EOTO Reaction #2

During the second round of EOTO presentations, we were presented with lessons about both the positive and negative sides of the Reconstruction Era.

We learned about the Negro Motorist Green Book which was established in 1936 by Victor Hugo Green. This established safe travel for African Americans by creating community and security for them. The book was published in 1966 and became a symbol of resistance against racial inequality. 

We also learned about the Wilmington Massacre of 1898. This is the only know violent overthrow of the legally elected government. This occurred as a group attempted to dismantle the biracial government in Wilmington. This lead to the death of between 60 and 300 African Americans and led to their dispersion. During the massacre white supremacists targeted black business and households with violent acts. This reversed progress and emboldened similar actions in other parts of the south. 

We were taught about sundown towns which excluded non-whites from coming out into the town after sunset. This made it clear that African Americans were not welcome in these areas. Some towns even had signs up or sounded sirens at sunset. There were about 2,400 of these towns all across the United States.

The horrors of lynchings were also pointed out to us as one of the darkest chapters of violent racial acts. Lynching is the killing of an individual who had not undergone a fair trial. False accusations were often used as a way to justify the extreme brutalities and murders. These became public spectacles and were a way to induce terror. One famous lynching was that of Emmett Till who was beat and then shot in the head before being thrown into a river. News of this event spread like wildfire due to his mother's decision to have an open casket at the funeral.

The last negative we learned about was The Birth of a Nation which was a movie based on The Clansmen. It was a largely inaccurate representation of historical events including Lincoln's assassination, the reconstruction movement, and the KKK.

We also learned about many events on the positive side of reconstruction. One of these events was Executive Order 9981 which was signed by President Truman. This was triggered by discrimination seen among African American veterans. It fought for compliance in desegregation and the dismantling of discriminatory practices. It also advocated for desegregated workplaces.

African Americans in WWII was where the idea for Executive Order 9981 came from. They made significant contributions at home and on the battlefield. More than 1 million African Americans served in the military during this time. They were initially assigned to segregated units as cooks, truck drivers, and laborers, but they persistently campaigned with leadership and skill in battle.

We were taught about Thurgood Marshall who joined the NAACP as a staff lawyer and was declared Chief in 1940. He worked to create legal assault for racial prejudice. He also became a Supreme Court on which his most famous case was Brown v. Board of Education.

Porgy and Bess was the first African American opera which was produced during a time of segregation. It portrays a black disabled man who helps a woman seek refuge from her boyfriend. This opera had an all African American cast which forced people to accept that segregation was starting to deteriorate. 

The final event we learned about was the rise of the second KKK which targeted African Americans, Catholics and Jews. The new klan used modern marketing to grow its influence. It serves as a reminder of how hate can fuel violent movements. 

All of these events are important to our history as they show us how we came to live in the America that stands today. 

EOTO: Civil Rights Era

Today I am going to be teaching about the Orangeburg massacre. This was one of the most violent crimes in SC civil rights history and it all started with a group of college students protesting segregation. 

The lead up to this event began when local business owner, Harry Floyd, refused to integrate his bowling alley, even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. 

On February 5, 1968 a small group of SC State students went to the bowling alley to protest the white-only policy. They were refused entry and left peaceably. As news of this spread across the mostly African American campus of SC State, students rallied together.

The next night, on February 6, a larger group of students went to the bowling alley to protest. When they arrived, they were met by police and firefighters who were threatening to blast them with fire hoses. The students taunted back and began to throw rocks. When a window got broken, the police started beating the students with billy clubs. At the end of the night, 15 students were arrested and 11 were injured, one of which was a police officer.

After the two protests, tensions began to rise and Governor McNair called in the National Guard out of fear that looting and violence would break out. 

On February 8, hundreds of college students gathered alongside civil rights activist, Cleveland Sellers, to protest against the bowling alley and other businesses in the area. The National Guard and police force were called in, led by Chief Pete Strom. They worked to keep the protest on campus and avoid it turning into a riot.

The students started a large bonfire at the front of the campus and began to throw rocks at the police. As firefighters worked to put the fire out, a police officer got hit with a wooden banister. Claiming to have heard a gunshot, the police force opened fire into the darkness as the students scrambled to escape.

Three students were shot and killed that night. Sammy Hammond, who was a freshman at SC State, was shot in the back. 18 year old Henry Smith was shot 3 times. Delano Midleton, a 17 year old highschooler whose mom worked at the school, was shot 7 times. 28 others were injured. 

The incident was claimed to be incited by Cleveland Sellers and other black agitators in the area. Sellers was charged with incitement of a riot. Meanwhile, only 9 out of 70 police officers present at the massacre were charged with shooting at protestors and they were all acquitted. 

The incident was barely even covered in the press because of the Tet Offense in the Vietnam war, which happened at the same time and overshadowed the horrors seen in SC. Much of the coverage the event did get was falsified, with sources like the Associated Press, claiming the students were armed and fired first. This incident is even left out of many textbooks and Civil Rights era reports.

Lack of justice for these students broadened the racial divide in SC. 

The head of the NAACP traveled to SC to protest against the lack of coverage for the massacre. Likewise, the black community took to the streets of Columbia to protest for justice. Martin Luther King Jr. even sent a telegram to President Johnson saying that the deaths in Orangeburg county “lie on the conscience of Chief Strom and the government of South Carolina”. 

Everyone wanted justice for these students, but it was clear that no one was going to get it. It was not until 2003 that SC Governor Mark Sanford offered a written apology. 

Despite apologies, many residents believe the truth of the massacre is still suppressed to this day, and many from the community have vowed to continue to honor the victims and bring light to the injustice that occurred on that day in February of 1968.

Brown v Board of Education: Mock Trial

Today you have been presented with strong arguments in favor of desegregation, looking through the lens of history, religion, and tradition. Now I want to point you to the many economic benefits of integration, especially in schools. 

The case presented to you today is pushing for the racial integration of schools on the basis that it is unconstitutional to separate students by race. The fight for true equality is one that has been going on for some time now. 

As new laws and regulations begin to be passed, African Americans are working their way into creating new lives for themselves which means finding a way to support themselves financially and find economic stability for their families. As you make your ruling though, it is important to think about the economic benefits not only for them, but for this entire nation, which will come out of schools being desegregated. 

Looking first at the effects on the students themselves, integration allows students to feel like they belong and gives them more opportunities to learn in an environment that feels valued and not just pushed to the side. Integration has been shown to reduce drop out rates among African American high school students by 2-3 percentage points. This means that more students are able to finish their degrees and in turn become a valued part of our society, both socially and economically.

When these students succeed in school, they also benefit in their later lives. It has been proven that children in integrated schools have higher incomes as adults, better health outcomes and lower incarceration rates. 

Looking from this perspective, we can see how integration could create generational change. As the students who are in schools now grow up, they will be more equipped to create economic opportunities for themselves and contribute to a flourishing society.

Looking at a more immediate economic benefit, when schools are integrated the demand for urban residence decreases. This in turn causes urban housing and rent prices to go down by 6%, meaning families in these areas are more equipped to sustain a livable income because they do not have to pay as much for the houses they are living in. 

The economic benefits range across all race as well, not only benefiting African Americans but also their white counterparts. White students benefit from desegregation as well because it reduces their fear of hostility and their prejudices. Creating this change early on points to change in their later lives. This means interracial colleges and workplaces allowing cultures to blend and goods to be more widely available. This also allows them to serve more customers and work together with their coworkers far better, no matter their race, leading to a higher economic return.

As you have seen, integrating schools benefits the students by increasing their likelihood of receiving both a high school diploma and college degree; as well as creating more interracial workplaces in their futures leading to decreased costs, increased availability of goods, and ultimately increased wealth for both the individual and our nation. 

In the Heat of the Night

In the Heat of the Night is a movie that came out in 1967 starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. This movie centers around the investigation of a murder as it looks at the stereotypes and prejudices present in the South of the United States during the period of "separate but equal". 

This movie points out the harsh discrimination and realities that freed slaves had to face while trying to create lives for themselves. The plot line at the forefront focuses on Virgil Tibbs who is a detective from Philadelphia. He is arrested by Officer Gillespie who believes he committed a murder but when he is proved innocent, he works alongside the other officers to find the true murderer. 

In the background of this main plot, are the lives of the women who are also struggling to make lives for themselves. The fight for equal rights among races was on the rise during this time, but the fight for equal rights among males and females had just begun. 

Women in the Jim Crow South had very little rights and were often looked down upon by their male counterparts. This not only applied to the African American women and the poor women, but also the women who were well off. They were all seen as inferior and had to fight for respect. 

This fight for respect is seen in Mrs. Colbert who has to fight for a proper investigation for her husband's death. Since she is a woman, her perspective is stuffed to the side and they expect her to just accept what the officers believe. However, she knows they are missing something and pushes for them to keep looking for more answers. In the end, she has to threaten the jobs in the town to get them to listen to her. 

Mrs. Colbert had to fight for respect and she was well off so it was even worse for girls like Delores Purdy. Girls like Delores are seen as nothing more than an object. She was pushed around by all the men in her life, whether that meant her brother or the man who impregnated her. Her opinion of her own life did not matter. No one listened to her unless she was telling them exactly what they wanted to hear. 

Lowest on the totem pole were women like Mama Caleba. She was a poor African American woman, so no one thought anything of her and she was regarded as trash. She had no chance at making a life for herself in a society where people of her race and gender were not allowed to speak up or challenge the norms. In order to stay out of plantation work, she performed illegal under the counter abortions. She was forced into breaking the law, just to make a living for herself.

This movie shines light not only on the way freed slaves were treated in the Jim Crow South, but also how women were silenced and constantly had to fight for the life they wanted to live.