Chicago Freedom Movement

The Chicago Freedom Movement of 1966 was led by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel and Al Raby. This Freedom movement consisted of large rallies, marches and demands to the city. The demands covered a wide range of areas like:

1. Open housing

2. Quality education

3. Transportation and job access

4. Income and employment

5. Health

6. Wealth generation 

7. Crime and the criminal justice system

8. Community development

9. Tenants Rights

10. Quality of life 

The intention of the Chicago Freedom Movement was to end slums in the city of Chicago. For this movement the alliances were the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO). They organized:

1. Tenants' unions

2. Assumed control of a slum tenement

3. Founded action groups (Operation Breadbasket)

4. Rallied black and white Chicagoans to support goals 

On July 10, 1966 Martin Luther King Jr. organized a large rally at Soldier Field. This rally at Soldier Field was attended by 35,000 people for Martin Luther King Jr.'s first 'freedom rally'.  Marches and rallies were often meet with hostile and violent responses by local whites. Martin Luther King once said that even in Alabama and Mississippi he had not encountered mobs as hostile to Blacks' civil rights as those in Chicago. 

The Chicago Freedom March lost much of its focus and momentum by early 1967 when Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel and the SCLC turned to other projects like the anti-Vietnam War Movement. The Chicago Freedom Movement is considered the most ambitious civil rights campaign in the North. This movement would led to the 1968 Fair Housing Act. 

Citation:

"Chicago Freedom Movement." Wikipedia. N.p., 30 Oct. 2015. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.

Photo Credit:

http://thorncreekproductions.com/king_in_chicago.hhtml

http://www.oxfordaasc.com/public/features/archive/0110/photo_essay.jsp?page=14

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/4/4/947840/-

http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll/services/rjd/CULExhibit/Urban%20League%20Exhibit/4_1_body.htm

https://historyrat.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/martin-luther-king-jr-and-chicago-in-1966-memories-not-so-fond/

Selma to Montgomery

The Selma to Montgomery marches took place from March 7, 1965 to March 25, 1965. The goal of these marches was voting rights for blacks. The result of these marches was the Voting Rights Act of 1965. There were three marches that would take place between March 7th and March 25th. This march highlighted the racial injustice in the South. The march from Selma to Montgomery was a 54 mile walk. President Lyndon B Johnson considered Martin Luther King Jr. a essential partner in getting the Voting Rights Act enacted. 

The first march took place on March 7, 1965. This march was organized by James Bevel, Amelia Boynton and others. There was an estimated number of 525 to 600 marchers. The March was led by John Lewis of SNCC and Reverend Hosea Williams of SCLC. The march was peaceful until they passed county line and were attacked by state troopers with billy clubs and tear gas. This march would be known as "Bloody Sunday." One of the organizers, Amelia Boynton, was beaten unconscious. She survived, lived a long life and died in August 2015 at the age of 110. 

The second march took place March 9, 1965 and this march would be known as "Turnaround Tuesday." For this march an estimated number of about 2,500 marchers marched. Troopers and marchers meet at the end of the bridge and when troopers moved to let them pass Martin Luther King Jr. turned them around and led them back to the church. King did this because he was obeying a federal injunction while seeking protection from the federal court. James Reeb, a white man from Boston who was apart of the march, was beaten that night by a white group and would later die. The events of Bloody Sunday and the death of James Reeb led to a national outcry targeting both the Alabama State and federal governments. 

The third march took place between March 21, 1965 and March 25, 1965. A judge had sided with the protestors and that they had a right to protest under the 1st amendment. The president offered protection for the marchers with 2,000 soldiers of the US Army, 1,900 members of the Alabama National Guard and FBI agents and Federal Marshalls. The beginning of the march on March 21, 1965 consisted of close to 8,000 marchers. They started the long walk to Montgomery. A judges orders were that no more than 300 marchers for the two days they would be crossing the two lane portion of highway-80 because of traffic. Most of the marchers returned to Selma and left 300 people to camp overnight for the next day trek. On March 22nd and 23rd, 300 marchers marched in the rain through Lowndes County. On March 24, 1965 the march crossed into Montgomery County. When they crossed into Montgomery County additional marchers were transported by bus and car to join. On the final day which was March 25, 1965 there was 25,000 people who marched from St Jude to the State Capitol Building where Martin Luther King Jr. would deliver a speech. 

The route the marchers took is memorialized as the "Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Trail." This trail is designated as a US National Historic Trail.  

Citation:

 "Selma to Montgomery Marches." Wikipedia. N.p., 30 Oct. 2015. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.

Photo Credit:

http://www.lbjlibrary.org/press/marches-for-civil-rights

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/4433299608735561/

http://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/2015/03/retrospective-the-march-from-selma-to-montgomery/#1

https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Selma-to-Montgomery-Bloody-Sunday0

http://dreammarcheson.com

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_to_Montgomery_marches#The_march_to_Montgomery

Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts

                                      Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public places. It also banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was considered one of the greatest legislative achievements of the civil rights movement. This act was originally proposed by President John F Kennedy and then when he was assassinated it was signed into law by his successor Lyndon B Johnson. 

Before the Civil Rights Act was signed into law in 1964 the U.S. Congress established a civil rights section of the Justice Department in 1957. President John F Kennedy while he was in office said that the United States "will not fully be free until all of its citizens are free." The Civil Rights Act would eventually later expand to bring the disabled, the elderly and women in collegiate athletics under it. 

President LBJ (Lyndon B Johnson) signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with at least seventy-five pens, which he handed out to congressional supporters of the bill such as Hubert Humphrey and Everett Dirksen and civil rights leaders such as MLK (Martin Luther King Jr.) and Roy Wilkins. 

Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed by President Lyndon B Johnson on August 6, 1965. This act aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their legal right to vote under the fifteenth amendment. The Civil Rights Act of 1965 is considered among the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history. 

Before the Voting Rights Act was signed African Americans who attempted to vote often were told by election officials that they had gotten the date or time or polling place wrong. They were also often told that they possessed insufficient literacy skills or that they had filled out an application incorrectly. The Southern states had been known to force blacks to recite the entire Constitution or explain the most complex provisions of state laws. 

The Civil Rights Act of 1965 banned the use of literacy tests. It also provided for federal oversight of voter registration in areas where less than 50% of the nonwhite population had not registered to vote. This act also authorized the U.S. attorney general to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and local elections. 

Citations:

"Civil Rights Act." History Channel. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.

"Voting Rights Act." History Channel. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.

Photo Credit:

http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/579924

http://www.nps.gov/subjects/civilrights/1964-civil-rights-act.htm

http://politic365.com/2012/07/07/how-title-vi-of-the-1964-civil-rights-act-benefited-education/

http://www.salon.com/2014/04/14/glaring_limits_of_the_civil_rights_act_we_need_to_redistribute_wealth/

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart9b.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/19/march-on-washington-voting-rights-act/2646695/

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/515520916835270657
https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King

I Have a Dream

Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963 during the March on Washington. He gave the speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of 250,000 demonstrators. In his speech he called for an end to racism in the United States. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. He starts his speech off with reference to the Emancipation Proclamation and how even one hundred years later the black man is still not free. 

Martin Luther King Jr. described his dreams of freedom and equality from a land arising from slavery and hatred. This speech was shown to have several versions written at several different times. The "I Have a Dream" speech was drafted with the assistance of Stanley Levison and Clarence Benjamin Jones. 

Mahalia Jones a gospel singer shouted "Tell them about the dream Martin" and that is when he stopped his prepared speech and started to preach and he started punctuating his points with "I have a Dream." 

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech was ranked top American speech of the 20th century in 1999. 

"I Have a Dream" Speech

Citation:

"I Have a Dream." Wikipedia. N.p., Oct. 2015. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.

Photo Credit:

http://thesource.com/2014/01/20/10-standout-quotes-from-martin-luther-king-jr-s-i-have-a-dream-speech/

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/08/26/mlk-dream-speech

http://abcnews.go.com/US/things-make-dream-famous-speeches-history/story?id=20068795

March on Washington

The March on Washington happened on August 28, 1963 and was a march for jobs and freedom. This march was the first to have extensive TV coverage. This march was the largest demonstration ever seen in the nation's capital. In this time 1963 was known for racial unrest and civil rights demonstrations. The march on Washington was attended by 250,000 people and a quarter of those people were white. 

The March on Washington represented a unioin of several civil rights organizations. There were leaders from six different organizations and they were known as the Big Six. These leaders and their organizations were:

1. James Farmer- Congress of Radical Equality (CORE) 

2. Martin Luther King Jr.- Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) 

3. John Lewis- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

4. A. Phillip Randolph- Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

5. Roy Wilkins- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

6. Whitney Young Jr.- National Urban 

League

The March on Washington had seven demands in mind. These demands were:

1. They wanted passage of meaningful civil rights legislation.

2. They wanted the elimination of racial segregation in public schools.

3. They wanted the protection for the demonstrators against police brutality. 

4. They wanted a major public works program to provide jobs.

5. They wanted a passage of a law prohibiting racial discrimination in public and private hiring. 

6. They wanted a $2 minimum wage.

7. They wanted self government for the District of Columbia.  

The president at this time was JFK and Kennedy was against the March in the beginning because he felt it would make the legislature vote against civil rights laws. When he found out that the march was going to go ahead as planned he got behind the march and supported it. There was of course resistance to this march and it came from two sides. They were white supremacist like the KKK and civil rights activists who felt it presented a inaccurate spectacle of racial harmony like Malcolm X. The demonstrators marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. 

The March on Washington was civil and peaceful. 

This march is well known for Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Citation:

Ross, Shmuel. "Civil Rights March on Washington." Infoplease. N.p., Oct. 2015. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.

Photo Credit:

http://www.eurweb.com/2013/08/nbc-news-mounts-dreamday-project-for-mlk-anniversary/

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/tag/march-on-washington/

http://www.acluohio.org/blog-posts/50-years-of-dreaming

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/marchonwashington.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/2003/08/the-march-on-washington-for-jobs-and-freedom/

Albany, Georgia Movement

The Albany Movement in Georgia began in the fall of 1961 and ended in the summer of 1962. This movement was the first mass movement in modern civil rights era to have a goal to desegregate an entire community. The movement in Albany resulted in the jailing of more than one thousand African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. joined the movement in December 1961. In one week hundreds of black protestors, including Martin Luther King Jr, were arrested and thrown in jail. Martin Luther King Jr. would leave the movement eight months later admitting that he had failed to accomplish the goals of the movement. 

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) workers (Charles Sherrod, Cordell Dragon, and Charles Jones) aimed to encourage students and others in Albany to challenge the establishment and their segregation policies. The Albany movement formed and elected William G. Anderson as their president. The people of this movement had mass meetings and many protestors marched. By December more than five hundred had been jailed and that is when they needed help and called in Martin Luther King Jr. to keep the movement going. King spoke at mass meetings and marched. From this movement emerged the SNCC Freedom Singers.

Martin Luther King Jr. would return the following summer for sentencing and chose jail over paying a fine but a white attorney had paid his fine anonymously. King would stay to carry out his effort to desegregate the city and brought in SCLC staff to help. He would come across and make an enemy out of police chief Pritchett. This police chief ordered his men to use force and make arrests. 

Martin Luther King Jr. felt the movement was a failure but many African Americans in Albany dissgreed. King learned important lessons that he would use in future movements. 

Citation:

Formwalt, Lee W. "Albany Movement." New Gerogia Encyclopedia. N.p., 9 Nov. 2015. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.

Photo credit:

http://www.freedommosaic.com/annette-jones-white

http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/569194

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/albany-movement

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/img_06_albany_06.html

SCLC

The SCLC was formed in 1957 after the Montgomery Bus Boycott and stands for Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The original name of the group was Southern Negro Leaders Conference on Transportation and Non-violent Integration. They didn't think with the word Negro in the name that people would take them to seriously so they changed it and added the word Christian to the name. 

The SCLC wanted to advance the cause of civil rights in America but in a Non-violent manner. The president of the SCLC for a long time was Martin Luther King Jr. This group came primarily from the church. For the lives of many African Americans, especially in the south, the church played an important role in their lives.  The SCLC brought together all various areas of civil rights and put them under one organization. 

"(The SCLC is) church-orientated because of the very structure of the Negro community in the South." - Martin Luther King Jr. 

The SCLC had three basic wants/goals: 

1. They wanted White Americans to not stand by and watch wrongs were being committed against those in the black community. 

2. They wanted to encourage black Americans to "seek justice and reject all injustice."

3. They needed all those associated with the SCLC to accept the philosophy of non-violence regardless of the provocation. 

The SCLC could co-ordinate and advise and develop the work done by local level civil rights groups. This group also helped black Americans register to vote and opened up citizenship schools. 

The SCLC wanted to present to America civil rights as a moral issue. They also turned their attention to poverty found in many inner city ghettos and the violence in these areas. They believed the poverty was a link to the violence. They involved themselves in many well known civil rights movements like Albany, Birmingham, Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and Selma. The SCLC still continues their work today. 

Citation:

Trueman, CN. "Southern Christian Leadership Conference." The History Learning Site. N.p., 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.

Photo credit: 

https://civrights.wikispaces.com/Southern+Christian+Leadership+Conference+(SCLC)

http://www.blackpast.org/aah/southern-christian-leadership-conference-1957

http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/store/Products/91354-sclc-convention.aspx

http://jaysays.com/2009/07/sclc-works-to-overcome-oppression-in-order-to-be-oppressive/

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. Martin Luther King Jr was a civil rights activist in the mid 1950s and was also a Baptist minister and was also head of the SCLC. He was a middle child and was born Michael King Jr. When he was a kid his father took the name Martin Luther in honor of the German Protestant religious leader and became Martin Luther King Sr. He would follow his father and take the name Martin Luther and became Martin Luther King Jr.

When Martin Luther was twelve years old he jumped out of a second story window to attmept suicide after he got the news of his grandmothers death. His grandmother had died while he was at a parade against his parents wishes. 

Martin Luther King Jr. attended Booker T. Washington High School. He was able to skip both the ninth grade and the eleventh grade. Martin entered college at the age of fifteen and attended Morehouse College. 

When Martin was younger he questioned religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly emotional dislpays of religious worship. During his junior year he took a bible class that renewed his faith and was looking at a career in ministry like his father.

Martin earned his sociology degree from Morehouse College. He then attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. Martin came under the guidance of College President Benjamin E. Mays and he influenced Martin's spiritual development. 

He enrolled in Boston University for his doctoral study. Martin Luther would marry Coretta Scott in June 1953 and they would have four kids together. He became a pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He would complete his Ph.D. and earn his degree in 1955 at the age of just twenty-five. 

Martin Luther King Jr. played a major role in ending legal segregation of African American citizens, especially in the south. He would be part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace  Prize in 1964.

Citation:

"Martin Luther King Jr Biography." The Biography.com Website. Ed. Biography.com Editors. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2015.

Photo Credit: 

http://myhoustonhalos.com/events/2016/1/18/22nd-annual-mlk-grande-parade

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.

http://m.democracynow.org/stories/14936

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/20/court-to-control-martin-l_n_4825365.html