POV Community Engagement & Education DISCUSSION GUIDE The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement A Film by Gail Dolgin and Robin Fryday www.pbs.org/pov TABLE OF CONTENTS CREDITS 3 Introduction Writer 4 Potential Partners Faith Rogow, PhD 4 Key Issues Insighters Educational Consulting 4 Using This Guide 5 Background Information Guide Producers and Background Research, POV 5 James Armstrong Eliza Licht 7 Roadblocks to Voting Vice President, Community Engagement & Education, POV • The Jim Crow Era Jamie Dobie • Disenfranchisement Coordinator, 9 Civil Rights Movement Community Engagement & Education, POV in Birmingham, Alabama Ellen Knechel Intern, Community Engagement & Education, POV 12 Voting Rights: 1965 Alabama 13 2008 Voters Marlaina Martin Intern, Community Engagement & Education, POV 14 Modern Barriers to Voting 16 Selected People Featured Design: in The Barber of Birmingham: Rafael Jiménez Foot Soldier of the Eyeball Civil Rights Movement Copy Editor: 18 General Discussion Questions Natalie Danford 19 Discussion Prompts 23 Taking Action Thanks to those who reviewed this guide: 24 Resources Robin Fryday 25 How to Buy the Film Co-director, The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement Abby Ginzberg Did you know… Consulting Producer Tonya Hopkins • Richard Arrington, Jr. was inaugurated in 1980 National Outreach and Engagement, National Black Programming Consortium as the first African-American mayor of Birmingham, which King once deemed “the Whitney Olson most segregated city in America.” Arrington Director, National History Day, Sonoma County went on to be re-elected to five terms and left Josh Fryday office on July 16, 1999, shortly before the end of his fifth term. (Birmingham Public Library http://www.bplonline.org/resources/ BlackBirmingham.aspx) DISCUSSION GUIDE The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement |2 INTRODUCTION Mr. Armstrong in barbershop In the days before and after Barack Obama’s victory in the Photo courtesy of Robin Fryday 2008 presidential election, an 85-year-old civil rights activist and “foot soldier” looks back on the early days of the move - ment in this Academy Award®-nominated short. World War II veteran James Armstrong was the proud proprietor of Armstrong’s Barbershop, a cultural and political hub in Birm - ingham, Alabama, for more than 50 years. In his small es - tablishment, where every inch of wall space was covered in newspaper clippings and black-and-white photographs, hair was cut, marches organized and battle scars tended. Arm - strong, who carried the American flag across the Selma bridge during the Bloody Sunday march for voting rights in 1965, links the struggles of activists of the past with a previ - ously unimaginable dream: the election of the first African- American president. DISCUSSION GUIDE The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement |3 POTENTIAL PARTNERS KEY ISSUES The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement is well suited for use in a variety of set - Rights Movement is an excellent tool for outreach and tings and is especially recommended for use with: will be of special interest to people looking to explore the following topics: • Your local PBS station • Groups that have discussed previous PBS and POV • 1960s films and series relating to the U.S. civil rights and • Activism voting rights movements, including Eyes on the • African-American studies Prize, Chisholm ’72, Brother Outsider: The Life of • Aging Bayard Rustin, A Panther in Africa and Freedom Riders • American history • Groups focused on any of the issues listed in the • Birmingham, Alabama Key Issues section • Black history • High school students • Civics/civic engagement • Faith-based organizations and institutions • Civil rights • Cultural, art and historical organizations, • Community organizing institutions and museums • Discrimination • Civic, fraternal and community groups • Multicultural education • Academic departments and student groups at • Oral history colleges, universities and high schools, including • Political science black student unions • Protest movements • Community organizations with a mission to promote education and learning, such as local • Racism libraries • Social justice • Societal change/social change • Sociology • U.S. history • Voting rights USING THIS GUIDE This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection, designed for people who want to use The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement to engage family, friends, class - mates, colleagues and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince oth - ers that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively. The discussion prompts on pages 19 to 22 are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider the Taking Action steps on page 23. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult. For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit www.pbs.org/pov/outreach DISCUSSION GUIDE The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement |4 BACKGROUND INFORMATION Mr. Armstrong with flag James Armstrong Photo courtesy of Robin Fryday James Armstrong was born in Orrville, Alabama, in 1923 to parents who, according to Armstrong, received less than a sixth-grade education. At the age of 18, after successfully Armstrong’s commitment to civil rights took him to the front completing high school, Armstrong was drafted into the lines as a “foot soldier”—one of hundreds of Americans who army, where he served from 1943 to 1946. Recalling this pe - fought each day for racial equality. Armstrong carried the riod of his life, Armstrong said that the battle overseas pre - American flag during a 1965 march from Selma to Mont - pared him for “another fight.” Upon his return, Armstrong gomery (on a day that came to be known as Bloody Sun - worked in Selma and Mobile before settling down in a third day), during which it is said that Armstrong was beaten to town in Alabama, Birmingham, where he opened a barber - his knees but never dropped the flag. Over the years, he also shop in the College Hills community in 1953. His dedication participated in and was jailed for various anti-segregation to the politics of the civil rights movement was soon known demonstrations. In 1957, he filed a class-action lawsuit that to all his customers, as he adorned his door with aphorisms, would lead to his two sons’ enrolling as the first black stu - such as, If you think education is expensive, try ignorance dents at the previously all-white Graymont Elementary in and If you don’t vote, don’t talk politics in here . On Arm - 1963. He also served as a board member, voting rights edu - strong’s barbershop wall hung photographs of Martin cation teacher and volunteer at the Birmingham Civil Rights Luther King, Jr., including one of King seated in Arm - Institute. strong’s barber chair. DISCUSSION GUIDE The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement |5 BACKGROUND INFORMATION Mr. Armstrong Throughout Armstrong’s life, the goals of education, justice Photo courtesy of Robin Fryday and having the ability to make change guided every deci - sion he made and every lesson that he instilled in his chil - dren, grandchildren and fellow community members. Before The Institute for Southern Studies. “Remembering Civil Rights Leader he died of heart failure in 2009 at the age of 86, Armstrong James Armstrong.” witnessed the campaign and 2008 election of the first black http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/11/remembering-civil-rights- president, Barack Obama. leader-james-armstrong.html Stock, Erin. “James Armstrong, Civil Rights Flag Bearer, Dies.” The Birmingham News , November 19, 2009. Sources: http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news- stories/2009/11/james_armstong_civil_rights_fl.html ALEX (Alabama Learning Exchange). “Oral History Interview with James Armstrong.” Tributes.com. “James Armstrong.” http://alex.state.al.us/podcast_view.php?podcast_id=408 http://www.tributes.com/show/James-Armstrong-87202524 The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement. Trice, Dawn Turner. “Civil Rights Lessons from James Armstrong’s “Background.” Barber Chair.” Chicago Tribune , April 4, 2010. http://barberofbirmingham.com/about/about-the-film/ http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-04-04/news/ct-met-trice- grandfather-0405-20100404_1_barber-chair-civil-rights-education DISCUSSION GUIDE The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement |6 BACKGROUND INFORMATION Armstrong boys integrate Graymont school Roadblocks to Voting Photo still from The Barber of Birmingham The Jim Crow Era ingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement, Arm - During the Reconstruction era immediately following the strong recollects and old footage shows images of police Civil War, the U.S. Congress passed a series of constitutional brutality. State troopers tear gassed crowds and beat amendments to guarantee civil rights to freed slaves. The marchers with billy clubs. Amelia Boynton Robinson recalls 15th amendment (1870) said that the right to vote could not being pushed into a cop car and carted off to jail. James be denied on the basis of “race, color or previous condition Armstrong remembers a time when he, his wife and their of servitude.” In the two years immediately following, the na - daughter, who was 13 years old at the time, were all in jail at tion elected one black senator and seven black representa - the same time. tives. And hundreds of thousands (possibly one million) By the 1890s, Southern state legislatures were passing “Jim black male voters registered to vote.