The Three Civil Rights Workers- EOTO Post

EOTO Reflection Post:

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/case-files-on-1964-civil-rights-worker-killings-made-public/2542137/

For this EOTO presentation I was able to work in a group where we were able to share events that were occurring during the time period of the Brown versus Board of Education Case. Some of the events my classmates presented were : The Murder of Emmett Till, Bloody Sunday, and the  Little Rock Nine Crisis. This was an important assignment which helped my classmates and me better understand the time period of the case, and the social issues facing our country.

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/chaney-goodman-schwerner-murdered/

After careful research of different events during this time period,  and discussing them with my professor, I chose to learn more about The Three Civil Rights Workers. This was an extremely sad event where three men were viciously murdered fighting for equality and liberty within the United States. I was unaware about this case before my research, and it was important to me to learn more about, and better understand, the time period and the social and political events of the era.

https://mscivilrightsproject.org/neshoba/event-neshoba/the-murder-of-chaney-goodman-and-schwerner/

The event happened when Micheal Schwerner (24 years old), James Chancy (21 years old), and Andrew Goodman (20 years old) traveled to Neshoba County Mississippi. They went there to investigate, advocate, and learn more about the burning of  Mt. Zion Methodist Church. The church served as a” freedom school” which was a free school for African Americans, because they were not given public education in Mississippi at the time. This was an important job for these civil rights workers and all they wanted to do was help solve the problem at hand. 

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/mississippi-burning

The three civil rights workers were kidnapped by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi.They “vanished” and were “assumed missing.”They were tortured, and murdered for their work. The KKK were helped by the local sheriff, underscoring the extreme amount of racism in the area during the time period. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mississippi-burning-murders-case-files-public-james-chaney-andrew-goodman-michael-schwerner/v

Devastatingly, their bodies were later found in a ditch several months after, in August 1964. Their case got a lot of attention, and there were many protests on their behalf which helped to spark a national change to occur. In 1980, for example,  Ronald Reagan, began his Presidential election run by giving a speech about state rights while walking a distance from the dam where their bodies were found.

https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/aug/04

Below is the slide I presented virtually to the class. I was able to make a powerpoint that summed up all of the information talked about in this blog post and presented pictures for the class to see.  Below is also the link to see and learn about some of the other events discussed in the project. 

Link for presentation: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VCxhkyYmvCDmna8ZfZf0sl_24q

_OnfC7lu8NeRRy820/edit#slide=id.gcb82ca253f_0_0

Brown vs Board of Education Case Reflection

In class this week we were able to watch our classmates take on the case of Brown vs the Board of Education. This was a Consolidation case of equal rights. This case fought against segregation in the school system on the basis of skin color. During this time, schools were divided between white children and children of color.

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka

Brown was fighting the board of education to have classroom segregation end. He wanted everyone to receive equal education together no matter the color of their skin.. The lawyers for Brown agreed that it was unconstitutional for discriminatory to occur in schools. They said that the Constitution was “color blind.” They related this case to another famous case, Plessy vs. Ferguson . They compared the cases in order to make the point that racial discrimination in schools is immoral, and unethical just as it is on trains. They explained that morally one cannot single out a group of people.

The lawyers also argued that school segregation was harming African American children because in the future they will think they cannot live up to their potentials. Lastly, they said one cannot pick their race; it is an immutable trait, something they are born with and should not be harmed because of it. 

https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/brown-v-board-1.html#:~:text=On%20May%2017%2C%201954%2C%20the,schools%20in%20twenty%2Done%20states.

The lawyers on the side of the board of education argued that it was not a financially stable idea to end segregation in school. Tax payers would need to pay for more desks, teachers, and supplies which were not needed.

They said that there was a different level of intelligence between races and that the African American children would struggle in classes with white children. They put forth the idea that African Americans have a harder time learning because their families do not have the skills to teach them.

The lawyers explained that both races, although segregated, were receiving outstanding educations that they were guaranteed, and if they were to put them in the same class African American students would be hindered due to the pace of the  school. Their final point was that in all Black classrooms teachers could teach the children at a slower pace in order to help them comprehend the content.  In their opinions, school segregation was the absolute best idea.  

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483

The court sided with Brown and agreed that school segregation  was discriminatory and wrong. This decision ended segregation in the classroom. It overrode the “separate but equal” clause from Plessy vs Ferguson; and was a huge step in our history as it pertained to education and civil rights in general.

https://dredf.org/2018/05/17/on-the-64th-anniversary-of-brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka/

#10 Part 2 Extra Credit Post on EOTO

                                                             

                                                        EOTO Reflection 

Picture from EOTO in Class 

The topic of EOTO was positive and negative events and actions during the reconstruction era. The class was divided into groups again where one group researched the positive events, while the other showed the negative events that happened. It helped the class as a whole, and especially myself, in better understanding what occurred during this era. 

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https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction

One of the biggest positives of the reconstruction era was the passing of the 13th amendment. This amendment freed 100,000 enslaved people in the US from Kentucky to Delaware. The 14th amendment was also passed giving equal protection, due process, and fair privileges or immunities. During this time, the government forced the removal and re-election of all confederate officials in the hope of ending discrimination and hate towards one race. The 15th amendment was passed shortly after that, which guaranteed African American men the right to vote and the ability to run for political office .

https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xiii

Although such amazing innovations occurred in this era, there were also a lot of cons. The first one our group talked about was the Minstrel shows. During this time period, there would be racist shows for comedically entertainment. They would include characters such as Jim Crow, and Bruder Tambo. Performers would use black face as a way to demean African Americans. Lynching also sadly occurred, where white people would kill African Americans through mob action without legal approval. As one can see, there was a lot of discrimination towards people of color. One way this was really seen was through black codes. These were codes made to have control over the freed slaves. This was also the era where the KKK was formed. This was a hate group towards many races, religions, and political groups. They carried out hate crimes, and protested for what they believed in. 

https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction

All in all, there was a lot of positive changes during these time periods; however, there were many issues that needed to be resolved before America would be a discrimination free nation. 

https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction

#9 Mock Trial Key Post

 

                                   My Role in the Plessy VS Ferguson Mock Trial 

During class we examined the Plessy vs Ferguson case through a mock trial; my team was fighting on the side of Plessy. The case is about a mixed raced man named Plessy who bought a train ticket and encountered resistance while on-board. He meant no harm when he sat in the first class section, and was asked to move seats by the conductor of the train. Plessy refused to move seats because he had purchased a ticket and was not fully African American; he knew he had a right to that seat. Plessy was removed by the conductor with physical violence and put into jail. The case was brought to court under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. 

https://apprend.io/apush/period-6/plessy-v-ferguson/

For this case, my teammates and I were divided into different roles; some were fighting the case on the legal side, while I was assigned the job of making a powerpoint on the preceding time period. Although I found a plethora of crucial information on the time period, I could not include everything. The three topics I chose for future research were religion, the women's suffrage movement, and the great pain of 1896.

I first examined how 1896 was called the Reconstruction Era; it was the time period following the civil war and centered around how America was rebranding itself. 

http://noirehistoir.com/blog/reconstruction-era/

I then began to take a deep dive into religion during 1896, specifically, which religions were the most prominent. During this period there were three main religions I studied. The first one being Protestant, which over half the population identified as. They were known as charitable and extremely religious, and mostly composed of the upper and middle class. The other religion present during this time was Catholicism. People supporting this faith group were mostly immigrants, therefore, this religion was more popular in the United States; it slowly became even more popular in the North. The last religion was Reformed Judaism. This religion was very scattered across the United States, as immigrants settled in different places. America was divided with people practicing different religions in various regions. 

http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/Article/m-6630

During 1896, another prominent issue was discrimination towards the female gender. Social reform around women's rights was actively occurring. By 1896, women had fought for the right to vote in four states (Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah). However, they will still fight for the right to vote in all states. They were also protesting and advocating for fair paying jobs, political power, and to end the idea that women should stay home and take care of their families. 

https://ghwcc.org/2020/02/womens-suffrage-timeline/

Something else that occurred during these times was The Pain of 1896. This was a huge financial crisis and economic depression. It was caused because of a decrease in gold and agriculture in the United States. There was unemployment especially among industrial workers and a lot of hunger, pain and anger during these times. 

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/panic-of-1896/

My partner Skylar and I were able to present the information to the class after the trial occurred, so the class could really understand the case and make a fair ruling. It was an amazing experience to learn about this hallmark case in such an engaging way. It was also really cool to have the job of teaching the class about the world outside of the case as a whole. 

Link to powerpoint: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OKQiT2EmxrcrNp0IWHl9OyeyAcTtIx3f3E8pU29T6o0/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00