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A newspaper in education Supplement to THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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WEDNESDAY • AUGUST 28 • 2013
President John F. Kennedy’s Civil Rights Address
The high school students participated by
the thousands. On the first day of the Project C
campaign, May 2, 1963, Police Chief Bull Connor
arrested more than 600 children. The next day
an angry Connor met the students with violence
unleashing police attack dogs and ordering
firemen to blast the students off their feet with
high-pressure hoses, injuring many. The young
people endured daily attacks as they demonstrated
for human rights. By May 6, Bull Connor was
housing thousands of child prisoners at the state
fairgrounds.
The resulting photographs, video, and written
accounts dominated the news across the nation
and the world. For the first time Americans could
see the nature of segregation and hatred in the
South. They were stunned, and ashamed.
A New York Times editorial on May 4, 1963
expressed the feeling of growing numbers of
Americans: “No American schooled in respect for
human dignity can read without shame of the bar-
barities committed by Alabama police authorities
against Negro and white demonstrators for civil
rights. The use of police dogs and high-pressure
fire hose to subdue schoolchildren in Birmingham
is a national disgrace. The herding of hundreds
of teenagers and younger children into jails and
detention homes for demanding their birthright of
freedom made a mockery of legal process.”
By May 9, Birmingham’s business leaders had
had enough. They negotiated an agreement with
Rev. King and Rev. Shuttlesworth. Birmingham
businesses would desegregate their lunch counters,
restrooms, and drinking fountains. They would
hire and promote black employees. The jailed pro-
testors would be freed, and charges dropped. Bull
Connor called it “the worst day of my life.”
On June 11, 1963 President John F. Kennedy
spoke to the nation about Civil Rights.
…This Nation was founded by men of many
nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the
principle that all men are created equal, and that
the rights of every man are diminished when the
rights of one man are threatened.
Today, we are committed to a worldwide
struggle to promote and protect the rights of all
who wish to be free. And when Americans are
sent to Vietnam or West Berlin, we do not ask
for whites only. It ought to be possible, therefore,
for American students of any color to attend
any public institution they select without having
to be backed up by troops. It ought to be possible for American
consumers of any color to receive equal service in places of public
accommodation, such as hotels and restaurants and theaters and
retail stores, without being forced to resort to demonstrations in
the street, and it ought to be possible for American citizens of any
color to register and to vote in a free election without interfer-
ence or fear of reprisal. It ought to be possible, in short, for every
American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard
to his race or his color. In short, every American ought to have the
right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would
wish his children to be treated…
Full text at:
Medgar Evers Assassination
Medgar Evers (1925-1963), field secretary for the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was one of the first martyrs of the
civil rights movement. He was killed the day after President John F. Kennedy
addressed the nation on civil rights. His death prompted Pres. Kennedy to ask
Congress for a comprehensive civil-rights bill, which after his assassination,
President Lyndon Johnson signed into law in 1964.
The Mississippi in which Medgar Evers lived was a place of blatant
discrimination where blacks dared not even speak of civil rights, much
less actively campaign for them. As a civil right activist, he paid for his
convictions with his life, becoming the first major civil rights leader to be
assassinated in the 1960s. He was shot in the back on June 12, 1963, after
returning late from a meeting. He was 37 years old.
Learn more at:
Activity:
Photographs and news footage taken at Birmingham
helped focus attention on the protests and raised awareness in the
U.S. and throughout the world about inequality and racism. Have
students analyze photos or film footage from this time. What role
did the news media play in the movement? The Library of Congress
has a useful Primary Source Analysis tool to help with this activity:
