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INTRODUCTION This study guide is designed for teachers as a companion to the Pepsi Edition of the documentary Eyes on the Prize. Divided into eight segments, the Pepsi Edition is two hours long, considerably shorter than the original version of Eyes on the Prize. The teacher, using this guide with the Pepsi Edition, can present to students a balanced rendering of the major events of the civil rights movement between the landmark years 1954 and 1965. The first section of the study guide is devoted to what came before the advent of the modern civil rights movement, from the landing of the first slaves in Louisiana to the entrenchment of Jim Crow in the South. The subsequent sections of the guide, with three case studies, are devoted to the eight segments of the documentary Eyes on the Prize. Each of the eight sections includes: Synopsis Chronology Glossary Quotes Questions Two copies of Glossary, Quotes, and Questions appear in each section. One copy, with the list of questions, is to be copied and handed out to the students. The second copy, with the list of questions and (suggested) answers, is for the teachers. The Quotes and Questions often touch on the same points, and it is best to select Quotes for one segment of the documentary and Questions for another, etc. The events described in Eyes on the Prize are recent history. To be sure, we live in the aftermath of a political revolution that has no equal. But if Jim Crow is dead, his legacy lingers. I was reminded of this in February 1994. Byron de la Beckwith was convicted (after two mistrials) of the 1963 slaying of Medgar Evers, the NAACP Field Secretary in Mississippi. I attended Beckwith's trial at the Hines County courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi. After the “guilty” verdict was read (followed by a woman's voice, “Thank God Almighty! We got justice at last!”), I drove to Ruleville, Mississippi, and knocked on the door of Roy Bryant. He was one of the two self-acknowledged killers of Emmett Till, a black youth from Chicago who was said to have “talked fresh” and whistled at Bryant's wife in the Mississippi Delta of 1955. Till paid for this with his life. “It's been forty damn years. You got to let that stuff go,” Bryant said, after inadvertently letting me into his house. “A lot of people made a bunch of damn money out of it. I ain't never made a damn nickel.” That, apparently, was his one regret about killing Emmett Till. At one point in the interview, Bryant tried to stand up, but could not. He was suffering from back trouble, was legally blind, but worst of all the world had changed and Bryant got caught in the transition. What he and his half-brother J. W. Milam did to Emmett Till, given the allegations, was almost expected of a white man in the Delta. But forty years later, in the twilight of his life, Bryant was afraid that the law would catch up to him. “Look what they're doing to Beckwith down there now,” he said. “They've already done it,” I reminded him. “Already done it,” he repeated, “and now they want to get me! So hell with 'em. I'm not trying to be ugly, but I just won't talk about it.” Forty years later, the killer was still afraid of a fourteen year old boy who crossed a line he did not know existed. We live in a period of racial change and fear, a period of healing and recrimination, a period between what was and what will be. Prejudice is deeply rooted. Stereotypes of “the other” are shared by all. Each people lives in separate, insular worlds. Many (indeed, it seems an increasing number) prefer it that way. One group has little idea about how the other lives, thinks, or feels. The relationship is wrapped in myth, fear, hurt feelings, and no feelings. This study guide is an effort to tell the story of the civil rights movement in a straight forward manner, letting the facts speak for themselves. Plater Robinson Southern Institute TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... I I SLAVERY, CIVIL WAR, RECONSTRUCTION, AND JIM CROW ...................................................................................... 1 An Overview ............................................................................ 1 II CASE STUDY: BROWN V. THE BOARD . 51 III EMMETT TILL: 1955 .................................................................... 53 Synopsis .................................................................................. 53 Chronology .............................................................................. 56 Glossary .................................................................................. 58 Quotes ..................................................................................... 61 Question .................................................................................. 69 IV CASE STUDY: EMMETT TILL ................................................... 74 V MONTGOMERY: 1955 .................................................................. 76 Synopsis .................................................................................. 77 Chronology .............................................................................. 80 Glossary ................................................................................... 82 Quotes ..................................................................................... 85 Questions ................................................................................. 93 VI LITTLE ROCK: 1957 ..................................................................... 98 Synopsis .................................................................................. 98 Chronology ............................................................................ 101 Glossary ................................................................................. 103 Quotes ................................................................................... 106 Questions ............................................................................... 112 VII SIT-INS: 1960 ............................................................................... 117 Synopsis ................................................................................ 117 Chronology ............................................................................ 120 Glossary ................................................................................. 122 Quotes ................................................................................... 125 Questions ............................................................................... 133 VIII WHO SHALL LEAD? ALBANY: 1961 ..................................... 138 Synopsis ................................................................................ 138 Chronology ............................................................................ 142 Glossary ................................................................................. 144 Quotes ................................................................................... 147 Questions ............................................................................... 154 IX BIRMINGHAM: 1963 .................................................................. 158 Synopsis ................................................................................ 158 Chronology ............................................................................ 162 Glossary ................................................................................. 163 Quotes ................................................................................... 165 Questions ............................................................................... 172 X CASE STUDY: SNCC IN SOUTH-WEST MISSISSIPPI ............. 177 XI POWER AND THE VOTE: 1964 ............................................... 179 Synopsis ................................................................................ 179 Chronology ............................................................................ 182 Glossary ................................................................................. 184 Quotes ................................................................................... 187 Questions ............................................................................... 195 XII SELMA: 1965 ................................................................................. 200 Synopsis ................................................................................ 200 Chronology ............................................................................ 203 Glossary ................................................................................. 205 Quotes ................................................................................... 208 Questions ............................................................................... 215 I. SLAVERY, CIVIL WAR, RECONSTRUCTION, AND JIM CROW HISTORY OF THE RACE QUESTION IN LOUISIANA This section of the study guide is devoted to the history of the race question in Louisiana. The section begins with the arrival of the first slaves in the Louisiana territory (under French control) in 1720, discusses the institution of slavery in Louisiana, the outbreak of the Civil War, the use of black troops in the Federal armies, the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, and the Confederate response to it. Next is a brief history of Reconstruction in Louisiana followed by an equally brief history of the so-called Redemption. This was the period after Reconstruction when the indigenous white
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