Civil Rights in Brooklyn - Brooklyn Public Library

Transcription

Social Movements Project Packet:
The Civil Rights Movement in Brooklyn
Name: ________________________________________________________________
This module is part of the Paula and David Weiner Social Movements Curriculum
and was made possible through a generous gift from the Weiner Family.
© Brooklyn Connections – Brooklyn Public Library
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Introductory Reading
The Civil Rights Movement in Brooklyn
The Civil Rights Movement is typically associated with the Black Freedom Movement from the
mid-1950s through the 1960s. However, the movement started much earlier than that. In the early
twentieth century, African Americans organized groups such as the Urban League and the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Though these groups were incredibly
important, it was the experiences of African American men and women during World War II that
reshaped how they viewed their opportunities and rights. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panthers were among the
prominent civil rights organizations born from that experience. CORE played a major role in transforming
what began as a movement for racial equality in the military into a multifaceted social movement for
racial equality.
CORE was a national, interracial organization which had a philosophical commitment to nonviolent
direct action and became a major force in the struggle to end discrimination in the United States from
1942 through the 1960s. While the group raised awareness of emerging civil rights campaigns in the
south to end segregation, CORE also made clear that the problem of discrimination was equally a
northern problem. Thus, several chapters of the CORE were established in the north and New York
including: Bronx CORE, Harlem CORE, Lower East Side CORE, Long Island CORE, Queens CORE, and
Brooklyn CORE. Ministers from black churches and local Brooklynites also joined the effort.
While an early incarnation of Brooklyn CORE was organized at Brooklyn College in the 1950s, a
later more prominent Brooklyn CORE became affiliated with National CORE in 1960. Brooklyn CORE
identified discrimination as a problem that affected African Americans, but also Hispanics and Jews in
Brooklyn. CORE fought to end discrimination and win equal access to services transcending all aspects
of daily life by organizing campaigns that focused on winning legal protection and obtaining equal
opportunity for people regardless of race.
Eventually, CORE’s leadership strategies changed as interests shifted towards Black Power, or the
belief that African Americans should advance their own interests.
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DOCUMENT 1a: Print. “Double V Campaign.” Pittsburgh Courier. 1942.
In the 1940s, racial discrimination was not only practiced in many states and towns in America
but in all branches of the Armed Forces as well. As African Americans signed up to risk their lives to fight
in World War II, they began to question why they should fight in a war for a country that treated them
like second-class citizens. Black soldiers were often housed far from base conveniences, such as churches,
movies and even the Post Exchange or PX. They were given menial jobs working as janitors or in mess
halls, and were not properly trained for combat duty.
War mobilization after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 required the help of all
able-bodied persons, including, 125,000 black men. James Thompson, a twenty-six-year-old cafeteria
worker facing the draft, wrote a letter to the Pittsburgh Courier asking how he could fight for freedom
abroad while he was as an inferior at home in the United States. The Courier’s editors’ answer was the
Double V campaign: a fight for dual victory over enemies overseas and enemies at home, which included
those who opposed equality, justice and democracy for all. The Double V campaign demanded that black
men who risked their lives at war receive full rights at home. Many black newspapers including the
Pittsburgh Courier printed articles, editorials, letters, Double V photographs, and drawings, and even
designed a recognizable Double V sign to promote the campaign. President Harry Truman did not
desegregate the American military until December 1947, when he signed into law Executive Order 9981.
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DOCUMENT 1b: Photograph. “Brooklyn’s Rosie the Riveter.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1944.
Rosie the Riveter was most famously pictured sporting a red bandana and flexing her bicep
under the slogan “We Can Do It.” The idealized female worker became a symbol to women during World
War II and represented millions of American women who joined the workforce from 1940 to 1945. The
need for workers was so strong that racial discrimination took a back seat as the government solicited
black women, who had previously only had access to lower paying jobs, to join white women in driving
the war effort.
Mrs. Alberta Day, age 29, one of the first women to work aboard ships in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Her husband was in the Army.
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Why do you think black men would fight in the war if they were not considered equal at home and
abroad?
2. What was the purpose of the Double V campaign?
3. Describe the Double V image. What do you think the designer of the image meant to convey?
4. How do you think the experience of the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s “Rosie the Riveter” and black soldiers
who fought in the war helped jump-start the Civil Rights Movement?
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DOCUMENT 2: Newsletter. “CORE Gets In The Swim.” COREspondent. Jan. 1947.
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was founded by a group of students at the University of
Chicago in 1942. The first Brooklyn chapter of CORE was organized at Brooklyn College in March 1949
with about thirty-five members. The organization’s stationary announced its principles in boldface:
“CORE IS AN INTERRACIAL, NON-VIOLENT, NON-POLITICAL,
DIRECT ACTION GROUP DEDICATED TO THE FIGHT AGAINST DISCRIMINATION”.
In November 1946, as part of a large campaign to integrate YMCA swimming pools, CORE sent an
interracial group of members to the St. George Hotel to test if the pool would admit black patrons.
TRANSCRIPTION:
CORE Gets In The Swim
On a very cold Sunday, late in November,
CORE had its first Brooklyn Beach Party – the
beach consisting of the tiles of the St. George Pool.
About a dozen people braved the tempestuous
winds and pursued an undaunted course through
the wilds of Brooklyn Heights to the St. George.
They splashed and ducked without
discrimination and with only one casualty: Larry
Freidman skinned his nose when he
inadvertently dived into three feet of water.
There is no evidence of racial
discrimination at the St. George pool, but some of
the Manhattan Hotel pools are reportedly almost
as bad in racial policy as if they were operated by
the YMCA. CORE wants to find out which pools
discriminate and to act on its findings. Will you
help?
Let’s all get in CORE’s winter swims and
freeze out pool discrimination.
Jim Robinson
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1. How are CORE’s principles reflected in this campaign to integrate NYC’s swimming pools?
2. The article stated that the Brooklyn group “splashed and dunked without discrimination.” Do you
think that was the case at all city pools? Why or why not?
3. What do you think the CORE meant when they said they are “non-political?”
4. Have you heard of other non-violent protests at home or abroad? Why was this particular protest
considered non-violent?
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DOCUMENT 3: Article. “Boycott Ready For McCrory’s, Woolworth.” New York Amsterdam News. 1 April
1961.
The Civil Rights Movement remained small until a series of events in the mid-1950s galvanized
black Southern ministers and activists. In 1954, the Supreme Court declared segregation in schools to be
unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education, and as a result, activists organized bus boycotts the
following year in Selma, Alabama. In 1957, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. organized the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC) to expand the fight to end discrimination with non-violent sit-ins,
boycotts and pickets in schools, on public transit, and in stores. Inspired by the growing movement,
students from North Carolina began a well-publicized campaign in 1960 that focused on discrimination
by the Woolworth department store chain.
In the 1950s, Brooklyn CORE remained a small organization primarily based on college campuses.
In 1960, however, events in the south mobilized Brooklyn supporters in the historically black community
of Bedford-Stuyvesant to organize Brooklyn CORE as a community-based organization. Among Brooklyn
CORE’s first actions were a series of boycotts in support of the southern campaign to integrate
Woolworth.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Boycott Ready for McCrory’s, Woolworth
Brooklyn residents pledged to fall in line behind members
of the Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality and picket two
national chain stores beginning 1 P.M., Saturday, April 1.
We’ll “continue to picket them forever, if necessary in an
effort to force their southern outlets to serve Negroes at
lunch counters and hire Negroes at the same lunch
counters to serve the public,” Mrs. Josephine Tomlinson
CORE director said.
The pledge came from a group of some three hundred
Brooklynites who met at CORE’s headquarters, 603 Eastern
Parkway, Monday night and decided they would walk
picket lines before Woolworth at 408 Fulton Street and
McCrory Department Store at 492 Fulton Street.
Indefinitely
“These two are on Brooklyn’s mainstem and we’ll picket
them indefinitely, possibly forever with our children taking
over from us, if they refuse to desegregate their southern
branches,” Dorothy Spells, a CORE official told this paper.
Brooklyn residents, who will picket in small-number relays,
will report for picket duty before the stores at 12:30 P.M.,
CORE officials said.
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1. What were the goals of the boycott?
2. How has the movement changed since the swim-in from 1946? Explain your thoughts.
3. How is a boycott different from a picket? What are the intended outcomes of each type of protest?
4. Three weeks after the boycott, CORE reported that Woolworth’s March sales fell about ten percent
from the year before. Is this significant? In what ways might CORE measure the success of the boycott?
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DOCUMENT 4: Flyer. Brooklyn CORE. “Ruth Diamond Discriminates Against Negroes.” New York:
Brooklyn CORE, 1961. Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library.
After taking action to integrate leisure-time activities and shops such as department stores,
Brooklyn CORE moved to focus on the integration and provision of social services. The group started to
fight for equal access to quality schools, housing, hospitals, and public transportation. They picketed,
held mass demonstrations, and even fasted in protest.
The fight for fair and equal access to decent housing became a major initiative in CORE’s program
and required new innovative strategies.
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1. What kind of document is this? Who was it intended for?
2. Why was it important that CORE was interracial when fighting housing discrimination?
3. What kind of tactics did CORE use in this fight for equal housing rights?
4. Why do you think the issue of equal housing provoked such strong feelings on both sides?
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DOCUMENT 5: Flyer. Brooklyn CORE. “Don’t Eat At White Castle.” New York: Brooklyn CORE. Used with
permission from the Brooklyn Historical Society.
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1. Do you think Bronx CORE’s decision to focus on White Castle would have made sense to Brooklyn
CORE. Why or why not?
2. What tactics did Bronx CORE use in the White Castle demonstration? How are they similar to those
discussed earlier? How are they different?
3. What do you think about the tactic of sending friends and family to protest? Do you think this would be
effective? Why or why not?
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DOCUMENT 6: Flyer. Brooklyn CORE. “A Call to Action.” New York: Brooklyn CORE 1962. Brooklyn
Collection, Brooklyn Public Library.
During the Great Depression, an estimated one in three Brooklynites were unemployed. The
government responded to protests with the New Deal. The New Deal included a jobs program that gave
workers the legal right to unionize and a pension when they retired, now known as Social Security. It
also provided jobs for the unemployed in public works projects, including the arts and conservation of
parks and waterways. In the 1960s, CORE focused on the needs of the large population of unemployed
and underemployed African Americans. Brooklyn CORE’s agenda focused on policies aimed at fair labor
contracts and laws.
CORE conducted a highly visible campaign against the Ebinger Bakery Company, a German-American
business founded in 1898 and renowned for its chocolate Blackout Cake.
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1. Why did CORE target the Ebinger Baking Company?
2. What tactics did CORE use? How did those tactics address different issues?
3. What groups prior to CORE tried to win concessions from the Ebinger Baking Company and how
successful were they?
4. Why do you think the Ebinger Baking Company responded to prior protests the way it did? How do
you imagine they explained their side to the public?
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DOCUMENT 7: Article. Cooper, Andrew. "Ebingers Still Discriminates." The Unity Democrat. Feb. 1967,
2nd ed.: 7.
In April 1961, about fifty Bedford-Stuyvesant activists met at the local YMCA under the auspices
of the neighborhood UNITY Democratic (Party) Club. They organized the Operation Unemployment
Committee to fight against unemployment that had left, by their estimate, twenty to thirty percent of
black workers in their community without work. A year later UNITY joined CORE in the campaign
against the Ebinger Baking Corporation.
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1. Why did “Operation Unemployment,” or OU, target Ebinger’s?
2. What demands did OU make of Ebinger’s owners? What arguments did the OU make to support their
case?
3. What other groups joined this movement at Ebinger’s?
4. Give examples of how the different groups protested the bakery.
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DOCUMENT 8a: Interview. Leeds, Oliver. "The Ebinger’s Story." Personal Interview. Brooklyn Collection,
Brooklyn Public Library.
DOCUMENT 8b: Photograph. Beverly Leeds. 1962. Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library.
Oliver Leeds served as chairman of the Brooklyn chapter of CORE from January 1962 through
1963, where he helped lead the campaign against the Ebinger Baking Corporation. The son of
immigrants from Grenada, Leeds joined Harlem’s Young Communist League in 1938 and participated
in Communist-led labor organizing of unorganized workers. After service in the racially segregated
military during World War II, Leeds enrolled at the City University of New York where he became an
activist in left-wing social causes and, as a result, the subject of FBI surveillance. His wife Marjorie
helped him overcome his reservations about CORE’s goals and he joined the Woolworth boycott. In
addition to serving as chairman of CORE, he helped organize "Operation Clean Sweep," which focused on
addressing discriminatory sanitation policies in Bedford-Stuyvesant, as well as a student boycott of New
York City Public Schools, among other activities.
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1. What was the purpose of the negotiation?
2. What were CORE’s initial tactics against Ebinger’s and how effective were they?
3. How do you think Leeds’s background shaped his role as the leader of Brooklyn CORE?
4. How did children play a role in the strike? What affect do you think their presence had on the
customers and/or the owners?
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DOCUMENT 9: Interview. “Arnold Goldwag, Adult Advisor to Student CORE [SCORE] at Erasmus High
School." Interview by Brian Purnell. 13 Oct. 2000. Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library.
In the early 1960s Erasmus High School contained a predominantly white and relatively highachieving student body. A group of students, many whose parents had left-wing backgrounds in social
movements against inequality in the 1930s, formed a high school student branch of CORE. Unlike the
earlier branch at Brooklyn College, Student Congress of Racial Equality (SCORE) was directly affiliated
with Brooklyn CORE. The students worked under CORE’s leaders and joined the picket lines at Ebinger’s.
Arnold Goldwag, who served as SCORE’s advisor, was also the Community Relations director for
Brooklyn CORE. He was often on the front lines when CORE members were arrested at sit-ins. However,
as a white activist, Goldwag’s prominence began to irk young militant blacks who felt it was crucial to
have black men as the face of the movement.
Goldwag: “ . . . I was the adult advisor to the Erasmus High School group. I was there with them every
Saturday and I remember somebody coming up saying, you are a bunch of little Commies and you are a
big Commie.
Interviewer: It was mostly neighborhood people?
Goldwag: Yeah it was. [But] That boycott near Erasmus softened them. We finally finished them because
we shut down the bakery by blocking the trucks. But by that time we had enough people [to] cover
virtually every story. That was ’62. The Brighton Beach Store was almost completely trashed by the old
Jewish guys, because, Ebinger during World War II, when Jewish women applied for work he told them
he would throw them in the oven, Mr. Ebinger. So they remembered this stuff. You see they had
forgotten this, kind of and they were buying at Ebinger’s. But when we started with our signs that
Ebinger’s discriminates against Jews and Negroes and Puerto Ricans, and all that, yeah they remembered.
Their wives went to apply and came home crying. So anyway, these old Jewish radicals from the ’30s,
they were ready to tear that store to pieces. They were like, enough already.”
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1. What does SCORE’s experience suggest about the role of young people in the Civil Rights Movement?
2. Why is it significant that SCORE’s participants were called “Commies” (slang for communists)? Do you
think it matters?
3. What happened at Ebinger’s Brighton Beach store?
4. What lesson might current social movements learn from this event?
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DOCUMENT 10: Contract. Goldwag, Arnold. Declaration of Intention: The Agreement between the Ebinger
Baking Company and Brooklyn CORE. Aug. 17, 1962. New York: 17 Aug. 1962. Arnold Golwag, Brooklyn
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Collection. Used with permission from the Brooklyn Historical Society.
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1. What was the goal of the declaration?
2. How effective do you think the declaration was, and why?
3. Are there any elements of DOCUMENT 10 that you would rewrite and, if so, why?
4. If they had the opportunity, how do you think Ebinger’s would have written the declaration?
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DOCUMENT 11: Photograph. Anna Walker. 1963. Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library.
The Declaration of Intention (DOCUMENT 10), signed in August 1962, stated that at least three
African Americans were to be hired at Ebinger’s Bedford location. Early in 1963, the Amsterdam News
placed ads for black applicants. Candidates were asked to go to the Urban League office located at 1521
Dean Street “to be registered for consideration of being hired.”
Ebinger’s Baking Company expanded from Brooklyn to Queens, Staten Island, Nassau, and Suffolk
counties. In 1969, Arthur Ebinger eliminated the Bedford baking plant in Brooklyn and spent $5 million
on a baking plant in Long Island—which cost the company $1.25 million more than expected. In 1972,
the Ebinger Baking Company closed due to bankruptcy. Mr. Ebinger told the New York Times, “In these
days quality cake has become a luxury that somehow does not fit into the housewife’s budget.” Over 625
employees were laid off.
Anna Walker, first black counter person to work at Ebinger’s.
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1. Why did the Ebinger Baking Company close?
2. How did Ebinger’s bankruptcy affect its employees?
3. Ebinger’s employees remained predominately white through its time in business. Do you think CORE
should have considered its protest against the bakery a success or a failure? Explain.
4. What does the experience at Ebinger’s Baking Company tell you about the success or failure of the
Civil Rights Movement to initiate change through legal action?
5. What lessons would you take from CORE’s experiences with Ebinger’s, White Castle, Woolworth and
other campaigns for future social movements?
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Brooklyn Connections Social Movement Action Plan
Think of a civil rights issue today that you feel compelled to act upon. Describe it.
What tactics might you use to bring awareness to this issue?
What challenges might you face when tackling this issue?
Who can you get to assist you in your fight?
What resources will you require?
Make a plan to participate in the movement!
Action
Outcome
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
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VOCABULARY:
applicant – someone who applies for something
auspices – support or guidance by someone
bankruptcy – losing all your money and having to turn over any owned property
Black Freedom Movement – the larger movement for equality for blacks in all areas of society, not just
legal rights
Black Panthers – a major organization during the Black Power movement
Black Power – an exclusively African American movement that supported blacks taking ownership of
their own communities, often through the use of militant tactics
Brown v. Board of Education – a Supreme Court case in 1954 that stated separate schools were not
equal and that required educational integration, replacing the racist Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that said
separate schools for blacks and whites was appropriate
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) – a large, non-violent, non-partisan civil rights organization very
active across the country, including the boroughs of NYC
discriminate – treating some people better than others
Double V campaign – a campaign created by the Pittsburg Courier that advocated for equality both in the
military and in the United States
draft – to require people to serve in the military
Executive Order 9981 – an executive order issued by President Harry S. Truman that abolished racial
discrimination in the United States Armed Forces
galvanize – to make stronger
Great Depression – an economic crisis during the 1930s and early 1940s where millions were
unemployed, banks ran out of money, and the New Deal was put in place
Harlem's Young Communist League – an organization composed of young black individuals who used
militant tactics to inspire change
idealize – to think of things as they should be instead of how they are
irk – to bother or annoy
left wing – liberal, opposite of right wing/conservative
militant – aggressively active when fighting for a cause
multifaceted – having many sides
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) – formed in 1909, the nation’s
oldest and largest civil rights organization
New Deal – an economic policy set forth during the Great Depression to provide services for the poor
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Operation Unemployment Committee – a protest to combat improper hiring practices
pension – money paid to a person following retirement
philosophical – calm and patient when faced with trouble
provision – supplies or offerings
provoke – to arose a strong feeling or action
Rosie the Riveter – a cultural icon representing American women working in factories during WWII,
usually depicted as a white woman with overalls and a red bandanna
solicit – to appeal for
Social Security – a government program that gives money to those unable to work due to age, disability
or unemployment
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) – a civil rights organization closely tied to Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Student Congress of Racial Equality (SCORE) – a student-run branch of the CORE
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) – a student-run protest that organized in both
the north and south
tempestuous – stormy
transcend – rise above or go beyond
unionize – to form a labor union
UNITY Democratic (Party) Club – a club formed by Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to
Congress, focused on voting enrollment and voting rights
Urban League – a non-partisan, interracial civil rights organization working to improve conditions for
African Americans in urban areas
World War II – also known as the Second World War, WWII was a global conflict lasting from 1939 –
1945
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Civil Rights in Brooklyn - Brooklyn Public Library

Transcription

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