DOCUMENT 10-A “Life on the Sea Islands” Charlotte Forten Atlantic Monthly, (May 1864)

... Te school was opened in September. Many of the children had, however, received instruction during the summer. It was evident that they had made very rapid improvement, and we noticed with pleasure how bright and eager to learn many of them seemed...

... Te first day at school was rather trying. Most of my children were very small, and consequently restless. Some were too young to learn the alphabet. Tese little ones were brought to school because the older children — in whose care their parents leave them while at work — could not come without them. We were therefore willing to have them come, although they seemed to have discovered the secret of perpetual motion, and tried one’s patience sadly. But after some days of positive, though not severe treatment, order was brought out of chaos, and I found but little difficulty in managing and quieting the tiniest and most restless spirits. I never before saw children so eager to learn, although I had had several years’ experience in New England schools. Coming to school is a constant delight and recreation to them. Tey come here as other children go to play. Te older ones, during the summer, work in the fields from early morning until eleven or twelve o’clock, and then come into school, after their hard toil in the hot sun, as bright and as anxious to learn as ever.

Of course there are some stupid ones, but these are the minority. Te majority learn with wonderful rapidity. Many of the grown people are desirous of learning to read. It is wonderful how a people who have been so long crushed to the earth, so imbrued as these have been, — and have so great a desire for knowledge, and such a capability for attaining it. One cannot believe that the haughty Anglo- Saxon race, after centuries of such an experience as these people have had, would be very much superior to them. And one’s indignation increases against those who, North as well as South, taunt the colored race with inferiority while them themselves use every means in their power to crush and degrade them, denying them every right and privilege, closing against them every avenue of elevation and improvement. Were they, under such circumstances, intellectual and refined, they would certainly be vastly superior to any other race that ever existed.

After the lessons, we used to talk freely to the children, often giving them slight sketches of some of the great and good men. Before teaching them the “John Brown” song, which they learned to sing with great spirit, Miss T. told them the story of the brave old man* who had died for them. I told them about Toussaint*, thinking it well they should know what one of their own color had done for his race. Tey listened attentively, and seemed to understand. We found it rather hard

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 1 to keep their attention in school. It is not strange, as they have been so entirely unused to intellectual concentration. It is necessary to interest them every moment, in order to keep their thoughts from wandering. Teaching here is consequently far more fatiguing than at the North. In the church, we had of course but one room in which to hear all the children; and to make one’s self heard, when there were often as many as a hundred and forty reciting at once, it was necessary to tax the lungs very severely...

• What is the main point of this passage? What does it tell you about life during Reconstruction?

DOCUMENT 10-B “Life on the Sea Islands” Charlotte Forten Atlantic Monthly, (May 1864)

... Christmas night, the children came in and had several grand shouts. Tey were too happy to keep still.

“Oh, Miss, all I want to do is to sing and shout!” said one little pet, Amaretta. And sing and shout she did, to her heart’s content.

She read nicely, and was very fond of books. Te tiniest children are delighted to get a book in their hands. Many of them already know their letters. Te parents are eager to have them learn. Tey sometimes said to me, — “Do, Miss, let de chil’en learn eberyting dey can. We nebber had no chance to learn nuttin’, but we wants de chil’en to learn.”

Tey are willing to make many sacrifices that their children may attend school. One old woman, who had a large family of children and grandchildren, came regularly to school in the winter, and took her seat among the little ones. She was at least sixty years old. Another woman... came daily, and brought her baby in her arms. It happened to be one of the best babies in the world, a perfect little “model of deportment,” and allowed its mother to pursue her studies without interruption. ... Daily the long-oppressed people of these islands are demonstrating their capacity for improvement in learning and labor. What they have accomplished in one short year exceeds our utmost expectations. Still the sky is dark; but through the darkness we can discern a brighter future. We cannot but feel that the day of

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 2 final and entire deliverance, so long and often so hopelessly prayed for, had at length begun to dawn upon this much-enduring race...

While writing these pages I am once more nearing Port Royal. Te Fortunate Isles of Freedom are before me. I shall again tread the flower-skirted woodpaths of St. Helena, and the sombre pines and bearded oaks shall whisper in the sea-wind their grave welcome. I shall dwell again among “mine own people.” I shall gather my scholars about me, and see smiles of greeting break over their dusk faces. My heart sings a song of thanksgiving, at the thought that even I am permitted to do something for a long abused race, and aid in promoting a higher, holier, and happier life on the Sea Islands.

• What is the main point of this passage? What does it tell you about life during Reconstruction?

DOCUMENT 10-C Report on the Condition of the South Carl Schurz December 1865

... Some planters thought of establishing schools on their estates, and others would have been glad to see measures taken to that effect by the people of the neighborhoods in which they lived. But whenever I asked the question whether it might be hoped that the legislatures of their States or their county authorities would make provisions for negro education, I never received an affirmative, and only in two or three instances feebly encouraging answers... . Hundreds of times I heard the old assertion repeated, that “learning will spoil the n— for work,” and that “negro education will be the ruin of the south.” Another most singular nation still holds a potent sway over the minds of the masses — it is, that the elevation of the blacks will be the degradation of the whites.

Te consequence of the prejudice prevailing in the southern States is that colored schools can be established and carried on with safety only under the protection of our military forces... . Tere may be a few locations forming exceptions, but their number is certainly very small...

In the letter of General Kirby Smith occurs the following statement referring to the condition of things in Mobile, Alabama: “Treats were made to destroy all school-houses in which colored children were taught, and in two instances they

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 3 were fired. Te same threats were made against all churches in which colored people assembled to worship, and one of them burned. Continued threats of assassination were made against the colored preachers, and one of them is now under special guard by order of Major General Woods.”

• What is the main point of this passage? What does it tell you about life during Reconstruction?

DOCUMENT 10-D Te Autobiography of Oliver Otis Howard General Oliver Otis Howard 1907

Te many benevolent organizations of the country ... gave themselves vigorously to the teaching of children and youth and the planting of schools...

... [T]he first important circular issued from headquarters May 19, 1865 ... announced well-defined principles of action... . “I invite ... the continuance and cooperation of such societies [benevolent and religious organizations]. I trust they will be generously supported by the people, and I request them to send me their names, list of their principal officers, and a brief statement of their present work. ... Te education and moral condition of these (the freed) people will not be forgotten. Te utmost facility will be afforded to benevolent and religious organizations and State authorities in the maintenance of good schools for refugees and freedmen until a system of free schools can be supported by the recognized local government... .”

Let me repeat, that in all this work it is not my purpose to supersede the benevolent agencies already engaged in it, but to systematize and facilitate them. Te next step after public announcement was to introduce in the field some practical systematic arrangement. So much overlapping and interference one with another were found among the workers that I hastened to appoint a school superintendent for each State. He was generally a commissioned officer detailed from the army and placed under the direct authority of the State assistant commissioner of the Bureau. Te majority of the schools throughout the South were elementary. Tey were more flourishing in those localities which had been for six months or more within the lines of our armies. After peace many Government schools were added to those of the benevolent societies, being brought into existence by Bureau officials. Tese were self-supporting from the

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 4 start. Te educational work was in every way helped by the extraordinary ardor of the pupils and the enthusiasm of the teachers, fed by the societies behind them who at this time voiced the generous devotion of benevolent people every where.

Yet the ruling classes among the Southern whites were deeply offended. Tey said at first: “If the Yankees are allowed to educate the negroes as they are now doing, the next thing will be to let them vote.” No one can describe the odium that awaited the excellent, self-denying teachers of freedmen in those days. Our first official summary of these schools declared that: “doubtless the treatment to which they, the teachers, have been subjected is due in part to the feelings engendered by war, but it is mostly attributable to prejudice against educating the blacks, and the belief that the teachers are fostering social equality.” Even then, however, there were notable exceptions to this opinion and conduct in the South. Some prominent Southern men earnestly advocated the introduction of schools, and several Southern churches established them in connection with their own organizations. Te entire number of pupils in the schools for freedmen at the close of 1865 in the States that had been in insurrection, adding Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, amount to 90,589; teachers 1,314, and schools 740... .

Te Bureau gave transportation to teachers from their homes to the field and back during the necessary vacations. It also carried all their books and furniture, and to a considerable extent while the abandoned property remained available, provided buildings for the dwelling places of teachers and for the schools themselves. I early came to the conclusion that our school work was best promoted by placing one dollar of public money by the side of one of voluntary contribution. Te Bureau gave to any benevolent society in that proportion. Te society which undertook the most in that manner received most.

President Johnson’s restoration of estates, however, which we have already noticed, soon caused schoolhouses, churches, and many private residences to be severed from our use. One inspector wrote that our admirable system of education well inaugurated must fail unless permanent real estate for the freedmen and the schools could in some way be secured. Te benevolent societies were ready to erect their own buildings if we could furnish them lots on which to build. Tis disposition helped us finally to great results.

• What is the main point of this passage? What does it tell you about life during Reconstruction?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 5 DOCUMENT 10-E Letter to the Freedmen’s Bureau John Sweeny 1865

Nashville Tenn October 8th 1865 Sir:

I have the honor to call your attention to the necessity of having a school for the benefit of our regiment. We have never had an institution of that sort and we stand deeply in need of instruction, the majority of us having been slaves. We wish to have some benefit of education to make of ourselves capable of business in the future. We have established a literary association which flourished previous to our march to Nashville. We wish to become a people capable of self support as we are capable of being soldiers. My home is in Kentucky where prejudice reigns like the mountain oak and I do lack that cultivation of mind that would have a tendency to cast a cloud over my future life after have been in the United States service. I had a leave of absence a few weeks a go on a furlough and it made my heart ache to see my race of people there neglected and ill treated on the account of the lack of education being incapable of putting their complaints or applications in writing for the want of education [and] totally ignorant of the great good workings of the government in our behalf. We as soldiers have our officers who are our protection to teach us how to act and to do. But Sir what we want is a general system of education in our regiment for our moral and literary elevation. Tese being our motives, we have the honor of calling [for] your very high consideration.

Respectfully Submitted as your Most humble servt, John Sweeny

• What is the main point of this passage? What does it tell you about life during Reconstruction?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 6 DOCUMENT 10-F Records of the Superintendent of Education for the State of Virginia 1865-1869

Letter to Captain Lee

July 26, 1865 Capt. S. P. Lee Sub. Asst. Com. Dear Sir: In reference to the application for aid in building a school house at Manassas, Gen. Brown directs me to address you directly to say that in the absence of any evidence that a school will be maintained at any point he cannot make appropriations for school houses. So far as I have any evidence it is very uncertain at what points (with the exception of a few teaching policies) schools will be supported next year. I suggest that the Bureau officers and the local parties interested make direct application of the New England Branch F.U. Com. to know if they will send a teacher. When that ass’n or any other pledges a teacher an appropriation will be made.

Very Respectfully R. M. Manly Supt. of Education

Undated Letter, probably Sept. 7, 1869

R. M. Manly, State Superintendent of Education, Virginia to R. H. Dennis ... Te law creating the Bureau contemplates that it will act in connection with the charitable associations & says expressly that it shall “cooperate with them” & does not provide for any other method of operation. Monthly rent of $10 [from schools] goes directly to associations.

In a letter to raise funds, dated November 4, 1869

... I am positively forbidden, by the order under which I act, to build school houses until it appears that a school will be supported. [He further noted that the people of the community were expected to board their teachers.]

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 7 Circular No. 17

Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands Head-Qrs. Assistant Commissioner, District of Virginia, Richmond, Va.

Dec. 20, 1867 Assistant Sub-Assistant Commissioners and Agents of this Bureau will hereafter make a careful PERSONAL inspection of all Freedmen’s Schools within their respective Divisions at least once in two months, and make a special report of the condition of each School. Tis inspection and report will not only cover the Schools supported by the benevolent societies of the North, but will include ALL private independent Schools for Freedmen, whether taught by Freedmen or white persons.

O. BROWN, Bvt. Brig. Gen. Vols. Assistant Commissioner

Letter requesting a Schoolhouse for the Freedmen Bureau of R. F. & A. L.

Office of U.S.A. Comm. 2a D 10 S D Va Manassas Va. March 25 1868 Bvt. Lt. Col. S. P. Lee USA Sub Asst Comm. 10 S D Va Colonel: I have the honor to request that the sum of $100.00 be appropriated for the purpose of assisting in the erection of a School house for the use of the Freedmen at Buckland in Prince William Co. Tis School will be self sustaining and will have about 40 scholars. Te Union League promised $150.00 towards the building. Mrs. Maria Chappell will give the land for the purpose. I believe this one of the best locations for a School in this county and earnestly request that the above sum may be provided by the Bureau.

___

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 8 Despite the scattered instances of open violence & a general opposition to freedmen’s schools & their teachers, the school program thrived & expanded. Opening in Oct.,1865 with 67 schools, 136 teachers, & 8,528 pupils, by March, 1866, there were 145 schools, 225 teachers & 17,589 pupils. A report in April reveals that the American Missionary Association was supporting 53 teachers, the New York Nat[iona]l Freedmen’s Relief Association, 36; the New England Freedmen’s Aid Society, 20; the Baptist Home Mission Society, 24; the True Friends Society of Philadelphia, 49; & the Episcopal Missionary Society, 5. 29 teachers & 1,057 pupils were in self-supporting schools.

DOCUMENT 10-G Report on the Status of Schools in Virginia R. M. Manly 1865-1870

... Te long delay in the political reconstruction of the State still leaves the schools dependent upon foreign aid. Probably there is not another southern State in which the ruling class have such a poor opinion, not only of public free schools, as a meaning of education, but of education itself.

... Te State has, however, taken one step forward. Te new Constitution with its public free schools system which has been standing on the table of the sick man for 15 months — nausceous [sic] but wholesome drought — has just been swallowed, not willingly it is true, but angrily and ruefully. Te patient’s dislike for the medicine and hate for the doctor that compounded it, may retard and somewhat modify the effect of the dose, but cannot destroy it. Ample provision is made in that instrument for the gradual introduction & permanent support of a comprehensive system of public free schools. Te wealthy & aristocratic will oppose & retard the movement, but it will certainly go forward until the free school shall be as common, as excellent and as honored, as before the war, it was scarce and contemptible.

... Te number of native white Virginians opening colored schools or seeking employment is considerable. Tese are generally women in reduced circumstances or broken down school masters — persons already sufficiently humbled to be willing to earn their necessary bread by teaching colored children. While such teachers are not the best, they are better than none for children who are as yet entirely untaught. As far as possible the superintendent will reach these schools and endeavor to improve them.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 9 ... Not less than 50 thousand of the late slave population of this State have learned to read and write. More than three hundred are in Normal Schools — many who three or four years ago did not know the alphabet are acceptable teachers. Many are pursuing advanced studies at home and abroad. Youth is the instructor of age. I have seen a little colored girl of ten years, reading fluently and intelligently reading editorials of a city daily from the bulletin board to a group of eagerly listening gray haired men and women whose hearty and appropriate responses told that they appreciated the thought of the writer as well as the miracle the child was working by translating the unmeaning type matter to their comprehension.

... Te schools have been the principal cause of the hopefulness and patience with which they [freed persons] endured the hunger, the nakedness and managed the wrongs of their transition state. Teir churches have been great gainers in an increasing demand for minutes of better qualifications and a softening of the extravagances of their forms of worship. Te schools have developed self respect and a desire for permanent homes and the comforts and decencies of life.

• What is the main point of this passage? What does it tell you about life during Reconstruction?

Choose ONE of the following questions to answer. (Remember to choose one that you can respond to using substantial evidence from the sources!)

1. What was Charlotte Forten’s role in Reconstruction? What does she want people to understand about her Black students? What does she want her students to understand? 2. What methods that were used to halt or hinder public education in the Reconstruction South? What were the motivations behind these efforts? In what ways did these efforts succeed? In what ways were they unsuccessful? 3. How did Black soldiers, adults, and the children of freed persons respond to the Bureau’s education initiative? 4. Did the Freedmen’s Bureau appropriate adequate funds for the establishment and continuation of public schools? Explain. 5. What caused the conflict between Black educational initiatives and planters in the Reconstruction South? In what ways did the federal government exacerbate that conflict? 6. How might a strong public school system for all citizens benefit all the citizens of a state? What overrode this potential benefit for some powerful white Southerners?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 10 DOCUMENT 12-A “For Hawaiian Annexation” John W. Foster (ex-Secretary of State) Te New York Times, December 17, 1897

I do not think the islands will pass under the dominion of Japan. If the people of American origin now in control of the Government are rejected by Congress, they will, in my opinion, turn to their kinsmen, the English and Canadians. Tey have learned from the Colonial history of Great Britain that wherever the British flag goes there follows equal taxation, just and impartial administration of the laws, and honest and orderly government. While I have no information as to the purpose of the present Hawaiian rulers, I feel sure that when it is finally determined that they are not to be annexed to the United States they will lose no time in opening negotiations with Great Britain, and the result of these negotiations will be neither slow nor uncertain.

Discussion Questions • What do you suppose Foster thinks the “results of these negotiations” will be? • Does Foster question whether or not Hawaii will remain independent?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 11 DOCUMENT 12-B “What Te United States Has Fought For” John T. McCutcheon Te Chicago Morning News, 1914

Discussion Questions • What do the top images of “oppressed people” show of U.S. perceptions of foreign people? • According to this cartoon, has life as U.S. citizens improved for persons facing oppression?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 12 DOCUMENT 12-C Interview in the North American Review Arthur C. James 1898

To the question, “Have the natives been consulted?” Mr. James replies:

“No, but were the American Indians consulted in the early days here, or the natives of Alaska in later times? Te natives have proved themselves to be incapable of governing and unfitted for the condition of civilization, as is shown by their rapid decline in numbers and their inability to adapt themselves to changed conditions; and the importance of their supposed opinions on annexation has been greatly exaggerated. Numbering 500,000 in the time of Captain Cook, they are now reduced to about 30,000, and occupy much the same relation to the white population a sour Indians do here. Indolent and easy-going, they are perfectly content with any form of government which allows them to sun themselves, bedecked with flowers. Tis view is borne out by the failure of the recent mass-meeting in Honolulu, organized solely for the purpose of proving that the native Hawaiians are actively opposed to annexation. It is natural that the white man should become the governing power; and in the exercise of this power it is equally natural that he should wish to turn over his territory to a strong civilized nation for protection and advancement, since, if they rely solely on their ability to defend themselves, it is impossible for the islands to maintain their independence for any length of time.”

Discussion Questions • What is James saying about the ability and the desire of the natives to govern themselves? • Do you think James is for or against annexation of Hawaii to the U.S.?

DOCUMENT 12-D

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 13 “His Little Hawaiian Game Checkmated” Judge Magazine 1894

Discussion Questions • How does the cartoonist portray Uncle Sam? What expressions does the cartoonist give President Cleveland (sitting)? • How is Queen Lili’uokalani portrayed on the chess board? • How might the annexation of Hawaii be like a game of chess?

DOCUMENT 12-E

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 14 Map of the strategic importance of Hawaii (Sandwich Islands) for exploration and trade in the Pacific New Map of the World with all the New Discoveries by Captain Cook and other Navigators 1799

Note: On the map, Hawaii is labeled as the Sandwich Islands.

Discussion Questions • Where is Hawaii located in relation to the U.S. West Coast? • What notations on this map might explain why Hawaii was important? • What does “strategic importance” mean and why might the U.S. push for annexation of the Hawaiian island?

DOCUMENT 12-F

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 15 Hawaii Sugar Production over time (in thousands of tons) 2006

Note that the time period from the Bayonet Constitution (1897) to the nnexation of Hawaii (1893) took place during a great rise in sugar production.

Discussion Questions • What can you say about what was going on in the sugar industry in Hawaii from 1850 through the 1900s? • How might the sugar industry have played a part in the United States’ desire to annex the Hawaiian Islands?

Connection Question: How did business leaders and policy-makers in the United States explain/justify their annexation of Hawaii?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 16 DOCUMENT 17-A Amendment XVIII U.S. Constitution 1920

Passed by Congress December 18, 1917. Ratified January 16, 1919. Repealed by amendment 21.

Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Section 2. Te Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 3. Tis article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

Discussion Questions • What limitations does this amendment place on liquor? Does it include consumption? • Who is in charge of enforcing this amendment?

DOCUMENT 17-B Te Rumrunners: A Prohibition Scrapbook C.H. (Marty) Gervais 1980

Prohibition failed. At least, it fell short for the temperance societies, churches and fanatic evangelists who authored the legislation. But for the owners of blind pigs, the bootleggers, the rumrunners and gangsters,the roadhouse proprietors, the police, the magistrates, the spotters, the boaters and armies of others, it was a roaring success. It meant work. Employment. Easy money. Cash in the pocket. Good times. Shiny new cars. New suits.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 17 ... Little did enemies of moonshine and saloons realize that upon creating prohibition and putting liquor out of the reach of the general population, they had in effect created a monster.”

Discussion Questions • Who was prohibition a failure for? Why? • Who was prohibition successful for? Why? • What is the significance of the word “monster” used in the last sentence of the excerpt?

DOCUMENT 17-C Letter to the Seattle Bureau of Prohibition Mrs. Hillyer September 1931

Seattle, Wash. Sept. 22, 1931 Dear Sir: My husband is in the habit of buying a quart of wiskey every other day from a Chinese bootlegger named Chin Waugh living at 317-16th near Alder street. We need this money for household expenses. Will you please have his place raided? He keeps a supply planted in the garden and a smaller quantity under the back steps for quick delivery. If you make the raid at 9:30 any morning you will be sure to get the goods and Chin also as he leaves the house at 10 o'clock and may clean up before he goes.

Tanking you in advance, I remain yours truly, Mrs. Hillyer

Discussion Questions • To whom is Hillyer writing and why? • Based on her tone in the letter, is she a supporter of prohibition? What evidence supports your answer? • What problems is she having with her husband and how are they significant to prohibition?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 18 DOCUMENT 17-D Popular Rhyme Unknown c. 1925

Mother’s in the kitchen Washing out the jugs Sister’s in the pantry Bottling the suds Father’s in the cellar Mixing up the hops Johnny’s on the front porch Watching for the cops.

Discussion Questions • Does this family support prohibition? • What evidence in the poem led you to the above answer? • What is the significance of Johnny sitting on the porch looking for the cops?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 19 DOCUMENT 17-E Per Capita Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages (Gallons of Pure Alcohol) 1910-1929

Discussion Questions • What is the per capita consumption of alcohol in 1921? • What is the per capita consumption of alcohol in 1929? • Describe the trend of alcohol consumption between 1921 and 1929 as shown on the chart above?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 20 DOCUMENT 17-F Homicide Rate: 1910-44 U.S. Bureau of the Census

Discussion Questions • What is the Homicide Rate in 1920? • What is the Homicide Rate in 1933? • Overall, what trend is occurring in the Homicide Rate from 1920 to 1933? • What conclusions can be made about social morals during the years of 1920 to 1933 based on the graph above?

Connection Question: Did Prohibition in the United States from 1919-1933 correct or corrupt society?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 21 DOCUMENT 18-A “All Packed Up and Ready to Go” Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) San Francisco News, March 6, 1942

Discussion Questions • What group of people are portrayed in this cartoon? • What is the man in the building handing out? • By looking at the title of the cartoon, what is the author saying that the people might end up doing with the TNT? • Name two ways that this cartoon shows racial prejudice towards Japanese- Americans. • What do you think the cartoon is saying about Japanese-Americans?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 22 DOCUMENT 18-B Executive Order 9066 Franklin D. Roosevelt February 19, 1942

Executive Order No. 9066 Te President Executive Order Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas

Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage…

I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time designate…to prescribe military areas…from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion. Te Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary, in the judgment of the Secretary of War or the said Military Commander, and until other arrangements are made, to accomplish the purpose of this order…

I hereby further authorize and direct the Secretary of War and the said Military Commanders to take such other steps as he or the appropriate Military Commander may deem advisable to enforce compliance with the restrictions… including the use of Federal troops and other Federal Agencies, with authority to accept assistance of state and local agencies.

I hereby further authorize and direct all Executive Departments, independent establishments and other Federal Agencies, to assist the Secretary of War or the said Military Commanders in carrying out this Executive Order, including the furnishing of medical aid, hospitalization, food, clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter, and other supplies, equipment, utilities, facilities, and services…

Franklin D. Roosevelt Te White House, February 19, 1942

Discussion Questions • Who issued Executive Order 9066, and when did he do it? • Who is being given the authorization to act on behalf of the government? • Why do you think there is no ending date to the order?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 23 • What group (or groups) of civilians is the order directed towards? • Why is this a matter of national security, and what words in the document help you to know this? • If ‘medical aid, food, clothing, transportation, etc.’ are being provided free of charge, is this order necessarily a bad thing? Why or why not?

DOCUMENT 18-C Photograph Hollywood Protection Agency Los Angeles Examiner, May 18 1923.

Discussion Questions • Without looking at the date, would you think this was taken before or after December 7, 1941? Why? Were you surprised by the publication date? • According to the signs, why are the Japanese being asked to keep moving? • Is this an issue of racial prejudice or national security? • Tere is nothing that seems to indicate that this is a government-sponsored sign. Why would this be important? • Do you think there were similar signs for Germans and Italians (other countries that we were at war with)? Why or why not?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 24 DOCUMENT 18-D Letter to the Secretary of War Leland Ford, U.S. representative for California January 16, 1942

To prevent any fifth column activity… all Japanese, whether citizens or not, should be placed in inland concentration camps. As justification for this, I submit that if an American born Japanese, who is a citizen, is really patriotic and wishes to make his contribution to the safety and welfare of this country, right here is the opportunity to do so, namely, that by permitting himself to be placed in a concentration camp, he would be making his sacrifice, and he should be willing to do it if he is patriotic and working for us. As against his sacrifice, millions of other native born citizens are willing to lay down their lives, which is a far greater sacrifice, of course, than being placed in a concentration camp. Terefore any loyal Japanese should not hesitate to do that which is absolutely the best for the country, and to operate in such a manner that his particular activity would be for the greatest benefit.

Discussion Questions • Who is making this statement to Congress? • When was the statement made? • Is Representative Ford in favor of or against relocating Japanese-Americans? • What is he comparing the sacrifice of the Japanese to? Is this a fair comparison? Why or why not? • Why do you think he is specifically mentioning Japanese-American, and not German or Italian-Americans?

DOCUMENT 18-E Confidential War Office Memo War Relocation Authority August 12, 1942

RELOCATION AND THE CONSTITUTION Prepared by the Office of the Solicitor and the Office of the Attorney General Reports for use of the War Relocation Authority Staff Confidential Confidential Confidential

…Te Action taken with respect to Japanese in this country is justifiable on the grounds of military necessity for several reasons.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 25 All Japanese look very much alike to a white person-it is hard for us to distinguish between them. It would be hard to tell a Japanese soldier in disguise from a resident Japanese. Te danger of infiltration by Japanese parachutists, soldiers, etc. is, therefore, reduced and the chances of detecting any attempt at infiltration are increased.

Te Japanese Government has always tried to maintain close ties with and control over Japanese people in this country with the result that many of them have never really been absorbed into American life and culture. Many Japanese-Americans have been educated in Japan. Many…worship the Emperor and regard his orders as superior to any loyalty they may owe the United States. Terefore, the action has reduced the danger of successful invasion by removing an element of the population which has never been assimilated and which might not successfully withstand the strong emotional impulse to change loyalties or give way to their true feelings in the event that Japanese troops should land on our shores.

Evacuation and limited detention of the Japanese is justified as a measure in the prevention of sabotage and fifth-column activities. We know that there is a Japanese fifth-column in this country but nobody knows who is in it or how large it is. Some members of it have been caught and, after a hearing, interned. Since it is impossible for us to distinguish between the loyal and the disloyal Japanese, we may avoid the danger of fifth-column activity, sabotage and espionage by removing all Japanese from the danger zones and detaining them in other places. In time of war the judgment of the military authorities is entitled to great weight and should not be lightly pushed aside. Since they have decided that evacuation and detention of the Japanese is a necessary precaution in fighting this war their judgment should stand unless it is proved wrong.

Te action taken was reasonable and necessary for the protection of the Japanese themselves. It minimized the dangers of mob violence and local disorders growing out of war hysteria and racial discrimination. Trough lessening the possibility of harsh treatment of Japanese in this country (incidents which would have been exploited promptly by Axis propagandists who wish to make it appear to be a race war) it took away an excuse for even harsher retaliatory treatment of American prisoners by Japan…

Discussion Questions • What is the date of this document? • Who are the intended readers of this document? • Which numbers deal with national security issues, and which ones seem to be racially motivated? Do any of them fit into both categories? • If you replaced ‘Japanese’ wherever it appears in this document and replaced it with ‘German’, what effect do you think it would have? • Considering the date of this document, why do you think it was written?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 26 DOCUMENT 18-F Letter to the Attorney General Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War January 25, 1942

From: Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, To: Attorney General Francis Biddle, January 25, 1942

In recent conferences with General De Witt, he has expressed great apprehension because of the presence on the Pacific Coast of many thousand alien enemies. As late as yesterday, 24 January, he stated over the telephone that shore-to-ship and ship-to-shore radio communications, undoubtedly coordinated by intelligent enemy control were continually operating. A few days ago it was reported by military observers on the Pacific coast that not a single ship had sailed from our Pacific ports without being subsequently attacked. General De Witt’s apprehensions have been confirmed by recent visits of military observers from the War Department to the Pacific coast.

Te alarming and dangerous situation just described, in my opinion, calls for immediate and stringent action.

Discussion Questions

• What are the names of the two men communicating with each other? • Which coast are they talking about? • What do you think General DeWitt’s job was? • In what ways could ‘alien enemies’ on the coast help planes or submarines in the ocean attack U.S. ships? • Why would the Secretary of War be corresponding with the Attorney General? • Do you think the report that ‘not a single ship had sailed from our Pacific ports without being subsequently attacked’ is an accurate one? Why or why not?

Connection Question: Was Japanese internment a matter of national security or was it simply racial prejudice?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 27 DOCUMENT 19-A

Brown v Board of Education of Topeka Earl Warren 1954

To separate Negro children from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their states in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. . . .

We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

DOCUMENT 19-B Speech at Civil Rights March on Washington Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

DOCUMENT 19-C Why We Can’t Wait Martin Luther King, Jr. 1964

Nonviolent action, the Negro saw, was the way to supplement, not replace, the process of change. It was the way to divest himself of passivity without arraying himself in vindictive force.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 28 Te Negro was willing to risk martyrdom in order to move and stir the social conscience of his community and the nation . . . he would force his oppressor to commit his brutality openly, with the rest of the world looking on . . . Nonviolent resistance paralyzed and confused the power structures against which it was directed.

DOCUMENT 19-D Te Ballot or the Bullet Malcolm X 1964

Te political philosophy of black nationalism means that the black man should control the politics and the politicians in his own community; no more.

Power in the defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression.

DOCUMENT 19-E Declaration of Southern Congressmen on Integration of Schools 1956

Te unwarranted decision of the Supreme Court in the public school cases is now bearing the fruit always produced when men substitute naked power for established law. . . . We regard the decision . . . as a clear abuse of judicial power. It climaxes a trend in the federal judiciary undertaking to legislate, in derogation of the authority of Congress, and to encroach upon the reserved rights of the states and the people. . . . Te original Constitution does not mention education. . . . Tough there has been no constitutional amendment or act of Congress changing this established legal principle . . . , the Supreme Court of the United States, with no legal basis for such action, undertook to exercise their naked judicial power and substituted their personal political and social ideas for the established law of the land. Tis unwarranted exercise of power by the Court . . . is creating chaos and confusion in the states. It is destroying the amicable relations between the white

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 29 and Negro races that have been created through ninety years of patient effort by the good people of both races. It has planted hatred and suspicion where there has been heretofore friendship and understanding.

Without regard to the consent of the governed, outside agitators are threatening immediate and revolutionary changes in our public school systems. If done, this is certain to destroy the system of public education in some of the states. We commend the motives of those states which have declared the intention to resist forced integration by any lawful means.

DOCUMENT 19-F “What We Want” Stokely Carmichael New York Review of Books, September 1966

One of the tragedies of the struggle against racism is that up to now there has been no national organization which could speak to the growing militancy of young black people in the urban ghetto. . . . For too many years, black Americans marched and had their heads broken and got shot. . . . We cannot be expected any longer to march and have our heads broken in order to say to whites: come on, you’re nice guys. For you are not nice guys. We have found you out. . . . An organization that claims to be working for the needs of the community—as SNCC does—must work to provide that community with a position of strength from which to make its voice heard. Tis is the significance of black power beyond the slogan.

Ultimately, the economic foundations of this country must be shaken if black people are to control their lives. Te colonies of the United States—and this includes the black ghettoes within its borders, North and South—must be liberated. . . .

Te society we seek to build among black people, then, is not a capitalist one. It is a society in which the spirit of community and humanistic love prevail. . . . We won’t fight to save the present society, in Vietnam or anywhere else. We are just going to work, in the way we see fit, and on goals we define, not for civil rights but for all our human rights.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 30 DOCUMENT 19-G Statement on the Civil Rights Law Mississippi Economic Council, Statement 1965

Te Mississippi Economic Council, since it was organized in 1949, has been concerned with the economic and social well-being of our state. Tis means that it is concerned with the peace and tranquility of our state. Te recent passage of certain federal legislation creates monumental problems for Mississippians. Te Council opposed passage of the Civil Rights Act, but as a leadership organization it cannot bury its head in the sand and ignore its existence. . . .

We recognize that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has been enacted by the Congress as law. It cannot be ignored and should not be unlawfully defied. Resistance to the law should be through established procedures in the American tradition of resort to enlightened public opinion, the ballot boxes, and the courts. We should adjust ourselves to the impact of this legislation regardless of personal feelings and convictions and limit our resistance to the stated methods.

DOCUMENT 19-H “Showdown for Nonviolence” Martin Luther King, Jr. Look, April 1968

I agree with the President’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders that our nation is splitting into two hostile societies and that the chief destructive cutting edge is white racism. We need, above all, effective means to force Congress to act resolutely—but means that do not involve the use of violence. For us in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, violence is not only morally repugnant, it is pragmatically barren. . . . Te time has come for a return to mass nonviolent protest. Accordingly, we are planning a series of such demonstrations this spring and summer, to begin in Washington, DC. Tey will have Negro and white participation, and they will seek to benefit the poor of both races. . . . Tis will be an attempt to bring a kind of Selmalike movement, Birmingham-like movement, into being, substantially around economic issues. Just as we dealt with the social problem of segregation through massive demonstrations and we dealt with the political problem—the denial of the right to vote—through massive demonstrations, we are now trying to deal with the economic problems—the right to live, to have a job and income—through massive protest.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 31 DOCUMENT J Amendment XIV U.S. Constitution ratified 1868

Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Connection Question: Evaluate the success or failure of the Civil Rights movement (1954-1968). Discuss its goals and methods, ideas and leadership in the context of American democratic reform.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 32 DOCUMENT 23-A Homo Nest Raided, Queen Bees Are Stinging Mad Jerry Lisker Te New York Daily News, July 6, 1969

She sat there with her legs crossed, the lashes of her mascara-coated eyes beating like the wings of a hummingbird. She was angry. She was so upset she hadn't bothered to shave. A day old stubble was beginning to push through the pancake makeup. She was a he. A queen of Christopher Street.

Last weekend the queens had turned commandos and stood bra strap to bra strap against an invasion of the helmeted Tactical Patrol Force. Te elite police squad had shut down one of their private gay clubs, the Stonewall Inn at 57 Christopher St., in the heart of a three-block homosexual community in Greenwich Village. Queen Power reared its bleached blonde head in revolt. New York City experienced its first homosexual riot. "We may have lost the battle, sweets, but the war is far from over," lisped an unofficial lady-in-waiting from the court of the Queens.

"We've had all we can take from the Gestapo," the spokesman, or spokeswoman, continued. "We're putting our foot down once and for all." Te foot wore a spiked heel. According to reports, the Stonewall Inn, a two-story structure with a sand painted brick and opaque glass facade, was a mecca for the homosexual element in the village who wanted nothing but a private little place where they could congregate, drink, dance and do whatever little girls do when they get together. Te thick glass shut out the outside world of the street. Inside, the Stonewall bathed in wild, bright psychedelic lights, while the patrons writhed to the sounds of a juke box on a square dance floor surrounded by booths and tables. Te bar did a good business and the waiters, or waitresses, were always kept busy, as they snaked their way around the dancing customers to the booths and tables. For nearly two years, peace and tranquility reigned supreme for the Alice in Wonderland clientele.

Te Raid Last Friday Last Friday the privacy of the Stonewall was invaded by police from the First Division. It was a raid. Tey had a warrant. After two years, police said they had been informed that liquor was being served on the premises. Since the Stonewall was without a license, the place was being closed. It was the law.

All hell broke loose when the police entered the Stonewall. Te girls instinctively reached for each other. Others stood frozen, locked in an embrace of fear. Only a handful of police were on hand for the initial landing in the homosexual beachhead. Tey ushered the patrons out onto Christopher Street, just off

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 33 Sheridan Square. A crowd had formed in front of the Stonewall and the customers were greeted with cheers of encouragement from the gallery.

Te whole proceeding took on the aura of a homosexual Academy Awards Night. Te Queens pranced out to the street blowing kisses and waving to the crowd. A beauty of a specimen named Stella wailed uncontrollably while being led to the sidewalk in front of the Stonewall by a cop. She later confessed that she didn't protest the manhandling by the officer, it was just that her hair was in curlers and she was afraid her new beau might be in the crowd and spot her. She didn't want him to see her this way, she wept.

Queen Power Te crowd began to get out of hand, eye witnesses said. Ten, without warning, Queen Power exploded with all the fury of a gay atomic bomb. Queens, princesses and ladies-in-waiting began hurling anything they could get their polished, manicured fingernails on. Bobby pins, compacts, curlers, lipstick tubes and other femme fatale missiles were flying in the direction of the cops. Te war was on. Te lilies of the valley had become carnivorous jungle plants.

Urged on by cries of "C'mon girls, lets go get'em," the defenders of Stonewall launched an attack. Te cops called for assistance. To the rescue came the Tactical Patrol Force.

Flushed with the excitement of battle, a fellow called Gloria pranced around like Wonder Woman, while several Florence Nightingales administered first aid to the fallen warriors. Tere were some assorted scratches and bruises, but nothing serious was suffered by the honeys turned Madwoman of Chaillot.

Official reports listed four injured policemen with 13 arrests. Te War of the Roses lasted about 2 hours from about midnight to 2 a.m. Tere was a return bout Wednesday night.

Two veterans recently recalled the battle and issued a warning to the cops. "If they close up all the gay joints in this area, there is going to be all out war."

Bruce and Nan Both said they were refugees from Indiana and had come to New York where they could live together happily ever after. Tey were in their early 20's. Tey preferred to be called by their married names, Bruce and Nan.

"I don't like your paper," Nan lisped matter-of-factly. "It's anti-fag and pro-cop." "I'll bet you didn't see what they did to the Stonewall. Did the pigs tell you that they smashed everything in sight? Did you ask them why they stole money out of the cash register and then smashed it with a sledge hammer? Did you ask them

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 34 why it took them two years to discover that the Stonewall didn't have a liquor license.”

Bruce nodded in agreement and reached over for Nan's trembling hands. "Calm down, doll," he said. "Your face is getting all flushed.”

Nan wiped her face with a tissue.

"Tis would have to happen right before the wedding. Te reception was going to be held at the Stonewall, too," Nan said, tossing her ashen-tinted hair over her shoulder.

"What wedding?," the bystander asked.

Nan frowned with a how-could-anybody-be-so-stupid look. "Eric and Jack's wedding, of course. Tey're finally tieing the knot. I thought they'd never get together."

Meet Shirley "We'll have to find another place, that's all there is to it," Bruce sighed. "But every time we start a place, the cops break it up sooner or later.”

"Tey let us operate just as long as the payoff is regular," Nan said bitterly. "I believe they closed up the Stonewall because there was some trouble with the payoff to the cops. I think that's the real reason. It's a shame. It was such a lovely place. We never bothered anybody. Why couldn't they leave us alone?”

Shirley Evans, a neighbor with two children, agrees that the Stonewall was not a rowdy place and the persons who frequented the club were never troublesome. She lives at 45 Christopher St.

"Up until the night of the police raid there was never any trouble there," she said. "Te homosexuals minded their own business and never bothered a soul. Tere were never any fights or hollering, or anything like that. Tey just wanted to be left alone. I don't know what they did inside, but that's their business. I was never in there myself. It was just awful when the police came. It was like a swarm of hornets attacking a bunch of butterflies.”

A reporter visited the now closed Stonewall and it indeed looked like a cyclone had struck the premisses.

Police said there were over 200 people in the Stonewall when they entered with a warrant. Te crowd outside was estimated at 500 to 1,000. According to police, the Stonewall had been under observation for some time. Being a private club, plain clothesmen were refused entrance to the inside when they periodically tried

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 35 to check the place. "Tey had the tightest security in the Village," a First Division officer said, "We could never get near the place without a warrant."

Police Talk Te men of the First Division were unable to find any humor in the situation, despite the comical overtones of the raid.

“Tey were throwing more than lace hankies," one inspector said. "I was almost decapitated by a slab of thick glass. It was thrown like a discus and just missed my throat by inches. Te beer can didn't miss, though, "it hit me right above the temple.”

Police also believe the club was operated by Mafia connected owners. Te police did confiscate the Stonewall's cash register as proceeds from an illegal operation. Te receipts were counted and are on file at the division headquarters. Te warrant was served and the establishment closed on the grounds it was an illegal membership club with no license, and no license to serve liquor.

Te police are sure of one thing. Tey haven't heard the last from the Girls of Christopher Street.

Discussion Questions • Who was Jerry Lisker? Was he present at the Stonewall Riots? • According to the individuals interviewed in this article, what was the real reason the police raided the Stonewall Inn? • What is the tone of the author toward the patrons of the Stonewall Inn? Cite at least one example to support your answer. • How might this tone help to explain what caused the riots? • Is this a reliable source on the riots? Why? Why not?

DOCUMENT 23-B Speech to the Latino Gay Men of New York Sylvia Rivera June 2001

We did have connections with the Mafia. You must remember, everyone was doing drugs back then. Everybody was selling drugs, and everybody was buying drugs to take to other bars, like myself. I was no angel. I would pick up my drugs at the Stonewall and take them to the Washington Square Bar on 3rd Street and

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 36 Broadway, which was the drag queen third world bar. Even back then we had our racist little clubs. Tere were the white gay bars and then there were the very few third world bars and drag queen bars.

Te night of the Stonewall, it happened to be the week that Judy Garland had committed suicide. Some people say that the riots started because of Judy Garland’s death. Tat’s a myth. We were all involved in different struggles, including myself and many other transgender people. But in these struggles, in the Civil Rights movement, in the war movement, in the women’s movement, we were still outcasts. Te only reason they tolerated the transgender community in some of these movement was because we were so gung-ho, we were front liners. We didn’t take no shit from nobody. We had nothing to lose. You all had rights. We had nothing to lose. I’ll be the first one to step on any organization, any politician’s toes if I have to, to get the rights for my community.

Back to the story: we were all in the bar, having a good time. Lights flashed on, we knew what was coming; it’s a raid. Tis is the second time in one week that the bar was raided. Common practice says the police from the 6th Precinct would come in to each gay bar and collect their payoff. Routine was, “Faggots over here, dykes over here, and freaks over there,” referring to my side of the community. If you did not have three pieces of male attire on you, you were going to jail. Just like a butch dyke would have to have three pieces of female clothing, or he was going to jail. Te night goes on, you know, they proof you for ID, you know, back then you could get away with anything. Fake IDs were great back then (audience laughter), because I wasn’t even 18 yet; I was gonna turn 18. We are led out of the bar. Te routine was that the cops get their payoff, they confiscate the liquor, if you were a bartender you would snatch the money as soon as the lights went on because you would never see that money again. A padlock would go on the door. What we did, back then, was disappear to a coffee shop or any place in the neighborhood for fifteen minutes. You come back, the Mafia was there cutting the padlock off, bringing in more liquor, and back to business as usual.

Well, it just so happened that that night it was muggy; everybody was being, I guess, cranky; a lot of us were involved in different struggles; and instead of dispersing, we went across the street. Part of history forgets, that as the cops are inside the bar, the confrontation started outside by throwing change at the police. We started with the pennies, the nickels, the quarters, and the dimes. “Here’s your payoff, you pigs! You fucking pigs! Get out of our faces.” Tis was started by the street queens of that era, which I was part of, Marsha P. Johnson, and many others that are not here. I’m lucky to be 50 in July, but I’m still here and I’ll be damned if I won’t see 100 (laughter).

One thing led to another. Te confrontation got so hot, that Inspector Pine, who headed this raid, him and his men had to barricade themselves in our bar, because they could not get out. Te people that they had arrested, they had to take into the bar with them, because there was no police backup for them. But seriously, as

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 37 history tells it, to this day, we don’t know who cut the phone lines! So they could not get the call to the 6th precinct. Number one, Inspector Pine was not welcome in the 6th precinct because he had just been appointed to stop the corruption and, you know, what they called back then, we were a bunch of deviants, perverts. So he was there for that purpose, so who knows if one of his own men didn’t do it, that was, you know, taking a payoff himself.

Te police and the people that were arrested were barricaded inside this bar, with a Village Voice reporter, who proceeded to tell his story, in the paper, that he was handed a gun. Te cops were actually so afraid of us that night that if we had busted through that bar’s door, they were gonna shoot. Tey were ordered to shoot if that door busted open. Someone yanked a parking meter out the floor, which was loose, because it’s very hard to get a parking meter out of the ground (laughter). It was loose, you know, I don’t know how it got loose. But that was being rammed into the door.

People have also asked me, “Was it a pre-planned riot?” because out of nowhere, Molotov cocktails showed up. I have been given the credit for throwing the first Molotov cocktail by many historians but I always like to correct it; I threw the second one, I did not throw the first one! (laughter). And I didn’t even know what a Molotov cocktail was; I’m holding this thing that’s lit, and I’m like, “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?” “Trow it before it blows!” “OK!” (laughter) Te riot did get out of hand, because there was Cookie’s down the street, there was Te Haven, there was the Christopher’s End. Once word of mouth got around that the Stonewall had gotten raided, and that there’s a confrontation going on, people came from the clubs. But we also have to remember one thing: that it was not just the gay community and the street queens that really escalated this riot; it was also the help of the many radical straight men and women that lived in the Village at that time, that knew the struggle of the gay community and the trans community.

So the crowds did swell. You know, it was a long night of riots. It was actually very exciting ‘cause I remember howling all through the streets, “Te revolution is here!” (laughter), you know? Cars are being turned over, windows are being broken, fires are being set all over the place. Blood was shed. When the cops did finally get there, the reinforcements, forty-five minutes later, you had the chorus line of street queens kicking up their heels, singing their famous little anthem that up to today still lives on, “We are the Stonewall girls/ we wear our hair in curls/ we wear our dungarees/ above our nelly knees/ we show our pubic hairs,” and so on and so forth.

At that time, there were many demonstrations. Tey were fierce demonstrations back then. I don’t know how many people remember those times, or how many people read of the struggle in this whole country, what was going on. So then the tactical police force came and heads were being bashed left and right. But what I found very impressive that evening was that the more that they beat us, the more

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 38 we went back for. We were determined that evening that we were going to be a liberated, free community, which we did acquire that. Actually, I’ll change the ‘we’: You have acquired your liberation, your freedom, from that night. Myself, I’ve got shit, just like I had back then. But I still struggle, I still continue the struggle. I will struggle ‘til the day I die and my main struggle right now is that my community will seek the rights that are justly ours.

Discussion Questions • How is Rivera's account different from Lisker’s? • What new information does she provide? • What is the tone of the author toward the patrons of the Stonewall Inn? Cite at least one example to support your answer. • How might this tone help to explain what caused the riots? • Is this a reliable source on the riots? Why? Why not?

DOCUMENT 23-C Te Stonewall Riots: Te Gay View Dick Leitsch Mattachine Society of New York Newsletter, August 1969

Leitsch Gay View: Coming on the heels of the raids of the Snake Pit and the Sewer, and the closing of the Checkerboard, the Tele-Star and other clubs, the Stonewall raid looked to many like part of an effort to close all gay bars and clubs in the Village. It may be true that the Checkerboard and Tele-Star died without police assistance. (It is said that the woman who managed the Checkerboard came in one night, ordered all the customers out of the place, cleaned out the cash register and called the police to get rid of those customers who stayed around.) It is very likely that the Sewer and the Snake Pit were raided because they had no licenses, as the police said.

But how are people in the street and the customers of the places to know that? Te police don't bother to explain or send press releases to the papers (and when they do, the papers make it seem that the bar was raided because it was gay.) . . . Since 1965 the homosexual community of New York has been treated quite well by the City Administration and the police have either reformed or been kept in line by Lindsay and Leary. . . . .

Now we've walked in the open and know how pleasant it is to have self-respect and to be treated as citizens and human beings. . . .

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 39 We want to stay in the sunlight from now on. Efforts to force us back in the closet could be disastrous for all concerned.

Te above, while a true evaluation of the situation does not explain why the raid on the Stonewall caused such a strong reaction. Why the Stonewall, and not the Sewer or the Snake Pit? Te answer lies, we believe, in the unique nature of the Stonewall. Tis club was more than a dance bar, more than just a gay gathering place. It catered largely to a group of people who are not welcome in, or cannot afford, other places of homosexual social gathering.

Te "drags" and the "queens", two groups which would find a chilly reception or a barred door at most of the other gay bars and clubs, formed the "regulars" at the Stonewall. To a large extent, the club was for them. . . . Apart from the Goldbug and the One Two Tree, "drags" and "queens" had no place but the Stonewall. . . . Another group was even more dependent on the Stonewall: the very young homosexuals and those with no other homes. You've got to be 18 to buy a drink in a bar, and gay life revolved around bars. Where do you go if you are 17 or 16 and gay? Te "legitimate" bars won't let you in the place, and gay restaurants and the streets aren't very sociable.

Ten too, there are hundreds of young homosexuals in New York who literally have no home. Most of them are between 16 and 25, and came here from other places without jobs, money or contacts. Many of them are running away from unhappy homes (one boy told us, "My father called me 'cocksucker so many times, I thought it was my name."). Another said his parents fought so much over which of them "made" him a homosexual that he left so they could learn to live together. Some got thrown out of school or the service for being gay and couldn't face going home. Some were even thrown out of their homes with only the clothes on their backs by ignorant, intolerant parents who'd rather see their kid dead than homosexual.

Tey came to New York with the clothes on their backs. Some of them hustled, or had skills enough to get a job. Others weren't attractive enough to hustle, and didn't manage to fall in with people who could help them. Some of them, giddy at the openness of gay life in New York, got caught up in it and some are on pills and drugs. Some are still wearing the clothes in which they came here a year or more ago.

Jobless and without skills—without decent clothes to wear to a job interview— they live in the streets, panhandling or shoplifting for the price of admission to the Stonewall. Tat was the one advantage to the place—for $3.00 admission, one could stay inside, out of the winter's cold or the summer heat, all night long. Not only was the Stonewall better climatically, but it also saved the kids from spending the night in a doorway or from getting arrested as vagrants.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 40 Tree dollars isn't too hard to get panhandling, and nobody hustled drinks in the Stonewall. Once the admission price was paid, one could drink or not, as he chose. Te Stonewall became "home" to these kids. When it was raided, they fought for it. Tat, and the fact that they had nothing to lose other than the most tolerant and broadminded gay place in town, explains why the Stonewall riots were begun, led and spearheaded by "queens".

Discussion Questions • How is this account different from Lisker's and Rivera’s? • What new information does the author provide? • What is the tone of the author toward the patrons of the Stonewall Inn? Cite at least one example to support your answer. • How might this tone help to explain what caused the riots? • Is this a reliable source on the riots? Why? Why not?

DOCUMENT 23-D Gay Power in New York City Te Ladder October-November 1969

GAY POWER IN NEW YORK CITY: Gay power—social and political power for homosexuals—has become a reality in New York, with the inadvertent help of the Police Department. At about 2 A.M. late Saturday night of June 29, the police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar at 53 Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. Tey had previously closed Te Sewer and Te Checkerboard, also gay bars within the territory of the Sixth Precinct; but this was the first raid during peak hours, when the bar was jammed.

Te raid touched off a riot by approximately 400 homosexual men and women, who yelled “gay power” and threw pennies, garbage and even uprooted parking meters at the police. An unknown number of homosexuals were injured. Four policemen were sent to the hospital, one with a broken wrist. Several homosexuals, who claimed that they were suddenly attacked from behind while passing through the area, are suing the Police Department for assault and battery.

Homosexuals continued to riot on the streets of Greenwich Village on Sunday night, June 29, and of Wednesday, July 2nd Both the Mattachine Society of New York and the Homophile Youth Movement began leafletting the Village in order to organize protest against the conditions which sparked the riots. Te newspapers did an excellent job of coverage, particularly the New York Times. WIN radio also gave rapid impartial coverage. Te Village Voice, a so-called liberal weekly which

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 41 serves the Greenwich Village area primarily, but is sold all over Manhattan, did a series of articles on the riots which were noted for a liberal use of such terms as “faggot,” “dike,” etc., and which received violent protest from a heavily gay readership. Te Village Voice has long been known to the gay community for its policy of patronizing contempt towards homosexuals.

CORRUPTION IN THE BARS. It is generally believed that the gay bars in New York City are controlled by the Mafia, in cooperation with the police. Reputable leaders of the gay community stated as much in private during the days following the riots, and Craig Rodwell of the Homophile Youth Movement went so far as to make such charges in leaflets distributed on Greenwich Avenue. However, no solid evidence has yet been presented in court.

It is also generally believed that in order to obtain a liquor license from the State Liquor Authority, a bribe ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 must be paid. Dick Leitsch of Mattachine Society of New York states that when some friends of his attempted to get a license to run a gay bar, the SLA turned them down on technicalities, even though a recent decision of the courts has held that gay bars and intra-sexual dancing in public places are legal. Since the SLA refuses to issue licenses to gay bars, these bars are generally run without licensing, under unsanitary conditions, serving watered drinks at outrageous prices—and are therefore a perfectly legitimate target of police raids. During ordinary times, the police have allowed these bars to operate, overlooking violations in return for a percentage of the take. During election years, these bars become the target for raids and roundups of homosexuals.

Te raids in the Sixth Precinct are believed to have been triggered off by the presence of a new captain, who wishes to make his reputation as a “law-and-order” man during a conservative year by “cleaning up the Village.”

Discussion Questions • How is this account different from Lisker's and Rivera’s? • What new information does the author provide? • What is the tone of the author toward the patrons of the Stonewall Inn? Cite at least one example to support your answer. • How might this tone help to explain what caused the riots? • Is this a reliable source on the riots? Why? Why not?

Connection Question: What caused the Stonewall riots?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 42 DOCUMENT 24-A “Ballad of the Green Beret” Sgt. Barry Sadler 1966

“Fighting soldiers from the sky Fearless men who jump and die Men who mean just what they say Te brave men of the Green Beret . . . Put silver wings on my son’s chest Make him one of America’s best He’ll be a man they’ll test one day Have him win the Green Beret.”

Discussion Questions • What does this text state or imply about the Vietnam War?

DOCUMENT 24-B Address to the Nation President Lyndon B. Johnson August 5, 1964

“As President and Commander in Chief, it is my duty to the American people to report that renewed hostile actions against the United States ships on the high seas in the Gulf of Tonkin have today required me to order the military forces of the United States to take action in reply. . .

Repeated acts of violence against the armed forces of the United States must be met not only with alert defense but with positive reply . . .

Tis new act of aggression aimed directly at our own forces again brings home to all of us in the United States the importance of the struggle for peace and security in Southeast Asia.

Aggression by terror against the peaceful villages of South Vietnam has now been joined by open aggression on the high seas against the United States of America. . .

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 43 Te determination of all Americans to carry out our full commitment to the people and to the Government of South Vietnam will be redoubled by this outrage. . . . We still seek no wider war.”

Discussion Questions • What does this text state or imply about the Vietnam War?

DOCUMENT 24-C “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” Joe McDonald 1965

“Come on all of you big strong men, Uncle Sam needs your help again; He’s got himself in a terrible jam Way down yonder in Vietnam, So put down your books and pick up a gun, We’re gonna have a whole lot of fun. And it’s one, two, three, What are we fighting for? Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn, Next stop is Vietnam; And it’s five, six, seven, Open up the pearly gates, Well there ain’t no time to wonder why, Whoopee! We’re all gonna die! . . . Come on mothers throughout the land, Pack your boys off to Vietnam. Come on fathers, don’t hesitate Send your sons off before it’s too late. You can be the first one on your block To have your boy come home in a box.”

Discussion Questions • What does this text state or imply about the Vietnam War?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 44 DOCUMENT 24-D Speech at the Washington Monument Paul Potter August 5, 1965

Vietnam, we may say, is a laboratory run by a new breed of gamesmen who approached war as a kind of rational exercise in international power politics. It is the testing ground and staging area for a new American response to the social revolution that is sweeping through the impoverished downtrodden areas of the world. It is the beginning of the American counter-revolution . . .

What kind of system is it that justifies the United States or any country seizing the destinies of the Vietnamese people and using them callously for its own purpose? What kind of system is it that disenfranchises people in the South, leaves millions upon millions of people throughout the country impoverished and excluded from the mainstream and promise of American society, that creates faceless and terrible bureaucracies and makes those the place where people spend their lives and do their work, that consistently puts material values before human values—and still persists in calling itself free and still persists in finding itself fit to police the world?

Discussion Questions • What does this text state or imply about the Vietnam War?

DOCUMENT 24-E Communique #1 Weatherman Underground, 1970

Hello . . . I’m going to read A DECLARATION OF A STATE OF WAR. All over the world, people fighting Amerikan imperialism look to Amerika’s youth to use our strategic position behind enemy lines to join forces in the destruction of empire. . . .

Now we are adapting the classic guerrilla strategy of the Viet Cong and the urban guerrilla strategy of the Tupamaros to our own situation here in the most technically advanced country in the world . . .

Te hundreds and thousands of young people who demonstrated in the Sixties against the war and for civil rights grew to hundreds of thousands in the past few

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 45 weeks actively fighting Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia and the attempted genocide against black people.

Discussion Questions • What does this text state or imply about the Vietnam War?

DOCUMENT 24-F “Flower Power” Bernie Boston Te March on the Pentagon, October 21, 1967

Discussion Questions • What does this text state or imply about the Vietnam War?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 46 DOCUMENT 24-G Richard M. Nixon Becomes President With ‘Sacred Commitment’ to Peace Carroll Kilpatrick and Don Oberdorfer Te Washington Post, January 21, 1969

“He [Richard Nixon] called upon Americans to ‘lower our voices’ and to shun inflated and angry rhetoric.

‘We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another, until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices,’ he declared.

Less than two hours later, however, groups of militant and mostly youthful demonstrators screamed anti-war slogans and hurled rocks and beer cans at the closely guarded Presidential limousine bearing Mr. Nixon from the Capitol to the Inaugural Parade reviewing stand at the White House.”

Discussion Questions • What does this text state or imply about the Vietnam War?

DOCUMENT 24-H Summary of the Pentagon Papers Te New York Times June 13, 1971

Tough far from a complete history, even at 2.5 million words, the study [the Pentagon Papers] forms a great archive of government decision-making on Indochina over three decades. Te study led its 30 to 40 authors and researchers to many broad conclusions and specific findings including the following: . . . Tat the Johnson Administration, though the President was reluctant and hesitant to take the final decisions, intensified the covert warfare against North Vietnam and began planning in the spring of 1964 to wage overt war, a full year before it publicly revealed the depth of its involvement and its fear of defeat.

Discussion Questions • What does this text state or imply about the Vietnam War?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 47 DOCUMENT 24-I War Leaves Deep Mark on U.S. James Reston Te New York Times, Jan. 24, 1973

America is moving out of Vietnam after the longest and most divisive conflict since the War Between the States. But Vietnam is not moving out of America, for the impact of the war there is likely to influence American life for many years to come. Tough it is probably too early to distinguish between the temporary and the enduring consequences, one thing is fairly clear. Tere has been a sharp decline in respect for authority in the United States as a result of the war — a decline in respect not only for the civil authority of government but also for the moral authority of the schools, the universities, the press, the church and even the family. Tere was no cease-fire on this front. Vietnam did not start the challenge to authority, but it weakened respect for the executives who got the nation involved in the war in the first place, for the Congress that let it go on for more than a decade and for the democratic process of debate, which failed to influence the course of battle for years and which finally declined into physical combat and sporadic anarchy.”

Discussion Questions • What does this text state or imply about the Vietnam War?

Connection Question: In what ways and to what extent did the Vietnam War change American culture, society and values?

DOCUMENT 24-J “Okie from Muskogie” Merle Haggard and Roy Burris 1969

“We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee We don’t take our trips on LSD We don’t burn our draft cards down on Main Street We like livin’ right, and bein’ free

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 48 We don’t make a party out of lovin’ We like holdin’ hands and pitchin’ woo We don’t let our hair grow long and shaggy Like the hippies out in San Francisco do I’m proud to be an Okie from Muskogee, A place where even squares can have a ball We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse, And white lightnin’s still the biggest thrill of all

Discussion Questions

• What does this text state or imply about the Vietnam War?

Connection Question

Write your response as one thoughtful paragraph, including at least two specific pieces of evidence from the primary sources to support your answer. (You must complete at least five of these connection each semester to meet the minimum requirements for the class.)

• In what ways and to what extent did the Vietnam War change American culture, society and values?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 49 DOCUMENT 25-A “Surgeon General Koop, the Right, the Left, and the Center of the AIDS Storm” Te Washington Post, Mar. 24, 1987

He rode into town as the white knight of conservatism.

Now he is under siege from the right and hailed as a prince by the left.

Activist Phyllis Schlafly — Republican and conservative — has denounced him for promoting promiscuity and giving school children a "double message."

Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California — Democrat and liberal — has praised him for his "enormous amount of integrity" and "good judgment as to what is in the best interest of the public."

Grandfather, religious fundamentalist, pediatric surgeon, arch foe of abortion: Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, 70, has shaken the nation's political establishment — surprising his supporters as well as his critics.

All because he is adamant about the need for sex education in the schools as early as kindergarten. And he wants to talk at every opportunity about using condoms. On television and radio, in newspapers and magazines, on posters in subways, in church and community centers, on billboards, in schools. He wants to get out the message in English and Spanish.

All because of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

So far, about 33,000 Americans have been stricken with AIDS. By 1991, it is estimated that the number of cases will reach 270,000 with 54,000 deaths.

As the federal government's chief physician, Koop has strong views on what should be done to curb the epidemic. He is interviewed by Washington Post staff writers Sally Squires and Abigail Trafford.

Q. Did the administration expect opposition to your position on AIDS?

A. Te thing that is causing a stir on my position on AIDS has really nothing to do with the disease. It has to do with the fact that we have no cure, we have no vaccine on the horizon and, therefore, our only weapon is information and education. And you can't talk about AIDS education without talking about sex education.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 50 I'm not surprised at the fact that there was opposition. I am surprised at the intensity of it. I knew these things would happen when the president asked me to {draw up the surgeon general's report on AIDS} in February of 1986. Tat was not the first time that I had discussed these things. I had discussed them with people on the domestic policy council at the White House several times before that. One of the things that I said was that if you ask me to do this, you know there are down sides.

I said there will be people who will not like what I say because I will be producing as honest a health report as I can, and they will prefer a sermon against homosexuality or against drug abuse or against promiscuity. I said that it doesn't matter how I feel about it, I have to talk about health. I remind you domestic people that a lot of the people out there who won't like what I say are people who support the president. I hope you all know, said I, that sex education is a bomb.

Q. Do you feel that the attacks against you have weakened the office of surgeon general?

A. I consider myself to be an individual who occupies a very prestigious office. When somebody attacks something that I say, I look upon it as an attack upon the surgeon general's office, and it doesn't matter who the surgeon general is. I found this office in good condition when I came and I want to leave it in that same condition.

People criticize me because they see homosexuals or drug abusers or promiscuous people as being sort of beyond the pale and it {AIDS} is no more than they deserve.

My answer to that is that I am the surgeon general of the heterosexuals and the homosexuals, of the young and the old, of the moral or the immoral, the married and the unmarried. I don't have the luxury of deciding which side I want to be on. So I can tell you how to keep yourself alive no matter what you are. Tat's my job.

Now, it wonders me, as the Pennsylvania Dutch say, and it grieves me that intelligent people hear what I say and then make statements to the public that I want to teach sodomy, buggery in the third grade. Furthest thing from my mind. Or that you can imagine that I am interested in passing out condoms to 8-year- olds. Anybody who knows anything about the size of an eight-year-old penis knows that that is a stupid statement. It's like putting your finger in a milk bottle. It's just crazy.

Q. How do you teach sex education to children in kindergarten?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 51 A. My feeling is that if sexuality is taught gently and gradually from an early age, it is part of your life and it doesn't come as a shock.

For example, lots of kindergartens have a play tunnel. Big tubes and jungle gyms. Every two or three weeks, the teacher plays this game just before lunch. Te kids can then go home, full of the subject, and say, "Hey, Mom, guess what?" Tat gives the parents the opportunity to add their own values and so forth.

In this game, the teacher picks five kids out of the class. Hangs a sign around their neck — mommy, daddy, baby, doctor, nurse. Te mommy and the daddy take the baby up and put it in one end of the play tunnel, which is now called the birth canal.

And out of the other end comes the baby. And the doctor and the nurse tell the class that it's a boy and it weighs six pounds. Te mommy and daddy say we're going to call it George.

Now it's a game. But there's a thing called the birth canal. Babies come out of it. Doctors and nurses are there. Mommies and daddies have something to do with the other end of it. Don't know what that is, but who cares? Kids never ask questions beyond their willingness to understand.

Tree years later, in the third grade, they are now talking about anatomy. And so they hear about words that they have never heard before. One of those words is vagina. Oh, that's the birth canal. It's got a new name. It's not a thingamajig anymore. It's a vagina. But it's not mysterious. It's not puzzling. It's not dirty. It's part of growing up.

Tat's what I mean about gradual introduction of sex to children. And then you start to talk about relationships. When they get up to be 9, 10, 11 years old — and remember, there are 9-, 10-, 11-year-old kids who are having wet dreams; girls are developing breasts and are menstruating — that is a time that you can start to say, "You know, there are some diseases that are transmitted sexually, just the way you sneeze when you have a cold, your friend gets the cold. Well, when you have these sexual relationships we have been talking about, there are diseases that unfortunately go with that, too. One of those diseases is a really bad one, and it kills you."

Q. Even if we all agree that children need to be taught about sex and about AIDS, shouldn't this job be left to the parents?

A. Before some of my critics even knew there was such a thing as sex, I was as a pediatric surgeon and devoting my life to children, decrying the kind of sex education that teaches sex technique without responsibility or morality. My position has been clear for 30 years. But people are funny. You go to any group.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 52 Try it out yourself. Any time you are with 12 people just make a statement on sex education and you polarize them. Half say, "Not my child," and the other half say, "I want it done, but not according to your standards."

Now I have discussed these things with parents for many years. My point has always been that the spiritual, emotional, psychological, sexual development of your child is your great privilege as well as your obligation. Pass that information on, don't pass the opportunity up. Parents always agree with me, but then it sort of stops right there.

Q. Why are parents reluctant to talk about sex?

A. Tese poor parents — I am one of them — nobody told us about sex when we were kids, so we have never been through the receiving end of this process and now we are being asked to be on the delivery end and it is difficult.

So some parents feel inadequate — anatomically and physiologically because they don't know the terms, they don't know the functions.

Secondly, many parents feel that when a child discusses with them things that have usually gone on behind the closed bedroom or bathroom door, it is kind of an invasion of privacy — not just the parents' privacy, but the kids' privacy as well.

Parents have even greater trouble discussing with children the nature and the quality of their own relationships. Sexual and emotional. Why? If you look at parents these days, you have got to recognize that there is something wrong with a lot of marriages or there wouldn't be 50 percent divorces. Right?

But if any parent talks to his child about marriage and long-term relationships with the opposite sex, he does it usually in the terms of that beautiful thing out there. Till death do us part. Te word divorce is never mentioned. Tings all wrapped up in gossamer lace, and it's faithfulness and fidelity. Te kid who hears this from his father when he is 13 says to himself, "Tis marriage of my parents is hanging together with rubber bands. And he's telling me that this is what it is like?"

Kids have to know that it isn't all beer and skittles. Te kinds of relationships that make it are a balance between the emotional, physical, intellectual and psychological lives of two people. If they know there are land mines all around, they can walk carefully and not get all blown up.

To put it another way: Tere is an awful lot more to a good marriage than good sex. When parents talk about this, they have to get across the idea that you want a relationship that isn't based totally on sex, but on the other hand isn't devoid of sex.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 53 Q. Will all this talk of sex and AIDS frighten children?

A. I don't think that it is threatening. People say, "Oh, I just couldn't tell my child those things, he would be so upset about it." How does your child feel when you take him out to the kitchen stove and you say, "Hot, hot, hot!" Or you show a picture of a kid who has just been burned in a fire? Or when your kids go out on the street and you say those trucks can kill you. Remember the dog that was killed? It can happen to you.

More recently — I've seen this in my own grandchildren — their parents are very torn between saying too much and too little about child molestation, about people that can walk off with you in a supermarket. Kids are introduced to very frightening things, all through their lives. I don't think being introduced to sexually transmitted diseases or AIDS is that big a deal.

Te parents who say, "I don't want my child to have sex education," they are just burying their heads in the sand.

Q. Is it necessary to talk about condoms?

A. Condoms people worry about. What a terrible thing that Dr. Koop has done! Our friend and our hero has said that you should advertise condoms on television. Kids go to the drugstore and they buy chewing gum and right next to them are packages of things called Trojans. And they want to know, what are those all about?

Kids see condoms in the street. I remember when I was a kid, I was always walking through the woods looking for condoms. I didn't know what they were for, but I knew that it was something that I wasn't supposed to do.

Tere are very few diseases where morality and science walk hand in hand. I did not write the surgeon general's report {on AIDS} as a moral treatise. I wrote it as a scientific report. But if you go through it, there are 13 statements having to do with what people call morality. Abstinence is a social term for a scientific fact that absolutely will prevent AIDS. It's also a moral term. Monogamous marriage is a scientific term; it is also a moral term.

Q. Why are you being so aggressive in your approach to AIDS education?

A. I think that the risk of AIDS is so great and the task is so huge, almost insurmountable, that you've got to pick what you can accomplish. You don't have to talk to the Medicare population about AIDS, but you've got to talk to the young, vulnerable people. I would hope that we could raise a generation of kids to

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 54 understand that when you have a temptation for a heterosexual experience in the back seat of a car, or if a certain portion of the population has an opportunity for a homosexual experience, or teen-agers are out some night and someone says let's go shoot drugs, that they would withdraw from that possibility, opportunity, temptation — withdraw with caution and ask themselves, is what I'm about to do worth dying for?

I think the answer is no.

I've said many times that the only good thing that I can see coming out of AIDS is that the necessity for sex education may enable us to produce a generation that won't have the same trouble talking to their children. And then we will have done it once and for all. It will be part of growing up and it won't be mystifying and so forth.

If girls and boys understood their own sexuality, we would have a lot fewer than the 1 million teen-age pregnancies. And one of the tragic human complications of the million teen-age pregnancies is 400,000 abortions and all the family tragedy that goes with those. I think there are spinoffs of sex education that have a lot more to do than with AIDS.

Q. Are you hurt about how conservatives have responded to your AIDS education stance?

A. Am I hurt about it? I guess I was in the beginning. What bothers me about some of the people that have attacked me is that they know where I stand on all sorts of things that they approve of. But, they say, if you don't accept one plank in the platform, then you've got to throw the whole platform out. Tat's not the way I work.

Phyllis Schlafly says I am giving a mixed message — of course you speak of abstinence, of course you speak of monogamous marriage, but you also speak of condoms. Well, there are different kinds of people out there, and I don't have the privilege of saying, well, I don't like this kind of people.

I think that with passage of time, people will understand that this conservative antagonism to the truth is ridiculous. Let me tell you right now that the conservative religious right has been far more agreeable, understanding, cordial and flexible than the political right.

I get mail. Let me tell you that no religious leader wrote me a letter. No editor of a religious magazine said anything about me or the AIDS report. But some of their constituents wrote me real hate letters. And so I realize that there must be an awful lot of people out there on the religious right that are upset.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 55 So I decided that I would spend the first seven weeks of 1987 essentially talking to the religious right. Te first person that I contacted was Jerry Falwell. He couldn't have been more gracious. He gave me his pulpit in his church. I talked to 6,200 kids, these conservative, Bible-carrying youngsters from the South. Tey understood what I said, I didn't shock them. I then talked to the National Religious Broadcasters — 3,000 of them. I know they listened to me, because I hear things that they are now saying on television and radio.

I talked to the 700 Club. I {taped} three hours that was broadcast by Moody Bible Institute Radio in Chicago, which covers the whole central part of the country. I taped a half hour show with Jim Dobson, a focus on the family.

But the letters that I get from some of the political right — they are not listening to me. Tey don't talk to me. Tey talk about me.

Q. What about within the administration? Education Secretary William Bennett?

A. Bennett and Koop, if you take all kinds of ideology and put them together, are probably as close together as any two people in this administration. But we do differ on one thing, and that is he is an educator and I am a health officer. He doesn't understand that when I'm talking about health, I can't talk about anything but health. Although I believe in all the things that Bill Bennett believes in, in reference to marriage and fidelity and stuff, that is not what I am talking about in health. It is true that if I say Mr. Jones is married to Mrs. Jones and neither one never had sex with anyone else, they never have to worry {about AIDS}. It's {morally and scientifically} true. But it leaves out everyone else who isn't Mr. and Mrs. Jones and married to each other.

Q. Is the federal government moving fast enough against AIDS?

A. We've got enough money to do the research that we are able to do right now. We need not so much money as new ideas and new people.

Do you remember that from the day that we knew what the hepatitis virus was until we had the vaccine was 19 years? Tat's an easy virus.

If everything went smooth as glass, you might have a vaccine by 1995. People don't realize that if you get the wrong vaccine that could produce all of the problems of the disease.

Q. Are you concerned that AIDS may be turning into an underclass disease?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 56 A. We have to find special means of reaching black and Hispanic populations, because the blacks making up 12 percent of the population have 25 percent of the AIDS. And the Hispanics making up 6 percent of the population have 14 percent of the cases now — up from 12 percent last October.

When I was in San Francisco, I had conversations with a number of Orientals which lead me to believe that they have a problem, too. Apparently Orientals don't talk about it at all.

I am also concerned because there are a tremendous number of illiterates {at risk for the disease} who are not able to read the AIDS information.

In places where we know we have a captive audience we have got to use videotapes and other things. A lot of those kids who are illiterate do go to clinics and sexually transmitted disease centers. As you know, they wait interminable amounts of time to be seen. Captive audience. With television and videotapes, I think we could get across a lot.

Q. What about the burden of AIDS on the public health system?

A. Look to the future — it is going to impact on everybody. Let's talk about money first. Te Palo Alto Medical Research Foundation says it's going to cost $70 billion in 1991. Secondly, it's going to strain the health care delivery system. Today there are two people dying of AIDS each day in California.

Tere are going to be, in 1991, 54,000 people who die that year. And most people are going to have multiple hospital admissions. Tose who are just in the early stages of AIDS are going to need necessary care. So you are going to find that certain places are stretched. Tere are going to be economic implications for those institutions. Te Roman Catholic hospitals in New York City that have been in the forefront of the compassionate care have already begun to feel the burden.

As the surgeon general, I can't call a meeting. All I can do is to call for people to do things. We need discussions at the levels of federal, state and municipalities on the following subjects. How do we pay for it? Where does insurance fit in? Most important,what are alternate types of care for AIDS victims? Right now, we have everything under the sun from AIDS people who are homeless and on grates in the street to AIDS patients who are paying a $1,000 a day because they still have an insurance plan that hasn't run out and they can have intensive care.

If you work from the bottom up, the best thing would be some kind of modified hospice. You don't need a building for hospice care, but you need a network that provides care for terminally ill people that will take into account the emotional needs of the dying as well as the physical, and provide them with some of the

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 57 accoutrements of life that people cherish and would like to have with them at the end. Tat can be done until the AIDS patient needs more {acute hospital} care.

Tey get so debilitated long before they die. Te hospice system in its present state is not going to be able to handle the burden.

It doesn't have to be expensive care. It has to be compassionate care. You are dealing with people who are really on their way out. It is a slow demise. It is very depressing. You can't have it someplace distant from family and community support.

Q. Are hospital officials voicing this same level of concern?

A. It is building up. I think that the pressures are coming so that eventually you are going to see the kind of hearings in Congress that demand that this and that be done. I mean legislation.

Tere are two bills before Congress for AIDS that would establish a commission for AIDS.

Q. Your fight against AIDS is very much a fight against ignorance and stigma-

A. Tat's why I keep talking about that we are fighting a disease and not a people. One of the things that is holding back progress is the stigma that goes with AIDS. Which I understand perfectly well, and that's why I don't support mandatory testing and that sort of stuff. Te stigma is what keeps people from reacting the way they would to smallpox. And that is very important. If it weren't for the stigma, the people {with AIDS} themselves would be demanding mandatory testing and follow-up and counseling.

But now, if you turn up at your worksite tomorrow and say, guess what, my test came back and I'm positive for HIV, you'd lose your job. Because the Justice Department has already said that you're not handicapped. Only if you have full- blown AIDS are you handicapped.

You could go home and find that your landlord says we don't want you. If you have kids, {other parents} could say, we don't want your kids in our school. A lot of your friends wouldn't talk to you again. So the stigma is great and it's not imaginary — it's artificial, but it's not imaginary. Tat is a real barrier to our knowing as much as we would like to know {about the spread of AIDS}.

Q. Who should get tested for AIDS? How widespread should testing be?

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 58 A. I would think that everyone who is going to get married should be tested, primarily because you would not knowingly want to have children, where 50 percent die within the first few years of life. But some people say testing should be mandatory. I say: what's the penalty going to be? Tree quarters of people live together now before they get married. So what are you going to say? You can't live together. Mandatory testing is not going to work.

See, when you had the Wasserman test for syphilis, you couldn't get a marriage license until you had a negative test or were under treatment. But the stigma was on the other side there. You weren't living together and the stigma was on the lack of a marriage license. You had to postpone your marriage until you had a negative test. But now who cares?

Tere are people who say you should make it felony for people who know they are positive for the virus to quote "exchange bodily fluids" unquote. How are you going to do that? Are you going to monitor every bedroom?

Q. What should the government do to fight discrimination?

A. Just by more and more education. I think that it will be very hard to do except by education. It will begin to diminish when average citizens recognize that average citizens that they know are dying of AIDS. You see, more and more people are turning up with seropositivity {evidence of infection with the AIDS virus} who can't be blamed for it in any way. Te wives of bisexual men who are the last people to know that their husbands are bisexuals. Te spouses of promiscuous spouses who again are the last people to know.Worst of all are the babies who are born to I.V. drug abusers or the spouses or lovers of the same. And {these parents} don't have much of a sense of responsibility and they abandon their babies.

Te impact on the health care system is going to affect a lot of people down the line. Te young pediatric house officers in hospitals in New York City that deal with a lot of AIDS patients are complaining that they are only seeing a couple of diagnoses: AIDS and cocaine. Tey say this is not what they went to medical school for. Some of my surgical colleagues say that they can't even get a baby into the newborn intensive care unit, because it is loaded down with AIDS babies and cocaine babies.

AIDS is a terrible burden. Even those women and sometimes families who make their living by doing foster home stuff, they don't want them (AIDS children). Again because of the stigma and the problems. You have to be a little careful with the diapers and stool and vomitus of the baby, especially if you have ezcema.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 59 Q. Do you think the AIDS epidemic is going to get a lot worse before it gets better?

A. Yes, I do think it is going to get worse. Tis is an unusual disease. It's not like saying the flu next winter is going to be Asian. Tat's a guess. When someone says to you now, as we do, that there are going to be 54,000 deaths in 1991 — we know that for a fact. It's because those people are already infected.

Q. In your campaign against AIDS, did you ever think you would be considered a hero by the liberals?

A. No, I never did. It's been a very interesting thing, although it would be more interesting to be a fly on the wall rather than to be in the middle of it. I've often said that you don't have an understanding of what's really going on when you are in the middle of making history.

Right now it's hard to believe all the things that are happening. I came back from England where I gave nine lectures {on AIDS} and here in the same paper on the same day, Jerry Falwell says I am doing a great job and Planned Parenthood says I am doing a great job.

So I figure I better rethink my position.

U.S. HISTORY :: Primary Sources 60