We all know who MLK is. We know about Rosa Parks and Malcolm X. We know about how Lyndon B. Johnson supported the movement.
But what is the movement? Because contrary to popular belief, this movement wasn't a coalition of a few freedom chasers who organized one of the largest grassroots movements in history. Rather, it was a movement led by many organizations and the people themselves. Here are a few unspoken heroes of the Movement.
Educator Dorothy Height was president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years. She was a leader in both the civil rights and reproductive rights movements over her career. She focused on the issues of African-American women, including unemployment, illiteracy, and voter awareness.
As a child, Catherine Burks-Brooks resented the omnipresent humiliation of segregation and being a second class citizen. She was always rebellious. As a child she refused to step off the sidewalk for whites, and as she grew up she attended the Nashville Nonviolence Workshops. She participated in marches, sit-ins, and more.
Bayard Rustin was the organizer of the March on Washington. Rustin advised King on Gandhian civil disobedience tactics, and he and King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Civil rights activist Ella Baker worked with the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She created New York City's Young Negroes Cooperative League (YNCL) and organized the SNCC to support civil rights on school and college campuses. She even started a political party with similar views to the Southern Democrats, but this new one opposed segregation. She was instrumental in founding a variety of other organizations.
I have actually had the honor of meeting Reverend Calvin Wallace Woods, Sr. He distinguished himself by co-founding the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. He was arrested and beaten for helping with organizing the Birmingham Bus Boycott. He joined many protests, worked with Dr. King, and improved the lives of thousands of Alabamians. Even today, he continues advocating for human rights and he remains devout and active in his church. This picture is from my own phone when I visited him with my synagogue in Birmingham in January.
There are thousands more heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, from religious leaders to student protestors. They shall not be forgotten.
https://www.npr.org/2009/03/15/101719889/before-rosa-parks-there-was-claudette-colvin
https://www.theroot.com/civil-rights-leaders-who-changed-history-1790874649http://interactive.nydailynews.com/2016/01/black-history-month-unsung-heroes-of-civil-rights/#dion-diamond
https://www.biography.com/people/ella-baker-9195848
http://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/reverend-calvin-wallace-woods-sr
Great job on this post! It's great to learn about the many heroes who contributed to the Civil Rights Movement. Even though they may not have received any fame or glory, these people made a significant impact on American history. It's really upsetting to see that so many women were forgotten just because of their gender. It's a shame, but it's somewhat understandable. Due to gender roles at the time, the CRM probably would have faced even more resistance if it were led by women. It's important for us to remember these people who didn't get the recognition they deserve.
ReplyDeleteYour post gave really insightful descriptions of the key roles of these hidden leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Another "forgotten hero" of the movement lived a century before the Selma and Birmingham protests--Octavius Catto. In 1866, Catto led the movement to desegregate Philadelphia's horse-drawn public transit system. Rallying pregnant women and college students to go on street cars en masse, he was arguably the pioneer of civil disobedience. For the 1871 election, Catto actively helped black people register to vote. Because white Democrats wanted to make certain that they would never lose again due to black enfranchisement, they shot Catto dead. Although his funeral was arguably the biggest public funeral ever held in Philadelphia up until that point, Catto is now largely a forgotten hero.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130722484
I found it incredibly awesome that you were able to meet Calvin Wallace Woods Sr in person! I especially loved reading about Claudette Colvin, and found it interesting that she didn't have the "right skin tone" to be used as a public figure for the Civil Rights campaign. Claudette was just 15 years old when she refused to give up her seat and put in jail. However, she was one of only four women to successfully challenge segregation within the courtroom. I found the following quote from Claudette: “My mother told me to be quiet about what I did,” Ms. Colvin recalled. “She told me: ‘Let Rosa be the one. White people aren’t going to bother Rosa — her skin is lighter than yours and they like her.’ ” Despite both Rosa Parks and Colvin fighting for the same racial equality, economic and social status (as well as shade of skin within the black community) played a crucial role in dictating who would become the figure heads for the movement.
ReplyDeleteSome interesting newspaper clippings of Claudette: https://www.theatlantavoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/claudette-colvin-15-newspaper.jpg
Quote and Other source:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/01/rosa-parks-the-name-you-know-claudette-colvin-the-one-too-many-dont/?utm_term=.db54c050ef33
http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/10-black-history-little-known-facts/#.WnjvT2inHrc