Luncheon Racism I
Lead: In early February 1960, the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, became a powerful symbol the in the fight against racial segregation in the American south.
Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.
Content: Late in the afternoon on February 1st, four students from North Carolina Agriculture and Technical College – Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair and David Richmond - staged a “sit in.” Three of the four were freshmen, all still teenagers, were respectfully dressed in coats and ties, and one, ROTC student Franklin McCain, was still in uniform. Carrying their schoolbooks, the students entered the Woolworth’s on South Elm Street and purchased a few school supplies, and then proceeded to the “whites only” lunch counter where they sat down and politely asked for service which as they anticipated, was denied. One of the students later told the UPI, “We believe, since we buy books and papers in the other part of the store, we should get served in this part.”
Freedom Summer
Lead: In 1964 the efforts of Civil Rights activists to register African American voters in Mississippi became known as the “Freedom Summer.”
Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.
Content: After the landmark “Brown” Supreme Court decision, Civil Rights groups worked hard to end segregation and political discrimination in the deep South. There such practices were deeply entrenched and changes were strongly resisted by many whites. In the summer of 1964 a coalition of civil rights organizations including CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, sometimes known as SNCC (snick), focused their efforts on Mississippi – since just 6.7% of blacks were registered to vote. That number was intentionally kept small in a large part due to institutional obstruction such as requiring African Americans to pay poll taxes and pass tests that were not required of white voters.
Selma, Alabama, 1965 II
Lead: In 1965 protests against voting restrictions for blacks brought forces led Martin Luther King, Jr. into conflict with white resisters in Selma Alabama.
Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.
Content: Martin Luther King has been called the best southern tactician since Robert E. Lee and his strategy wasn’t half bad either. Against hopeless odds he prevailed time and time again. He would select a city or town whose racism and discrimination was particularly egregious, organize black protest marches, build up the tension until the whites either negotiated or turned violent. If the latter were the case, federal intervention usually followed. Read more →