on Columbia, SC buses.

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On July 11, 1955, the Georgia Board of Education ordered that any teacher supporting integration be fired. On August 13, 1955, Regional Council of Negro Leadership registration activist Lamar Smith is murdered in Brookhaven, Mississippi. On August 28, 1955, the teenager Emmett Till was murdered in Money, Mississippi. The women admitted that she lied about Till. Till was captured, kidnapped, abused, and murdered. His face shown inspired more civil rights leaders to fight injustice. It started the modern day Civil Rights Movement as we know it. By November 7, 1955, The Interstate Commerce Commission bans bus segregation in interstate travel in Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, extending the logic of Brown v. Board to the area of bus travel across state lines. On the same day, the U.S. Supreme Court bans segregation on public parks and playgrounds. The governor of Georgia responds that his state would "get out of the park business" rather than allow playgrounds to be desegregated. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus, starting the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This occurs nine months after 15-year-old high school student Claudette Colvin became the first to refuse to give up her seat. Colvin's was the legal case which eventually ended the practice in Montgomery. Roy Wilkins became the NAACP executive secretary by 1955 too. On January 9, 1956, Virginia voters and representatives decide to fund private schools with state money to maintain segregation.

On January 16, 1956,  FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover writes a rare open letter of complaint directed to civil rights leader Dr. T.R.M. Howard after Howard charged in a speech that the "FBI can pick up pieces of a fallen airplane on the slopes of a Colorado mountain and find the man who caused the crash, but they can't find a white man when he kills a Negro in the South." Governors of Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia agree to block integration of schools on January 24. The racist Virginia legislature passes a resolution that the U.S. Supreme Court integration decision was an "illegal encroachment" on February 1, 1955. By February 3, Autherine Lucy is admitted to the University of Alabama. Whites riot for days, and she is suspended. Later, she is expelled for her part in further legal action against the university. Later, Lucy would graduate from college. The policy of Massive Resistance is declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. on February 24, 1956. Later, the Southern Manifesto, opposing integration of schools, is created and signed by members of the Congressional delegations of Southern states, including 19 senators and 81 members of the House of Representatives, notably the entire delegations of the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia.

On March 12, it is released to the press. Wilmington, Delaware had its school board to end segregation on February 13. 90 black leaders in Montgomery, Alabama were arrested for leading a bus boycott on February 22. By February 29, 1955, the racist Mississippi legislature declares U.S. Supreme Court integration decision "invalid" in that state. The racist Alabama legislature votes to ask for federal funds to deport blacks to northern states on March 1, 1956. By March 12th, the U.S. Supreme Court orders the University of Florida to admit a black law school applicant "without delay.” On March 22, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sentenced to fine or jail for instigating Montgomery bus boycott, suspended pending appeal. Singer Nat King Cole is assaulted during a segregated performance at Municipal Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama.

This took place on April 11 and Nat King Cole never performed in the Deep South again. On April 23, the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down segregation on buses nationwide. Circuit Judge Walter B. Jones issues an injunction prohibiting the NAACP from operating in Alabama by May 26, 1956. The Tallahassee, Florida bus boycott started on May 28, 1956. On June 5, 1956, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) is founded at a mass meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. Teargas and National Guard used to quell segregationists rioting in Clinton, TN; 12 black students enter high school under Guard protection. Smaller disturbances occur in Mansfield, TX and Sturgis, KY. All of this transpired from September 2-11, 1956. Just in September 10, two black students are prevented by a mob from entering a junior college in Texarkana, Texas. Schools in Louisville, KY are successfully desegregated.

On September 12, four black children enter an elementary school in Clay, KY under National Guard protection; white students boycott. The school board bars the 4 again on September 17. Louisiana banned integrated athletic or social events in October 15. Nat King Cole hosts the first show of The Nat King Cole Show. The show went off the air after only 13 months because no national sponsor could be found. This started on November 5. On November 13, 1956, in Browder v. Gayle, the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Alabama laws requiring segregation of buses. This ruling, together with the ICC's 1955 ruling in Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach banning "Jim Crow laws" in bus travel among the states, is a landmark in outlawing "Jim Crow" in bus travel. Federal marshals enforced the ruling to desegregate bus systems in Montgomery. This was in December 20. On December 24, African Americans in Tallahassee, Florida started to defy segregation on city buses.  The parsonage in Birmingham, Alabama occupied by Fred Shuttlesworth, movement leader, is bombed. Shuttlesworth receives only minor scrapes on December 25. The next day, the ACMHR tests the Browder v. Gayle ruling by riding in the white sections of Birmingham city buses. 22 demonstrators are arrested. In that same year, the racist Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission formed.
Director J. Edgar Hoover orders the FBI to begin the COINTELPRO program to investigate and disrupt "dissident" groups within the United States.

By February 8, 1957, the racist Georgia Senate voted to declare the 14th and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution null and void in that state. On February 14, 1957, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was formed. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is named after its chairman. Florida Senate votes to consider U.S. Supreme Court's desegregation decisions "null and void" on April 18. Later, on May 17, 1957, the Prayer  Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington, DC is at the time the largest nonviolent demonstration for civil rights, and features Dr. King's "Give Us The Ballot" speech.

On September 2, 1957, Orval Faubus or the governor of Arkansas called out the National Guard to block the integration of Little Rock Central High School. The federal judge ordered Nashville public schools to integrate immediately by September 6. New York Times reports that in 3 years since the decision, there has been minimal progress toward integration in 4 southern states, and no progress at all in seven on September 15. By September 24, 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower federalized the National Guard and also orders US Army troops to ensure Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas is integrated. Federal and National Guard troops escort the Little Rock Nine. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was signed by President Eisenhower on September 27, 1957. The finance minister of Ghana is refused service at a Dover, Delaware restaurant on October 7. President Eisenhower hosts him at the White House to apologize October 10. Florida legislature votes to close any school if federal troops are sent to enforce integration on October 9, 1957. Officers of NAACP arrested in Little Rock for failing to comply with a new financial disclosure ordinance.

This was on October 31. On November 26, 1957, the Texas legislature votes to close any school where federal troops might be sent. On January 18, 1958, Willie O'Ree breaks the color barrier in the National Hockey League, in his first game playing for the Boston Bruins. The June 29, 1958 Bethel Baptist Church bombing took place at Birmingham, Alabama by the Ku Klux Klan. It murdered four girls.  In NAACP v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the NAACP was not required to release membership lists to continue operating in the state (on June 30, 1958). By July of 1957, NAACP Youth Council sponsored sit-ins at the lunch counter of a Dockum Drug Store in downtown Wichita, Kansas. After three weeks, the movement successfully got the store to change its policy of segregated seating, and soon afterward all Dockum stores in Kansas were desegregated. On August 19, 1958, Clara Luper and the NAACP Youth Council conduct the largest successful sit-in to date, on drug store lunch-counters in Oklahoma City. This starts a successful six-year campaign by Luper and the Council to desegregate businesses and related institutions in Oklahoma City. On August 1958, Jimmy Wilson sentenced to death in Alabama for stealing $1.95; Secretary of State John Foster Dulles asks Governor Jim Folsom to commute his sentence because of international criticism. On September 2, the racist Governor J. Lindsay Almond of Virginia threatens to shut down any school if it is forced to integrate. Justice Department sues under Civil Rights Act to force Terrell County, Georgia to register blacks to vote on September 4, 1958. A Federal judge orders Louisiana State University to desegregate; sixty-nine African-Americans enrolled successfully on September 12. In Cooper v. Aaron the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the states were bound by the Court's decisions. Governor Faubus responds by shutting down all four high schools in Little Rock, and Governor Almond shuts one in Front Royal, Virginia (on September 12, 1958).

By September 18, 1958, Governor Lindsay closed two more schools in Charlottesville, Virginia, and six in Norfolk on September 27. The U.S. Supreme Court rules that states may not use evasive measures to avoid desegregation on September 29, 1958. A Federal judge in Harrisonburg, VA rules that public money may not be used for segregated private schools on October 8. 13 African Americans were arrested for sitting in front of a bus in Birmingham by October 20.  Federal court throws out Louisiana law against integrated athletic events on November 28. Voter registration officials in Montgomery refuse to cooperate with US Civil Rights Commission investigation on December 8, 1958. Paul Robeson’s autobiography was published in 1958 called Here I Stand. Robeson was a courageous black man. In 1959, many things happened.  On January 9, 1959, one federal judge threw out segregation on Atlanta, GA buses, while another orders Montgomery registrars to comply with the Civil Rights Commission. Motown Records was founded by Berry Gordy on January 12, 1959. The Federal Appeals court overturns Virginia's closure of the schools in Norfolk; they reopen January 28 with 17 black students on January 19, 1959. On high school in Arlington, VA desegregated and allowed four black students to go into the location by February 2, 1959. Three schools in Alexandria, Virginia desegregate with a total of nine black students on April 10. Dr. King spoke for the integration of schools at the rally of 26,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Mack Charles Parker was lynched three days before his trial on April 24, 1959. Alabama passed laws to limit black voter registration on November 20, 1959. A Raising in the Sun or a play by Lorraine Hansberry debuted on Broadway in 1959. The later film version will star Sidney Poitier.

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On February 1, 1960, four black students sit at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, sparking six months of the Greensboro sit-ins. On February 13, 1960, the Nashville sit-ins begin, although the Nashville students, trained by activist and nonviolent teacher James Lawson, had been doing preliminary groundwork towards the action for two months. The sit-in ends successfully in May. Dr. King was indicted by an Alabama grand jury of tax evasion on February 17.  Virginia Union University students, called the Richmond 34 stage sit-in at Woolworth's lunch counter in Richmond, Virginia on February 19, 1960. By February 22, there was the Richmond 34 staging a sit in in the Richmond Room at Thalhimer’s department store. Vanderbilt University expelled James Lawson for sit-in participation on March 3, 1960. On March 4, 1960, Houston's first sit-in, led by Texas Southern University students, was held at the Weingarten's lunch counter, located at 4110 Almeda in Houston, Texas. On March 7, Felton Turner of Houston was beaten and hanged upside down in a tree with the initials KKK carved on his chest. Turner was a black man and he inspired more black people to fight Jim Crow in Houston, Texas. San Antonio was the first city to integrate lunch counters on March 19.

Florida Governor LeRoy Collins called lunch counter segregation unfair and morally wrong. From April 15-17, 19560, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC was formed in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Mother of SNCC was Ella Baker who promoted grassroots organizing and decentralized leadership. Z. Alexander Looby's home was bombed, with no injuries on April 19. Looby, a Nashville civil rights lawyer, was active in the cities ongoing sit-in movement. Nashville sit-ins end successfully by May 1960. The Civil Rights Act of 1960 was signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on May 6. William Robert Ming and Hubert Delaney obtained an acquittal of Dr. King from an all-white jury in Alabama on May 28. June 24th was the time when King met Senator John F. Kennedy. Bayard Rustin resigned from the SCLC after being criticized by Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. on June 28. To Kill a Mockingbird was published on July 11. Elijah Muhammad on July 31 called for an all-black state as membership in the Nation of Islam was estimated at 100,000 people.

In August, Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker replaces Ella Baker as SCLC's Executive Director. Dr. King and fifty others were arrested at sit-in at Atlanta's Rich's Department Store. Later on October 26, Dr. King's earlier probation revoked; he is transferred to Reidsville State Prison. Dr. King is free on bond by the intervention of Robert F. Kennedy on October 28. On November 8, 1960, John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon in the 1960 Presidential election. November 14 was when Ruby Bridges becomes the first African-American child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South (William Frantz Elementary School) following court-ordered integration in New Orleans, Louisiana. This event was portrayed by Norman Rockwell in his 1964 painting The Problem We All Live With.  In Boynton v. Virginia, (on December 5, 1960), the U.S. Supreme Court holds that racial segregation in bus terminals is illegal because such segregation violates the Interstate Commerce Act. This ruling, in combination with the ICC's 1955 decision in Keys v. Carolina Coach, effectively outlaws segregation on interstate buses and at the terminals servicing such buses. January 11, 1961 was when racists rioted over court-ordered admission of first two African Americans (Hamilton E. Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault) at the University of Georgia leads to their suspension, but they are ordered reinstated. One member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and nine students were arrested in Rock Hill, South Carolina for a sit-in at a McCrory's lunch counter by January 31.  JFK issued Executive Order 10925, which establishes a Presidential committee (on March 6) that later becomes the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The first group of Freedom Riders, with the intent of integrating interstate buses, leaves Washington, D.C. by Greyhound bus.

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Ruby Bridges has shown courage throughout her life. 

The group, organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), leaves shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court has outlawed segregation in interstate transportation terminals on May 4, 1961. May 14th was when the Freedom Riders' bus is attacked and burned outside of Anniston, Alabama. A mob beats the Freedom Riders upon their arrival in Birmingham May 14. The Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, and spend forty to sixty days in Parchman Penitentiary.  Nashville students, coordinated by Diane Nash and James Bevel, take up the cause of the Freedom Riders, signaling the increased involvement of SNCC on May 17. More Freedom Riders were assaulted in Montgomery, Alabama at the Greyhound Bus Station by May 20. During the next day, Dr. King, the Freedom Riders, and congregation of 1,500 at Reverend Ralph Abernathy's First Baptist Church in Montgomery are besieged by mob of segregationists; Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy sends federal marshals to protect them. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, citing the 1955 landmark ICC ruling in Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company and the U.S. Supreme Court's 1960 decision in Boynton v. Virginia, petitions the ICC to enforce desegregation in interstate travel.

This was on May 29. From June to August, the U.S. Department of Justice initiated talks with civil rights groups and foundations on beginning Voter Education Project. The SCLC started citizenship classes by July. Andrew J. Young hired to direct the program. Bob Moses begins voter registration in McComb, Mississippi. On September, James Forman was the SNCC Executive Secretary. The Interstate Commerce Commission, at RFK's insistence, issues new rules ending discrimination in interstate travel, effective November 1, 1961, six years after the ICC's own ruling in Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company. Voter registration activist Herbert Lee killed in McComb, Mississippi on September 25.

On November 1, all interstate buses required to display a certificate that reads: "Seating aboard this vehicle is without regard to race, color, creed, or national origin, by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission." SNCC workers Charles Sherrod and Cordell Reagon and nine Chatmon Youth Council members test new ICC rules at Trailways bus station in Albany, Georgia. On November 17, 1961, SNCC workers help encourage and coordinate black activism in Albany, Georgia, culminating in the founding of the Albany Movement as a formal coalition. Three high school students from Chatmon's Youth Council arrested after using "positive actions" by walking into white sections of the Albany bus station on November 22.  Albany State College students Bertha Gober and Blanton Hall were arrested after entering the white waiting room of the Albany Trailways station. On December 10, Freedom Riders from Atlanta, SNCC leader Charles Jones, and Albany State student Bertha Gober are arrested at Albany Union Railway Terminal, sparking mass demonstrations, with hundreds of protesters arrested over the next five days. From December 11-15, 500 protesters were arrested in Albany Georgia. Dr. King came into Albany, Georgia on December 15, 1961. Dr. W. G. Anderson call him. Anderson was the leader of the Albany Movement to desegregate public schools.  Dr. King is arrested at an Albany, Georgia demonstration. He is charged with obstructing the sidewalk and parading without a permit on December 16.

2 days later, there was the Albany truce, including a 60-day postponement of King's trial; King leaves town. In that same month, Whitney Young is appointed executive director of the National Urban League. Black Like Me written by John Howard Griffin, a white southerner who deliberately tanned and dyed his skin to allow him to directly experience the life of the Negro in the Deep South, is published, displaying the brutality of "Jim Crow" segregation to a national audience. From January 18-20, 1962 students protest over sit-in leaders’ expulsions at  Baton Rouge's Southern University, the nation's largest black school, close it down. Representatives of SNCC, CORE, and the NAACP form the Council of Federated Organizations(COFO). A grant request to fund COFO voter registration activities is submitted to the Voter Education Project (VEP) on February. Segregated transportation facilities, both interstate and intrastate, ruled unconstitutional by U.S. Supreme Court on February 26, 1962.

March was when SNCC workers sit-in at U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy's office to protest the jailing of civil rights leaders in Baton Rouge. The FBI installed wiretaps on NAACP activist Stanley Levison’s office. Defense Department ordered full racial integration of military reserve units, except the National Guard on April 3. April 9 was when Corporal Roman Duckworth shot by a police officer in Taylorsville, Mississippi. June was when Leroy Willis becomes first black graduate of the University of Virginia College of Arts and Sciences. SNCC workers established voter registration projects in rural southwest Georgia in the same month. From July 10 – August 28, SCLC renews protests in Albany; King in jail on July 10–12 and on July 27 – August 10. Fannie Lou Hamer attempted to register to vote in Indianola, Mississippi on August 31, 1962.   Two black churches used by SNCC for voter registration meetings are burned in Sasser, Georgia on September 9, 1962. September 20, 1962 was when James Meredith is barred from becoming the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. From September 30-October 1, the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black orders James Meredith admitted to Ole Miss.; he enrolls and a riot ensues. French photographer Paul Guihard and Oxford resident Ray Gunter are killed. Leflore County, Mississippi, supervisors cut off surplus food distribution in retaliation against voter drive by October. The time of October 23, 1962 was when the FBI begins Communist Infiltration (COMINFIL) investigation of SCLC. In early November, Edward Brooke selected Massachusetts Attorney General, Leroy Johnson elected Georgia State Senator, Hawkins elected first black from California in Congress. November 20 was when Attorney General Kennedy authorized the FBI wiretap on Stanley Levison's home telephone. President Kennedy upholds 1960 presidential campaign promise to eliminate housing segregation by signing Executive Order 11063 banning segregation in Federally funded housing (on November 20, 1962).

January 18 was when incoming Alabama governor George Wallace calls for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" in his inaugural address. From April 3 to May 10, 1963, there was the Birmingham campaign, organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights challenged city leaders and business owners in Birmingham, Alabama, with daily mass demonstrations. On April 1963, Mary Lucille Hamilton, Field Secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality, refused to answer a judge in Gadsden, Alabama, until she is addressed by the honorific "Miss." It was the custom of the time to address white people by honorifics and people of color by their first names. Hamilton is jailed for contempt of court and refuses to pay bail. The case Hamilton v. Alabama is filed by the NAACP. It was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1964 that courts must address persons of color with the same courtesy extended to whites. Ministers John Thomas Porter, Nelson H. Smith and A.D. King lead a group of 2,000 marchers to protest the jailing of movement leaders in Birmingham on April 7. Dr. King was arrested again in Birmingham for “parading without a permit” on April 12, 1963. He letter wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” in April 16, 1963. CORE activist William L. Moore was murdered in Gadsden, Alabama on April 23, 1963. Birmingham's juvenile court is inundated with African-American children and teenagers arrested after James Bevel, SCLC's Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education, launches his "D-Day" youth march. The actions spans three days to become the Birmingham Children's Crusade. This started in May 2. From May 9-10, 1963, after images of fire hoses and police dogs turned on protesters are televised, the Children's Crusade lays the groundwork for the terms of a negotiated truce on Thursday, May 9 puts an end to mass demonstrations in return for rolling back oppressive segregation laws and practices.

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Dr. King and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth announce the settlement terms on Friday, May 10 only after King holds out to orchestrate the release of thousands of jailed demonstrators with bail money from Harry Belafonte and Robert Kennedy. From May 11-12, 1963, there was the double bombing in Birmingham, probably conducted by the KKK in cooperation with local police, precipitates rioting, police retaliation, intervention of state troopers, and finally mobilization of federal troops. In United States of America and Interstate Commerce Commission v. the City of Jackson, Mississippi et al., the United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit rules the city's attempt to circumvent laws desegregating interstate transportation facilities by posting sidewalk signs outside Greyhound, Trailways and Illinois Central terminals reading "Waiting Room for White Only — By Order Police Department" and "Waiting Room for Colored Only – By Order Police Department" to be unlawful. This was on May 13. A group of black leaders (assembled by James Baldwin) meets with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to discuss race relations on May 24, 1963. Violence escalates at NAACP picket of Philadelphia construction site on May 29, 1963. The police attacked Florida A&M anti-segregation demonstrators with tear gas; arrest 257 on May 30, 1963. Fannie Lou Hamer is among several SNCC workers badly beaten by police in the Winona, Mississippi, jail after their bus stops there on June 9. On June 11, "The Stand in the Schoolhouse Door": Alabama Governor George Wallace stands in front of a schoolhouse door at the University of Alabama in an attempt to stop desegregation by the enrollment of two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood. Wallace only stands aside after being confronted by federal marshals, Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, and the Alabama National Guard. Later in life he apologized for his opposition to racial integration back then. June 11, 1963 was when President Kennedy makes his historic civil rights address, promising a bill to Congress the next week. In that speech, JFK said the following words about civil rights for African American of desiring, "the kind of equality of treatment which we would want for ourselves."

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 NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers was assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi on June 12, 1963. (His murderer was convicted in 1994). The summer of 1963 saw 80,000 black Americans quickly register to vote in Mississippi by a test project to show their desire to participate. On June 19, 1963, President Kennedy sends Congress (H. Doc. 124, 88th Cong., 1st session.) his proposed Civil Rights Act. White leaders in business and philanthropy gather at the Carlyle Hotel to raise initial funds for the Council on United Civil Rights Leadership. Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in Northwest Baltimore, County, Maryland is desegregated on August 28. On August 28, 1963, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom is held. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his I Have a Dream speech. Schools were integrated by National Guardsmen under orders from President Kennedy on September 10. September 15, 1963 was when the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham kills four young girls. That same day, in response to the killings, James Bevel and Nash begin the Alabama Project, which will later grow into the Selma Voting Rights Movement.  Malcolm X delivered "Message to the Grass Roots" speech, calling for unity against the white power structure and criticizing the March on Washington. This was on November 10, 1963. November 22, 1963 was when President Kennedy was assassinated. The new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, decided that accomplishing Kennedy's legislative agenda is his best strategy, which he pursued.

Throughout 1964, the  Alabama Voting Rights Project continues organizing as Bevel, Nash, and James Orange work without the support of SCLC, the group which Bevel represents as its Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education. The poll tax for federal elections was abolished by the 24th Amendment on January 23, 1964. By the summer of 1964, there was Mississippi Freedom Summer – voter registration in the state. SNCC members formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party as a way for them to elect an alternative slate of delegates for the national convention, as black people were still officially disfranchised. April 13, 1964 was when Sidney Poitier wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for role in Lilies of the Field. The murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner took place on June 21, 1963. These 3 civil rights workers disappeared and their bodies were later found. Malcolm X founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity on June 28, 1964. On July 2, 1964, one of the most important events in history happened. It was when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed, banning discrimination based on "race, color, religion, sex or national origin" in employment practices and public accommodations.


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Appendix A: Honoring the Power of Motown

The illustrious cultural black American powerhouse of Motown exhibited excellent talent. Its history is extensive. Its music has been iconic for decades and influences today’s music near 2020 as well. It started with Berry Gordy Jr. He borrowed $800 from his family saving club (called Ber-Berry Co-op) to start Tamla Record Company in Detroit, Michigan. This event took place in 1959. Berry Gordy was once a songwriter for local Detroit acts like Jackie Wilson and the Matadors. Wilson’s single called “Lonely Teardrops” was written by Gordy. Later, the Motown record label established itself on January 12, 1959. Motown had an important role in causing many artists to have success, and it was the soundtrack (along with other music from Stax Records, and other record companies) of the Civil Rights Movement. Motown showed the power of the universality of music and the great cultural excellence of African Americans. Hitsville U.S.A. studio was the recording studio of early Motown artists. The Motown song was a style of soul music that made people dance. Joy and excitement consumed crowds when individuals listened to Motown music. The sound used tambourines to make the backbeat. It had melodic guitar lines and melodic plus chord structure. Motown included a call and response singing style that started from gospel music. The Funk Brothers helped with the cultivation of the Motown song too.

During the 1960’s, Motown had 79 records in the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 record chart between 1960 and 1969. Motown immediately grew fast. Its first hit was the song, "Money (That's What I Want)." which was sung by Barrett Strong. Berry Gordy Jr. and Janie Bradford wrote the song. Motown signed the Matadors who became the Miracles. Several of Gordy's family members, including his father Berry Sr., his brothers Robert and George, and sister Esther, were given key roles in the company. By the middle of the decade, Gwen and Anna Gordy had joined the label in administrative positions as well.  Esther Gordy Edwards was the Senior Vice President in charge of International Talent Management, Inc. This event took place in 1960. In the same year, the Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye, and Mary Wells signed with Motown. Mary Wells recorded “Bye, Bye, Baby” on Motown label. Early Motown artists included Mable John, Eddie Holland, and Mary Wells. The Miracles featuring Smokey Robinson, Bobby Rogers, Ron White, Pete Moore, and Claudette Robinson recorded the first Motown record to sell one million copies. The record was called “Shop Around.” Motown went to the Music Publishing Awards too where Jobete received an honor.

In 1961, the Temptations signed with Motown. They were once called the Elgins. Stevie Wonder signed with Motown in the same year too. Eddie Holland’s record “Jamie” is released on the Motown label written by Mickey Stevenson and Barrett Strong. The style of Jackie Wilson influenced the song. The Marvelettes released, “Please Mr. Postman,” by Brian Holland, Freddie Gorman, Robert Bateman, William Garrett, and Georgia Dobbins, on the Tamla label. This song was the first Motown song to reach the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. The Vice President of Motown was Smokey Robinson in 1962. By 1962, The Motor town Revue left Detroit to tour the East Coast and South. Groups included in the tour were: the Miracles, Martha and the Vandellas, the Supremes, Mary Wells, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, the Contours, the Marvelettes, and the Choker Campbell Band. The Contours released “Do You Love Me,” which was written for the Temptations in 1962. As Gordy was unable to locate the group, Contours got the song. Mary Wells had a hit with “You Beat Me to the Punch,” written by Smokey Robinson. It reached #1 on the R&B chart and #9 on Billboard’s Pop chart in 1962. By 1963, disc cutting machines existed to cause demos to be on a record. Mary Wells was on American Bandstand with Dick Clark. Martha & the Vandellas were nominated for “(Love Is Like) A Heatwave,” written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland, Jr. In 1963, Stevie Wonder performed at the Olympia Music Hall in Paris, France for a two-week engagement. In 1964, Motown’s Artist Personal Development Department started. This program allowed Motown artists to learn etiquette and other forms of presenting themselves to the wider public. Maurice King, Maxine Powell, and Cholly Atkins worked with the artists. By 1965, Motown employed 125 people. Motown reached into new heights by the mid-1960's.

Motown launched its international label, Tamla-Motown, in London, England back in 1965. The Temptations tape “Ready, Steady, Go” television show in England, and Brenda Holloway performed with the Beatles on their North American Tour in 1965. Temptations had its #1 hit with “My Girl,” written by William “Smokey” Robinson and Ronald White of the Miracles back in 1965 too. The Temptations reached into new heights after that song existed. Motown released its first eight-track tapes. Five Motown releases reached #1 on the top ten pop charts including “I Can’t Help Myself” by the Four Tops and “Stop In The Name of Love” by the Supremes in the same year of 1965. Norman Whitfield started to produce the Temptations in 1966. By 1966, Motown grossed $20 million. Gladys Knight and the Pips, Tammi Terrell, and the Isley Brothers signed with Motown in 1966. Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson signed with Motown as staff writers in 1966. Motown purchased another studio called Golden World Records (Studio B) and acquired Edwin Starr in that acquisition. In 1967, Motown had five labels called Tamla, Motown, Gordy, Soul, and V.I.P. Stevie Wonder toured Europe. Martha and the Vandellas recorded “Jimmy Mack” on the Gordy label back in 1967. Diana Ross & the Supremes performed at Expo 67, the group’s name changed to reflect Diana as lead. In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., recorded the album “Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam” on Motown’s Black Forum record label, and he spoke out against the war in New York. Dr. King advocated racial, economic, and social justice without apology. In 1967, more than 150,000 people protested the war in Washington, D.C. A fifth label, Soul, featured Jr. Walker & the All Stars, Jimmy Ruffin, Shorty Long, the Originals, and Gladys Knight & the Pips (who had found success before joining Motown, as "The Pips" on Vee-Jay).

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In 1968, Vice President, public relations, Mike Roshkind accompanied Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, and Martha and the Vandellas on a Far East Tour. Motown moved its headquarters from West Grand Blvd. to a new downtown office location at 2457 Woodward Avenue at the Fisher Freeway in the same year. In 1968, Marvin Gaye’s version of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” hit #1 on the pop chart. Suzanne de Passe worked for Motown as Mr. Gordy’s Creative Assistant. The Supremes met Queen Mother. Under Norman Whitfield’s production of more psychedelic-based material, The Temptations released “Cloud Nine.” This record was known as part of “psychedelic soul." Motown had 5 of the Top 10 records on the Billboard Magazine chart in 1968. Holding the number 1, 2, & 3 positions for an entire month. The Jackson Five performed at the Daisy Disco in Los Angeles with an introduction by Diana Ross in 1969. Michael Jackson was the lead singer of the group, and Michael Jackson later became an international superstar in his own right. In the same year of 1969, The Temptations’ “I Can’t Get Next To You” reached #1 on the pop chart. Motown senior vice president Esther Gordy Edwards met with Motown licensees in Czechoslovakia, Romania, Finland, Austria and also visited Russia. In 1970, Berry Gordy and entertainer and recording artist Sammy Davis, Jr., started Ecology record label. Motown addressed the issues of the Vietnam War with the release of “Guess Who’s Coming Home, Black Fighting Men Recorded Live in Vietnam", on Black Forum label. Edwin Starr released “War”, written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong in 1970. Motown signed the rock act Stoney and Meatloaf on the Rare Earth label. In 1971, Stevie Wonder turned 21 and signed a more comprehensive and lucrative contract with Motown, and Michael Jackson appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone.

The new Supremes (Jean Terrell, Cindy Birdsong, and Mary Wilson) appeared on the David Frost Show in 1971. In the same year of 1971, Sly and the Family Stone record “Family Affair.” Motown established branch offices in both New York City and Los Angeles during the mid-1960's, and by 1969, Motown had begun gradually moving more of its operations to Los Angeles. Gordy initially rejected several tracks that later became critical and commercial favorites; the two most notable being the Marvin Gaye songs "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "What's Going On.”

In 1972, Motown moved headquarters from Detroit to Hollywood, California, so they left branch office in Detroit at Hitsville, U.S.A. The songwriting/production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland left over pay disputes, so this situation of moving took place.  By this time, Motown loosened its production rules, allowing some of its longtime artists the opportunity to write and produce more of their material. More independence resulted in the recordings of successful and critically acclaimed albums such as Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971) and Let's Get it On (1973), and Stevie Wonder's Music of My Mind (1972), Talking Book (1972), and Innervisions (1973). Some artists, among them Martha Reeves, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Motown's Funk Brothers studio band, either stayed behind in Detroit or left the company for other reasons. By re-locating, Motown aimed chiefly to branch out into the motion-picture industry, and Motown Productions got its start in film by turning out two hit-vehicles for Diana Ross: the Billie Holiday biographical film Lady Sings the Blues (1972), and Mahogany (1975).

Other Motown films would include Scott Joplin (1977), Thank God It's Friday (1978), The Wiz (1978) and The Last Dragon (1985). Ewart Abner, who allied with Motown since the 1960's, became its president in 1973. Despite losing Holland–Dozier–Holland, Norman Whitfield, and some of its other hitmakers by 1975, Motown had many hit records. In 1972, Suzanne DePasse became corporate director of Motown Productions, which produced “Lady Sings the Blues,” a movie about the life of blues vocalist Billie Holiday starring Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, and Richard Pryor. The Commodores signed with Motown and opened for the Jackson Five. The Four Tops released “(It’s The Way) Nature Planned It." MCA Inc. controlled Motown later on. Motown still had many successful artists during the 1970's and 1980's, including Lionel Richie and the Commodores, Rick James, Teena Marie, the Dazz Band, Jose Feliciano, and DeBarge. Motown started to lose money by the mid-1980’s. During the 1990's, Motown was home to successful recording artists such as Boyz II Men and Johnny Gill. By 1998, Motown had added stars such as 702, Brian McKnight, and Erykah Badu to its roster.

Motown was later sold to PolyGram in 1994, before being sold again to MCA Records' successor, Universal Music Group, when it acquired PolyGram in 1999. Motown spent much of the 2000's headquartered in New York City as a part of the Universal Music subsidiaries Universal Motown and Universal Motown Republic Group. From 2011 to 2014, Motown was a part of The Island Def Jam Music Group division of Universal Music. On April 1, 2014, Universal Music Group announced the dissolution of Island Def Jam; subsequently Motown relocated back to Los Angeles to operate under the Capitol Music Group. Motown now operates out of the landmark Capitol Tower. For many decades, Motown was the highest-earning African American business in the United States. The Rhythm & lues Hall of Fame inducted Motown during the class of 2018 on June 3, 2018, at the Charles H. Wright Museum. Motown legend Martha Reeves received the award for Motown Records. If anyone desires to know real music, he or she ought to study Motown.

By Timothy
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The Next part of this series is about the era from 1964-1980. This part of American history is the most revolutionary period of American history socially because so many changes existed from civil rights to the sexual revolution. I will cover it all in uncompromising detail. There will be no sugarcoating. Events from civil rights to disco will be outlined here.