Dr. Martin Luther King’s legendary “I Have a Dream” speech is said to have propelled activism, hope, equality, and freedom. Professor Boade controversially offers a compelling argument opposing the speaker’s true purpose. In regard to Boade’s argument, I do advocate new perspectives and thoughts on such conventional, traditional ideas taught and instilled year after year. In addition, it is indeed true that King offers no concrete solution nor does he facilitate guidelines for change, but I believe this proposal is questionable considering the deeper value in the speech.
Underneath King’s purpose lies a more profound foundation that provoked more than just a movement, it motivated and stirred hope. Although Erin offers great rationale, I feel Martin Luther initiated the concept of rights and inspiration. He is what was needed—a voice and a passion. As a peace maker and religious figure, I believe proposing a resolution for fight and change would have contradicted his appeal and perhaps even dampened his influence and charm to his followers.
His followers admired his character, his dignity, and his strength. I hold that these traits were of more value to his people than a mere solution that was not likely to change or persuade the white supremacy of the time. King infused a concept that no other could have done better, no other would have dared. His heroic and poised stature, I believe, is significant and inspirational. This counter-argument embodies character, rather than the fight for solution, and entails the importance of inspiration, hope-- optimism and dreams.

Although both believed in the nonviolent movement, from the early stages of SNCC activity, the students were faced with criticism and conservative pressure from the respected black adults. John Lewis describes it as a “generation gap” which kept growing wider throughout the civil rights movement. A few events discussed during class highlight the student’s struggle not only for racial desegregation but also against the traditional black leadership of organizations like NAACP and SCLC. The adults generally held a conservative view and believed the students’ actions were too dangerous and were “getting people killed.” During many instances, the leaders showed a reluctance to personally participate in protest activities and were afraid of angering government officials, especially the president. In contrast, SNCC students followed nonviolence but forced the issues through arranging tense situations and were willing to put their life on the line for the civil rights efforts. Unsatisfied with minor concessions, the students were not restrained from openly criticizing the government.
After the arrests of students during the lunch counter sit-ins of Tennessee, Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP was critical of the students’ decision on “jail without bail.” John Lewis and the others felt paying bail would be like agreeing with the legality of their arrests and thus undermine the sit-ins. Marshall believed in using the court system as the best way for change; however, students believed this process was too slow and did not address facilities which courts had already ruled as desegregated but weren’t in reality.
During the Freedom Rides, King refuses to participate and the students use the phrase, “De Lawd” as a criticism of his seemingly lofty biblical responses. This phrase, according to Lewis, perfectly captures the widening generation gap; the students saw the adult leaders as being self-righteous and lost respect for them. Similarly, Forman is angered by King’s deception of both the federal officials and the marchers preparing for Bloody Sunday. In contrast, the students are willing to give their lives for the movement and deal with officials in a more open manner.
The controversy over Lewis’ speech at the March on Washington further shows the difference in tactics used by adult leaders versus the students. Lewis’ speech was prepared to criticize JFK’s recent Civil Rights Act passage, but the many chairmen of other organizations objected and forced changes into Lewis’ speech. Later it was discovered that although marchers thought it was a march for jobs and freedom, the leadership had agreed with the Kennedy administration to show support of the Civil Rights Bill, therefore again revealing the adults’ willingness to deceive. SNCC felt marches were ineffective for diffusing local pressure, but adults generally were pleased with the March on Washington and felt it to be successful, revealing the difference of opinion regarding nonviolent tactics.
Overall, the SNCC students were unafraid to criticize the government and use nonviolent but daring ways to confront segregation. The adults were critical of the dangers of this and believed in more conservative strategies.

After reading “Bloody Sunday”, an overwhelming sense of shock and sadness came over me. John Lewis’s account of the march from Selma, on a Sunday in March of 1965, honestly and vividly describes a horrific and inhumane event in American history.
The immense hatred that lay within the southern whites is almost unfathomable. Lewis portrays a scene in which protesters stood silent and solemn anticipating their next move, while an army of men on horseback and foot, clubs in hand, stampeded toward them. Lewis’s sincere, first-hand rhetoric on the step by step events appeals to the reader’s emotions in an intense way. His use of simile paints a portrait of hatred and cruelty that one would think was impossible on a human level.
Moreover, Lewis adds a version of the events described by a white New York Times reporter. In this account the occurrences described are just as horrid. Even from the perspective of a white spectator, this Sunday march from Selma was viewed as merciless and appalling. Ironically, a viewing of Judgment at Nuremberg was interrupted by a special report on the events. Lewis explains viewers were confused enough to think that the scenes from Selma were somehow part of the film. The idea that these events somehow equated to what happened at Nuremberg is nothing short of devastating. The fact that something this terrifying happened in our country creates such sadness and still leaves me in disbelief.
John Lewis’s vivid account of “Bloody Sunday” seemed, in his words, “too ugly to be real” (331).

Daisy Bates gives a first hand account of the strenuous chain of events that prevented the Little Rock 9 from entering Central High School in September of 1957. As somewhat of a liaison and advisor to the students, their parents, and the school, Bates was a main figure in this historic experience. Expecting things to go smoothly, fear began to run wild when Governor Faubus sent 250 National Guard troops to surround Central and prevent the nine black students from entering. In describing Governor Faubus’ radio address, Bates uses words like, “electrified, shocked, and horrified” to show the impact his words had all over the world, especially to the nine students and their families. Faubus’ infamous quote, “blood will run in the streets,” illustrates the extremely prejudice mindset of the state and its government (98). The desegregation of Central High was a groundbreaking feat in that time and that place.

Bates coordinated ministers and police to be outside the school to help protect the students; however, she forgets to inform one student, Elizabeth Eckford. Mrs. Bates then gives an account of Elizabeth’s lone trip through the “jeering mobsters” and her attempt to get past the National Guards (100). It takes a long time for Elizabeth to even speak about the event, as most truly traumatic events would. Her story speaks to emotion, as it put a lump in my throat imagining what she went through. One can hardly imagine the strength it took to walk through an angry crowd of bigots and to be turned away from guards she thought were there for her protection. Elizabeth’s story makes the prejudice of the times so real and tangible. To someone born much later, it is difficult to imagine the barriers African Americans broke down to make our culture what it is today. Accounts such as these, give a first-hand look at the individual struggles that transformed the nation.

Mallory Paul
In the spring of 1966 an effort to define what measures are being taken and what needs to be done in the implementation of black power was introduced. SNCC’s development of “The Basis of Black Power” successfully discredits falsehoods about blacks, appeals to the Black Nationalist sentiment already in motion, provides reasons for the black power movement, and explains how it will be pushed through.
The argument is directed towards the nation as a whole with an authoritative direct tone. The author empowers the black audience by telling white America that their help is no longer needed in black communities, and that the only way to help is to fight in their own communities for the recognition of black power. Concrete evidence is used to prove that the white ideas, such as blacks being evil, savage creatures incapable of the organizing and liberating themselves, are wrong simply because white people cannot relate to black issues. SNCC is determined to shut these beliefs down and by printing their position on it, show they are capable of doing so.
The writer provides the solutions to these problems in a way that seems as though someone, much like a preacher, is standing in front of a crowd giving a powerful sermon. He asks rhetorical questions that in turn cause the audience to ask themselves how they got to this point and what can they do to help. By appealing to the emotions of audience and interacting with them through writing, saying things in a way that is familiar to many of them, the writer knowingly pushes this impressionable group to come together and deal with the issues at hand. The author not only reiterates his point, but joins in the effort to fight by saying that they should “ reject the American dream as defined by white people and must construct an American reality defined by the Afro American”(157).
Although these ideals were empowering to black America, it was frightening to whites of the time. Many saw SNCC as portraying white people as bad and turning towards an anti-white sentiment. Black power was being associated with groups of threatening black men with guns that wanted to stir up problems, but in reality this was not what this power meant at all and in later years people would come to realize this.
SNCC’s movement was heading in the right direction. They knew how to create a following through the power of persuasion and through this argument; those leaders began laying the foundation for the biggest and most successful act of the civil rights movement that this nation had yet to see.

“Bloody Sunday” really brought to my attention the actual hatred whites had towards blacks. I was shocked when I saw the things that Sheriff Clark did. I always heard about killings and hangings that went on in the South, but when you actually read about it and then watch a documentary on it, it really shocks you. It was ridiculous to see the things that Sheriff Clark was doing and getting away with. How can someone be allowed to club people that are waiting in line to register to vote and causing no upheaval what-so-ever? I was also shocked to see Sheriff Clark let his anger get to him when he punched the black lawyer right on the steps of the building with all of America watching him. Some people were just truly naïve back in those days.
I never really understood the true hatred gap that existed between whites in the North and whites in the South towards blacks, until reading and watching these things. I thought it was awfully courageous of some of the whites from the North that came down to Selma to march and protest. Although, a few of them were beaten badly, I think it really helped get to point across to the nation that this violence and racism had to stop. As badly as the march from Selma to Montgomery turned out, with the horseback policemen charging, clubbing, and tear gassing the black marchers; I think in the end it was an extremely effective tactic. For television stations to interrupt a widely watched movie and move to live coverage of the attacks put on the blacks, it showed the nation how terribly the blacks were being treated all across the South. There is reason to argue that this attempted march, from Selma to Montgomery, was the turning point toward the end of black segregation as new legislature was passed by Congress and the nation as a whole fought to end it.

The excerpt from “Feel Angry with Me” is one that I found especially interesting due to the nation’s reaction to the crisis at hand in comparison to other predicaments with equal or worse outcomes from before. Throughout the movement, many blacks were killed and their deaths went ignored by the country, but the publicity that came with this incident due to the disappearance of two white men involved was a very critical moment for the movement. White Americans now became interested in the situation because it showed how “their people” were being murdered. This incident showed how the federal government only became involved when Caucasians were being hurt. The failure to close the case and persecute the individuals involved also depicted how corrupt the one-sided the local government was.
Another aspect of this reading that I found interesting is the way Mickey Schwerner’s wife reacted to the situation. The fact that she was ready for such an occasion gives you an idea about just how bad things were at the time. Being involved with the movement meant being prepared to face jail time, beatings, and even death. To be a wife and having to be prepared to face the death of your husband is only something that would be of the norms today if they were involved with bad crowds or had medical problems.
All the black bodies found in the river showed how this particular incident was one that had occurred many times before; it was never brought to the country’s attention, however, because no white people had been reported missing.
This reading shows one of the many injustices performed during the time of the social movement. This story, however, shows a nation concerned about its people; a nation wanting to find out what happened to their fellow Americans. This story shows just how racist the country is: to only want to get involved and find justice if the ones being hurt and murdered are white.

I’ve learned about the civil rights movement through numerous other classes and experiences, but somehow, I never learned about the white involvement in the movement. All of the accounts I’ve heard of were always written by blacks and about blacks. I feel “Letters from Mississippi” is an interesting and unique view of the events that occurred in the summer of 1964.
The SNCC success during the creation of the MFDP was, of course, due to the numerous efforts of blacks all across Mississippi. “Letters from Mississippi” gave us a glimpse of the efforts and struggles of both black and white college students who took the time to come help. The two readings right before “Letters” described in detail the different activities, problems, and advantages involving whites working for the MFDP. Most of us, I feel, always imagine the struggles as all-black, but this entire unit has changed my views. I spent a long time when reading this primary source, reading and re-reading each letter to try and figure out whether the writer is black or white. It repeatedly reminds me that the struggle down south at the time wasn’t always a black versus white struggle, and that many of the volunteers felt the same emotions no matter his or her race.
What really struck me odd was the way in which the writers describe the finding of bodies in the river. There was no emotion shown in any of the writers’ statements, not even when saying: “one cut in half and one without a head.” Were the volunteers really that desensitized to the violence, or were they simply just not surprised at the finding? Throughout every letter, I am repeated surprised at the lack of emotion displayed. These are letters written home to mothers, fathers, and loved ones; why is there no “I miss home,” or “I love you?” All of the letters chosen for this reading were written well, with most of them having insightful or witty comments. I especially liked how Tchula says, “Things are really much better for rabbits – there’s a closed season on rabbits.” Another writer says, “The only reason that I will not hit back is because then I will be in the hospital two weeks instead of one, and will be useless to the movement during that extra week…” The kinds of statements are probably what led these letters to be selected, but it also makes me wonder what other letters looked like. There must have been other more normal or standard letters home, and I would like to see whether or not these chosen letters are a good representation of a typical letter home.

These excerpts from Fred Hampton’s speeches were effective in motivating people to join the Black Panther Party in many ways, but I think in others it would scare people away. Hampton had an intense voice and a strongly opinionated message, which is both good and bad.
Hampton made his message very clear. His informal language mixed with extreme opinions/ ideas, were shocking to the ear. For example, I think it was a very extreme idea of the Black Panther Party to say everyone needed to carry a gun and Hampton drills this thought into your head. One thing I did not particularly like is the way he makes the issues seem that it is their way or no way instead of encouraging all types of involvement. I do not like example he used about putting up the stop sign and Huey Newton said “you hold the shotgun; anybody mess with us, blow their brains out” (507). It paints a violent picture in my mind of the Black Panther Party and would discourage me to join their cause.
Even though Hampton had some extreme ideas, his speeches could be very convincing. He had some very powerful phrases throughout the article that completely awe struck me like “you can jail a revolutionary, but you can’t jail the revolution” (508). The way he related and compared things to explain his points was wonderful. He moved from fighting fire, to racism, to capitalism just to portray their good intentions and ways to solve the problems (505). I felt like he spoke true to the people, even if it was not what they wanted to hear, he was honest with his opinions and the Black Panther Party.

While reading “Bloody Sunday,” I was struck with such emotion because I could not believe that something like this happened in our country. The racist views of the South were overwhelming and to me, I am still dumbfounded as to how whites could treat other citizens with such hatred and violence. It was such an admirable tactic for SNCC to use nonviolence as a form of protest and unbelievable that these committees carried on after being brutally beaten and attacked multiple times. Of course, just the words alone of this excerpt were enough to produce shock, but as I watched the film in class, everything I read came alive. It was exactly as described and I still sat in disbelief as the peaceful blacks got mowed over by the clubs and vicious troopers throwing out tear gas. I think what struck me the most in the video was the bystanders literally doing nothing but watching. It was as if this was a spectator sport and they lined up for front row seats.
Surprisingly, throughout the video, there maintains an almost eerie silence. It is even mentioned in the readings that the only sound heard was footsteps. I feel that this stillness kept the marchers calm and prepared them for what was about to come. They even kept the tranquility after being issued the warning to leave the bridge because of a threat to “public safety” and proceeded to kneel and pray. If I were in a similar situation and faced with a line of armed state troopers, on instinct, I would turn and run away. It still comes as a shock to me that the blacks literally did nothing and continuously got their rights stripped away from them. Looking back at that era of extreme racism seems like such an abstract time because it is beyond me why whites thought themselves to be superior to other races. It is nothing more than ignorance and not wanting to give up the old ways of slavery. After seeing this one particular defeat on Bloody Sunday, I have much more respect for what the workers of the civil rights movement made possible and what they had to overcome.

Daisy Bates’s article “The Long Shadow of Little Rock” explains, in first-hand account, the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas. This piece of writing is a primary source document that helps the readers to have a better understanding of the real, detailed events that took place during the desegregation of the school.

In 1957, the state of Arkansas decided to allow nine black students to attend the Central High School. Despite the fact that school authorities allowed the desegregation of Central High, the state governor Orval Faubus disagreed to this decision by sending in state’s National Guards to prevent the nine students from entering the school. Bates explains how “…his words electrified Little Rock” and that this decision of his “horrified the world” (98). This shows how it was extremely difficult and unprepared for the state of Arkansas to accept desegregation into its school system. Faubus’s decision also had a great impact on the unfortunate events that the black students had to face on their first day of school. For example, Bates successfully explains the consequences to Faubus’s decision by illustrating the story of Elizabeth Eckford on her first day of school. Elizabeth expresses her terror for the angry white mobs (on her way to school) by saying “they glared at me with a mean look and I was very frightened and didn’t know what to do” (102) on her way to school. From this particular example, I was able to understand how horrifying it was for Elizabeth to face the angry crowd of white people, especially when she was the only African American surrounded by the white mob. It is disappointing when Elizabeth tries to walk into the school but one of the guards “just looked straight ahead and didn’t move to let me pass him” (102). This anecdote of Elizabeth’s helped me have a better understanding of the fear and terror that she had to go through for desegregating the school system. Elizabeth’s experience foreshadows many other horrific experiences that the black students need to go through. It is also upsetting how young Elizabeth’s unpleasant experience is just a mild form of hatred and racism compared to other happenings that the nine students had to face during their 4 years of high school.

“Bloody Sunday” was an article about the march that was supposed to go from Selma to Montgomery Alabama. The march was intended to raise awareness about the poor African American voter registration in the state. As you can probably tell from the title of the article, the marchers didn’t make it all the way to Montgomery, and they didn’t even expect to. The brutality and disrespect that these people were treated with was absolutely astounding.
One of the things that first struck me when I read this piece was the fact that the march was almost called off right before it happened. Martin Luther King Jr. claimed that he had missed too many sermons at his home church but in reality, he had received a larger amount of death threats than before and was frightened of the consequences of the march. I know that if I had received those kind of threats, I would have been just as afraid if not more afraid. In the end, Martin Luther King Jr. put aside his fears because he knew that the amount of threats meant that the march was going to affect a lot of people. Also the march was well publicized and that meant that it had a better chance of making a large impact for the Civil Rights Movement in the long run.
Another thing that caught my attention was how even when the marchers stopped and kneeled to pray, the police still attacked them with tear gas as well as physical violence. The marchers were obviously not going to attack them or force their way across the police line, so they didn’t pose a physical threat to the police force. Many of the participants had never experienced tear gas before either and this caused a ton of medical problems that were accompanied with the ones from being trampled and beaten by the local law enforcement. This shocked me mostly because there was nothing done to provoke the outrageous behavior of the Alabama police. If the marchers were causing mayhem by yelling or being violent themselves then maybe some form of resistance from law enforcement would have been necessary, but that never happened.
In the end, it worked out better for the movement as a whole because the atrocities to the black community were caught on film and broadcasted across the nation which gained more national attention. This included the attention of the federal government which helped fuel the political side of the movement. This also was a news flash to the rest of the nation about the severe injustices being done to the African Americans and it pulled more focus to the issue of voting of African Americans in the South.

During class for unit one, we watched videos pertaining to “The Little Rock Nine” as well as read many passages discussing their circumstances. I feel that the introduction of “Little Rock Warriors Thirty Years Later" by Melba Patillo Beals, one of the black students, was particularly moving.

Being that this article was a primary source document, we’re able to hear Beals’ passionate language and relate to her emotions as she steps foot back into Central High School. Beals describes the school building as a “hellish torture chamber” and “a furnace that consumed [their] youth and forged [them] into reluctant warriors.” These analogies prove the desperate times that these students had to endure simply to get an education. You can’t help but read this story and feel for these nine students. Even 30 years after the fact Beals says, “Some of us take another’s arm to brace ourselves as we prepare to face the ghosts in this building.” Through her words the reader gets a clear picture of this terrible time in their lives and the entrapment they felt while in high school.

It’s so difficult to read that many of these students don’t even visit Alabama “even though mother[s] and brother[s] continue to live [there].” Their time at Central High School was so terrible and had such an impact that these grown adults won’t visit a town or even state that was once such a big part of their lives, for better or worse. I couldn’t imagine not visiting my hometown or state, but especially not being able to see some family members simply because of their residence. Beals even says, “It is significant that almost all of us chose not to remain in Little Rock but sought lives elsewhere.”

From watching the black students being taunted by white parents surrounding the school to keep them out, watching the crowd drive away “little” Elizabeth, and then to read the introduction of Little Rock Warriors Thirty Years Later” makes you truly fear for these few students who were the guinea pigs of desegregation in the school system.

After reading this article, the first response I had was one of amazement.. The retelling of this speech is what sets it apart from other articles. The author did a great job of tying it all together and setting the stage for a great speech. When reading about the march, you almost feel as if you are right there in the crowd. I felt like I was one of the people standing there listening to Stokely Carmichael. As the audience chants “BLACK POWER, BLACK POWER, BLACK POWER”, I wanted to yell out in unison with the crowd and throw my arms into the air! I was not aware that the term “Black Power” had been thought up so spontaneously. The effect that this terminology had on the movement was quite dramatic and it just surprised me that it was thought of so abruptly. For Stokely to have come up with this off the top of his head, and for it to have such a profound impact is amazing. Although I am not of African American descent, this retelling is so dramatic and effective, that I wish I had been able to get involved. I wish I were there to make a difference and to participate in the movement that has left such an impression in our society. I am very glad that I was assigned this reading because it brought a whole new viewpoint and realization to the movement that I had never fully experienced. Although my viewpoint is most likely not of the actual audience, because I am not physically there; I feel as though this article creates one of the best settings for me to understand.

In “The Black Panther Platform: ‘What We Want, What We Believe’”, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale make many claims for the Black community of the 1960’s. Some of their needs are reasonable in my opinions while some ideas are outlandish.
Blacks during this time technically might have been free from physical slavery but they were still not free from the mental/social chains that Whites had shackled them with. For example, White realtors would never show a Black family a nice house in a White neighborhood. They would only show them the slums of the Black neighborhood at that time because some people still wanted to keep Blacks and Whites segregated. So when the Black Panther makes this claim that they “want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings” (165), this is what they are talking about. Also as far as education goes, Blacks and Whites were very different. The White education was far superior to the Blacks therefore I believe it is legitimate for the Black Panther Party to demand “education for our people” (165).
But some demands that this group made are very radical and for all practical purposes are not reasonable. For example, the Black Panthers want all Black men that are being held in jail to be released. Their reasoning for this is because “they have not received a fair and impartial trial” (166). It is true that most juries and judges (if not all of them) were White at that time. But I’m sure that some of these people who were in jail really did commit offensive crimes and that they did receive a fair trial. Just because they are Black doesn’t mean that they should be immune from paying for their crimes. In this sense I don’t agree with the Black Panther Party’s claim.

In the late 1960’s the civil rights movement took somewhat of a new approach towards the brutality of the African American people in the United States. No longer would people sit idly by as they were attacked, beaten and falsely imprisoned. Passivity was gone, and in its place was the Black Panther Party. This new group’s motto was Black Power. It was all about taking a stand against those people hurting the blacks, which meant doing whatever necessary, including violence if need be.

To most white people the Black Panthers were the sum of their fears. These were oppressed people who were ready for revenge. So the debate rages on as to whether this was a good tactic for the civil rights movement. How could it not be a good idea?
As stated earlier this is what the white people feared most, armed black men willing to do anything for the cause. Throughout the civil rights movement most white people were listening but there wasn’t much incentive for them to do anything to help. Black oppression didn’t affect most white people, except for taking up a little of their television time. By getting the white people scared it ultimately would get them to act on those fears. It brought the fight right into the homes of those middle class, suburban white folks who up until then didn’t have a care in the world.

This was a radical change for the civil rights movement that preached peace over violence. But ultimately it seems as though violence or at least the threat of violence was the final straw through which African Americans would get the civil liberties they deserved.

The description of Freedom Summer told by John Lewis is very emotionally powerful because his narrative style and simplistic sentence structure truly brings the tone of that summer to life. Lewis has the ability to conjure up deep fear, angst, anger and sadness through his rich description. For example, in reading the description of the trepidation of speeding through the roads of Mississippi at night, he doesn’t just say “we were scared of riding at night because the police might pull us over and kill us”. Instead, he is able to make the reader really understand the intense fear of feeling like you are being chased or something horrible is about to happen. “We learned to drive fast, to get where we were going quickly, and if need be, to outrun the police or anyone else who might chase us. I have never seen anyone drive the way the guys in SNCC drove those cars. That was some of the greatest fear I felt that summer...”.
For me, one of the strongest, most disturbing images is of the bodies found in the lake during the search for the three SNCC members. The description of the bodies, “one torso, that of a young teenaged boy, was clad in an old CORE T-shirt”, needs no embellishment to have an impact on the audience. Lewis’s sentences are direct and completely straightforward. When dealing with disturbing subject matter, where the mere details are enough to evoke emotion, this concise sentence structure is an effective delivery. Going back to the example of the bodies found in the rivers, he gives the gory details of the bodies, followed by a quick statement of his personal opinion: “It was ugly, sickening, horrifying.”