Mon, Mar 18, 2013
Civil Right Movement Road Trip - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Monument, City Park, Denver, Colorado The city of Denver commissioned a memorial monument that honors the late Martin Luther King. The many features of the monument include a metaphor of him 'standing on the shoulders" of follow historic figures such as Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth and Gandhi. On the two sides of the monument, you can see representation of African Americans History with the Civil Rights Movement Marches of the 1960s, and Slavery as well. Furthermore, the monument has an additional Four outer layers with cast bronze sculptures, that depicts Dr. King's Quotes of Slavery, The Civil Rights Struggle, Justice and Living The Dream.
Thu, Mar 28, 2013
Gravesite: Alleged graveside showing one of Robert Johnson's two tombstones *The exact location of his grave is officially unknown; three different markers have been erected at possible church cemetery burial sites outside of Greenwood. Research in the 1980s and 1990s strongly suggests Johnson was buried in the graveyard of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church near Morgan City, not far from Greenwood, in an unmarked grave. A one-ton cenotaph in the shape of an obelisk, listing all of Johnson's song titles, with a central inscription by Peter Guralnick, was placed at this location in 1990, paid for by Columbia Records and numerous smaller contributions made through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund.
Thu, Mar 28, 2013
The Medgar Evers House is located at 2332 Margaret Walker Alexander Drive in Jackson, Mississippi. The house was built for the Evers in 1957. At first, the family looked at a corner lot, but they decided it would be better to have a house somewhat hidden between the other houses on the street. The house was the only house on the street with no front door. The family thought it would be safer if the entrance to the house was adjacent to the carport.
Sun, Apr 7, 2013
The Little Rock Nine were a group of African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and then attended after the intervention of President Eisenhower. The decision declared all laws establishing segregated schools to be unconstitutional, and it called for the desegregation of all schools throughout the nation. After the decision, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) attempted to register black students in previously all-white schools in cities throughout the South. In Little Rock, the capital city of Arkansas, the Little Rock School Board agreed to comply with the high court's ruling. Virgil Blossom, the Superintendent of Schools, submitted a plan of gradual integration to the school board on May 24, 1955, which the board unanimously approved. The plan would be implemented during the fall of the 1957 school year, which would begin in September 1957. By 1957, the NAACP had registered nine black students to attend the previously all-white Little Rock Central High, selected on the criteria of excellent grades and attendance. The nicknamed "Little Rock Nine" consisted of Ernest Green (b. 1941), Elizabeth Eckford (b. 1941), Jefferson Thomas (1942--2010), Terrence Roberts (b. 1941), Carlotta Walls LaNier (b. 1942), Minnijean Brown (b. 1941), Gloria Ray Karlmark (b. 1942), Thelma Mothershed (b. 1940), and Melba Pattillo Beals (b. 1941). Ernest Green was the first African American to graduate from Central High School. The end of September 1957, the nine were admitted to Little Rock Central High under the protection of the U.S. Army, but they suffered physical and verbal abuse by many of the white students. The Civil Rights Memorial sculpture of the Little Rock Nine,. Situated on the northern side of the State Capitol building. It is the only Civil Rights Memorial located on any State Capitol grounds in the south.
Wed, Apr 10, 2013
The Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama is dedicated to 40 people who died in the struggle for the equal and integrated treatment of all people, regardless of race, during the Civil Rights Movement. The names included belong to those who died between 1954 - 1968, because in 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in schools was unlawful and 1968 is the year of Martin Luther King's assassination. The memorial was dedicated in 1989. The concept of Maya Lin's design is based on the soothing and healing effect of water. It was inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr.'s paraphrase "... we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. ...", from the "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. The memorial is a fountain in the form of a round stone inverted cone. A film of water flows over the base of the cone, which contains the 40 names included. It is possible to touch the smooth film of water and temporarily alter the surface film, which quickly returns to smoothness. As such, the memorial represents the aspirations of the American civil rights movement against racism.
Sat, Apr 13, 2013
Selma Historic Bridge, Selma, ALABAMA: The Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965, also known as Bloody Sunday and the two marches that followed, marked the political and emotional peak of the American civil rights movement. On March 7, 1965, an estimated 525 to 600 civil rights marchers headed east out of Selma on U.S. Highway 80. The march was led by John Lewis of SNCC and the Reverend Hosea Williams of SCLC. The first march took place on March 7, 1965 - "Bloody Sunday" - when 600 marchers, protesting the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson and ongoing exclusion from the electoral process, were attacked by state and local police with billy clubs and tear gas. The second march, the following Tuesday, resulted in 2,500 protesters turning around after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. On March 9, a day that would become known as "Turnaround Tuesday", Dr. King led about 2,500 marchers out to the Edmund Pettus Bridge and held a short prayer session before turning the marchers back around, thereby obeying the court order preventing them from marching all the way to Montgomery. On March 21, close to 8,000 people assembled at Brown Chapel to commence the trek to Montgomery. The third march spread the marchers' message without harassment by police and segregation supporters. These factors, along with more widespread support from other civil rights organizations in the area, made the march an overall success and gave the demonstration greater impact. The route is memorialized as the Selma To Montgomery Voting Rights Trail, a U.S. National Historic Trail.