Matt Wehr ENGL 466 Professor Antonette. This is a timeline dedicated to those who stood up in the face of adversity from 1947 to 1968—to those who fought.

Matt Wehr

ENGL 466

Professor Antonette

This is a timeline dedicated to those who stood up in the face of adversity from 1947 to 1968—to those who fought for the equal rights for all African American people—to those who suffered—to those who changed the face of America—forever.

In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it is to those who fought for “the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

1947: Jackie

Robinson

1949: Langston Hughes’ One-Way

Ticket

1954: Brown v. Board of

Education

1955: Rosa Parks

1957: “Little

Rock Nine”

1960: Ruby Bridges

1960: Woolworth

Sit-In

1951: Lanston Hughes’

Montage of a Dream Deferred

1963: MLK’s “I

Have a Dream” speech

1964: Nina Simone

1965: Jerry LeVias

1963: Denise

McNair, Carole

Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, & Cynthia Wesley

1966: Greg Page & Nat

Northington

1966: Bill Russell

1967: Thurgood Marshall

1968: Sly and the Family Stone

1968: MLK’s “I’ve Been to

the Mountaintop”

Photo courtesy of csus.edu

Up until 1947, African American men were restricted to play in the Negro Leagues of professional baseball. As Sharon Robinson, daughter of Jackie Robinson, writes in Promises to Keep (2004), the Negro Leagues, although a “unique and exciting style of baseball,” were a part of a “discriminatory system” wherein salaries were lower, schedules had no fluency, and games played in the south were forced to follow Jim Crow laws (p.22).

Major League Baseball, which was considered “America’s pastime” during the post-WWII era, was beginning to get questioned, initially by sports writers. As Robinson (2004) writes in her book, “Could baseball truly be considered America’s pastime when black ballplayers and white ballplayers couldn't play on the same field” (p.25)?

Several years prior to 1947, Branch Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, set out to find the African American man who would be “right on and off the field” in his campaign to integrate Major League Baseball (Robinson, 2004, p.27).

Rickey finally decided, after plenty of scouting and interviews, that Jackie Robinson would be the right man to integrate Major League Baseball. Rickey asked Robinson in an interview if he would be able to “hold back his anger for the sake of the mission” (Robinson, 2004, p.29). As Robinson (2004) writes in her book, Rickey “knew that Dad had both the self-control and the courage to succeed” (p.29).

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York (Robinson, 2004, p.36). The game is historic in that it was the first time an African American man had played in a Major League Baseball game. It would also lead to a string of many more events involving the Civil Rights of African American people in the next 20 years.

Photo courtesy of oberlin.edu

Already established as an acclaimed American poet, Arnold Rampersad (2001) writes that Hughes’ release of One-Way Ticket in 1949 was ridiculed by some critics. One scholar declared the book “stale, flat and spiritless.” Another critic said that Hughes “lacked everything one expects in a poet.” One reviewer called Hughes a “documentary poet” (Vol. 2, p.9).

Ironically, Rampersad (2001) reveals that Hughes was “proud to be a ‘documentary poet’ of African American life, setting down on paper the life and language of the people” (Vol. 2, p.9).

Several poems from One-Way Ticket can be seen on the following slides. The poems I have chosen are very powerful in language. Hughes, as will be seen in the poems I have selected, often wrote about the inequalities, prejudices, and oppressions that African American people faced.

The Ballad of Margie Polite

If Margie PoliteHad of been whiteShe might not’ve cussedOut the cop that night.

In the lobbyOf the Braddock HotelShe might not’ve feltThe urge to raise hell.

A soldier took her part.He got shot in the backBy a white cop—The soldier were black.

They killed a colored soldier!Folks started to cry it—The cry spread over HarlemAnd turned into riot.

They taken Margie to jailAnd kept her there.DISORDERLY CONDUCTThe charges swear.

Margie warn’t nobodyImportant before—But she ain’t just nobodyNow no more.

She started the riots!Harlemites sayAugust 1st isMARGIE’S DAY

Mark August 1stAs decreed by fateFor Margie and HistoryTo have a date.

Mayor La GuardiaRiding up and down.Somebody yelled,What aboutStuyvesant Town?

Colored leadersIn sound trucks.Somebody yelled,Go home, you hucks!

They didn’t kill the soldier,A race leader cried.Somebody hollered,Naw! But they tried!

Margie Polite!Margie Polite!Kept the MayorAnd Walter WhiteAnd everybodyUp all night!

When the PD carTaken Margie away—It wasn’t Mother’sNor Father’s—It wereMARGIE’S DAY!

*(Hughes, 1949, p.194)

Who but the Lord?

I looked and I sawThat man they call the law.He was comingDown the street at me!I had visions in my headOf being laid out cold and dead,Or else murderedBy the third degree.

I said, O, Lord, if you can,Save me from that man!Don’t let him make a pulp out of me!But the Lord he was not quick.The law raised up his stickAnd beat the living hellOut of me!

Now, I do not understandWhy God don’t protect a manFrom Police brutality.Being poor and black,I’ve no weapon to strike backSo who but the LordCan protect me?

*(Hughes, 1949, p.193)

Lynching Song

Pull at the rope!O, pull it high!Let the white folks liveAnd the black boy die.

Pull it, boys,With a bloody cry.Let the black boy spinWhile the white folks die.

The white folks die?What do you mean—The white folks die?

That black boy’sStill bodySays:

NOT I.

*(Hughes, 1949, p.187)

One-Way Ticket

I pick up my lifeAnd take it with meAnd I put it down inChicago, Detroit,Buffalo, Scranton,Any place that isNorth and East—And not Dixie.

I pick up my lifeAnd take it on the trainTo Los Angeles, Bakersfield,Seattle, Oakland, Salt Lake,Any place that isNorth and West—And not South.

I am fed upWith Jim Crow laws,People who are cruelAnd afraid,Who lynch and run,Who are scared of meAnd me of them.

I pick up my lifeAnd take it awayOn a one-way ticket—Gone up North,Gone out West,Gone! *(Hughes, 1949, p.188)

By 1951, Hughes had been writing poetry for almost thirty years and was regarded as one of the most admired American poets of his era—black or white. His latest release was Montage of a Dream Deferred. Arnold Rampersad (2001) writes that this book was influenced by Hughes’ recognition of Harlem’s “growing unemployment, rising crime, the advent of a drug culture, and a deepening sense of hopelessness…”(Vol. 3, p. 4).

On the following slides, several poems from Montage will be displayed. As with One-Way Ticket, Hughes’ book initially received “chilly” reception by critics and reviewers. Black academic critic J. Saunders Redding said of the book, “His images are again quick, vibrant and probing, but they no longer educate. They probe into old emotions and experiences with fine sensitiveness…but they reveal nothing new” (Vol. 3, p.6)

Regardless, the imagery and language of Hughes’ poetry is true to what he as an African American person saw, heard, and felt. The poems in Montage further established his legacy as a writer not only among the African American community, but among the American community as a whole.

Harlem

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry upLike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore—And then run?Does it stink like rotten meat?Or curst and sugar over—Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sagsLike a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

*(Hughes, 1951, p.74).

Not a Movie

Well, they rocked him with road-applesBecause he tried to voteAnd whipped his head with clubsAnd he crawled on his knees to his houseAnd he got the midnight trainAnd he crossed that Dixie lineNow he’s livin’On a 133rd.

He didn’t stop in WashingtonAnd he didn’t stop in BaltimoreNeither in Newark on the way.Six knots was on his headBut, thank God, he wasn’t dead,Now there ain’t no Ku KluxOn a 133rd.

*(Hughes, 1951, p.36).

Parade

Seven ladiesAnd seventeen gentlemenAt the Elks Club LoungePlanning planning a parade:Grand Marshal in his white suitWill lead it.Cadillacs with dignitariesWill precede it.And behind will comeWith band and drumOn foot…on foot…On foot…

Motorcycle cops,White,Will speed itOut of sightIf they can:Solid black,Can’t be right.

Marching…marching…Marching…Noon till night…

I never knewthat many Negroeswere on earth,did you?

I never knew!

PARADE!

A chance to let

PARADE!

the whole world see

PARADE!

old black me!

(Hughes, 1951, p.28).

Photo courtesy of Law.du.edu

In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal facilities for blacks and whites did not violate the fourteenth Amendment” (Pratt, 2002, p.141). In 1954, this decision was overturned by the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, with the historic case of Brown vs. Board of Education (Pratt, 2002, p.141).

Brown vs. Board of Education was a collection of five cases that the “NAACP had been preparing” (Pratt, 2002, p.143). All five cases had been combined, and on May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ended “legally sanctioned segregation in the public schools” (Pratt, 2002, p.143).

Interestingly enough, Pratt (2002) writes that “until 1954 black parents and their allies most often demanded educational equality, not desegregation,” due to reservations such as “white racial superiority and black inferiority” (p.142). Eventually, however, African American people became convinced that “whites would never grant total equality” (Pratt, 2002, p.142).

A second case, known as “Brown II,” was held in 1955. It instructed school districts to implement desegregation “with all deliberate speed’” due to intense resistance by many schools (Pratt, 2002, p.144).

Kurt H. Wilson (2005) refers to Rosa Parks as “the woman who had defied a bus driver and given them [African American people of Montgomery, Alabama] the courage to defy a city” (p. 302).

She is often referred to by the media as “The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” and is partially responsible for “imitative movements across the South, a new civil rights organization (SCLC), and a charismatic, national civil rights leader (MLK)” (Wilson, 2005, p.300). She is also partially responsible for the Montgomery Bus Boycott on December 5, 1955. Most importantly, she is partially responsible for the integration of city bus lines, which occurred a year after her arrest for refusing to give up her bus seat (Wilson, 2005, p.300).

Here is a quote from Rosa Parks on her refusal to give up her seat on the bus on December 1, 1955:

“I did not get on the bus to get arrested; I got on the bus to go home….I had no idea that history was being made. I was just tired of giving in” (Wilson, 2005, p. 299).

Photo courtesy of American.edu

Photo courtesy of nieman.harvard.edu

Carlotta Walls, Jefferson Thomas, Elizabeth Eckford, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Ernest Green, Terrence Roberts, Gloria Ray, and Minnijean Brown are the “Little Rock Nine.” These nine students volunteered to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. At the time, “less than 2% of southern schools had been integrated” (Bridges, 1999, p. 4).

In August of 1957, the nine aforementioned African American children were approved to attend Central High School. However, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus put a temporary halt to the integration, claiming that “he had information that weapons were confiscated from Negro teenagers by police. On August 29 Judge Murray O. Reed issued an injunction halting the integration of Central High School” (“Daisy Bates,” Biography Resource Center, 2006).

On September 22, 1957, Faubus went on national television to tell black children and their parents to “make no attempt to enroll at Central High School” (“Daisy Bates,” Biography Resource Center, 2006).

Only two days later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower “federalized all units of the Arkansas National Guard and ordered Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson to enforce the integration order issued by the U.S. District Court” (“Daisy Bates,” Biography Resource Center, 2006). He had a television message of his own, and it was quite different from Faubus’:

“Disorderly mobs have deliberately prevented the carrying out of proper orders from the federal court ... I have today issued an executive order directing the use of troops under federal authority to aid in the execution of federal law in Little Rock” (“Daisy Bates,” Biography Resource Center, 2006).

On September 25, 1957, the “Little Rock Nine” met at Daisy Bates’ home and were escorted to and from the high school under the protection of soldiers with “hundreds of reporters, photographers, and news cameras present” (“Daisy Bates,” Biography Resource Center, 2006).

These are the “Little Rock Nine.”

Photo courtesy of loc.gov

Ruby Bridges became part of a plan “to integrate only the first grade for the 1960 school year. Then, every year after that, the incoming first grade would also be integrated” (Bridges, 1999, p.10). Prior to this, however, black kindergartners were tested. Bridges (1999) writes in her book, “They wanted to find out which children should be sent to the white schools….I was only five, and I’m sure I didn’t have any idea why I was taking it” (p. 11).

Bridges was just one of five African American children to pass the test, and on November 14, 1960, she was the only one of the five to attend William Frantz Public School in Louisiana. Bridges (1999) looks back at the event in her book and writes, “There were barricades and people shouting and policemen everywhere. I thought maybe it was Mardi Gras, the carnival that takes place in New Orleans every year. Mardi Gras was always noisy” (p.16). When she got to the steps, she thought otherwise: “It must be college, I thought to myself” (p.16).

While Ruby was integrating William Frantz, the other children who passed the test were integrating nearby McDonogh No. 19. They were “Leona, Tessie, and Gail” (Bridges, 1999, p.30).

In time, Ruby became a hero of some sorts to Americans from all over the country. Bridges (1999) writes in her book, “People from around the country sent gifts and money. They knew what was happening in New Orleans because of television news programs, as well as magazine and newspaper articles. Many Americans wanted to encourage us” (p. 36-37).

Ruby went to the school for most of the year in a classroom with only herself and her teacher Mrs. Henry, which is not what integration was supposed to be. Her biggest achievement, however, is, along with the African American children who attended McDonogh No. 19, starting the integration of public schools throughout the South.

Photo courtesy of american.edu

Four male African American college students sat down in a Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina, bought several items, and sat down at a “whites only” lunch counter. Knowing that they would not be served, they still sat in their seats and did not move. A policeman passing by came in and, “hitting the palm of his hand with his billy club,” paced back and forth in front of the four young men assuming that it would intimidate them (Foster, 2003, p.397). Susan Leigh Foster (2003) writes of the scene, “four white middle-aged women shoppers paused to pat the students on the back, remarking that they should have done this years earlier” (p.398).

This event was not the first staged sit-in by African American individuals during the Civil Rights movement, but it “marked the beginning of a rapid expansion in similar protests” (Foster, 2003, p.398). Throughout America’s south in the following weeks, similar sit-ins occurred, all similar to the Woolworth Sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina. As Foster (2003) remarks in her article, this event was “more than a hamburger” (p. 398).

In reference to not only the Woolworth Sit-in, but all non-violent actions, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his book Why We Can’t Wait (1964):

“Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden

tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured” (p. 73).

Photo courtesy of http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0451527534.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

On September 15, 1963, a Ku Klux Klan bombing killed four girls going to Sunday school at their Sixteenth Street Baptist Church (Morrison, 2004, p. 78). The bombing is just one of many bombings set off by racists that occurred throughout Birmingham, Alabama.

The same church is also where “young people,” black and white, once “converged…in wave after wave. More than a thousand young people demonstrated and went to jail…there were 2,500 demonstrators in jail at one time, a large proportion of them young people” (King, Jr., 1964, p.88-89).

All photos courtesy of sph.emory.edu

In August of 1963, “Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed a large crowd of peaceful demonstrators at a march on Washington, during which he delivered his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech” (Morrison, 2004, p.77). The speech can be watched below by clicking on the photo/movie clip.

Photo courtesy of ncsu.edu

Simone is an African American singer/song-writer who released an album in 1964 titled In Concert/ I Put a Spell on You. On the album, there are two tracks that are lyrically directed towards the oppressions and inequalities African American people faced during this time. They are “Old Jim Crow” and “Mississippi Goddam.” The latter of the two is playing in the background. The lyrics for both can be seen by clicking on the links below for each respective song. Be aware that you will not be able to view the lyrics and listen to the song at the same time.

Click here to see lyrics for “Old Jim

Crow”

Click here to see lyrics for “Mississippi

Goddam”

Photo courtesy of collegefootball.org

LeVias was “the first black scholarship player in the Southwest Conference” while playing football at Southern Methodist University (Wolff, 2005, p.4). While a member of the football team, he was “spit in his face during a practice…students scrambled to avoid having to sit next to him in class, and student trainers refused to tape his ankles” (Wolff, 2005, p.4). Furthermore, “the parents of his first roommate threatened to withdraw their son from school; his second moved out after concluding that his social life was being adversely affected by LeVias’s race,” and teammates would scatter from the shower stalls as soon as LeVias entered them (Wolff, 2005, p.4).

When he was on the road for games in other Texas towns, fans would “hold up ropes tied into nooses, and the Texas A&M corps of cadets let black cats onto the field” in one particular instance (Wolff, 2005, p.4).

LeVias overcame all adversity and is now a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. After years of having “thrashings in the middle of the night,” he has begun to talk about his past openly across the country (Wolff, 2005, p.4)

Photo courtesy of flagline.com

“The color barrier remained intact for SEC football until 1966,” when Greg Page and Nat Northington became members of the University of Kentucky Wildcats football team (Wolff, 2005, p.2). Colleges of the SEC conference are embedded in the deep south wherein racial prejudices and racism were at its worst. When Page was asked why he chose UK, he said, “I wanted to play football for UK and to help open the way for more Negro athletes to play ball here” (Wolff, 2005, p. 8).

In 1967, during a practice drill, “all 11 Wildcats defenders,” ALSO teammates of Page’s, “converged on the ball” when Page was the ball carrier. Page failed to rise. He was left paralyzed from the nose down. He died on a Friday night (Wolff, 2005, p.2).

His only African American teammate, Nat Northington, on the day following Page’s death, “became the first African American to play in an SEC varsity football game…but within weeks he fled Lexington in a fog of distress and loneliness, leaving the Kentucky varsity all-white once more” (Wolff, 2005, p.2).

Photo courtesy of bu.edu

Bill Russell became the first African American head coach in any American professional sport, and it was for the most storied franchise in NBA history, the Boston Celtics. In his first two seasons, he was a player/coach, meaning he played and coached. Russell took over coaching duties for the legendary Red Auerbach, who hired him. When Auerbach was asked by Roscoe Nance (2002) of USA Today about the hiring of Russell, he said, “the move had nothing to do with race or a quota system…He was given the job strictly because of merit. Him being black or white was never thought of, hinted at or discussed” (USA Today).

Russell won NBA titles in two of the three seasons he was player/coach (Nance, 2002, USA Today). He opened doors for future African American head coaches in professional American sports. In 2002, the NBA had a record 13 African American head coaches out of 29 teams in the league (Nance, 2002, USA Today).

Photo courtesy of web.mit.edu

Marshall is often tagged as “Mr. Civil Rights.” He was “a staunch defender” and “tireless champion” of Civil Rights, an “attorney for NAACP,” helped end school segregation in the Brown v. Board of Education case of 1954, became U.S. solicitor general in 1965, and the list goes on and on (“Thurgood Marshall,” Biography Resource Center, 2006).

In 1967, Marshall, although “facing stiff opposition” by “four southern senators on the Judiciary Committee,” was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to be on the Supreme Court with an overwhelming victory of 69-11. He was the first African American to acquire such a position. He retired from the position in 1991 (“Thurgood Marshall,” Biography Resource Center, 2006).

"Throughout his time on the court, Marshall has remained a strong advocate of individual rights.... He has remained a conscience on the bench, never wavering in his devotion to ending discrimination” (“Thurgood Marshall,” Biography Resource Center, 2006).

Photo courtesy of www.stonecisum.com

Everyday People Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrongMy own beliefs are in my songThe butcher, the banker, the drummer and thenMakes no difference what group I'm inI am everyday people, yeah yeahThere is a blue one who can't accept the green oneFor living with a fat one trying to be a skinny oneAnd different strokes for different folksAnd so on and so on and scooby dooby doo-beeOh sha sha - we got to live togetherI am no better and neither are youWe are the same whatever we doYou love me you hate me you know me and thenYou can't figure out the bag l'm inI am everyday people, yeah yeahThere is a long hair that doesn't like the short hairFor bein' such a rich one that will not help the poor oneAnd different strokes for different folksAnd so on and so on and scooby dooby doo-beeOh sha sha-we got to live togetherThere is a yellow one that won't accept the black oneThat won't accept the red one that won't accept the white oneAnd different strokes for different folks

King, Jr. was at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement. As Clayborne Carson (2005) writes of King, Jr., he “not only understood his place in a larger African American freedom struggle but also the place of this effort in a global freedom struggle” (p.3).

Carson (2005) further writes that King recognizes civil rights as a world issue not only in his “papers,” but also in his final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” on April 3, 1968, which was on the eve of his death in Memphis, Tennessee:

“Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are

assembled today; wherever they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, George; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee, the cry is always the same: ‘We want to be free.’….Men for years have talked about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it” (Carson, 2005, p. 3).

Photo courtesy of http://www.drmartinlutherkingjr.com

All of the individuals mentioned in this timeline are just a few of the men, women, and children who helped future generations of African American people live a better life. Each person and each event mentioned in this timeline led to something more, and if not for these individuals and events, the United States would not be where it is at today in terms of equality for all of humanity.

While I am presenting this timeline with some optimism, it is also safe to say that the fight for equality for African American people continues to be an uphill battle in 2006. Some see the events between 1947 and 1968 as not bringing “the revolutionary changes in race relations that many had predicted. Many of the nation’s public schools are nearly as segregated today as they were in 1954, and there are no current signs that the trend is reversing” (Pratt, p. 147).

Kenneth Clark, a psychologist whose tests helped influence the Supreme Court justices in 1954, said in 1993:

“I am forced to face the likely possibility that the United States will never rid itself of racism and reach true integration. I look back and shudder at how naïve we all were in our belief in the steady progress racial minorities would make through programs of litigation and education…I am forced to recognize that my life has, in fact, been a series of glorious defeats” (Pratt, 2002, p.148).

Like Clark, when Thurgood Marshall resigned in 1991 from the Supreme Court Justice, he was “thoroughly frustrated and bitter” (Pratt, 2002, p.148).

It is, however, important to recognize the bravery and dedication of the individuals mentioned in this timeline, and to recognize the importance of the events that occurred. It is also important to recognize that the fight for equality is never over. The world can always be a better place. There is no such thing as perfection in this world, but it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to strive for perfection. There can never be enough Jackie Robinson’s, Thurgood Marshall’s, Ruby Bridges’, Greg Page’s, and Langston Hughes’ in this world. So who will be next?

Click here to be directed to a list of my references for the Timeline in MS Word format.