Birmingham 1963 (And the KKK)

1
Birmingham 1963(And the KKK)

• English 12 African Heritage

2
Birmingham Alabama in the 60s

• KKK stronghold
• Americas most racist city (MLK)
• What is the KKK?

3
What is the KKK?

• Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is the name of a secret
  organization in the United States, mostly in the
  South, that is best known for advocating white
  supremacy and acting as vigilantes while hidden
  behind conic masks and white robes. The first KKK
  was formed after the Civil War.

4

• The KKK uses terrorism, violence, and lynching to
  intimidate and oppress African Americans, Jews as
  well other racial and religious minorities.

5
Whats in a Name?

• The original Ku Klux Klan was created in the
  aftermath of the American Civil War by six
  middle-class Confederate veterans on December 24,
  1865. They made up the name by combining the
  Greek "kyklos" (circle) with "clan.

6
Variations on a Theme

• The Klan will never be accused of not sticking to
  their KL theme. They meet in Klaverns, their
  holy book is the Kloran, they refer to their
  soldiers as klavaliers and they engage in
  klonversations. Im not kidding.

7
Terrorist Organization

• A federal grand jury in 1869 determined the Klan
  was a "terrorist organization." It issued
  hundreds of indictments for crimes of violence
  and terrorism. This pushed the Klan further
  underground. During
• this time, other white
• supremacist groups formed.
• Interestingly, the National
• Rifle Association (NRA) was
• formed at this time as well.

8
Second Incarnation of the Klan

• 1915 Birth of a Nation released
• Film spurs a new incarnation of the KKK,
  initially formed in Georgia
• Anti-Semitic, Anti-Catholic, Anti-immigration

9
Birth of a Nation - 1915

• Director D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation
  glorified the original Klan. His film was based
  on the play The Clansman by Thomas Dixon. Dixon
  said his purpose was "to revolutionize northern
  sentiment by a presentation of history that would
  transform every man in my audience!" The film
  created a nationwide Klan craze. (KLRAZE?!) At
  the official premiere in Atlanta, members of the
  Klan rode up and down the street in front of the
  theatre in their hoods.

10
The Story

• Birth of a Nation is a psychotically racist film
• It chronicles the founding of the US
• It blames all of Americas problems on African
  Americans
• It portrays African Americans as violent,
  sexually voracious and the root all evil
• All African American
• characters in the film were
• played by whites in
• blackface.

11
First Screening

• The first screening of the film was at the White
  Houseyes, that White House
• President Woodrow Wilson supported the messages
  of the film. Yes, Woodrow Wilsonas in the
  League of Nations.

12
Lynching

• Mobs
• Hanging, burning, beating to death
• Mob justice
• 1880s 1970s Nearly 3500 lynchings of African
  Americans
• Without Sanctuary

13
Without Sanctuary

• Postcards of lynchings
• Not accessible in school
• James Allen
• Youtube Video (Warning Images are GRAPHIC)

14
Alabama Governor George Wallace

• You know why I lost that governor's race?... I
  was outniggered by John Patterson. And I'll tell
  you here and now, I will never be outniggered
  again.

15
Campaign Slogan

• Segregation now,
• Segregation tomorrow,
• Segregation forever!

16
George Wallace Faustian Deal

• "You know, I tried to talk about good roads and
  good schools and all these things that have been
  part of my career, and nobody listened. And then
  I began talking about niggers, and they stomped
  the floor.
• He made SEGREGATION his major policy, and won
• Recanted his views on his deathbed He wanted to
  go to HEAVEN

17
Birmingham 1960s

• Bull Connor
• Chief of Police
• Violent Racist
• Adults were too afraid of him to protest
• Hoses
• Dogs
• Bombings

18
March on Birmingham Adults Terrified

• Governor Wallace was a RABID segregationist
• Was quoted in the NY Times calling for ''a few
  first-class funerals'' to settle the race
  conflict
• Bull Connor was terrifying, and not against using
  brutal or lethal force
• MANY children marched on Birmingham instead
• Freedom Riders came in from other states
• Became known as Bomb-ingham

19
16th Street Baptist Church

• In the early morning of Sunday, September 15,
  1963, Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Herman
  Frank Cash, and Robert Chambliss, members of the
  Ku Klux Klan, planted a box of dynamite with a
  time delay under the steps of the church, near
  the basement.
• At about 1022 a.m., twenty-six children were
  walking into the basement assembly room to
  prepare for the sermon entitled The Love That
  Forgives, when the bomb exploded.

20
Four Little Girls

• Four girls, Addie Mae Collins (age 14), Denise
  McNair (age 11), Carole Robertson (age 14), and
  Cynthia Wesley (age 14), were killed in the
  attack, and 22 additional people were injured.

21
Not Guilty???

• A witness identified Robert Chambliss, a member
  of the Ku Klux Klan, as the man who placed the
  bomb under the steps of the Sixteenth Street
  Baptist Church.
• He was arrested and charged with murder and
  possessing a box of 122 sticks of dynamite
  without a permit. On October 8, 1963, Chambliss
  was found not guilty of murder and received a
  hundred-dollar fine and a six-month jail sentence
  for having the dynamite.

22
1964

• President Kennedy HORRIFIED by 16th St. Church
  Bombing
• National sympathy for Civil Rights activists in
  light of the loss of four little girls
• 1964 Equal rights guaranteed under the CIVIL
  RIGHTS ACT