Washington Post: A black college closed in 1955, but its fading alumni fight to pass on a legacy

We looked at an HBCU on the brink of potential closure and today another that didn't survive. In this case, this school left behind a significant legacy as far as its history and dwindling alumni:

Storer started as a primary school in 1865, weathering racist attacks because it dared educate African Americans.

It graduated its last class in 1955, six decades ago, but Storer’s dwindling alumni return, year after year. Their descendants who never attended the school keep returning, too, even as the National Park Service, which now owns the campus, is making efforts to highlight Storer’s history.

The alumni and their descendants believe it’s their responsibility to honor those who persevered before them.

“Blacks and whites sacrificed blood, sweat and tears to make things happen,” says David Vollin, a zoning engineer with the District’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.

Born during Reconstruction, Storer survived violence and was the site of other historic moments, including contributing to the birth of the modern civil rights era. And mostly, it created a refuge for young men and women. It’s a source of pride.

#Selma 50 years later

From @jeffmason1: The Obama family and Bush family join marchers to cross Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge. pic.twitter.com/NuMMx4F3XS
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) March 7, 2015

Over the weekend there was a lot of news out of Selma, Alabama commemorating a famous civil rights march that started in that town (which also spawned a major motion picture based on those events 50 years ago). The bridge that was largely a symbolic epicenter of that event was host to a 50 year anniversary march which featured two Presidents of the United States.

I got to find out why former President George W. Bush decided to make his way to Selma with his wife Laura Bush. It certainly was a cool gesture as I truly believe the fight for civil rights back in the 1960s or even today is a just bipartisan cause.

Partisanship with civil rights in my mind has no standing in the demonstrations of 50 to 60 years ago. A segment of the population back then were being denied their rights and it was unacceptable. Most people who saw how civil rights activists were treated on their TV screens back then realized the same thing, hopefully.

So I've been seeing complaints that President Bush had been cropped out of the pic with President Obama. The uncropped pic you see above and the cropped pic you may have seen via the NY Times.

Now I'm not going to add onto the speculation to why this occurred. The question is was it partisan. If it was then I would say petty because I truly believe civil rights was right regardless of any political leanings. So if this was merely partisan then the cropping was certainly petty. Although the photograph claims this hadn't been intentional at all.

I recognize that many may not like President Bush whose administration lasted from 2001 to 2009 mainly because of his execution of the War on Terror. At the same time a Republican former president and a sitting Democrat president - who also happens to be Black - marching at a commemoration of a 50 year old event should be good press. It only shows that no one party or ideology can say they are the party of civil rights.

Saw "Selma" recently

On Sunday, I finally got a chance to see Selma. It's a movie based on the voting rights march between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. It literally started off with a bang being inside of a church that literally blew up with four little girls inside.

It illustrated a lot of points for me in my belief in how successful the civil rights movement of the 1960s was. Mainly TV helped to advance the causes especially since many southern politicians and law enforcement proved to be very aggressive in combating the civil rights activism. Many people risked their lives and bodies for what was right for all Americans.

It's wrong to make it onerous for American citizens to be able to vote and have a voice in their own communities. It's onerous make a certain segment of the population to sit in the back of the bus. It's certainly onerous to have separate classrooms for Americans of different ethnicitis and even more to insure one group had a better education than the other.

I could go on & on, but the point I wanted to make is that in attempting to keep the system as it was the American people of the 1960s saw how brutal and violent it was. There were forces in Selma, Alabama who fought to keep the system that existed then. We could also theorize something else was going on in the lives of these law enforcement personnel that caused them to brutalize unarmed citizens.

Off of the front-line, the southern politicians knew this would become a political or PR nightmare. And we need not worry about only then Governor George Wallace, then President Lyndon Johnson who was clearly engaged with the civil rights movement wanted to move forward with other political objectives. In the end he had been forced to move voting rights forward instead of finding himself on the wrong side.

Perhaps in the end regardless of how many heads police cracked open and regardless of how the KKK terrorized the Black populations of the south the end was near for the south as they knew it. No aggression would change the tide and if the world was watching on TV - with only three major channels and no 24/7 news networks - perhaps all they did was make themselves villains.

Having seen this film at Ford City - which is my first visit there since the 1990s - it was a great time to pay a visit in a theater that had been recently refurbished. A great movie based on history and of course a reminder of where we have gone and what it takes to make changes in America.

C-SPAN Cities Tour - Jackson: Civil Rights Museum Special Collections

[VIDEO] Another reason to visit Jackson, Mississippi in the future. I've made many trip to the Magnolia State especially to my family's hometown of Mound Bayou, Mississippi in addition to other locales such as Port Gibson, Louisville, Greenville, and Tunica. In addition to at least passing through Vicksburg and Tupelo.

The places I've yet to visit in that state is Hattiesburg which has a family connection, Biloxi, and of course Jackson. A few years ago I had the opportunity to pay a visit to Jackson, however, time constraints nixed that opportunity!

C-Span speaks with Mississippi's Museum Division director of collections Cindy Garner who discusses the many items connected with that state's role in the Civil Rights Movement. So if there is going to be a Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, paying the capital city of Mississippi would be a worthwhile trip.

Witness to lynching of Emmett Till has passed away

I just learned about another chapter in the sad case of Emmett Till. Until today I had little idea that there has been a witness to what happened to this teenaged boy in Money, Mississippi:

A key witness to the 1955 deadly beating of a black teen in Mississippi, a case that opened nation's eyes to the discrimination African Americans faced in the 50's, has died of intestinal bleeding, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Willie Louis, a Chicago resident, was 76 when he passed away from intestinal bleeding on July 18th, the newspaper reports.

After the trial in the murder of Emmett Till, Louis fled to Chicago in fear for his life, changed his name and slipped out of the public for nearly 50 years, according to the paper.

Louis was born in Greenwood, Miss., his wife, Juliet Luois, reportedly said he lived with his grandparents who worked as sharecroppers.

Mike Smalls, a teacher who has studied the landmark case, has told the Chicago Sun-Times that Louis was "one of the unsung civil rights heroes."

What happened to the young Mr. Till has still got to be the saddest case ever considered and unfortunately he wasn't going to get justice in 1950s Mississippi. And it took Mr. Lewis time to finally come out and tell his story as a witness to this unbelievable crime.

I would've like to see his interview on 60 Minutes!

Chick-fil-A

In the past especially over at my other blog - The Sixth Ward - I've discussed this issue. On the north side an Alderman wanted to block the construction of a franchise over what he believed was discriminatory and/or hateful activities against gay marriage. This turned into an issue of not only tolerance, but also an issue of free speech or the free exercise of religion.

The reports over the past week seemed to reflect the belief that Chick-fil-A ultimately capitulated. At the same time Chick-fil-A attempts to explain their stance in a statement (hat-tip Illinois Review). They indicate that 1st Ward Alderman Joe didn't exactly score a victory on Chick-fil-A.

In finding this out I wonder how the Chicago GOP who jumped on this issue last summer will respond to Chick-fil-A's statement? We saw how they responded to the capitulation.

If Historical Events Had Facebook Statuses

Courtesy of Cool Material. I cropped what I thought was the funniest statuses I could find. This just had to be it. LBJ signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act with Dr. King liking the status, however, some of the Southern states weren't too happy. Almost a reminder of when people were complaining that there wasn't a dislike function. LOL!

Via Instapundit!

Mississippi Burning

It has been ages since I've seen that movie. The only copy I have is on VHS (I know some of you are thinking...What's that?). Well I've yet to upgrade to DVD for this film which is basically about those three civil rights workers killed near Philadelphia, Mississippi in the 1960s.

Gene Hackman plays an FBI agent who grew up in Mississippi. Willem DaFoe plays an FBI agent who probably never saw a southern state before in his life before he was assigned to the setting of this movie, Jessup County (which doesn't exist, the name of the town was probably changed to protect the innocent). This was something of a thriller but a great period piece.

A lot of what you see is going to upset, hopefully, a great number of you. This is one documentation of the struggle for freedom in a free nation. A people who were free in theory still having to fight for their freedom. The thing is these people were afraid to fight for their freedom. It seems the authorities have a vested interest in suppressing the freedom of a certain group of people.

Either way it's great to see the FBI get their men. Some of those guys who were smiling when they got arrested weren't smiling when it was done. When the FBI arrived some of them knew what time it was. Indeed one tried to run. Either way it was one victory in a very interesting era.

BTW, they recently reopened the case and someone did indeed get convicted after almost 40 years. Also I had seen this movie in the theaters. However this cineplex is no longer open, it used to be close to where a movie theater is now on Illinois street in about the Streeterville neighborhood.