Celebrating Black History Month: Jimmie Lee Jackson, murdered civil rights activist

 

Jimmie Lee Jackson, a peaceful, unarmed demonstrator, died February 26, 1965, eight days after being beaten and shot by Alabama State Troopers. Jackson was an African American civil rights activist, born December 16, 1938 in Marion, Alabama, and a deacon in the Baptist church.

On February 18, 1965, about 500 people conducted a peaceful walk from Zion United Methodist Church to the Perry County jail, about half a block away.  The demonstration was organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference from Selma, Alabama, to protest the arrest of a civil rights worker James Orange was being held.

The police stated they believed the crowd was going to attempt a jail break and began beating the demonstrators.  Jackson and his family, including his 82-year-old grandfather, fled to a cafe for safety, but the police pursued them there.  They began to beat the family, and when Jackson tried to protect them, he was shot twice in the abdomen by Officer James Fowler. 

Despite his injuries, he managed to flee, but was beaten further by the police.  He finally collapsed, and was taken to the hospital. He died eight days later.  

Martin Luther King spoke at one of two funerals held for Jackson.  Jackson's death inspired the first march from Selma to Montgomery.

The officer who shot Jackson, Jim Fowler, was not brought up on charges at the time, claiming self-defense.  However, in 2010, Fowler admitted to shooting Jackson and plead guilty to manslaughter.  He was sentenced to six months in prison. 

Seriously?

He served only five months before being released due to health reasons.  

The Murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson

Celebrating Black History Month: "We Shall Overcome" civil rights anthem

We Shall Overcome is a gospel song that has become an anthem for the civil rights movement in the US.  It is believed to have "descended" from Charles Albert Tindley's I'll Over Come Day, first published in 1901.  Tindley, a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, authored about fifty gospel hymns.

In October 1945, members of the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers union began a five-month strike against the American Tobacco Company.  One of the strikers, Lucille Simmons, led a slow version of the song, We'll Overcome (I'll be All Right), to keep up the spirits of the members, mostly female and African American, during the cold winter.

Pete Seeger changed the lyrics to "We Shall..." in 1947 and added a few verses.  In 1952, it was first recorded and released by Laura Duncan and The Jewish Young Singers, where it is identified as a Negro spiritual. 

In 1957, Seeger performed the song for an audience that included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said how much the song stuck with him.

Joan Baez led a crowd of 3,000 people in singing We Shall Overcome during the August 1963 March On Washington. LBJ used the phrase "we shall overcome" March 15, 1965 in a speech to Congress after the "Bloody Sunday" attacks on civil rights demonstrators during the Selma to Montgomery marches.

Martin Luther King Jr. used the lyrics from We Shall Overcome in a speech delivered on March 31, 1968, just four days before his assassination.  At his funeral over 50,000 people sang We Shall Overcome.

It has become an international phenomenon as it is sung wherever people's rights are being violated.

Here is the Turtle Creek Chorale's performance with the Women's Chorus of Dallas.  I am proud to be part of this recording.

Martin Luther King delivers his "I Have A Dream Speech" 1963

Civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream speech August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  He started his speech saying that although the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves, "one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.". 

One of the most quoted lines from his (or any) speech:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!"

Celebrating Black History Month - Ed Dwight, first black astronaut

Ed Dwight, born September 9, 1933 in Kansas City, is the first African-American to be trained as an astronaut.  The Kennedy Administration hand-picked Dwight for astronaut training, to make the field of astronauts more diverse, and less white-washed.  Although he completed the training, he experienced rampant racism but held on until JFK was assassinated.  Then the environment became unbearable.

He resigned from the Air Force in 1966 and since then, has become a famous scupltor noted for his many works, such as sculptures of Martin Luther King, Jr. all across the country.

Celebrating Black History Month: Nichelle Nichols, first black woman to go where no man has gone before!

Beautiful Nichelle Nichols, African-American actress, has blazed more trails than anyone.  She portrayed Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek, the original series, a major character which was unheard of for a black actress.  Uhura is also the first non-stereotypical character for an African-American woman.  Whoopi Goldberg said she ran through the house shouting, "Mama!  There's a black woman on TV and she ain't no maid!"

Nichelle also shared the first interracial on-screen kiss with William Shatner, which garnered a lot of attention, most of it good.  Nichols was tired of racist harrassment and was ready to resign from Star Trek when she met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who convinced her to remain in her role.

She was employed by NASA in the late 70's and  80's, recruiting astronauts of color, such as Guy Bluford, first African-American astronaut.  She inspired Mae Jemison to become an astronaut, the first black woman in space (after Lt. Uhura).

Celebrating Black History Month: Rosa Parks, First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement

Rosa Parks (with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the background)

The thing that intrigues me the most about the Rosa Parks story is that she didn't set out that day to start a civil rights movement.  She just wanted to go home.  But when she was pushed too far, she pushed back.  She refused to give up her seat to a white man and was arrested.  On the day of her trial, the local NAACP organized a one-day boycott of the Montgomery Alabama bus system.  It lasted for 381 days and brought the bus system to a halt.

She has been referred to as the First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement and she was active in civil rights until she passed away in 2005.

Parks received the Congressional Gold Medal from President Bill Clinton and among many other awards, an honorary doctorate from Soka University, in Tokyo, Japan.

Celebrating Black History Month: Martin Luther King, Jr.

Black History Month wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. the leader of the civil rights movement.  He delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during his March on Washington in 1963, which paved the way for the Civil Rights Act passed in 1968 just days after his assassination.

It would be difficult to condense all of Dr. King's accomplishments and acknowledgements into a few sentences.  He helped bring  about integration and rights for African-Americans, but we still have a ways to go.