Civil Rights Era
Document Archive
Section 1
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
"The Southern Manifesto [signed by Senators and Representatives from the South]," Congressional Record, 84th Congress, Second Session. Vol. 102, part 4 (March 12, 1956). Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1956. 4459-4460
Thurgood Marshall, "Excerpts from the Edwin Rogers Embree Memorial Lectures of Thurgood Marshall, presented at Dillard University, Spring 1954, New Orleans, in Manning Marable and Leith Mullings, eds. Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform and Renewal (Oxford: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999)
Section 2
Mamie Bradley, Letter to President Eisenhower, September 2, 1955
Section 3
"Negroes' Boycott Cripples Bus Line," New York Times, January 8, 1956
"Boycott Scores Hit; Montgomery 'Gets Tough,'" The Chicago Defender, February 4, 1956, p 1
Section 4
Ella J. Baker, "Bigger Than a Hamburger." Southern Patriot 18 (1960)
Robert P. Moses, Letter from a Mississippi Jail, 1961
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, "Statement of Purpose," May 14, 1960
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, "Position Paper: Women in the Movement," November 1964
Section 5
Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963, reproduced at the web site of the King Papers Project
George Wallace, Governor's Inauguration Speech, delivered Jan. 14, 1963
John F. Kennedy, "Radio and Television Report to the American People on Civil Rights"
"We Shall Overcome" [lyrics of a traditional song]
Ted Coleman, "Birmingham's Use of Dogs, Hoses on Marchers Termed Inhuman," Chicago Daily Defender (Daily Edition), May 8, 1963, p 4
"Racists Bomb Birmingham Church, 6 Kids Die," Chicago Daily Defender (Daily Edition), Sep 16, 1963, p A3
Section 6
John Lewis, Speech delivered at the March on Washington, August 28, 1963
C. Sumner Stone, "300,000 March! Greatest Day In U.S. History," Chicago Daily Defender (Daily Edition), Aug 29, 1963, p 1
Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream" address delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963, reproduced at the web site of the King Papers Project
Section 7
Terri Shaw, "Freedom Summer Recollections, 1964"
"Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" [lyrics of a traditional civil rights song]
"Was Trio Killed? Miss. Invasion Set," Chicago Daily Defender (Daily Edition), Jun 25, 1964, p 1
"Mississippi Summer Project Ends Mississippi Freedom Drive Begins," Chicago Daily Defender (Daily Edition), Sep 2, 1964, p 5
Section 8
"Malcolm X Killed At N.Y. Meeting," Chicago Daily Defender (Daily Edition), Feb 22, 1965, p 1
Section 9
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, August 6, 1965, U.S. Statutes at Large
"Jail 520 In Race Torn Selma, Ala.," Chicago Daily Defender (Daily Edition), Feb 3, 1965, p 1
Betty Washington, "March To End At Ala. Capital," Chicago Daily Defender (Daily Edition), March 25, 1965, p 1
Section 10
Stokely Carmichael, "What We Want," The New York Review of Books 7, no. 4 (22 September 1966): 5–6
Fred Hampton, History is a Weapon," speech delivered at Loivet Church, 1969
Warren Wilson, "Kettle Simmers in L.A.," Chicago Daily Defender (Daily Edition), Aug 16, 1965, p 3
"King Murdered," Chicago Daily Defender (Big Weekend Edition), Apr 6, 1968, p 1
Section 11
The Black Panther Party Program: What We Want, What We Believe, October 1966
Joseph L. Turner, "Oakland Tense During Panther Leader’s Trial," Chicago Daily Defender (Big Weekend Edition), Jul 27, 1968, p 6
John G. Griffin, "Black Power Bows At The Olympics," Chicago Daily Defender (Big Weekend Edition), Oct 19, 1968, p 1
Section 12
Ron Karenga, "On Black Art," Black Theater, 4 (1969)
Excerpt from Amiri Baraka, "A Poem for Black Hearts," in The Leroi Jones/Amiri Baraka Reader. (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1999)
Excerpt from Sonia Sanchez, "chant for young brothas & sistuhs," in Dudley Randall (ed), The Black Poets (New York: Bantam, 1985). 240-242
Section 13
Martin Luther King Jr., "Beyond Vietnam," Address delivered at Riverside Church, New York. April 4, 1967
Muhammad Ali, quoted in Thomas Hauser, Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991), 171
GIs United Against the War in Vietnam: Statement of Aims, 1969
Section 14
The Gary Declaration, declared at the National Black Political Convention, Gary, Indiana, March, 1972 in The National Black Political Agenda. Washington, D.C.: National Black Political Convention, 1972
Barbara Jordan [Representative from Texas], "Statement on the Articles of Impeachment," delivered 25 July 1974, House Judiciary Committee
Robert McClory, "Shirley Chisholm: 'I'm Not Kidding,'" Chicago Daily Defender (Daily Edition), January 24, 1972, p 6
Faith C. Christmas, "Assess Gary Political Parley," Chicago Daily Defender (Daily Edition), March 14, 1972, p 4