(Fall 2015) [Tragic Death of Dr. Martin Luther

Transcription

Volume 8, Number 3
Stanislaus
Historical
Quarterly
Fall 2015
Stanislaus County
Founded 1854
An Independent Publication of Stanislaus County History
The Tragic Death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
and Stanislaus County - 1968
The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Major Events of March-April 1968
As Witnessed by Stanislaus County through the Media
And Commented Upon by Local Residents
“You ought to believe in something in life, believe that thing so fervently that you will stand up with it
till the end of your days” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
T
his article consists of events a month prior and a month
after the April 4, 1968 assassination of Rev. Dr. Luther King,
Jr. These events were carried in the local newspapers,
television, and radio for Stanislaus County residents to learn
about and draw their various opinions. The editorials and letters
to the editors of the Modesto Bee and Turlock Journal in
this article, reveal the political and social thinking in our county
at the time. We begin with the report from the President’s
Commission on Civil Disorders.
The commission’s recommendation was to “vastly
expand programs to provide two million jobs, six million housing
units, drastically improved slum schools and overhaul of the
welfare system designed to guarantee all Americans a
minimum standard of decent living.” It was noted that the
cost could exceed the annual expenditure of the Vietnam War
of $25 billion, but the commission proclaimed, “There can be
no higher priority for national action and no higher claim on
the nation’s consciousness. The aid was to make good the
promises of American democracy to all citizens – urban and
rural, white and black, Spanish-surname, American Indian,
Commission’s Report
On March 1, 1968, the President’s Commission on and every minority group.” The commission condemned law
Civil Disorders released its report to the press. The Modesto enforcement use of “weapons of mass destruction in the urban
areas, such as automatic
Bee’s headline read: “U.S.
rifles, machine guns, and
Commission Blames Riots
tanks, which were designed
on White Racism.” After
to destroy, not to control.”
seven
months
of
The commission
investigation of the summer
took
to
task
the news media,
1967 riots in 23 cities, the
remarking that “along with
commission concluded that
the community as a whole,
“the urban disorders were
the press has too long basked
not caused by, nor were they
in a white world, looking out
the consequence of any
of it, if at all, with white
organized
plan
or
men’s eyes and a white
conspiracy.”
The
perspective. That is no
commission consisted of 11
President’s Commission on Civil Disorders
longer good enough. It must
members appointed by
Internet photo
report the travail of our cities
President Lyndon B.
with
compassion
and
in
depth
with fair and courageous
Johnson that included both African-Americans and whites
from the ranks of politicians, government, labor unions, journalism.” After reviewing more than 5,000 news articles,
and vast numbers of radio and TV news programs, the
industry, and law enforcement. The commission declared:
commission commented that “the press portrayal of the
Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one violence that occurred last summer failed to reflect accurately
white – separate and unequal. If we are heedless, none of us its scale and character; the over-all effect was, we believe,
shall escape the consequences. Unless immediate action is an exaggeration of both mood and event. The disorders were
taken, large-scale and continuing violence could result, less destructive, less widespread, and less of a black-white
followed by white retaliation, and ultimately, the separation of confrontation than most people believed. Some newspapers
the two communities into a garrison state. Segregation and printed ‘scare’ headlines unsupported by the mild stories that
poverty have created in the racial ghetto a destructive followed. We believe that the media has thus far failed to
environment totally unknown to most white Americans. What report adequately on the causes and consequences of civil
white Americans have never understood – but what the Negro disorders and the underlying problems of race relations.”
An example of “scare” headlines appeared in the
can never forget – is that white society is completely implicated
in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions Bee on March 6, 1968, reading: “Confident King Starts
Recruiting Army.” King told the press in Atlanta that he was
maintain it, and white society condones it.
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Stanislaus Historical Quarterly
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Fall 2015
recruiting a poor people’s army to march and camp in mixture which has been accumulating in our cities. No report
Washington, D.C. beginning April 22nd, in an attempt to has ever said that before, although it has been a fact of
persuade Congress to provide jobs and a guaranteed annual interracial life, known to every white person and felt by every
income for the impoverished. He was currently traveling in a Negro. The Negro American has had to fight every step of
recruitment effort to enlist members for his poor people’s the way for the rights and opportunities which other
army from among impoverished tenant farmers, the Americans enjoy automatically. Whoever heard of a white
unemployed, the underemployed, and other downtrodden American fighting for open housing for himself? Or for the
citizens. In a recent trip to Mississippi and Alabama, King right to register and vote? Or for equal access to employment
declared, “This isn’t going to be an easy struggle. This isn’t a and for promotion on the job? There was a grand design – a
segregation or political issue. We are dealing with a class racial design – in all the laws and customs built so painstakingly
issue now. It is the underprivileged against the privileged.” and, for some whites, so unconsciously, over the decades.
He had widened his non-violent crusade into a class struggle, Since Negroes were frozen into lower job levels, they were
wanting the depressed masses to squeeze out the growing more docile, therefore more controllable. Since they were
violent Black Power movement. He wanted the non-violent confined to ghettos, they could be cordoned off more easily.
campaign to remain the dominating force and under his Besides, they could be assigned logically to ‘their own’ schools
leadership, being convinced that non-violence was the only and could ‘be happy’ with each other.
way to deliver civil rights to all.
In response to the Civil Disorders Commission’s They would form a compressed market for exploiters of all
condemnation of the white press, the U.S. Justice kinds, from landlords and loan sharks to the corner store
Department’s Community Relations Service held 3-day merchant. In politics, they could be either excluded, as in the
workshops throughout the country
bare-faced and now happily departed
in an effort to change the media’s
white primary, or they could be
attitude. A March 6, 1968 Bee article
utilized to enhance the power,
disclosed that the workshops
prestige and enrichment of a variety
brought together journalists,
of white political satraps. What
African-American ghetto residents,
Negro can forget the wire fence
and Community Relations Service’s
separating Negro delegates to the
personnel. The hope was to cause
1928 Democratic Convention? Or
the press to view the Africanthe four-year absolute silence of
Americans’
travail
more
President Hoover on racial issues?
compassionately and realistically,
If the report was blunt on white
while repealing the idea among
racism it was no less direct on black
African-Americans that the press
racism, black violence and black
held a white perspective only.
separatism. ‘Violence cannot build a
Black Power advocate Stokley Carmichael
On March 10, 1968, Roy
marching with King
Internet photo
better society,’ it declared. The
Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the
community cannot – it will not –
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People tolerate coercion and mob rule. The Black Power advocates
(NAACP), who was a close friend of King’s, spoke to the of today consciously feel that they are the most militant group.
issues raised by the Civil Disorders Commission in its report. Yet, by preaching separatism, they unconsciously function as
He declared:
an accommodation to white racism.
Both black and white Americans were stirred much more
Black Power
deeply than either had expected to the report of the Civil
The Black Panthers and other revolutionary groups
Disorders Commission. The report refers to ghettos, slums, demanded African-American rights and equality immediately,
racial discrimination in employment, housing and public viewing King’s non-violent campaign as slow, weak, and
education. It rings in the Negro family structure and the compromising to whites. King had been responding to the
welfare system. It gives more than passing attention to the militant movement by being more demanding of rights and by
important matter of the administration of justice. The police expanding his civil rights campaign to all poor people. A leader
role is outlined as never before, and the new school of black of the Black Power movement, Stokely Carmichael, was in
agitators and preachers of hatred and violence is not ignored. Tuscaloosa, AL, reported the Bee on March 13, 1968, standing
White racism is essentially responsible for the explosive before a crowd of 1,000 (150 were white) in a school
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Stanislaus Historical Quarterly —————————————————
gymnasium, surrounded by seven bodyguards in combat
clothing. He declared, “Political power grows out of the barrel
of a gun, and Negroes must get that gun. We are not fighting
for money but for humanity. We are in a revolution, and the
whites have declared war. The brothers and sisters who pick
up the bottles and bricks are the heroes.”
KKK
Billy Roy Pitts, 24, member of the White Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan, confessed to a Hattiesburg, MS court on
March 15, 1968 about the murdering of Vernon Dahmer, an
African-American leader of voter registration, who died in a
burning infernal that destroyed his house on January 10th.
Pitts told the court that Klansman Cecil Victor Sessum, 31,
gave final orders and hurled the first firebombs at Dahmer’s
home, while Klansmen fired shotgun blasts into the house.
Pitts, a minister’s son, said he turned state’s evidence,
“because I done what I done, and the Lord wouldn’t let me
go on living that kind of life.” Besides Sessum, there were
ten other Klansmen and a Klan lawyer charged with murder
and arson.
Robinson vs. Mays
A featured article in the Bee on March 17, 1968,
consisted of remarks made by San Francisco Giants’ outfielder
Willie Mays in response to former Brooklyn Dodgers’ infielder
Jackie Robinson’s criticism of Mays. Earlier Robinson
commented that
Mays should be
“especially involved
[in civil rights],
because he was
denied housing in
San Francisco.”
Mays responded by
noting to Robinson
that conditions were
much better for
African-American
athletes than in his
Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays
time. He remarked
Internet photo
that “Jackie had
been through a lot and all Negro athletes should be very
grateful. But a lot of athletes in other fields are not on the
soapbox. They’re doing it their own way. Things are a whole
lot better than they were 10 or 15 years ago. Today in baseball
if you can play they take you for what you are.”
In regard to being denied housing, Mays replied that
“you can’t blame the contractor, because he has a family and
has to make a living. Now I live in a better area and a bigger
and fancier house. I think I have the respect of the people of
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San Francisco. I play on all the golf courses. I’m the first
Negro to be a member of the Concordia Club. I belong to the
Press Club and that wasn’t possible 10 years ago.” He added
that he had been active “promoting better race relations by
working for the Job Corps and making speeches to youngsters.
Today’s kids don’t have the hardships that Jack Robinson
and I had. Even when I’m out of baseball, I’m not going to
stand on a soapbox and preach.” Robinson commented that
Giants’ players Willie McCovey and Jim Ray Hart, should
become more involved. To this Mays said, “McCovey and
Hart have been treated like kings since they came to this ball
club. Never, not one single time since I came to the Giants
more than 16 years ago, have I been made to feel a difference
between black and white.”
King’s Influence
King planned a Poor People’s March on Washington
beginning on April 22, 1968, causing House leaders to seek
House passage of a Senate civil rights bill that had an openhousing provision. If the bill was still before the House when
the march occurred, many congressmen would be reluctant
to vote for it, not wanting to appear being forced. One
congressional opponent told the press resentfully on March
20, 1968, “If Martin Luther King is calling the shots around
here, we might as well pack up and go home.”
Reagan’s Gaffe
California Republican Governor Ronald Reagan was
not known to be a friend of minorities and the impoverished.
He caused further racial furor in Fresno when MexicanAmericans were not invited to a meeting he called for March
28, 1968, concerning “Problems of Minorities.” James
Aldredge, Fresno’s Human Relations Director, boycotted the
meeting when Reagan limited the session to chosen AfricanAmericans only. Half of the 25 invited African-Americans
walked out when they learned that Mexican-Americans hadn’t
been invited by Reagan. A group of African-Americans and
Mexican-Americans gathered in the hallway in protest.
Aldredge told the Bee that “We’re trying to create unity to
face common problems. We’re spending all this money on
inter-group meetings and then this separate meeting for just
only invited African-Americans turns up.” After a squabble
between Aldredge and Reagan’s community relations
specialist, it was decided to hold a later meeting in the San
Joaquin Valley, which would include Mexican-Americans.
Provide Housing
At a meeting of the California Builders Council on
March 28, 1968, State Assembly Minority Leader Robert T.
Monagan of San Joaquin County addressed the Civil Disorders
Commission’s report. He spoke to the matter of jobs,
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education, and housing for minorities, proclaiming, “Unless
we find some better way of attacking these problems we are
going to be faced with riots in those communities.” He told
the builders he was introducing legislation entitled “California
Home Ownership Construction and Rehabilitation Act of
1968” that provided housing loans for construction of 50,000
new homes and for home improvement needs to low-income
families. The legislation required the recipient families to
contribute 30 hours a week of work towards their housing
projects. He declared that to avoid racial strife, there must
be “evidence that somehow we are going to find solutions to
these problems.”
Memphis Riot
Fall 2015
confusion.” Sidewalk marches of 100 or so persons, who
supported the sanitary workers’ strike, were staged daily in
Memphis since the workers’ walkout began. King declared
that another march would begin at 2 p.m. the next day in
Memphis, but authorities doubted seriously that he would be
granted permission. A Bee article of March 29, 1968, quoted
King: “It would be a tragic error to give up now and leave the
impression that we are retreating because of what happened
yesterday.” In mid-morning, four armored personnel carriers
appeared in a convoy on Beale Street, signifying a show of
force.
King at the National Cathedral
The next day, March 30, 1968, King spoke at the
National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. to an overflow crowd
of 4,000, addressing the violence the previous summer and
the recent outbreaks. He declared, “I don’t like to predict
violence, but the conditions that brought last summer’s riots
are still notoriously with us. We cannot stand two more
summers like last summer without leading inevitably to a
rightwing takeover and a fascist state.” He proclaimed that
Congress must act quickly to provide solutions to the problems
that produce the rioting, and if it doesn’t, then rioting will
continue. King declared that the marches he staged were a
non-violent alternative to rioting. He commented that “most
Negroes still feel non-violence is the most and best effective
weapon.” He explained that “99 and 9/10 percent of the
marchers [in Memphis] were nonviolent. But nobody looks
at that.”
Even though the rioting occurred, the Poor People’s
March in Washington was still scheduled. King commented
that he had planned to gather thousands of destitute persons
“to dramatize the plight of ghetto residents.” King also told
the audience that he supported the opposition to the Vietnam
War, which was the first clear statement from him on the
issue.
Front page headline on March 29, 1968 of the
Turlock Journal read: “Bloody Beale Street Racial ‘War’ in
Memphis.” King had led a march of nearly 5,000 supporters
(98 percent African-Americans) down Beale Street on March
28th in support of the 1,300 sanitary (garbage) workers 7week strike for a better wage and the ending of job
discrimination. All appeared to be orderly until hundreds of
young AfricanAmericans
purposely broke
from the march,
attacking police
and smashing
windows. The
riot extended for
eight miles, until
Memphis police,
1,200
state
police, and 4,000
N a t i o n a l
Guardsmen
sealed off the
b e s i e g e d
segments
of
Another Memphis March
Memphis,
On April 2, 1968, King planned another march in
Results of Rioting in Memphis
arresting 300, Memphis for Friday, April 5th, according to the Bee. His aides
Internet photo
with 62 being and other African-American leaders proclaimed that court
wounded by gunfire, and one 16-year-old African-American injunctions against it “would have no effect on the mass march
looter being killed. Nearly 150 buildings were gutted by fire to be headed by King down the riot-scared city.” King told
from thrown firebombs. The city had a population of 700,000, the press that a group of young militants, who were involved
with 40 percent being African-American. Fire-Police Director in March 28th rioting, had agreed to act as “parade marshals”
Frank L. Holloman declared, “We are at war in Memphis.” to ensure that the April 5th march would be peaceful. He said
The next morning the firebomb attack ended, but vandalism he was convinced the march would be non-violent.
and looting continued.
Regardless, city officials sought an injunction to disallow it.
King was unhurt during the melee. He later declared
Memphis businessmen wanted the city to come to
the rioters were not march participants, but “those on the terms with the strikers, because they had lost revenue during
sidelines who took advantage of the march to create the strike and from tension produced by sidewalk protests.
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The Memphis Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution
“urging local businessmen to employ the ‘hard-core’ jobless
and expand summer job opportunities.” King’s aide, Rev. Jesse
Jackson, informed the press that if the city would meet the
strikers’ demands, which also included the recognition of the
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal
Employees, the sanitary workers’ strike would be called off.
The 16-year-old African-American killed in the
Memphis rioting, Larry Payne, was buried April 3rd. That same
day, U.S. District Judge Bailey Brown issued a temporary
injunction against further marches in the city. Police Director
Frank Holloman told Judge Brown that the Memphis “Negro
community was so worked up that another mass demonstration
here could be worse than Watts or worse than Detroit. Negroes
are buying guns from wholesale houses in our neighboring
state of Arkansas. Negro youths have been supplied for several
weeks with specific instructions on how to make Molotov
cocktails and firebombs. I am convinced that Martin Luther
King and his leaders or any others cannot control a march.”
King planned to fight the injunction, but regardless, according
to the Bee, he “has indicated he will not heed it in any case.”
“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”
Fall 2015
Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has
its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want
to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the
mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised
Land. I may not get there with you. I want you to know
tonight, that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land.
And I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m
not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the
coming of the Lord!” Sweat and tears commingled, glistening
on his fatigued face as he ended.
King’s Assassination
The next day, April 4, 1968, King was shot as he
appeared on an outside balcony of the Lorraine Motel in
Memphis. He and his aides were preparing to leave for an
evening dinner, when a rifle from across the parking lot was
fired, killing him immediately. Walter Cronkite appeared on
“CBS Evening News” with a special report announcing to
the nation another assassination, which was for many
Stanislaus County residents the first word they heard of the
murder. Cronkite somberly reported:
The evening of April 3, 1968, King delivered his last Good evening. Dr. Martin Luther King, the apostle of nonpublic speech, being cut down by an assassin’s bullet the next violence in the Civil Rights Movement has been shot to death
day. His address was the historic “I’ve Been to the in Memphis, Tennessee. Police have issued an all points
Mountaintop” sermon given at Mason Temple of the Church bulletin for a well-dressed young white man seen running
of God in Christ Headquarters in
from the scene. Officers also
Memphis. The scene was
reportedly chased and fired on a
prophetically spiritual, with a fierce
radio equipment car containing two
wind battering the building, lightning
white men. Dr. King was standing
flashing, the stain-glass windows
on the balcony of a second floor
shuddering, and the large fans
motel room when according to a
clanking in the hot, humid hall.
companion a shot was fired from
Across Tennessee and Kentucky
across the street. In the friend’s
the storm was brutal with
words, the bullet exploded in his
tumultuous rain and tornados. The
face. Police, who had been keeping
fans were stopped in order to hear
a close watch over the Noble
King. After an enormous applause
Peace Prize winner because of
and a lengthy introduction by
Memphis’ turbulent racial situation,
Abernathy, King took the podium
were on the scene almost
King
delivering
his
“Mountaintop”
sermon
and delivered his “I’ve Been to the
immediately. They rushed the 39Internet photo
Mountain Top” speech. In part he
year-old Negro leader to a hospital
stated, “The world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble where he died of a bullet wound to the neck. Police said they
is in the land. Confusion all around. . . . Let us rise tonight found a high-powered hunting rifle about a block from the
with a greater readiness. Let us move on these powerful days, motel but it was not immediately identified as the murder
these days of challenge, to make America what it ought to weapon. Mayor Henry Lowe has reinstated the dusk to dawn
be.” Sweat streaked down his brow and cheeks. His eyes curfew he imposed on the city last week when a march led
danced, while the lightning flashed and rain poured outside. by Dr. King erupted in violence. Governor Buford Ellington
He ended with “I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve has called out 4,000 National Guardsman. Police report that
got difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. the murder has touched off sporadic acts of violence in the
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Negro section of the city. In a nationwide television address,
President Johnson expressed the nation’s shock: “America is
shocked and saddened by the brutal slaying tonight of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. I ask every citizen to reject the blind
violence that has struck Dr. King who lived by non-violence.”
Dr. King had returned to Memphis only yesterday determined
to prove that he could lead a peaceful mass march in support
of striking sanitation workers most of whom are Negroes.
Dr. King had this to say last night about the situation in
Memphis [part of his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” sermon]:
“Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic first
amendment privileges, because they haven’t committed
themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the
freedom of a symbol. Somewhere I read of the freedom of
speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press.
Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right
to protest for a right.” There was shock in Harlem tonight
when word of Dr. King’s murder reached the nation’s largest
Negro community. Men, women, and
children poured into the streets, they
appeared dazed, many were crying.
President Johnson
The president’s words conveyed
in Cronkite’s report above were derived
from the president’s full address to the
nation aired that evening on radio and
television, which was as follows:
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campaigning for the Democratic Party’s presidential
nomination in Indianapolis when he learned of the
assassination. He had a scheduled address and rally in the
Indianapolis ghetto area, but now he kept his words brief in
announcing the death of the African-American leader. Many
present had not heard of King’s death as yet. Kennedy bravely
told the predominantly African-American audience:
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I’m only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening,
because I have some — some very sad news for all of you
— Could you lower those signs, please? — I have some
very sad news for all of you, and, I think, sad news for all of
our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the
world; and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was
killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee. [pause] Martin Luther
King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow
human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this
difficult day, in this difficult time for the
United States, it’s perhaps well to ask what
kind of a nation we are and what direction
we want to move in. For those of you who
are black — considering the evidence
evidently is that there were white people
who were responsible — you can be filled
with bitterness, and with hatred, and a
desire for revenge.
We can move in that direction as a country,
in greater polarization — black people
America is shocked and saddened by the
amongst blacks, and white amongst whites,
brutal slaying of Dr. Martin Luther King.
filled with hatred toward one another. Or
I ask every citizen to reject the blind
we can make an effort, as Martin Luther
violence that has struck Dr. King, who
Robert Kennedy informing an InKing did, to understand, and to
lived by nonviolence. I pray that his family
dianapolis audience of King’s death
Internet photo
comprehend, and replace that violence, that
can find comfort in the memory of all he
tried to do for the land he loved so well. I have just conveyed stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an
the sympathy of Mrs. Johnson and myself to his widow, Mrs. effort to understand with compassion, and love. For those of
King. I know that every American of good will joins me in you who are black and are tempted to fill with — be filled
mourning the death of this outstanding leader and in praying with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against
all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my
for peace and understanding throughout this land.
own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my
We can achieve nothing by lawlessness and divisiveness family killed, but he was killed by a white man.
among the American people. It is only by joining together and
only by working together that we can continue to move toward But we have to make an effort in the United States. We
equality and fulfillment for all of our people. I hope that have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond, or go
Americans tonight will search their hearts as they ponder this beyond these rather difficult times. My favorite poem, my —
most tragic incident. I have canceled my plans for the evening. my favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:
I am postponing my trip to Hawaii until tomorrow. Thank you.
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
Robert F. Kennedy
until, in our own despair,
New York’s U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was
———————— 789 ————————
against our will,
comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.
What we need in the United States is not division; what we
need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the
United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and
wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling
of justice toward those who still suffer within our country,
whether they be white or whether
they be black.
So I ask you tonight to return home,
to say a prayer for the family of Martin
Luther King — yeah, it’s true — but
more importantly to say a prayer for
our own country, which all of us love
— a prayer for understanding and that
compassion of which I spoke.
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denied a fullness of life because of the color of their skin. I
called leaders of the Negro community and asked them to
meet with me today at the White House. We have been
meeting together here this morning. No words of ours – no
words of mine – can fill the void of the eloquent voice that
has been stilled. But, this I deeply believe. The dream of
Martin Luther King has not died with him.
Men who are white – men who are
black – must and will join together
now as never in the past to let all the
forces of division know that America
shall not be ruled by the bullet but
only by the ballot of free and just
men. In these years, we have moved
toward opening the way to hope and
opportunity and justice.
We can do well in this country. We
We have rolled away some of the
will have difficult times. We’ve had
stones – of inaction, of indifference,
difficult times in the past, but we —
of injustice. We must move with
and we will have difficult times in the
urgency and with resolve and with
future. It is not the end of violence; it
new energy in the Congress and in
King communicating his message
C.S. King photo
is not the end of lawlessness; and it’s
the courts and in the White House
not the end of disorder. But the vast majority of white people and in the statehouses and in the city halls of the nation,
and the vast majority of black people in this country want to wherever there is leadership, political leadership, leadership
live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want in churches, in the homes and schools and the institutions of
justice for all human beings that abide in our land. And let’s higher learning until we do overcome.
dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years
ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life
of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a
Other Comments
prayer for our country and for our people. Thank you very
The Bee carried brief statements from known
much.
personalities on April 5, 1968:
Civil Rights Leaders
President Johnson met with civil rights leaders the
next day, April 5, 1968, at the White House concerning King’s
death. He issued this press statement to the nation:
Once again, the heart of America is heavy – the spirit of
America weeps – for a tragedy that denies the very meaning
of our land. The life of a man who symbolized the freedom
and faith of America has been taken. But it is fiber and fabric
of the republic that is tested. If we are to have the America
we mean to have, all men – of all races, all regions, all religions
– must stand their ground to deny violence its victory in this
sorrowful time and all times to come.
Last evening, after receiving the terrible news of Dr. King’s
death, my heart went out to his people – especially to the
young Americans who, I know, must wonder if they are to be
James Meredith, who was shot during a 1966 voter-registration
march in Mississippi said in bitterness, “This is America’s
answer to the peaceful, nonviolent way of obtaining rights in
the country.”
California State Senator Mervyn M. Dymally, an AfricanAmerican, declared, “This will set back race relations for
generations.”
Former Vice President Richard Nixon urged Americans “to
try a new spirit of reconciliation to redeem this terrible act.”
Texas Governor John B. Connally, who was shot in President
Kennedy’s assassination, frankly commented, “King
contributed much to the chaos and turbulence in this country,
but he did not deserve this fate.”
———————— 790 ————————
Fall 2015
Evangelist Billy Graham lamented, “The murder indicates the
sickness of the American society.”
crime as the slaying four and one-half years ago of President
John F. Kennedy in another senseless moment.
California Governor Reagan called King’s death in Memphis
evidence of a nationwide “moral sickness.” He pleaded with
Californians not to react with vengeance to “one single act of
violence.”
The assassination came only days after Dr. King warned in a
national magazine the choice between evolution and revolution
and between nonviolent and violent reform, may be passing
from America. That this may be the last year the good work
can be accomplished in peace. Delayed, deferred, he warned,
old angers may be too much to contain. It came, too, only a
short time following an interview on television, in which Dr.
King was asked: “Do you sometimes fear for your life.” He
replied, “Yes, Yes, I do. But this is a work I must do.”
African-American California State Assemblyman Willie L.
Brown, Jr. declared it is only proper to mourn King not
“through violence” but with a rededication that will truly make
“America safe for democracy.”
Mrs. Coretta King
The crime is America’s, for it grew out of bigotry, dark hatred,
Mrs. Coretta King, 41, learned of her husband’s death old suspicions, racism. It is America’s, for it was fertilized in
from Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen, while she and her children the womb of a discontent so wretched, the shock waves of
old angers can be sensed in every
were waiting to fly from Atlanta to
ghetto and in every starved
see her wounded husband in
promise. The American people are
Memphis. She then returned to the
infected with racism, yes, King
seclusion of her home and her
preached, and this is the peril.
bedroom, where friends and
Paradoxically, they also are
relatives gathered to provide her
infected with democratic ideals, he
support. To add to her distress and
added and this is the hope. He
suffering, Mrs. King was recovering
urged calm pursuit of justice while
at the time from major surgery. She
others preached dark violence. His
accepted a few phone calls, one
has been a voice for restraint
from President Johnson and another
against the impatient voices the
from Robert Kennedy, who
angry outburst. He has spoken for
chartered an airplane to transport
the hope he sensed in ultimate
her and her family to Memphis. At
justice while the angry have
word of the assassination, her home
pleaded for rioting in the streets.
became tightly guarded by numerous
Mrs. King and children gathered around King’s
Now his is gone, and one of the
law enforcement officers.
casket
C.S. King photo
most powerful voices for reason,
Responding a few hours after her
restraint
is
gone,
lost
to
the
patient reform born with King.
husband’s death, Mrs. King issued a brief statement: “I do
think it’s the will of God. We always knew this could happen.”
Years before she told the press: “I’ve tried to give my children White men share the loss, for the loss is the loss of a brother.
an understanding that their daddy is trying to help people. And while the voice has been silenced, the message lives
The two older ones understand. They take great pride and after the man. And that message is this: Dr. King would be
accept the dangers as well. We all realize that something the first to urge restraint, now, upon those who would turn to
could happen. If it does happen, I think it will be the will of the streets or upon those who in his death have lost their own
God. If it does, it would be a great way to give oneself to a hope. Once Dr. King referred to the assassination of Gandhi
and said, “No man can kill an idea with a bullet.” And once
great cause. But I pray to God nothing happens.”
he referred to the crucifixion of Christ and he said, “In the
end the victory was His.” Give now to Dr. King his victory
Bee Editorial
An editorial appeared in the Bee on April 5, 1968, by remembering the brothers for who he spoke.
which read:
Turlock Journal Editorial
All Lost a Brother in Death of King
The nation shares the grief and the guilt of Dr. Martin Luther
King’s assassination, which is as dark and evil and as sickly a
That same day, April 5, 1968, Turlock Journal ran
an editorial that was a short prayer, entitled, “Let Us Pray”:
———————— 791 ————————
Dear God, please cleanse race hatreds from our hearts and
show both Caucasians and Negroes the paths toward mutual
understanding and respect. May you comfort the widow and
family of Rev. Martin Luther King. Deliver all of us, both
black and white, from threatened evils we fear may presage
a disastrous calamity like the Civil War. Guide us in making
our ideals of freedom and justice to mean freedom and justice
for all. Teach us to be tolerant and that mankind is a
brotherhood of skin color, different appearances, and worship.
In Thy Name we ask this. Amen
Fall 2015
songs along the way.
Modesto City Manager John Keefe met the group at
the courthouse saying, “The city family is extremely sorry
this has happened. It is one of the worst things that has ever
happened to the country.” MJC English instructor S. Rudolph
Modesto Junior College Reaction
At 1 p.m. on April 5, 1968, over 1,000 attended a
memorial service for King at Modesto Junior College’s (MJC)
auditorium reported the Bee. Gathered were students, faculty,
administration, and local citizens, with MJC President Dr. Roy
J. Mikalson being the principal speaker. He remarked:
With the problems America is facing, the Vietnam War and
economics, a much worse crisis is about human relations and
Commemoration march through Modesto to the courthouse, April 5, 1968
Modesto Bee photo
Martin, Jr. read to the marchers King’s 1963 Memorial Day
speech, “I Have a Dream.” Rev. Grant addressed the
audience, proclaiming:
MJC memorial service, April 5, 1968
Modesto Bee photo
understanding. We are here today to commemorate someone
who was trying to do something about this crisis among people.
I think it is proper that the academic community should take
the time for this, because it is so important now and will become
increasingly important in the next few years and the next
decade.
The king is dead. He was a man who loved all mankind, not
only those with the color of his skin. He was a man called by
God. A few thousand years ago, there was a man from Galilee.
No one really understood him, yet he brought pleasure and
understanding to the world. Martin Luther King was such a
man. He died because he believed God created all mankind
equal. Jesus on Calvary’s cross said, “Forgive them, Lord,
for they know not what they do.” Martin Luther King would
have said the same if he had the time.
A telegram was signed by 700 MJC faculty and
students and sent to the president, California governor, and
California’s two U.S. senators, which read:
The murder of Dr. Martin Luther King dramatically
underscores the fact that the country is rapidly heading for
civil war. We demand the recommendations of the President’s
Commission on Civil Disorders be immediately implemented
as a first step to avert this disaster. Kind words and token
gestures will no longer suffice. Use your office to eradicate
injustice.
Other speakers included: Rev. Sylvester Grant of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. Robert F. Richter
of the College Avenue Presbyterian Church, Modesto Mayor
Lee Davies, and Rev. George Telle, President of the Greater
Modesto Council of Churches. An interracial memorial service
was scheduled the day of King’s funeral at the Second Baptist
Church in west Modesto. After the MJC memorial service,
Stanislaus State College
those hundreds in attendance marched to the courthouse steps
In
Turlock,
the Journal reported that Mayor Enoch
for more commemoration addresses, while singing civil rights
———————— 792 ————————
Christofferson ordered all city flags to be flown at half mast.
It was announced that Turlock churches were to hold an
interdenominational memorial service for King on Sunday at
2:30 p.m. Stanislaus State College President Alexander
Capurso cancelled classes until after King’s funeral. The
college held a memorial service on the college’s commons in
remembrance of King.
Richard Nixon
In his memoirs, RN, published in 1978, Richard Nixon
wrote about King’s assassination:
On Sunday, April 7, I flew to Atlanta to pay my respects to
the King family. I went to their home and met his four children,
still dazed over their father’s murder. I saw Mrs. King in her
room, where she was resting. I was moved by her poise and
serenity. She thanked me for coming, and we talked about
my first meeting with her husband, on the occasion of the
independence of Ghana in 1957. I told her how impressed I
had been by his insistence that the realization of his dream of
equal opportunity for all should be accomplished by peaceful
rather than violent means. Two days later I returned to Atlanta
for the funeral.
The idealism of Martin Luther King, Jr., expressed in his words
and actions, was his unique contribution to the civil rights
cause. He worked to resist extremists in the movement, those
who wished to resort to violence to reach their goals. Perhaps
their pressure sometimes caused him to be more extreme in
his public views than he otherwise would have been. Yet one
could reason with him. Like his colleagues, he did not enjoy
hearing that patience would be required to achieve his goals,
but as a practical man, he realized that this was the case. His
death left black America without a nationally recognized leader
who combined responsibility with charisma. Others were
reasonably effective, but none could match his mystique and
his ability to inspire people – white as well as black – and to
move them. I canceled all my political activity for two weeks,
because of Dr. King’s death.
Turlock’s Reaction
A few days after the assassination, letters began
arriving at the Bee and Turlock Journal’s editorial offices.
Youthful Al Bliler of Turlock wrote to the Journal:
As a young American, I am deeply saddened by the death of
Martin Luther King. But beyond that, I am actually sickened
by the reaction of many of our own townspeople to the death
of this fine American. As I repeatedly overheard statements
such as “Well! It’s about time,” or “Somebody finally cut that
nigger down,” or “He had it coming.” I was utterly amazed.
Fall 2015
Here we live in a supposedly civilized town, one that has,
I’ve heard, more churches per capita than any in the world,
and this is the only reaction many of the town’s people can
give to such a sick crime.
I believe most of this reaction is based on the events of last
week’s march through Memphis, where the blame for the
riots that followed was placed on Dr. King. For the life of me,
I can’t understand why every white protest is blamed on
outside agitation, whereas every colored protest is attributed
to “the Negroes.” I believe that Dr. King had a very
worthwhile goal in life, and he was trying to accomplish it in
the American way. God help us if it is given up through
frustration. There’s only one other way.
On Sunday, April 7, 1968, Turlock hosted an interfaith
memorial service for King at the First Methodist Church. Rev.
Jeffrey J. Richard, African-American pastor of the Delhi
Missionary Baptist Church (King had been a Missionary
Baptist minister) spoke first declaring, “Let us not hate one
another. Let us love one another, all races, all religions, let us
strive to bring God into our lives.” The other ministers who
spoke were: Rev. Robert Carrington of Bethel Temple, Rev.
Francis Prendergast of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Rev.
Lloyd R. Hanson of Nazareth Lutheran Church, Rev. David
K. Wilson of St. Francis Episcopal Church, and the memorial
service’s host pastor, Rev. Paul A. Nelson of the First
Methodist Church. Also addressing the crowd of over 250
were Mayor Enoch S. Christofferson and Superintendent
Thomas N. Hedden of Turlock Public Schools.
Mayor Christofferson declared that all Turlock felt
King’s loss, with Superintendent Hedden commenting on
social justice and equality as expressed in the Civil Rights Bill
of 1968, still before Congress. Dr. Mack Goldsmith, Stanislaus
State College professor, read portions of King’s speeches;
Rev. Wilson recited scripture from Colossians 3:12 and
Ecclesiastes 28; Rev. Hanson compared King with other
prophets, and noted that King was a “person to be admired
as an avid disciple of Christ”; and Rev. Pendergast stressed,
“Man must meet man as brother and sister to build the future
of this nation.” Two Christian hymns were sung: “Were You
There?” and “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory.” Rev. Nelson
concluded the service by reading quotations from a King
biography, What Manner of Man, and provided the
benediction.
Memphis March
Mrs. King led a march through Memphis of 10,000
on April 8, 1968, as reported in the Bee. She declared to the
marchers: “Those of us who believe in what Martin Luther
———————— 793 ————————
King stood for, I would challenge you to see that his spirit
never dies, and we will go forward from this experience –
which to me represents the crucifixion – to resurrection and
redemption of the spirit. I came, because whenever it was
impossible for my husband to be in a place where he wanted
to be and felt that he needed to be, he would occasionally
send me to stand in for him. And so today I felt that he would
have wanted me to be here.” Abernathy spoke to the massive
crowd proclaiming, “Martin Luther King took his cross on his
shoulder over at the Lorraine Motel and there he was crucified.
We are going to Washington, but we are going to stay here in
Memphis until this problem is solved for the striking garbage
workers.” Across the nation 42,000 U.S. military personnel
were stationed at the major cities awaiting the reaction to
King’s upcoming funeral.
Fall 2015
Jackson provided her rendition of “Precious Lord, Take My
Hand.” Former Morehouse College President Dr. Benjamin
E. Mays presented the eulogy. He told of an earlier
conversation with King, in which the much younger man, King,
remarked that he would eulogize Mays one day. Because of
this, Mays was distraught in delivering King’s eulogy instead.
Mays spoke in part:
Perhaps he was more courageous than soldiers who
fight and die on the battlefield. There is an element of
compulsion in their dying. He was acting on the inner
compulsion that drove him. More courageous than those who
advocate violence as a way out, for they carry weapons of
destruction for defense. But Martin Luther faced the dogs,
the police, jail, heavy criticism, and finally death; and he never
carried a gun, not even a pocket knife.
King’s Funeral
The funeral was held on Tuesday, April 9, 1968. He would probably say that, if death had to come, I am sure
Stanislaus County citizens were transfixed before their TVs here was no greater cause to die for than fighting to get a just
watching this major event in U.S. history. It was carried by wage for garbage collectors. He was not ahead of his time.
the television networks, with Charles Kuralt, John Hart, Roger Every man is within his star, each in his time. Jesus had to
respond to the call of God in the first century A.D. and not in
Mudd, and Walter Cronkite doing the narrating for CBS.
The funeral services were held at Ebenezer Baptist the 20th century. He couldn’t wait, even though he died young.
Church in Atlanta. Numerous political notables were present, How long do you think Jesus would have had to wait for the
such as George Romney, Richard Nixon, Edward Kennedy, constituted authorities to accept him? Twenty-five years? A
hundred
years?
A
Robert Kennedy, Eugene
thousand?
He
died
at
33.
McCarthy, Carl Stokes,
He couldn’t wait.
Nelson Rockefeller, John
Lindsay, Hubert Humphrey,
Abraham, leaving his
Thurgood Marshall, George
country at God’s call;
Romney, and Jacob Javits.
Moses leading a rebellious
Rev. Abernathy presided
people; Lincoln dying of an
over the service, calling the
assassin’s bullet; Woodrow
assassination “one of the
Wilson crusading for a
darkest hours in the history
League of Nations; Martin
of all mankind.” There
Luther King Jr., dying
were biblical readings from
King’s funeral, April 9, 1968
fighting for justice for
Rev. Drs. Ronald English,
C.S. King photo
garbage collectors, none of
William Holmes Borders,
these
men
were
ahead
of
their
time.
The time was always
and E.H. Dorsey. King’s favorite hymns were sung, and a
recording of King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” sermon ripe to do that which was right.
was played. At the conclusion, King’s coffin was carried
outside and lifted onto a farm wagon drawn by a mule team, The assassin of King felt he had public support. He knew
for a four mile journey to Morehouse College. Many of the there were some people that wished King dead. The American
dignitaries marched behind the coffin, with singing of “We people must bear part of the guilt. It should not have been
Shall Overcome” being heard from the funeral marchers and necessary for Martin Luther King Jr. to stage marches, go to
jail 30 times. We, too, are guilty of murder. It is time for the
the crowds along the way.
The mule team and coffin arrived at the college, where American people to repent and make democracy equally
a memorial service was held. Hymns were sung and prayers applicable to all Americans.
given, along with biblical readings. Ebenezer Baptist choir
sang “I Ain’t Got Time to Die,” a Negro spiritual, and Mahalia If we love him and respect him, let us see to it that he did not
———————— 794 ————————
die in vain; let us see to it that we do not dishonor his name by
trying to solve our problems through rioting in the streets.
Violence was foreign to his nature, but let us see to it also
that the conditions that cause riots are promptly removed.
King was buried at South View Cemetery in Atlanta
among 60,000 other graves of African-Americans. His
gravestone read: “Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. – 1929-1968
Fall 2015
him. King fought and died for something which will take more
than tears at the grave to honor or rage to do homage to. He
called upon one of the oldest values in American life, the right
of a minority to use its power effectively but peacefully to
win equality with the majority.
Dr. King left a difficult and exacting legacy to both the white
and black people of America. To the whites it was a legacy
of ending the deplorable conditions under which the majority
of the Negroes live. To the blacks it was the legacy of
observing law and order and not tearing apart the social fabric
of the nation in which they seek equality.
The Turlock Journal’s editorial of April 9, 1968:
Dr. Mays delivering the eulogy at Morehouse
College
Internet photo
- Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty, I’m free at
last.” [The verse came from an old slave song.]
The Bee noted that during the funeral services Mrs.
King sat with her face veiled and her head erect, managing
to retain her composure throughout. She had greeted her
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Obediah Scott from Marion County,
AL earlier. Mrs. King remained dry-eyed throughout the brief
graveside service, but “when her husband’s body was placed
in the crypt, she began weeping silently.” King’s father Rev.
King, Sr. sat with tears streaming down his face and then
stood to weep with his head against the his son’s crypt.
Editorials
On April 9, 1968, the Bee published this editorial:
Already some have commented on the rioters as merely
hoodlums who had no sorrow over the horrible tragedy which
occurred last Thursday. Some of these hoods pilfered and
ran to try on garments they had stolen, all the time grinning.
Make no mistake. The failure of Negroes to get their fair
share of jobs is not so much a laughing mask as it is a death
mask.
Dr. King is murdered anew every day Congress delays in
making the Negro a first class citizen. King is murdered anew
every time the Negro is locked into the ghetto and every time
a Negro throws a Molotov cocktail and every time a realtor
is able to assure a client no Negro can move next door to
The immediate outpouring of horrified reaction to the murder
of Dr. Martin Luther King leaves little to be said. We can
only echo what, in essence, has been said already by President
Johnson and many others: The loss of this dedicated leader
through such an act of violence is a profound national tragedy.
The many aspects of this tragedy may not be fully
comprehended, may not even come to light, for some time.
Americans are harshly reminded of the hatred and the taste
for violence that fester beneath the surface of our national
life. We can say as often as we like that the bullet which
plunged Martin Luther King into eternity was fired by a sick,
twisted intelligence, but that is not the whole story. That does
not free us of individual and collective responsibility for creating
a society in which many have come to think of assault and
murder as the only final solutions for our gravest problems of
human relationship.
The particular irony in Dr. King’s death by violence cannot
be denied. Though some Americans detested him for what
he said and did to advance the cause of racial equality, even
they must in fairness acknowledge that he was above all a
man of peace. While numerous other civil rights leaders yielded
to the siren song of violence, he consistently maintained that
salvation could come only through love and nonviolent protest
against injustice.
There is a tragic irony in Dr. King’s death, too, in the
destructive reaction of many Negroes. Their agonized despair
and anger at what may seem to be further evidence of a
white world’s injustice to black men is understandable. But
by responding thus to a great leader’s death they deny the
hopes and ideals for which his life was sacrificed.
If that sacrifice is not to have been in vain, all Americans no
matter what their racial origins must “stand their ground to
———————— 795 ————————
deny violence its victory.” We must all act in the spirit of
those words uttered by President Johnson the day after the
tragedy. It is not a negative admonition, but a call to root out
of our society whatever denies full equality to all Americans.
This was the challenge so eloquently voiced by Martin Luther
King.
Memorial Service
An hour of interfaith and interracial memorial service
for King was held the evening of April 9, 1968 at Modesto’s
predominately African-American church, Second Baptist. The
eulogy given by Rev. Monroe E. Taylor, District Evangelist
of the Christian
Methodist
Episcopal
Church, was an
a n g r y
condemnation of
the
nation’s
societal conditions
that he believed
killed
King,
reported the Bee.
Rev.
Taylor
remarked:
As of my last
check, the letters
SCLC still stood
for “Southern
King memorial service at Second BapC h r i s t i a n
tist Church in Modesto, April 9, 1968
Leadership
Modesto Bee photo
Conference,”
instead
of
“Stealing, Corruption, Looting, and Chaos.” We hear a number
of comments like, why are my people in overt disrespect of
law and order? I suspect that the only way to get rid of ghettos
is to burn them down. [Rev. Taylor then addressed the whites
at the service.] But when King advocated open housing, we
lost a lot of you. It was okay to buy a 10-cent hamburger, or
buy a ticket, or sit next to each other on an airplane, that was
okay. But when we asked to live next door to you, that was
different. How many more shall die? That assassin was not
sick, he was a resident in a sick society. Where can we go
from here? If rioting is the only way to get the message heard,
then I contend that there will be more rioting.”
Songs then sang at the memorial were: “We Shall
Overcome,” “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and King’s
favorite, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.”
Fall 2015
Letters to the Editor
A letter to the Journal editor, written by Mrs. Ralph
Ahlem of Hilmar, took to task the hypocrisy of the Journal’s
“Let Us Pray” editorial of April 5, 1968. Her letter was
published in the Journal on April 10th:
I raise a toast to hypocrisy! Overwhelming and amazing was
your unusually brief, and eloquent front page editorial entitled
“Let Us Pray.” You, who have contributed toward continuing
racial hatred by your editorial policy aimed against social justice
and directed always towards selfish vested interest, should
pin up your prayer for racial understanding in front of your
editorial desk and reiterate it about ten times a day until you
comprehend these words of wisdom. Then, perhaps, Turlock
might have a paper which is a leader toward peace and
enlightenment and not one pretending to preach wisdom under
a thin guise of hatred and injustice. Just check back through
your own editorials and learn that you encouraged this hatred
against the weak and oppressed.
Your editorial was probably motivated by the fear you possess,
now that a true statesman, who was a moderating force in
the violence of Caucasians and Negroes, is gone; with no
one to replace him. And now the subtle violence which the
white community has directed against Negroes may backfire
on us in a very open and direct fashion. Let us hope that
Martin Luther King’s martyrdom was not in vain, and that
we, the white community, can learn a lesson from it and enter
en masse into the Negro community with whatever resources
we possess and eradicate the causes for the terrorism in
which we now live.
A letter to the Bee editor of April 11, 1968 from L.T.
Smith of Turlock was entitled, “No Time to Panic”:
The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King has upset and
alarmed a lot of people, both white and black. They are
frightened and fearful, but as I see it, in case of trouble of any
kind it is best to keep our heads and not panic. To dash around
like a frightened animal, bumping one another and the sides
of our cage is no solution to a problem. We might as well face
the facts as they are.
In the first place the feeling between white and the Negro
Americans is not what it ought to be and sensible people of
both races are seeking the cause and what to do to improve
these relations. The Negro in this country up to very recently
has never had an equal chance to better his lot. The cause
has been indifference, prejudice and race hatred, more or
less triggered by fear and jealousy and, as I see it, we must
recognize these facts and give the Negro a fair chance.
———————— 796 ————————
The killing of King is not going to defeat justice, and all men
of goodwill, white or black, are going to be more determined
to see justice done. Hashing over past wrongs will not help
the Negro nor will fanning the flames of prejudice ever help
the white race. What we need is goodwill and cooperation.
That is the only solution of this problem. Changes are coming
slow but sure. There are plenty of level-headed and sensible
people of both races.
Fall 2015
Negroes; avoid those which seem to have such a bias. Instead
of “do it yourself” activities, like washing your own car, have
it done by car wash stations, which usually hire Negroes (not
that it is any great job).
Businessmen and tradesmen might volunteer to take on one
“apprentice” for training in meaningful and profitable work.
Avoid places of business where you have observed Negroes
treated with disrespect and let the people know your reasons.
All this underscores the economic aspects, which in our money
Academy Awards
th
The 40 Academy Awards had been postponed nearly culture are all important. This was one of the original meanings
a week to April 10, 1968 in respect of King’s death. Two of the term “Black Power.” It is something that all of us can
films winning Oscars were on racial themes: “In the Heat of do to play a part in genuine civil rights movement.
the Night” and “Guess Who’s
Another View
Coming to Dinner.” Rod
A letter written by
Steiger received an Oscar for
Mary Ann Keith of Ceres,
best actor in “In the Heat of
appearing in the Bee on April
the Night,” while Katherine
14, 1968, was critical of King,
Hepburn was chosen best
rankling the community,
actress for “Guess Who’s
resulting in a flood of letters
Coming to Dinner.” The
to the newspaper editor. She
former film concerned law
wrote:
enforcement and the culture of
the South, and the latter,
The film “In the Heat of the Night,” with Rod Steiger and
I, too, am ashamed, but not
interracial love. Interestingly,
Sidney Poitier in the center
Internet photo
because of my race. I am
African-American Sidney
Poitier appeared in major roles in both movies, something white because God alone decided I was to be. But I am
very new in the film industry. When Steiger received his Oscar, ashamed that so much mourning is going on over one of the
he thanked his co-star Poitier for giving him an understanding most lawless individuals of our day. One who has done so
much to stir up racial trouble, start riots, cause unrest and
of racial prejudice.
work for the communist party so efficiently in dividing our
country that Martin Luther King did.
Suggestions to Locals
A letter from Garvin Mennen of Modesto was
published in the Bee on April 12, 1968, entitled “How to Play He not only was trouble-maker, but one who hid behind the
title of a minister of the Gospel, completely going against what
Part”:
God’s word teaches that ministers or even Christian layWe in Modesto may consider ourselves fortunate that we members should be. The Bible says blessed are the
have no sizable “ghetto” about which to be guilty and fearful. peacemakers and admonishes that preachers should preach
But there are many Negroes in our county living in dire need. Jesus Christ and Him crucified, not trouble and division.
In the wake of last week’s vicious assassination all of us
need to be more conscious of our responsibility in curing our If what Martin Luther King taught was so right, why has it
caused so many millions of dollars of personal and property
own local ills.
loss, besides the many lives? Was his life worth so much
Many of us, I am sure, wish to do something meaningful more than anyone else? Why is our country not mourning
besides paying taxes and contributing to worthwhile every boy who is killed in Vietnam? After all, their death is a
organizations like the National Association for the result of somebody’s cause. Why was not Rockwell mourned?
Advancement of Colored People. I suggest there are some After all, he was head trouble-maker of the Nazi party of the
concrete acts we can perform to register our own private USA. We fought them in World War II and have been fighting
communism worldwide since, so why honor their efficient
protest:
helper?
Patronize businesses which clearly have no bias against hiring
———————— 797 ————————
Why does our country not wake up, colored and white, and
work together, instead of dividing so communism can walk
right in? Why do we not see that lawlessness is the biggest
trouble we have in this country? And will get worse as long
as every lawbreaker from King to Bonnie and Clyde are
glorified and hero worshiped publicly. It does not look like we
have much to make a hero of, or to worship either, if that is
the best we can find. If Jesus, our Lord and King, were lying
dead in this country today, you can be assured there would be
no big procession of mourners, because He was much too
kind and peaceable to gain great recognition in our society.
Supports Non-Violence
Philip Baptiste’s letter to the Bee editor supported
the federal government’s course of action concerning violence
and violation of laws. The Bee published it on April 18, 1968:
Certainly Dr. Martin Luther King was slain by a lunatic man.
Obviously he was out of his mind. It was a senseless cruel
murder. When the man is found, we should have no mercy on
him. We should have faith in our righteous Attorney General
Ramsey Clark when he states America is the land of liberty
and freedom for all, black and white and rioting is not the
answer.
Clark is correct when he states King’s philosophy of nonviolence is the philosophy all Americans should follow. Clark
declares that in these trying times the philosophy of civil
disobedience is not the answer and everyone should stay within
the boundary of the law. Rioting will be immediately stopped
by the proper authorities. It is not the answer.
It would be wonderful if we could name some of our
community services in remembrance of this righteous man.
With the passage of the Civil Rights Act by Congress,
Americans can breathe easier. Help is coming to the
impoverished Negro. Employers should open their doors to
all qualified Negroes so they may have secure jobs.
When Americans remember this great man by naming its
services after him, when Congress passes just acts, when
employers open their doors, and when all Americans truly
can say I love my fellow man, then can they be proud of
themselves and this great, wonderful, freedom-loving nation.
Fall 2015
Ann Keith denouncing the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
My first reaction was one of great anger, but I recalled the
words of Christ on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do.” My anger turned to pity, for how
aptly these words apply to this woman.
In the time that was allotted to Dr. King, he attempted to
cleanse this troubled nation of its ills. The plight of black
Americans need not be retold here. King through non-violent
means attempted to alleviate injustice and inequality. He
preached peace. Not once did he call for violence. Not once
did he initiate violence. The riots which have torn our land
must not be attributed to this man of peace. It is unjust to
compare Dr. King with Bonnie and Clyde and to say he is
knowingly working for the communists.
To many Americans, King was our Messiah, our Jesus. He
was for peace, for the poor, for all humanity. Christ was
crucified, and He was a Jew. King was crucified, and he was
black. Which of you, reader, erected the cross? Which of
you, reader, hammered the nails? Mrs. Keith, who is
responsible for plunging the lance into this man’s side?
Bigotry
In a letter to the Bee editor, published April 19, 1968,
Jo Sawyer Steele commented on taking action against bigotry
and violence:
Martin Luther King left us on April 4, 1968, but his enlarged
vision of a truly great America lives on. His dream of a
citizenry which will choose community rather than chaos,
brotherhood rather than bigotry, love rather than hate is still
with us through his eloquent speeches and books.
With Dr. King’s assassination on the middle road has forked.
That vast majority of us, the fence-sitters, who have given
support to neither the violent nor the nonviolent groups at
work for civil rights, must act for those who do not enlarge
the ranks of those using nonviolent means of achieving human
dignity for all. By our silence and inaction, the power of the
violent grows. How do we take action? The ways are limitless.
Here are only three:
In Humboldt County a fund in memory of Dr. King has been
initiated to buy excellent, recreational books for children in
Reply to Keith’s Letter
their formative years, with hope the understanding can be
In reply to Mary Ann Keith’s controversial letter to developed at an early age. The books have a common theme
the Bee editor, Chris Bekiaris of Modesto turned to a Christian in that “character makes the person,” not the color of one’s
theme in his letter of April 19, 1968, “Who Is Responsible?”: skin or one’s economic background. Donations of this type of
book or of the money with which librarians can purchase
I could not help but respond to the April 14 letter by Mary additional books for public libraries are being accepted by
———————— 798 ————————
county librarians.
A second step is to join the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, which has as one of its
purposes the ending of mob violence. A third means is by
writing to your legislators, asking immediate passage of the
civil rights legislation. It is time to accept the fact the color of
one’s skin is no more a fault than the color of one’s eyes.
We must speak for ourselves or our inaction will speak for
us.
Non-Color Policing
In a dinner address in Stockton to the San Joaquin
County Peace Officers Association on April 21, 1968, Rev.
E.T. Henry, a Stockton African-American minister, spoke to
“police brutality.” The Bee published his address and noted
that he urged “non-color policing”:
I know what prejudice is. I know what hatred and anger are,
and I have three Ks on my back-side to prove it. They were
carved there with a beer can opener while I was held spreadeagle by people full of hate and prejudice. Yes, sir, every time
I bathe or undress, I’m reminded of this hatred and revenge,
taken out on me while I was attending a NAACP meeting in
Macon, Georgia. I know well what anger is. I sent my son
Reuben, who we call Buddy, to the [Stockton] Frosty for some
hamburgers. On the way he was stopped by the police, and
when I arrived they had him bent over the hood of the car,
frisking him for weapons. A crowd had arrived by this time
and were yelling “Let’s burn ‘em out, let’s burn ‘em out!”
Those police made two mistakes, stopping the boy who hadn’t
done anything and assuming he had come to bother. When
Chief Jack O’Keefe arrived he asked the officer why he had
done it and the officer replied, “We’ve had a lot of trouble
with Negroes in this area.”
There is no place in law enforcement for prejudices against
creed or color, and anyone holding them should be stripped of
his badge and gun. When an arrest is made it should be because
the person committed a crime not because of his color. All
violators should be treated alike. Don’t release him because
he’s black, don’t handle him with kid gloves because he’s
black, but make an unbiased arrest because he’s a violator.
My son spent the night in his church and emerged in the
morning with his anger gone. Christ set the way for
nonviolence centuries ago!
Buddy is a student at Cal Poly, runs the 100 yard dash in 9.3
seconds, and has earned a place on the Olympic relay team
that will perform in Mexico City. He called me about the
Fall 2015
boycott by Negro athletes. I told Buddy there’s no such thing
as a minority or majority, only Americans, and that’s what
you will be running as in the Olympics. As for the law
enforcement officers, some may be brutal as individuals but
the policemen, collectively, are members of the finest
profession in the world. It’s because of them I know my family
is secure and I’m able to sleep at night.
Ironically, two days later, April 23, 1968, the Bee
reported that an African-American march in downtown
Stockton turned into a spree of vandalism. A group of 200
young African-Americans led by Rev. Norris Fields, head of
the local chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality, marched
to Stockton’s City Hall to meet with Mayor Joseph Doll. Rev.
Fields asked that “social injustice be corrected; demanded
better qualified education and more summer jobs for youths;
and rejected a proposal by the City Council to convert an old
housing project building into recreation center for Negro
youths.”
Not liking the outcome of the meeting, a large group
of the young marchers decided to riot, breaking windows,
overturning cars, looting stores, and harassing passers-by for
three hours. While riding in his car, Jack Edgar was stopped
by an angry mob that broke his windshield. Michael Fisher of
Stockton pulled a gun and threatened a mob that had
surrounded his car. There were several arrests during the
melee. Stockton became an encampment that night with
police, highway patrolmen, and sheriff’s deputies patrolling
the city streets with riot weapons.
National Holiday for King
Conservatives were not fond of King, labeling him a
communist sympathizer. Conservative Ronald Reagan rode
the tide criticism as well. As president he objected to
authorizing a national holiday for King, being skeptical of
King’s place in American history and questioning his
worthiness for such a rare recognition. He was uncomfortable
with liberal causes and their methods, especially civil
demonstration. He commented after King’s assassination: “It’s
the sort of great tragedy when we begin compromising with
law and order and people start choosing which laws they
would break.” He noted that the national holiday would cost
the government $225 million in federal employee wages.
The movement towards a national holiday for King
began four days after his assassination. Michigan
Congressman John Conyers, an African-American Democrat,
introduced legislation to designate January 15th, each year, as
a federal holiday in King’s honor. The bill failed as did similar
legislation he introduced subsequently. In 1970, Conyers was
able to convince New York’s governor and New York City’s
mayor to commemorate King’s birthday with a holiday. St.
———————— 799 ————————
Fall 2015
Louis did the same, followed by other places through the 1970s. an image, not reality. Indeed to them, the perception is reality.
Conyers organized marches during 1981-1983 in support of We hope some modifications might still take place in
the holiday. He reintroduced legislation in 1983, while California Congress.’’
Reagan continued his objection to the legislation,
Republican Congressman William Dannemeyer led the
principally
based
on
opposition. The Reagan
government finance, but
administration concurred with
Tennessee
Republican
the
Dannemeyer ’s
Senator Howard H. Baker,
sentiments, but the House
Jr., leader of the Senate,
passed the bill by a vote of
guided the bill through,
338 for and 90 against.
defeating any modification.
The
legislation
One such alteration was the
struggled in the Senate,
conservatives’ desire to
because of racist attitudes.
change the holiday’s name to
Leading the opposition was
“National Civil Rights Day.”
North Carolina Democratic
The press asked the president
Senator Jesse Helms, who
if he would sign the King
filibustered the bill,
President Reagan signing legislation to establish a national
holiday bill. He replied that he
demanding that the FBI make
holiday in honor of King
Internet photo
would, because ‘’the
public its files on King,
asserting that he was a communist who did not deserve the symbolism of that day is important enough.’’ The Senate
honor of a holiday. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had led an passed the bill 78 to 22 in October 1983, which set the annual
investigation of King beginning in the late 1950s and made King holiday for the third Monday each January.
Mrs. King chaired the commission planning the
efforts to intimidate him with suggestions of revealing certain
information publicly. Hoover was using Cold War tactics of events for the first King holiday of January 20, 1986. She
charging one with communism, with the idea of harassing was disappointed by the lack of support from the Reagan
administration concerning the celebration. Beginning January
and quieting him.
As the passage of King’s holiday was nearing, 11, 1986, there was a week of commemorations throughout
President Reagan was asked if King had communist the nation. Major celebratory events occurred in Atlanta and
associations. In reference to the FBI file on King, he remarked: Washington, D.C. A bust of King was dedicated at the U.S.
‘’We’ll know in about 35 years, won’t we? There is no way Capitol. The president officially instituted the King holiday
that this government should violate its word and open files on January 18, 1986, remarking in part: “This year marks the
that are now sealed.’’ Former Democratic Vice President first observance of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Walter F. Mondale responded by criticizing the president for Jr. as a national holiday. It is a time for rejoicing and reflecting.
his remark, which implied King’s linkage to communism. We rejoice because in his short life, by his preaching, his
Mondale declared that the president should apologize to Mrs. example, and his leadership, helped to move us closer to the
King. Reagan had arrived to play golf at Augusta National ideals on which America was founded. He challenged us to
Golf Course, where African-Americans were denied make real the promise of America as a land of freedom,
membership, when he heard of Mondale’s remarks. He equality, opportunity, and brotherhood.”
Written by Robert LeRoy Santos
telephoned Mrs. King and apologized for any misunderstanding
his comment had caused.
In 1983, Republican New Hampshire Governor
Meldrim Thomson, Jr. sent a letter to Reagan urging him to
Stanislaus Historical Quarterly is published four times a year,
featuring freshly researched articles on Stanislaus County hisveto the King holiday. Thomson was a conservative, member
tory. Currently, there is no charge per subscription or individual
of the John Birch Society, who had characterized King publicly
issues, but readers must notify the editor to be placed on the
at one time as “a man of immoral character, whose
mailing list. Ideas for articles or historical information concernassociations with communists were well-established.” The
ing topics of county history may be sent to the editor. This is a
president responded to Thomson by letter, noting his private
non-profit educational publication. Stanislaus Historical Quarreservations concerning the holiday. Thomson released to the
terly is edited, copyrighted, and published by Robert LeRoy
press one of Reagan’s statements from the letter : ‘’On the
Santos, Alley-Cass Publications, Tel: 209.634.8218. Email:
national holiday you mentioned, I have the reservations you
blsantos@csustan.edu. Ellen Ruth Wine Santos is assistant
have, but here the perception of too many people is based on
editor and proofreader.
———————— 800 ————————
Martin Luther King, Jr.
A Brief Biography
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
R
ev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta,
GA on January 15, 1929 to Rev. and Mrs. Martin Luther
King, Sr., the middle child of the family. His mother’s maiden
name was Alberta Christine Williams, with his original name
being Michael King, Jr. and his father’s Michael King, Sr. At
the age of five, his father changed both their names to Martin
Luther King, with young Martin being known as M.L. at home.
There were two siblings, an older sister Christine and a
younger brother A.D. His father served as pastor of Ebenezer
Baptist Church in Atlanta, alongside his Mother’s father, Rev.
A.D. Williams.
Education
King attended David T. Howard Elementary School
and Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta. Because
of his advanced scholarly ability, he was allowed to skip the
9th and 12th grades, entering Morehouse College in Atlanta at
the age of 15. The president of Morehouse, Benjamin E. Mays,
known for his scholarship in African-American religion,
mentored King, encouraging him to become a minister.
King graduating from Morehouse College at 19 yearsold
Internet photo
In 1947, King became a licensed minister, assisting
his father at Ebenezer Baptist, and then was ordained as a
Baptist minister in February 1948. In June 1948, he graduated
from Morehouse with a B.A. Degree in Sociology. In
September, he entered Crozer Theological Seminary in
Chester, PA. He concentrated some of his studies on Mahatma
Gandhi, being influenced by the teaching of Gandhi from
faculty lectures of Drs. A.J. Muste and Mordecai W. Johnson.
In June 1951, he received a Divinity Degree. He married
Coretta Scott of Marion, AL, in June 1953, having met her in
Boston. She was a graduate of Antioch College, Yellow
Springs, OH and studied concert singing at the New England
Conservatory of Music, Boston. They were parents of four
children: Yolanda, Dexter, Martin, and Bernice. King was
installed as pastor in 1954 at the Dexter Avenue Baptist
Church in Montgomery, AL and earned a Ph.D. degree in
theology in 1955 from Boston University.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
His civil rights work began in December 1955, at 26
years-old, when he and Rev. Ralph Abernathy became active
in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, began by Rosa Parks. King
was named president of the newly organized Montgomery
Improvement Association to lead the boycott. He told the
membership that “First and foremost, we are American
citizens. We are not here advocating violence. The only
weapon that we have is the weapon of protest. The great
glory for American democracy is the right to protest for right.”
On January 26, 1956, he was arrested for driving his
car 30 mph in a 25 mph zone and released on his own
recognizance. A dynamite bomb exploded on King’s front porch
in Montgomery on January 30th, with everyone escaping injury.
In the residence at the time was Mrs. King, their daughter
Yolanda, and Mrs. Roscoe Williams. Mrs. King heard a thud,
grabbed Mrs. Williams and ran to the back of the house, where
Yolanda was sleeping in her crib. A large crowd of AfricanAmericans gathered armed with various types of weapons
wanting to riot, but King insisted on nonviolence in reaction to
the incident. He took the survival of his wife and child as an
omen, declaring, “God is with us. With love in our hearts, with
faith and with God in front we cannot lose.”
He and others in the boycott movement were charged
on February 21, 1956 with “conspiracy to hinder and prevent
the operation of business without ‘just or legal cause.’”
Montgomery Mayor Gayle filed a restraint against the
transportation systems developed during the boycott, mainly
car pools. On June 10th, the U.S. District Court ruled that
racial segregation on city bus lines was unconstitutional. On
November 13th, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the district
court’s ruling. After more than a year of protest, the
Montgomery bus boycott ended on December 21st.
A bomb of 12 sticks of dynamite was placed at the
front door of King’s Montgomery house on January 27, 1957,
but fortunately it didn’t explode because the fuse failed. Just
down the street, a bomb exploded at another house, with police
theorizing that this blast was to have drawn King to the front
of his house. The next morning as he preached to his Dexter
———————— 801 ————————
Avenue Baptist congregation, he told them that the
assassination attempt had left him badly shaken, but he
recounted that a year before, after that bombing, the Holy
Spirit told him to “preach the Gospel, stand up for truth, stand
up for righteousness.”
Fall 2015
loitering, but it was changed to failure to obey a police officer.
He was released on a $100 bond. The next day he pled not
guilty, but was fined nonetheless, even though he strongly
objected. On September 17th, Harper & Row published his
book entitled Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery
Story, which was his memoir of the bus boycott. In it he stated
that “Is not freedom the negation of servitude? Does not one
have to end totally for the other to begin?” On September
20th, he was nearly killed in Harlem, when Izola Curry, 42,
stabbed him in the chest while he was autographing a copy of
his book. He survived the knifing, while his would be killer
was declared insane.
India Visit
King addressing a crowd from his front porch after the
January 30, 1956 bombing, with Montgomery mayor and
police chief looking on
Burns photo
King’s Movement Grows
In February 1957, King and other African-American
ministers founded the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), to which King was elected president.
The organization was dedicated to countering racism and
discrimination nonviolently. On February 18th, Time magazine
placed King on its cover as “Man of the Year.” Segregation
still existed in the South in transportation, public schools,
recreational facilities, hotels, and restaurants. On the third
anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring
school segregation was unconstitutional (Brown vs. Board
of Education), King spoke from the Lincoln Memorial in
Washington, D.C. The event was the Prayer Pilgrimage for
Freedom, with his address being entitled “Give Us the Ballot.”
On June 13, 1957, Vice President Richard Nixon and
King met for a conference in Washington, D.C.. In September
President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas
National Guard to escort nine African-American students to
an all-white high school in Little Rock, AK, complying with
the Supreme Court’s ruling of school desegregation. On
September 9th, civil rights legislation was passed, creating the
U.S. Civil Rights Commission and the Civil Rights Division of
the U.S. Department of Justice. King along with Roy Wilkins
of the NAACP, A. Philip Randolph, and Lester Granger met
with President Eisenhower at the White House.
Problems
In an eventful September 1958, King was first
arrested on September 3rd in Montgomery on the charge of
From February 2 to March 10, 1959, he and Mrs.
King traveled in India, where he studied Gandhi’s techniques
of nonviolence. They were the guests of India’s Prime
Minister Nehru. King remarked that “to other countries, I
may go as a tourist, but to India I come as a pilgrim. I’ve read
so much about Gandhi and the success of the nonviolent
movement here that I wanted to come and see for myself.”
His Crusade Continues
On January 24, 1960, King became co-pastor with
his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, moving his
family there. On February 1st the first lunch-counter sit-in
began in Greensboro, NC, to integrate eating facilities. On
February 17, 1960, King was charged with falsifying his 1956
and 1957 Alabama state income tax returns. On May 28th, he
was acquitted of the charges by an all-white jury in
Montgomery. King met with Democratic candidate for
president, John F. Kennedy, concerning racial matters. On
October 19th, King was arrested during an Atlanta sit-in for
violating the state’s trespass law. On October 22nd, all charges
were dropped, but he was held for violating probation from
an earlier traffic violation. He was imprisoned in DeKalb
County Jail in Decatur, GA and then transferred to Reidsville
State Prison. He was released on a $2,000 bond.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1961 ruled to outlaw
segregation at interstate transportation terminals. The first
group of Freedom Riders intent on integrating interstate buses,
left Washington, D.C. by Greyhound buses. The group had
been formed by the Congress of Racial Equity (CORE). One
bus was hijacked, emptied of passengers, and burned in
Anniston, AL on May 14, 1961. A mob in Birmingham attacked
the Freedom Riders, and in Jackson, MS, Freedom Riders
spent some 60 days in Parchman Penitentiary.
On December 15, 1961, King arrived in Albany, GA
at the invitation of Dr. W.G. Anderson, who headed the Albany
Movement to desegregate public facilities, which had begun
in January 1961. The next day, King was arrested in a
———————— 802 ————————
demonstration for sidewalk obstruction and parading without
a permit. He was tried in February 1962 and convicted on
February 27th. He was arrested again on July 27th on the
same charges in Albany, while holding a prayer vigil.
On September 20, 1962, African-American James
Meredith attempted to enroll at the University of Mississippi,
but it took the U.S. Supreme Court to order his enrollment,
requiring U.S. marshals to escort him onto campus on October
1st. He became the first African-American to graduate from
the university a year later. He was
ambushed later, but fortunately survived
the shotgun wounds. At the time, King
was in Chicago meeting with Mayor
Richard Daley to convince him to end
racism in housing and to hire AfricanAmericans as city employees.
Fall 2015
was caught on television cameras, televising images across
the nation of police brutality. This exposure heightened the
call for African-American equality, propelling Kennedy to
propose a civil rights bill. On May 20th, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that Birmingham segregation ordinances were
unconstitutional. In June, Harper & Row published King’s
book Strength to Love.
Continued Opposition
On June 11, 1963, Alabama Governor George
Wallace blocked the doors to University
of Alabama’ administration building,
forbidding African-American students and
U.S. Justice Department officials from
entering. His action was in reaction to the
court-ordered integration of the institution.
Wallace eventually caved-in, allowing their
entrance. Kennedy spoke on television
concerning integration, stating that “this is
Meets with Kennedy
a land of the free except Negroes . . . one
King met with President Kennedy
hundred years of delay have passed since
at the White House for an hour on
President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet
October 16, 1962. While being shown the
their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully
Lincoln bedroom, where a replica of the
free. . . . Now the time has come for this
Emancipation Proclamation was
nation to fulfill its promise. The events in
positioned above the fireplace, he spoke
Birmingham and elsewhere have so
softly to the president, saying, “Mr.
increased the cries for equality that no city
President, I’d like to see you stand in this
or state or legislative body can prudently
room and sign a second Emancipation
choose to ignore them.” NAACP leader
Proclamation outlawing segregation, one
in Jackson, MS, Medgar Evers was said
Jailed many times was frustrating,
hundred years after Lincoln’s. You could
such as here in St. Augustine, FL in
to be elated by the speech, and while
base it on the Fourteenth Amendment.”
1964
Burns photo
returning home, he was assassinated on
Kennedy liked the idea and asked King to
his
driveway
by
a
high-powered rifle. Because he was a
prepare a draft.
veteran of the Normandy Invasion of World War II, he was
buried at Arlington National Cemetery on June 19 th ,
Birmingham
In March 1963, King and leaders of SCLC began notwithstanding strong protests by southern whites. After three
protesting racial discrimination in Birmingham, AL, the south’s trials held over four decades, Ku Klux Klan member Byron
most segregated city. He was arrested in a sit-down de la Beckwith was convicted of murdering Evers.
demonstration and jailed. On April 16th, King wrote his “Letter
“I Have a Dream”
from Birmingham Jail” on scraps of paper, which was later
On August 28, 1963, the first large integrated protest
published. He had long identified with Apostle Paul and his
struggle. Just as Paul had written from prison, King decided was held, the March on Washington, which was led by King
to pen a letter to “My dear fellow clergymen.” He wrote that from Washington Monument to Lincoln Memorial. Over
“Just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried 200,000 gathered at the memorial and heard King deliver his
the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco- memorable “I Have a Dream” speech, which ended with
Roman world, so I am compelled to carry the gospel of “when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from
freedom beyond my own home town.” King felt compelled to every village and every hamlet, from every state and every
correct false teachings of violence given to misguided African- city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s
children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles,
Americans against his call for non-violence.
Birmingham police resorted to violence against Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing
marching protestors, including women and children, during the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last, free at last.
May 3-5, 1963, using dogs and fire hoses. The vicious attack Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.’” Afterwards, he
———————— 803 ————————
and other civil rights leaders met with President Kennedy in
the White House.
Integration Moves Forth
Fall 2015
humankind. He declared that “those who pioneer in the
struggle for peace and freedom will still face uncomfortable
jail terms, painful threats of death. They will still be battered
by the storms of persecution, leading them to nagging feelings
that they can no longer bear such a heavy burden . . . but
they must not succumb. They must carry their cross to the
bitter end.” When he returned to New York City, it was said
that he was welcomed as though he was the pope. The
president hosted a reception at the
White House, attended by King, Mrs.
King, and his parents. He was world
famous.
Governor Wallace ordered Alabama State Troopers
on September 2, 1963 to stop the court-ordered integration of
the state’s schools. On September 10th, a court injunction
was secured requiring Wallace and Alabama to allow the
schools to integrate. On November
22nd, Kennedy was assassinated,
with his successor Lyndon Johnson
pushing forth the Civil Rights Act
of 1964. It prohibited racial
Malcolm X
discrimination in public places and
Another
African-American
leader,
required equal opportunity in
Malcolm X, formerly of the Black
employment and education.
Muslims, was gunned down on
In May 1964 at St.
February 21, 1965 in New York City
Augustine, FL, King joins other
by Black Muslims who felt he
SCLC members in their
betrayed them. Malcolm X advocated
demonstration to integrate public
African-American rights through any
facilities. He is jailed for his
measure, which left him outside
participation, while his new book
King’s nonviolent movement.
from Harper & Row is published,
King receiving the Nobel Peace Prize from
Malcolm X was known for his fiery
entitled Why We Can’t Wait. On
Norway’s King Olav
Burns photo
st
provocative statements, such as “if
June 21 , three civil rights workers
were murdered in Philadelphia, MS: James Chaney, who was America refuses [to repent from its racial sins], then like the
Aftrican-American, and Andrew Goodman and Michael biblical houses of Egypt and Babylon, God will erase the
Schwerner, who were white. Neshoba County Sheriff Rainey American government and the entire white race from this
and Deputy Cecil Price were implicated in the assassination. planet.”
Nobel Peace Prize
King and Abernathy visited West Berlin at the
invitation of Mayor Willy Bandt in September 1964. On
September 18th, King had an audience with Pope Paul VI at
the Vatican. Then on December 10th, King received the Nobel
Peace Prize in Olso, Norway. He brought with him an
entourage of 30 family members and friends. He was
uncomfortable with the entire event, not knowing if his
worldwide recognition would cripple the Civil Rights
Movement. He was concerned that African-Americans,
seeing him hobnobbing with white royalty and the wealthy,
would perceive him differently. He was especially distressed
with Abernathy, who felt he should share the limelight with
King and the $54,000 prize money. Mrs. King wanted to use
the prize money for their children’s college education, but
King donated the prize to the movement that had earned him
the Nobel. When receiving the gold medallion on stage, he
announced that he was merely the trustee of the award, which
belonged to the entire Civil Rights Movement. At Oslo
University in a public lecture, King advocated nonviolence as
the key to world peace and disarmament, the greatest goal of
Selma to Montgomery
A protest march of March 7, 1965, from Selma to
Montgomery led by SCLC’s Hosea Williams, came to an
abrupt halt after crossing Edmund Pettus Bridge. Governor
Wallace had prohibited the march, which was promoting
African-American voter registration and voting. Alabama
state law enforcement used violent measures to the stop the
march, which was shown on national television. King
proclaimed the march would be attempted again. On March
15th, President Johnson addressed the nation declaring that a
voting rights bill would be submitted to Congress in two days,
with him using the Civil Rights Movement’s slogan, “We Shall
Overcome.”
White and African-American demonstrators were
beaten in Montgomery on March 16, 1965, by mounted sheriff
and police deputies. The Selma to Montgomery March began
again on March 21st, but this time the over 3,000 marchers
were escorted by federal troops, reaching the Alabama capital
a few days later. King marched strenuously for three days,
having blistered feet, though common to all participants, and
then flew to Cleveland for a fund-raiser, returning to
———————— 804 ————————
Montgomery on March 25th to address the marchers. He
was exhausted and non-communicative, having one of his
bouts of deep depression. He delivered an address at the
Alabama statehouse that was flying a confederate flag, while
he stood near the bronze star marking the 1861 inauguration
of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Governor Wallace
watched from his window at the statehouse. There was a
confederate cannon and a statue of Davis a few feet away,
and to the left was the red brick church he had once pastored.
His speech was brilliant, mixing realism of the day, with hope,
courage, and love. He began, “My people, my people, listen!
The battle is in our hands. I must admit to you there are still
some difficulties ahead. . . . How long? Not long, ‘cause
mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,
trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are
stored. He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift
sword. His truth is marching on. He has sounded forth the
trumpets that shall never call retreat. He is lifting up the hearts
of man before His judgment seat. Oh, be swift, my soul, to
answer Him. Be jubilant, my feet. Our God is marching on.”
One of his follow-marchers, Viola Liuzzo, a white Unitarian
activist from Detroit, was murdered later by four Klansmen
in her green Oldsmobile, while driving a teenage AfricanAmerican boy back to his home in Selma.
Chicago Ghetto
In July 1965, King met in Chicago with members of
the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations of the
Chicago Project. He felt it was time for the civil rights
campaign to go north to protest the squalor of AfricanAmerican housing, unemployment, and segregation in ghettos.
These were entrapments from which there was virtually no
escape. King rented an apartment in the Chicago ghetto in
February 1966. On February 23rd, he becomes the manager
of a slum apartment building but is sued by its owner. Marches
were organized to protest the inner-city issues of high
unemployment, inadequate housing, and poor schools. But
angry whites threw bottles and rocks at the demonstrators
being led by King in Chicago’s southwest side. Chicago
officials met with King and promised to encourage fair housing
practices if he would end the protests. King accepted the
compromise.
Voting Rights
Fall 2015
resulting in the largest African-American voting turnout in
nearly 100 years. The Black Power movement was rising in
the nation, with Stokely Carmichael and Willie Ricks of the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) being
two of its leaders. It seemed that the religious, nonviolent
emphasis of the Civil Rights Movement was being challenged
Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights, with King
and Mrs. King to the lower right of photo
Internet photo
by a more power-structured revolt, with King no longer
representing the whole African-American cause. This caused
King to move more to the left in 1967, believing that poverty
was a greater evil than racism. His book Where Do We Go
from Here? was published in January 1967. He launched his
Poor People’s Campaign, emphasizing the redistribution of
wealth from the rich to the poor of every race. He sought
more economic equality, a guaranteed annual income for the
poor, and the passing of antipoverty legislation. These were
socialistic measures, confirming the contention of many that
he was a communist.
Vietnam War
The anti-Vietnam War protest was increasing steadily
in 1967, with King attacking the U.S. government’s Vietnam
policy in a speech at the Chicago Coliseum on March 25,
1967. He spoke out against the war on April 4th at the Riverside
Church in New York City. King criticized South Vietnam’s
government as corrupt and undemocratic. He proclaimed that
sending African-Americans to war to fight for democracy
and decency was wrong, because African-American soldiers
didn’t have those conditions at home. He declared:
In August 1965, Johnson signed the Voting Rights
Act of 1965, and on March 25, 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled that poll tax was unconstitutional. The U.S. Justice We were taking the black young men who had been crippled
Department reported that 50 percent of the eligible African- by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away
American voters were registered in the states of Mississippi, to guarantee the liberties in Southeast Asia, which they had
Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and South Carolina. King not found in southwestern Georgia and eastern Harlem. We
campaigned in Alabama for African-American candidates, have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching
———————— 805 ————————
Fall 2015
Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die riots “have proved to be ineffective and damaging to the civil
together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together rights cause and the entire nation.” The U.S. Supreme Court
in the same schools. We watch them in brutal solidarity burning on October 30, 1967, upheld the contempt-of-court convictions
the huts of a poor village, but we realize that they would of King and seven others, who led the Birmingham marches
hardly live on the same block in Chicago. The war is but a in 1963. They served four-day jail sentences. King busied
himself with organizing the
deeper malady within the
Poor People’s Campaign.
American spirit. When
machines and computers, profit
motives and property rights are
Memphis
considered more important than
On February 12, 1968,
people, the triple evils of racism,
1,300 African-American
materialism, and militarism are
sanitation workers in Memphis
incapable of being conquered.
went on strike, protesting
U.S. foreign policy serves the
discrimination in pay and
needs of corporate investment,
working conditions. On March
rather than support the striving
28th, King and Abernathy led
of the world’s poor for freedom
6,000 protesters through
from economic bondage. I am
downtown Memphis, when
convinced that if we are to get
disorder broke out as AfricanMemphis Sanitation Workers Strike, March 1968
on the right side of the world
American youths began looting
Internet photo
revolution, we as a nation must
stores, shouting “Black
undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly shift Power!” Over 200 stores were destroyed, with King and
from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. A Abernathy being quickly escorted to safety. The media came
nation that continues year after year to spend more on military down hard on King for the violence. He knew that he needed
defense than on programs of social uplift
to meet with the Black Power group in
is approaching spiritual death. These are
attempt to bring calm. Members of the
revolutionary times. Our only hope today
“Invaders,” those who led the rioting,
lies in our ability to recapture the
came to King’s motel room to apologize.
revolutionary spirit and go out into a
They expected anger, but one member
sometimes hostile world declaring eternal
remarked that “Nobody can be as
hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.
peaceful as that man. When he came into
This call for a worldwide fellowship that
the room it seemed like all of a sudden
lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s
there was a real rush of wind and
tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a
everything just went out and peace and
call from an all-embracing and
calm settled over everything. You could
unconditional love for mankind.”
feel peace around that man.” Within, King
was very unsettled. He had pondered the
King had gone international. He
thought of fasting, replicating Gandhi and
spoke to the human needs beyond
Cesar Chavez in California.
Montgomery and Chicago. His rhetoric
King flew to Atlanta with his
placed him above the Black Power
leadership and his wife, exhausted and
Movement into the world global village,
fighting a fierce migraine headache. The
The Kings relaxing at home the sumwhich was more powerful than our nation
next morning at an executive staff
mer of 1967. A portrait of Ghandi bealone.
meeting, held at Ebenezer, they told him
hind them
C.S. King photo
that he should not have gone to Memphis.
1967 Summer Riots
He then lashed out, saying that “We’d let him down. That we
African-American rioting exploded in the northern all had our own agendas.” King demanded that everyone drop
cities. In Newark, NJ, 23 died and 725 were injured, and in everything and go back to Memphis with him. His airplane
Detroit, 43 died, and 324 were injured. On July 26th, African- was halted on the runway to be inspected for bombs. This
American leaders A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Whitney was not anything new. He lived daily with death threats for
Young, and King implored the rioters to stop, because the many years. Still, the Memphis police commissioner was
———————— 806 ————————
concerned with the numerous death threats King had received.
Several Memphis police detectives met with King and his
staff when they arrived.
They were told by King
and his colleagues that they
weren’t needed to protect
him. It was common
knowledge that southern
police departments colluded
with the FBI and couldn’t
be trusted. To Herbert
Hoover, Director of the
FBI, King was enemy
number one. King’s people
didn’t want any foxes
guarding
the chicken coop.
King making his point, being a charismatic speaker
Internet photo
Stormy Night
King normally stayed in downtown Memphis at
Lorraine Motel, an African-American owned facility and
second home to blues and jazz musicians, church leaders,
and African-American notables. It was a stormy evening in
Memphis, April 3, 1968. An audience had gathered at the
Mason Temple, national headquarters of the Church of God
in Christ, the largest African-American Pentecostal
denomination. King was too tired to speak, and expecting a
small crowd because of the weather, he sent Abernathy to
speak instead. Abernathy telephoned King and told him, “Your
people are here, and you ought to come and talk to them.
They didn’t come tonight just to hear Abernathy. They came
tonight in this storm to hear King.” Obeying Abernathy, King
appeared at the podium to deliver a spellbinding message,
ending with “I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about
anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the
glory of the coming of the Lord!”
Assassination
Early evening the next day, April 4, 1968, King and
his comrades prepared themselves on the second floor of the
Lorraine Motel for dinner and a rally. King felt a kinship of
earlier times among his staff, saying, “This really is the old
movement’s spirit.” Then King stepped outside on the balcony
as twilight approached. It was about 6 p.m. Down in the
courtyard parking lot below were many of his colleagues.
King called out, “All right, load up. We’re getting ready to
go.” Ben Branch, singer and saxophonist was next to King.
He told Branch, “I want you to sing ‘Precious Lord’ for me
tonight like you never sung it before.” Branch replied that he
always did. King remarked, “But tonight, especially for me. I
Fall 2015
want you to sing it real pretty.” Someone suggested to King
that he wear an overcoat as it was cool. King was uncertain
and said, “I don’t know whether I need a coat.” It was at that
time there was a loud clap, sounding like a firecracker or car
backfiring. Instantly King was propelled backward, falling on
the balcony, with blood pumping from his neck. The assassin’s
bullet had struck King in the neck and severed his spinal cord,
killing him immediately. Emergency effort couldn’t save him.
Andy Young sprang up the stairs and cried out when he saw
Abernathy cradling King, “Oh God, Ralph. It’s over!” King
was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was announced
officially dead. African-Americans rioted in over 100 cities
when word of King’s assassination was received. He was
buried in the South View Cemetery in Atlanta and later moved
to Ebenezer Baptist Church. His tombstone read: “Free at
last, Free at last, Thank God almighty, I’m free at last.”
In 1980, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic
Site was opened, which included his birthplace, church, and
burial site. In 1983, Congress instituted a national holiday on
the third Monday in January, honoring King. In 1991, the
National Civil Rights
Museum was opened at
the site of King’s
assassination in Memphis.
In 2008, a National
Memorial to King was
placed on the National
Mall in Washington, D.C.
King had spoken
that fatal day to Lorraine
Bailey, the owner of the
Lorraine Motel. His
assassination caused
Bailey such anguish that
she suffered a stroke and
died four days later. In
Mrs. King and children the day 1974, King’s mother, while
playing the organ at
of the funeral
C.S. King photo
Ebenezer Baptist Church,
was shot and killed. The murderer was a member of a cult
that opposed African-Americans serving as Christian
ministers. He received the death penalty.
James Earl Ray was arrested after a lengthy search,
who pleaded guilty in 1969 to King’s assassination. He received
99 years in prison, but he made efforts to withdraw his plea
without success. In 1978, a House special committee
investigated and found no conspiracy in the assassination. In
2000, the U.S. Justice Department also investigated and also
found no conspiracy. Ray died in 1998, still denying he killed
King.
———————— 807 ————————
(Continued from back cover)
Fall 2015
that all persons were born free and equal. All northern states,
between 1780 and 1804, passed laws to allow gradual
When the colonies sought their independence from emancipation of slaves, with special status being granted to
the England, the 600,000 southern slaves sided with the British, free African-Americans. U.S. Congress barred slavery from
hoping to be freed by them. Those African-Americans in the the Northwest Territory in 1787. (The territory would consist
northern and middle colonies favored the colonies, where of the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and
40,000 free African-Americans lived and life was much better. Wisconsin.)
Nearly 5,000 fought in the
From 1790 to 1810, the
Continental Army, one being Agrippa
number of free African-Americans
Hull, who served for the entire
rose from 59,000 to 187,000, primarily
Revolutionary War. General
in the North. Manumission in the
Washington, a slave owner, allowed
South, mainly through a slaveholders’
African-American participation but
wills, gradually increased free
barred any recruitment of slaves.
African-Americans from one percent
They fought with white colonists at
in 1770 to ten percent by 1810. In
Lexington, Concord, and Boston
Virginia alone, because of Quaker and
when the war began. Their purpose
Moravian persuasion, the number
was to honor themselves in the sight
rose from 10,000 free Africanof whites and to win their freedom.
Americans to 30,000 during the same
Many in the Continental Congress
period. Delaware had freed 75
owned slaves, including the writer of
percent of its slaves by 1810.
the Declaration of Independence,
However, 95 percent of AfricanFree northern African-Americans, circa 1860s
Thomas Jefferson, whose workforce
Americans, or 800,000 were still
Internet photo
included over 200.
enslaved. Even though free AfricanSlaves were offered their freedom by the British and Americans fared far better than slaves, numerous pondered
Tories if they joined the British forces. British Virginia’s leaving the U.S. to free zones in Africa.
Governor Lord Dunmore recruited 300 African-Americans
for his Ethiopian Regiment. Slaves escaped from the North
Spiritual Awakening
and South to join with the British. In South Carolina, 25,000
The Second Great Awakening of 1800-1830s served
slaves took advantage by escaping and teaming up with the as an impetus to spawn African-American Christianity,
British or fleeing to other regions. The British assisted in basically for those who were free. A network of Africantransporting 4,000 African-Americans to Nova Scotia and American Christian churches was formed. In the South, slaves
freedom. One such person was slave Thomas Peters, who at times sat in white church balconies. European religion was
fought with the British, having the same freedom as whites. thought to provide stability and comfort to African-American
He traveled to England on an abolitionist mission, arriving in groups and was encouraged. The segregated Africantime for the chartering of the Sierra Leone Company, giving American churches allowed for unique African expression
it trading and settlement rights. In 1792, Peters and numerous of spirituality and served as centers of education and
other former slaves were resettled in Sierra Leone, being community, free from white interference. Separate Africanfully freedmen.
American denominations began to sprout up, such as the
African Methodist Episcopal Church and African Methodist
U.S. Constitution
Episcopal Zion Church. African-American organizations were
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 drafted a new formed seeking the elimination of slavery. One such society,
form of U.S. government through the U.S. Constitution. The founded in 1830, was the American Society of Free Persons
document set forth ideas of freedom and equality. But slavery of Color. After the Second Great Awakening, Africanwas allowed under certain conditions. The Constitution Americans joined the Baptist Church, where they were
consisted of a fugitive slave clause and three-fifths allowed full participation, including roles as elders and
compromise in representation. Free and enslaved African- preachers.
Americans were essentially denied voting rights, public
education, and freedom of movement. In the North, there
Advances Made
were lawsuits by African-Americans seeking freedom,
The number of free African-Americans had risen to
especially in Massachusetts, where its constitution declared nearly 320,000 by the 1830, with 150,000 living in the North
———————— 808 ————————
Revolutionary War
and 170,000 in the South. Their freedom came from purchasing
their freedom, also being set free by slaveholders or escaping
to the North and Canada. When the northern states abolished
slavery, this added to the free African-American numbers.
Free African-Americans gravitated to the cities for security
and work. Because in most instances African-Americans were
unacceptable for white people’s jobs, African-American men
worked in unskilled jobs doing menial tasks, while the women
were employed in domestic occupations, primarily working
for white families. The majority of free African-Americans
still lived in poverty, with some though being able to own
businesses serving African-American communities. A few
joined the middle class as doctors, lawyers, and successful
businessmen. Education was considered the door to success,
which could come better employment and living conditions.
African-American schools, especially under the aegis of
churches, were opened by free African-Americans to educate
their children, because public school education was virtually
unavailable. Even so, it was only the children of the more
well-to-do African-Americans who had the opportunity to
become educated and advance.
Antebellum Period
Fall 2015
postponement of the decision concerning slavery in the new
territories; slave trade but not slavery would be abolished in
the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.; California would be
admitted as a free state; and the South would have a new
Slaves picking cotton in Georgia
Internet photo
fugitive slave act, requiring Northerners to return escaped
slaves to their owners. This was a shaky peace lasting until
the election of 1860.
During the antebellum period (era before the Civil
Towards Emancipation
War), cotton became king, a renowned phrase in history, which
British and American abolitionists during 1840-1860
began with the American invention of the cotton gin in 1793
by Eli Whitney. This process separated the seeds from the heightened their attack on slavery, becoming an effective
fibers, escalating production time, resulting in the U.S. being propaganda machine. They concentrated on drawing more
the worldwide leader in supplying cotton. At the time, the adherents to the abolitionist movement by noting the atrocities
Industrial Revolution in Europe demanded cotton for the of slavery. White abolitionists’ rage found refuge in the free
manufacturing of cheaper clothing. Vast Southern plantations African-American community, where there were numerous
developed, causing 70 percent increase in slavery within 20 meetings and national conventions, featuring Africanyears. As the plantation land lost its productivity, new lands American speakers on the abolition of slavery. This increased
were developed for cotton production, regions of warm African-American communication added to the abolitionists’
crusade and gave African-Americans pride in assisting in the
weather, humidity, and rich soil.
The nation became divided in the types of economic war against slavery.
The book Uncle Tom’s Cabin by a Northern author,
production. The North became dependent upon manufacturing,
Harriet
Beecher
Stowe, stirred the consciousness of the North
commerce, and family farms, whereas, the South was
dependent on rice, tobacco, and cotton production through and changed America. In the first year on the market, 1852,
slave labor. Dividing the nation was not the types of production, over 100,000 copies were sold. Lincoln later honored Stowe
it was the appalling spectacle of slavery in the South. The at the White House, recognizing the impact of the publication
ownership and mistreatment of humanity was revolting to on American sensitivities and responsibilities concerning the
Northerners, which generated the abolitionist movement. Well- termination of slavery.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision in
known clashes between free-states and slave unfolded during
March
1857
shocked the anti-slavery forces. It declared that
the antebellum period, escalating polarization of the nation,
leading to the Civil War. In 1819, there were 11 free states African-American slaves were property, not people, weren’t
and 11 slave states in the nation. The Missouri Compromise American citizens, and could never be American citizens. This
of 1820 required that new states were to be admitted in pairs, decision was overturned later by the Civil Rights Act of 1865.
On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued an executive
one free and one slave. The Mexican War of 1846 provided
the U.S. with new territories. The Compromise of 1850 order, the Emancipation Proclamation, whereby three million
provided another temporary settlement, with the provisions: slaves in designated areas of the Confederacy were legally
———————— 809 ————————
free. Also, if a slave escaped from the Confederacy or was
liberated by the Union Army, then he or she was free. It was
estimated that 200,000 free African-Americans and former
slaves served in the U.S. military. Nearly 40,000 of those
died serving the nation, with 23 receiving the Congressional
Medal of Honor for bravery in action. African-American
troops played an important role in the Union victory at Port
Hudson, LA, opening the Mississippi to Federal control.
Post-Civil War
Fall 2015
Some inroads, however, were made shortly after the
war in the election or appointment of African-Americans to
political and administrative positions. Northern white
Republicans traveled to the South in positions of authority to
uphold African-American rights. These enforcers became
known as “carpetbaggers,” because they traveled South using
carpetbags or suitcases. Ironically, South Carolina, the first
state to secede from the Union, now had African-Americans
in political office, with most having higher education.
The Civil War racked havoc on the entire nation.
Segregation
African-Americans suffered massively from the severe
The North grew tired of Reconstruction and the
destructive nature of the war. Relocation was the primary Radical Republicans. Federal troops were slowly withdrawn
issue, with starvation, sickness, poverty, and every type of from the South, with southern whites returning to their standard
human deprivation a consequence in every sector of the political roles supported by the growing southern Democratic
devastated South. To help resolve some of these issues, U.S. Party. During the next decades, southern states instituted laws
Congress created the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1865. The bureau to segregate African-Americans from white society, severely
assisted in the settlement of more than 30,000 former slaves, diminishing their freedoms and providing an atmosphere of
opened over 100 hospitals, 4,300 schools, and supplied food oppression and terror. In 1881, Tennessee enacted a law to
and materials for livelihood. A few of the African-American segregate railroad passengers. Mississippi instituted legal acts
schools became major centers of study and training, such as that virtually disenfranchised African-Americans’ right-to-vote
Clark University, Fisk University, Hampton Institute, and by imposing reading and writing tests, and the requirement of
Howard University. This era was
a poll tax. The U.S. Supreme Court
known as Reconstruction or the
enabled such southern treatment of
reestablishment of the Union,
African-Americans. In 1883, the
bringing the Southern states back
court declared the Civil Rights Act
into the fold and restoring the
of 1875 as unconstitutional. This law
economic base of the South in
had guaranteed rights for Africanagriculture and manufacturing.
Americans to be admitted to any
Returned southern states,
public facility. In 1896, in Plessy v.
passed what were known as “black
Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled
codes” that imposed restrictions on
that a Louisiana law that segregated
African-Americans, which were not
railroad
passengers
was
unlike the old “slave codes.” Some
constitutional, because it provided
“Separate but equal” doctrine in the South
of these new laws prohibited
equal provisions to whites, but in a
Internet photo
southern African-Americans from
separate area. This was called the
owning land, imposed nightly curfew, and jailed any who were “separate but equal doctrine,” which became the standard
jobless vagrants. These codes angered a group of U.S. guideline in the South. But in fact, the African-American
senators and congressmen, known as the Radical Republicans, facilities were far inferior from white accommodations.
who passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 that provided AfricanSegregation had become so widespread in the South
Americans with full rights and privileges of citizenship. Also, during the first part of the twentieth century that in the southern
the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was approved states the separation of races was well-entrenched in all public
in 1868 to further guarantee the rights of African-Americans. places. The “white primary” was instituted in which AfricanLaws were passed in the early 1870s to use federal troops to Americans could not vote in primary elections for the
assist African-Americans in their voting efforts. Still, the Democratic Party, because it was “private affairs.” Very few
southern states could not accept the freed African-Americans. Republicans were candidates for political office, which
Within two years after the war, over 5,000 African-Americans virtually negated African-American vote. The Ku Klux Klan
were murdered in the South. The largest racist organization increased its brutal terrorism with its retinue of beatings and
was organized, the Ku Klux Klan, that terrorized African- killings, where hundreds of African-Americans were lynched,
Americans in nightly raids in sinister efforts to deny African- as many as 3,000 by the early 1900s. Southern laws restricted
Americans civil and human rights for many decades.
African-American occupations to low-paying employment as
———————— 810 ————————
Fall 2015
employment of any consequence, because southern AfricanAmericans were uneducated and unskilled for urban
occupations, having been tenant farmers or menial laborers.
They were employed in low-paying jobs, having poor working
conditions. Slums or ghettos became their residential areas,
which were crowded, unsanitary, and offered poor housing.
Positive Advances
There were some high points for African-Americans Schools were vastly inferior. As many as 360,000 Africanduring this era. At Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, George Americans served in African-American military units during
the war. The returning AfricanWashington Carver became
American veterans expected
recognized worldwide for his
equality and a better life, but only
agricultural research and product
saw angry northern whites, who
development. Booker T.
disliked African-Americans
Washington was the institute’s
competing for jobs, housing, and
principal, who was significantly
other necessities. The Ku Klux
influential among AfricanKlan was able to recruit numerous
Americans. There was W.E.B.
northern whites during this period
DuBois, sociologist and historian,
to retaliate against the Africanand the editor of the National
American infusion. In the summer
Association for the Advancement
of 1919, African-Americans rose
of Colored People (NAACP)
up in protest, rioting in 23 city riots
publication’s program. He led the
across the nation, leaving nearly
fight for equality. Marcus Garvey
100 dead.
founded the Negro Improvement
World War I African-American soldiers
Association, having branches in 38
Internet photo
states, advocating racial pride for
Great Depression
African-Americans and advocated the formation of a new
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Africanhomeland in Africa for African-Americans. Langston Hughes
became known for his literature during the Harlem Americans suffered significantly, if not more than whites.
Renaissance of the early 1900s, along with African-American The chief problem was lack of employment, caused by
writers: Countee Cullen, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Weldon discrimination, with ghettos sinking into severe deprivation,
Johnson, Nella Larsen, Claude McKay, and Jean Toomer. having nearly impossible living conditions. African-American
African-American musical style changed American music cooperative groups were formed, such as the Colored
dramatically, with its spirituals, ragtime, blues, and jazz. In Merchants Association in New York City and Jobs for Negroes
1914, African-American bandleader, W.C. Handy, composed in Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, and New York City. Their
“St. Louis Blues,” becoming known as the father of the blues. programs actively involved African-American employment
Jazz followed with African-American bandleaders Louis in retail and African-American ownership of businesses that
Armstrong and Duke Ellington leading the way to introduce would cater to African-Americans or the very poor. Products
their style of music nationwide. Other African-Americans who were purchased in bulk in a cooperative nature and then sold
became renowned for achievements in their fields were: A. cheaply.
African-Americans turned from the Republican Party
Philip Randolph (labor), Ida Wells-Barnett (journalist), Paul
Robeson (politics), Bill Robinson (dancer), Hattie McDaniel and President Hoover to the Democratic Party and Franklin
(actress), Jack Johnson (boxing), and Jesse Owens (track Delano Roosevelt for assistance. His New Deal program of
relief, reform, and recovery was a God-send to Africanand field).
Americans. Roosevelt formed a “Black Cabinet,” with William
World War I
Over one million southern African-Americans H. Hastie and Mary McLeod Bethune as members, who
migrated north during the early 1900s, and especially during advised him on African-American issues. Hastie was
World War I, when defense factories and other manufacturing appointed to serve as assistant counselor for the Interior
industries needed workers. The National Urban League was Department and a district court judge. Bethune founded the
formed in 1910 to facilitate the needs of the African-American Bethune-Cookman University and was the director of the
migrants. The onslaught of such numbers to the North resulted federal African-American Division of the National Youth
in numerous difficulties. One significant problem was finding Administration.
———————— 811 ————————
farmhands, servants, and urban menial laborers. Some
became share-croppers or tenant farmers, which provided
scarcely a living, resulting often in bankruptcy, starvation, and
overall hardship.
African-Americans developed a strong loyalty to the
Democratic Party, having special admiration for Eleanor
Roosevelt. She was instrumental in the continued national
focus on the condition of the poor and African-Americans. In
1939, the renowned African-American concert singer, Marian
Anderson, was denied performance at Constitution Hall by
the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Mrs.
Roosevelt stepped in, first by resigning from DAR and then
making arrangements for Miss Anderson to sing at the Lincoln
Memorial on Easter Sunday.
World War II and 1950’s
During the war years, NAACP stepped up its legal
campaign against discrimination, resulting in several important
decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning AfricanAmericans. In 1941, the court ruled that railroad public facilities
must be equal in condition, and in 1944, that southern laws
blocking African-American access to election polls was
unconstitutional. Action to desegregate public places was
intensified when African-Americans from the Congress of
Racial Equality (CORE) staging a sit-in at a Chicago
restaurant, protesting sections reserved only for whites.
Just as during World War I, nearly one million southern
African-Americans migrated to the North during World War
II for employment in the defense industries, who once again
faced discrimination. In 1941, African-American A. Philip
Randolph led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in
threatening to march on Washington, D.C., protesting job
discrimination. This caused President Roosevelt to issue an
executive order banning all racial discrimination in the defense
industries. One million African-Americans served in the
military during World War II, generally in separate units. Many
distinguished themselves in the war, such as Benjamin O.
Davis, Jr. who was the first African-American brigadier
general of the U.S. Army. The somewhat non-discriminatory
conditions in the military provided the impetus for the upcoming
Civil Rights Movement. In 1948, desegregation was eliminated
from the U.S. military by President Truman.
African-American military service and the honors
bestowed to African-Americans for their wartime
contributions encouraged African-Americans to be more
assertive in seeking equality. Those African-Americans
working in the North were more economically affluent, who
could now provide better education for their children and vote
in elections. Another force aimed at ending inequality was
the vastly increased NAACP membership of both AfricanAmerican and white citizens, who provided increased financial
support. The NAACP continued its legal attack on
discrimination resulting in major court decisions that required
equal school facilities and curtailed discrimination against
African-Americans in housing and recreation. A historic
Fall 2015
victory was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, in
which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public
schools was unequal and unconstitutional. This voided the
1896 court decision calling for “separate but equal” schools.
The Brown decision ignited protests at segregated
public places. In 1955, civil rights’ activist, Emmett Till, was
murdered in Money, MS by two whites, who were acquitted
by an all white jury. This caused a public outcry and added
fuel to the rising Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks became
a national symbol of the movement when she refused to give
up her public bus seat in Montgomery, AL. This led to a boycott
of Montgomery buses that lasted over a year, terminating
when the city abolished the ordinance.
Another benchmark in the Civil Rights Movement
occurred in 1957 when Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus
placed Arkansas National Guard troops at the entrance of
Little Rock High School, preventing African-American
students from entering. President Eisenhower, with a federal
court order, sent federal troops to open the school for the
African-Americans. That same year, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. and others formed the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), leading African-Americans and their
supporters in a non-violent civil rights crusade.
Conclusion
Since the Civil War, African-Americans had been
denied full rights as U.S. citizens. Their treatment was
deplorable and their living condition unconscionable. Thanks
to both African-American and white citizens, especially
African-American leaders, inroads were made towards ending
the entrenched discrimination. Early in the twentieth century,
federal laws and court decisions began to chip away at the
barriers against African-Americans. World I and especially
World War II continued the process of desegregation and
equality. This action spawned the Civil Rights Movement of
open opposition to discrimination, with its protests and activities
pressuring for change. This crusade had to happen. It was an
attack on three centuries of oppression on American soil.
The rules needed to be revised to conform to a new America
of a variety of peoples from all nationalities, races, traditions,
and religions. African-Americans of the 1950s and 1960s
clamored for equal rights, followed by women, MexicanAmericans, and the many other minorities of various kinds.
The Civil Rights Movement was a period of turmoil, of violence,
but thanks to Dr. King and his non-violent effort, the transition
to a new American society was reasonably quick and bloodless
as possible. He understood the nature of rebellion and the
power of non-violence against overwhelming odds. He was
able to turn the world upside down, not unlike the American
Revolution.
———————— 812 ————————
James Earl Ray
King’s Assassin
He was born in Alton, IL on March 10, 1928. His life towel. Many of King’s witnesses pointed to the back of the
was filled with various small criminal ventures, such as robbing rooming house across the parking lot. Someone saw a white
stores and gas stations. Ray had been imprisoned at times, man on the retaining wall, behind some bushes, running towards
once in Illinois and twice in Missouri. On April 23, 1967, he the street. Others witnesses saw Ray leaving the rooming
escaped from Missouri State Penitentiary and was a fugitive house.
Ray was returned to Memphis, pleading guilty in
at the time he shot Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4,
March 1969 to avoid execution and was sentenced to 99 years
1968. He was an avowed racist.
Late afternoon, Ray rented a room under the name in prison. Months after his sentencing, he requested a trial,
of John Willard at a run-down rooming house behind Lorraine but was denied. He claimed he was innocent, but no concrete
Motel in Memphis. Once in the room, he pulled from a bag a evidence was provided. In June 1977, he escaped from
Brushy Mountain Prison in
.30-06 caliber rifle with a scope that
Tennessee, being captured 54 days
he had purchased four days earlier.
later after a massive manhunt. In
From his window, he could see
1977-78 the House Select
across the back parking of Lorraine
Committee on Assassinations
Motel where King and his group
concluded that there was a
were staying. He sought a better
likelihood that Ray didn’t act alone
location just down the hallway in
planning the assassination, but he
the bathroom for a clearer shot.
pulled the trigger. Still he
With a single bullet, he killed King,
maintained he was innocent, which
severing his spinal cord.
kept speculation ripe for
Ray escaped first fleeing
conspiracies.
to Toronto, where he secured a
At the top of the
Canadian passport through a travel
Arrested Ray is being hurried by authorities to
conspiracy theories were: (1) Ray
agency and then flew to London
safety from menacing crowds
Internet photo
was the fall-guy, a patsy or stooge
on May 5, 1968. He then flew to
th
for
someone
else,
but
did
the
shooting; (2) The assassination
Lisbon on May 7 , securing a second Canadian passport on
th
May 16 , returning to London on June 8th. At Heathrow wasn’t done by Ray but by someone in government, Memphis
Airport, he was arrested by London police, when he was police, FBI, Army intelligence, Mafia or the Green Berets;
embarking for Brussels. Ray told his first attorney, Percy (3) A man name “Raul” was involved, because the name was
Foreman, that his quest was to reach South Africa, where he on a piece of paper in Ray’s car; (4) A Memphis bar owner,
Lloyd Jowers, was the assassin. None of these conspiracy
would serve incognito in a mercenary army.
The FBI knew Ray was a prime suspect just after theories were ever proven. Before Ray died on April 23, 1998,
the assassination. His fingerprints were found on the rifle King’s son Dexter, with the approval of the family, met with
and on a pair of binoculars. Retail records clearly indicated Ray in 1997. Ray told Dexter that he didn’t shoot his father,
that he had purchased the rifle days prior to the shooting. with Dexter believing him. Because of this, U.S. Attorney
When King arrived at Lorraine Motel on April 3, 1968, law General Janet Reno activated a limited investigation in August
enforcement personnel were positioned in a fire station across 1998, with little success.
In a final act, in December 1999, a Memphis jury, in
the street from the motel’s front. They had papered the
a
symbolic
measure, awarded the King family $100 for “a
windows facing the motel and used binoculars through holes
to observe the motel. Stationed there were Memphis wrongful death suit.” The jury concluded that bar owner Lloyd
detectives, FBI agents, and Army intelligence. On the roof of Jowers was part of a conspiracy to murder King. Earlier, in
the fire station were two army sharpshooters, while a tactical 1993, ABC’s “Primetime Live” considered the Jowers
conspiracy and then in 1998, the same program denounced
squad of police patrolled the area by car and on foot.
The first person to reach King after he was shot was Jowers as a fraud.
an undercover Memphis policeman, Marrell McCollough, who
had infiltrated the Invaders, the Memphis Black Panther-like
Issue’s Sources: Modesto Bee, Turlock Journal, To the
gang. King had been consulting with Invader leaders at the
Mountaintop (Stewart Burns), My Life with Martin Luther
Lorraine urging them to stop the rioting. McCollough was
King, Jr. (Coretta King), and Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.
upon King immediately trying to stanch the bleeding with a
———————— 813 ————————
A Brief History of African-Americans
transported Africans fit. Then it became a fact that no others
Source of Slavery
frican descendents in the U.S. were captive peoples were being used for forced labor but Africans. They then
used in slavery, who came from west and central Africa. assumed lowest social category, that of slaves.
In 1641, Massachusetts became the first colony to
They were seized in order to supply low-cost labor to
plantations during colonial expansion. In the 1400s, the legalize slavery, with other colonies following course with their
Bakongo people made up the largest central African group, own slave laws. A main legal tenet was children of slaves
consisting of two million. It was from this group that most were also slaves, a condition which provided replacements
for older slaves and an extension of the
African-Americans derived their
workforce. American colonial slaves
ancestry, namely from the kingdoms of
received significantly better treatment
Kongo and Ndongo. Other locations were
than those in the Caribbean islands.
current day nations of Senegambia,
Dismal conditions prevailed in the
Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, and
Caribbean sugar fields, where work was
Cameroon. Their political systems were
notoriously strenuous. Disease was
hierarchical, consisting of numerous
widespread, with little medical care
villages and communities, a variety of
available and poor diets.
dialects, having somewhat different
traditions. Their religions were Islamic
Southern Plantations
and paganism. In the American colonies,
In the southern colonies at first,
these tribes merged into a slave society
white indentured servants outnumbered
or culture, through the commonality of
African slaves. The indentured servants
servitude.
volunteered their services for paid ocean
Before the European slave trade
passage and certain employment, but
emerged, Africans sold, enslaved or
Depication of the arrival of the first
they weren’t conducive to plantation
traded their own race, especially when
slaves in Virginia.
Internet illus.
labor. The southern colonies consisted of
captives of war. During the European
abundant farmland, needing a significant
slave trade, captured Africans were
transported by ships through the middle Atlantic passage to workforce. It was very profitable for planters to buy slaves
the English colonies and Caribbean islands. Many were shipped for life, who labored for just their own keep. Southern slaves
from the Caribbean islands to the colonies as need dictated. developed a family system, religion, and culture being located
The deplorable conditions on European slave ships were well- in segregated areas on the plantations. They formed a
documented. The brutality of separation from one’s tribe and community, without much interference from their owners.
family was psychological terror in itself. Treatment aboard Even so, the slave community was keenly under observation
the slave ships, without question was beastly. It has been by plantation overseers. The threat of slave insurrection, slave
estimated that nearly 12 million Africans were shipped for escapes, and work laxity were always vigilantly guarded. In
slavery to North America, with thousands losing their lives September 1739, some 150 slaves seized weapons, killing 20
whites. This was known as the Stono Uprising in South
during the process.
Carolina, where there were 56,000 slaves, outnumbering
whites two to one.
American Slavery Beginnings
At the time, it was estimated that slaves were 10
It was in 1619 that the first 19 African slaves arrived
in the English colonies aboard a Dutch ship at a location known percent of the overall population in the American colonies. A
as Point Comfort. It is where Fort Monroe in Hampton, VA is rising number were being born in America, remaining slaves
today, 30 miles downstream from Jamestown, across the bay for life. In the North, slavery represented two percent of the
from Newport News. Early slaves were treated as indentured population, where slaves were employed as residential
servants, being released after a few years of service. It was servants and skilled workers. Life was better for slaves
found though that the freed slaves became competition for working in towns and cities. During most of the 1700s, southern
the other colonists. They also had to be replaced by other slave labor was concentrated on rice and tobacco plantations,
enslaved indentured servants. The system of American slavery where the size of the workforce varied from 20 to the
was changed to the type used in the Caribbean, which was thousands in some instances. Slavery decimated the white
full ownership of a slave for life. At first, there was a question laboring class in the South, causing the South’s economy to
as to where in colonial society’s social ladder did these be fully dependent upon slavery. (Con’t on page 808)
A

(Fall 2015) [Tragic Death of Dr. Martin Luther

Transcription

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