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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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).
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
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.
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