Phase II Radicalization - this is protest aimed at more comprehensive economic and political change

A. Mississippi Freedom Summer, 1964

1. JFK's Civil Rights bill was before Congress when he was assassinated in 1963; LBJ promised to get it through          

 

He had worked tirelessly to break Southern resistance in Congress, but was not getting anywhere

 

 2. SNCC's young militants, however, had changed their thinking

 

They decided they should shift from mobilizing whites to organizing blacks politically so as to get control of their lives

 

3. Their vehicle to do this: the Freedom Sumner Campaign, 1964; a massive voter registration drive in MS

           

As they attempted to register voters, SNCC members were beaten, shot at, and harassed

 

Repeated calls to Attorney General Robert Kennedy brought no aid for them

 

The campaign used huge influx of white students from North

 

                        The white’s patronizing and high-handed attitude caused resentment

4. The murder of 3 Civil Rights workers near Philadelphia, Mississippi  brought all of these things together:

The men were: James Chaney - CORE volunteer from MS.; he was African American; Andrew Goodman, a white student from New York, and Michael Schwerner,  a white social worker from New York

These men set out to inspect the Mount Zion Methodist church near Philadelphia, MS, which had been bombed; they were never seen again

The FBI moved in to investigate; eventually, they found the 3 bodies buried in a dam

       The message that SNCC leaders got was that the only time federal agents intervened was when 2 white boys vanish!

5. Nevertheless - Freedom Summer led to the formation of an African- American political coalition--The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP); there had been some success getting voters registered.

 

The MFDP elected delegates to Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City; Ms. Fannie Lou Hammer was their spokesperson.  

The Dems, however, were divided between civil rights groups and the Southern Democrats, who threatened another walk out (See: Dixiecrats) if the party seated the delegates

LBJ refused to support MFDP; he would not allow them a voice in the platform or let them represent state of MS; he offered them 2 token seats at the convention

             This caused most of the folks in SNCC to abandon the political process as hopelessly racist

 B. Disillusionment was a result of several other things that activists encountered in the CRM:

1. Failure of federal government to protect them just about anywhere they went in their activism

2. The experience of working with poverty revealed what some activists to regard as fundamental racial problems with America; some activists began to believe that a radical redistribution of $ and power was necessary if minorities were ever to be successful.

3. Disenchantment with liberal whites whose reforms were seen as token and whose help within SNCC was sometimes overbearing and patronizing

4. A disenchantment with King –radicals called him the “white man's nigger”; he got the glory while they did the work

5. Also important in changing SNCC: Africa 's emerging independent nations; many nations on the Continent of Africa threw off colonial rule in the 1960s and became independent nations.

On the heels of the disillusionment with MFDP, in the fall of 1964, a contingent of black leaders traveled to Africa and met leaders of these emerging African nations, such as Sekou Torre, of Ghana

These activists saw how well they met the terrible struggles of their new nations and were inspired

While overseas, they also saw how the US government portrayed the civil rights struggle abroad

They were appalled that violence was downplayed and racial progress was greatly exaggerated  

 Remember: we are in a Cold War, and policy makers want to look good on the world stage so that people prefer us to the USSR

6. Ironically, the success of the CRM also contributed to the radicalization of SNCC

By Aug 1965 Congress had passed Voting Rights Act, and African Americans were registering in large #s as a result

Desegregation was a success throughout the South

Schools, bus terminals, lunch counters, rest rooms (not housing) were all desegregated  

Yet: severe poverty & inequality remained untouched

The focus of many civil rights activists then shifted to Northern cities, where  LBJ's war on poverty was active

C. Black Separatism: The rhetoric of Black Power: denounced the Presidency, Congress, the police, liberals, pacifists, Civil Rights leaders (called Unca Toms); increasing calls for separatism and some calls for violence

1. 1966: Stokely Carmichael replaced John Lewis as head of SNCC & Floyd McKissark replaced James Farmer as head of CORE

          

Both men advocated separatism; called for cultural pride in African heritage in clothes, names, music, hairstyles  

And there were an increasing number of calls for African Studies programs in universities and colleges; these programs emphasized personal enlightenment, empowerment, and liberation

2. Nation of Islam: a religious movement of pride and empowerment

 

            The Nation of Islam began as small sect 1930's urban North

 

            - by 1960's had over 10,000 members

 

            Their most vocal leader was a man named Elijah Muhammad

 

He proselytized in prisons, and urged African Americans to take control of their lives through adherence to strict codes of personal behavior based on Islam, meaning no drugs, alcohol, or tobacco  

He also hated whites--Muhammad called then "blue - eyed devils" 

Malcolm X, however was the movement's most charismatic figure  

He began life as Malcolm Little; he converted to Nation of Islam in jail, and he then became "Malcolm X"

He advocated separatism – African Americans should have their own cultural identity

he also called for violent revolution for political independence of blacks; thus he renounced the prevailing philosophy of non - violence

In 1963 Malcolm broke with Muhammad & Nation of Islam

D. The Black Panthers: a political manifestation of separatism, but not actually involved in electoral politics; used direct action instead

1. The Panthers organized a patrol that followed police through urban ghettos to make sure civil rights were not violated by police harassment, which was a terrible problem in urban areas

                        - They were armed with both guns and law books

                        -This worked: police harassment tapered off

2. Political activities: they were not interested in working elections; rather, they did direct protests and organizing

                        - Protested rent evictions

                        - Ran workshops with welfare recipients on their rights

                        - Established free breakfast programs in poor schools

                        - Lobbied successful for new school traffic lights

                        - Taught black history in African American communities  

                         The classic image of the Panthers: http://media.sfweekly.com/166769.0.jpeg

3. Backlash: Unhappy with armed black men advocating violence, the FBI launched "cointel-pro" - a counterintelligence program

- Informers infiltrated the Panthers and spread lies and provoked suspicion among them

-These informers got some leaders believing that other leaders were stealing party $ or having affairs with white women  

-By 1972, the Panther's leadership was fighting so much that they ceased functioning as national organization

They only remained active in Oakland, CA ; they ran candidates for local office, published a newspaper, and administered school & service programs

E. Urban riots: fire in the streets

1. A second area of civil rights protest not directly connected with the actual movement were the urban riots that occurred in the late 1960s

 2. Urban ghettos had different set of problems—not worried about segregation but about survival

Poverty in cities was very different from poverty in the rural South; it was accompanied by severe social disruption, violence, drugs, crime, & police brutality

           

Thus, urban activists never really related to King and the mainstream CRM:

 

CORE was active but mostly among middle-class blacks; the NAACP didn't have a wide following

 

Malcolm X and Black Muslims, however, were very popular in the inner city

 

They voiced their frustration with non-white hypocrisy in the North

 

True, there were no Jim Crow laws, but African Americans still economically & socially separate and isolated  

3. Between 1964 – 67 there were 101 major riots and scores of minor disruptions

 

April 4, 1968 MLK assassinated in Memphis, TN and 100 cities erupted into riots

 

Images: Watts Riots and Aftermath

 

Images from the aftermath of the King assassination

 

(FYI, here is a website with you-tube images of the 25 worst riots in the last century: http://brainz.org/riots/ )

                  By end of 1968, these riots had produced  208 deaths, 28,932 arrests, and $792.8 million in property damage

 Why were people rioting? There are a number of theories as to why this period saw so much racial violence. Oppression alone is not enough; oppression had existed for a very long time, why the sudden outpouring of rage?

1. Rising expectations. Once folks started to see the light at the end of the tunnel they became very frustrated with setbacks and erupted in frustration

 For example, the Rumford Act - a piece of legislation ending discrimination in housing-- was under attack by real estate interests, and it looked like it was going to be derailed

 Promises of funds from 1965 anti - poverty programs were  stalled--the $ was caught up in bureaucracy and was not reaching people

 

2. Overall tenor of violence in America. The violence in the South struck a nerve in urban areas

          3. There were some exceptionally hot summers--riots tended to occur in the summer