Muhammad Ali is holding a newspaper with his

allies on March 28, 1966. The woman near

Muhammad Ali is Rozaa Rio, a recording artist
from Chicago. She wished him luck in Toronto.

The African American Story Part 6: The

Civil Rights Movement (The 2nd Phase)
This information outlines important
information of the later period of the 1960’s
Civil Rights Movement. During this era, black
America changed rapidly. Activism for social
change existed in the South, the North, the
Midwest, and the West Coast. Most black
people embraced Black Power. In essence, it is
always legitimate to fight for black liberation.
Rebellions existed nationwide. Many black
people were leaders in opposing the Vietnam
War. Movies, fashion, culture evolved. An
emphasis on the beauty of Blackness grew. The
end of this era was the evil assassination of the
late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. From 1968
onward, Black America would never be the
same.
This was Coretta
Scott King taking her
children Yolanda and
Bernice on
November 8, 1964 at
Ebenezer Baptist
Church (in Atlanta,
Georgia).
The Fair Housing Movement
The fight for fair housing existed for decades before the 1960’s. Fair housing means that a person has the right to
live in quality housing anywhere in America without discrimination. Federal legislation involving housing that
fought discrimination would exist in the 1960’s. Housing is a civil right and a human right. Black people, for
centuries, have been denied real housing rights in American society. Many black people have been denied to live
where they want. In many cases, when black people independently tried to get housing, they experienced
discrimination. Some houses have been burned to the ground by racists historically too. Housing relates to credit,
resources, and other aspects of human living. Housing can grow in value, so black people being denied adequate
housing is a denial of power. Racist covenant policies existed in the Midwest and the West Coast. Racism in housing
existed in the South and in the North too. Black people fought back via lawsuits, protests, and other forms of
activism. One law that fought against housing segregation was the Rumford Fair Housing Act in California. This
state law was passed in 1963. Later, it was overturned by mostly white California voters and real estate lobbyists in
1964 with Proposition 14. This was a discriminatory law and Ronald Reagan supported that evil law too. The Watts
Rebellion happened in 1965 and scholars have documented how the rebellion was influenced in part by housing
issues. The California Supreme Court invalidated Proposition 14 and reinstated the Fair Housing Act. Many civil
rights leaders fought for fair housing including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, James Bevel, and Al Raby. They were
involved in the Chicago Freedom Movement in the year of 1966.

In the following year (in 1967), James Groppi and the NAACP Youth Council also attracted national attention with a
fair housing campaign in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I heard of this movement years ago. Both movements faced
violent resistance from white homeowners and legal opposition from conservative politicians. The fair housing
movement faced strong opposition from Congress. After the 1966 Congressional elections, many progressive
politicians were out of office. Legislation was filibustered. Senator Walter Mondale, who advocated for the bill,
noted that over successive years, it was the most filibustered legislation in US history. It was opposed by most
Northern and Southern senators, as well as the National Association of Real Estate Boards. A proposed "Civil Rights
Act of 1966" had collapsed completely because of its fair housing provision. Mondale commented that: “A lot of
civil rights [legislation] was about making the South behave and taking the teeth from George Wallace, [but] this
came right to the neighborhoods across the country. This was civil rights getting personal.” Federal housing rights
legislation finally was passed in 1968 with the Civil Rights Act of 1968. It was passed after the King assassination.
The law banned discrimination involving housing based upon race. The black freedom movement shocked the
bourgeoisie (who wanted the status quo), confronted police brutality, and fought back against the racist capitalist
system.
The Black Power Movement
The Black Power movement is one of the most dynamic, interesting movements in human history. It has galvanized
many black people. It has been a movement, which has been debated to this day. The concept of Black Power has
been spoken about before the 1960’s like from Richard Wright and others. The Black Power movement has been
influenced by the views of Marcus Garvey, the NOI, the Deacons of Defense, Malcolm X, the Lowndes County
Freedom Organization, Pan-Africanism, etc. Yet, the modern Black Power movement existed in 1966 in
Greenwood, Mississippi (on the date of June 16, 1966). At that location, Kwame Ture spoke up to speak about
Black Power in fighting for black Americans to register to vote. This came after James Meredith was shot by a racist
coward in a Mississippi road (in his March Against Fear mobilization. James Meredith wanted to promote voting
rights for black Mississippians). Dr. King, Kwame Ture, and Floyd McKissick came to the aid of Meredith of
supporting him. At first, Whitney Young and Roy Wilkins supported the March against Fear. They left, because both
had disagreements with Kwame Ture on the issue of nonviolence.

The movement of Black Power existed because of numerous factors. Many felt that the civil rights movement
didn’t go far enough in addressing poverty, the police brutality, and other economic issues of the North, the
Midwest, and the West Coast. Some rejected nonviolence as a way of life and wanted a more militant movement
for social change. One big lie is that the Black Power Movement was racist. It is not. Black Power wanted black
liberation not racism in the world. There are diverse factions of the Black Power movement. The common image
that we see of the Black Power movement dealt with the Black Panthers. This was the progressive faction of the
movement. There is also the conservative faction that believed in Black Capitalism.

There were also the cultural nationalists who believed in accepting African culture, but many of them refused to
enact political activism to make change. They wanted change from cultural efforts. There were other factions too.
What unified them were their embrace of their black African heritage, their promotion of an independent,
autonomous black powerbase that can benefit black people, their advocacy of self-defense in an explicit fashion,
their belief in self-determination, and their advocacy of black liberation. Black Power in essence was a call for
independence among all black people among our communities nationally and internationally. It wasn’t endorsing
segregation or integration per se. It advocated the economic, social, and political enrichment of black people
regardless. The Black Power movement was a cultural revolution too. There were black poets, writers, and dancers
who wrote about pro-black and pro-African themes. More people wore dashikis and afros. People spoke African
languages like Swahili. It was a vibrant, cultural time. Immediately in 1966, most of the moderate Civil Rights
leaders opposed Black Power. Roy Wilkins of the NAACP viewed it as racist in his 1966 NAACP Convention. Some
white liberals called it reverse racism. Whitney Young of the Urban League criticized the concept of Black Power.

Kwame Ture in his historic October 29, 1966 Black Power speech in Berkeley, California in the following terms:
"Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can
give anybody their freedom. No man can give anybody his freedom. A man is born free. You may enslave a man
after he is born free, and that is in fact what this country does. It enslaves black people after they’re born, so that
the only acts that white people can do is to stop denying black people their freedom; that is, they must stop
denying freedom. They never give it to anyone...The, the political parties in this country do not meet the needs of
people on a day-to-day basis. The question is, how can we build new political institutions that will become the
political expressions of people on a day-to-day basis? The question is, how can you build political institutions that
will begin to meet the needs of Oakland, California? And the needs of Oakland, California, is not 1,000 policemen
with submachine guns. They don’t need that. They need that least of all. (applause) The question is, how can we
build institutions where those people can begin to function on a day-to-day basis, where they can get decent jobs,
where they can get decent houses, and where they can begin to participate in the policy and major decisions that
affect their lives?"

Black Unity certainly is glorious. Black Power was a political, cultural, and economic
revolution that has positively inspired black people for years and decades.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took a more nuisance position. He acknowledged the positives of Black Power which
dealt with economic and political development among the black community, but he rejected separatism. Dr. King
would later endorse the Poor People's Campaign which wanted people including workers of all colors to have
economic justice. Bayard Rustin opposed the Black Power movement from a class perspective accusing it of having
no strong political or economic program (in order words, Rustin said that since automation was growing, many jobs
would be lost. So, he wanted African Americans to form a coalition with workers of all colors in order to achieve
economic justice in using the Democratic Party as a vehicle). By 1966, many black and white people left SNCC and
CORE in viewing those groups as too nationalistic and in their minds too separatist from John Lewis, James Peck, to
Charles Sherrod, etc. Nevertheless, the black youth, black poor people, and the black middle class in many cases
appealed to the message of Black Power. By 1967 and 1968, the movement grew.

The black capitalist Black Power Conference was held in Newark, NJ on July of 1967. It was organized by the black
Republican Nathan Wright. The conference wanted a piece of the action. Many corporations funded Black Power
activists who believed in capitalism (which is not perfect). The scholar Harold Cruse viewed Black Power as similar
to the views of Booker T. Washington (in calling it reformist) and being not revolutionary. To many Black Power
advocates' credit, many of them legitimately opposed the Vietnam War as a war of aggression and being unjust.
SNCC issued a statement in opposition to the war back in 1966 and this inspired Dr. King to oppose the Vietnam
War more forcefully in public as well. Kwanzaa was created by the cultural nationalist Maulana Karenga in 1967. I
don’t agree with the conservative Karenga on many issues. It is what it is. Some members of the Black Power
movement were outright sexists. Sexism is evil. Kwame Ture did the right thing to promote love of Africa and the
love of Blackness. Yet, he made the mistake of saying in a joke that the best position of women in the movement is
"prone." I didn't know what prone meant at first until I researched what the word meant. Kwame True was wrong
to say that comment. Every woman has the right to stand up and fight for her own freedom and human autonomy
by any means necessary point blank period exclamation point. Also, women were the key administrators of SNCC
and made up of the backbone of SNCC. The Black Power movement attacked nonviolence as a way of life without
question. Rev. Adam Clayton Powell in NYC rejected nonviolence as the most effective civil rights strategy by 1968.
Beyond in 1969, the Black Power movement grows. There were the Black Manifesto of James Forman in 1969 and
the 1969 National Black Sisters Conference (which attacks racism and sexism in the world. Sister M. Martin de
Porres Grey organizes 155 women from 79 national and international congregations to form the National Black
Sisters' Conference). The Black Theology views of James H. Cone have influenced black scholars to this very day. So,
the Black Power Movement was multifaceted or diverse in its manifestations, but they (or Black Power
advocates) were unified in desiring black liberation.

Black Music, Movies, and the Arts (from 1966-1968)

The late 1960’s from 1966 to 1968 saw a huge amount of films, literature, theater, and art that reflected the time
of civil rights, Black Nationalism, and changes in the racial dynamics of American society. One of the most
important films of the time was called “Black Girl” in 1966. It was film directed by Ousmane Sembène, starring
Mbissine Thérèse Diop. Mbissine plays Diouana, a young Senegalese woman. She moves from Dakar, Senegal to
Antibes, France to work for a rich French couple, In France, she wants to live a cosmopolitan lifestyle. Yet, she
endures mistreatment by the couple and racism in France. She questions her life in France as well. It was the first
Sub-Saharan film by an African filmmaker to receive international attention. The film ends tragically and it
represents the evil system of colonialism and imperialism that still goes on today. Mbissine Thérèse Diop would go
on to act in another movie and be involved in textiles. Sidney Poitier would go on to make many more historic
films. He would be in the Duel at Diablo in 1966.

In July of 1966, Stan Lee and his Marvel comic team form a new character in the Fantastic Four series. He is called
Black Panther (or T’Challa). He is dressed in all black and he wants to avenge the murder of his father, the African
king of T’Chaka of the Wakanda nation. The Panther also has a Ph.D. in physics. He battles the Klan too. This
inspires the future movie of the Black Panther, which came out in early 2018 too. 1966 saw hits from the
Temptations, the Supreme, Stevie Wonder, and other Motown Artists.
James Brown had hits in that year with “I Got You (I Feel Good)” and “It’s
a Man’s man’s Man’s World.” Stax Records excelled with Eddie Floyd’s
Knock on Wood. The Supremes’ You Keep on Hangin’ On was on the top
of the Billboard hot 100 in 1966 along with Percy Sledge’s “When a Man
Loves a Woman.” By December of 1966, Kwanzaa was invented by Black
Nationalist leader Maulana Karenga. Kwanzaa celebrates communal
principles in the form of Swahili words. Swahili is a language spoken
originally by black people in Eastern Africa on the coast of the Indian
Ocean. Some of these principles are umoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-
Here is Amiri Baraka and his determination), ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujamaa
second wife, named Sylvia, plus (Cooperative economics), nia (purpose), kumuba (creativity), and Imani
child walking in 1968 in Newark. (faith).
He was a key part of the Black
Arts Movement. The beginnings of the Black Arts Movement may be traced to 1965, when
Amiri Baraka, at that time still known as Leroi Jones, moved uptown to
establish the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School (BARTS) following the assassination of Malcolm X. It focuses on
black cultural growth. It features black poets, writers, and artists. Larry Neal wrote about the BAM and one of its
early adherents was Amiri Baraka. Some of the BAM has been filled with misogyny and anti-Semitism, which I don’t
agree with. Future legends of the black arts movement would be Sonia
Sanchez and Nikki Giovanni. Among the well-known writers who were
involved with the movement are Maya Angelou, Hoyt W. Fuller, and
Rosa Guy. According to the Academy of American Poets, "many
writers--Native Americans, Latinos/as, gays and lesbians, and younger
generations of African Americans have acknowledged their debt to the
Black Arts Movement."

The movement lasted for about a decade, through the mid-1960s and
into the 1970s. Other BAM artists have shown great works spanning
art, literature, and theater. By 1967, Sidney Poitier was involved in the
film “To Sir, with Love.” That film is about a black
teacher trying to help educate many rowdy mostly James Brown was one of the most creative, ahead of his
white students in England. The 1967 film “In the time musicians in history. He could dance and sing
Heat of the Night” was one of his most popular
films. Sidney plays a black detective from magnificently. His historic, inspirational 1968 song, “Say
Say
Philadelphia who travels south into Sparta, It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud”
Proud gave confidence to
Mississippi in order to solve a crime. He works many black people including black youth. His life reflected
with an initially reluctant police sheriff. Sidney’s the cultural shift among many black Americans. While he
character is Mr. Tibbs. Mr. Tibbs experiences
racism, harassment, and hatred from white racists.
supported the liberal Hubert Humphrey in 1968, he
He works with both black and white people in supported Nixon in the 1970’s, because he wanted to
trying to solve the case. Also, the films show the advance black capitalism. It is important to note that
scene where it is the first time in mainstream film opposing class oppression (in fighting capitalist
exploitation) is key to establishing real freedom.
where a black man slaps a white man in self-defense. The film was in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement and
it was filmed in Illinois and in the South (in Tennessee). His other 1967 film called, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”
was about interracial relationships which was still taboo in America in many places. The character that Sidney plays
has extraordinary qualifications.

The 1968 film “For Love of Ivy” is about Black Love when Sidney Poitier gets into a relationship with a gorgeous
black woman (who is played by Abbey Lincoln). The film is a romantic comedy. It is important to note that Abbey
Lincoln is a great jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. She wrote and performed her own compositions. She was a
civil rights activist. She was born in Chicago and raised in Calvin Center, Cass County (in Michigan). She passed away
in the year of 2010.

Rest in Power Sister Abbey Lincoln. Yes, Black Love is Beautiful.

One of the greatest actresses of all time is Sister Cicely Tyson. She has performed magnificently in
theater, acting, and other areas of life. She is a role model for so many people, especially black
women. She is a living legend. She is a very intelligent, glamorous, and beautiful black woman.
Cicely Tyson has been in movies during the 1950's, the 1960's and beyond. She was born in Harlem,
NYC and she is 92 years old.
One of the most dynamic films of 1967 was “Hurry Sundown.” It describes the rural South in detail. It focused on
conflicts over land and territory. It shows the brutal nature of racism and the beauty of love. Also, it reminds us
that the problems of yesteryear didn’t go away during that time period. They persist today. The director of the film
was Otto Preminger. The film included actors and actresses like Diahann Carroll, Beah Richards, John Philip Law,
Michael Cane, Jane Fonda, Faye Dunaway, and so many other people. Diahann Carroll would go onward to star in
the 1968 show called Julia. Julia is the first show on TV history that stars an African American woman. The shows
allowed Carroll to play Julia (a widowed single mother) who works as a nurse. She takes care of her son. On June of
1967, the Dirty Dozen film was released. It features Jim Brown as one of the lead actors in the film. The movie is
about a military leader training convicted criminals to execute a military mission against the Nazis of Europe. It is
based during the Second World War.

On October 23, 1967, Kwame Ture and his coauthor Charles V. Hamilton release their manifest called, “Black
Power: The politics of Liberation.” Charles V. Hamilton is a political scientist from the Roosevelt University in
Chicago. The book in essence promotes the idea of black people organizing and supporting the own institutions
independently. Otis Redding and his group of back up musicians including the pilot die in a plane crash on
December 10, 1967. Otis Redding was a great soul singer and his music sold greatly posthumously. He was only 26
years old. In 1967, African American women made many hits in music. Aretha Franklin top the R&B and Billboard
100 charts with her song “Respect.” Respect is an anthem for women and other oppressed peoples. Gladys Knight,
Bettye Swann, and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas made great records in 1967 too. Louis Armstrong’s “What a
Wonderful World” was a great record that sold greatly in Europe and in America. Melvin Van Peebles directed his
film about black soldiers in France called, “The Story of a Three-Day Pass” in 1968. On Eldridge Cleaver, he released
his book of essays called “Soul on Ice” on March 25, 1968. Of course, I don’t agree with Cleaver on every issue. Soul
on Ice is a very controversial book. It has tons of profanity, Cleaver admits in the book that he raped black and
white women (which was evil and disgraceful), and it criticized many civil rights leaders.
 THE CULTURAL DIVERSITY OF THE LATE 1960’S
The Afro is a great
cultural icon of
black Americans
to this very day.
Tamara Dobson
has shown the
Afro too (in 1969
in this picture).

Mississippi civil rights activist Annie Bell Robinson Devine speaks at a

The legendary Bill Russell was a coach
and a player during the 1960’s. He is
one of the greatest basketball players
in history with 11 NBA Championships
and 5 MVPs in the NBA. He is also a
dedicated social activist.
night rally held at Tugaloo University on the last day of the March
Against Fear (in 1966). Years before, in 1964, Devine joined Fannie Lou
Hamer and Victoria Gray Adams to become the first black women to
speak before the United States House of Representatives. The three
were elected state representatives for the progressive Mississippi
Freedom Democratic Party.

Ella Baker and Ruby Dee

were at the Jeanette
Rankin News Conference
in 1968. Ella Baker was a
civil rights activist that
helped organize the
Southern Christian
Leadership Conference
(SCLC) and assisted with
the formation of the
The Jet magazine cover from 1967
Student Non-Violent
featured Yvonne Brathwaite
Coordinating Committee
Burke. She was the first African-
(SNCC). Ruby Dee was a
American woman to represent
film actress and activist
the West Coast in Congress. She
who participated in the
has always supported civil rights.
Civil Rights Movement
Nichelle Nichols is a legend and a beautiful
and was a member of the
black woman. She is a singer, actress, and
Congress of Racial
dancer. Her role in Star Trek from 1966-
Equality (CORE). They
1969 was historic in showing a great, non-
were heroes.
stereotypical expression of Black
Excellence. Her character in Star Trek was
communications officer Lieutenant Uhura
Jesse Jackson, Al Raby, Martin Luther King Jr. and
aboard the USS Enterprise. Dr. King
Ed Berry were at the Civil Rights Summit in Chicago
praised her and we honor her greatness too. in 1966. Sun-Times Archive has shown this picture.
 The actress Nichelle Nichols from Star Trek has displayed strength and
grace in that science fiction show. Also, Aretha Franklin continued to
make hit records like Chain of Fools, Think, etc. She was on the cover of
TIME magazine under the banner of “The Sound of Soul” by June of
1968. James Brown released the great anthem, “Say it Loud, I’m Black
and I’m Proud” back in 1968. Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a great black
woman musician. Black theology took hold of America by 1968 and
beyond. Ebony talked about the black theology in March of 1969. It has
been promoted by Detroit minister Albert B. Cleage Jr. and others.
Veteran comedian Moms Mabley, musician Jim Hendrix (who performed
in Woodstock), and famous photographer Gordon Parks (who directed
the film the Learning Tree) excelled in their talents in the year of 1969. By
the end of the 1960’s, more black people wore dashikis, Afros, and other
pro-African clothing. It was a cultural shift into a more positive, pro-black,
This picture is of the and inspirational direction. The 1960’s saw a black cultural revolution in
Supremes from 1968. the arts.

It has been almost 50 years after Brother Otis Redding’s passing.

He was a legendary singer and a person who loved soul music. He
was a man from the South. He was born in Dawson, Georgia. Later,
he worked in the Stax Records company based in Memphis,
Tennessee. He sang in the Baptist choir as a young person. By the
late 1950's and the early 1960's, he established many records. Pain in
my Heart was his debut album from 1964. He lived in Los Angeles
and in his home state of Georgia. He is famous for the song of "Try
a Little Tenderness." That song showed his range and many of his
songs has shown a man's vulnerable side. In other words, he showed
happy and sadness including joy in his records. I heard of that song
when I was a kid during the early 1990's. That was one of my
parents' favorite songs.
"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was released in January 1968. It
became Redding's only single to reach number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 and the first posthumous number-one single in
U.S. chart history. It was one of his signature songs. Otis Redding
was a legend. He was married and had children. He personified the
power of soul music shown by a black man. He helped the youth
and was a philanthropist. His musical legacy is etched forever. Rest
in Power Brother Otis Redding.
 This is the truth. This is the truth about how crooked cops have oppressed our people.
This is real talk. The child killed in the picture (in the middle) happened in Newark in
1967.
The Rebellions
The rebellions in America from 1963 to 1968 changed America forever. They were a part of the expressions
frustrations of many about the injustices going on in the United States of America. These rebellions were different
from the anti-black riots from white racists in that white racists had the intention specifically to murder and target
black people violently. These rebellions of the 1960’s were created out of anger and out of hurt from neglect and
oppression from capitalist America. The Second Great Migration allowed millions of African Americans to go into
large urban centers in the North, the Midwest, and the West. Black people in those locations still faced de facto
segregation (which is segregation by unwritten policies not by legal mandate), struggling educational services,
police brutality, racism, discrimination, and bad social plus economic conditions. The 1963 Birmingham rebellion
was a watershed movement in American history. This was long before the Watts rebellion. Black people in the
South used self-defense for centuries and this rebellion was the beginning of the others in the future years after
1963. It started after white racists bombed many homes belonging to African Americans like the Gaston Motel, and
the home of A.D. King (or Dr. King’s brother). The bystander Roosevelt Tatum survived one bombing too. Tatum
said that the local police planted the bombs and A.D. King demanded that the FBI arrest local police members. Dr.
King received a death threat. The Klan threatened people too. The Klan abhorred the agreement reached in
Birmingham. On May 11, 1963, it started. One officer was stabbed. Many people started to reject nonviolence.
State troopers came. One tank arrived. Armed cops patrolled the streets. White journalists and black people were
sequestered in a bombed motel with no food or water until morning. President Kennedy wanted to promote “law
and order.”

JFK enacted Operation Oak Tree which involved military force to end the rebellion in Birmingham. Operation Oak
Tree was the first time in modern United States history that the federal government deployed military power in
response to civil unrest without a specific legal injunction to enforce. Yet, Malcolm X accurately stated that
Kennedy didn’t intervene when bombs were coming in the homes of black people or when dogs bit black men,
black women, and black children in the streets. Malcolm X said that he only responded when black people used
rebellion and self-defense. He’s right. New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell said that if Kennedy didn’t
move quickly on civil rights in Birmingham and nationwide, then rebellions would spread nationwide including the
capital of Washington, D.C. He was right also. Ironically, the rebellions of the 1960's increased the speed in which
civil rights legislation would be passed. In August 1-4, 1963, white racists use bricks and bottles to harm the house
of Reginald Williams (who is a black man) in the Englewood section of Chicago. More than 220 people are arrested.

The image on the left shows Sister Gloria Richardson standing up against injustice in 1963. The
image on the right shows the events of the Harlem rebellion of 1964.

There was the Cambridge rebellion in 1963 too. Cambridge was in Maryland in the Maryland section of the Eastern
Shore. The Civil Rights movement in Cambridge was led by Gloria Richardson and SNCC against the pro-
segregationist police and the oppressive power structure. I have been to Cambridge, Maryland before in real life.
The movement wanted to end discrimination. The Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee (CNAC) is founded
soon after these initial demonstrations to support and continue local protests as early as 1962. SNCC and the CNAC
also wanted fair housing, equal employment opportunities, and desegregation of public accommodations. The
power structure refused to budge. On June 14, 1963, a protest happened. Later, businesses were burned. White
and African American citizens exchanged gunfire and then martial law was declared by Governor Tawes. Governor
Tawes declared martial law and deployed the Maryland National Guard to Cambridge after the CNAC refused to
create a year-long moratorium on protests. The guardsmen remain in the town for a 25-day period, from June 14
through July 8. During the summer, both white and blacks exchange gunfire continuously and the Maryland
National Guard occupied Cambridge. In 1964, rebellions grew. During the summer of 1964, they existed in New
York City, Rochester (in New York State), Philadelphia, Elizabeth (in New Jersey), Paterson (in New Jersey), and
Dixmoor (or a suburb in Chicago). The common factor among all of these rebellions is that these locations are filled
with people who were victims of many injustices (like police brutality, racism, housing discrimination, economic
exploitation, de facto segregation, and educational issues). Many people in the rebellions were working class. Most
of these rebellions took place during the Summer of 1964.
During the Watts rebellion of 1965 in Los Angeles changed everything. It happened when the police in Watts
arrested a black person. The person’s mother’s intervened and the rebellion happened. For years, black people in
Los Angeles were oppressed by the police. African Americans since the 1950’s have complained about excessive
force by the police and discriminatory practices. Restrictive covenant policies restricted African Americans, Latino
Americans, and Asian Americans from receiving adequate housing of their choice. White racists in the early 1950’s
bombed homes, fired homes, and burnt crosses on the homes of black Americans in Suasion Avenue. White gangs
harassed black people in LA since the 1920’s. In August of 1965, the Watts rebellion happened. Homes were
bombed. Stores were destroyed. The California Army National Guard arrested people. The military response was
huge and some people used physical combat against the military.

This was the beginning of some of the biggest urban unrest since the Civil War. Most of those involved in the
rebellion had no criminal record. They were mostly working class human beings. Between 31,000 and 35,000 adults
participated in the riots over the course of six days, while about 70,000 people were "sympathetic, but not active."
Over the six days, there were 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, 3,438 arrests, and over $40 million in property damage. In a
1966 essay, black civil rights activist Bayard Rustin stated: "The whole point of the outbreak in Watts was that it
marked the first major rebellion of Negroes against their own masochism and was carried on with the express
purpose of asserting that they would no longer quietly submit to the deprivation of slum life."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. immediately came into Watts to access the situation. He was booed by some black
people. This shocked him since tons of black people supported. He later said in self-reflection that the people
booing were expressing dissatisfaction at the system. Dr. King said that the rebellion was part of the frustration of
black Americans. While he condemned the violence, he recognized that something must be done to address the
needs of the black residents of Watts. Dr. King said that "a riot is the language of the unheard." The McCone
Commission report identified the root causes of the riots to be high unemployment, poor schools, and other
inferior living conditions for African Americans in Watts. The McCone Commission called for “emergency literacy
and preschool programs, improved police-community ties, increased low-income housing, more job-training
projects, upgraded health-care services, more efficient public transportation, and many more." Most of these
recommendations were not acted upon. In 1966, rebellions happened in Chicago, Omaha, Cleveland, Waukegan (in
Illinois), Benton Harbor (in Michigan), in Atlanta, and in other places. The 1967 rebellions were large and it was
called by the media as ‘long hot summers.’
The biggest of such rebellions happened in Detroit from July 23-29, 1967. I wasn't born during that time, but my
parents were alive then. It happened during the post-World War II boom (from 1945-1973), which many middle
class people had economic growth while the poorest of Americans still suffered a great deal. It was an uprising and
one of the most serious uprisings in American history. It happened because of many reasons. A white racist gang
killed Danny Thomas, who was a black Army veteran. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Acts were passed
and they were great, progressive legislation, but economic inequality wasn't truly addressed by the federal
government. By the late 1960's, housing and racial discrimination were rampant in Detroit. City schools were
underfunded as compared to the suburbs just before the rebellion.

That is why a diversity of black people in Detroit from integrationalists to Black Nationalists wanted real change in
their lives. Incidents of racist terror continued in Detroit well into the 1960's. Danny Thomas was a black Army
veteran and he was killed by a racist white gang just before the rebellion. Danny Thomas was a courageous man
who tried to protect his pregnant wife from the sexual advances of the racist gang. She later lost the baby. The
police refused to arrest the gang. The incident was kept out of the major newspapers until the city's Black
newspaper made it a banner headline. Since the 1950’s, there has been massive white flight. Detroit is known for
its racism spanning decades and centuries.

The police raided an after-hours club in Detroit. The police claimed that the club was didn’t have a legal license.
One cop slammed the window of a social club with a sledgehammer. Later, in a memoir, Walter Scott III, a
doorman whose father was running the raided blind pig, took responsibility for starting the riot by inciting the
crowd and throwing a bottle at a police officer. Then, the rebellion happened. It involved looting, sniper fire,
burning of cars, and other actions. Local, state, and federal authorities were called. During these rebellions, police
brutality was abundant too. As scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (who is an expert on housing issues and the
rebellions of the 1960's) has written in her article, "Rediscovering race and class after Katrina":

"...But we can’t get away at only looking at what the political parties were doing. After all, politicians and
bosses have always relied on scapegoating and racism to push through a repressive agenda. In the 1960s,
the three parties in power—the Republicans, the Democrats, and the Dixiecrats—were met with resistance
every step of the way. From the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements to the women’s liberation
movement there was an alternative to status-quo lies. From 1964 through 1968 there were Black
rebellions in most cities across the United States. These violent explosions against racism, poverty, and
police brutality forced the government to name oppression and exploitation as the main problems in
America’s cities. Lyndon Johnson was forced to wage a war on poverty in response to the Black Power
movement. You cannot really discuss race and class without talking about class within race..."
Shortly before midnight on Monday, July 24, 1967, President Johnson authorized the use of federal troops in
compliance with the Insurrection Act of 1807, which authorizes the President to call in armed forces to fight an
insurrection in any state against the government. This gave Detroit the distinction of being the only domestic
American city to have been occupied by federal troops three times. The U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division and
101st Airborne Division had earlier been positioned at nearby Selfridge Air Force Base in suburban Macomb
County. Starting at 1:30 on Tuesday, July 25, some 8,000 Michigan Army National Guardsmen were deployed to
quell the disorder. Later, their number would be augmented with 4,700 paratroopers from both the 82nd and
101st Airborne Divisions, and 360 Michigan State Police officers. The local police assaulted those they have
arrested both blacks and whites. 12th Street (in the Virginia Park area of Detroit) is a major focus point of the black
community in Detroit. From Albert B. Cleage, Jr. to Malcolm X, Detroit has a long history in the black freedom
movement.

The Algiers Motel incident was when the police murdered innocent people. The economic damage and the human
life loss were huge. Thousands of people were injured. Damaged ranged above $40 million. Almost 400 families
were homeless. The result of the rebellion was 43 dead, 1,189 injured, over 7,200 arrests, about 5,000 people were
left homeless, and more than 2,000 buildings destroyed. The events caused the Housing bill in the state level to be
passed in Michigan. It caused an acceleration of white flight. After 1967, Detroit’s infrastructure started to rapidly
decline because of loss of tax revenue, underfunding, an exodus of people from Detroit, and the
deindustrialization. The scale of the riot was surpassed in the United States only by the 1863 New York City draft
riots during the American Civil War and the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Detroit once had some of the highest growth of
the black middle class in the nation. Detroit is resilient and today, Detroit has tons of real people doing great work.
Many black nationalists like H. Rap Brown welcomed these rebellions as precursors to the revolution.

For decades, Detroit's population declined and there was the bankruptcy of Detroit during the 21st century. Also,
there has been many activists in Detroit fighting for a new, better Detroit to this very day. Their efforts should be
acknowledged and respected. The rebellions of the 1960's represented how American capitalism was fallible (in the
sense of it claiming to be for the rights of people domestically while funding reactionary foreign policy actions
overseas) and the issues of class oppression and racial oppression must be addressed if we are to be in the
Promised Land of justice for real. Even the Kerner report outlined that economic oppression and racism were
contributing factors to the rebellion. Today, we see the growth of the middle class and the rich. We see also the
growth of the economic inequality and militarism in the world. The rebellions of the 1960's was exploited by the
powers that be, so they could make militarized more of the local police, to expand the mass incarceration state
(under the guise of "law and order" which reactionaries use all of the time), and to use other evil methods of
suppression. The Detroit rebellion caused the increased military involvement in the lives of suppressing future
rebellions. Also, Coleman Young was soon mayor of Detroit. He was the first black mayor of Detroit.
The Detroit rebellion was a reminder that hurting, oppressed people don't need scapegoating. They need adequate
resources, compassion, and respect to achieve their own aspirations in life. Still, Detroit residents are resilient and
they a'int backing down. They are our Brothers and our Sisters.

Dr. King condemned the violence in the rebellions while understanding that riots are the voices of the unheard
(and that you must do more than just condemn a riot. You have to understand what causes riots in order to find
the solutions).

Also, one important comment about the 50th anniversary of the Detroit rebellion was about the social activism.
After the rebellion, many black workers formed the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), an
organization of Black workers based at Chrysler's Dodge Main assembly plant born out of a wildcat strike less than
a year after the rebellion, and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, which sought to unite together
Revolutionary Union Movements (RUMs) of Black auto workers in Detroit. These groups fought for racial justice
and workers rights well into the 1970's. General Baker was a labor organizer. He was a co-founder of the Dodge
Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) back in May of 1968 and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers
(LRBW). Detroit has always been on the cutting edge of revolutionary politics for a long time.

1967 saw rebellions in Cincinnati, Buffalo, Newark, Plainfield (in New Jersey), Cairo (in Illinois), Cambridge (in
Maryland), Saginaw (in Michigan), and Milwaukee.

This time is also the 50th anniversary of the rebellion in Newark, New Jersey
too. It lasted from July 12-17, 1967. It happened after the police assaulted a
black man in custody. Before the rebellions, Newark was suffering greatly by
the late 1960's. The Great Migration caused many black Americans to come
into Newark. As early as the 1950's, deindustrialization, redlining (or the
intentional use of housing discrimination against black residents, so more black
residents could live in low income neighborhoods by design), a lack of black
political representation in Newark, police brutality, lax education, and racism
plagued the lives of black people in Newark. People were desperate.
Unemployment and poverty were also very high with the traditional
manufacturing base having been fully eroded and withdrawn from the
Northeast US by 1967. Further fueling tensions was the final decision by the
state of New Jersey to clear a vast tract of land in the central ward of its
tenement buildings, displacing thousands, to build the new University of
Medicine and Dentistry facility. (In subsequent years the UMDNJ facility would
become an important primary care facility for the remaining residents).
Revolution ’67 is a great
documentary that showed the Back then, the mayor of Newark was Hugh Addonizio. He tried to elect black
complexities, the reasons, and representation in local government, but racial profiling was rampant in the city.
This unrest came to a head when two white Newark policemen, John DeSimone
the aftermath of the 1967
and Vito Pontrelli, arrested a black cabdriver, John William Smith. Smith was
Newark, NJ rebellion. It shows
arrested and beaten by the police. Some people thought that Smith was dead,
interviews from people in the but he wasn't. People soon threw bottles and bricks at the police wearing
city during that time period. hardhats. Later, the rebellion spread throughout the city. 24 people were killed.
The famous black playwright Amiri Baraka was clubbed viciously by the police in
the rebellion. Springfield Avenue was one epicenter of the rebellion. Many innocent people were killed. Early in the
evening of July 15 a woman named Rebecca Brown was killed in a fusillade of bullets directed at the window of her
second floor apartment. This event helped to set off the worst of the fighting. By the sixth day, looting, violence,
and destruction ultimately left a total of 16 civilians, 8 suspects, a police officer, and a firefighter dead; 353
civilians, 214 suspects, 67 police officers, 55 firefighters, and 38 military personnel injured; and 689 civilians and
811 suspects arrested. Property damage exceeded $10 million. A little child was killed too.

The rebellion ended by the police, the National Guard, and other authorities. The result of the rebellion was further
social and economic problems in Newark. After 1967, more people (including many white people, which is what we
Americans call white flight) left Newark into the northern New Jersey suburbs. For decades, Newark has
experienced poverty and other issues. Recently, there are continued efforts to change Newark into a positive
direction. Newark's Downtown has developed and more programs have developed. We have a long way to go. We
remember those who lost their lives and the point that we have to continue to work for social justice. Revolution
'67 is one award winning documentary that described the events.

The 1968 Orangeburg Massacre in South Carolina involved the police killing innocent black demonstrators (who
were protesting racial segregation in a bowling alley in Orangeburg, SC. Many of the protesters were students from
South Carolina State University) in February 8, 1968. South Carolina State University is a HBCU or a Historically
Black College or University. The state and local police officers fired guns on an unarmed group of black students. 3
students were killed and 27 people are wounded. It was an injustice by the police. In a state trial in 1970, the
activist Cleveland Sellers was convicted of a charge of riot related to the events on February 6 at the bowling alley.
He served seven months in state prison, getting time off for good behavior. He was the national program director
of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In 1973 he wrote The River of No Return: The
Autobiography of a Black Militant and the Life and Death of SNCC. Twenty-five years later, Sellers was officially
pardoned by the governor of South Carolina. Cleveland Sellers was an innocent man who was oppressed by a racist
regime in America. After the April 4, 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., rebellions happened in over
100 cities. Roy Wilkins and many moderate civil rights leaders wanted calm.

Kwame Ture said that white America made a big mistake when Dr. King was murdered. Some people felt that
nonviolence wouldn’t work to cause change. Johnson called Coretta Scott King to send condolences and to
promote a sense of justice. Attorney General Ramsey Clark pushed the FBI to find the murderer. Troops and tanks
were in the streets of Washington, D.C. in the 1968 rebellions. Troops with machine guns were guarding the U.S.
Capitol. This (or the 1968 rebellions after the evil King assassination) was the biggest insurrection in America
history since the Civil War. There were questions about whether the nation would survive. There were questions
on whether people can come together.

We, who live in this generation, are the answers to those questions. The truth is that the nation survived. The truth
is that both nonviolence and self-defense are legitimate avenues of activism and hope should always be embraced
by any oppressed people. The rebellions taught us that the voices of the oppressed must not only be heard, but
respected. We are not naïve either. We have a long way to go. Imperialism, racism, police terrorism, sexism,
xenophobia, and other forms of fascism still exist globally. Those evils must be eradicated completely. Compassion
and empathy go a long way in fighting for justice. The movement continued and persisted.
Decisions from the Warren Court
The Warren Court changed history permanently. The court was probably the most liberal court in American history.
It changed so many laws in American society. Earl Warren had an evolution himself. He was more conservative (he
was a Republican. He was Governor of California for a number of years) and then he became more progressive on
issues as time went onward. He lived from 1891 to 1974. He was one of the most influential Supreme Court
Justices in history. He was not perfect as no human is perfect. Earl Warren made the mistake to endorse the
internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The internment of Japanese Americans was evil and wrong
period. He was part of an anti-Asian Society called Native Sons of the Golden West. I don’t agree with his
membership in that hate group. William J. Brennan Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and other liberals on the Court would
agree with many of Warren’s progressive decisions too. Warren was right to agree with the 1954 Brown v. Board of
Education decision which ended legal public school segregation federally. The ruling was unanimous too. The Court
focused more on civil liberties too not just on property rights. The Supreme Court back then also focused on
interpreting Congressional district policy and voters’ rights. The Supreme Court ruled in agreement with the
principle of “one man, one vote.” The situation was that one of the apportionment of seats in state legislatures.
During the 20th century, a large group of voters moved from rural to urban areas.

Yet, many state governments had not changed or reapportioned electoral districts to reflect the new
demographics. This caused an electoral imbalance, because in many states, rural areas had more power and urban
areas had less power than their populations actually mandated. In the decision of Baker v. Carr (1962), the
Supreme Court ruled that reappointment should be on the basis of “one man, one vote.” In other words, the
electoral districts must reflect the number of people in those districts. In Reynolds v. Sims (1964), the Supreme
Court reaffirmed the previous decision on the issue. It added that any other situation other than “one man, one
vote” violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Warren Court legitimately protected
the rights of the accused as well. Accused people have rights too. Mapp v. Ohio (1961) said that evidence illegally
obtained by any authority violated the Fourth Amendment and had to be excluded from federal and state cases.
Gideon v. Wainright (1963) allowed the Supreme Court to decide that all accused criminals had the right to lawyers
whether they could afford one or not. This caused the increase of public defenders to defend people.
The 1964 decision of Escobedo v. Illinois expanded the previous decision to mention that every accused lawbreaker
had to be offered access to a lawyer before questioning (and all evidence obtained from a suspect who had not
been of his or her right to a lawyer could not be used in court). One of the most famous cases of the time was
Miranda v. Arizona from 1966. It ruled that police officers can’t force faulty confession leading into self-
criminalization. It allowed officers to read arrested, accused persons their Miranda rights before they are taken into
custody. In other words, a person must be known of their Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights before being
questioned. This expanded civil liberty rights indeed.

The Warren endorsed the separation of church and state. I believe in the separation of church and state. The 1962
Engel v. Vitale decision is one of the most misinterpreted decisions in history. That decision didn’t ban all forms of
school prayer in public schools. What it did do what that a public school can’t require students to recite a state-
sanctioned prayer. So, the school can’t force students to prayer out of official state policy. Mandatory school
prayer in public school is a violation of the First Amendment according to the Court. The Abington v. Schempp
decision of 1963 banned Bible reading in public schools by force. Therefore, it declared school-sponsored Bible
reading in public schools in the United States to be unconstitutional. Some welcomed these decisions. Others
abhor these decisions, especially many religious conservatives. We debate these issues to this very day.

Moreover, in one of the landmark cases decided by the Court, Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the Warren Court
announced a constitutionally protected right of privacy. As Chief Justice, he swore in four consecutive Presidents:
Eisenhower (in 1957), Kennedy (in 1961), Johnson (in 1965) and Nixon (in 1969). The landmark civil rights decision
of the Loving v. Virginia case of 1967 allowed for interracial marriage. It ended state anti-miscegenation laws
nationwide (such laws existed in Virginia, Alabama, Missouri, Texas, Florida, etc.). Back then, many states banned
interracial relationships. In 2000, Alabama became the last state to adapt its laws to the Supreme Court's decision,
when 60% of voters endorsed a ballot initiative that removed anti-miscegenation language from the state
constitution. The decision changed many lives forever. Earl Warren opposed Nixon throughout his life. On that date
of July 9, 1974, he was visited by Justices Brennan and Douglas. Warren could not resist asking his friends whether
the Court would order President Nixon to release the sixty-four tapes demanded by the Watergate investigation.
Both justices assured him that the court had voted unanimously in United States v. Nixon for the release of the
tapes. Relieved, Warren died just a few hours later. His funeral was held at Washington National Cathedral. He was
interred at the Arlington National Cemetery. He was 83 years old. He lived a long life and his life signals for us that
progressive thinking has caused countless blessings in the lives of Americans and other human beings worldwide.

The Warren Court transformed life so much in America, and we are influenced by the court's decisions to this day.
Black America and Athletics
There has been a long history of African Americans and athletics. During the Civil Rights Movement, black people
from across America not only performed sports. They also expressed social commentaries in favor of civil rights,
black human rights, and progressive changes in society. Their stories are part of our stories, because we share the
common link of desiring a better world. Black Americans have broken down barriers in achieving great
accomplishments. During the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Louise Stokes and Tidye Pickett (who are both black women.
They didn’t participate in the Los Angeles 1932 Olympics because of their race, which is evil) represented their
country. Jesse Owens won gold in multiple races and he had a legendary career in track and field too. Alice
Coachman was a star track and many great athletes were from Tuskegee Institute. She was the first black woman
to win Olympic gold. She set records with her high jump at the 1948 Olympics in London. World War II prevented
her from getting more gold medals. The first African American on an Olympic basketball team and the first African
American gold medal basketball winner was Don Barksdale in 1948. The black female tennis player Ora Washington
won her first American Tennis Associations singles title in 1929. Jackie Robinson was the first black African
American in a MLB team during the 20th century. The team was the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
The great Althea Gibson was a legendary tennis player. She should sing and she loved sports. Back in the day, she
suffered a great deal. She endured racism and sexism, but she has always shown strength and courage to speak out
and to promote her gifts. She had many friends who were inspired by her talent, by her grace, and by her down to
Earth personality. Gibson was born on August 25, 1927, in the town of Silver, in Clarendon County, South Carolina,
to Daniel and Annie Bell Gibson, who worked as sharecroppers on a cotton farm. She was raised in Harlem, NYC.
She played tennis as a youth and stood up because of her excellent athletic abilities. Walter Johnson helped her to
improve her game. She played in Sugar Hill in Harlem and throughout the nation. Back then, there was Jim Crow, so
she fought to play in integrated facilities.

In 1956 Gibson became the first African-American athlete to win a Grand Slam
event, the French Open singles championship. She also won the doubles title,
partnered with Briton Angela Buxton. In 1957, she was the first black woman to win
Wimbledon. She had a parade in New York City. Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr.
presented her with the Bronze Medallion, the city's highest civilian award. In 1950,
Althea Gibson became the first black player (male or female) to compete in a U.S.
Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) event, the national championship at Forest Hills,
in Queens, New York. Althea Gibson also won her first Grand Slam singles title at
the French Open in 1956. She won back to back titles at Wimbledon and the U.S.
Open in 1957 and 1958.

In 1964, at the age of 37, Gibson became the first African-American woman to join
the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour. She played golf until 1978. She
also attempted a golf comeback, in 1987 at age 60, with the goal of becoming the
Sister Althea Gibson
oldest active tour player, but was unable to regain her tour card. She passed away
was a lovely, down to in 2003 at the age of 76. Will Darben was Althea Gibson’s first husband and her
Earth black woman. second husband was Sydney Llewellyn.

She was a woman whose legacy inspired the Williams Sisters. She broke down barriers not just because she wanted
to achieve individual success. She wanted to show the world that excellence is not limited to men. It can be shown
among women too including black women. She created a trail of power, of talent, and of the love of competition.
While others betrayed her, her closest friends and her family stood by her. Her story is a powerful one and a story
of how our heroes' spirits inspire us to achieve our own dreams.

By the 1950’s, more African Americans came into the NBA and other sports. Willie Thrower was the first black
quarterback to play in the NFL during the post-WWII era. He played for the Chicago Bears in 1953. The first African
American to join the PGA tour was Charlie Shifford.

Wilma Rudolph had polio as young child. She regained her strength. She won 3 gold medals in the 1960 Olympics in
Rome. She won the 100 and 200 meter dash including the 4 X 100 meter relay. Also, in the same year, Muhammad
Ali won a gold medal in boxing in Rome too. Willye White was the first American woman to compete in five
Olympic Games (1956, 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972). She won silver in the long jump in 1956 and in the 4×100-
meter relay in 1964. The 1960’s represented a new era of black athletics in America. Many athletics didn’t just play
sports. They were also active in the Civil Rights Movement too. Muhammad Ali gave a strong influence in the black
freedom struggle. He not only defeated Sonny Liston in February of 1964. He spoke in favor of Blackness and he
soon opposed the Vietnam War. So, he refused to be drafted into the military because of his religious and political
views. Muhammad Ali represented a new generation of the modern black athlete (filled with determination,
confidence, and unapologetic expression of Blackness). By 1967, many reactionaries hated his anti-war views and
he was stripped of his right to fight in America. It would take years for him to fight again, but his confidence and his
accurate words on promoting freedom have inspired black people in the 1960’s and beyond. Muhammad Ali
defined himself. Bill Russell was one of the greatest basketball players in history. In 1955 and in 1956, he won NCAA
championships for the University of San Francisco. He not only loved defense. He was a master of the game of
basketball. He dunked the ball, he passed the ball to his teammates, and he loved the game. He came to the Boston
Celtics to win a historic 11 times. He had a gold medal in the 1956 Olympics.

Willie Mays is one of the
greatest baseball players in
history. He played in the
Negro Leagues for years and
in the MLB. He won the
Gold Glove Award 12 times.
He won the World Series in
1954 and was in the All Star
game 24 times from 1954 to
1973.
This picture showed
Lucinda Williams (right)
posing with her
Tennessee State
Tigerbelles teammates
(left to right) Isabelle
Daniels, Margaret
Matthews and Barbara
Jones. Photo courtesy of
Tennessee State
University.
She was Eleanor Montgomery. She was born
on November 13, 1946 in Cleveland, Ohio. She
was involved in track and field in Tennessee
State. She won 13 AAU Indoor and Outdoor
titles. She won awards in the high jump. She
won the high jump at the 1963 and the 1967
Pan American Games. Between 1967 and
1969, Montgomery set the American indoor
and outdoor record in the event a total of six
times. In 1976 she was inducted into the
Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame and in
2013 into the National Track and Field Hall
of Fame. She passed away at the age of 67 on
December 28, 2013.
The black women (on the left) here are Wilma Rudolph, Lucinda Williams, Barbara Jones, and Martha
Hudson at the Rome Olympics. The black woman on the right is the great track and field legend
Wyomia Tyus. She was born in Griffin, Georgia. She won gold medals in the 1964 Olympic Games in
Tokyo and in the 1968 Games in Mexico City. She later became a teacher and was founding member of
the Women's Sports Foundation.

Bill Russell worked with his teammates and he supported civil rights. While he lived in Boston, many racists in
Boston harassed him and cursed at him. His property was damaged, but Bill Russell continued to fight for his rights.
Red Auerbach retired and Bill Russell became the first black coach of a NBA team. Russell played against Wilt
Chamberlain constantly. Bill Russell is a total legend along with Oscar Robertson (who was the first black man to
win a major national player of the year award in college basketball during 1959). Football would have a powerful
history in our community too. Ernie Davis was the first black person to win the Heisman Trophy. He, Jim Brown,
and other players revolutionized the game of football. Jim Brown would support Muhammad Ali’s decision to
oppose the draft and developed economic programs in helping black people. The 1968 Olympics would be in
Mexico City. Black athletes threatened to boycott the Olympics in 1967 and in 1968. Yet, they decided to go. They
formed discussions about what to do to make the world known about racial discrimination in America. Tommie
Smith and John Carols in that Olympics would raise their fists in the air signifying Black Power. This was a great
protest against injustice. They were punished by the Olympic committee, but they stood by their views afterwards.
By the end of the 1960’s, the face of sports radically changed to include more black men and black women.
Other Issues
Other information is important to know about the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was diverse.
Some black Americans believed in nonviolence. Some followed the Black Power movement. Some believed that
activism should go slower. Others believed that issues within the black community should be addressed. Some
believed that law and order would bring about change. Rev. Joseph H. Jackson supported the Montgomery Bus
Boycott of 1956, but he was a conservative and told his denomination to not be involved in civil rights activism
involving civil disobedience by 1960. He allied with Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago and the Chicago Democratic
machine against the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who wanted housing rights during the year of 1966. He
denounced Dr. King, SNCC, and the SCLC, because of them using social activism via the means of social resistance.
He wanted civil rights to be done by “law and order.” The problem is that much of the laws then and now are
without logic and promotes disorder against the lives of black people. An unjust law is no law at all. The law is
never infallible therefore resistance to unjust laws is necessary in order for freedom to be reached. Jackson
opposed the sit-ins and the movement using civil disobedience (although, the early Americans centuries ago used
civil disobedience and outright insurrection against the British Crown to form the American nation that he so
loved). He rejected Black Power too.

Ironically, Dr. King appealed to the Constitution and love of country in organizing his actions. Dr. King wanted the
whole society to be changed radically instead of just focusing on national patriotism. Rev. Jackson (who believed in
a conservative black patriotism) was from an older generation who in many cases believed that self-help alone
could make change. He believed in a patriotism that had faith in the system. So, Rev. Joseph H. Jackson focused on
more individual means while Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. focused on more collective means in establishing
justice for humanity. The movement wasn’t headed by one man. Sociologist Doug McAdam has stated that, "in
King's case, it would be inaccurate to say that he was the leader of the modern civil rights movement...but more
importantly, there was no singular civil rights movement. The movement was, in fact, a coalition of thousands of
local efforts nationwide, spanning several decades, hundreds of discrete groups, and all manner of strategies and
tactics—legal, illegal, institutional, non-institutional, violent, non-violent. Without discounting King's importance, it
would be sheer fiction to call him the leader of what was fundamentally an amorphous, fluid, dispersed
movement." Some black people were in favor of legal segregation (who wanted the white power structure to
control their lives. Church ministers, businessmen and educators were among those who wished to keep
segregation and segregationist ideals in order to retain the privileges they gained from patronage from whites,
such as monetary gains), which is treason in my eyes. These proponents were different than the Black Nationalists.
Black sellout defenders of segregation wanted the status quo while black nationalists disagreed with both NAACP-
style integration and Jim Crow. Black nationalists wanted autonomous all-black institutions controlled solely by
black people without Jim Crow oppression. They believed in self-determination in a nationalist fashion.

The overall scope of the black freedom movement wanted freedom and justice for black people. The Civil Rights
movement was slandered as heavily controlled by Communists by Hoover and the John Birch Society including
other far right extremists. On December 17, 1951, the Communist Party–affiliated Civil Rights Congress delivered
the petition We Charge Genocide: "The Crime of Government Against the Negro People", often shortened to We
Charge Genocide, to the United Nations in 1951, arguing that the U.S. federal government, by its failure to act
against lynching in the United States, was guilty of genocide under Article II of the UN Genocide Convention. The
petition was presented to the United Nations at two separate venues: Paul Robeson, concert singer and activist, to
a UN official in New York City, while William L. Patterson, executive director of the CRC, delivered copies of the
drafted petition to a UN delegation in Paris. William L. Patterson was a Communist. He helped the black freedom
movement in defending the Scottsboro boys in Alabama in 1931. The Communist Party was very influential among
many African Americans from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. The 1950’s was the time of McCarthyism and some
Communists made the mistake of supporting the Stalin-Hitler agreement (which turned many people off of
Communism along with the totalitarianism of Stalin).

As earlier Civil Rights figures such as Robeson, Du Bois and Patterson became more politically radical (and therefore
targets of Cold War anti-Communism by the US. Government), they lost favor with both mainstream Black
Americans (who were anti-Communist) and the NAACP. The NAACP was overtly anti-Communist, especially by the
1950's. Roy Wilkins and Thurgood Marshall were key anti-Communist pro-NAACP leaders. The mainstream of the
Civil Rights Movement distanced themselves from Communists. According to Ella Baker, the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference adopted "Christian" into its name to deter charges of Communism. J. Edgar Hoover used
surveillance of the movement too. This action was challenged by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(or SNCC). SNCC embraced people who people who were Communists and non-Communists for a person’s political
views should never be used as an excuse for political persecution. The NAACP disagreed with this move. The
American Jewish community supported the Civil Rights Movement heavily. Many Jewish students and Jewish adults
funded CORE, SCLC, and the SNCC. Many Jewish people were volunteers. Unfortunately, we live in a time now that
many Hoteps and white racists are anti-Semitic and I condemn anti-Semitism as evil and wrong period.

Jewish people were about half of the white northern volunteers involved in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer
project and approximately half of the civil rights attorneys active in the South during the 1960’s. Jewish leaders
were arrested while heeding a call from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in St. Augustine, Florida, in June 1964,
where the largest mass arrest of rabbis in American history took place at the Monson Motor Lodge—a nationally
important civil rights landmark that was demolished in 2003 so that a Hilton Hotel could be built on the site.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, a writer, rabbi, and professor of theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
in New York, was outspoken on the subject of civil rights. He marched arm-in-arm with Dr. King in the 1965 Selma
to Montgomery march. In the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, the two white activists killed,
Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, were both Jewish. Brandeis University, the only nonsectarian Jewish-
sponsored college university in the world, created the Transitional Year Program (TYP) in 1968, in part response to
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. The faculty created it to renew the university's commitment to social
justice. Recognizing Brandeis as a university with a commitment to academic excellence, these faculty members
created a chance to disadvantaged students to participate in an empowering educational experience. The
American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, and the ADL promoted civil rights.

Jewish people were active in the civil rights movement in the South. Many Jewish individuals in the Southern states
who supported civil rights for African-Americans tended to keep a low profile on "the race issue", in order to avoid
attracting the attention of the anti-Black and anti-Semitic Ku Klux Klan. However, Klan groups exploited the issue of
African-American integration and Jewish involvement in the struggle to launch acts of violent antisemitism. As an
example of this hatred, in one year alone, from November 1957 to October 1958, temples and other Jewish
communal gatherings were bombed and desecrated in Atlanta, Nashville, Jacksonville, and Miami, and dynamite
was found under synagogues in Birmingham, Charlotte, and Gastonia, North Carolina. Some rabbis received death
threats, but there were no injuries following these outbursts of violence. African Americans and Jewish people in
the South didn’t experience a massive strained relationship. The North is a different story. There was a more
strained relationship among American Americans and Jewish people in the North. Many communities of the North
had white flight, urban decay, police brutality, anti-black racism, and rebellions. Many Jewish Americans were often
the last remaining whites in the communities.
Black Power grew by the late 1960’s. Many black people believed in justice for Palestinian people back then
(especially among SNCC members). This was not anti-Semitism. Palestinians deserve human liberation and
independence just like anyone else. No nation is perfect and legitimately exposing Israel's imperfections is not anti-
Semitism too. SNCC members did in many cases supported the Palestinian liberation movement as early as the
1960's. Other activists were outright anti-Semites. In New York City, most notably, there was a major socio-
economic class difference in the perception of African Americans by Jewish people. Jewish people from better
educated Upper Middle Class backgrounds were often very supportive of African American civil rights activities
while the Jews in poorer urban communities that became increasingly less supportive largely in part due to more
negative and violent interactions between the two groups. The New York City teachers' strike of 1968 also signaled
the decline of relations among some black and Jewish people in the North. Black people wanted community control
while Jewish people wanted their teaching jobs maintained. The New York City teachers' strike of 1968 was a
months-long confrontation between the new community-controlled school board in the largely black Ocean Hill–
Brownsville neighborhoods of Brooklyn, and New York City’s United Federation of Teachers. The strike dragged on
from May 1968 to November 1968, shutting down the public schools for a total of 36 days. The strike pitted
community against union, highlighting a conflict between local rights to self-determination and teachers' universal
rights as workers. The strike ended on November 17, 1968, when the New York State Education Commissioner
asserted state control over the Ocean Hill–Brownsville district. The dismissed teachers were reinstated, three of
the new principals were transferred, and the trusteeship ran the district for four months. The aftermath of the
strike would influence NYC for decades to come.

Black people suffered economic exploitation by many capitalists in urban communities of the North (these
capitalists were both non-Jewish people and Jewish people). This exploitation is based on class oppression,
discrimination, racism, and other issues. It has nothing to do with every single Jewish person on Earth. Black people
are victims of the policies of the 1%. Black Power was taken to another level inside prison walls. In 1966, George
Jackson formed the Black Guerrilla Family in the California San Quentin State Prison.

The prison rights movement did receive its origin from the 1960’s. Back then, black people were tortured,
murdered, raped, abused, and disrespected in prisons. Many Freedom Rides in Mississippi’s prisons were heavily
punished. Many black prisoners developed a militant consciousness while being in prison. The Cold War existed
during the Civil Rights Movement. Many people criticized America’s hypocrisy of promoting democracy overseas
while racial discrimination and violence existed among American citizens domestically. This reality influenced civil
rights legislation to be passed. The Third World was struggling for liberation from colonialism and imperialism.
Many in the Black Power Movement allied with anti-imperialist movements overseas. This is why the Black Power
Movement included Black Panthers who opposed the Vietnam War and supported revolutionary movements
overseas at the same time.
1966
The year of 1966 was one of the most dynamic years of the Civil Rights Movement. This was the year of the growth
of the Black Power movement, the creation of the Black Panther Party of Oakland. The year also saw further fights
for housing rights and economic justice. In that year, black voters, in increasing numbers, would vote in Mississippi,
Alabama, and other southern states. In 1966, the National Welfare Rights Organization is formed to improve the
lives of mothers receiving welfare payments. On January 3, 1966, the civil rights leader Floyd McKissick succeeded
James Farmer as the national director of CORE. January 7 was the time when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the SCLC,
and other local Chicago organization started the Chicago Freedom Movement. They wanted to end slums (as high
rising public housing known as “projects” isolated people from grocery stories and parks. They were densely
populated with cramp, bad conditions. That is why people organize tenants to fight back against these problems)
and form adequate housing for black people. Also, it was about eliminating housing discrimination and promoting
economic justice for Chicago residents. Many people warned Dr. King that Dr. King would fail in the most
segregated city of the Midwest, but he continued. He knew that the North must be liberated too not just the
South. The black population was diverse. Many black leaders opposed Dr. King since some were conservatives,
some liked the status quo, and others wanted to solve the problems themselves. There was the historic rally at
Soldier Field, which had 30,000 people in Chicago. Dr. King gave a speech and led 5,000 protesters from the rally to
Chicago’s City Hall. King taped the movement’s demands (via a sheet of paper) on the door of Chicago’s City
Building.

Dr. King fought and promoted demands, but the Chicago campaign achieved mixed
results. There was a later open housing agreement, but they weren’t readily enforced.
Violent confrontations would develop over housing. Dr. King was hit in the head with a
rock in one rally. Black people in Chicago and the suburbs continued to speak up
despite Mayor Richard Daley’s opposition to the Chicago open housing campaign.
Operation Breadbasket would form to fight job discrimination and promote boycotts
against companies who enacted racial discrimination. Dr. King allowed Reverend Jesse
Jackson to execute the program. On January 11, 1966, Vernon Dahmer died when his
home was firebombed. He was a great civil rights leader in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The
murderer Mississippi Klan Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers was only convicted by 1998. On
January 18, 1966, Robert C. Weaver became the first black Cabinet member when he
was sworn in as the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD). Constance Baker Motley was the first African American and first women to be appointed a federal judge on
January 25, 1966. In 1966, the novelist Chester Himes wrote great literature to describe race and greed found in
Harlem, NYC. His two famous works were “Cotton Comes to Harlem” and “The Heat’s On.”
On February 24, 1966, Dr. King and Elijah Muhammad met to discuss about black people and human rights in
Chicago. They disagreed on some issues, but they agreed on black people having a right to have self-determination
and the promotion of freedom for black people. Andrew Brimmer was the first African American to be appointed
governor of the Federal Reserve Board on February 26, 1966. By March 7, the Supreme Court upheld the
constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act. A rebellion in Watts happens again in March 15 where 2 people are dead
in Los Angeles. Black Mississippians on April 30, 1966 form a tent city in view of the White House windows. It was
created to protest housing conditions in Mississippi. Kwame Ture replaced John Lewis as Chairman of SNCC in
1966. SNCC further embraces Black Power and Black Nationalism
by this time. 2,400 leaders would go into Washington, D.C. to have
the White House Conference on Civil Rights. Dr. King is not there.
Dr. King, Kwame Ture, and others complete the March against
Fear from June 7-26, 1966. They fight for human rights after
James Meredith was shot in Mississippi. The march ends in
Jackson where a large rally existed. As the Black Power movement
grows, the NACP in its national convention rejects Black Power in
July 9, 1966. On September 12, 1966, the police in Grenada,
Mississippi allowed a mob to attack black students at a newly
integrated school. In 1966, Barbara Jordan was elected to the
Texas Senate. She was the first African American woman to win
that post since 1883. She would introduce the first minimum wage Here is Dr. King, Hosea
bill in Texas. She worked to form the state’s Fair Employment Williams, Joan Baez, Andrew
Practices Commission. By 1972, she was the first black southern
woman to be sent to Congress. Dr. King and folks singer Joan Baez Young and others helping
led a march in Grenada, MS to protest the beatings of African children to go into a newly
American schoolchildren after schools are desegregated (on
desegregated school in
September 19).
Grenada, Mississippi in 1966.
By September 19, a filibuster prevents the Civil Rights Bill of 1966
from passing because of the housing discrimination ban in the bill. On October 1966, the Black Panther Party for
Self Defense was formed by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton. The pro-socialist organization wanted an end to
police brutality, the development of great housing, true education, stop black people from being drafted to the
military, restitution or reparations, the release of black people from jail, and black liberation overall. In Grenada,
Mississippi, by October, about 200 black citizens are arrested for protesting the harassment of black children.
Edward Brooke, who was a Republican from Massachusetts, was elected as the first African American U.S. Senator
since Reconstruction. Aubrey Norvell pleads guilty to shooting James Meredith during the March against Fear on
November 21, 1966. SNCC rules to exclude all white activists from its membership by late 1966. Kwame Ture
wanted white people to organize among themselves in their communities to end racist institutions while black
people organize among ourselves to end racial oppression. This caused a rift and SNCC continued to embrace Black
Nationalism. A lack of a powerful class analysis, declining members, and a confusion on future directions caused
SNCC to end by the 1970's. The end of 1966 saw the growth of new movements, the increase of militancy in the
freedom struggle, and the continuation of the Civil Rights Movement in new, dynamic ways.
 These are people in Milwaukee fighting for opening housing during the late 1960's.

1967
The year of 1967 would be one of the most important and dynamic years of the Civil Rights Movement. During this
year, Harold Cruse wrote his book entitled, “The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual: A Historical Analysis of the Failure
of Black Leadership.” This book criticized many black leaders and criticized the notion of integration in general. He
advocated the growth of black cultural institutions. The book was accurate to advocate the growth of black
institutions and black culture. His work represented the shift of more people embracing Black Power. It inspired
black scholars to sometimes evaluate their own views. It criticized many leaders from W.E.B. DuBois to Dr. King. Of
course, I don’t agree with Harold Cruse’s criticisms of West Indian black people. I don’t agree with Cruse on other
issues too (like his criticisms of socialists and progressives). Cruse’s work outlines the evolution of intellectual
thought in the black community. Cruse ironically inspired the growth of the black studies movement in America.
Soon, black studies departments would exist in universities across the United States, which is a good thing. In 1967,
“US” which is an exhibit of civil rights photography was shown in Harlem’s Countee Cullen Library. On January 16,
1967, in Macon County, Alabama, Lucius D. Anderson became the first black sheriff in the South since
Reconstruction.

On February of 1967, NAACP Treasurer Wharlest Jackson was assassinated in Mississippi. Wharlest was a great
worker in Natchez, MS. Natchez was filled with segregation back then. Back in 1965, local NAACP President George
Metcalf was severely wounded by a KKK bomb planted in his car. He wanted to have integration. Later, Natchez
experienced boycotts, tensions, the National Guard, and other issues. By 1967, Mississippi slowly integrated.
Wharlest Jackson worked at an integrated job. White racists are angry in the Armstrong factory. That factory is
known to have Klan activity. Jackson was a Korean War veteran and he received death threats. On February 27,
1967, his car blew up in an explosion. The FBI concluded that the bomber is the Klansman Raleigh Glover (he is
leader of the Silver Dollar violent faction, which included members of the local law enforcement).
She (or the woman pictured above) is a black woman named Vel Philips. She is in her 90's today. Back during the
1960's, she fought for civil rights and housing rights. She graduated from Harvard and a law school from Wisconsin.
She worked hard in Milwaukee. Both she and her husband became active locally in the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in support of a city redistricting referendum (there were at that time no
black members of Milwaukee's Common Council). In 1956, Phillips became the first woman and the first African-
American member of the Common Council in Milwaukee; since Common Council members were called
"Alderman," she was given the title "Madam Alderman" by local officials. She was arrested at a rally following the
firebombing of an NAACP office, the only city official to be arrested during the summer of 1967, bringing further
national media attention to the city. The NAACP, Commando (which is a self-defense group), and other civil rights
organizations marched on August of 1967 to promote fair housing and civil rights in Milwaukee. White racists
threw bricks and other objects at the protesters. The Catholic priest Groppi (who ironically left the priesthood later
in life and was married plus he had children) was involved in the movement as well. Vel Philips continues to work in
civil rights to this very day. Vel Philips was very influential in getting the 1968 Fair Housing law passed in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has inspired Gwen Moore (who is the U.S. Congresswoman from Wisconsin). Both
Wisconsin civil rights icon Vel Philips and her husband were always active locally in the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in support of a city redistricting referendum (who is Wisconsin's first
African-American and Milwaukee's first female member of the United States House of Representatives). Tons of
people in the Milwaukee community love and honor her. Vel Philips is a heroic black woman.

No arrests are made when white racists assaulted protesters in Milwaukee. On March 22, 1967, a federal court for
the first time orders the state of Alabama not just an individual school board to desegregate its public schools. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967 gives his famous anti-Vietnam war speech on Riverside Church in NYC. From
April 8-10, 1967, black students show a rebellion at Fisk University and Tennessee A&M after Kwame Ture’s speech
in Fisk (which is located in Nashville, Tennessee). On April and May of 1967, the Black Panthers create 2 periodicals.
Their names are the Black Panther Party: Black Community News Service and The Black Panther. By May 2, 1967,
the Black Panthers historically and heroically march into the California state capitol in Sacramento in order to voice
their opposition to the Mulford bill (which limits how guns are displayed in public). Bobby Seale marched with 30
Panthers into the statehouse. Governor Ronald Reagan was on the Capitol lawn speaking to a group of students.
Ronald Reagan was not only the one of the fiercest enemies of the Black Panthers, but he opposed the progressive
movement in general (he even opposed pro-housing legislation in California). The Mulford Act was unfortunately
passed and it banned loaded guns being showed in public plays. On May 11, 1967, student protesters confronted
the police at the all-black university of Jackson State (in Mississippi). The police fired into the crowd and killed one
student. The National Guard came into the location and the conflict ended.

On May of 1967, Benjamin May was shot twice by the police in Jackson, Mississippi. In 2001, a grand jury finds that
Benjamin Brown was shot by Jackson police captain Buddy Kane and Mississippi Highway Patrolman Lloyd Jones. By
this time both men are dead. Brown’s family settled with Jackson City Council by 2003. On May 12, 1967, H. Rap
Brown replaced Kwame Ture as national Chairman of SNCC. In a rebellion at Texas Southern University in Houston,
one police officer was killed on May 16, 1967. By June 13, 1967, Thurgood Marshall was the first African American
nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. On June 19th, the U.S. District Court said that de facto segregation in D.C.
was unconstitutional, and then the city must desegregate its schools by the fall. By the summer of 1967, the cities
of America experience rebellions. Another rebellion happens in Cambridge, Maryland by July 24, 1967. Later,
legislation involving riots come about. The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders investigated the
rebellions and found out that white racism, economic devastation, discrimination, etc. were the causes of the
insurrections.

On July 4, 1967, in yet another denial of free speech, almost 60 people are arrested for "Parading without a permit"
while trying to march to the Bogalusa City Hall. This is in the state of Louisiana. On July 23 and 24 more than 100
people, roughly three-quarters of them students, march 20 miles from Bogalusa to Franklinton the parish seat to
protest a range of issues and specifically the evil release of the two white men who had murdered Clarence Triggs a
year earlier. They are demanding equal rights for Blacks under the law and that, "Negroes may safely traverse the
highways at night, without fear of violence or intimidation."

On August 1967, the Bogalusa, Louisiana civil rights movement continues. By this time, progress is slow. Black
Power rhetoric appeals to more black people in the area. BCVL leader A. Z. Young talks about demonstrations and
low little change is occurring. So, he promotes boycotts in order for power to grow. The 1967 protests were
nonviolent. The Deacons for Defense and Justice provide armed protection against bombings, assassinations,
ambushes, drive by shooting, and other acts of white terrorism. BCVL leader organize a march from Bogalusa to
Baton Rouge or the state capitol. They plan to have Black Power advocates like H. Rap Brown of SNCC to speak
there. They protesters wanted an end to police brutality. They wanted equal rights for African Americans. They
wanted an end to employment discrimination by the state of Louisiana. They desired black people to be hired by
the highway Patrol and the police. National Guard and state troops protect the marchers. White racists throw
bottles, broken glass, rocks, and eggs plus scatter nails on the road ahead of them. The National Guard disarmed a
dynamite bomb beneath the bridge. They go to Baton Rouge by July 19, 1967. People speak like A. Z. Young. H. Rap
Brown didn’t appear. A.Z. Young tells the crowd, "I'm not here to incite a riot or to create a disturbance, but to get
jobs for black folks." 400-500 people were at the rally. The crowd is mostly African Americans. Months later, black
people are hired as state troopers.

Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) from August 1967 promoted a $30 billion bill that would provide
nondiscriminatory full employment, education, and housing. Conyers would be one of the founders of the
Congressional Black Caucus. He promoted a study of reparations for the descendants of enslaved Africans too. The
National Urban Coalition was created to help the poor in urban areas by July 3, 1967. On August 15, 1967, Dr.
Martin Luther King gave his historic annual SCLC address. He wanted civil disobedience in urban areas in northern
cities. He spoke about criticizing capitalism and he opposed the Vietnam War again. About 250 black people are
arrested at the University of Illinois during a demonstration. On October 1, 1967, there is the Wall of Respect. This
was a large mural at 43rd Street and Langley Avenue on Chicago’s South Side is dedicated. The wall shows images
of accomplished African Americans. On October 20, 1967, 7 Klanspeople are convicted of conspiracy in the 1964
murders of three civil rights workers (whose names are Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner). Conspirator Edgar Ray
Killen is later convicted in 2005. Huey P. Newton was arrested in October 28, 1967 after charges of killing an
Oakland police officer and wounding another one. Newton was convicted of the charge of voluntary manslaughter
and his conviction was overturned when evidence showed that another officer shot the bullets that killed Frey and
injured Newton. The “Free Huey” movement existed before his relief.

All three images show the late, great Sister Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson. She was not only one of the
greatest leaders of SNCC. She was one of the greatest leaders of the black freedom struggle in general. She
always wanted black people to be free. She was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia (in the mostly African
American neighborhood of Summerhill). Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson attended Spellman College in 1959.
She was a Freedom Rider. She had a powerful work ethic and promoted racial equality and women’s
rights. In 1964 at a SNCC staff meeting, she presented a paper on "The Position of Women in SNCC." She
was SNCC’s Executive Secretary succeeded James Forman. She served over 100 days in prison for the
movement. She visited Guinea in Africa in 1964. In 1964, while still devoting much of her time to SNCC,
she married Clifford Robinson and in 1965 had a son, Kenneth Toure Robinson, named in honor of the
president of Guinea. She worked as an administrator and she passed away at the age of 25 in 1967. Cynthia
Griggs Fleming's “Soon We Will Not Cry: The Liberation of Ruby Doris Smith Robinson” is a great book
about her life story. She lived to see the Black Power movement.
 Rest in Power Sister Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson.

By 1967, the Black Panther Party became a national organization with chapters nationwide. On November 7, 1967,
Carl Stokes in Cleveland and Richard Hatcher in Gary, Indiana became the first black mayors of large U.S. cities. This
represented the increase of political power among black Americans. People voted these men based on merit. On
December 5, 1967, cops cowardly dragged a black female protester in Milwaukee. She wanted to demonstrate for
open housing. More than 800 protesters celebrated the 100th day of demonstrations. In December of 1967, Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. called for the Poor People’s Campaign. This campaign calls for the redistribution of wealth to
help the poor citizens of Americans. It would be one of Dr. King’s final crusades for justice. 1967 would be one of
the most explosive years of the movement.

Early 1968
1968 was one of the most explosive years of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1968, there was a documentary film
called, "No Vietnamese Ever Called Me a N___________." Dorothy Lee Bolden organized the National Domestic
Workers Union in the same year too. Robert Clark in 1968 was the first African American to join the Mississippi
legislature in the 20th century. In February of 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. met with the black activists H. Rap
Brown and Kwame Ture. In this meeting, Dr. King wants them to keep future campaigns nonviolent. Dr. King was
promoting the Poor People's Campaign back then. By February 19, 1968, the National Advisory Commission on Civil
Disorders (which was shared by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner) issues its report on the rebellion. The report
accurately found that the blame should be placed on poverty, discrimination, unequal enforcement of the law,
substandard education, inferior housing, bad public services, and white racism. On March 19, 1968, students at
Howard University seized an administration building and demand more African-American studies sources. The
students demanded that Howard use a curriculum and its campus culture to reflect the lives of young African
Americans. This is part of the new Black Studies movement, which will take years to allow black studies and studies
of other ethnic groups to be common place in colleges plus universities nationwide. By March 28, 1968, Dr. King
marches with sanitation workers on strike in Memphis, Tennessee. The protest turns violent as one 16 year old was
killed and the police arrests 280 people. March 31, 1968 was the time when LBJ announced in public television that
he will not seek reelection. By April of 1968, the country of America was in total confusion, chaos, and uncertainty.
Government repression and racist attacks persisted, which caused many black heroic activists to be jailed,
murdered, and harmed. Many people were brought off by far rightwing ideology. Black Americans among diverse
quarters continue to fight for our human rights.

"...A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling
differences is not just.” This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes
with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally
humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and
psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues
year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching
spiritual death..."

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Riverside speech in New York City (on April 4, 1967).

The Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was one of the most controversial, brutal wars in American history. It divided Americans based
on class and generation. Also, black Americans were involved in the war from being opposed to it to being in the
service during the Vietnam War era. This era was intertwined with the civil rights movement since the Civil Rights
Movement existed during the peak of American involvement of the Vietnam War. It was during the Cold War
where debates about the war existed. African American soldiers were drafted and the time period had
complexities. Many black people had diverse views on the war, but African Americans were among the most anti-
war critics of the Vietnam War historically. In order to understand the role of African Americans during this war, a
comprehensive display of information must be shown. Vietnam has been dominated by French imperialism and
Japanese imperialism for years. After World War II, Ho Chi Minh wanted Western support. Ho Chi Minh (who
opposed the lynching of black people in America during the early 20th century) even cited the Declaration of
Independence as a means for him to try to gain support from Americans. The West refused and supported French
domination in a cruel gesture. The French were defeated and the Vietnamese people split into North and South
Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh led the Communist movement back during the 1950’s. Diem (who was a U.S. trained person) led
Southern Vietnam. Diem was so brutal that protests existed. Some dissidents of the Diem regime committed
suicide by burning themselves on fire. Back during the early 1960’s, Malcolm X opposed the Vietnam War.
American advisers came into Vietnam since the days of Eisenhower. JFK expanded the advisors and their roles in
Vietnam. Malcolm X said that America was arrogant and would be defeated by the Vietnamese forces. He was
right. Some evidence has shown that Malcolm X opposed the war during the 1950’s too. As the Vietcong emerged,
the White Paper wanted more U.S. involvement in Vietnam by December of 1961. Kennedy had conflicting reports
on how the war was going.

President John F. Kennedy planned on sending about 1,000 troops out of Vietnam, but he was a dedicated anti-
Communist who didn’t want Vietnam to be run by the Viet Cong. The coup of Diem by the military generals caused
Vietnam to exist in even more political instability. After Kennedy’s assassination, LBJ executed an even more
aggressive, militaristic stance on Vietnam policy. The Gulf of Tonkin incident by August 2, 1964 was used by LBJ to
extend more policies to attack Vietnamese territories. On March 2, 1965, Operation Rolling Thunder started. This
was about the bombing of North Vietnam in order to stop the advance of the Vietcong. It would continue for many
years and many civilians would die from this bombing too. The first anti-war Teach-in came about by the SDS on
March 24, 1965. The SDS was a new Left organization that was an early opponent of the Vietnam War. By June 8,
1965, U.S. troops in a higher level go into combat missions. Many members of the Civil Rights Movement opposed
nuclear weapons and opposed the Vietnam War from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, members of
SNCC, James Baldwin, Robert Williams, etc. Dr. King spoke out against the war as early as 1965 in public. As the war
escalated in 1964-1965, the anti-war movement grew. In this midst of these events, black soldiers were growing in
the American military.

Black people were in the war in a disproportionate percentage as compared to the overall population of
America. According to the Oxford Companion to American Military History from 1999, “...During the height of the
U.S. involvement, 1965-69, blacks, who formed 11 percent of the American population, made up 12.6 percent of
the soldiers in Vietnam. The majority of these were in the infantry, and although authorities differ on the figures,
the percentage of black combat fatalities in that period was a staggering 14.9 percent, a proportion that
subsequently declined. Volunteers and draftees included many frustrated blacks whose impatience with the war
and the delays in racial progress in America led to race riots on a number of ships and military bases, beginning in
1968, and the services' response in creating interracial councils and racial sensitivity training…” It is a fact that the
vast majority of people who received the draft were black people, the poor, and those without a college education.
Many people with deferments were among the rich, the college educated, many upper and middle class whites,
and others with privilege. The draft was not only unfair. It was classist and racist. Many poor people, who were
desperate for survival, were in the draft. In 1966, Project 100,000 existed to allow more poor people to go into the
military. This increased black and poor human beings to go into Vietnam.

Deaths disproportionately affected African Americans. Racism existed in the Marine base at Camp Lejeune and the
Army’s Fort Benning during this Vietnam War era. Black American soldiers worked as doctors, fought in combat,
and worked in a diversity of fields. Many celebrities performed in bases where soldiers were stationed. Corporal
Albert French was in Vietnam. One Medal of Honor recipient was Private First Class James Anderson Jr. USMC. He
was killed in action on a patrol northwest of Quang Tri by using his body as a human shield to protect other
soldiers. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. During the war, white, Asian, Latino, and black
soldiers fought together. Specialist Fourth Class Esther M. Gletaon (a black woman) worked as a clerk typist for the
Women’s Army Corps detachment at Long Binh in Vietnam during the late 1960’s. First Lieutenant Joseph Biggers
participated in the war too. Many veterans were heavily mistreated after they came back from Vietnam. Some
were denied job opportunities and some suffered exploitation. Some American soldiers were victims of torture
while being POWs. That is wrong and we all condemn those acts of mistreatment. Also, it is important to
acknowledge the Vietnamese victims of war crimes which were victimized from the My Lai massacre, Operation
Phoenix, etc. Agent Orange has harmed both Vietnamese people and Americans.
Many black people in military bases in Vietnam fought racism, even opposed the war, and organized movements
for social change.

The civil rights movement was heavily divided about the Vietnam War. Throughout the majority of the American
involvement of the Vietnam War, some civil rights movement leaders like Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young
supported the Vietnam War for years. They embraced an anti-Communist liberalism that believed in the myth that
the Communism in South Vietnam would threaten to dominate all of Southeast Asia. In 1964, numerous SNCC
members criticized the war. By early 1965, SNCC leader and civil rights activist Bob Moses oppose the Vietnam War
strongly. He agreed with the New Left that the war in Vietnam violated the rights of the Vietnamese people just
like Jim Crow segregation of the South harmed the democratic rights of black Americans. One event in the black
community that changed everything was the murder of Sammy Younge in early 1966. Younge was involved in the
1965 Selma movement for voting rights. He was part of SNCC and was a military veteran (along with being a leader
of the Tuskegee Institute Advancement League). In Tuskegee, Alabama, Sammy Younge used a “white only
bathroom” on January 3, 1966. He did so since Jim Crow by that time was illegal. He talked with a white racist.
Later, the white racist murdered Younge like a coward in his back of his head. The murderer is named Marvin
Segrest, a white gas station attendant at a Standard Oil station. SNCC Chairman John Lewis was shocked by the
murder of an innocent man. People were sad. John Lewis publicly criticized the war. The murderer was acquitted.
This injustice caused SNCC to issue their January 6, 1966 public statement in total opposition to the Vietnam War.
Their historic statement is the following:

“…The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee has a right and a responsibility to dissent with United States
foreign policy on any issue when it sees fit. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee now states its
opposition to United States' involvement in Vietnam on these grounds: We believe the United States government
has been deceptive in its claims of concern for the freedom of the Vietnamese people, just as the government has
been deceptive in claiming concern for the freedom of colored people in such other countries as the Dominican
Republic, the Congo, South Africa, Rhodesia, and in the United States itself. ... The murder of Samuel [Younge] in
Tuskegee, Alabama, is no different than the murder of peasants in Vietnam, for both [Younge] and the Vietnamese
sought, and are seeking, to secure the rights guaranteed them by law. In each case the United States government
bears a great part of the responsibility for these deaths. Samuel [Younge] was murdered because United States law
is not being enforced. Vietnamese are murdered because the United States is pursuing an aggressive policy in
violation of international law…”
 Back in 1966, it is taboo for anti-war criticism of the Vietnam War to exist in
America, especially done by black people. Many people criticized the SNCC
Statement. The “moderate” Atlanta Journal accused SNCC of using treason.
The NAACP and the Atlanta World (which is an African American
newspaper) criticized John Lewis’ words too. Yet, John Lewis courageously
pressed onward. After this, Julian Bond on January 10, 1966 was refused to
be seated by the Georgia state representatives, because of his views in
opposition to the Vietnam War. Julian Bond supported SNCC’s statement
which was anti-war. He supported those who refused to submit to the
military draft. He was elected in 1965. Among other elected African
Americans back then, they were some of the first black elected state
Congressmen of Georgia since Reconstruction. Julian Bond’s statements
caused a huge McCarthyism, anti-communist hysteria among white
reactionary state Georgia representatives (like the racist James Lane). Julian
Bond received death threats. The New Left and the ACLU supported Julian
Bond’s cause. Dr. King support Jed Julian Bond’s right to speak his mind. The
Supreme Court ruled in Julian Bond’s favor to allow him to have the seat in
the state Georgia legislature. By most of 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This is a woman Viet Cong was pressured to tone down his anti-war views in public. Dr. King knew that
fighter during the Vietnam the war was wrong and he worked in the movement in Chicago for human
War in ca. 1973. (Credit: justice during that year.
https://weaponsandwarfare.co
Later, in 1966, the Black Panther Party would be formed in Oakland,
m) California. They not only opposed police brutality. They believed in socialism
and wanted an end to the Vietnam War as they opposed imperialism. Their
Party Platform wanted black people to not be drafted into military service. A large section of the Black Power
movement was anti-war and many members of this movement were involved in protests against the Vietnam War
too. The famous heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be drafted, because he opposed the
Vietnam War. By 1967, he was stripped of his title. He would go on to speak nationwide (in rallies and college
campuses throughout America) on issues of black consciousness, black history, the war of Vietnam, and other
subjects. In the 1960’s, Muhammad Ali would be part of the Nation of Islam. Muhammad Ali inspired black people
and the youth to embrace courage and to fight injustice.

By December of 1966, Dr. King spoke at Abraham Ribicoff’s Subcommittee on Government Operations. He said that
the bombs of Vietnam run the chance of a decent America. In order words, he wanted more economic resources to
be used in domestic affairs than the constant funding of the war. In December, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. planned
to go to Jamaica to write his final book entitled, “Where Do We Go From Here?” I have read the book before and
it's a great book. By January 14, 1967, he saw images of Vietnamese babies being mutilated by napalm bombs. This
had an emotional impact on him since this evil war harmed the life of not only grown adults, but babies. William
Pepper’s article made him oppose the war even more. Dr. King came into Jamaica from Miami and started to write.
Rev. Bevel came to Dr. King wanted him to be a part of the anti-war march in America. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
would do it. After Jamaica, Dr. King told his close advisors (Andrew Young, Stanley Levison, and labor leader
Cleveland Robinson) that he would oppose the war in public and ally with the peace movement.
 The Vietnam War Era
1945-1975
Many Vietnam
The Vietnam War was one of the most emotional, controversial wars in human
War veterans
history. To this very day, people will not talk about it because of the very hard
suffered
costs that it took upon both Americans and Vietnamese people. We honor the homelessness,
memories of the dead and injured in that war by learning lessons and realizing lax job
that war is not a game. It is real and it affects human lives very greatly. opportunities,
and other
issues.

General William Westmoreland

In this picture, a soldier rescues another
solider into safety. This comes about in the
city of Hue (during the Tet Offensive era in
early 1968), which has some of the most
vicious fighting throughout the Vietnam
War.
and LBJ were some of the most
persistent supporters of
American military involvement
in the Vietnam War.
Ironically, Ho Chi Minh, during the early 20th century,
tried his best to try to win America’s friendship in
advocating for Vietnam to be independent from
French rule. He embraced many nationalist principles
before embracing overt Communism. Communism is
not monolithic as there are different factions of it.
Leaders in the West rejected his overtures for
independence in Vietnam even after WWI. He would
be an advocate of the Vietcong movement.

The anti-war movement during

the Vietnam War was very
powerful. Millions of people in
America plus globally
The Vietnam War Memorial is solemn land.
expressed their free speech
It is a place where veterans can reflect, pray, right to disagree with the war.
and remember the journey of so many who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
lost their lives during the Vietnam War. It is a Coretta Scott King, Eartha Kitt,
place of emotion and a renewal of the spirit in Allison Krause, Joan Baez,
fighting for solutions. Muhammad Ali, and others
were heroic, outspoken critics
of the war.
While many of his advisers didn’t want him to take a more militant stand on the war, Dr. King proceeded. He knew
of the risks and of the criticism that would come his way. Yet, he did it courageously. Dr. King spoke out against the
Vietnam War on February 25, 1967 (in his “The Causalities of the War” speech) with the support of U.S. Senators
Ernest Gruening, Mark Hatfield, George McGovern, and Eugene McCarthy. The FBI monitored Dr. King anti-war
activities back in early 1967. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. later was involved in the March 25, 1967 anti-war march in
Chicago. He was at the Chicago Coliseum with Dr. Benjamin Spock (who was anti-war too). One of his greatest
speeches would be his Riverside address which was given on April 4, 1967. It was held in New York City in Riverside
Church. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a very eloquent, thoughtful analysis of the Vietnam conflict and reasons on
why he opposed the war. He spoke about the history of Vietnam and how Ho Chi Minh was never part of a
worldwide Communist conspiracy to rule the world. Ho Chi Minh had a more nationalistic urge to advocate for
independence against Western colonialism.

Even the VietCong included Communists, Buddhists, nationalists, peasants, religious groups, etc. who worked in a
collation called the NLF or the National Liberation Front. By 1967, over 400,000 American troops existed in
Vietnam. Dr. Martin Luther King led it be known that he wanted a timetable for total U.S. military withdrawal from
Vietnam. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist, pacifist clergyman who rejected Communism, but supported
democratic socialism. He viewed the Vietnamese struggle as a resistance movement for independence. He wanted
both sides to embrace peace. Dr. King was in the middle of the youth groups of CORE and SNCC and the more old-
school groups of the NAACP, Urban League, etc. Dr. King’s speech was in a sense a call for the improvement of
America with love for America. Vincent Harding was the man who helped Dr. King to write his speech. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. wanted an immediate end to the bombing in North and South Vietnam, a unilateral cease fire, stop
U.S. military intervention in Laos, accept the rebel National Liberation Front in Vietnam’s future, and create a date
of withdrawal of foreign troops from Vietnam. This was a withdrawal position.

Immediately, reactionaries and moderate civil rights leaders criticized Dr. King’s anti-war stance. Many
establishment African American people followed Cold War liberalism or the myth that we must militarily defeat
every Communist on Earth in order to have peace. Members of the Amsterdam News and the Pittsburgh Courier
criticized him. Jackie Robinson, Whitney Young, Roy Wilkins, Carl Rowan, and other black people opposed his views
too. The Johnson administration was furious at him. Bayard Rustin (who was a pacifist himself) criticized Dr. King,
because he believed that the primary focus should be on domestic affairs to get the Johnson agenda rolling not on
international matters. Rustin didn’t want an immediate withdrawal of troops from Vietnam, because he believed
that a totalitarian government would exist in its place. Rustin wanted a coalition among the civil rights activists,
labor, and the Democratic Party in order to get changes going in American society. Bayard Rustin who defends
King's "right to debate" the war but tells black people not to join the anti-war movement because the problems
they face are "so vast and crushing that they have little time or energy to focus upon international crises." Though
he was a pacifist and Conscientious Objector, Rustin later tells African-Americans to join the military "to learn a
trade, earn a salary, and be in a position to enter the job market on their return."

Carl Rowan used the old slander that Dr. King is taking advice from Communists. He also called Dr. King an
egomaniac in the Reader’s Digest article. The Detroit Free Press supported Dr. King’s stance. Life (in one article,
called Dr. King’s Riverside speech as “a demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi”), the New
Times, and the Washington Post criticized Dr. King’s stance. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had an argument with
Whitney Young in 1967 at Great Neck, NY in a fundraiser. Young accused Dr. King of abandoning the poor for his
anti-war views. Dr. King responded that what you say may give you a foundation grant, but not get you into the
Kingdom of truth. Young pointed at Dr. King stomach and said you’re eating well and Harry Wachtel came in to
break things up. After the April speech, Dr. King and LBJ would never speak face to face again. Donations to the
SCLC massively declined. The FBI continued to illegally monitor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC. On April
1967, Dr. King would be part of the MOBE anti-war rally. Kwame Ture was there to give his speech. Kwame Ture
and Dr. King agreed with opposing the war. Also, CORE leader Floyd McKissick salutes Dr. King on his views. He said,
"I'm glad to have [King] with us, no question about that." Dr. Benjamin Mays, King's teacher from Morehouse
College in Atlanta calls King, "One of the most courageous men alive today." He defends the speech. Sam
Washington of the Chicago Defender said that Dr. King is showing a good example and more people are coming to
his side. SCLC leader Dorothy Cotton and Rev. Andrew Young spoke of the pressure that Dr. King was under.

Kwame Ture gave the following views on the Vietnam War at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington on April
19, 1967:

"...But now what you have to get crystal clear in your minds is that nobody gives anybody their freedom.
People can only deny somebody their freedom. It's very important. We are all born free. We are enslaved
by the institutions of racism that white America produces. Our job is to stop America from being racist;
not to... not to give us our freedom...Black Power is the coming together of black people to fight for their
liberation by any means necessary. [Applause]...They say we are culturally deprived. Culture is anything
man made. If they say we are culturally deprived, they are denying our very existence. Don't let 'em do it
to you. We got culture! We got Dr. W.E.B. DuBois! We got Countee Cullen! We got Leroi Jones! We got
Mahalia Jackson! We got... [Applause] Yeah! Yeah! We got the Staple Singers! We got the Mighty Clouds
of Joy. We got James Brown! We got Ray Charles! [Applause] Yeah! And to put the icing on the cake we
got Reverend C.F. Franklin and his soulful daughter, Aretha Franklin! [Applause]... In the Vietnamese
War, let America prove something to us. We will not fight in their war. [Applause] How could you let
them destroy your humanity? How could you let them put you in a uniform and go fight people who have
never done anything to you. How could you? When are we going to get the strength to tell this country we
will not let her destroy us?..."

Black women were leaders of the anti-Vietnam War movement too. Many black women opposed the Vietnam War
as an attack on their families (like Diane Nash of SNCC visiting Vietnam in December of 1966 and later criticizing the
war). Many black women lost their brothers, their sons, their husbands, their uncles, and their cousins due to the
Vietnam War. A black woman named Gwen Patton (from SNCC) helped found NBAWADU in 1968. In order to do
this, they allied themselves with two other prominent predominantly Black social movement organizations: the
Black Panther Party and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In her writings and speeches, she
explained her intellectual rationale for a Black Power anti-war group. They were twofold. First, she argued that
Black Power activists needed an organization that mobilized at the intersection of racism and imperialism, or one
that pinpointed how “the atrocities of imperialism and that of Vietnam [were] only a stepping stone to world
exploitation by the American imperialists.” NABWADU activists organized anti-war marches in Washington, D.C. Its
members had an anti-war conference in 1968 where over 700 attended. In September 1969 in Chicago, fifteen
members of NBAWADU temporarily disrupted draft calls by breaking into the Sixty-third Street Selective Service,
and burning the 1-A, or draft eligible, files. Gwen Patton opposed the war and also fought against the evils of
imperialism, patriarchy, imperialism, racism, etc. She wanted black women to be free and show the truth that black
women are political warriors too, not just men.

By 1968, changes came about. By January 18, 1968, Eartha Kitt was invited to the White House. She was in a
luncheon. She criticized America's involvement in the Vietnam War in front of the hostess Lady Bird Johnson (who
was the First Lady back then). Kitt was asked by Lady Bird Johnson about the Vietnam War. She replied: "You send
the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. No wonder the kids rebel and take pot." During a question and
answer session, Kitt stated:

"The children of America are not rebelling for no reason. They are not hippies for no reason at all. We
don’t have what we have on Sunset Blvd. for no reason. They are rebelling against something. There are so
many things burning the people of this country, particularly mothers. They feel they are going to raise
sons — and I know what it's like, and you have children of your own, Mrs. Johnson — we raise children and
send them to war."

The woman to the right is Sister Gwen Patton.

Kitt was investigated later by the FBI and the CIA. The powers that be disgracefully harmed Eartha Kitt's career for
years. She would make a glorious comeback by the 1970's. Many people admired the Vietcong soldiers. Many of
them were Vietnamese women holding rifles and fighting. The Tet Offensive was a massive North Vietnamese
attack on South Vietnamese targets. American soldiers were heavily injured and killed. American forces responded
and became victorious in the Tet Offensive. Yet, it showed the public of the stalemate of the war and how an
American victory wasn’t going to be possible. Even Walter Cronkite has said after the Tet Offensive that the war is
lost. LBJ soon publicly said that he won’t seek re-election. The anti-war movement grew into new heights by 1968.
Protests nationwide continued. The Civil rights movement increasingly would be anti-war. Black people
demonstrated against the war from Harlem, NYC to San Francisco. It would be after the King Assassination when
Whitney Young and Roy Wilkins would go on to publicly oppose the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War and the Civil
Rights Movement had link historical links and both events definitely impact our world today.

Memphis and the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

By the end of the 1960’s, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other heroic activists fought for the Poor Peoples Campaign
and for the Memphis sanitation striking movement. The Poor Peoples Campaign started in 1967. It was about a
multiracial coalition (made up of African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, poor whites, etc.) that
wanted to march to Washington, D.C. to desire the federal government to send billions of dollars to abolish
poverty in American society. It wanted an economic bill of rights, economic rights for poor Americans, a
guaranteed annual income, adequate housing, and a commitment to full employment. Dr. King said that the
Vietnam War neglected the needs of the poor and that war harmed the vision of the Great Society. He was right.
Welfare rights activists and Marian Wright Edelman contributed heavily to the Poor People’s Campaign. Dr. King
also wanted civil disobedience, if necessary work stoppages, to fight injustices. The movement publicly announced
the Poor People’s Campaign in during early December 1967. Not everyone in the SCLC agreed with this. Jesse
Jackson wanted other priorities. Rustin opposed civil disobedience. Yet, Dr. King continued with the plans. He
wanted people to arrive in Washington, D.C. by May 2, 1968. The SCLC announced the campaign on December 4,
1967. King delivered a speech which identified "a kind of social insanity which could lead to national ruin." On
January 1968, the SCLC created and distributed an "Economic Fact Sheet" with statistics explaining why the
campaign was necessary. King avoided providing specific details about the campaign initially and attempted to
redirect media attention to the values at stake.

The Poor People’s Campaign held firm to the movement’s commitment to non-violence. “We are custodians of the
philosophy of non-violence,” said King at a press conference. “And it has worked.” King originally wanted the Poor
People's Campaign to start in Quitman County, Mississippi because of the intense and visible economic disparity
there. In February 1968, King announced specific demands: $30 billion for antipoverty, full employment,
guaranteed income, and the annual construction of 500,000 affordable residences. Dr. King visited Marks,
Mississippi to see starving black children, and he witnessed how vicious poverty is. The FBI wanted to disrupt and
monitor the campaign, because they opposed Dr. King's progressive views. Nixon didn’t want the demands to exist.
Dr. King courageously moved forward. While this was going on, the Memphis sanitation strike continued.
 She is Sister Cornelia Crenshaw and a dedicated leader of the Memphis striking
workers.
For a long time, Memphis’ black residents were victims of racism and economic discrimination. Some of the worst
anti-black violence in American history took place in Memphis (like the 1866 anti-black riot in Memphis). By the
1960’s, the conservative mayor Henry Loeb refused to promote public unions. Black workers faced discrimination,
lax wages, and horrible conditions in various jobs. Thomas Oliver tried to form a local union. He was restricted to
do so. By February 1, 1968, 2 black sanitation workers were killed by a city truck for trying to escape the rain. This
changed everything. A strike soon existed. Maxine Smith, T.O. Jones, James Lawson, Bill Lucy, and so many people
joined forces to fight for their human rights. The strike lasted for over 2 months. Cornelia Crenshaw and other
people were leaders in the Memphis sanitation workers movement too. The more anti-nonviolence Invaders
wanted to join and they did. They disagreed with many of the nonviolent activists (like Rev. James Lawson), but
they desired the same goal which is justice for the striking workers.

Some of the Important Developments of the Historic Year of 1968

From January 30 to early
February, 1968, North
Vietnamese forces launched the
Tet Offensive against South
Vietnamese and American forces.
It changed the course of the
Vietnam War forever. It caused
many Americans to see the
brutality, the violence, the
injustice of that war, and the
stalemate of the war during that
time.
From March 19-23, 1968, heroic
black students in Howard
University (which is a great HBCU)
used protests and 5 day sit-in in
order for the university to cause a
more pro-black curriculum to be
implemented. They also
protested the Vietnam War and
racial injustice. This protest led to
the growth of the African
American studies movement
which continues today.
On March 31, 1968, U.S.
President Lyndon Baines Johnson
announced that he will not seek
re-election. He issued some of the
most progressive domestic
legislation in history while making
serious mistakes involving his
disastrous foreign policy
(especially at it relates to the
Vietnam War).
Rev. James Lawson was a pacifist and a minister who was totally committed to promote the rights of the Memphis
sanitation workers. Many of the strikers wore “I Am a Man” posters to show the word that they are men. The
police used police brutality against protesters. Dr. Martin Luther King came into Memphis on March 18, 1968.
Many of his allies didn’t want him to go, but he did since if the strike is successful, the Poor People’s Campaign
would be successful in his mind. A snowstorm prevented another march. The march came on March 28, 1968. We
know now that provocateurs caused violence and the violence by the police existed too. Dr. King and others left.
People were maced and filled with tear gas. The media in many cases falsely blamed Dr. King for the chaos and Dr.
King vowed to do another march. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was told to go to Mason Church to speak on April 3,
1968. He was tired, but the crowd was waiting for him.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came into the Church to give his famous “I Have Been to the Mountaintop” speech. It was
a great speech and he moved the crowd. These are the final words of the "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech
which has been delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters),
Dr. King was emotional and inspirational. The crowd in Memphis, Tennessee was stirred up.

Here are Dr. King's last words:

"...And they were telling me --. Now, it doesn't matter, now. It really doesn't matter what happens now. I
left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane, there were six of us. The pilot said over the
public address system, "We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane.
And to be sure that all of the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong with on the
plane, we had to check out everything carefully. And we've had the plane protected and guarded all
night." And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that
were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't
matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would
like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do
God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the
Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will
get to the promised land! And so I'm happy, tonight.

I'm not worried about anything.

I'm not fearing any man!

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!"

One day later, he was assassinated at 6 pm. on April 4, 1968. Rebellions happened in over 100 U.S. cities and the
strike would end on April 16, 1968, which caused an agreement to be reached. The striking workers celebrated and
a new era would exist. Future actions of workers would be successful in Charleston, South Carolina by 1969 (of
hospital workers) and in Atlanta by 1970. The Poor People’s Campaign continued in June 1968. It was a failure (as
Congress refused to send strong legislation), but it raised awareness on the problems of poverty and economic
exploitation. Programs that helped the poor were further created. Resurrection City was the encampment in D.C.
that provided awareness of poverty during the Poor Peoples Campaign. It soon ended when government
authorities shut the camp down. People were forced to leave the Washington Mall. Ralph Abernathy led the Poor
Peoples Campaign after Dr. King was assassinated. The Poor Peoples Campaign represented the same issues we
deal with today from housing discrimination, economic exploitation, educational problems, poverty, and economic
inequality. With this chapter in African American history closed, a new chapter began after 1968.
 The rise of 1968 outlined the end of one era of Black American history. A new era started, which
was the Post Civil Rights Era (from 1968 to 2008). Later, the Age of Obama would commence
(2008-2017), and of our current era (2017-present). The next chapter of the series (which will delve
into the last 50 years of the experiences of Black America) will be the final chapter of the African
American History series.

By Timothy

Black is Beautiful