Civil Rights in The Media

Civil Rights In The Media

By: Morgan S. Haythorne
Jomc 393-002
December 10, 2019
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

Abstract
 Civil Rights in The Media

Media played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movements of the sixties. For the first time

people who did not live in the South could see the hate, segregation, and fear that black people

lived in. In this paper we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the media, different

public views, and the distinct differences in coverage between print and television media. Media

still plays a big part in modern social justice issues today and how people view them. Without a

doubt without the Civil Rights Movement wouldn’t have gotten as much global attention without

the media. Images of murder black youth and peaceful civil right protests being interrupted by

violent police made the world cry and put pressure on the law makers and protectors to do their

job and make white supremacy illegal in America. Social justice issues of today also rely on

social media, television, and celebrity backing to stay relevant and make meaningful change for

the better.

During the early stages of print media white supremacists would use local newspapers to

promote lynchings of black people. White Americans could flip through their local newspaper

and see an advertisement for a mob lynching; it was entertainment. Black newspapers of the time

took a different perspective on the lynchings. Often using sarcasm, and fact to report the news

they could find. The lynchings that went reported are far less than the lynchings that actually

took place during the peak of mob lynchings. The Daily Defender, featured a story about a black

soldier, Mack Charles Parker, who was set to go on trial for allegedly raping a white woman.

Two days before his trial he was dragged out of the jail by white men and lynched (Palmer Jr.,

1959). This article put an emphasis on the number of black people being lynched by white

supremacist civilians instead of having their fair day in court like American citizens are

promised. It was dangerous for black newspaper owners, writers, and reporters. Reporting the

news and putting an eye of scrutiny on white people was frowned upon and often met with brutal
 Civil Rights in The Media

violence. Print media only allowed for so much to be seen and interpreted and television made

all the difference.

Early stages of television media attracted white politicians who could use media coverage

to their advantage by reaching as many people at once as possible. In the 1950s politicians

started to realize the importance the media played in people's views on politics and social

change. They rushed to understand how they could use television for their own gain and to push

their specific agendas. A white owned newspaper out of Dallas County posted a White Citizens

Council recruitment flyer it stated, “ Ask yourself this important question: What have I

personally done to maintain segregation?”(Selma Times Journal, 1963)

There were many turning points in the Civil Rights movement and many had to do with

the media and press. Television changed the narrative of how black and white Americans viewed

the South. Now that people could see with their own eyes what was happening to their fellow

Americans the world sympathized with them. By the end of the 1960’s almost ninety percent of

African Americans owned a television. They could watch the civil rights protests, sit-ins, and

scuffles; as well as easily listen to black leaders and become encouraged by their words. This put

pressure on the backs of the same politicians and elected officials who began to use the media for

personal gain. Specific turning points in the media during the Civil Rights Movement are the

Birmingham church bombing, Emmit Till, the Selma March, and Alabama children’s march. All

times where the world saw first hand how white racist southerners treated African Americans of

the South.

On August 21st Emmett Till left his mother in Chicago to visit family in Money,

Mississippi. His mother warned him about the dangers of the south due to a rise in racial tensions
 Civil Rights in The Media

which was mostly in part due to the supreme court's decision in Brown vs. Board of education.

Which overturned the previous supreme court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson’s separate, but equal

ruling of 1896. All nine of the new supreme court judges ruled that racial segregation in public

schools violated the fourteenth ammendment. On August 24th after working the cotton fields

with his cousins they went to a local grocery store where Till allegedly whistled at a white

woman cashier, Carolyn Bryant. On August 28, four days later, in the middle of the night the

cashier’s husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam kidnapped 14- year old Emmet

Till from his Uncle’s home at gunpoint. The two men beat the boy, gouging out his eyes, and

killing him with a single gunshot to the head. Then attached his body to a heavy metal fan using

barbed wire and through his body over a bridge into the Tallahassee river. Moses Wright, Till’s

uncle, reported the kidnapping the next day and Bryant and Milam were arrested. On August 31,

1955, Emmett Till’s body was discovered horribly disfigured and bloated from being in the

water for several days; he was only identified by an engraved ring that once belonged to his

father. On September 2nd Mrs. Bradley Till and thousands awaited the arrival of young Till's

body to arrive home. The Chicago Defender posted pictures of Mrs. Bradley bent over crying in

her mother’s arms viewing the body of her son. “”My boy, my boy,” sobs Mrs. Mamie E.

Bradley as the body of her son rolls past her in Chicago’s Illinois Central Train Station,”

(Colin& Elliott, 1955). During the funeral Mrs. Bradley left the casket of Emmett Till’s body

open. Showing his disfigurement; this one picture was captured and was front page news of

several newspapers rallying people of all colors in support of convicting Till’s kidnappers.

50,000 people filed around the casket The Chicago Defender National edition came out with an

editorial describing their disgust of what happened to Emmett Till. On September 10, 1955 in

their national paper it stated, “The lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Louis “Bo” Till of Chiacgo
 Civil Rights in The Media

in mississippi last week is an outrage to all decent American citizens, white, and colored, and

dramatically points out to the world the ugliest aspects of life in our democracy,” (Blood on

Their Hands, 1955). This put pressure on President Eisenhower and the FBI to solve this case

and do a full and thorough investigation. The trial began on September 19, 1955, four days of

testimony and an hour of deliberation later the all white and all male jury acquitted Bryant and

Milam of all charges. The New York Times wrote an article on the acquittal it read, “Roy Bryant,

24-year-old country store keeper, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, 36, both born and reared in

Tallahatchie County, where the trial was held, greeted the verdict by embracing their wives,

lighting up cigars and posing for photographers while relatives and friends extended

congratulations,” (Popham, 1955).

On September 15th, 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama four white supremacist terrorist

bombed The 16th Street Baptist Church. It happened during Sunday school and four little black

girls were killed. The Ku Klux Klan members planted at least 15 sticks of dynamite attached to a

timer steps on the east side of the church. This created outrage in the black community and a

protest quickly started outside by the rubble of the church, and a protest quickly turned into a riot

with police sticking dogs on African American protests killing two young black men. Though

white supremacist where suspected nobody was arrested until the case was reopened in 1977.

Many were outraged that local police continued to beat on Alabama’s black population while the

FBI failed to bring the four girls' killers to justice. Newspaper and television coverage of the

bombing created outrage in support of the victims getting justice. The Morning Call newspaper

out of AllenTown, Pennsylvania plastered pictures of the victims bodies being recovered and the

surrounding bomb damage on the front page the next day. The article read, “Firemen and

ambulance attendants remove the body of a Negro child killed in an explosion in the basement of
 Civil Rights in The Media

Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church,” (Purks, 1963). Klan leader Robert E. Chambliss

was arrested and convicted of murder. The case was reopened several times after that to catch the

accomplices of Chambliss. In 1980 two former klan members, Thomas Blanton and Bobby

Frank Cherry, were brought to trial.Blanton was convicted in 2001 and Cherry in 2002. A fourth

suspect, Herman Frank Cash, died in 1994 before his trial commenced. The Birmingham church

bombing although a tragedy contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; which

outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. As well as the

passage for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed racial discrimination in voting.

The murders and bogus justice of Emmett Till and the four little black girls in the

Birmingham church bombing look so much like cases today. Cases like Trayvon Martin remind

you of the Till case where regular civilian men can murder black boys without consequence.

Cases like: Eric Garner, Mike Brown, Philando Castille, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, and Alton

Sterling are all cases of murder by the police or in police custody without any officers involved

being indicdted. Social Justice also has a cinematic lane with movies touching on the real issues

of police brutality, white supremacy, and black incarceration. Movies like, The Hate You Give,

Queen and Slim, and Mercy all show how the black American living experience hasn’t changed

much since 65 years ago.

References

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Newspapers.com. Retrieved December 10, 2019, from
https://www.newspapers.com/topics/civil-rights/birmingham-church-bombing/.
2. Purks, J. (2018, November 2). Photos of destruction caused by the bombing at
Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Retrieved December 11, 2019, from
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25054616/photos_of_destruction_caused_by_the/.
 Civil Rights in The Media

3. History.com Editors. (2010, January 27). Birmingham Church Bombing. Retrieved

December 11, 2019, from https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/birmingham-church-
bombing.
4. Alabama Public Radio. (2013, April 25). How The Media Covered The Civil Rights
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8. By JOHN N POPHAMSpecial to The New,York Times. (1955, Sep 24). Mississippi jury acquits 2

accused in youth's killing: MISSISSIPPI JURY FREES 2 IN KILLING. New York Times (1923-

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