A Few Not-That-Good Moments in the Civil Rights Era
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/a-few-not-that-good-moments-in-the-civil-rights-era-20101221
When Haley Barbour opined that the civil rights era was not ''that
bad'' in his Mississippi town, he did not include a few events that
happened not so far away.
By David Beard
December 21, 2010
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour raised a firestorm of criticism Monday
when he was quoted as saying his memories of the civil rights era
were not "that bad" and praising a segregationist group called the
White Citizens Council, the effective leadership in that era in his
hometown of Yazoo City, Miss.
Barbour backtracked on Tuesday, calling the Citizens Council "totally
indefensible, as is segregation." He also acknowledged that the era
was "difficult and painful" for his state and nation, especially the
persecution of African Americans at the time. For younger readers or
others with hazy memories, here are a few examples of the era's cost
in the Magnolia State:
1. EMMETT TILL
In 2008, the U.S. Congress passed the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil
Rights Crime Act, named for the 14-year-old Chicago native who was
lynched in the Mississippi Delta in 1955 after speaking with a white
woman. While author Stephen Whitman says more than 500 extrajudicial
killings of African Americans in Mississippi have been documented
since 1882, the case sparked nationwide coverage and indignation.
David Halberstam called a trial of two men who acknowledged abducting
Till from a relative's home "the first great media event of the civil
rights movement." (They were acquitted by an all-white jury). Bob
Dylan marked this saga with his 1962 song, "The Death of Emmett
Till." The open casket that carried Till's body in iconic photographs
was replaced in 2005, and it was acquired by the Smithsonian's
National Museum of African American History and Culture.
2. JAMES MEREDITH
In October 1962, after a lengthy challenge, James Meredith became the
first African American to study at the University of Mississippi. His
entrance prompted riots in which two people were killed, 160 American
soldiers trying to maintain order were injured, and 28 U.S. Marshals
were wounded by gunfire. Snubbed by many at Ole Miss, Meredith
graduated with a degree in political science and later got a law
degree at Columbia. In 1966, on a peace march in Mississippi, he was
wounded in an assassination attempt. (A photograph of the shooting
won the 1967 Pulitzer Prize). In later years, Meredith became a
staunch Republican and worked on the staff of U.S. Senator Jesse Helms.
3. MEDGAR EVERS
The millions of readers of Kathryn Stockett's 2009 best-seller "The
Help" know well about the suffocating influence of the White Citizens
Council and the assassination of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar
Evers in 1963 in the driveway of his Jackson, Miss. home. Evers, a
World War II Army veteran, applied to University of Mississippi law
school in 1954 and filed suit later, saying he rejected on the basis
of race. He engendered hatred among white supremacists for his
successful efforts to gain admission of James Meredith to Ole
Miss. An all-white male jury deadlocked twice in 1965 in the trial
of a KKK and White Citizens' Council member in his slaying. The same
man was convicted in a 1994 retrial (the subject of the film "Ghosts
of Mississippi,") and died in jail in 2001. Evers is buried in
Arlington National Cemetery. In 2009, it was announced that a Navy
cargo ship would be named for him. His death inspired songs such as
"Mississippi Goddam," by Nina Simone, "Only a Pawn in their Game," by
Bob Dylan, and "I Can't Go to Sleep," by Wu-Tang Clan.
4. FREEDOM SUMMER
The goal of a group of civil rights activists who traveled to
Mississippi in the summer of 1964 was voter registration,
particularly from the massive African American population that was
intimidated from going to the polls. Three of the activists, James
Chaney of Mississippi and Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, both
from New York, were lynched, their bodies buried in an earthen dam.
The three had known their vehicle's license plate number had been
given to the White Citizens' Council and the Ku Klux Klan. When
Misssissippi refused to try seven white men for their murder, the
seven including a KKK imperial wizard and a county sheriff were
tried and convicted in 1967 on federal charges. In 2005, an eighth
man, a local Protestant minister believed to be the planner of the
killings, was convicted of murder. The killings inspired the Phil
Ochs song "Here's to the State of Mississippi," and "He Was My
Brother," by Simon and Garfunkel, who had known Andrew Goodman in
high school and college.
--
Also, see:
Haley Barbour Looks to Stem Fallout from Race Remarks
http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/haley-barbour-slammed-for-downplaying-civil-rights-era-20101220
.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Sixties-L" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
