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Free at Last. a History of the Civil Rights Movement and Those Who Died in the Struggle

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Free at Last. a History of the Civil Rights Movement and Those Who Died in the Struggle DOCUMENT RESUME ED 414 364 UD 032 023 AUTHOR Bullard, Sara, Ed. TITLE Free at Last. A History of the Civil Rights Movement and Those Who Died in the Struggle. INSTITUTION Southern Poverty Law Center, Montgomery, AL. PUB DATE 1989-00-00 NOTE 107p. AVAILABLE FROM "Teaching Tolerance," The Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, AL 36104 (1-9 copies, $2.75 each; 10-19 copies, $2.25 each; 20-99 copies, $1.75 each; 100 or more copies, $1.50 each). PUB TYPE Reports Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Biographies; *Black History; Black Leadership; *Civil Rights; Demonstrations (Civil); Elementary Secondary Education; Profiles; Racial Discrimination; *Racial Integration; Racial Segregation; *School Desegregation; Student Rights; United States History; Urban Schools ABSTRACT Along with the history of the civil rights movement, this publication, which is well suited for classroom use, tells the stories of those who died during that struggle. Their lives serve as examples of the many personal tragedies suffered for a movement that transformed America from a society in which blacks were routinely excluded from full citizenship to one that now recognizes, even if it has not fully realized, the equal rights of all citizens. The following sections are included: (1) "Early Struggles" through slavery: (2) "A Movement of the People," the Montgomery bus boycott and the Little Rock crisis; (3) "Confrontations," the efforts of freedom riders and civil rights marchers; (4) "Fighting for the Ballot," the struggle for voting rights in Mississippi and Alabama; and (5)"Days of Rage," urban rioting and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Profiles are provided for 40 prominent and less well known people who gave their lives in the civil rights movement. The booklet is liberally illustrated with photographs from the civil rights struggle.(SLD) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** J I It 0 AM. ..1.1111M.1110.- '441111111...Z U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND Office of Educations/ Researchand Improvement DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION HAS BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) wir his document has been reproducedas received from the person or organization originating it sie GJiMoms Minor changes have been madeto improve reprOCIUCtiOn Quality Teochpy rFerar)u Points of view or opinions statedinttuadocu- ment do not necessarily represent official TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES OERI position or policy INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) A " 2 BEIST COPT AVAILABLE ,', t n : ,.c STAFF Executive Editor Sara Bullard Civil Rights History Editor Julian Bond Manuscript Editors J. Richard Cohen Preface Steve Fiffer Design Director Susan Hulme/Wright, One day the South In Montgomery, Alabama, groundswell of support from in 1989, a memorial was built ordinary people who had will recognize its Senior Researcher to commemorate the achieve- never before been politically Joseph T. Roy Sr. real heroes. ments of the civil rights era involved. Researchers Martin Luther King Jr., in and to honor those who died The actions of politicians Jeff Richburg Charles Blevins "Letter From Birmingham City Jail" during that struggle. A few of and judges helped speed the Cathy Lane the victims were well known transformation that occurred Nancy Britnell Medgar Evers, Martin Luther during those 14 years. But it Barbara Blank King Jr. but there were was the courage of people like Pre-Production Manager many whose names you could Wharlest Jackson who lost Betty Powell not find in the history books: their lives in the struggle that Proofreader John Earl Reese, Willie made that transformation Gayle Bryant Edwards, Clarence Triggs. inevitable. Along with a history of Some of these martyrs the civil rights movement, the were not killed because of stories of those who died are anything they personally did, told here. Their lives serve as but because they represented, examples of the many personal by their color, the movement tragedies suffered for a move- that was threatening the segre- ment that transformed America gationists' way of life. Lemuel Published by: from a society in which blacks Penn, driving through Georgia Teaching Tolerance were routinely excluded from on his way home from Army 400 Washington Ave. full citizenship into one that reserve training; Willie Montgomery, AL 36104 now recognizes, if it has not Brewster, a foundry worker Bulk copies of this magazine may be entirely realized, the equal driving home from work; ordered at cost for classroom use, rights of all citizens. by writing to: Teaching Tolerance, The Virgil Ware, a boy on a bicycle Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Although civil rights activi- all were killed by members Washington Ave.. ty has been a potent force in of large Klan and neo-Nazi Montgomery, AL 36104 American political life since the organizations whose members Copyright © 1989 by the Southern Abolitionists battled slavery thought terrorizing blacks Poverty Law Center. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. and continues in many forms would halt civil rights efforts. No part of this publication may be today, the civil rights move- But terrorism did not reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ment which overturned segre- break the movement. Time or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, gation in the South during the after time, inhuman acts of vio- photocopying, recording, or otherwise. 1950s and 1960s was a unique lence only strengthened the without the prior permission of the publisher. phenomenon character- dedication of those whose lives ized by nonviolent resistance were bound to the struggle. and fueled by an enormous When Emmett Till and Mack Parker were lynched in FREE AT LAST 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Invaluable assistance and advice were given by: Steve Suitts and Marge Manderson Southern Regional Council, Atlanta, Ga. Taylor Branch, author of Parting the Waters Rickey Hill, Chair, Department of Political Science, Mississippi, when four girls Maybelle Mahone, a 30- unidentified teen-age boy South Carolina State College David Garrow died in a Birmingham church year -old mother of six, was whose body was found in Department of Political explosion, people all over the shot and killed by a white man September 1964 in the Big Science, City University of world paid attention to the at her home in Zebulon, Black River near Canton, New York and author of Bearing the Cross movement that was changing Georgia, in 1956 because she Mississippi. Several books Arlie Schardt, Editor America, and the national will "sassed" him. noted his death in passing Foundation News Juan Williams, author of for reform grew. Frank Morris, a 51-year- because he was found wearing Eyes on the Prize Those whose deaths old shoe repairman and radio a Congress of Racial Equality Jeff Flannery spurred the movement on, host, was fatally burned when T-shirt, and other documents Manuscript Division Library of Congress those who were killed by orga-white men bombed his shop in listed his death as the last in a Washington, D.C. nized white terrorists trying to Ferriday, Louisiana, on Decem- long summer of violence in Robert Lane, Director Air University Library "set an example," and those ber 10, 1964. Mississippi. But nothing else Montgomery, Ala. who were murdered for their Similar acts of racist vio- was known about him, and it Mary Futrell, Past President National Education Association own acts of courage these lence have victimized blacks seemed his name had been Dr. Daniel T. Williams, Director are the heroes of the civil throughout history, and they forgotten. the Tuskegee Institute Archives rights struggle who are profiled have not ended. In 1981, a After months of reading Staffs of: Mississippi and Alabama State Archives, the Birmingham in the following pages. black man was randomly documents, a researcher scan- Public Library, the Center for the But they are not the only selected and lynched by the ning microfilm at the Library of Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, and the victims of the era. There are Klan in Mobile, Alabama. In Congress found a memo that Martin Luther King Center for countless others who can only 1988, neo-Nazi Skinheads mur- noted the discovery of a body Nonviolent Social Change be characterized as victims of dered an Ethiopian man in a 14-year-old boy, wearing in Atlanta. Members of the Civil Rights random, senseless racism Portland, Oregon, simply a CORE T-shirt, found in the Memorial Advisory racism so perverse it allowed because he was black. Big Black River. His name was Committee whites to murder blacks for lit- The research for the Civil Herbert Oarsby. tle or no reason: Rights Memorial was conduct- The full story of Herbert Clinton Melton, a ed over a one-year period and Oarsby's death, and of racist Sumner, Mississippi, service sta- included detailed searches violence in the civil rights era, tion worker, was killed in 1955 through newspapers, state may never he known. There SPECIAL THANKS: by a white man who objected archives, Library of Congress were many deaths never inves- To the many relatives and to the price of his gasoline. holdings, and papers of civil tigated, many killers never friends of those who died dur- L.G. Baldwin, a 79-year- rights organizations, as well as identified, and many victims ing the movement, for provid- ing us with valuable letters, old minister, was leading a numerous personal interviews whose names have been lost. photographs, documents and cow along a roadside in and hundreds of letters solicit- This book is dedicated to remembrances. Huntsville, Alabama, in the ing information. the memory of Herbert Oarsby spring of 1956 when a young From time to time during and the unknown martyrs of white man threw a 10-pound that research, a glimpse of a the civil rights movement.
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