There is a desire in every person's
inner being to strive for equality. The
fight for equalization has existed throughout time. Jews, Negroes, women, and homosexuals are
examples of those who have been inspired to fight for equal rights, for
justice, and for freedom. The struggle
for black equality was the event that turned the United States of America
upside down. For over two centuries,
Negroes have struggled to work their way up the ladder to ultimate parity. Methods for obtaining this equality differed
over the years. Escaping slaves,
underground railroads, court cases, demonstrations, sit-ins, and marches all
played into the ever-complicating history of this struggle.
The intense hatred of whites for Negroes
grew out of the Civil War. One of the
reasons for the war was the issue of slavery.
When the Confederates lost the war, their position in the political
world was taken away. Any position held
by someone connected with the Confederacy was given to a northern man. In many cases, the new man was a Negro. The Negroes did not have the opportunity for
equality long. After a few years
relations between the north and the south were restored, and the position was
taken away from the Negroes and given back to white men. In the time that the Negroes occupied these
positions, southern whites developed a deep hatred and animosity for Negroes. From that day forward the strain between
blacks and whites grew.
Racial discrimination appeared to be
eternally present. Hope looked slim as
the years wore on, and little progress was made toward freedom. Tension came to a head in 1963 as Negroes
grew tired of silent acceptance of racial discrimination. Demonstrations, sit-ins, peace talks, and
marches graced the front pages of the newspapers in major cities in the south
and in the north. The hope of a future
for African-American people in America was greatly affected by the struggles
and persecution they endured during the year 1963.
The struggles started in the hearts of
every black person alive. The feelings
began with children as they were called "niggers", and as they were
beat up upon by white children. The
opportunity to fight back wasn't given, nor was it taught in Negro homes. As jobs were gained in the white world,
discrimination grew. Striving for
excellence and higher knowledge of the trade was forbidden and punishable by
the loss of the job. Anger and
bitterness grew in hearts until they knew it was time to act as a people.
In order to properly view the hope that
resulted from 1963's events, the events themselves must be looked at. As the actions of the Negroes became more
prominent, the white hatred for them increased steadily. Harrison and Salsbury portrayed it well. "Every channel of communication, every
medium of mutual interest, every reasoned approach, every inch of middle ground
has been fragmented by the emotional dynamite of racism reinforced by the whip,
the razor, the gun, the bomb, the torch, the club, the knife, the mob, the
police, and many branches of the state's apparatus." (275)
The southern city in the greatest spotlight was Birmingham,
Alabama. It provided a graphic view of
the conditions common in cities all over the country. Staged sit-ins at segregated lunch counters
started off as the main form of demonstration.
The police rushed in and tried to take control, but with the reoccurrence
of this act came the withdrawal of the police forces on the scene. Lunch counters simply closed down.
The next form of battle was mass
demonstration. In these mass
demonstration marches thousands of people gathered in the churches where they
were given instructions by prominent Negro leaders. From there they flooded the main streets of
Birmingham singing, "We shall overcome" ("Tension Growing Over Race Issues"
37). Thousands were jailed, including
men, women, teenagers, and children.
This did not stop the Negroes. As
the demonstration marches continued, police took to more drastic measures. The reports in the Life magazine read like
this:
"With
vicious guard dogs the police attacked the marchers -- and thus rewarded them
with an outrage that would win support all over the world for Birmingham
Negroes. If the Negroes themselves had
written the script, they could hardly have asked for greater help for their
cause than City Police Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor freely
gave. Ordering his men to let white
spectators come near, he said: "I
want 'em to see the dogs work. Look at
those niggers run." This
extraordinary sequence -- Brutal as it is as a Negro gets his trousers ripped
off by Conner's dogs -- is the attention-getting jack pot of the Negroes'
provocation" (30). The pictures taken during this time are
grotesque. Violence was out of
hand. The Negroes persevered through it
all. Of a similar march in Washington it
was stated, "More significant than the immediate effect the Washington
civil rights march would have on the Congress of the U.S., more remarkable than
the spectacle itself, was the Negroes' orderly demonstration of their potential
as a moral force" ("They come
marching up Conscience Road").
Things in the city of Birmingham started
looking up. Then, just as suddenly as
peace was coming in, violence broke out again as black residences and hotels
were bombed and rioted. There was a mass
of people rioting in the streets.
President Kennedy sent in federal troops against the governor's wishes.
Not only did the struggle effect black
people, it also effected white people.
Stores in downtown Birmingham suffered as sales dropped fifty
percent. Women no longer felt safe
enough to go out on the streets and to the stores. Negroes in the south were making progress, as
slow and unrecognizable as it may have been.
In the north, demonstrations contained
less violence but just as much force.
Rather than protesting over segregated lunch counters and restrooms,
northern Negroes protested against the discriminating hiring policy at local
restaurants, desegregated schools, and equal housing and employment
opportunities. In New York, this
demonstration was against a White Castle Hamburgers restaurant which had all
but refused to hire Negroes. Teenage
demonstrators showed their disapproval by carrying signs stating what they
wanted. "Equal Opportunity,
Now", the signs read. White
gangsters who ate regularly at the White Castle responded by throwing chairs
and rocks at the Negroes. It erupted
into chaos. It required three hundred
police officers to regain peace
("As militancy rises in ranks of the Negroes in the
North" ).
The Negroes' bitterness and hatred was not
aimed only at white people. In the
north, Negroes gave black political leaders grief for their suggestion for
patience and caution in their fight for parity.
Patience and caution were not the virtues it took to make a change ("As militancy rises in ranks of the
Negroes in the North" ). Students staged numerous sit-ins challenging
the school systems. They were seeking
acceptance into these predominately white schools. The goal of Negroes in the North was not
integration, but desegregation. Similar
circumstances occurred in Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, Detroit, St.
Louis, Chicago, Boston, and more.
The Negroes hard work paid off as
opportunities for equality began slowly opening up. In Birmingham, Alabama black and white
leaders came to an agreement on May 8, 1963.
The demonstrations were to cease while peace talks were in effect. On May 9th, Negroes were granted three of
their requests for equality. A couple of
stores in downtown Birmingham opened their counters to Negroes. There was a promise for better, although not
equal, job opportunities. A board was to
be set up to look at the possibility of integrating the school system. Finally, on May 10th, the jails began
releasing Negro demonstrators. Negroes
saw these three promises as a gigantic step towards victory. Martin Luther King's victory statement
attributed the victory to the mass demonstrations. He believed that the use of teenagers and
children was a deciding factor in white leaders' decisions. When one Negro teenager was asked to comment
on his involvement, he said, "I marched for freedom -- freedom to eat and
work and go to school with whites. It's
no sin to be born black"
("Tension Growing Over Race Issue" 38). Other victories included being allowed to try
on clothes in a store, being addressed as Mr. or Mrs., desegregation of
beaches, hotels, and housing subdivisions, and many increased job
opportunities. Opinions of white people varied.
Many people agreed with the segregation, hatred, and racial
discrimination that was already established.
To them, Negroes weren't even fully human. They were content with Negroes subordinate
place in society. There were others who
outright disagreed with the events taking place. A few, such as President Kennedy, fought for
the Negroes equality. President Kennedy
hoped "that the turmoil would remind every state, every community, and
every citizen how urgent it is that all bars to equal opportunity and treatment
be removed as promptly as possible"
("Tension Growing Over Race Issues" 38). An unknown amount of people also disagreed with
the discrimination, but these people could not speak out. They feared for their jobs, their homes, and
their lives. Perhaps this white
high-school teacher summed the entire struggle for black equality up best. "To me the solution is very simple: just treat human beings as human beings. But to many of these people Negroes are not
human beings" ("They fought a
fight that won't go out" 36).
Works Cited
Behrens,
Laurence, ed. "Fear and Hatred Grip
Birmingham" The American Experience
:
274
"After Birmingham
Riots -- trouble lingers on" US
News and World Report 27 May 1963: 40-42.
"Arlington
Receives a Murdered Hero" Life 28 June 1963: 34.
"Assasin
kills a Negro leader" Life 21 June 1963: 28.
"What the
African Negro Wants" US News and
World Report 29 April 1963: 47-52.
"A Negro
Revolt Brewing in the North" US
News and World Report 10 June 1963: 35- 36.
"Tension
Growing Over Race Issue" US News
and World Report 20 May 1963: 37-39.
"The Negro's
Future in the South" US News and
World Report 3 June 1963: 60-65.
"They Fight
a Fire That Won't Go Out" Life 17 May 1963:
27-36.
"To Break
Color Bars at School" Richmond
Afro-American 11 May 1963.
"What
Negroes in the North are Really After"
US News and World Report 11 May 1963.
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