Captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2008 Freedom Freedom. Freedom. Freedom Freedom Freedom we shall overcome those young people singing the anthem of the American Revolution of 63 were freedom riders. They were a part of the pattern developed in this revolution, a pattern fashioned by events more than events fashioned to a pattern. Along the way they not only involved the freedom ride but also the sitins, the direct Action Campaign. Borrowed the economic boycott, involved the use of federal troops, killed and has been killed. Were about to see them all, and as we see them we will see the growing participation of young whites in the battle. That participation enlarged the dimensions of the revolution physically and morally and they have taken part in increasing numbers, particularly in sitin demonstrations. It was a tactic employed by College Students in greensboro, North Carolina on february 1st, 1960 a group of freshmen from the agricultural and Technical College wrote a new page of sitin history, ignoring the ancient barriers they seated themselves at a segregated lunch counter and they were refused service. They were asked to leave. The police came and took them off to jail. The lunch counter was closed, the seats roped off, but the rebellious child flourished. A few days later the sitin is movement had taken firm root in nashville, tennessee, on the campus of fisk university, it was to become a hopeful stirring. The students gave it impetus and organization. The signs of segregation hung all over the city, a provocation to the students of fiske. The attitude of the segregated minded whites could not have been stated more bluntly. Does not allow to serve in here. An idea, something i never heard of, i would like to explore and see what it really is. I went to the workshop and in some of the scenes you almost cried because they had someone say the part of [ inaudibl ] [ inaudible[ inaudible [ inaudible ]. With such training as this to bolster their dedication the sitin movement became one of the most effective weapons. The pattern left the imprint across the entire south. Everywhere they were on the march. In jackson, mississippi, this year a sitin group including whites, faced a moment of violence that told its own story and needed no comment. One student memphis norman was dragged from his stool and brutally beaten. Norman, who had offered no resistance, was arrested as well as his assailant. The sitters spattered with ketchup and mustard, sugar, salt and pepper were carted off to jail. Every society based on slavery from greece to the American South lived in fear of slave insurrections and they occurred. Spartacus led one before the birth of christ and nat turner left one in virginia. Both died for their efforts. The american slave has long since been freed and in the quest of the fruits of the freedom there has rarely been violence but the potential is there. It hangs over the nation today as ever it hung above the plantation yesterday. Take harlem. For more on that story here is reporter bob teague. According to the muslims the white man is the devil, the source of all evil. He hates black men and black men should hate him in return. Those are the basic teachings of elijah. He teaches his followers that christianity has failed black men. The American Government has failed black men. The muslim solution, a separate black state. Right after world war i a leader named Marcus Garvey organized an ill fated Campaign Based on the same principle. One of many men who opposed that movement recalls conditions that led hundreds of thousands to join the parade. Is they had come out of the war where they had fought and died and come in to the southern communities where they met a violent racial discrimination. Many soldiers were the victims of police brutality. Some were lynched. Therefore there was widespread frustration and discord and discontent. Garvey came along with his doctrine and he painted glowing pictures of what they could do, were they to migrate, how they could build Great Enterprises and things of that sort. This caught the interest and the imagination and many of them flocked into the movement. The black muslims say theres been little change in the racial picture since garveys day. At a recent rally malcolm x said the important changes have been brought about not by whites or integration groups but elijah mu h mu hom mad. You find him getting drunk he doesnt know the truth. Hes usually imitating the white man. They Smoke Cigarettes because they see white people smoke sig grets. They want to the white man, but elijah comes along and teaches black people the glory of black and instead of trying to imitate the white man he tries to imitate god. He tries to display high moral quality. Its feared by some whites that the muslims advocate violence, but thats not exactly the case. They say they dont believe in starting a fight, but if white men mistreat them they wont turn the other cheek. That brand of militancy has forced other leaders to become more aggressive. Its the implied threat of increasing muslim power that makes some whites more willing to negotiate with the socalled moderate groups. To that extent, the black muslims are making a major contribution to the drive for equal rights. Therefore several organizations emphasizing several methods of attack and at times competing for leadership of the revolution. The National Association for the advancement of colored people born when the century was ten years old took what it called a renewed struggle for civil and political liberty into the courts. The southern christian Leadership Conference born of a bus boycott in alabama nearly half a century later took its call for all here and now into the streets. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee originated and pressed the freedom rides and sitins. But as the movement has mushroomed its methods have merged and led to largescale demonstrations that include children against a spectrum of targets. The tactic is called a Massive Campaign of direct action. Sometimes the campaign strains its limiting policy of nonviolence and sometimes exacts the highest price, death. It happened in jackson, mississippi. Shortly after midnight on june 12th, medgar evans stepped from his car in his driveway. A shot from a highpowered rifle shattered the nighttime. Fatally wounded, he was 37. He had been field secretary of the naacp in mississippi nine difficult years. Let the merchants down on capital street feel the economic pinch. Let me say this to you, i had one merchant call me and he said, i want you to know that i talked to my National Office today and they want me to tell you that we dont need business. These are stores that help support the white Citizens Council, a council that is dedicated to keeping you and i secondclass citizens. So let us not trade at these stores. Lets urge our friends and relatives and our neighbors not to trade at these stores. Now, finally, ladies and gentlemen, this is final, we will be demonstrating here until freedom comes here in jackson, mississippi. In late may he opened a fullscale Action Campaign against the almost total segregation of the city. This was a switch from the previous emphasis on court action. The movement lacked mass support from the citys 50,000. Sitin demonstrators at a lunch counter were doused with mustard and ketchup the first day. A white demonstrators and two were beaten. Jackson police used this violence as justification for instant arrest during later demonstrations. Policemen occasionally clubbed demonstrators and used a variety of tactics designed to break their spirit. Prison were used to carry demonstrators in paddy wagons. Leading a prayer meeting on the steps of a post office. Teenagers arrested during one protest march were loaded into new garbage trucks and taken to a makeshift compound set up at the fairgrounds. The city converted fair buildings into temporary prisons before during the freedom rides as its ability to contain demonstrations. The executive secretary of the naacp roy wilkins came to jackson and joined on a picket line one saturday afternoon and were promptly arrested. A state Court Injunction against demonstrations stalled but did not stop the desegregation campaign and then evers was murdered. The fatal bullet fired from a lot across the street from his home, crashing through his body and the window of his home. Evers who considered himself a soldier in the cause for human rights had said he was ready to die for that cause. He died a soldiers death. As a veteran of world war ii, he was buried in Arlington National cemetery. The killing forged a new unity and set off a new wave of mass demonstrations bringing mass arrests. The following saturday, thousands of mourners including civil rights leaders from all over the country marched in the funeral procession. After a peaceful march, the tension rising since evers murder reached the point of explosion. A crowd charged toward the main street yelling and shouting. City police backed by state troopers cut them off and moved in on the crowd. They threw rocks and bottles. More Serious Violence averted when a civil rights attorney walked in and called the crowd. Three days later mayor thompson announced a settlement ending the demonstrations. We want to be clearly understood this is not a matter of the white people in the city of jackson winning. It is a matter of two races living side by side working out a peaceful solution to every problem that is presented. Young militants were not at all pleased. The city agreed to hire policemen and School Crossing guards for districts and to upgrade some city workers. It was in effect the jim crow settlement that did not crack jacksons racial barrier. The intensive investigation of the murder by the local police and fbi led eventually to Byron Beckwith a 42yearold fertilizer salesman from greenwood. A hardcore segregationist was charged with evers murder. The Jackson Movement is concentrating on a Voter Registration drive and the boycott of white businessmen. Standing against them the segregationists. They are dedicated to maintaining mississippis political structure. Their influence spreads to all levels of government, strongest in the rural areas. The voices of moderation are stifled here, even afraid. The danger is between the new determination and the old white resistance lies enormous potential for conflict. Jackson is the seat of the Council Forum better known as the white Citizens Council. Wj 7 president of the forum evaluated the revolution for this report. I think the progress of the revolution has increased at a geometric rate in the last few months, particularly since the leaders themselves have displaced white liberals in charge of the entire movement. This grew out of a policy that was adopted by the leaders at a socalled summit conference where the movement in the United States was identified with the movement for african nationalism in africa. This is a development of extreme significance i think because it opens up the possibility for nonwhite domination of the United States through three means. One through the mechanism of the united nations, two, through the kennedy administrations increasing tendency to surrender our national sovereignty, and three through massive immigration favored by liberal elements in this country. It seems to me that this heightened taste of the revolution results when integration or and this is not entirely unreasonable because these people have found through encouragement of the president and the attorney general that it pays to get out in the streets and demonstrate and carry on and i would predict that if the civil rights bill passed it would mean further more violent demonstrations. The strange thing is, this is a great pity this entire movement is based on false legal grounds. The grounds being the socalled Supreme Court integration decision of may 1954 and in the case in savannah, georgia, decided recently, uncontradicted and unrefuted testimony showed the factual basis of the Supreme Court decision was entirely wrong. The outcome of all this i think is to hasten a showdown as to whether the United States will remain a predominantly white nation with western Cultural Values or whether it will become increasingly africanized. Murder, the willful and wan tant destruction of human life has been rare in this revolution but threats have been numberless and the history of people in this country cannot dismiss such threats likely. Between 1859 and 1959, 3,819 were lynched in america. During this Time Congress steadfastly refused to pass an antilynching law and we have none now. In april of this year william e. Moore a white man who freely acknowledged the history of Mental Illness set out to walk. He made it to alabama where a white man shot him dead. Floyd simpson father of six is charged with unlawfully and with malice aforethought of killing william e. Moore. Simpson is free on bond. No date has been set for his trial. In june gunfire from the side of a riot killed a white man in lexington, North Carolina. The victim was fred link who died on the way to the hospital. A 24yearold auto mechanic who like hundreds of others in lexington that june night had been caught up in an emotional storm. Rioting had broken out at the sections of the city. Apparently stemming from attempts of a small group to integrate several restaurants and a theater. 500 whites faced 100 with Lexington Police between. The line surged, rocks hurled and shots fired from the side. Fred link fell. Another man wounded but not seriously. Police dispersed the crowd with fire hoses and arrested 12. Three 18 to 21 were charged with a killing and will stand trial in october. The most tragic. Link was only an innocent bystander a man who found his destiny tied to the fury of a mob. It was the violence of a mob in another American City some six years earlier developed a weapon, federal intervention and it was that mob and that federal intervention that placed americas racial problems on the front pages of newspapers in every foreign capital. The damage to the image of the United States around the World May Never be fully assessed. The city, of course, was little rock. The reporter was and is herbert. Little rock was an unlikely place for a federal state showdown tied to segregation. There had been some desegregation in the state and governor orville was not considered a man devoted to segregation. But circumstances got out of control and Central High School became the pivot in this federal, state struggle. I remember the night of september 24th, 1957, when the first battle dressed army troops arrived on this street. It was a scene incomprehensible to the towns people looking on. One man turned to a companion and said, you wont get many people to fool around with those guys, which prompted the response, yeah, but its a hell of a way to run a school it was the disorder of the day before that led president eisenhower to send in the troops of the 101st airborne, state and local police were unable that day before to control a mob which reacted in bitter violence on learning that nine had entered the school as students. A couple weeks earlier, state militia had barred from the school. On black monday, september, 23rd, the nine went in but asked to leave three hours later in a move to sue the mob. School time the morning of the 25th troops of the 101st airborne. A perimeter was established around the school beyond which we could not go. It was, i remember, quiet. Im not sure most of us had yet observed the historic scope of this moment. At 9 25 with a military eescort they entered high school a court order carried out with the government using its power. After a few onlookers ignored requests to move on troops dispersed them. One resistor was struck, another nicked by a bayonet. The next night, the condemnation whatever he considered a military occupation. We are now an occupied territory. Evidence of the force of the federal government is here apparent in these unsheathed bayonet in the backs of school girls. And in the bloody face of this worker who was bayonetted and then fell by the butt of a rifle in the hands of a sergeant of the United States 101st airborne division. There are now 36 going to Central High School altogether, 126 going to school in little rock on a desegregated basis. This is a little less than 2 of all students here. Elsewhere, theres been voluntary desegregation of Department Stores and hotels in the city, plans are under way for restaurants. The City Auditorium and parks have been desegregated, the Swimming Pool has not. The events of september 1957 generated considerable resentment in the south against such use of federal power. Later, however, a somewhat different view, particularly among the business interests in the south who noted the reluctance of new businesses to move into arkansas because of the racial strife. Otherwise, the mystery still remains why did it happen here . All that we have so far seen, the freedom rides, the sitins, the direct Action Campaigns, nonviolence and violence, actual and potential, are methods in the struggle. Another struggle hardly less passionate has raged on the correctness of these methods. A student james hood lost his hard won place on the university of alabama campus for verbally attacking school and state officials. Those close to him say he was actually trying to atone for having said earlier that the demonstrations were becoming a matter of excitement rather than conviction for most and vowing the was in the schools not in the streets. The most celebrated of all students fell from grace when he criticized Young Leaders as undisciplined, told his listeners any of you out there could be owner or manager of a Big Department store and urged selfimprovement as a method for advancement. Can aspire to raise himself out of the ghetto. Dr. Wendell cotton han orthodontist seemed to have made it with his wife and two children, he has lived and worked in this nonsegregated world for the past seven years but even here in this peaceful liberated atmosphere there is still the subtle barely discernible yet difference of the worlds. Listen carefully. Coming to los angeles, i decided that i would not segregate myself, that i would seek an office in an area open to any person who would seek my services. The most prominent area appeared to be wilshire boulevard and this is the only place i looked for office space. I contacted the landlord who said he would be happy to rent to me, but that he thought he should check with the other tenants to see if there were any objections to my presence. Obviously there were none and so i embarked on my practice there. We looked at several apartments and would have taken a couple but it was obvious that they were not open to us, so that we moved here and shortly thereafter a residence became available for sale which is where we now reside. I did not want anyone to feel that i had come into the area to develop a caucasian practice. Being without prejudice myself, my office is open to anyone seeking my services. However, i made no special effort to cultivate any of the dentists in the area, which may or may not have been a mistake so that as it stands now, my practice is predominantly negro. I enjoy living in this neighborhood in los angeles for several reasons. I have a girlfriend who lives not far away from me who i met on the Tennis Courts and this has been several years ago and from this we have developed a very close friendship. She happens to be caucasian. This is incidental. There is a meeting of the two friendships, two people who had much in common. I find myself enjoying friends for friends sake. Race has nothing to do with this. Many times when i am in areas where i meet people, i feel that usually im meeting them as an individual and if it werent for the fact of my high visibility i would say they would possibly take me the same way and this is the thing we are hoping could be erased, that we will meet one another as individuals and just enjoy each other as persons. When we went back east last summer to visit my wifes mother and father in south carolina, we had some trepidations about the trip south because we rented a car in new york and drove down through virginia, North Carolina, and into south carolina. We expected problems when we needed rest room facilities, but at the point that we needed them, we drove into a station and after asking the attendant who was very courteous to gas us up, he did so, and before we could ask, he asked us if we would like to use the rest room and presented the key, which was not to segregated facilities. The thing that hurts is when you dont expect to be segregated or discriminated against, to find it. We had this happen to us in cedar rapids, iowa, when we were on the way to california from chicago. I was tired, too tired to drive further safely, and stopped at a motel that had a sign outside vacancy. Until the attendant came out, saw my face, went back into the office and came back to report there was no vacancy. On our trip to south carolina, i visited my we were visiting our cousins there in charleston and one day we wanted to go to the store and the store was across the across the playground and the play fwrounds was right in the middle. We had to walk around the playground to get to the store. I thought the fastest way to get to the store was through the park. It felt kind of odd just going around something that we couldnt that you couldnt even put your foot in something because something might happen and you didnt want to disturb anything. We have lived in california for the greater portion of the time that the children have been growing. Gayles schooling has been all along in schools where there was no segregation, so that after graduating from los angeles high school, we decided to send gayle to Bennett College in greensboro, North Carolina. Very often we find that in the integrated schools, that there is not enough activity for the girls, meaning they are not able to participate from a standpoint of just being other girls as far as being girls, here again this race issue comes up. As it is living in los angeles i have always i went to an integrated high school and i found no problems here with races. In fact, los angeles high school, we sort of call it one Big Happy Family because nobody really has any problems as this is, and i have gone out with caucasian boys before and i found no problems here because i was welcomed into the group as just one of their gang. I have had parties of my own where i have invited all of my friends, white, caucasian and oriental and i found no problems here. But as going to school to a college, when people talk about the races, there is a problem they dont like to since they have lived in the south they dont associate with these people and i found it strange myself. As my brother said, when we went to charleston i was left back there because the expense would have been too great for me to come back and forth and go right back to school. I like to swim a lot and i couldnt go any place because there werent any pools where we could go. These things happen still today in los angeles, where you dont cannot these things to occur, they still do. This unfortunately is a part of the american scene and a part that we feel must be eradicated. I might add that when i outgrow the present facilities, my Office Facilities of my office which i hope to do, i would like to go into one of the newer class a buildings. I have doubts as to whether or not i would be accepted or acceptable in the building of my choice. I dont feel still today that i can go to any institution and present my Financial Statement and have this Financial Statement examined simply on the facts of its financial compatibility with my ability to repay or whatever it is that i desire to do, but thats the factor of will enter in. I feel should i decide to purchase a home shall we say in bell air or brentwood, beverly hills, which are some of the prime residential areas in los angeles, i dont feel that i would be readily acceptable by the realtors, possibly by the neighbors. I dont know. But these are things that are the snags in this almost perfect picture. The fact that i still feel that i do not have the right of free choice in a socalled free society. Quiet change as in durham, North Carolina, nashville, tennessee, louisville, kentucky, and austin, texas, has been given little attention but precious few pages in the record of experience are given to times. There is no question the speed of todays communications has increased the tempo of this revolution. Tactics in one place are adopted in another and when newsmen heard the mayor of chicago echoed 100 southern officials and claims the demonstrations would cease if reporters would ignore them they knew the revolution had spread. They are to be found in a place and an expression, madison avenue. Outside the building from which i am speaking to you there were pickets last week. Actors who claim that television does not fairly deploy or depict, view supported by the labor secretary of the naacp herbert hill, who is an outspoken critic. The contribution that madison avenue has made to the revolt i think is an inadvertent one and that is they have so dramatized some of the fantasy of the american scene, that they made acutely aware hes not part of that scene. In america use detergent, eat meat and drive automobiles and they buy all the products of every sponsor on radio and television, i have never seen them used on a commercial or other in a major commercial on radio. You dont have to have special Advertising Campaigns as the house wife should be part of the major advertising campaign, not the separate one developed for the press or radio stations. The family, especially the youngster, who persistently watches the television screen, cannot sbrubut have a great senf unreality because he is never there in the commercial nor in the feature program nor in the movie, he is simply the invisible man. The people who run madison avenue are frightened Little People who in many cases are the victims of their own fantasies, the victims of their own make believe. I believe that the fundamental moral issue, the issue now that permeates all of the institutions of this society, and it is precisely in the treatment that all of the fakery and hypocrisy in American Life comes out. Exerting political power the classic means of advancement for minorities in america apparently seems too slow a method to those waging this struggle but their political power is increasing as voters and holders of Public Office and can be seen in massachusetts the highest elected Public Servant in the United States is the attorney general there. Voters elected edouard w. Bro e brooke. Aspires to high Elective Office must remember he represents all of the people, all of the creeds, and he must campaign on the issues pertaining to his particular office. I did so campaign in the commonwealth of massachusetts. It talks about the ills of massachusetts government, talked to people up and down the commonwealth, listened to their problems of housing and education and feeding and clothing and i directed my campaign towards them. I think when this is done, that the White Community will accept a man regardless of his race or creed to elected office and i think my election has proved it. Congressman dawson for a time the most powerful politician in the country is an oldstyle mill boss. His power base is an efficient machine on chicagos south side, a district 99 negro and economically depressed. He can command margins of votes enough to carry the state of illinois. Dawson has never been a race leader. Like many congressmen he has accommodated to the rules of the club an enjoyed relations even with colleagues from the deep south. In new york city, the leader of the Democratic Club is councilman jay raymond jones, sometimes called the fox, considered by many as the most powerful politician in new york state. Jones is a conscious race leader with strong convictions about the importance of economics in the revolution. As a political leader and as councilman, i see the role of the politician as one working in the area of government and the area of law to produce those forces that will react on the economy of the country to the extent that big business will realize they, too, have a part to play in this revolution. Jones is the real power behind harlem politics, congressman powell still commands great popular support. Lately powell seems to be losing influence in his Committee Chairmanship and courts the favor of malcolm x who advocates separation of the races. Behind the scenes in washington, an Important Role in the formulation of policy. A deputy chairman of the Democratic National committee feels strongly that the new politics must be a decision maker. I think will be decision makers, they are now. I must point out in the kennedy administration, those given bigger appointments like dr. Weaver is a decision maker. Incidentally his office is not a racial office. Its the whole National Housing effort. I think he will find that the treasurer of connecticut, thats a Decision Making job. The same thing with our members of the state legislature, members of the Supreme Court like otis smith in michigan, these are not token jobs. These are jobs where they have a real responsibility for carrying out the oath of their office and i think they are expected to live up to them in terms of all the people. Until a year ago, none has held a seat in the georgia legislature. Roy johnston now has become a respected member of that body. He guides young through the state capital a symbol of the opportunities in Politics Today and a higher aspirations brought about by the American Revolution of 63. The Citizens Council organized in the mid50s advocated a means of controlling, economic reprisal, ironically boired this concept and used this to score the first spectacular breakthrough in montgomery. I lived in montgomery at that time and was the news director of a television station. In the late spring or early summer i heard of a small group called the montgomery improvement association. It was trying with no success to persuade the City Government to make improvements in the segregated park. It wasnt a park, it was a large vacant lot with a water hydrant. This did not fulfill the pledge of separate but equal in the view of the Martin Luther king. Until december 1st, 1955. On that day a seamstress rosa parks boarded a bus and took a seat. A few stops later she was told to give her seat to a passenger what had just boarded. She refused. For those who insist a moment be pinpointed when the revolution of 63 began, that moment will serve. Four days later they declared a boycott of the busses, the idea, he admits he made a guess when he nominated king to lead the boycott. Montgomery was not disturbed. The communities still had their lessons to learn. Old and proud, still attached to the leisurely pace of river cities montgomery was proud of what it considered its good Race Relations and was not an evil city. It didnt realize that demanding better treatment could no longer be asserted as teenagers staying out after 9 30. They asked only busses seat from the rear and front with no cutoff lines so once one had a seat he didnt have to give it pup the meetings were held and crosses burned and the jokes that every seamstress was working overtime sewing up bed sheets. They enlarged demands going to courts and seeking an end. The two communities set told slug it out and conscious their struggle was watched by the nation won. The Supreme Court outlawed segregation on the busses. Montgomery gave the tactic of economic boycott. It provided him the knowledge of his strength. It developed a method for sustaining enthusiasm during a long struggle and told the nation and the world were interested and nixon who nominated king as leader says now we made a guess and we got moses, perhaps more than anything else, montgomery gave the most popular leader and king has given thought to what price this may demand of him. Yes, i have given thought to this and i go on with the feeling this is a righteous cause and that we will have to suffer in this cause and that a physical death is a price that some must pay. Its a price that i must pay to free my children and the children of my brothers and sisters and my White Brothers from a prominent psychological death than nothing can be more
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