DOCSLIB.ORG

Interview with Bernard Lee Brown

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Interview with Bernard Lee Brown UNLV University Libraries Bernard Lee Brown Interview with Bernard Lee Brown An Oral History Conducted by Marcus Brown Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas Special Collections Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada, Las Vegas 1 UNLV University Libraries Bernard Lee Brown The Oral History Research Center (OHRC) was formally established by the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada System in September 2003 as an entity of the UNLV University Libraries’ Special Collections Division. The OHRC conducts oral interviews with individuals who are selected for their ability to provide first-hand observations on a variety of historical topics in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. The OHRC is also home to legacy oral history interviews conducted prior to its establishment including many conducted by UNLV History Professor Ralph Roske and his students. This legacy interview transcript received minimal editing, such as the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader's understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. The interviewee/narrator was not involved in the editing process. 2 UNLV University Libraries Bernard Lee Brown Abstract Marcus Brown interviews his father, Bernard Lee Brown (born 1915 in New Albany, Indiana) about his experiences living in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bernard discusses his work at various gaming properties on the Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas, owning his own shoe business, working at the Nevada Test Site, racial discrimination, the role of unions, and overall changes in Las Vegas over time. 3 UNLV University Libraries Bernard Lee Brown Oral interview with Bernard Lee Brown. Date of interview is February 27th, 1979, approximately 8:20 P.M. Place of interview is 5229 Jarom, Las Vegas, Nevada. My name is Marcus Brown, and the name of the project is Oral History Report for History 117. Okay, Dad, when did you first move to Nevada? In February, 1956. And what was the reason for moving? Well, I came here – I had just gotten out of business and I came here to get reestablished and to get a divorce. What kind of business were you interested in getting into? I wasn’t really interested in getting into business; I was getting out of one. You were interested in getting out of the business? So, exactly what did you do? (Unintelligible) Stand at the dealing tables and (unintelligible). The house pays them to just throw the dice or (unintelligible). Which hotel did you work at? I worked at the Horseshoe (unintelligible) El Rancho Vegas. What was it like working in the hotel? I mean, was it— You did your job and got your pay and kept your mouth shut. What did you have to keep your mouth shut about? Because you knew what was going on. What was going on? The house was cheating. The house was – both the Horseshoe and the El Rancho were cheating? I would prefer not to have to be repeated because I’m not ready to die yet. 4 UNLV University Libraries Bernard Lee Brown (Laughs) Well, (unintelligible) whatever, but I guess we won’t get into that too much. So what – you think that things have changed between the hotels then and the hotel now? I think that the government surveillance is better, and the private corporations are responsive to the laws more (unintelligible) syndicate owners were, and it’s different. Well, then here, like, that hotels have come a long way, so that stigma of the mafia or somebody illegal being in the hotels in the early beginning of Vegas is true? It was usually an underworld operation? You had to (unintelligible). And that’s changed now? You don’t feel it so much or is it? It has changed so much (unintelligible). When you were here, was Howard Hughes very active in his church in Las Vegas? No. He came here periodically for visits, but his headquarters (unintelligible) Los Angeles. Did you ever see him? I saw him one time at El Rancho Vegas in 1956. What other occupation – how long did you work as a shill? I just worked as part time. I helped open the Baker Shoe Store on 3rd and Fremont in 1956 as assistant manager. What kind of business, or how was business? It was great. Show people, big opening, all the stars came in – and (unintelligible) Smith, Mary Healy – lots of business. So was business, in general, in Vegas really good? Yes, it was good in 1956. And I heard about working at the Test Site, and I figured I’d go out there and work the center in that and (unintelligible) been there ever since. 5 UNLV University Libraries Bernard Lee Brown So, when you worked at the Test Site, what did you start out as? As a radiation monitor. And what exactly did your job entail? Protecting people from radiation and the tests that they (unintelligible). So you had a real active part in – they were doing above ground testing then, right? Right. So you had a real active part in that? I was a team leader in the survey teams. And what exactly did they do? After a test was made, they’d go in and make radiation measurements and decide if it was safe for people to work or it wasn’t, and set up signs and so forth to show whether it was. So you’d actually go to where the bomb had been blown up? Right. Right into it? Well, within a few hundred yards. Did you ever get exposed to radiation? Many times. And, well, did you suffer any ill effects from it back then? Nothing, no. You haven’t had any yet? You’ve had to actually go through, like, the decontamination? Many times. And what about the claims that people make today of the, that they were overexposed? You would consider yourself overexposed? 6 UNLV University Libraries Bernard Lee Brown I would consider myself having more exposure than most people. And do you feel that the claims they’re making against the federal government are valid? You have no way of knowing, because maybe, like, people’s resistance to sunburn or to cold or to heat or anything else, and people may have more tolerance for it than others. So, you spent all your time going in craters and stuff, or would you just? It was – they weren’t craters in above ground testing like there have been underground, but I spent, through the Plumbbob series in 1957 and the Hardtack series in 1958, there 60 (unintelligible) and I was one of 14 leaders that was in the first (unintelligible). How has the operating at the Test Site changed over the years? Is it – Much more disciplined, much more cushions for safety, everything’s underground. There’s no atmospheric tests, much more attention to public relations. That’s about it. Do you feel that they were necessary changes, or just advancing at the time? I think as the technology advanced and the awareness of possible dangers became apparent that these changes just (unintelligible). Do you feel that the Test Site had a lot to do with the economy in Las Vegas, or is it just – Well, back in the mid ‘50s, it was significant on the economy. The tiny population of Las Vegas was in the 60,000s, and the Test Site was very important for the economy in the city. The Test Site population – the workers there at one time got to approximately eight or nine thousand people, and in the meantime, the city, the gambling industry and the resort industry expanded, and the Test Site is not nearly as important to the economy today as it was in the mid ‘50s. The population of Las Vegas now is probably nearing 300,000 versus 60,000 at that time. Did the hotels have a big part to do, or a lot to do with the economy? The gambling industry did. 7 UNLV University Libraries Bernard Lee Brown Was Las Vegas known as the place to be and all that stuff? Sin City. Sin City? Keep Las Vegas – bring the money. I guess they had all kinds of sayings like that. But, okay, your only affiliation with the hotels, then, was the short time that you worked as a shill? Right, for about three or four months. And then you haven’t – you never had any contact with them except for gambling and stuff like that? Right. What – in contrast to Las Vegas back then to Las Vegas today – what significant things could you say is different? Well, I would say then that the, while the public elected officials ostensibly ran things, it was really the casinos, you know, they had their own way of creating cheaters and people who stole from the house, people that didn’t pay their bills. And finding dead bodies in the desert was more common, perhaps, than it is now. And black ball dealers, or dealers that were taken to the counting room and (unintelligible) ‘cause they were found cheating – those things were common subjects of the grapevine in those days. And I think that’s changed a lot. What about law enforcement, then? Was it ineffective? I think it was run by the Strip. They didn’t really have very much say, then – very much control on what they could do. Big scandal in the police department in the early ‘60s, with the inferences that, publicly appointed and elected officials were really masterminded by the casino owners.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Martin Luther King Jr.'S Mission and Its Meaning for America and the World
    To the Mountaintop Martin Luther King Jr.’s Mission and Its Meaning for America and the World New Revised and Expanded Edition, 2018 Stewart Burns Cover and Photo Design Deborah Lee Schneer © 2018 by Stewart Burns CreateSpace, Charleston, South Carolina ISBN-13: 978-1985794450 ISBN-10: 1985794454 All Bob Fitch photos courtesy of Bob Fitch Photography Archive, Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, reproduced with permission Dedication For my dear friend Dorothy F. Cotton (1930-2018), charismatic singer, courageous leader of citizenship education and nonviolent direct action For Reverend Dr. James H. Cone (1936-2018), giant of American theology, architect of Black Liberation Theology, hero and mentor To the memory of the seventeen high school students and staff slain in the Valentine Day massacre, February 2018, in Parkland, Florida, and to their families and friends. And to the memory of all other schoolchildren murdered by American social violence. Also by Stewart Burns Social Movements of the 1960s: Searching for Democracy A People’s Charter: The Pursuit of Rights in America (coauthor) Papers of Martin Luther King Jr., vol 3: Birth of a New Age (lead editor) Daybreak of Freedom: Montgomery Bus Boycott (editor) To the Mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Mission to Save America (1955-1968) American Messiah (screenplay) Cosmic Companionship: Spirit Stories by Martin Luther King Jr. (editor) We Will Stand Here Till We Die Contents Moving Forward 9 Book I: Mighty Stream (1955-1959) 15 Book II: Middle Passage (1960-1966) 174 Photo Gallery: MLK and SCLC 1966-1968 376 Book III: Crossing to Jerusalem (1967-1968) 391 Afterword 559 Notes 565 Index 618 Acknowledgments 639 About the Author 642 Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, the preeminent Jewish theologian, introduced Martin Luther King Jr.
    [Show full text]
  • 2019 NCSBN Leadership and Public Policy Conference - Still Chasing Dr
    2019 NCSBN Leadership and Public Policy Conference - Still Chasing Dr. King’s Dream Video Transcript ©2019 National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. Event 2019 NCSBN Leadership and Public Policy Conference More info: https://www.ncsbn.org/13621.htm Presenter Tom Houck, Civil Rights Activist; Personal Assistant & Driver for Martin Luther King - [Tom] It's an honor to be here, and excuse me for sitting down. But many of you out there know when you have back problems what it's like, and over the last three or four weeks, I've had a serious back problem, and so that's why I'm sitting down and not standing up because usually I'm standing up and I'm speaking out. I was nine before I was seven. I was actually born in Cambridge, Mass, which is not very much a working-class city these days unless you have a million or a million and a half dollars for a house or an apartment. But I grew up part of my time in Somerville, Mass, and about six years old. Somerville, by the way, used to be an Italian and Irish working-class suburb of Boston. There were a few black folks there. There were a few Puerto Ricans there, but by and large, it was an ethnic neighborhood and a poor one at that. So, you might say, "Well, how did this white boy get into the civil rights movement?How did this white boy get involved?" Well, I didn't come from an intellectual family or a college family.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Studies TOPIC U.S
    2018-2019 Reading List Social Studies TOPIC U.S. Civil Rights Movements: Fulfilling a Nation’s Promise PRIMARY READING SELECTION The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation, by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff Vintage; (2007) ISBN: 978-0679735656! Available from Texas Educational Paperbacks, Inc ! 800-443-2078 www.tepbooks.com List price: $17.00, TEP UIL price: $11.05 plus shipping Also available from most online book sellers SUPPLEMENTAL READING MATERIAL Supreme Court Cases • Dred Scott v. Sanford (1856) • Roe v. Wade (1973) • Civil Rights Cases (1883) • Lau v. Nichols (1974) • Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886) • Plyler v. Doe (1982) • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) • Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986) • Missouri ex el Gaines v. Canada (1938) • Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) • Shelley v. Kraemer (1948) • UAW v. Johnson Controls (1991) • Sweatt v. Painter (1950) • Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools • Briggs v. Elliot (1952) (1992) • Hernandez v. Texas (1954) • US v. Virginia (1996) • Brown v. Board of Education (1954) • Romer v. Evans (1996) • Brown v. Board of Education II (1955) • Faragher v. City of Boca Raton (1998) • Browder v Gayle (1956) • Lawrence v. Texas (2003) • Heart of Atlanta Motel Inc. v. U.S. (1964) • Shelby County v. Holder (2013) • Loving v. Virginia (1967) • United States v. Windsor (2013) • Jones v. Mayer Co. (1968) • Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (2014) • Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971) • Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) Legislation th th th th • Title IX of the Federal Education • 5 , 14 , 15 , 24 Amendments • Civil Rights Act of 1875 Amendments (1972) • Civil Rights Act of 1957 • Equal Rights Amendment (1972) • Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 • Voting Rights Act (1965) • Americans with Disabilities Act of • Fair Housing Act (1968) 1990 Speeches & Movement Documents • The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments • I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, Martin Luther (1848) King, Jr.
    [Show full text]
  • Report of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, May, 1960
    The first meeting ef the Temperar.y STUJENT NI WITILENT , CltRJINATI NG Cll'1l'-1ITTEE was held on the campus ' •f Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday and Saturday Hay 13-l.L, 1'''· Mr. i1ari•n s. Barry, Jr., of Fisk University was elected to serve as chairman, and l"lr. Henry James Thomas of Howard University was elected secretary. it the direction of the Coordinating Committee, Miss Ella J. Baker of the Southern C:tlris­ tian Leadership Conference was asked to compile and send out this report of the proceedings of the meeting. T A B L E ef C I N T E N T S I. Attendance an~ Agenda II. Statement ef PUrpese III . Committee Reports on: a - c ••r.i natien ~ - C•mmunicati•ns c ,- Finance IV. Netrs Release • • /! • ., • ... First Meeting .of The Temporary STUDENT NONVIOLENT COORDINATING COBl-ITT':'EE Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia Friday and Saturday, }~y 13 - 14, 1960 A T T E N D A N C E Students: Marion S. Barry Fisk University Nashville, Tennessee Y.i!'. David Forbes Sha-vr University Raleigh, N. C, James E. Dyer Hest Va. State College Institute, West Virginia Lonnie C. King, Jr, Morehouse College Atlanta, Georgia Bernard Lee Montgomery, Alabama Clarence lvJitchell, III Horgan State College Baltimore, Md. Charles E. HcDrew s. c. State College Orangeburg, s. c. r1i..ke Penn Ten.."1, A, & I. Nashville, Tenn. Henry James Thomas Howard University VJashington, D.. c. Virginius Thornton Va. State College Petersburg, Va. James Williams, VI. Va. State College Institute, Hest Virginia Advisors: Dr. Hartin L.
    [Show full text]
  • Court Documents Related to Martin Luther King, Jr., and Memphis Sanitation Workers. the Constitution Community: Postwar United States (1945 to Early 1970S)
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 462 357 SO 033 608 AUTHOR Perry, Douglas TITLE Court Documents Related to Martin Luther King, Jr., and Memphis Sanitation Workers. The Constitution Community: Postwar United States (1945 to Early 1970s) . INSTITUTION National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC. PUB DATE 2000-00-00 NOTE 16p.; Photographic images may not reproduce clearly. AVAILABLE FROM National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20408. Tel: 866-325-7208 (Toll Free); e-mail: [email protected]. For full text: http://www.nara.gov/education/cc/main.html. PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Teacher (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Activism; *Black Leadership; *Citizen Participation; *Civil Rights; Legal Problems; *Primary Sources; Secondary Education; Social Studies; Teacher Developed Materials; *United States History IDENTIFIERS Bill of Rights; First Amendment; *King (Martin Luther Jr); National Civics and Government Standards; National History Standards ABSTRACT During inclement weather in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1968, two separate incidents caused black sanitation workers to strike for job safety, better wages and benefits, and union recognition. Mayor Henry Loeb was unsympathetic and opposed to the union. Martin Luther King agreed to lend his support to the sanitation workers and spoke at a rally in Memphis on March 18, 1968. He promised to lead the large march and work stoppage planned for later in the month. Unfortunately, violent disturbances at the march prompted the city of Memphis to bring a formal complaint in the District Court against King and his associates in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. This lesson relates to two clauses in the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights, which ensure individuals the right to assemble peaceably and to petition the government for the redress of grievances.
    [Show full text]
  • The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Birth of Funk Culture
    Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2013 Funk My Soul: The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And the Birth of Funk Culture Domenico Rocco Ferri Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Ferri, Domenico Rocco, "Funk My Soul: The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And the Birth of Funk Culture" (2013). Dissertations. 664. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/664 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2013 Domenico Rocco Ferri LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO FUNK MY SOUL: THE ASSASSINATION OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. AND THE BIRTH OF FUNK CULTURE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN HISTORY BY DOMENICO R. FERRI CHICAGO, IL AUGUST 2013 Copyright by Domenico R. Ferri, 2013 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Painstakingly created over the course of several difficult and extraordinarily hectic years, this dissertation is the result of a sustained commitment to better grasping the cultural impact of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and death. That said, my ongoing appreciation for contemporary American music, film, and television served as an ideal starting point for evaluating Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • FBI Investigations Into the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left
    Columbus State University CSU ePress Theses and Dissertations Student Publications 12-2019 FBI Investigations into the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left Meredith Donovan Follow this and additional works at: https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Donovan, Meredith, "FBI Investigations into the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 330. https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations/330 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Publications at CSU ePress. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of CSU ePress. COLUMBUS STATE UNIVERSITY FBI INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND THE NEW LEFT A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE HONORS COLLEGE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR HONORS IN THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY COLLEGE OF LETTERS AND SCIENCES BY MEREDITH DONOVAN COLUMBUS, GEORGIA 2019 1 Copyright © 2019 Meredith Donovan All Rights Reserved. 2 FBI INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND THE NEW LEFT By Meredith Donovan Committee Chair: Dr. Gary Sprayberry Committee Members: Dr. Sarah Bowman Dr. Ryan Lynch Columbus State University December 2019 3 Abstract This paper examines how the FBI investigated civil rights organizations and social movements from the 1950s through the 1970s. It compares the reasons for the investigations, the investigative methods, and the extent of the investigations. The paper uses FBI files as the basis for the information and to form the argument that the FBI chose its targets based on who posed a significant threat to the status quo.
    [Show full text]
  • The Truth of the Children of Vietnam: a Way of Liberation How Will We Challenge Militarism, Racism, and Extreme Materialism? by David T
    This document is online at: https://ratical.org/ratville/JFK/CoV-JFK-MLK-WFP.html Editor’s note: This composition leverages the digital replicas of the Ramparts Extra edition, “The Children of Vietnam,” originally published in January 1967. Excerpts from Vincent Harding, Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero (NY: Orbis Books, 2008) reproduced with the permission of Orbis Books. I would like to thank Jim Douglass who helped establish the frame for this. Recommendations for helpful additional sources to include in References are welcome. The Truth of The Children of Vietnam: A Way of Liberation How Will We Challenge Militarism, Racism, and Extreme Materialism? by David T. Ratcliffe rat haus reality press November 30, 2017 This is an exposition of the photographic essay by William Pepper about the children of Vietnam that Martin King first saw on January l4, l967. Initially, while he hadn’t had a chance to read the text, it was the photographs that stopped him. As Bernard Lee who was present at the time said, “Martin had known about the [Vietnam] war before then, of course, and had spoken out against it. But it was then that he decided to commit himself to oppose it.” Pepper’s essay contains the most powerful creative energy on earth: truth force. It is as relevant 50 years later as it was in 1967. Martin King steadfastly exhorted all to confront and grapple with the triple prong sickness—lurking within the U.S. body politic from its inception—of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism. These evils require us to respond with life-giving intelligence, to change course away from the nightmare path we are pursuing, and towards, in Coretta King’s words, “a more excellent way, a more effective way, a creative rather than a destructive way.” All of us in the United States are the ones best positioned to challenge the destructiveness of the three prong sickness destroying our civilization and the Earth, and change direction towards affirming life in all its variations and sacredness.
    [Show full text]
  • Grassroots Impacts on the Civil Rights Movement
    Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont CGU Theses & Dissertations CGU Student Scholarship Summer 2018 Grassroots Impacts on the Civil Rights Movement: Christian Women Leaders’ Contributions to the Paradigm Shift in the Tactics of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Its Affiliates Wook Jong Lee Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd Part of the History of Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Lee, Wook Jong. (2018). Grassroots Impacts on the Civil Rights Movement: Christian Women Leaders’ Contributions to the Paradigm Shift in the Tactics of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Its Affiliates. CGU Theses & Dissertations, 149. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/149. doi: 10.5642/cguetd/149 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the CGU Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in CGU Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Grassroots Impacts on the Civil Rights Movement: Christian Women Leaders’ Contributions to the Paradigm Shift in the Tactics of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Its Affiliates By Wook Jong Lee Claremont Graduate University 2018 © Copyright Wook Jong Lee, 2018 All Rights Reserved ProQuest Number:10844448 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ProQuest 10844448 Published by ProQuest LLC ( 2018).
    [Show full text]
  • SCLC Newsletter, August, 1961
    Volume 1 AUGUST 1961 No.2 Great questions for American democ­ FOR FREEDOM racy were at issue: What would the notorious Governor of Alabama do? What would the U. S. Department of Justice do? Could the Freedom Riders be frightened or crushed? The world now knows the answers to these questions. As the Riders streamed into Ala­ bama and Mississippi, SCLC leaders maintained contact with the Depart­ ment of Justice as well as with some of the local law enforcing agents, and the press. Moreover, A Freedom Ride Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was set up that brought together CORE, SNCC (Student l'lonviolent Coordinating Committee) and SCLC. This closer cooperation among these sister organizations made for a more systematic approach to the Freedom Ride operation. It was realized, how­ Montgomery, Alabama: Left to right the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, Clyde Carter, Bernard Lee, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy. ever, that many individuals and groups with varying backgrounds and .orienta­ tions would join the movement. The SCLC AND THE FREEDOM RIDES coordinating committee insisted upon the discipline of nonviolence and pled SCLC did not initiate the Freedom The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, "Mr. for prominent Americans as well as Rides. That wonderful idea was the Civil Rights" of Birmingham and Sec­ others to bear witness to the cause by creation of CORE (Congress of Racial retary of SCLC, from the very begin­ joining the Rides. Equality.) Everybody who reads the ning played a key role in the Free­ newspapers or looks and listens to a dom Rides. He was CORE's main con­ Some SCLC leaders were rotl !!hed TV or radio knows of the violence tact in Birmingham and sent automo­ up by police and mobs or were jaiied.
    [Show full text]
  • Protest, Showdown and Civil Rights Activity in Three Southern Cities, 1960-1965. Kyle Thomas Scanlan East Tennessee State University
    East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 8-2001 Fight the Power: Protest, Showdown and Civil Rights Activity in Three Southern Cities, 1960-1965. Kyle Thomas Scanlan East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Scanlan, Kyle Thomas, "Fight the Power: Protest, Showdown and Civil Rights Activity in Three Southern Cities, 1960-1965." (2001). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 117. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/117 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Fight the Power: Protest, Showdown and Civil Rights Activity in Three Southern Cities 1960-1965. _______________ A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of History East Tennessee State University _______________ In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in History ________________ by Kyle T. Scanlan August 2001 ________________ Dr. Elwood Watson, Chair Dr. Henry Antkiewicz Dr. Dale Schmitt ______________ Keywords: Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, SCLC, SNCC ABSTRACT Fight the Power: Protest, Showdown and Civil Rights Activity in Three Southern Cities, 1960-1965 by Kyle T. Scanlan This thesis describes the significant events of the Civil Rights Movement from 1960 to 1965, examining the campaigns of Albany, Georgia in 1962, Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, and Selma, Alabama in 1965.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study Tour of the American Civil Rights Movement for Students in the Excel! Research Scholars Program at The
    2014-2015 A study tour of the American Civil Rights Movement for students in the Excel! Research Scholars Program at the University of St. Thomas—Minnesota Students participating in the Journey for Justice Study Tour are Excel! Research Scholars. Excel! Research Scholars Director: Cynthia J. Fraction, M.A. Graduate Assistant: Courtney Crowley Mail: AQU 319 322 Aquinas Hall 2115 Summit Avenue St. Paul, MN 55105 stthomas.edu/excel The Excel! Research Scholars Program is part of the Grants and Research Office. David Steele, Ph.D. Director, Grants and Research Office Publication layout/design: Kristin Walters Photography: Kathryn Hubly (unless otherwise noted) 3 Message from the Excel! Research Scholars Director 4 Key Locations on the study tour 5-6 Reflections from staff on the tour 7-34 Student Research Papers: • Anisa Abdulkadir, “Implications of Legislatively Supported Racial Residential Segregation on Black Housing” • Priscila Barron Sanchez, “Key Legal Cases Surrounding the Civil Rights Movement” • Kamilah Ceaser, “SNCC and its Contributions to the Movement” • Tiana Daniels, “Canton, the Church, and Civil Rights” • Shannon Heitkamp, “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Speeches: A Critical Analysis” • Maxine Johnson, “Diversity in the Movement” • Quinmill Lei, “What They Conveniently Forgot to Teach in History Class” • Raymond Nkwain Kindva, “The Struggle for Racial Equality in Birmingham, Alabama” • Tyler Skluzacek, “Birmingham: Model City or Master of Disguise?” • Alexander Tsadwa, “State and Federal Clashes in the Midst of the Civil Rights Movement” Photo: As part of the Journey for Justice Study Tour, students crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, site of the “Bloody Sunday” protest Parting Thoughts march in 1965. 35 37 Community Service & Experience Highlights from the 2015 study tour The Civil Rights Movement is an era which represents some of the most turbulent times in America’s history.
    [Show full text]