October 10 - President Eisenhower Apologises to Ghanaian Finance Minister

This Day in History: 10 October 2020

 

10 October 1957

 

63 years ago, today, President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologised to the Ghanaian Finance Minister, Komla Agbeli Gbedemah, inviting him to breakfast at the White House. He had been refused service at a restaurant in Dover, Delaware. It was one of the first of many such incidents where African diplomats were confronted with racial segregation in the United States. Even though the matter may appear rather small compared to other events during the Cold War, the racial slights to African and Asian diplomats during the 1950s and 60s were of high concern to US officials. During those decades, the Soviet Union and the United States were competing for the hearts and favour of millions of people in Asia and Africa.

 

Racial discrimination in America, especially when it was directed at representatives from those continents, was coined as the nation's 'Achilles' heel'. During the early 1960s, matters continued to deteriorate as many diplomats from new nations in Africa and Asia faced housing discrimination in Washington, DC. A series of confrontations in restaurants, barbershops and other businesses in and around the area made it clear that American civil rights had become an international issue.

 

Want to find out more about President Eisenhower's apology to Gbedemah? Click here for more information, or here for a video of more about the apology.

August 28 - Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' Speech

This Day in History: 28 August 2020

 

28 August 1963

 

57 years ago, today, Martin Luther King, Jr delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, to about 250,000 people. The demonstrators, both black and white, and poor and rich, came together in the nation's capital to demand voting rights and equal opportunities for African Americans. This was in an attempt to appeal for an end to racial segregation and discrimination. The civil rights movement achieved two of its greatest successes in the next year: the ratification of the 24^th Amendment and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, placing King's speech among the most iconic in American history.

 

With the statue of Abraham Lincoln towering behind him, King used the rhetorical talents he had developed as a Baptist preacher. He told of the struggle ahead and stressed the importance of continued action and nonviolent protest. As he came to the end of his prepared text, he was overwhelmed by the moment and launched into an improvised sermon. Prompted by Mahalia Jackson's cry: 'tell them about the dream, Martin!', King described his dreams of freedom and equality arising from a land of slavery and hatred. By equating the civil rights movement with the highest and noblest ideals of American tradition, King allowed many to see for the first time the importance and urgency of racial equality.

 

Want to find out more about Martin Luther King's powerful speech? Click here for more information, or here for more about the civil rights movement prior to King's speech. Click here for a video of King's speech.

Obama's Inaugural Address

Here is the full text of President Obama's Inaugural Address which he gave yesterday. It is well worth reading, and makes plenty of allusions to the United States' history as well as to the challenges ahead. One of its most well-quoted phrases was:

"We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall"

This not only makes a reference to the Declaration of Independence but also to three important moments in America's social history:

Seneca Falls, New York, was the location of a pioneering convention on women's rights in 1848, arguing in particular for women's right to vote which was eventually granted nationally by the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Selma, Alabama was the starting point for a series of marches in 1965 demanding Civil Rights and fair treatment of black voters in the state. The violent repression of the marches and the speeches of Martin Luther King (Coincedentally, yesterday was Martin Luther King day in the USA) directly led to President Johnson presenting the Voting Rights Bill to Congress with these words...

Even if we pass this bill, the battle will not be over. What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause, too, because it is not just Negroes but really it is all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.

The Stonewall Riots were a series of demonstrations by New York's gay community that took place outside the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in 1969. They were angered by America's repressive laws against homosexuality and in particular hostile treatment by the police, whose attempted raid on the Inn had led to the riots. The demonstations brought gay rights to wider public attention and in particular led to the Gay Pride movement which grew out of an event to mark the anniversary of the riots. Obama's address was the first time the word "gay" had been used in this particular context.

There is plenty of comment on his speech. Here is Gary Yonge from the Guardian's verdict. Please let us know if you find any reactions that are particularly interesting.

Civil Rights Timeline

Year 9s may find this of interest for their research into Civil Rights in the USA - the timeline extends over 4 sections - click on the arrow on the bottom right for the next part.

Condoleezza's memoirs

Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State and National Security Adviser under George W Bush, has released her memoirs. Not yet of the years under Bush, that is due in 2012, but of her childhood and career up to 2000. She grew up in segregated Alabama as an only child of a teacher and preacher and showed enormous talent early on in a wide range of areas from music to academia to ice skating. In 'Extraordinary, Ordinary People' she tells of living with segregation and emerging victorious as well as her parents' experience of the politics and violence that made Alabama the focus of the civil rights battle in the 1960s. It sounds a good read, if criticised for being 'aloof' by the New York Times. Here is an interview with CBS News where she talks about the book.