Johnny Borgman
AH11
Civil Rights Project
4-24-18
J. Farmer
James L. Farmer Jr.
He was born on January 12, 1920 in the south. More specifically he was born in Marshall, Texas. During college, he was a great debater. Farmer’s mother was a teacher and his father was a minister and the first African American to get a doctorate in Texas. He was such a good student that he entered Wiley College when he was just 14. In college he decided to become a minister. At Howard University, he learned much of Mahatma Ghandi’s philosophies that he would use later in his career. Farmer, along with George Houser and other multi-racial colleagues formed the Committee of Racial Equality(CORE). After becoming chairman or CORE Farmer started to organize the famous Freedom Rides. CORE focused on working in the South. Farmer was targeted for his work, and even jailed because of it. Three workers associated with CORE were murdered in 1964. After resigning in the mid-1960s, Farmer wrote a book Called Freedom-When?, which was published in 1966. Farmer became a very well known civil rights activist, almost as famous as leaders such as MLK. He received many honors for his work. Farmer even received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bill Clinton. Sadly, Farmer suffered from Diabetes. He dies on July 9, 1999. https://www.biography.com/people/james-farmer-21349629
Freedom Ride
Freedom Rides were a way civil rights activists protested segregated bus stations. CORE set up these Freedom rides in 1961. Both white and African Americans were freedom riders. Freedom riders rode bus trips through the south to protest. They also used white only bathrooms and ate at lunch counters in Southern states, which was not allowed. These freedom riders were placed in the way of danger. Cops arrested them and they had to put up with the violence and anger of white protesters. They wanted to see if the Supreme Court, which ruled segregated interstate transportation unconstitutional in both Morgan v. Virginia and Boynton v. Virginia, was firm in keeping their rulings. The first group of freedom riders was quite small, consisting of only 13 members, 7 were African American and 6 were white. When the Freedom Riders reached Anniston, Alabama on May 14, 1961 there was 200 white people surrounding the bus. The tires on the bus blew out, and one of the white people threw a bomb on the bus. The Freedom Riders escaped unharmed until the white people beat them. On May 20, the Nashville Riders were back in Birmingham where men, women, and children beat the passengers again. These violent outbreaks gave them more attention for their cause. http://www.blackpast.org/aah/freedom-rides-1961 https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/freedom-rides
A Philip Randolph
A Philip Randolph was born on April 15 1889 in Florida. Both of Randolph’s parents were supporters of equal rights. A Philip Randolph attended the Cookman Institute. He later moved to New York City and studied sociology. He founded a magazine called The Messenger in 1917 with his friend Chandler Owen. He also helped organize the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which proved him to be a leading figure in the civil rights movement. The Brotherhood of sleeping Car Porters was created because Randolph wanted to be included in the American Federation of Labor. He eventually won, and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters became the first African American Union in the United States. Randolph pushed more towards equal rights in the war industry workforce. He even planned a march until FDR issued an order that banned discrimination at these factories. Randolph’s legacy did not end there, as he organized the March on Washington movement in 1941. He did receive the presidential Medal of Freedom from president Lyndon B. Johnson. Randolph eventually has to resign from the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1968 due to health issues. Randolph even wrote an autobiography when he went into retirement. He died on May 16, 1979. https://www.biography.com/people/a-philip-randolph-9451623
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/a-philip-randolph
Race Riots
During the civil rights movement there were outbreaks of violence. These outbreaks were known as race riots. One of the earliest race riots was in 1919 and the latest in the civil rights movement was in 1979. Starting on September 25, 1919 the Omaha Race riot in Omaha, Nebraska. The victim, Agnes Loebeck, accused an African American, Will Brown, of assaulting her. The incident appeared in news papers which caused police, detectives, and 400 armed men to comb the city looking for him. He had no time to prove his innocence and was guilty. Violence broke out in 25 states which became known as the “Red Summer”. Some of the next major race riots were the New York Race Riots. These riots happened between 1964 and 1965. These riots began after James Powell was shot by a white police officer in Harlem. To make matters worse, the officer was off duty. About 8000 Harlem citizens went in the streets, robbing businesses and breaking windows. These riots spread, leading to more in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which lead to one death, over 100 injuries, and about 500 arrests. Just as things were calming down, another race riot sprang up in Rochester, New York. The same incident of police brutality caused this riot. It ended up causing over one million dollars worth of damages. These race riots continued on during the movement and even though most of the movement was supposed to be nonviolent, some of these still did happen. http://crdl.usg.edu/events/ny_race_riots/
https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/civil-rights-race-riots
https://history.nebraska.gov/blog/lest-we-forget-lynching-will-brown-omaha’s-1919-race-riot
Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike
The Memphis Sanitation Workers strike really started on February 1, 1968 when two garbage collectors were crushed to death by a malfunctioning truck. Scenarios like this had happened before, where the city had neglected and abused African American workers. On February 12 1,300 African American men working for Memphis Department of Public Works went on strike. They demanded recognition, better safety standards, and to get paid more for their job. This had been tried before in 1966 but they did not have enough support from other people to carry through with it. After 1966 the conditions did not improve and maybe even got worse when Henry Loeb became mayor. He refused to pay workers for overtime and didn’t take broken trucks to be repaired. The Memphis Sanitation Workers gained support from Martin Luther King Jr. He arrived on March 18 where he gave a speech to about 25000 people. He encouraged people to go on a citywide work stoppage. When the day of the march and work stoppage arrived it had to be postponed due to snow. It was rescheduled for the 28th. On that day about 22000 students skipped school to participate. Loeb called in 4000 national guard troops. After the protests carried on King came back to deliver a speech. The following night he was assassinated. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/memphis-sanitation-workers-strike
https://www.npr.org/2018/03/28/597308044/the-memphis-sanitation-workers-strike-kings-last-cause-for-economic-justice
http://crdl.usg.edu/events/memphis_sanitation_strike/
Emmett Till
On August 28, 1955 an African American boy was abducted and murdered. Emmett Till was only 14 years old. He was born in Chicago in 1941. His family was not wealthy. He was visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955 when he was murdered. Emmett Till was accused of whistling at a white woman. This woman was Caroline Bryant, a cashier at a grocery store. Emmett Till was first kidnapped, then beaten, then dragged to the bank of the Tallahatchie River. There he was shot in the head. After he died, they tied him to a fan with barbed wire and pushed his body into the river. The only way he could be identified was the ring on his finger. Emmett Till’s murders were caught though. Caroline Bryant’s husband and half-brother were both tried for murder four days later. These men were sent free after having an all white male jury acquit them. This event did help the civil rights movement. This violent outbreak of whites helped publicize the African American struggle and helps get the cause more famous in the media. It provided an important step to the movement. It happened one year after the Brown v. Board of Education decision. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till
https://www.biography.com/people/emmett-till-507515
Rosa Parks
One hundred days after Till’s murder Rosa Parks helped build upon that tragic but crucial event in the movement. Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist. She helped start the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott. One December Day after work, Rosa Parks took the Cleveland Avenue bus on her way home. The buses had then had specific seating at the back of the bus. Rosa took her seat in that section, with little to no other people on the bus. As the bus got more passengers the driver noticed some white passengers were standing. He went back and moved the sign for colored people’s seating back a row, making them give up their seats to white passengers. The three other African Americans gave up their seats, but Rosa didn’t move. The driver then had her arrested. She was released on bail with not much harm done to her and it wasn’t a very big deal, but more plans started because of this event. Later that night some civil rights activists started planning the Montgomery bus Boycott which later led to the de-segregation of buses. This was an important step in the civil rights movement. Rosa Parks wrote an autobiography after retiring. https://www.biography.com/people/rosa-parks-9433715
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rosa-Parks