Pushing The Civil Rights Movement Onto The National Agenda

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_rights_movement


By the late 1950s slavery had been outlawed in the United States for almost one hundred years, but southern racists had devised

other forms of of tyranny to keep black Americans in their "place"(Streitmatter174). Poll taxes, unfairly administered literacy tests and various acts of intimidation denied African Americans their right to vote. The concept of "separate but equal" deprived African Americans of public facilities and a good quality education. They weren't allowed to go to the same restaurants or schools that white people went to and they weren't even allowed to use the same bathrooms or drink from the same water fountain. There were even signs that said "White Only" and "Colored". In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court said that "Separate education facilities are inherently unequal." Journalism, especially TV had a huge impact on the USA during the Civil Rights Movement. Northern newspapers like the New York Times and the Boston Globe covered the movement but it was television news that had a bigger impact. TV cameras showed African Americans being cursed, spit on, attacked by police dogs, and blasted with fire hoses for trying to exercise the rights that were guaranteed to them by the Constitution.

The First Great TV News Story

http://www.crmvet.org/images/imgyoung.htm

By the late 1950s, television news was competitng with newspapers on a daily basis, and the Civil Rights Movement was the first great television news story.(Streitmatter 175). However, just because The Civil Rights Movement was great televison it didnt mean it was accepted by all. The South didnt want the television networks reporting on the matter.When segregationist realized that television was disrupting the system they started to see reporters as enemies. They started putting signs up on motels that read "NO DOGS, NIGGERS, OR REPORTERS ALLOWED."Many southerners came up with nicknames for ABC, NBC, and CBS. The nicknames were: Afro Broadcasting Company, Colored Broadcasting Company, and Nigger Broadcasting Company. But name calling wasn't all, violence also became a part of the Southerners fight against the journalist. Once in Alabama in 1965 NBC's reporter Richard Valeriani was hit with an ax handle. Valeriani recalled how  and a state trooper saw the whole thing and all the state trooper did was take the ax away from the guy told him that he "had done enough damage for one night and didn't even arrest the guy".(Streitmatter176).

Big Deal at Little Rock

http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/6-legacy/freedom-struggle-1.html

One of the giant moments in The Civil Rights Movement, took place in Little Rock Arkansas. In the summer of 1957, African American leaders in Little Rock challenged the segregated school policy by enrolling nine black students in the city's most highly regarded public high school, which was all white(Streitmatter177).Network cameras were all over this story readfy to record the students walking into the school however Governor Orval Fabus ordered soldiers to stop students from entering the school.That day, Black leaders arranged for the students to be brought into the school by a police car for their own protection. Elizabeth Eckford, one of the nine students didnt hjave a phone and was not aware of the plan.So Elizabeth walked to school alone and she was greeted by a crowd of angry segregationists yelling out "Lynch her! Lynch the nigger bitch!" President Eisenhower ordered the soldiers to protect the Little Rock Nine. So for the rest of the school year news’s cameras televised the soldiers protecting the students pointing their bayonets to the mob of angry white segregationists. Every morning and afternoon the nation would watch as military jeeps escorted the students to and from school.

Breaking Barriers at the University of Georgia

http://communicationrhodes.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/today-we-honor-charlayne-hunter-gault/

By early 1961, the country had a youthful new president, and civil rights leaders savored in the new hope that John F. Kennedy’s Democratic administration would provide more support for their march toward racial equality (Streitmatter178). Federal court ruled that the University of Georgia, for the first time in its 175 year history had to admit African-American students. The only two African-American students that attended the university were Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter. Since Hunter was a female she was required to live on campus and Holmes being a male was allowed to move off campus. The image of Hunter staring at the ground while being insulted and spit at by white students was transmitted on TV every night for days. One night a white girl tossed a quarter on the ground in front of Hunter and yelled at her saying "Here, nigger. Here's a quarter. Go change my sheets." Another scene of hatred and racism was when students gathered outside Hunter's dormitory holding a banner that said "Nigger, go home!" Similar scenes of violence unfolded time and time again as educational institutions in the south became desegregated. Two of these institutions were the University of Mississippi in 1961 and the University of Alabama in 1963.

Riding Buses for Freedom

http://www.siena.edu/pages/179.asp?item=252127

The next phase of coverage evolved from a Supreme Court decision banning segregation travel(Streitmatter179).To make sure that this new law was intact in May 1961 a racially mixed group of college students purchased bus tickets to take them from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans. These students were now known as "freedom riders". NBC cameraman Moe Levy boarded one of the buses with the students recording images of the ride. The freedom riders traveled through the Carolinas and Virginia being taunted by segregationist but this stopped as soon as they entered Alabama. But when the bus pulled into the Montgomery station a mob of 2,000 segregationists armed with bricks, bats and pipes attacked the freedom riders. There was no footage of the attack because the mob destroyed the camera. The students lost teeth, suffered broken bones and some were disfigured for life. Levy was clubbed repeatedly and one of his legs suffered permanent injuries.

Television Images Nourish a Social Revolution

http://www.crmvet.org/images/imgbham.htm

Congress ultimately passed two pieces of legislation that became the most important tangible products of Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and probitbited restaurants, hotels, theaters, and other facilities of public accommodation from turning away any person on the bias of race. The voting rights act of 1965 banned all barriers to Americans exercising the rights to vote(Streitmatter190).Television played a major factor in both of these laws being passed by showing their graphic images such as blacks being attacked by dogs. Television is a more powerful tool then news papers of gettin a poitn across because when you see the images in motion it really hits you harder then just reading about it.

I am so grateful that we finally live in a world that is equal. I cant nor do i ever want to imagine what it was like to live during these times. Their is still some racism going on in the world today that disgusts me, but however we have made major strives in our country and it will only continue to get better. We are all equal and free members of the beautiful United States of America.

http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/kkk_intro.htm

The Beginning

The Ku Klux Klan originated in the South in the late 1800s. Led by confederate who's man goal was to prevent slaves from exercising their new acquired rights, but it didn't last long as the Confederates stopped after only three years. Almost fifty years later however the Klan returned and this time meant business.

The Ku Klux Klan wanted to have a major impact. The Klan wanted to impact American society, beliefs, and rights. In Atlanta a man named William Joseph Simmons led a dozen men up a rocky trail on the imposing granite crest of stone mountain. Simmons ignited a pine cross that light up the Georgia sky. With a bible in his hand, Simmons led the men in a vow of allegiance to the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. (Streitmatter109) This ceremony began the resurrection of the KKK as in the next decade it inflamed into a nationwide organization. The KKK offered people a sense of fraternity,and  a commitment to self defined traditional American values. The KKK really showed they were a force to be reckoned with when one of their members were elected to U.S.Senate in Texas, a Governor in Oregon,and won a senate race in Colorado.

Taking Over

http://my.opera.com

After Simmons revived the klan in 1915 his followers remained quite low until 1920 when two promoters recognized that the klan was a financial gold mind. Edward Young Clarke and Elizabeth Tyler persuaded Simmons to pay them one-fourth of the ten dollar each new member paid an arrangement's that ultimatley yielded the recruiters a sum of $30,000 a week. (Streitmatter 111)With Clarke's ambition and Tyler's creativity the Ku Klux Klan had up to four million members by 1924. Clarke and Tyler urged their recruiters to fill their rhetoric with loaded phrases such as "pure women hood, "100 percent Americans, and "the tenets of the religion Christian religion".(Streitmatter 111) Ku Klux Klan recruiters were also promised better schools, improved law enforcement, and hold fast to traditional values being threatened by social permissive Roaring Twenties.

The World Takes Issue

The first and most comprehensive journalistic crusade in defiance of the Klan was the New York World. The New York World promoted its September 1921 blockbuster with full ads that screamed "Ku KLux Klan Exposed!"(Streitmatter 112. The opening article stated that the Klans growth as a financial scam had stolen over forty million dollars in initiation fees. However the Worlds editors later found out that their plan to kill the KKK backfired as they gave them free publicity and informed potential Klan members of the Klans acts and published copies of the Klans application form.

The Commerical Appeal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Commercial_Appeal

The next major battlefield in the Klan- newspaper was unfolded in 1923in Memphis, where Ku KLux Klan membership exceeded 10,000. (Streitmatter 115). The editorial page condemned the Klans use of vigilante violence as a means of terrorizing the city's African Americans, Catholics, and Jews. The most affective thing The Commercial Appeal did was have bruising front page cartoons that portrayed the Klansman as cowards hiding behind masks. The Commercial Appeal played a huge role in the Memphis elections as Mayor Rowllett Paine won the election over the Klans W. Joe Wood.

The End of The KKK

The Montgomery Adviser had a huge role in shutting down the KKK.Editor Grover Cleveland Hall wanted to encourage a state law to be passed that prohibited people from wearing masks and disguises in public places and make it a felony for men that were disguised to attack citizens of Alabama. Hall wanted this law to be passed because of the KKK's violent crimes of physical punishment to people just because of their skin color or religion and in some cases just because of their gambling and drinking habits.Progressive representatives from both houses introduced tough anti-mask bills outlawing masks and robes like the ones used by members of the  KKK, stipulating that masked floggers would be tried as felons.

http://www.peopleofcolororganize.com/activism/african-liberation-white-left/

The Ku Klux Klan was a very powerful organiztaion. Having its members in The United States Senate. Journalism helped put it to bed. The New York World, The commercial Appeal, and The Montgomery Advertiser all had a role in shutting down the KKK. We still live in a world where there is some racisicim but everyone needs to wake up. Its 2012 we have an African American President, and we are all equal.

Why I Chose Chapter 3 Slowing The Momentum Of Women,s Rights.

I am a strong believer that everyone is equal. Dealing with race, gender, or anything else we are all humans and we all deserve equal rights. It always fascinated me on how in the early days these rights were non exsistant and sit and wonder what would the world be like if it was like that now? I was always curious of the process it took for women to finally get their rights and how men felt about it when it happened but never really looked in into it so wih this as one of the choices for our first blog, I was excited about working on it.

http://washingtonindependent.com/27846/women-and-the-stimulus

Summary of Chapter 3 Slowing the Momentum of Women's Rights

In the introduction,Streitmatter talks about how women's right became such a reveloution. Streitmatter discusses how men ran the fourth estate which resulted in journalism not focusing on the women's movement greatly. Streitmatter talks about what women were thought to do back then. They were expected to stay at home. Clean the house, cook, take care of the children. They were never expected by men to voice their opinions or feelings on anything.

http://otal.umd.edu/~vg/msf97/ms04/gb/project4.html
Streitmatter then begins to discuss the process of the womens movement begging in Seneca Falls. He talks about a women named Elizabeth Cady Stanton. He states that she was one of the women trying to gain more rights for the rest of her gender. Streitmatter also speaks about the man ruled newspapers would put down the w omens movement, calling the women and men who defended them hurtful names.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cady_Stanton

Women then began to get very serious about gaining their rights, and started pushing the women's revolution. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony started the revolution trying the spread the word of the women's need for equal rights. However the male lead newspapers shut it down. Then some of the women began the break apart as some were very serious about gaining the rights as Stanton and Anthony, while others were not to concerned, were layed back and weren't as assertive as the others.

Enough is Enough

Women began to push as man began to fight against them. Men wanted to target the head of the revolution so they went right after Susan B. Anthony with awful comments about her. With the papers still killing all women s revolution topics the women's movement reformed the force a stronger fight, and formed The National Women's Suffrage Association. They started forming acts to gain their right in public, which lead to many of the women being arrested and getting harassed. A women named Carrie Chapman Catt then formed her winning plan which lead to the nignteenth amendment which reads,The right of citizens of The United States to vote should not be denied or abridged by The United States or by any state on the account of sex. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.   

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/19th+Amendment

Many Mens Veiws

Even with the women gaining their right to vote in the nineteenth amendment the men still didn't take them serious and hated the idea of them having equal rights as them. Streitmatter talks about how the men in control of the paper wrote headlines about the women not holding anything back trying anything they could to stop the revolution where it was. The Worseter Telegraph  said about the women " amazons who were bolting with a vengeance" . But the times have changed now. We are all equals. Men, Women can do the same thing, and I believe its only a matter of time before a women becomes president of The United States of America. Some men are still living in the past not ok with women having equal rights and in some ways women being stronger then them but its time to grow up and face the fact that were all in this world together as one.

http://ei-awn.org/

For our first blog project, I will be doing it on chapter 3 slowing the momentum of women rights.

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