Reading Response #5
EYES ON THE PRIZE: ITS NOT EASY TO VOTE
IN AMERICA FOR FREEDOM
AFAM B201 – Intro to African American Studies
Najmah Thomas, Ph.D.
Admin / Module To-Do List
Admin poll: extra reading day (no formal class session) on 11/3 or 11/10??
Reading:
Week 1a Reading – Eyes on The Prize Study Guide – Episode 6
Week 1b Reading – TBD….
Reading Response 5 Assignment (due EOD 11/06)
Students Connected / Volunteer at Penn Center Heritage Days
Lecture Topics
Episode 5 RECAP
Eyes On The Prize:
Episode 6:
Timeline of events (II)
Selma to Montgomery
We Shall Overcome -
The Voting Rights Act
of 1965
3
Image source: brintannica.com
EOTP Episode 5: Freedom Summer Lessons
Organizing 4 groups statewide -
_____, _____, ______, _____=
COFO, Council of Federated
Organizations
_______________’s Citizenship
Schools = Freedom Schools, Leadership
Development & Community Organizing
An ‘integrated island in a sea of
segregation’
Media attention on northern White
students = undermining local Black
leadership development
Students and voter registration drives yield 80,000 new Black voters in MI
Chaney, Goodman, & Schwerner (& others…) murdered
Fannie Lou Hamer (& others..) brutalized at direction of state law enforcement officials
MFDP organizes, sends delegates to the DNC, denied full recognition
Internal & external challenges Success & Set-backs
Opening Discussion
It Ain’t Easy to Vote in America for
Freedom: timeline of events (II)
Timeline of events:
Dec. 10, 1964 – Dr. King awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize (he is joined by Septima P. Clark in Oslo, Norway)
Jan. 1965, AL – SNCC and SCLC workers
begin voter registration campaign in Selma
Jan. 4, 1965, DC – President Johnson
includes “We Shall Overcome” in SOTU
Feb. 18, 1965, AL – Army vet Jimmy Lee
Jackson shot by Alabama state trooper
during nonviolent protest for voting rights
Feb. 21, 1965, NY – Malcom X is
assassinated
March 7, 1965, AL – “Bloody Sunday”,
600 civil rights activists attacked by state
troopers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge
March 9, 1965, AL – “Turnaround
Tuesday” – Dr. King leads 2,000 on partial
march to Montgomery
March 21, 1965, AL – Dr. King
successfully leads 8,000+ (up to
25,000) across the Edmund Pettus
Bridge
March 25, 1965, AL – Activist Viola
Luzzio murdered while driving marchers
back to Selma
Aug. 6, 1965, DC – President Johnson
signs the landmark Voting Rights Act of
1965 – most comprehensive voting
legislation since beginning of the
movement
Aug. 11, 1965, CA – Black
neighborhood of Watts (Los Angeles)
experiences widespread riots, 34
residents killed during the rioting
7
Selma to Montgomery: “make witness
our determination to vote and be free”
Civil Rights Act of 1964 was not enough – protests continued and harsh responses continued
Murder of Jimmy Lee Jackson compelled organized response, SCLC, SNCC
50 mile, five day march to the state capital
First march met with violent state resistance – “Bloody Sunday”…and public outcry
Interrupting Judgement at Nuremburg
1st 48 hours = demonstrations in 80+ cities nationwide
House and Senate speeches
Telegram to President Johnson
Dr. King’s 4-point plan:
Nonviolent demonstrators confront injustice…
Racists react with violence
Americans of conscience demand federal legislation
Under pressure, the administration intervenes
Second march (“Turnaround Tuesday”), Dr. King ends march before troopers respond…3 white clergymen attacked, 1 (James Reeb, MA Unitarian) dies
Third march, Dr. King leads 8,000 (and as much as 25,000) marchers
Protection by National Guard, marshals and FBI agents, no violent response
March I March II & III
We Shall Overcome
“There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem.
There is only an American problem.”
“Because it’s not just Negroes, but really it’s all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy
of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.”
-President Lyndon B. Johnson (March 15, 1965)
The Voting Rights Act of 1965:
19 Sections
Literacy tests banned
Federal oversight of voter registration in certain areas
US attorney general authorized to investigate poll taxes in state/local elections
Section 4 – Identifies states & localities with history of racial discrimination (AL, AK, AZ, GA, LA, MI, SC, TX, VA & counties in CA, FL, NY, NC, SD, MI, others) *Shelby v Holder
Section 5 – ‘preclearance’ process requires states & localities with history of racial discrimination to get federal permission to change voting laws
Overcoming…
Enfranchisement increased:
AL – African American voter registration
doubled in one year (116,000 to
228,000)
MI – African American voter turnout 6% in
1964, 59% in 1969
Elected officials increased:
1965 = 6 African Americans in House, 0 in
Senate; 1971 = 13 African Americans in
House, 1 in Senate
1965-1985, African Americans state
legislators in 11 former Confederate state
increased from 3 to 176
Weak enforcement practices of the Federal Civil Rights Division…
Weak enforcement of VRA at the state and local levels
Segregationist local structures remained in place
Costly lawsuits to force implementation of VRA
Polarization of political parties…
Successes… Struggles…
Discussion Question
In Shelby County v. Holder the Supreme Court decided that the preclearance formula is now unconstitutional under the 10th Amendment, which gives states the power to regulate elections. The Court ruled that the coverage formula was “based on 40-year-old facts having no logical relation to the present day.” What facts (if any) should be considered at this point?
• TBA
Next Session: Thursday, November
3rd
RECAP: EOTP Episode 4
The Civil Rights Acts:
CRA 1957 (after the Montgomery Bus Boycott) – safeguard voting rights, DOJ Civil Rights Division
CRA 1960 (after the lunch counter sit- ins) – stronger protections for voting
24th Amendment (proposed August 1962, ratified January 1963) – abolish poll tax
CRA 1964 (proposed June 1963, passed July 1964) – Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Commission on Civil Rights, non-discrimination for federally-funded programs, DOE empowered to enforce desegregation
Voting Rights Act of 1965 – federal examiners, abolish literacy tests, establishes preclearance