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PUBLIC PROTEST AND THE ROLE OF YOUTH - THE CIVIL RIGHTS
MOVEMENT AND BEYOND
Public Protest and the First Amendment: The Voice of the People
Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago John Marshall Law School
Chicago, IL January 13, 2017
OBJECTIVES
• Discuss Public Protest as a feature in the
development of our country • Review the role of young people in and importance to
the success of the Civil Rights Movement • Note the significant role of young people in a number
of late 20th and early 21st Century movements • Discuss the importance of providing both a voice for
and ear to the youth of a community
FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION
“Congress shall make no law • respecting an establishment of religion, • or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; • or abridging the freedom of speech or of the
press; • or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
WHY PUBLIC PROTEST?
“If I were to remain silent, I'd be guilty of complicity.” ― Albert Einstein
AND STATED ANOTHER WAY…
“Confrontation is not bad. Goodness is supposed to
confront evil.” ― Fred Shuttlesworth
AND WHO WAS FRED SHUTTLESWORTH?
SO TO THE ISSUE AT HAND….
At workshops over the past few years, I have
maintained that • Public protest has long been a significant means by
which Americans have communicated their hopes and wishes – and displeasure – to leaders
• The youth of our nation often served as the foundation of the protests – the “foot-soldiers” of the movements
AMERICA’S LEGACY OF FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLIC PROTECTS
America has a long history in which its citizens have
used the protections of the First Amendment to engage in public protest to advance a particular point of view or idea……
1913 WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE MARCH
AND THE OUTCOME…
Article [XIX] (Amendment 19 - Women's Suffrage Rights)
• The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
• Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
AUGUST 8, 1925 KU KLUX KLAN MARCH ON WASHINGTON
AND THE IMPACT OF THE MARCH?
Prior to the march, Klan members felt besieged by
“changes” in America as the country was becoming more pluralistic
• Immigrant groups of Jews, Greeks and Italians were assimilating throughout the land
• Women were voting • African-American men were attending colleges and
entering larger parts of the workforce
AND WAS THE MARCH A SUCCESS?
“Organized to counter reports of faltering enrollment,
this “konklave“ succeeded in attracting national attention but marked the peak of Klan power in the 1920s.”
History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6689
VETERANS BONUS ARMY PROTEST OF 1932
AND WHEN TROOPS MOVED IN TO REMOVE THE PROTESTERS…
"The reaction to it was, we can't let that happen again“ Tom Allen, Author
AMERICANS RESPOND TO THE IMAGES….
Four years later, • The WWI vets received their bonuses. • In 1944, Congress passed the GI Bill to help military
veterans transition to civilian life, and to acknowledge the debt owed to those who risk their lives for their country.
WHEN, IN 1942, JAPANESE-AMERICANS WERE ROUNDED-UP AND PLACED IN CAMPS…
PROTESTS WERE SOMETIMES LONELY VOICES…
"If you harm them, you must harm me. I was brought
up in a small town where I knew the shame and dishonor of race hatred. I grew to despise it because it threatened the happiness of you, and you, and you!"
Colorado Governor Ralph L. Carr
AND SOME OF THE PROTESTS CONCERNED LOCAL PRACTICES…
Here in Chicago, protestors demonstrate against racial discrimination at the White City Roller Rink (63rd and South Parkway, later King Drive) in 1949
THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT EVOLVES…
In the second half of the twentieth century, a number of factors contributed to the development of the Civil Rights movement. Among them:
• Men who had served in the military during World War II, fighting in foreign lands for freedom and the rights of Europeans and Asians, returned to the United States , unwilling to be treated as lesser citizens
• Fellow soldiers, who in many instances had their first exposure to African-Americans as “equals,” began to question existing laws and practices
LEGAL CHALLENGES LED THE WAY
• In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka(1954) , the United States Supreme Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional and “inherently unequal.”
• In Browder v. Gale (1956), a lawsuit filed during the Montgomery bus boycott on behalf of Claudette Colvin, Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, Mary Louise Smith, and Jeanette Reese against W.A. Gayle, mayor of Montgomery, the Supreme Court ordered the State of Alabama and the city of Montgomery to desegregate its buses
IN SEPTEMBER 1957, NINE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS INTEGRATE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL IN
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS
THE DAILY GREETING…
IN NEW ORLEANS, RUBY BRIDGES INTEGRATES WILLIAM FRANTZ ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
NOVEMBER 14, 1960
AND, IN 1968, AFTER PRINCE EDWARDS COUNTY, VIRGINIA VOTED AGAIN NOT TO FUND PUBLIC
SCHOOLS..
THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT HAD LED THE WAY
Much of the energy and determination to continue the struggle for dignity and fairness that had been ignited as soldiers who had fought for the United States during World War II and returned to a nation that treated them as less than citizens was focused in Montgomery where • Bus passengers who paid equal fares were required
to sit in the back of the bus • Entry to the rear of the bus was sometimes facilitated
by passengers having to pay at the front; exit the bus; and then re-enter through a rear door
• Seated African-American passengers were required to surrender their seats to white passengers when requested
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MOTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT – ROSA PARKS AND CLAUDETTE COLVIN
27
CLAUDETTE COLVIN ?
On March 2, 1955, a full nine months before Rosa Parks took her famous stand, Colvin, a then 15-year-old girl, boarded a city bus with her friends, taking a seat behind the first five rows, which were reserved for whites. • Colvin boarded a city bus with her friends, taking a seat behind
the first five rows, which were reserved for whites. • When the driver shouted, "I need those seats!" Colvin's friends
dutifully moved to the back, but she stayed put. • A couple of stops later, city police were there to meet the bus.
Still Colvin refused to leave her seat. • The police dragged her from the bus and Colvin was charged
with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer in addition to breaking the city's segregation law. 28
WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?
• After booking, she was thrown in the city's adult jail. • On her day in municipal court, Colvin was found
guilty of all charges by a hostile judge. • In Montgomery Circuit Court, three months after
Colvin's arrest, a judge dismissed charges of breaking the segregation law and resisting arrest, but left the assault charge intact.
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SO WHY HAVEN’T I HEARD OF HER?
• By dismissing those two charges, the judge ensured
that Colvin had a serious police record that could harm her future, but she could no longer appeal to challenge the Jim Crow regulations.
• Local black leaders held off on calling for a boycott, and instead raised money for her appeal.
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AS AN ASIDE…
Over the years, it has become a regular notion in the discussion of the bus boycott to state that Rosa Parks was chosen to be the focus or “face” of the movement and lawsuits because she presented a more “acceptable” appearance given the norms of the time. Often cited is the fact that Colvin became a teenaged-mother, giving birth to a son fathered by a married man. It should be noted that her son, Raymond, was born 3/29/56, a full year after her refusal to surrender her seat (3/2/55).
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AND A FEW MONTHS LATER…..
32
SUPPORTING THE BOYCOTT….
The boycott itself did not just involve domestics and adults, but also many young people:
33
SPREAD OF THE CHALLENGE TO ADDITIONAL UNJUST PRACTICES…
Just as the objection to disparities in the quality of education had led to legal challenges in Little Rock and New Orleans, discrimination was also noted in • Public transportation • Housing • Public accommodations (restaurant, hotels, theaters)
34
FREEDOM RIDES PROTESTING SEGREGATION LAWS RELATING TO INTERSTATE
TRANSPORTATION BEGAN WITH ENTHUSIASM (1961)
35
ROUTE OF ONE GROUP…
NOT ALL WENT WELL…
Outside Anniston, Alabama, one of their buses was burned, and in Birmingham, several dozen whites attacked the riders only two blocks from the sheriff's office.
AS TO PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS, SOME PROTESTED OUTSIDE…
38
OTHERS WENT INSIDE
39
AND SOMETIMES THE CROWDS REACTED….
40
FOOT-SOLDIERS IN MILWAUKEE’S FAIR HOUSING MARCHES (1968) AS THE
MOVEMENT SHIFTED TO THE NORTH
41
THE MID-1960’S FOUND GROWING OPPOSITION TO THE VIETNAM WAR
The reasons behind American opposition to the Vietnam War fell into several main categories:
• opposition to the draft (for military service was a possibility for all adult males, not just volunteers as now);
• moral, legal, and pragmatic arguments against U.S. intervention;
• reaction to the media portrayal of the devastation in Southeast Asia.
A COMMON SITE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY…
THOSE ON BOTH “SIDES” WERE OFTEN YOUNG…
AND AT TIMES A RACIAL OVERTONE EXISTED…
POLITICAL CASUALTY OF THE WAR AND PROTESTS…
"Believing . as I do, I have concluded that I should not permit the
Presidency to become involved in the partisan divisions that are developing in this political year.
Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."
President Lyndon B. Johnson March 31, 1968
MAKING THE ANNOUNCEMENT NOT TO RUN…
THE EFFORT TO EXTEND THE IMPACT OF BOYCOTTS AND PROTESTS SPREADS
United Farm Workers (1975)
PROTESTS CROSSED GENERATIONAL LINES…
After a dramatic 110-mile march from San Francisco, which gathered more than 15,000 people by the time they reached the E & J Gallo Winery in Modesto on March 1, 1975, United Farm Worker’s (UFW) persistent action led directly to the passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which went into effect on August 28, 1975.
• The UFW organized thousands of agricultural laborers into unions, in many cases winning recognition and negotiated contracts.
• After hundreds of elections under the law in its first two years, the UFW and Teamsters finally signed a long-lasting jurisdictional agreement in March 1977
• The UFW ended its boycotts of lettuce, grapes, and wine in February 1978.
AND INTO THE 21ST CENTURY…
Many of the lessons learned through the movements that drove movements in the twentieth century were carried over into protests that continue into this century. Among them are the
• Black Lives Matter protests • Environmental /Earth Day movements • Anti-violence marches/movements in cities like Chicago
AND IN A MORE RECENT VEIN….
``Freedom, by definition, is people realizing that they are their own leaders.`` Diane Nash, quoted on Black Lives Matter website
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AND WHO IS DIANE NASH?
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One of the few women recognized as a leader in the Civil Rights movement, Diane Nash leads a demonstration to City Hall in Nashville on April 19, 1960
MOVEMENTS CROSS RACIAL AND GENDER LINES
EARTH DAY 2015
OCTOBER 10, 2016 INTERDENOMINATIONAL PROTEST OF HOFFMAN ESTATES TRAINING
“If the world is going to change for the better, you have to be a living example.”
