Black People : How Much Do You Know Or Remember About The Civil Rights Movement?

[jamesfrmphilly]

i don't remember a **** thing….

 

[Fieldpea]

In the year of 1950 I was born and raised in the south. My parents were from the south as well. I've witnessed and experienced the raw kind of racism--not sugar-coated or soft peddled like I see it done in the north, but raw and real.

I am my mother's daughter, unafraid to speak out about injustices and always doing for "my" community.

My father was more quiet. I love my father no less though, because I understood at a very young age, the trials and challenges that he faced as a Black man, a man who had witnessed the deep degree of hatred for Blacks by ignorant southern whites, starting at such a young age living in Georgia and being forced to see things that no child should see or feel. As a man, he was less vocal in public and less apt to share his thoughts in mixed race company about racism. Understandable--Black men were still being lynched at that time. So, when I was old enough and able, I became my father's voice and fiercest supporter.

I was raised up during the Civil Rights Movement. I experienced the struggle for justice. I grew up under Jim Crow laws. My mother took me to a freedom rally when I was little and I was able to see Martin Luther King, Jr. give a speech in my community. I didn't know at the time what an icon he would become, but I knew that his presence was special and would change things for Black people.

As a teen, I had a mad crush on Huey Newton...thought that man was as fine as I'd ever seen and I knew there was something special about the BPP too. They were scarey because they weren't typical Black people at that time who thought it best to be mute. They not only challenged the "establishment", they were ready to put their money where their mouths were and that was exciting to me, as a young woman with a budding warrior spirit.

In 1964, the Supreme Court decided it was time to force states to implement their 1954 decision in Brown v. Topeka Bd. of Education. The death of Jim Crow laws was caused when the Civil Rights Act in 1964 was passed and enacted. I and about 20 or so other Black kids, desegregated an all-white high school in an all-white community. It was there that I discovered my attitude, my courage and my voice. The school tried to punish me for speaking my truth and resistance to its rules, but my mother wasn't having that so although there were small prices I had to pay like going to summer school to get my grades caught up, they didn't destroy me nor silence me.

We had a television and every night on the news you could depend on some report about MLK, Stokely Carmichael, Malcolm X or the BPP. That was during a time when Black families ate dinner together and had family time together. Watching the news was a nightly ritual in my house. Be aware too, this was also during the time of the Vietnam War when the U.S. still drafted young boys to the military, which was another cause for stress in Black families who had sons old enough to be drafted. Black families dreaded the mail for fear that a letter from the government would be delivered. Many Black families that I knew of, including my own, received that letter--it was a scarey time for all.

Fashion and music began to take on a different form--protest music became popular among Blacks and we sang it loud and proud. Afros, bell bottoms, mini-skirts and platform shoes were worn by Black people who were becoming more conscious about themselves and we strutted like peacocks proud to display our new-found "blackness". We were a beautiful sight to behold. The teachings of people like Marcus Garvey and the Hon. Elijah Mohammed were topics of intellectual debates. More Black preachers like Dr. King used the church pulpits to "free" the congregation from mental slavery and tried to instill in us the courage to fight against prejudice and discrimination and to rock the vote.

Black studies and Black caucuses found a birthplace on college campuses and exploded everywhere. College was a feeding ground for NEW Black knowledge and awareness and political savvy. Research and books being published by Black scholars was huge.

On predominantly white college campuses, Black faculty and Black students worked hand-in-hand to demand that the institution hire and admit more people like them and to provide support services designed for them.

At that time, Black student athletes fought against racial exploitation in favor of graduation.

These are just a few of my experiences. I'm sure others have stories they can share.

Outstanding post!


In remembrance of those times, I 'felt' your post, and in a personal, direct way. I was born in '56 in Arkansas. In '58, my family moved to Az. because my dad faced being murdered by the local white knights--a friend of his was murdered two nights before--(found his shot and beaten body in a cattle truck), because they'd both gotten into it with a white man (the white man was beating on my dad's friend, and my dad pulled the white man off of him, and that white man screamed at them that, "They were both DEAD NI@@ERS, watch and see".


Very dangerous times, all across the South and *all too common* a condition for our people, wasn't it?


In my own case, being raised *southern-style*, yet NOT raised in the South, comparatively, our rights struggles in Az. was oh, so much *softer* than it remained for the rest of our people.


Great post!


One Love, and PEACE

 

[chuck]

Outstanding post!


In remembrance of those times, I 'felt' your post, and in a personal, direct way. I was born in '56 in Arkansas. In '58, my family moved to Az. because my dad faced being murdered by the local white knights--a friend of his was murdered two nights before--(found his shot and beaten body in a cattle truck), because they'd both gotten into it with a white man (the white man was beating on my dad's friend, and my dad pulled the white man off of him, and that white man screamed at them that, "They were both DEAD NI@@ERS, watch and see".


Very dangerous times, all across the South and *all too common* a condition for our people, wasn't it?


In my own case, being raised *southern-style*, yet NOT raised in the South, comparatively, our rights struggles in Az. was oh, so much *softer* than it remained for the rest of our people.


Great post!

CTJ:

Oh, what we've all had to cope and deal with, posters...

Anybody able and willing to tell it all, in public, I applaud you...

Much you and yours have had to live thru, so do keep on keeping on!

 

[chuck]

Outstanding post!


In remembrance of those times, I 'felt' your post, and in a personal, direct way. I was born in '56 in Arkansas. In '58, my family moved to Az. because my dad faced being murdered by the local white knights--a friend of his was murdered two nights before--(found his shot and beaten body in a cattle truck), because they'd both gotten into it with a white man (the white man was beating on my dad's friend, and my dad pulled the white man off of him, and that white man screamed at them that, "They were both DEAD NI@@ERS, watch and see".


Very dangerous times, all across the South and *all too common* a condition for our people, wasn't it?


In my own case, being raised *southern-style*, yet NOT raised in the South, comparatively, our rights struggles in Az. was oh, so much *softer* than it remained for the rest of our people.


Great post!

CTJ

Your family story is bound to be a reality check/wake up call...

You are a bound to be a role model too...






One Love, and PEACE

 

[chuck]

Our struggles went on from generation to generation, wherever our ancestors or forebears or parents or we wound up...

Folks having endured generations of enslavement, then followed by the U. S. version of apartheid aka 'Jim Crow' segregation, also speaking out/standing up, of course they inspired our parents , and relations ( from all over this nation) came to their aid, too...

No north/south leadership crisis, everybody doing thing somewhere else, as well...

FYI...