02/02/09 1

Civil Rights and AbusesAnd Argumentative (What everyone else calls Persuasive) Writing Techniques

2

Introduction

These notes and facts will prepare us for a really meaningful reading of literature from the civil rights era in the United States, and the power of persuasive techniques, otherwise know as “Rhetorical Strategy.”

Make notes when meaningful, to broaden and deepen your learning experience.

This presentation will be available on my website.

02/02/09 3

Topics of DiscussionWe will be starting with foreign slave trading in the 16th century and going all the way through modern 21st century police brutality and racial profiling.

We will be reading a little literature and discussing the persuasive techniques that were used by the advocates for equality along the way.

4

1500’s The British, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese

begin trafficking African people in the brutal European slave trade.

5

1600’s

Queen Nzingha of Angola fights the Portuguese and the enslavement of her people.

1619 The first boatload of Africans arrives in Virginia.

The institution of slavery is firmly established in the American colonies.

02/02/09 7

1770 Phillis Wheatley publishes her first poem, becoming the earliest known published African-American woman writer.

IT IS

CRU

CIAL

WH

EN

WRI

TIN

G T

O…

Establish your audience To a large extent, your issue determines

your audience. Who cares about the issue? Who is affected by it? Who can do something about it?

Those are the people you want to address, and keep in mind when choosing your words, your tone, and the persuasive techniques you will employ.

• You may also want to keep in mind anyone who may also influence your audience on your issue.

Determine the

audience for Phyllis

Wheatley’s poem…

02/02/09

02/02/09

“On Being Brought from Africa to America”

'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,Taught my benighted soul to understandThat there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.Some view our sable race with scornful eye,"Their colour is a diabolic die."Remember, Christians, Negro's, black as Cain,May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train. 

Phillis Wheatley

02/02/09 11

1775 The American Revolution

begins. The 13 American colonies fight

for their independence from British rule.

One of the first casualties of war is a black man, Crispus Attucks.

1776 Congress adopts the Declaration of

Independence and creates the United States of America.

Although based on the theory of natural rights, the Declaration of Independence does not extend these rights to African-Americans or women.

1793The Fugitive Slave

Act is passed.

This law makes harbouring a slave a criminal

offense.

14

1807 Britain outlaws the

slave trade and later abolishes slavery in the British Empire (1833)

But American slaveholders continue to keep one million African-American slaves under their control to work the plantations of the Southern states.

02/02/09 15

1793 Joseph Cinque and

other captured Africans take over the slave ship Amistad, demanding to be returned to Africa.

They are ultimately set free by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1841.

ETH

OS By using ethos in your persuasive

writing, you are appealing to your audience through their sense of right and wrong, or ethics.

If you establish ethos in your writing, your audience will believe you to be reliable and of good character.

The audience will want to agree with you because it is the right thing to do and you are the authority.

Ethos is established either through a pattern of good behavior, like for politicians, or in your writing, by establishing yourself as an authority on your topic.

Let’s look at an example of well-written ethos.

ETH

OS

Consider this example from Frederick Douglass’s Narrative—a text that’s intended, in its broadest terms , to persuade its audience to support the abolition of slavery. In the first part of the quote, Douglass establishes his ethos—his authority to speak on this subject.

EXA

MPL

E O

F ET

HO

S

“I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time.”

So how did Douglass establish his ethos and his right to speak on the matter of slavery?First and foremost there’s the fact

that he was a slave.But additionally, he establishes

himself as someone who has paid close attention to the issue of slaves knowing their birthday, and the language indicates that he has done his research.

Look for examples of

Ethos in Sojourner

Truth’s Speech

02/02/09

02/02/09 20

1843Sojourner Truth starts her own

campaign against slavery.Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain't I A Woman?Delivered 1851 at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

02/02/09 21

Aint ‘ I a Woman, cont.

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

02/02/09 22

Aint I a Woman, cont.Then they talk about this thing in the

head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in back there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

02/02/09 23

Aint I a Woman concludesIf the first woman God

ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.

02/02/09 24

1846Harriet Tubman escapes slavery and

begins conducting on the Underground Railroad.

So who was she?

Harriet Tubman is perhaps the most well-known of all the Underground Railroad's "conductors." During a ten-year span she made 19 trips into the South and escorted over 300 slaves to freedom. And, as she once proudly pointed out to Frederick Douglass, in all of her journeys she "never lost a single passenger."

02/02/09 25

Who was Tubman? Cont.Tubman was born a slave in Maryland's

Dorchester County around 1820. At age five or six, she began to work as a house servant. Seven years later she was sent to work in the fields.

In 1849, in fear that she, along with the other slaves on the plantation, was to be sold, Tubman resolved to run away. She set out one night on foot. With some assistance from a friendly white woman, Tubman was on her way. She followed the North Star by night, making her way to Pennsylvania and soon after to Philadelphia, where she found work and saved her money.

02/02/09 26

Who was Tubman? Cont.The following year she returned to

Maryland and escorted her sister and her sister's two children to freedom. She made the dangerous trip back to the South soon after to rescue her brother and two other men. On her third return, she went after her husband, only to find he had taken another wife. Undeterred, she found other slaves seeking freedom and escorted them to the North.

Tubman carried a gun which she used to threaten the fugitives if they became too tired or decided to turn back, telling them, "You'll be free or die."

02/02/09 27

Who was Tubman? Cont.By 1856, Tubman's capture would have

brought a $40,000 reward from the South. On one occasion, she overheard some men reading her wanted poster, which stated that she was illiterate. She promptly pulled out a book and feigned reading it. The ploy was enough to fool the men.

Tubman had made the perilous trip to slave country 19 times by 1860, including one especially challenging journey in which she rescued her 70-year-old parents. Of the famed heroine, who became known as "Moses," Frederick Douglass said, "Excepting John Brown -- of sacred memory -- I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than [Harriet Tubman]."

02/02/09 28

Who was Tubman? ConclusionAnd John Brown, who

conferred with "General Tubman" about his plans to raid Harpers Ferry, once said that she was "one of the bravest persons on this continent."

During the Civil War Harriet Tubman worked for the Union as a cook, a nurse, and even a spy. After the war she settled in Auburn, New York, where she would spend the rest of her long life. She died in 1913.

Pers

uasi

ve T

echn

ique

:Pa

thos

Pathos is Greek for suffering or experience. It is an appeal to the feelings, imagination and sympathies of your audience or readers.

It is often an effective way to persuade, but I recommend coupling it with Ethos.

Here are some ways to employ pathos. 1. Evoke an emotional response on recognizable family, community or neighborhood matters. 2. Provoke anger in the listener; stir them up to be as angry as you are. 3. Make a promise, and ensure they can count on your efforts.4. Suggest something that looks impossible, and explain that it isn't impossible to accomplish at all.5. Make an exaggerated comparison between two ideas, and state which one is the best option to choose.

6. Act as if you are being overwhelmed with emotions when you talk about a special theme.

7. Address the people who are not there in the public, give the listeners a we-feeling - apostrophe.

8. Make clear something is threatening the audience and describe what will happen if they don't agree.

9. Describe how the consequences of the suggested acts and changes will influence their life.

10.Ask provocative or indictive rhetorical questions and give simple and convincing answers.

11. Stir the audience by showing fiery feelings, let them follow you in your enthusiasm and spirit.

Path

os

12. Repetition is one of the most powerful forms of pathos in persuasive speeches. You can use this art of persuasion to enlarge the spectrum and context of the beliefs, values, and understandings of your speech topics. There are many ways to do so, but these are the four that have been practiced successfully for ages by millions around the world; repeat:

a. a single word three or four times.

b. a term of phrase throughout the whole presentation or persuasive

speech essay. c. the last word of a previous

point. d. a phrase at the end or

beginning of every major point in persuasive speeches.

Path

os

Exam

ple

of P

atho

sConsider this example from MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech:

“With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.”

Look for examples of

Pathos in Watkin-

Harper’s Poem…

02/02/09

02/02/09 34

1846 Poet Frances Watkins Harper speaks out against slavery, traveling throughout the South.

"Learning to Read"by Frances E.W. Harper (1825-1911)Very soon the Yankee teachers Came down and set up school;But, oh! how the Rebs did hate it,-- It was agin' their rule.

Our masters always tried to hide Book learning from our eyes;Knowledge didn't agree with slavery-- 'Twould make us all too wise.But some of us would try to steal A little from the book,And put the words together, And learn by hook or crook.

02/02/09 35

“Learning to Read,” cont.I remember Uncle Caldwell,

Who took pot-liquor fatAnd greased the pages of his book, And hid it in his hat.And had his master ever seen The leaves upon his head,He'd have thought them greasy papers, But nothing to be read.And there was Mr. Turner's Ben, Who heard the children spell,And picked the words right up by heart, And learned to read 'em well.Well, the Northern folks kept sending The Yankee teachers down;And they stood right up and helped us, Though Rebs did sneer and frown.

02/02/09 36

“Learning to Read,” conclusion

And, I longed to read my Bible, For precious words it said;But when I begun to learn it, Folks just shook their heads,And said there is no use trying, Oh! Chloe, you're too late;But as I was rising sixty, I had no time to wait.So I got a pair of glasses, And straight to work I went,And never stopped till I could read The hymns and Testament.Then I got a little cabin-- A place to call my own--And I felt as independent As the queen upon her throne.

CO

MB

ININ

G R

HET

OR

ICA

L A

PPR

OA

CH

ES…

Please note that there’s nothing wrong

with simple pathos appeal, arguments are strongest when they employ BOTH pathos

and ethos.

Exam

ple

of a

com

bina

tion

of E

thos

and

Pat

hos

Consider this additional quote from Bobby Kennedy’s speech to the nation the day of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.”

Here Kennedy not only acknowledges that the “wrong” outcome is possible and understandable, ethos, he also stirs the audiences sadness and sympathy for the loss of his own brother.

Logo

s By using Logos in your persuasion

you are appealing to your audience’s sense of logic or reason. This approach is based on logically sound structure and reasoning and/or its degree of evidence.

The language in these appeals may be more dispassionate, appealing to the intellect rather than the emotions.

A core question for you to consider is this: how have I attempted to appeal to the audience’s reasoning or logic?

You can use two different types of logic. You can use inductive logic, or “scientific

method” by giving your readers a bunch of similar examples and then drawing from them a general proposition. This logic is pretty simple given this, that, and the other thing-poof, there you go, a conclusion.

Or, you can use the deductive reasoning by giving your readers a few general propositions and then drawing from them a specific truth. Like, "because such-'n-such is true and such-'n-such is true and such-'n-such is true and everybody agrees on this other thing, then-poof, stands to reason, a new truth.

There are a couple of other Logos strategies to keep in mind… commonplace and concessions.

Logo

s

02/02/09

Deductive reasoning is a basic form of valid reasoning. Deductive reasoning, or deduction, starts out with a general statement, or hypothesis, and examines the possibilities to reach a specific, logical conclusion. The scientific method uses deduction to test hypotheses and theories.

In deductive reasoning, if something is true of a class of things in general, it is also true for all members of that class.

For example, "All men are mortal. Harold is a man. Therefore, Harold is mortal." For deductive reasoning to be sound, the hypothesis must be correct. It is assumed that the premises, "All men are mortal" and "Harold is a man" are true. Therefore, the conclusion is logical and true.

Logo

s

02/02/09

Inductive reasoning is the opposite of deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning makes broad generalizations from specific observations. Even if all of the premises are true in a statement, inductive reasoning allows for the conclusion to be false. Here’s an example: "Harold is a grandfather. Harold is bald. Therefore, all grandfathers are bald." The conclusion does not follow logically from the statements.

Inductive reasoning has its place in the scientific method. Scientists use it to form hypotheses and theories. Deductive reasoning allows them to apply the theories to specific situations.

Logo

s

Logo

s: E

stab

lish

a “C

omm

onpl

ace”

A

rgum

ent

Commonplace is simply a piece of truth wrapped up in easily recognizable language.

In other words, a thought or behavior that’s familiar and recognizable enough to a certain group of people that they’re going to respond positively to it, even if they can’t always precisely identify what it is that they find familiar or correct about that commonplace.

An example of a commonplace for most Americans is the notion that we have a right to the pursuit of happiness.

“C

omm

onpl

ace”

Arg

umen

tWhy use commonplace?

It’s a great way to get your audience to associate something positive, something they already agree with, with your argument.

So, even if you are writing about listening to ipods during class, a commonplace argument like the following might help your case:

“While not all Americans may love ipods, we all cherish our right to pursue happiness.”

Logo

s: u

se o

f co

nces

sion

s

Admitting that alternative viewpoints exist can have the seemingly paradoxical effect of strengthening one’s own argument. This may seem counterintuitive to

some writers who might say: Why acknowledge the validity of

some idea that may compete with my own?

Wouldn’t that undermine the argument I want to make?

But the truth is: rather than undermining an argument,

concessions can strengthen it by acknowledging and dealing with counterevidence; you establish

yourself as a trustworthy commentator on a subject.

Keep in mind, you must always offer a counterargument with a

concession!

Exam

ples

of C

once

ssio

n “I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it's your first day in a new school, so it's understandable if you're a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you're in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could've stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday - at 4:30 in the morning. Now I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, ‘This is no picnic for me either, buster.’ “

The following comes from President Obama’s first “Back to School” speech to America’s school children:

Examples of ConcessionThe Following is from Dr. King’s final speech in Memphis, Tennessee:

“That's the question before you tonight. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to my job. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?" The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" The question is, "If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question.”

Here he suggests the “wrong” ideas that he knows his audience has and dismisses them authoritatively and provides the “right” thinking for them.

• The following is from Cesar Chavez’ “Ending His Fast” speech

“When the strike started in 1965, most of our friends forsook us for a while. They ran- or were just too busy to help. But the California Migrant Ministry held a meeting with its staff and decided that the strike was a matter of life or death for farm workers everywhere, and that even if it meant the end of the Migrant Ministry they would turn over their resources to the strikers. The political pressure on the Protestant Churches was tremendous and the Migrant Ministry lost a lot of money. But they stuck it out, and they began to point the way to the rest of the Church. In fact, when 30 of the strikers were arrested for shouting “Huelga!” 11 ministers went to jail with them. They were in Delano that day at the request of Chris Hartmire, director of the California Migrant Ministry.”

Here the labor leader acknowledges the negative things associated with his cause to remove their impact on the good.

Consider this quote from Bobby Kennedy’s speech to the nation the day of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it isperhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black--considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible--you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization--black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward oneanother.

Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.”

Here Kennedy suggests the temptation he wishes to avoid, and establishes a more desirable response to the tragic crime.

02/02/09 50

1848: Women’s Suffrage The right to vote, is proposed for

the first time by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.

02/02/09 51

1850 The Underground Railroad is fully functioning

02/02/09 52

1857 In the Dred Scott decision, the U.S. Supreme

Court denies citizenship rights to black people, opens federal territory to slavery, and decrees that slaves are not free just because they are taken into free territory. (Direct response to the success of the underground railroad!)

02/02/09 53

1861

The Civil War begins between the Northern states called The Union and the Southern states called The Confederacy.

02/02/09 54

1863

President Abraham Lincoln

signs the Emancipation

Proclamation granting

freedom to all slaves.

02/02/09 55

1865 The Civil War ends. Black

Reconstruction begins.

02/02/09 56

1891 Ida B. Wells starts her lifelong anti-

lynching campaign by establishing her own newspaper, the Memphis Free Speech, to draw attention to the brutal lynch mob murders of black Americans.

02/02/09 57

1896In Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld segregation in the landmark, Separate but Equal decision.

02/02/09 58

1909 National Association for the Advancement of

Colored People (NAACP) is formed with Ida B. Wells and Mary Terrell as it’s founding members.

From the ballot box to the classroom, the dedicated workers, organizers, and leaders who forged this great organization and maintain its status as a champion of social justice, fought long and hard to ensure that the voices of African Americans would be heard. For nearly one hundred years, it has been the talent and tenacity of NAACP members that has saved lives and changed many negative aspects of American society.

02/02/09 59

1910 Madame C.J. Walker opens her own beauty care

factory, and goes on to become the first black American millionaire, philanthropist, and supporter of black artists in Harlem, NY.

02/02/09 60

1914--World War I begins. Almost 400,000 African-American men serve in the armed forces when America joined the war in 1917.

02/02/09 61

1915

Birth of a Nation, a blatantly racist film, is released across the country to a storm of protest by the NAACP and the black community.

The humiliating images of African Americans are propaganda, but are accepted by many as real. Violence against blacks increases as a result of the film.

02/02/09 62

1920’sThe 19th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees women the right to vote. AND The Harlem Rennaissance is at its height with writers such as Zora Neal Hurston and Langston Hughes.

02/02/09 63

1929The Great Depression begins, and as money gets

harder and harder to come by, any peace between the races becomes harder to maintain.

02/02/09 64

1941 World War II breaks out in Europe—Over one million

African Americans serve.

02/02/09 65

1945 World War II ends with the bombing of Hiroshima

and Nagasaki, and the liberation of the “concentration camps” of Nazi Germany.

02/02/09 66

1948 The racist system of apartheid is formalized in South Africa.

02/02/09 67

1954In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the U.S. Supreme Court reverses the “separate but equal” doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson.

02/02/09 68

1955

Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white man.

The incident sparks a 381-day bus boycott led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. December 21, 1956 the Montgomery Bus Boycott ends as the buses are desegregated.

02/02/09 69

1957 Garfield High School becomes the first Seattle high

school with more than 50% non-white student body.  At the previously all-white Central High in Little

Rock, Arkansas, 1,000 paratroopers are called by President Eisenhower to restore order and escort NINE black students.

They are famously called “The Little Rock Nine.”

02/02/09 70

1960The sit-in protest movement begins in February at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina and spreads across the nation.

02/02/09 71

1960Two killed, many injured in riots as James Meredith is enrolled as the first black man at the University of Mississippi.

02/02/09 72

1960 continued…South African lawyer and civil rights leader Nelson

Mandela receives a life sentence for an act of treason against the South African government.

Despite police harassment, his wife, Winnie Mandela, contined to speak out against apartheid and to fight for Nelson’s release and the freedom of her people.

“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” –Nelson Mandella

02/02/09 73

1961: Freedom Rides begin from Washington,

D. C.: Groups of black and white people ride buses through the South to

challenge segregation. In the Jim Crow South of 1961, the Freedom Riders encountered shocking violence that deeply embarrassed the Kennedy administration.

Outside Anniston, Ala., a mob set one of the buses on fire. The riders were lucky to escape with their lives. In Birmingham, police officers gave Klan members 15 minutes to assault the riders at the bus station before intervening.

The result was what Arsenault calls "one of the bloodiest afternoons in Birmingham's history."

02/02/09 74

Freedom Riders, cont. Further violence followed another

group of riders in Montgomery, where John Seigenthaler, the president's personal representative, suffered a fractured skull and several broken ribs.

It took a small army of policemen and National Guard troops to escort the bus from Montgomery to Jackson, Miss., where the Freedom Riders were promptly arrested for breach of the peace and attempting to incite a riot.

Some spent time at the infamous Parchman Farm, a prison plantation the historian David Oshinsky called "synonymous . . . with brutality."

02/02/09 75

1963 Police arrest King and other ministers demonstrating in Birmingham, Alabama, then turn fire hoses and police dogs on the marchers.

In jail King wrote one of his most famous essays.

02/02/09 76

1963 continued…Medgar Evers, NAACP

leader, is murdered June 12 as he enters his home in Jackson, Mississippi.

Byron De La Beckwith was convicted of murdering Evers in 1994, 30 years after the fact, because of the efforts of his widow Myrlie.

02/02/09 77

1963 continued…About 1,300 people march from the Central Area to

downtown Seattle, demanding greater job opportunities for blacks in department stores. There was also a one-week sit-in to protest the lack of a Human Rights Commission.

02/02/09 78

1963 continued…About 400 people rally at Seattle City Hall

to protest delays in passing an open-housing law. In response, the city forms a 12-member Human Rights Commission but only two blacks are included, prompting a sit-in at City Hall and Seattle’s first civil-rights arrests.

02/02/09 79

1963 continued…

250,000 people attend the March on Washington, D.C. urging support for pending civil-rights legislation. The event was highlighted by King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

The Seattle School District implements a voluntary racial transfer program, aimed at busing black students to mostly white schools.

02/02/09 80

1963 concludes with a very violent act.On Sunday, September 15, 1963, Thomas Blanton, Bobby Frank Cherry and Robert Edward Chambliss, members of the Ku Klux Klan, planted 19 sticks of dynamite outside the basement of the Sixteenth Street Baptist church, the first black church to organize in Birmingham, Alabama just two years earilier. At 10:22 a.m., they exploded, killing four young girls–Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair–and injuring 22 others. They were there preparing for the church's "Youth Day."

02/02/09 81

A funeral for three of the four victims was attended by more than 8,000 mourners, white and black, but no city officials.

This was one of a string of more than 45 bombings that for more than a decade had terrorized progressive agitators as well as citizens who

did nothing more than buy a house in a new neighbourhood.

02/02/09 82

1964    Three civil rights workers are murdered in

Mississippi. Of the 18 brought to trial, only 7 were convicted at the time. One final conviction for Edgar Ray Killen came in 2005.

   

Seattle City Council agrees to put together an open-housing ordinance but insists on putting it on the ballot. Voters defeat it by a 2-to-1 ratio. It will be four more years before an open-housing ordinance becomes law.

02/02/09 83

1964 continued…July 2—President Johnson signs the Civil Rights

Act of 1964.

02/02/09 84

1965Malcolm X is murdered Feb. 21, 1965. Three men were convicted of his murder.

02/02/09 85

1965 continued… August 6, President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The act, which King sought, authorized federal examiner to register qualified voters and suspended devices such as literacy tests that aimed to prevent African Americans from voting.

02/02/09 86

1965 Continued…August 11-16, Watts riots leave 34 dead in L.A.

02/02/09 87

1967 in SeattleSam Smith elected Seattle’s first black city councilman.

02/02/09 88

1968 continued…“Fighting Shirley Chisholm—Unbought and

Unbossed” becomes the first African-American congresswoman. In 1972 she also became the first African American woman to make a bid for the nomination for the presidency of the United States.

02/02/09 89

1968Aaron Dixon becomes first leader of Black Panther Party branch in Seattle.

02/02/09 90

1968 April 4th, the reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee at the Lorraine Motel.

02/02/09 91

1968 continued… In response to King’s death, Seattle residents

hurled firebombs, broke windows, and pelted motorists with rocks.

Ten thousand people also marched to Seattle Center for a rally in his memory.

02/02/09 92

1969 Edwin Pratt, executive director of the Seattle Urban League and a moderate and respected African American leader, is shot to death while standing in the doorway of his home. The murder has never been solved.

02/02/09 93

1974

Elaine Brown became, in 1974, the first and only woman to lead the Black Panther Party.

Today, as an activist, writer and popular lecturer, she promotes the vision of an inclusive and egalitarian society, focusing on resolving problems of race, gender oppression and class disparity in the United States.

02/02/09 94

1977 &1978 Seattle School Board adopts a plan

designed to eliminate racial imbalance in schools by the fall of 1979--fully 23 years AFTER Brown v. The Board.

By 1978 it has become the largest city in the U.S. to desegregate WITHOUT a court order.

02/02/09 95

1989

Douglas Wilder of Virginia becomes the nation’s first elected African American Governor.

02/02/09 96

1990 Under pressure by

the world’s leaders, South African begins dismantling some of its apartheid practices.

Nelson Mandela is released from prison in South Africa after 28 years.

02/02/09 97

1992The first racially based riots in years erupt in Los Angeles and other cities after a jury acquits L.A. police officers in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, an African American.

02/02/09 98

1994 Rwandan Genocide

In only 100 days between April and June, 800,000 people were murdered in Rwanda.

Most of the dead were Tutsi Most of the murderers were

Hutu The reason was skin color,

nose shape, power, and politics

02/02/09 99

Since 2003… Sudanese government soldiers

and their proxy militia, known as the Janjaweed (devils on horseback), have fought rebel groups in the western region of Darfur. Initially, the government strategy largely involved systematic assaults against civilians from the same ethnic groups as the rebel forces. The targeted victims have been mostly from the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masaalit ethnic groups.

02/02/09 100

Darfur Genocide Hundreds of thousands of

civilians have died from violence, disease, and starvation, and thousands of women have been raped. More than 2.5 million civilians have been driven from their homes, their villages torched and property stolen. Thousands of villages have been systematically destroyed and more than 230,000 people have fled to neighboring Chad. But most of those displaced are trapped inside Darfur. Although large-scale government attacks against civilians have declined since 2005, millions remain at risk.

02/02/09 101

Slaves Today? Continued…

Though most Americans believe slavery was abolished with the Emancipation Proclamation more than a century ago, the horrors of human beings held in bondage flourishes today.

02/02/09 102

Slaves Today?Newsweek Magazine (May 4, 1992) reports that slavery is widespread in two African countries, Mauritania and Sudan. In Mauritania, over 100,000 Africans are enslaved. Their families were made slaves by the sword during the 12th century invasions. In the centuries that followed, they accepted it as natural.

02/02/09 103

Slaves Today? Continued…Modern-day slaves can be found laboring as servants or concubines in Sudan, as child "carpet slaves" in India, or as cane-cutters in Haiti and southern Pakistan, to name but a few instances. According to Anti-Slavery International, the world's oldest human rights organization, there are currently over 20 million people in bondage.

02/02/09 104

Race and Justice Today

Race continues to play a central role in police brutality in the United States. In the cities we have examined where such data are available, minorities have alleged human rights violations by police more frequently than white residents and far out of proportion to their representation in those cities. Police have subjected minorities to apparently discriminatory treatment and have physically abused minorities while using racial epithets.

02/02/09 105

Race and Justice Today, continued…

Mistreatment may be non-violent harassment and humiliation, such as allegations of racial profiling in which drivers are temporarily detained often for driving in certain areas or for driving certain types of cars. At worst, it includes the kinds of extreme violence we feature in this report. Each new incident involving police mistreatment of an African-American, Hispanic-American or other minority - and particularly those that receive media attention - reinforces a general belief that some residents are subjected to particularly harsh treatment and racial bias.

02/02/09 106

SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA...

Every hour

someone commits a hate crime.

Every day

at least eight blacks, three whites, three gays, three Jews and one Latino become hate crime victims.

Every week

a cross is burned.

02/02/09 107

Somewhere on an American College Campus…

EVERY YEARmore than half a million college

students are targets of bias-driven slurs or physical assaults.

EVERY DAYat least one hate crime occurs on a

college campus.

EVERY MINUTEa college student somewhere sees or

hears racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise biased words or images.

02/02/09 108

Modern Day America Hate in America is a

dreadful, daily constant. The dragging death of James Byrd, a black man in Jasper, Texas; the crucifixion of Matthew Shepherd, a gay man in Laramie, Wyoming; and post-9.11 hate crimes against hundreds of Arab Americans, Muslim Americans and Sikhs are not "isolated incidents." They are eruptions of a nation's intolerance.

02/02/09 109

Modern day America Bias is a human condition, and

American history is rife with prejudice against groups and individuals because of their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or other differences. The 20th century saw major progress in outlawing discrimination, and most Americans today support integrated schools and neighborhoods. But stereotypes and unequal treatment persist, an atmosphere often exploited by hate groups.

02/02/09 110

The Good News is… All over the country

people are fighting hate, standing up to promote tolerance and inclusion. More often than not, when hate flares up, good people rise up against it — often in greater numbers and with stronger voices.

Your first step in being part of the solution is to recognize how hate begins and how it grows…

02/02/09 111

The Ladder of Prejudice: 1st rung: SpeechPrejudice first manifest itself through talking about or making fun of a group of people. Such negative comments are usually the result of stereotyping--creating an oversimplified opinion, idea, or belief about that group of people.

02/02/09 112

The Ladder of Prejudice: 2nd rung: Avoidance

The next step up the ladder of prejudice involves avoiding the group of people that has been stereotyped. Avoidance leads to a lack of contact with the group and ignorance about the people involved.

02/02/09 113

The Ladder of Prejudice: 3rd rung: Discrimination

Avoidance of a group of people eventually leads to discrimination--treating someone differently. Discrimination takes many forms, from denying someone a job to segregation, which means separating a person from the rest of society.

02/02/09 114

The Ladder of Prejudice: 4th rung: Physical AttackPeople who are discriminated against are often the victims of physical attack. The attack is usually the expression of the anger or resentment that have built up through the first steps of prejudice.

02/02/09 115

The Ladder of Prejudice: 5th rung: Extermination

Sometimes physical attacks against a group of people turn deadly. This final step in the ladder of prejudice has been present in society since the earliest days.

02/02/09 116

Again, the good news is, you can prevent prejudice NOW!

02/02/09 117

Ideas for you about how you can be a part of the solution1. Attend a play, listen to music or go to a dance performance by artists whose race or ethnicity is different from your own.

2. Volunteer at a local social services organization.

3. Attend services at a variety of churches, synagogues, mosques and temples to learn about different faiths.

4. Visit a local senior citizens center and collect oral histories. Donate large-print reading materials and books on tape. Offer to help with a craft project.

5. Shop at ethnic grocery stores and specialty markets. Get to know the owners. Ask about their family histories.

02/02/09 118

Ideas for you about how you can be a part of the solution6. Participate in a diversity program.

7. Ask a person of another cultural heritage to teach you how to perform a traditional dance or cook a traditional meal.

8. Learn sign language.

9. Take a conversation course in another language that is spoken in your community.

10. Teach an adult to read.

11. Speak up when you hear slurs. Let people know that bias speech is always unacceptable.

02/02/09 119

Ideas for you about how you can be a part of the solution12. Imagine what your life might be like if you were a person of another race, gender or sexual orientation. How might "today" have been different?

13. Take the How Tolerant are You? A Test of Hidden Bias. Enlist some friends to take this "hidden bias" test with you and discuss the results.

14. Take a Civil Rights history vacation. Tour key sites and museums.

15. Research your family history. Share information about your heritage in talks with others.

16. List all the stereotypes you can — positive and negative — about a particular group. Are these stereotypes reflected in your actions?

02/02/09 120

Ideas for you about how you can be a part of the solution17. Think about how you appear to others. List personality traits that are compatible with tolerance (e.g., compassion, curiosity, openness). List those that seem incompatible with tolerance (e.g., jealousy, bossiness, perfectionism).

18. Create a "diversity profile" of your friends, co-workers and acquaintances. Set the goal of expanding it by next year.

19. Sign the Declaration of Tolerance and return it to:The National Campaign for Tolerance400 Washington AvenueMontgomery, AL 36104

20. Read a book or watch a movie about another culture.

02/02/09 121

Who else is working to make things better?

NAACP: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

C O R E: the Congress Of Racial Equality

Amnesty International

ACLU: The American Civil Liberties Union

CFRE: The Christian Friends for Racial Equality

The Simon Weisenthal Center

And many others…Are you?

02/02/09 122

Make the Personal Commitment Against PrejudiceI believe in the equality of humankind and in the equal rights of every individual.

I believe it is wrong to be prejudiced or cruel, physically or emotional, to any person or group of people.

I will not intimidate, be cruel or act superior to others.

I will honor and support the equal rights of everyone.

I will look deep into myself to see that I uphold this promise in every way.

02/02/09 123

Personal Commitment Against Prejudice, cont.I will work to educate others so that they will not be prejudiced or cruel.

I will act to stop prejudice and cruelty every time I am aware that it is happening or is about to happen.

I have the courage to take this stand.

__________________________________

Signature