Civil Rights Poems

A Brief History

The Rights movement began in 1954

It took so long to knock down the door

That shrouded the minds of those

who didn't have to fight for what was theirs

The minorities,
the people,

fought in the streets. 

For something that should have been theirs
in the first place. 

The Women

It was known as second-wave feminism.
Who would have thought it would still
be an issue.

The girls of the nation were denied
their rights
to active duty,
equal pay,
their own bodies.

NOW was established,
Friedan led the way
with her Feminine Mystique.

The women fought
for their rights
yet were denied
the right
to fight.

The African-Americans
Since the beginnings of the country
blacks fought for their rights
as people
and beings
and citizens of the states.

In various court cases,
peaceful protests,
marches, and papers,
they pleaded for what
should have been theirs.

It was cruel
and wrong
the things done to them.
Beat down by police,
arrested,
sentenced,
shot with fire hoses.

They fought and they asked
and the begged and they fought.
They deserved equality
and they were going to get it.

MLK Jr.
A voice broke out
among the rest.
Went by the name of King
and was so to the group
of minorities that still
fought for their rights.

Peaceful protests
and civil disobedience.
Led his battle
for quality among all.

He had a dream
of hand in hand friendship
of a world without
segregation
and Bird laws
and signs that banned those of color.

Children's March
The antagonist, Bull Connor
tantrumed, and jailed
several hundred children
during their march.

May 2nd
They left the school
they knew where they were going.
16th Street Baptist Church

The Children's Crusade
it was called
Malcom X didn't quite approve

The students remained non-violent
and casual about the whole ordeal
and showed they were people too
and no dog nor hose nor crowded jail cell
were any match for them.

Political Cartoons

The person in this image is suppose to be president Nixon. This cartoon is referring to the Watergate Scandal involving Nixon's administration in order to win the election. Nixon denied taking part in this scandal that is why he is holding a sign saying "I AM NOT A CROOK."

This cartoon is also from the Watergate scandal. President Nixon had secret tapes of all of his conversations with other people in the White House. This cartoon shows President Nixon getting tied up in all of his lies (literally).

This political cartoon is about Afghanistan, but also the Vietnam War. Most people agree that the Vietnam War was a bad war. The bad things that they saw happening in Vietnam are also happening in Afghanistan. That is why the people in the cartoon are saying that they've seen this bad movie before.

Interviews Part 2

Charlene LaClaire:

l.  I had just moved to California - living in the San Fernando Valley.

2. & 3. Yes, I did see much of the war on TV. I didn’t think of it as the first war on TV because I had seen films of other wars, but it was horrible. I remember the Napalm being dropped from planes and pictures of kids being burned. Seeing people executed, casualties, and streams of endless refugees walking along the muddy roads.  I remember spraying of the vegetation with “agent orange” which defoliated the jungle and the fields. Agent Orange later turned out to be very toxic to the soldiers and others who were there. The horrible pictures of the wounded, helicopters going down, hand grenades being thrown into the tunnels that the North Vietnamese had dug. People being blown to bits. There were stories of our soldiers being tortured and how the medics were absolute heroes in the war.  Rescues of men by helicopter and evacuations. We saw the reality of war. That war was covered much better than the Iraq war and others. I think the govt. found out that if people really saw what happens they will not support the war, so they don’t show this anymore.  They wouldn’t even show the coffins coming back in the Iraq war. That changed when President Obama was elected.

4.  My cousin was a pilot in that war, but I didn’t know it at the time, but since I was about the age of the young men who went to Viet Nam, I felt a closeness to them.

5.  I was absolutely against the war. At my college, we wrote letters against the war. We had sit-downs, signed petitions, called our representatives, etc. In college I had a black classmate who had been a medic in Viet Nam and had just gotten back. We talked about some of the things that went on.  He was absolutely an emotionally wounded person, (PTSD now). I remember thinking of how he tried too hard to laugh, as though it hurt him to laugh. I was absolutely against the war in every way. I read Nixon’s notes on China and how he thought we had to deal with China. North Vietnam was much controlled/influenced by China, just as it is today. The USA was afraid they would enter the war but they didn’t.

David LaClaire:

1. Where were you in the 1960's?  I was living in Orlando, Florida. During the war I was in Junior High School and High School in Orlando. The war continued into the early seventies when I was in college in New Orleans.

2. Did you watch the Vietnam War on TV? Yes. There were frequent spots on the nightly news explaining the progress in the war. 

3. What was that like, watching the first televised war? It was the first war of my lifetime, so it didn't seem that unusual to see it televised. As a young person it was surreal to see people my age in an offensive war in a  country where it was not clear who the enemy was. Television brought the violence of the war into our otherwise peaceful homes.

4. Did you know anybody in the war?  No family or close friends, but some acquaintances. The people I met that came back from the war were messed up. One young man had lost his legs and was very angry. Another young man had gotten heavily into drugs and was also very angry and confused. None of them were greeted as heroes and were often looked down upon by my peer group unfortunately.

5. Were you for or against the war?  Strongly against. Students in my generation were almost entirely against the war; many of them left the country rather than fight in a war they did not believe in. There was a draft that gave you a number;  If they picked your number you went to war. My number was not picked.  Many students protested; there were bloody protests;  Some students lost their lives.

Interviews Part 1

Introduction

The 1960's to 1970's were a time of battle for equal rights, and just plain battle. Women's, homosexual's and African-American's rights movements were taking storm while the minorities attempted to get equal rights. On top of this, the Vietnam War was at its peak. In the US, the war became the first televised war as televisions became increasingly popular. A draft was issued on all able-bodied men. By the end of the war, America suffered a death count in the ten thousands. America was being lead by presidents Nixon and then Carter. Nixon, who was burdened with the Watergate scandal, resigned and Gerald Ford took office in his place.

Who Did What?

Ariel:

• sat in on 2 recorded interviews
• conducted 3 other interviews (interviews page 2)
• introduction page
• song lyric collages
• 5 W's of the Watergate scandal
• "Who did what" page
• the Great Society journal entries
• civil rights poems
• bibliography

Lesly:

• sat in on 2 recorded interviews
• interview video (interviews page 1)
• 3 political cartoons page
• essay on what Americans should learn

Essay Describing Lessons Americans Should Learn

     There were a lot of lessons to be learned from the 1960s. These lessons should be learned from both Americans and their leaders. Lessons that origin from civil rights, war, and presidential elections. A lot of horrible things have happened, but also great things. At the end of the day we learn from the mistakes that we have made and strive to be a great country.
     One of the complications that Americans have had in the beginning of the 1960s had to do with civil rights, mainly with African Americans. African Americans faced segregation and discrimination, mainly in the southern part of the United States. Schools were separated from black and white people. African Americans were forced to sit at the back of a public bus. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the public bus, and that is was fueled the civil rights movements. The civil rights movement was lead by Martin Luther King Jr. People appealed to him for his non-violence protests that he held. He is most famous for his "I Have A Dream" speech. Although it took a while, Martin Luther King Jr. and all African Americans got the rights that they deserved. This should be a lesson to all that we are all equal and the color of our skin does not define us.
     One of the main things that we can learn from is the war. The Vietnam War was not a necessary war that the United States had to be involved in, and as a result from that the United States suffered from a great amount of casualties. The main reason the U.S. claimed to get involved in Vietnam was to prevent the spread of Communism. North Vietnam wanted to reunify South Vietnam under Communist control. In my opinion, the U.S. should have just stayed out of it. They should have gotten involved if North Vietnam wanted to takeover more countries. Americans can learn a great lesson from this. There is no reason to get involved in other countries business that has no effect on us.
     One thing that future American leaders can learn is to be honest with the American people. It is important to always be fair. When President Nixon was trying to win re-election, his administration broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex. When they were caught it was later revealed that Nixon had a tape recorder in his office that recorded all conversations. Recorded conversations from these tapes revealed that Nixon had been trying to cover up the actions that had taken place in the break-in. Before Nixon could be impeached, he had resigned from office. It was a real shame because Nixon had done a lot of great things during his presidency, especially his foreign policy, but he will be remembered mostly for the Watergate scandal that had occurred. Future leaders can learn from this. It is always better to be fair and honest, then to lie to your people.
     Overall, the 1960s was a great learning experience for all of America. A lot of bad things have happened, but we have either overcome them or learned from them. Everything has happened for a reason. Today all races have equal rights because of the civil rights movement. All of the little things have added up to make a great country. We are all in this together.