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Things I like: suffragettes, war workers, factory girls, socialites who got stuff done, ladies who ruled countries, and women who changed the world, even if it was just a little bit. Click on photos for sources.

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usagov: Image description: On February 27, a statue of Rosa Parks commissioned by Congress was unveiled in National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, approximately 100 years after her birth on February 4, 1913. Rosa Parks, whose arrest in 1955 for refusing to yield her seat on a segregated bus to a white passenger, helped ignite the modern American civil rights movement. This bronze statue shows Parks seated on a rock-like formation of which she seems almost a part, symbolizing her famous refusal to give up her bus seat.  Photo from the Architect of the Capitol Rosa Parks is the first black woman honored in Statuary Hall.

usagov:

Image description: On February 27, a statue of Rosa Parks commissioned by Congress was unveiled in National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, approximately 100 years after her birth on February 4, 1913.

Rosa Parks, whose arrest in 1955 for refusing to yield her seat on a segregated bus to a white passenger, helped ignite the modern American civil rights movement. This bronze statue shows Parks seated on a rock-like formation of which she seems almost a part, symbolizing her famous refusal to give up her bus seat. 

Photo from the Architect of the Capitol

Rosa Parks is the first black woman honored in Statuary Hall.

riversidearchives:

From the landmark civil rights case, Mendez v. Westminster, which desegregated California schools:

The equal protection of the laws’ pertaining to the public school system in California is not provided by furnishing in separate schools the same technical facilities, text books and courses of instruction to children of Mexican ancestry that are available to the other public school children regardless of their ancestry. A paramount requisite in the American system of public education is social equality. It must be open to all children by unified school association regardless of lineage.

From the decision of Judge Paul J. McCormick, from Mendez v. Westminster School District of Orange County, 1946.

The entire case is available online through the National Archives website.  Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/ enter ARC Identifier 294939. Read full transcripts from the case.

¡Celebración de la Herencia Hispana!

To pay tribute to the many generations of Hispanic Americans that have enriched our nation’s history, the National Archives at Riverside will be highlighting some of our holdings relating to Hispanic American history in our region (Southern California, Arizona, and Clark County, NV), including records relating to Private Land Claims, Immigration and Naturalization, military service and many more. 

For more information about Hispanic Heritage Month, see  http://hispanicheritagemonth.gov/

lbjlibrary:

March 26, 1965. LBJ makes this statement to the press about the arrest of four KKK members responsible for the murder of a white civil rights worked from Detroit, Viola Gregg Liuzzo, who was shot on the highway while driving a car to Montgomery in order to shuttle civil rights marchers back to Selma. 

The four are brought up on federal charges, and three will eventually be convicted by an all-white federal jury in Montgomery and sentenced to 10 years each. The fourth man, Gary Thomas Rowe, Jr., is actually an FBI informant. Earlier that day, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had spoken to LBJ about FBI informants in the KKK. Listen to their conversation here. 

Viola Liuzzo was a 39 year old mother of 5.  After her death, a smear campaign painted her as a promiscuous woman with ties to the mafia and communism.  The first trial ended in a hung jury.  LBJ ordered a federal investigation which led to the eventual convictions.  Viola is one of the forty activists honored on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery   

lbjlibrary: October 6, 1964. Lady Bird sets out on her three-day Whistlestop campaign tour of the south, aboard the Lady Bird Special.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted in July, creating much anger against Johnson in the South.  So much anger that it was considered unsafe for Johnson to do a whistle stop tour of the South in the run up to the 1964 presidential election.   Lady Bird was the first First Lady to have her own press secretary and chief of staff.  This tour, planned in coordination with her staff and political wives, was the first time a First Lady campaigned without her husband.  The trip was considered dangerous by many, but Lady Bird told reporters ”I don’t think assassination is part of my destiny.” The hostesses shown above escorted local politicians and supporters to brief meetings with Lady Bird on her eight state, four day tour.  Lady Bird and Johnson were both native Southerners and as Katherine Graham explained, “she talked with such authority because she belonged there.” Johnson retained the presidency in the 1964 election, although he lost South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.  

lbjlibrary:

October 6, 1964. Lady Bird sets out on her three-day Whistlestop campaign tour of the south, aboard the Lady Bird Special. 

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted in July, creating much anger against Johnson in the South.  So much anger that it was considered unsafe for Johnson to do a whistle stop tour of the South in the run up to the 1964 presidential election.  

Lady Bird was the first First Lady to have her own press secretary and chief of staff.  This tour, planned in coordination with her staff and political wives, was the first time a First Lady campaigned without her husband.  The trip was considered dangerous by many, but Lady Bird told reporters ”I don’t think assassination is part of my destiny.”

The hostesses shown above escorted local politicians and supporters to brief meetings with Lady Bird on her eight state, four day tour.  Lady Bird and Johnson were both native Southerners and as Katherine Graham explained, “she talked with such authority because she belonged there.”

Johnson retained the presidency in the 1964 election, although he lost South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.  

lbjlibrary:

June 23, 1964, LBJ talks to Mississippi Senator James Eastland about the missing civil rights workers in his state. Eastland does not believe they are really missing: 

“…There’s not a Ku Klux Klan in that area.  There’s not a Citizen’s Council in that area.  There’s no organized white man in that area.  So that’s why I think it’s a publicity stunt.  Now, if it had happened in other areas, uh, I would pay more attention to it, but I happen to know that some of these bombings where nobody gets hurt are publicity stunts.”

Men rarely show up on Cool Chicks from History, but as Lady Bird shows up in some of the images and the civil rights movement is important to everyone, I’m reblogging this video which I think is worth watching.  

chicagohistorymuseum: Woman singing outside the Dallas County Courthouse in Selma, Alabama in 1965. Photograph by Declan Haun. Want a copy of this photo?  > Visit our Rights and Reproductions Department and give them this number: ICHi-36733

chicagohistorymuseum:

Woman singing outside the Dallas County Courthouse in Selma, Alabama in 1965. Photograph by Declan Haun.

Want a copy of this photo?  
> Visit our Rights and Reproductions Department and give them this number: ICHi-36733

todaysdocument: “Separate is not equal”On May 17, 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that separate but equal public schools violated the 14th Amendment.  On May 31, 1955, Chief Justice Earl Warren issued this decree, ruling how desegregation was to be carried out. The plan directs that schools be desegregated under the control of Federal district judges “with all deliberate speed.” Although the named plaintiff was a man (Oliver Brown), the other 12 Kansan plaintiffs were women: Darlene Brown, Lena Carper, Sadie Emmanuel, Marguerite Emerson, Shirley Fleming, Zelma Henderson, Shirley Hodison, Maude Lawton, Alma Lewis, Iona Richardson, and Lucinda Todd.  Oliver Brown was filing on behalf of his daughter Linda who traveled over a mile to attend a black school because she wasn’t allowed to attend the white elementary school seven blocks from her home.  

todaysdocument:

“Separate is not equal”
On May 17, 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that separate but equal public schools violated the 14th Amendment.  On May 31, 1955, Chief Justice Earl Warren issued this decree, ruling how desegregation was to be carried out. The plan directs that schools be desegregated under the control of Federal district judges “with all deliberate speed.”

Although the named plaintiff was a man (Oliver Brown), the other 12 Kansan plaintiffs were women: Darlene Brown, Lena Carper, Sadie Emmanuel, Marguerite Emerson, Shirley Fleming, Zelma Henderson, Shirley Hodison, Maude Lawton, Alma Lewis, Iona Richardson, and Lucinda Todd.  Oliver Brown was filing on behalf of his daughter Linda who traveled over a mile to attend a black school because she wasn’t allowed to attend the white elementary school seven blocks from her home.  

congressarchives:

Mrs. E. Jackson wrote to the House Judiciary Committee the day after Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, in Selma, Alabama. She was reacting to scenes of police brutality during a voting rights march that many Americans witnessed on television news programs. The interlined handwriting in pencil is likely that of House Judiciary Chairman Emanuel Celler, who was Mrs. Jackson’s representative in Congress and an active supporter of voting rights legislation in the House. Interested in teaching or learning more about Voting Rights Act of 1965? Visit our web-lesson, Congress Protects the Right to Vote: the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Letter from Mrs. E. Jackson, 3/8/1965, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives (ARC 2173239)

Here’s my previous post about Bloody Sunday and the March from Selma to Montgomery for background information.  

racismfreeontario: Unlike the United States, where there is at least an admission of the fact that racism exists and has a history, in this country one is faced with a stupefying innocence. — DIONNE BRAND Viola Desmond. On November 8th 1946 Ms. Viola Desmond decided to go and see a movie while she was waiting for her car to be repaired. She requested floor seats and paid for the ticket. As she sat watching the movie she was approached and asked to move, but claiming an inability to see from the balcony she refused. Her refusal would not be accepted and she was subsequently dragged out the theatre by two men who injured her knee in the process. She was arrested and was forced to spend the night incarcerated on the male cell block. Such was her dignity that she sat upright throughout the terrible ordeal. During her trial she was not told that she could have legal counsel, or cross examine the witnesses testifying against her. The fact that she was unfamiliar with the legal segregation that the cinema utilized and that the sign indicating the seating standards by race was obscured was not taken into consideration. She was subsequently found guilty of tax evasion because though she asked for a floor seat the segregated seating meant that she had actually purchased a ticket for the balcony where Blacks were forced to sit. By not sitting in the supposedly appropriate place, she had avoided paying exactly one cent in taxes. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail and was ordered to pay a total of 26 dollars in fines, with 6 of those dollars to be given to the manager of the theatre who had damaged her knee when he roughly removed her from her seat. Not content with the verdict, with the support of NSACCP (The Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People), Ms. Desmond would fight her way to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Despite the fact that this was clearly a miscarriage of justice based solely in the theatre’s racist policy, the conviction was upheld. Frederick Bissett, Ms.Desmonds White lawyer, donated his fees back to the NSACCP which then used the funds to fight segregation in Nova Scotia. In 1954, (well before Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat) segregation was struck down in Nova Scotia thanks in large part to the struggle of Ms. Desmond. At the end of the supreme court battle, Ms.Desmond’s marriage failed because it could not withstand the strain of the trial and publicity it resulted in. She was also forced to give up her dream of owning a chain of beauty salons that catered to Black women. Ms. Desmond moved to Montreal to attend Business school and, upon completion of her degree, to New York to start her business as an agent. Ms. Desmond died at the age of 50, shortly after she arrived in New York City.  (via  RacismFreeOntario.com: Viola Desmond)

racismfreeontario:

Unlike the United States, where there is at least an admission of the fact that racism exists and has a history, in this country one is faced with a stupefying innocence.

— DIONNE BRAND

Viola Desmond. On November 8th 1946 Ms. Viola Desmond decided to go and see a movie while she was waiting for her car to be repaired. She requested floor seats and paid for the ticket. As she sat watching the movie she was approached and asked to move, but claiming an inability to see from the balcony she refused.

Her refusal would not be accepted and she was subsequently dragged out the theatre by two men who injured her knee in the process. She was arrested and was forced to spend the night incarcerated on the male cell block. Such was her dignity that she sat upright throughout the terrible ordeal.

During her trial she was not told that she could have legal counsel, or cross examine the witnesses testifying against her. The fact that she was unfamiliar with the legal segregation that the cinema utilized and that the sign indicating the seating standards by race was obscured was not taken into consideration. She was subsequently found guilty of tax evasion because though she asked for a floor seat the segregated seating meant that she had actually purchased a ticket for the balcony where Blacks were forced to sit.

By not sitting in the supposedly appropriate place, she had avoided paying exactly one cent in taxes. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail and was ordered to pay a total of 26 dollars in fines, with 6 of those dollars to be given to the manager of the theatre who had damaged her knee when he roughly removed her from her seat.

Not content with the verdict, with the support of NSACCP (The Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People), Ms. Desmond would fight her way to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Despite the fact that this was clearly a miscarriage of justice based solely in the theatre’s racist policy, the conviction was upheld.

Frederick Bissett, Ms.Desmonds White lawyer, donated his fees back to the NSACCP which then used the funds to fight segregation in Nova Scotia. In 1954, (well before Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat) segregation was struck down in Nova Scotia thanks in large part to the struggle of Ms. Desmond.

At the end of the supreme court battle, Ms.Desmond’s marriage failed because it could not withstand the strain of the trial and publicity it resulted in. She was also forced to give up her dream of owning a chain of beauty salons that catered to Black women. Ms. Desmond moved to Montreal to attend Business school and, upon completion of her degree, to New York to start her business as an agent. Ms. Desmond died at the age of 50, shortly after she arrived in New York City.

 (via  RacismFreeOntario.com: Viola Desmond)

ourpresidents: September 23, 1957 was marked by mob riots in Little Rock, Arkansas over efforts to integrate Central High School.   The violence began when a crowd outside of Central High School learned that nine African American students were inside the high school.  Little Rock Mayor Woodrow Wilson Mann asked President Eisenhower to intervene and Eisenhower issued a proclamation providing the legal justification for military intervention. Eisenhower ordered the dispatch of troops to uphold the law and addressed the nation. Protected by 1,000 members of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army and the now federalized National Guard, the nine students attended their first full day of classes on September 25. This photo shows the Little Rock Nine escorted into Central High School by U.S. soldiers.  Image courtesy of Central High Museum Historical Collections/UALR Archives and Special Collections

ourpresidents:

September 23, 1957 was marked by mob riots in Little Rock, Arkansas over efforts to integrate Central High School.  

The violence began when a crowd outside of Central High School learned that nine African American students were inside the high school.  Little Rock Mayor Woodrow Wilson Mann asked President Eisenhower to intervene and Eisenhower issued a proclamation providing the legal justification for military intervention. Eisenhower ordered the dispatch of troops to uphold the law and addressed the nation. Protected by 1,000 members of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army and the now federalized National Guard, the nine students attended their first full day of classes on September 25.

This photo shows the Little Rock Nine escorted into Central High School by U.S. soldiers. 

Image courtesy of Central High Museum Historical Collections/UALR Archives and Special Collections

Below is a timeline of the integration of Little Rock’s Central High from Our Presidents.  The top photo was taken on September 4, 1957, the first day of school.  Fifteen year old Elizabeth Eckford (pictured) should have been part of a group of nine students, but at the last minute the NAACP delayed the integration because they believed the governor was going to bring in the Arkansas National Guard to prevent their enrollment.  Elizabeth was the only one would didn’t get the message and showed up for school that day.

Elizabeth arrived to find an angry mob and no organized protection.  Grace Lorch (pictured), a 50 something white member of the NAACP, dropped her daughter off at junior high that morning and stopped by the high school to see what was going on.  Grace found Elizabeth on her own and escorted her to her mother’s workplace via a city bus.

Think for a second about what it must have been like to have been either of those women.  Elizabeth was only 15 years old and a historic event rested on her bravery. One of six children, her mother taught in a segregated school for blind and deaf children while her father worked nights for the railroad.  Either of them could have lost their jobs over her enrollment at Central High.  Their house could have been firebombed, they could have been killed.  All for going to school.

Grace was a serious social justice advocate, both she and her husband had lost jobs over their activism.  That day she told the crowd they would be ashamed of themselves in six months and if anyone touched her she would punch them in the nose.  Grace wasn’t an armed National Guard, but she was one tough lady.

ourpresidents:

In the summer of 1957, the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, made plans to desegregate its public schools.  When the school year was set to begin, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, formerly an all-white school, became a battle ground in the nation’s ongoing civil rights struggle.

Here, a timeline of those events in 1957:

September 2: Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus orders the state’s National Guard to surround the school and prevent the entry of the African-American students.

September 4: National Guardsmen bar the entry of the nine African-American students to Central High School.

September 20: Federal Judge Davies orders Governor Faubus to cease barring integration.

September 23: A crowd of about 1,000 people gather in front of the school. The nine students go inside through a side door. When the crowd learns the students are inside, mob riots break out and the students are taken out of the school through a side door.

September 24:  Mob violence continues.  President Eisenhower announces he is sending 1,000 members of the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock to uphold the law. He also federalized the 10,000-man Arkansas National Guard.

September 25: The students, who become known as The Little Rock Nine, are escorted by Army troops and admitted back into Central High.

June 3, 1958: Ernest Greene becomes the first African-American to graduate from Little Rock’s Central High School.

-more at the Presidential Timeline