Thursday, June 18, 1964: St. Augustine

Shouting "I'm cleaning the pool!", James Brock -- owner of the Monson Motor Lodge in St. Augustine, Florida -- pours muriatic (hydrochloric) acid near several people taking part in an effort to integrate the hotel's pool. (The muriatic acid, a cleaning agent used on concrete, was not strong enough to cause any injuries to the demonstrators.)

Police officer Henry Billitz jumps into the pool. Several demonstrators were arrested.

-- Photos by Associated Press 

* "Police Clash With Negroes at Swim-In" (Associated Press): @

* "Negro Efforts Rile Whites" (Associated Press): @

* "Now the Klan is Angry with James Brock" (United Press International, July 26): @

* "Augustine Rife Figure Must Leave" (Associated Press, May 2, 1965): @

* "Remembering a Civil Rights Swim-In" (NPR, June 2014): @

* "Racial and Civil Disorders in St. Augustine" (Report of the Legislative Investigation Committee, state of Florida, February 1965): @

* "St. Augustine Movement 1963-1964" (Civil Rights Movement Veterans): @

* "St. Augustine Movement" (Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University): @ 
* Civil Rights Library of St. Augustine: @ 
* " ' Florida's Birmingham': The Civil Rights Movement in St. Augustine (University of Florida Libraries): @

* "Florida Memory: The Civil Rights Movement in Florida" (Division of Library & Information Services"): @

* "AP photos of 1964 civil rights protests" (spotted.staugustine.com): @ 

---

March-April, 1964: Malcolm X

Sunday, March 8

Malcolm X, outspoken Black Muslim advocate of racial separation, has defected from the parent organization to form his own mosque to promote "active self-defense against white separatists in all part of the country."

     -- Associated Press, March 9 (link to story: @)

* "Malcolm X Tells Of Breaks With Clay" (Chicago Daily News Service, March 22): @

* Excerpt from "History of American Political Thought" (2003): @

* Excerpt from "Malcolm X: The FBI File" (Clayborn Carson, 2012): @

Thursday, March 26

Malcolm and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. meet for the first and only time. Both men were in Washington to hear debate on civil rights legislation.

-- Photo by Marion S. Trikosko, U.S. News & World Report; from Library of Congress collection

* Excerpt from "Malcolm & Martin & America: A Dream or a Nightmare" (James H. Cone, 1991): @

* "The Unfinished Dialogue of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X" (Clayborn Carson, 2005): @

* "Negro Plans New Form of Protests" (Associated Press, March 26): @

* Earlier post on "The Negro and the American Promise" (June 24, 1963): @

Friday, April 3 and Sunday, April 12

Gives "The Ballot or the Bullet" speeches in Cleveland and Detroit.
     Many took from the speech only the message of violence; he had recently promoted the formation of "rifle clubs: and reiterated that blacks were constitutionally within their rights to defend themselves and their property if the goverment failed to do so. However, what had changed dramatically from years past and the rhetoric of the Nation of Islam was the possibility for reform through voting.
     --- From "The Portable Malcolm X Reader" (Manning Marable and Garrett Felber, 2013): @
* Transcript of April 3 speech (from TeachingAmericanHistory.org): @

* Transcript of April 12 speech (from "Say It Loud! Great Speeches on Civil Rights and African American Identity" (2013): @

* Audio of April 12 speech: @

* "Use Bullets To Get Ballot, Malcolm X Tells Negroes" (Associated Press, March 22): @

* Earlier post on "Message to the Grass Roots" (November 10, 1963): @ 

---

Monday, March 9, 1964: New York Times v. Sullivan

Background: In 1960, The New York Times ran a full-page advertisement paid for by civil rights activists. The ad openly criticized the police department in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, for its treatment of civil rights protestors. Most of the descriptions in the ad were accurate, but some of the statements were false. The police commissioner, L.B. Sullivan, took offense to the ad and sued The New York Times in an Alabama court. Sullivan argued that the ad had damaged his reputation, and he had been libeled. The Alabama court ruled in favor of Sullivan, finding that the newspaper ad falsely represented the police department and Sullivan. After losing an appeal in the Supreme Court of Alabama, The New York Times took its case to the United States Supreme Court, arguing that the ad was not meant to hurt Sullivan's reputation and was protected under the First Amendment.

Decision: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of the newspaper. The Court said the right to publish all statements is published under the First Amendment. The Court also said in order to prove libel, a public official must show that was was said against them was made with actual malice -- that is, with knowledge that it was false or with "reckless disregard" for the truth.
     -- from www.uscourts.gov (link: @)

* Summary from Bill of Rights Institute: @

* Summary from Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute): @
* Text of decision (from Legal Information Institute): @
* Listen to oral arguments (from The Oyez Project): @
* "Malice Must Be Proved In Libel" (Associated Press, March 10): @
* "Libel Ruling Expected to Ease Job of Press" (Milwaukee Journal, March 10): @
* "Make No Law: The Sullivan Case and the First Amendment" (Anthony Lewis, 1991): @
* Image of "Heed Their Rising Voices" ad (from "Records of Rights," National Archives): @
* "Heed Their Rising Voices" (blog post, March 29, 1960): @

* "Memorandum for Conference with L.B. Sullivan" (attorney Ronald Nachman; from Alabama Department of Archives and History): @

* First Amendment cases (from www.uscourts.gov): @ 

---

Friday, February 7, 1964: Byron De La Beckwith mistrial

An all-white jury was unable to reach a decision Friday after trying for 11 hours to decide if Byron De La Beckwith assassinated Negro leader Medgar Evers and a mistrial was declared. 
     -- United Press International; full story: @
     
     -- Photo from Corbis Images. Caption reads: Jackson, Mississippi: Byron De La Beckwith, 43, went on trial here early January 27 for the ambush slaying last year of Negro leader Medgar Evers. Sheriff Fred Pickett, recalling the racial bitterness in the city after the slaying, has placed heavy security on trial arrangements. This photo was made last June as Beckwith was taken to the State Mental Hospital at Whitfield for tests. No pictures will be made during the trial of him.

* "Mistrial Declared in Beckwith Case" (UPI, February 7): @
* "Beckwith Case Ruled Mistrial" (Associated Press, February 7): @

* Earlier post on the death of Medgar Evers (June 12, 1963): @ 

---

Thursday, January 30, 1964: 'A Change Is Gonna Come'

Sam Cooke records what would become an anthem for the civil rights movement. The song, written by Cooke, was released (as the B-side to "Shake") just days after the singer's death on December 11, 1964.

(Note: Thanks to Peter Guralnick, author of "Dream Boogie" -- linked below -- for verifying the recording date.)

* Entry from "Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings" (Steve Sullivan, 2013): @

* Song review (from allmusic.com): @
* "Sam Cooke's Swan Song of Protest" (NPR, 2007): @
* "Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke" (Peter Guralnick, 2005): @
* "You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke" (Daniel Wolff, 1995): @
* "A Change is Gonna Come: Music, Race & The Soul of America" (Craig Werner, 2006): @

---

Thursday, January 23, 1964: 24th Amendment

Section 1.
      The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay poll tax or other tax.
Section 2.
      The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
-- Passed by Congress August 27, 1962. Ratified January 23, 1964.

An amendment banning the poll tax as a condition for voting in elections for federal office was added to the Consititution yesterday when the South Dakota Senate ratified it by a vote of 34 to 0. It is the 24th Amendment. South Dakota was the 38th state to approve the amendment. Ratification by three-fourths of the 50 states was required.
     -- Associated Press, January 24 (full story: @)
     -- "Abolishment of Poll Tax Approved" (New York Times): @
     -- Images of Texas poll tax receipts from www.studythepast.com

* Annotated amendment (from Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School): @
* Certification by General Services Administration: @
* "Civil Rights in America: Racial Voting Rights" (National Park Service, 2009): @
* "Democracy's Turnstile" (Dr. Seuss, PM newspaper, October 1942): @
* "You Have the Right to Vote Free" (Huey P. Long, 1934): @
* "ABC's on the Poll Tax" (Associated Press, July 1948): @
* "Poll Tax Time" (Delta Democrat Times, January 1959): @
* Poll tax entry from Encyclopedia of Virginia: @
* "Voting in Mississippi" (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1965): @

* "Poll Tax Voided in Mississippi" (April 1966): @ 

---

Tuesday, January 14, 1964: 'The Problem We All Live With'

Norman Rockwell's painting is published in Look magazine, part of the themed issue "How We Live." It depicts school integration in the South -- specifically, Ruby Bridges being escorted to elementary school in New Orleans by federal marshals in 1960.

* Earlier post on integration of New Orleans schools (November 14, 1960): @

* Items from Norman Rockwell Museum (search for "The Problem We All Live With": @

* Letter from Rockwell to NAACP (December 3, 1963; from Library of Congress): @

* Working photographs: @
* "Rockwell & Race" (from The Pop History Dig): @
* "Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera" (Teacher resource packet, Brooklyn Museum; exhibition based on the book by Ron Schick): @
* Presentation by National Council for the Social Studies: @
* "Norman Rockwell's American Dream" (David Kamp, Vanity Fair, 2009): @
* "Inside America's Great Romance with Norman Rockwell" (Deborah Solomon, Smithsonian Magazine, 2013): @
* "Norman Rockwell: The Underside of Innocence" (Richard Halpern, 2006): @
* "The Best of Norman Rockwell" (Estate of Norman Rockwell, 1988): @
*"American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell" (Deborah Solomon, 2013): @
* "Hidden in Plain Sight: The Other People in Norman Rockwell's America" (Jane Allen Petrick, 2013): @ 

---

Saturday, December 7, 1963: 'The Johnson Treatment'

President Lyndon Johnson presses his plans for the enactment of civil rights legislation during a White House meeting with Sen. Richard Russell of Georgia. 

     Accounts of exactly what was said at the meeting vary across biographies and histories. The following is from Jack Valenti, special assistant to President Johnson, who was present at the meeting. (From a 1997 speech and "Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History"; links: @ and @)

     The president ... said in a soft, even voice, "Dick, I love you, and I owe you. If it had not been for you, I would not have been leader, or vice president or now president. But I wanted to tell you face to face, Dick, please don't get in my way on this civil rights bill. It's been locked up in the Senate too long. I'm going to pass this bill, Dick. I will not cavil. I will not hesitate. And if you get in my way, I'll run you down."

     Russell sat mutely for a moment, impassive, his face a mask. Then he spoke, in the rolling accents of his Georgia countryside. "Well, Mr. President, you may just do that. But I pledge you that if you do, it will not only cost you the election, it will cost you the South forever." ...

     (Johnson) spoke softly, almost tenderly: "Dick, my old friend, if that's the price I have to pay, then I will gladly pay it."

     -- Photo by Yoichi Okamoto, official presidential photographer, from LBJ Library

* Account from "Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65" (Taylor Branch, 1999): @

* Account from "Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President" (Robert Dallek, 2004): @

* Account from "Civil Rights Act Leaves Mark on the American Political Landscape" (Michael Oreskes, New York Times, 1989): @ 

* Johnson-Russell telephone converations, December 7 (from Miller Center): @

* Johnson news conference, December 7 (from The American Presidency Project): @

* "How Will Civil Rights Bill Do Under New President?" (United Press International, December 10): @

* "LBJ Champions the Civil Rights Act" (Prologue magazine, National Archives, 2004): @

More about "The Johnson Treatment"
* Description (from Marshall Frady, New York Review of Books, 2002): @
* Summary (from National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution): @
* "Remembering the Johnson Treatment" (Tom Wicker, New York Times, 2002): @

* With Sen. Theodore Green of Rhode Island, 1957 (photos, New York Times): @

* With President Kennedy and Sen. Henry Jackson of Washington, early 1960s (photo, University of Washington Libraries): @

* With Rep. Albert Thomas of Texas, 1963 (audio, Miller Center): @

* With Supreme Court nominee Abe Fortas, 1965 (photo, LBJ Library): @

* With Louis Martin, Democratic National Committee, 1966 (photo, LBJ Library): @
* With Whitney Young, National Urban League, 1966 (photo, LBJ Library): @ 

---

Wednesday, November 27, 1963: President Johnson's address to Congress

President Johnson asked a somber Congress Wednesday to honor John F. Kennedy's memory with swift action on the slain President's legislative program, topped by civil rights and tax deduction.
     Speaking for the first time as chief executive to a body in which he served for many years, the tall, solemn-faced President called too for "an end to the teaching and preaching of hate and evil and violence" in the land.
     -- from The Associated Press; full story: @
* Transcript (from American Rhetoric): @

* Video (includes telephone calls before and after speech; from C-SPAN): @
* Entry from Voices of Democracy project: @

* "Let Us Continue" (film by U.S. Information Agency; from Texas Archive of the Moving Image): @

* "The First 100 Days: Lyndon Johnson Fulfilled Kennedy's Legacy" (U.S. News & World Report, 2009): @ 

---

Sunday, November 10, 1963: 'Message to the Grass Roots'

Considered to be one of the top hundred American speeches of the 20th century, Malcolm X's address unified many of the strands of black nationalism, Pan-Africanism and third-world revolutionary thought that had been emerging in his ideas for years. ... He claimed that a revolution centered on nonviolent activism was not revolutionary at all: "Revolution is bloody, revolution is hostile, revolution knows no compromise." ... Ultimately, giving such a speech in Detroit, the center of labor activity and black working-class radicalism in the 1960s, opened Malcolm X to an entirely new audience from that of the Nation of Islam.

     --- From "The Portable Malcolm X Reader" (Manning Marable and Garrett Felber, 2013): @

     -- June 1963 photo from Corbis Images

* Transcript (from TeachingAmericanHistory.org): @

* Audio (from thespeechsite.com): @

* "Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements" (1965): @

* "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention" (Manning Marable, 2011): @ and @

* "The Cambridge Companion to Malcolm X" (Robert Terrill, 2010): @

* MalcolmX.com: @
* The Malcolm X Project at Columbia University: @
* "African American Political Thought: Confrontation vs. Compromise, from 1945 to the Present" (2003): @

* "Say It Loud! Great Speeches on Civil Rights and African American Identity" (2010): @

* "Faith in the City: Preaching Radical Social Change in Detroit" (Angela D. Dillard, 2007): @

* "Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit" (Suzanne E. Smith, 2001): @ 

---

Saturday-Monday, November 2-4, 1963: Freedom Vote in Mississippi

The "freedom vote" was a mock statewide general election to parallel the Mississippi gubernatorial election of 1963. It was organized by the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a coalition of civil rights organizations. Aaron Henry, a black pharmacist from Clarksdale, was on the mock ballot for governor and the Rev. Edwin King, a white chaplain at Tougaloo College in Jackson (and a native of Vicksburg), was on the ballot for lieutenant governor. Ballot boxes were placed in churches, businesses and homes across the state, and voting took place over the weekend. Henry and King "won" the mock election in which more than 80,000 black Mississippians voted. This event showed the country that African Americans would vote if given the chance.
-- Text from Aaron Henry biography, Mississippi Historical Society: @

-- Image from Freedom Summer Digital Collection, Wisconsin Historical Society
* Summary from Civil Rights Movement Veterans: @

* Summary from SNCC Project Group: @

* Photos from rally for Aaron Henry (Hattiesburg, October 29; from Mississippi Department of Archives and History): @
* Election flier (from Amistad Research Center): @ and @

* Pamphlets: Freedom Ballot and Freedom Registration (from Wisconsin Historical Society): @ 

* Freedom Registration pamphlet (from Civil Rights Movement Veterans): @
* "No Small Thing: Visual Rhetoric and the 1963 Mississippi Freedom Vote" (William Lawson, 2008): @

* "Aaron Henry: The Fire Ever Burning" (Aaron Henry and Constance Curry, 2000): @
* Edwin King entry from Civil Rights Digital Library: @
* COFO summary (from Martin Luther King Research and Education Institute): @

* "The Washington Merry-Go-Round" (Drew Pearson, November 4): @

* "Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi" (John Dittmer, 1994; see Chapter 9, "Conflicting Strategies"): @ 

---

Thursday, October 10, 1963: FBI surveillance of Martin Luther King

With the FBI increasingly concerned about possible Communist involvement in the civil rights movement, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy authorizes the bureau to wiretap the Atlanta home of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the New York offices of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (of which King was president). The FBI's investigation into King's life, activities and associates began in 1955 and lasted until his death in 1968.

Photo from June 22, 1963, following a meeting at the White House between civil rights leaders and administration officials to discuss pending legislation and the planned March on Washington. From left are King, Kennedy, the NAACP's Roy Wilkins and Vice President Johnson.

* JPEG of request and authorization (Kennedy's signature is in lower left-hand corner): @ 
* Text of FBI memo, October 10 (from "From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover," 1991): @ 
* PDF of August 30 FBI memo calling King "the most dangerous Negro of the future in this nation": @ 
* FBI files on "Surreptitious Entries (Black Bag Jobs)": @  
* "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Case Study" (from "Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on  Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans," 1976, United States Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations of with Respect to Intelligence Activities -- aka the Church Committee): @

* Department of Justice review of FBI's activities (1977; go to Part 2 of 2, page 113, "FBI Surveillance and Harassment of Dr. King"): @

* "The National Security Agency versus Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, Art Buchwald,  Frank Church, et al." (National Security Archive, 2013): @

* FBI entry from MLK Research and Education Institute: @

* "The FBI's War on King" (American RadioWorks): @ 

* "King Address That Stirred World Led to FBI Surveillance" (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, August 2013): @ 

* "The FBI and Martin Luther King" (David J. Garrow, The Atlantic magazine, July 2002): @ 

* "The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr.: From 'Solo' to Memphis" (Garrow, 2001): @ Author's website: @

* "The Pursuit of Justice: Martin Luther King" (chapter from "Robert Kennedy and His Times," Arthur M. Schlesinger, 1978): @ 

---

Monday, September 16, 1963: Prince Edward County schools

     
     FARMVILLE, Va. -- Negro children return to school in Prince Edward County today for the first time since public schools were closed four years to avoid desegregation.

     The children are attending free private schools set up only a month ago at the urging of President Kennedy.

     Trustees of the Prince Edward Free School Association expect between 1,200 and 1,600 Negro pupils to enroll.

     At least two white children were to join the Negroes in the first classroom integration in Prince Edward. They are Richard D. Moss, son of Dr. C.G. Gordon Moss, dean of Longwood College and an outspoken critic of the school closing, and Letitia Tew, 7, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Tew of Throck. Tew is a tobacco farmer.

     White children in Prince Edward have attended private segregated schools since 1959. They must pay tuition.

     The free schools were set up as a one-year emergency measure while the 11-year-old legal battle against segregated public schools is carried back to the U.S. Supreme Court.

     -- The Associated Press, September 16

    -- Photo from Corbis Images. Original caption reads: "School doors swung open 09/16 for children of Prince Edward County, where public schools had been padlocked since 1959 in advance of court-ordered integration. Neil Sullivan (L), director of schools, smiles as Alfred Brown hoists the American flag in front of the school building, and other students recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Note: The county's public schools would reopen in September 1964. ("Prince Edward Schools Open After 5 Years": @)

* "Negroes Welcome New School" (Associated Press, September 17): @

* "The Lock Begins to Open" (Ebony magazine, November, Page 63): @

* "Prince Edwards' 'Massive Resistance' " (John Alfred Hamilton, Nieman Reports, 1962): @

* "Massive Resistance in a Small Town" (Humanities magazine, September/October 2013): @

* "Moton School Strike and Prince Edward County School Closings" (from Encyclopedia of Virginia): @

* "The Closing of Prince Edward County's Schools" (from Virginia Historical Society): @ 
* Edward H. Peeples Prince Edward County (Va.) Public Schools Collection (from VCU Libraries): @

* "The Tragedy of Public Schools: Prince Edward County, Virginia" ("A Report for the Virginia Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights," January 1964; from Peeples collection): @

* "A Study in Infamy: Prince Edward County, Virginia" (Picott and Peoples, Phi Delta Kappan, May 1964; from Peeples collection): @

* Robert Russa Moton Museum, Farmville, Virginia: @

* DOVE (Desegregation of Virginia Education project): @

* "The Educational Lockout of African Americans in Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1959-1964" (Terence Hicks and Abul Pitre, 2010): @ 

* "Southern Stalemate: Five Years Without Public Eduation in Prince Edward County, Virginia" (Christopher Bonastia, 2012): @

* TV footage (from Television News of the Civil Rights Era, 1950-1970, University of Virginia; scroll down to Prince Edward County clips): @

* "Locked Out: The Fall of Massive Resistance" (video; from Classroom Clips): @

* "The Legacy of Massive Resistance" (audio; from "With Good Reason" program, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities): @ 

---