Congressman Cleaver meets with Emmett Till family

(From Missouri Fifth District Congressman Emanuel Cleaver)

I was just a small boy growing up in Texas, when I heard about the murder of another boy in Mississippi. His name was Emmett Till, he was 14-years old, and I remember how frightened I was at the time because I didn't understand what had happened. My comprehension, though, grew a hundred fold when I saw a picture of his battered and burned body. It was published in the pages of Jet magazine -- and I was changed forever.

Now, I hope to help bring attention to cases like that of Emmett Till, and so many others. To that end, this week I met with family members of Emmett, Frank Morris and the five fishermen killed in Pensacola, Florida. Congressman Bennie Thompson, from Mississippi, organized the meeting, and members of the Cold Case Justice Initiative from Syracuse University School of Law were also there. The goal is to bring awareness to the Till case, and the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Act of 2007, and to discuss ways member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and others, can work with the Department of Justice on these cases.

The Cold Case Justice Initiative has identified more than 300 unsolved civil rights cases and suspicious killings. The focus now is to have tools already in place, like the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Act, actively enforced and possibly extended.

As a young child, scared and confused by what happened to a boy in Mississippi who I'd never met, not in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be able to lend assistance to his and other families, as well as to investigations. As I grew older following the years of Emmett's death, my understanding grew deeper, along with my resolve to fight these horrific crimes, and the injustices they represent for all of us. I am proud to do just that.

(Photo- Congressman Cleaver meets with family members of Emmett Till, and others, to bring awareness to unsolved civil rights cases.)

Journey to Justice march concludes

AP raw video: Ferguson marchers at Missouri capitol

Video- Missouri NAACP president news conference after Journey for Justice

Sharpton announces national march to capitol

Video- Wreath placed at site where Eric Garner was killed

AP Video- Funeral held for original Freedom Rider Marion Barry

White House video: Goodman, Schwerner, Chaney receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

Statue honors civil rights pioneer Ruby Bridges

Brown v Board of Education sisters speak in Springfield

Video- Maya Angelou should be placed in Hall of Famous Missourians

Atlanta museum to honor Civil Rights Movement

AP Video- Actress, civil rights activist Ruby Dee dead at 91

AP Video: Memorial service held for Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou portrait installed in Washington

Kaufman Center in KC to refund Maya Angelou tickets following death

KCTV5

Video- A look back at the life of Maya Angelou

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Arne Duncan issues statement on passing of Maya Angelou

(From U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan)

"Maya Angelou was not just a phenomenal writer and artist – she was a teacher and mentor whose words will live on for generations. She once wrote, 'When you learn, teach, when you get, give.' Dr. Angelou certainly lived by that wisdom throughout her amazing life, and the world is a better place because of her."

Video- AP obituary for Maya Angelou

Video- N. C. mayor: Maya Angelou was a wonderful woman

Fans remember the work of Maya Angelou

Video- Martin Luther King statue unveiled in Houston

The Springfield, Missouri connection to Brown v. Board of Education

A report from KOLR's Linda Ong

Complete video: Michelle Obama addresses Topeka seniors on Brown V. Board anniversary

Michelle Obama speaking to Topeka seniors on Brown V. Board anniversary

NEA, Alliance rally at Supreme Court on Brown v. Board of Education anniversary

Morris Dees to teachers on the 60-year anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education

(The following article was written by Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center.)

This Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of one of our nation’s greatest moments – the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board that outlawed school segregation and declared that separate schools are inherently unequal.

The Brown decision produced a tremendous backlash; Jim Crow did not go easily.

But our country persevered. And though vestiges of Jim Crow discrimination still linger, we’ve made great progress.

I’m deeply saddened, though, to see the many areas where our progress has stalled and where our country is actually reversing course. Today’s opponents don’t often wear white sheets, but they seem equally committed to turning back the clock.

Schools are now becoming more segregated, not less. And minority children are being pushed out of schools and into juvenile lock-ups for trivial infractions with alarming frequency.

All the while, many on the far right are attacking the very idea of our nation providing a free public education for every child.

With your support, we’re fighting to ensure that all children have equal access to a quality public education.

In Florida, for example, we’re challenging a racist education plan that sets lower achievement goals for African-American and Latino children – sending them the devastating message that it’s the color of their skin, not their hard work and perseverance, that determines their success.

Across the Deep South, we’re standing up for minority children who are disproportionately bearing the brunt of outrageous “zero tolerance” discipline policies.

We’re also creating opportunities for children who find the schoolhouse door blocked because of their families’ immigration status.

And, through our renowned Teaching Tolerance project, we’re helping teachers across America create inclusive, nurturing classrooms where equality is not just taught, but lived.

This week, let’s celebrate the Brown decision that has meant so much to our country. But at the same time, let’s recommit ourselves to the job at hand: making sure our nation lives up to its promise.

Please support equal opportunity for all children – and speak up for the dedicated educators in your community who hold our nation’s future in their hands. Your voice can truly make a difference. Thank you for everything you do.

Video- Rosa Parks memorabilia remains in New York warehouse

Video- Obama: Civil Rights Act opened new doors

Video- Ceremony to bury racism held at former KKK stronghold

Missouri recognizes Rosa Parks on 101st birthday

(From Gov. Jay Nixon)

Gov. Jay Nixon has proclaimed Tuesday, Feb. 4, as Rosa Parks Day in Missouri to honor the famed civil rights pioneer on what would have been her 101st birthday. A state law passed in 2006 designates that date to especially remember and honor the late Ms. Parks, who was born on Feb. 4, 1913 and who died in 2005.

In 1955, Parks refused to obey the order of a bus driver to give up her seat to a white male passenger on a city bus in Montgomery, Ala., leading to the successful boycott of the segregated city bus system and drawing national attention. She has been described as the “Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement,” and her refusal is considered one of the seminal events of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

“Missouri stands with the nation in honoring this great American,” Gov. Nixon said. “Almost 60 years after her courageous deed, we can honor the legacy of Rosa Parks by continuing to strive to protect the civil rights of all America

Civil rights film series to be shown at Missouri Southern State University

(From Southern News Service)

Missouri Southern State University’s Spiva Library is one of a select few institutions across the country to be awarded the “Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle” grant.

 The series, which began Jan. 29, features four documentary films that chronicle the history of the Civil Rights movement in America and discussions led by local scholars.

 “We hope that it helps community members and students grasp the long effort to achieve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans,” said Amber Carr, public services librarian at Missouri Southern.

 The film series will include:

 Wednesday, Feb. 5: “Slavery by Another Name”

 The film focuses on new forms of forced labor that kept thousands of African Americans in bondage until the onset of World War II.

 The discussion will be led by Dr. Norton Wheeler, an associate professor at MSSU where he teaches courses in Asian history and in U.S. history, including African American history. He is currently engaged in research projects involving Frederick Douglass and George Washington Carver.

 Wednesday, Feb. 12: “The Loving Story”

 The film is the account of Richard and Mildred Loving, who were arrested in 1958 for violating Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage. Their struggle culminated in a landmark Supreme Court decision that overturned anti-miscegenation laws in the United States.

 Dr. Ree Wells-Lewis will lead the discussion following the film. Wells-Lewis Lewis earned her Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in sociology, with a minor in cultural anthropology in 1993. Beginning in graduate school, Professor Wells incorporated medical sociology into most of her academic, applied, and community service pursuits. She received a Medical Sociology Research Internship award from the Medical Sociology section of the American Sociological Association, 1989-90.

 Wednesday, Feb. 26: “Freedom Riders”

 Based on Raymond Arsenault’s book, the documentary offers an inside look at the brave band of activists who challenged segregation in the Deep South.

 The discussion will be led by Dr. Steven Wagner, a professor of history at Missouri Southern since 2000. He teaches a variety of courses in 20th century United States history, including the Civil Rights era. He received his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1999, and is the author of “Eisenhower Republicanism: Pursuing the Middle Way,” published in 2006.

 Each event will include film clips and a discussion at noon in Cornell Auditorium in Plaster Hall. A screening of the full film and a discussion will be offered at 7 p.m. in Phelps Theatre, located in Billingsly Student Center. A special screening of “Slavery by Another Name” will be offered at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, at George Washington Carver National Monument.

 All of the programs are free and open to the public.

 The series was made possible through the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of its Bridging Cultures initiative, in partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

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Morris Dees: We need to rededicate ourselves to Dr. King's dream

(From Morris Dees, Southern Poverty Law Center)

As I sit in my office looking out at the church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached during the civil rights movement, I’m reminded of something he said that addressed longstanding attitudes about the plight of America’s poor:

“It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps,” Dr. King said, “but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.” 

His words are particularly relevant today – 50 years after President Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on poverty. Johnson’s initiatives have helped millions of Americans, including our senior citizens, stay afloat by providing a floor of support for nutrition, health care, and other basic necessities.

But today, during a period of income and wealth disparity not seen in nearly a century, what we’re seeing is not a war on poverty, but rather a war on the poor.

We’re being told by many politicians and pundits on the right – as they seek to shred our country’s safety net – that the poor, in effect, deserve their fate, that the jobless are lazy and don’t want to work, that immigrants come to our shores for handouts, and that the sick and the elderly should fend for themselves.

Meanwhile – as economic gains increasingly flow to the rich – poor and middle-class Americans are falling further behind. In 2012, for instance, the wealthiest 10 percent earned more than half of all income.

Something is terribly wrong – and getting worse. As the Associated Press recently put it, “The gulf between the richest 1 percent and the rest of America is the widest it’s been since the Roaring ‘20s.”

At the SPLC, we’ve always been concerned about poverty. Indeed, it’s in our name – the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In the earlier days, we fought in the courts to help poor, minority communities get their fair share of public resources and services. More recently, we’ve represented some the country’s most marginalized people – the exploited migrant workers and immigrants who labor in our fields to put food on our tables.

Right now, we fighting for disadvantaged children in Alabama’s impoverished Black Belt region who are trapped in failing schools while the state provides tax breaks to families who are able to send their children to private or successful public schools.

Our mission is to be there for those who have no other champion.

At the time of his assassination, Dr. King was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers and was organizing a “Poor People’s Campaign” to call attention to poverty and economic injustice.

Today, we need to rededicate ourselves to Dr. King’s dream of economic justice and to helping those who are “bootless” in our country. America, he said, has “the techniques and the resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will.”

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver: Remembering Martin Luther King

(From Missouri Fifth District Congressman Emanuel Cleaver)

Until I was eight years old, my family lived in a house that had no running water, and my mom, from time to time, would feed us a special treat for dinner of a giant biscuit and a mixture of cooked water and sugar. We didn’t know why the kids living in the houses with plumbing didn’t get to have that special treat. We felt sorry for them. 

Right now, all around the country, people are just trying to put in an honest day’s work to help themselves and their families.

These are people doing all of the things we tell them they are supposed to do in America to get ahead. They are working hard, playing by the rules, and trying to provide for their families. But they’re finding that it’s not enough. You know it is not enough. 

Many years ago, Dr. King fought for economic justice with his ‘Poor People’s Campaign’, which advocated an Economic Bill of Rights that guaranteed annual income for all Americans. He believed in Whitney Young, Jr.’s statement that ‘the hardest work in the world is being out of work’, and understood intrinsically the plight of the poor and unemployed. Dr. King truly defended the defenseless, spoke up for the voiceless, and stood steadfast for the causes of justice and peace. There are many ways to honor him, but one way is to honestly reckon with the work we have left to do. 

This January 8th marked the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s State of the Union address calling on the nation to launch an “unconditional war on poverty.” This address signaled a renewed national commitment to fighting poverty through targeted policy resulting in programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, Pell Grants, expansions to Social Security and nutrition assistance.

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Poverty doesn’t just go away. It’s something we must constantly work to reduce. Now, the progress we made is constantly threatened by those who want to take us backwards. We mark the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty at a time when the very programs that have been so successful over the past 50 years are under threat. 

Congress is considering cuts to nutrition assistance and has failed to continue unemployment insurance for long-term jobless workers who were laid off through no fault of their own – an unprecedented move at a time with such high rates of unemployment. And some people want to go further. We can’t give in to these demands. Strong majorities of Americans support continuing or expanding these programs, not cutting them.

The War on Poverty hasn’t failed; our economy has failed. The War on Poverty put in place an essential social safety net that has helped keep millions of people out of poverty. This safety net goes back to early 20th century and includes vital programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and federal support for education.

But there’s much more to do to successfully keep people out of poverty and help them move into the middle class. 

The real challenge today is that there aren’t enough good paying jobs for families to live on and the cost of housing, child care, and other basic needs is far too high. Those at the very top of the income ladder seem to be only ones benefitting from economic growth. With unemployment high and wages down, too many lower- and middle-income Americans are still living in the recession.

As inequality and outsize income gains at the top continue to rise, most of new jobs created in this country pay very low wages. Consequently, 46.5 million Americans live in poverty and 1 in 3 Americans teeter on its brink because our economy isn’t working for them. 

Our safety net is working overtime to make up for the failed economy. When families fall on tough times due to job loss, unexpected medical costs and other challenges, programs like unemployment insurance, Medicaid, nutrition, housing, and child care assistance keep families on their feet.

I hear my colleagues telling folks to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but what if you’ve got no boots? I mean that both metaphorically and literally. If you lack certain basic resources, it becomes harder and harder to get by, let alone make progress. And when you’re worried about the basic necessities which we, so fortunately, take for granted—clothing, shoes, a warm coat, something to eat, somewhere to sleep—you can’t better yourself or your children. 

My father worked three jobs to get us out of public housing and into our first home where my father still resides. There were four children in our family. All four children graduated from high school and college and two earned advanced educational degrees. We didn’t need a handout, we needed a hand up, so we could gain our own foothold. 

This is an issue we can make progress on. Our nation knows how to dramatically cut poverty because we’ve done it before. Between 1959 and 1973, we cut our poverty rate nearly in half through an economy that worked for everyone and a strong set of programs that supported families when they struggled. 

Our country has changed since that time and our policies haven’t caught up: Since the 1960s we’ve seen rising income inequality, an economy that requires higher levels of education to enter the middle-class, changing family structures and an increasingly important role for women and communities of color in the labor force. We need to adapt to these changes. As I have said many times in the past during the budget debate debacles on Capitol Hill, I believe that congressional budgets are a window into the moral compass of our conscience as a nation—and the compass has gone horribly off course. Recklessly cutting vital programs like job training, education, SNAP, and unemployment insurance for millions of hardworking American families is not a roadmap to balancing the budget—it is a road to nowhere.

The American people do not deserve this. Instead they deserve good jobs to care for their families. They deserve educational opportunities for their children. They deserve retirement security and access to affordable healthcare for their families. Instead of reckless cuts to programs that support Americans who are struggling, we need to focus our attention back on rebuilding an economy that works for everyone, including investments in job creation, education, and policies that provide a hand up to struggling families.

We should start by ensuring that every worker earns a living wage. Workers should be able to earn enough to support their families. Corporations need to pay their employees decent wages and adequate benefits. And, all levels of government should pay a living wage to their employees and should require living wages of government contractors. 

We need to raise the minimum wage and tie it to inflation so that a family breadwinner’s pay keeps up with the rising costs of housing and other basic needs. The minimum wage of $1.60 an hour in 1968 would be $10.56 today when adjusted for inflation. 80 percent of Americans—and majorities of Democrats and Republicans-- support an increase in the minimum wage and Congress and state legislatures need to act now to ensure that those who work full time do not end up in poverty. 

We’re at a critical point in our nation’s history, but as African Americans we survived the bitterness of slavery and oppression, held on to the hope of progress, and for generations many reached for, and in countless cases, achieved the American Dream. 

We are in no way tired. From the chains of slavery, to the picket lines in Selma, and to the highest office in the land — we’ve climbed the great ladder but still, yet still, not everyone has a seat at the table. There is more work to be done. 

Martin Luther King discusses JFK in rediscovered audiotape

Video- Bonner Springs fifth graders celebrate life of Martin Luther King

Supreme Court rejects Edgar Ray Killen's rehearing request

Edgar Ray Killen, convicted in 2005 for the murders of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman, will not receive another hearing.

The Supreme Court denied the request Monday without comment.

Killen, 88, was convicted of manslaughter, and is serving a 60-year sentence.

Franklin McCain of the Greensboro Four dead at 74

Franklin McCain, one of the Greensboro Four, who protested at the Woolworth's Store in Greensboro, N. C. in 1960, died Thursday at age 73:

Mr. McCain was one of the so-called Greensboro Four, who sat down at lunch counter stools at an F. W. Woolworth store on Feb. 1, 1960, fully expecting that they would not be served. When they were not, they came back the next day, and the next, and the next.

As word of the protest spread, others, in ever-growing numbers, joined them. By the end of the fifth day, more than a thousand had arrived. And on July 25, the store relented and made the lunch counter available to all.

In McCain's obituary in today's New York Times,  the first day of the protest was recalled:

The next afternoon, they walked a mile to the Woolworth at Elm and Market Streets, arriving about 3:20. They bought some school supplies and waited for their receipts as proof of purchase. They later recalled chafing at how eagerly the store had taken their money for merchandise while refusing it at the lunch counter, directing them instead to a basement hot dog stand.

“We wonder why you invite us in to serve us at one counter and deny service at another,” Mr. McCain recalled saying. “If this is a private club or private concern, then we believe you ought to sell membership cards and sell only to persons who have a membership card. If we don’t have a card, then we’d know pretty well that we shouldn’t come in or even attempt to come in.”

That, he recounted, “didn’t go over too well.” But as he sat waiting for a doughnut that he knew would never come, Mr. McCain felt oddly empowered.

“The best feeling of my life,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2010, was “sitting on that dumb stool.”
“I felt so relieved,” he continued. “Nothing has ever happened to me before or since that topped that good feeling of being clean and fully accepted and feeling proud of me.”

NPR Audio- New book offers a different look at Medgar Evers

In the accompanying audio, NPR interviews Frank X. Walker, author of a new book, Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, which features poetry told in the voices of those who played important roles in the life of the late civil rights leader.

Courthouse where trial of Emmett Till's killers held is being restored

One of the most notorious trials in American history was the one in October 1955, in which the two men who killed Emmett Till, Roy Bryant and E. W. Milam, despite overwhelming evidence, were found not guilty of his murder.

The courthouse in which that trial was held, the Sumner County, Mississippi Courthouse, is being restored to the shape it was in 58 years ago.

The restoration and improvements, which largely will be completed in the spring, culminate a journey that began more than six years ago with a formal apology from the county to Till's family. It's all part of a process, residents and officials say, to help the community face the tragic legacy of the Till case and move beyond it.

"It's part of our history," said Frank Mitchener, 80, a retired farmer and member of the bi-racial Till commission. "He (Till), of course was the catalyst that started the civil rights movement."

Funded with more than $1.8 million in federal earmark money, plus other grants, the courthouse renovation and associated improvements should lure more of the visitors who already travel to sites made famous during the civil rights struggle, supporters say. Even in its current state, the courthouse has been attracting regular bus tours and school groups.

MSSU plans annual celebration of Martin Luther King

(From Southern News Service)

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”

 The quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is at the heart of the annual MLK Day of Service – a call for people to work together to solve problems.

 It will also serve as a central theme for the annual celebration of Martin Luther King at Missouri Southern State University. Set for the week of Jan. 20, 2014, it will include several special events and provide ways for the campus and community to be of service to others.

 The celebration will begin with the annual MLK Breakfast at 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 20, in Connor Ballroom at Billingsly Student Center.

 “In the past, our guests (brought in for the event) have spoken at the breakfast,” said Faustina Abrahams, MSSU first year advising coordinator and a member of the university’s Diversity Committee, which sponsors the event. “This year, we wanted to focus on a local speaker who has a volunteer background.”

 Jerrod Hogan, founder of Rebuild Joplin – which was formed in the wake of the May 22, 2011, tornado – will be the speaker.

 Those attending the breakfast will have the opportunity to contribute to a community art project. Guests will trace their hands on construction paper, which will then be added to a collage created by Josie Mai, assistant professor of art, and students. At the conclusion of the breakfast, “Healing Hands Community Collage” will be unveiled.

 Cost for the MLK Breakfast is $5 per person. Tickets can be purchased at the MSSU Ticket Office or online atwww.mssu.edu/mlk.

 Sponsorship opportunities for tables at the breakfast are available. There will be six tickets per table, with a table tent on each sponsored table. Company names will be listed in the printed program and mentioned during the event. Call for more information.

 A volunteer fair is planned for 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21.

 Area volunteer and nonprofit organizations will set up tables in Billingsly Student Center with information about getting involved. Students and the community are invited to sign up and give their time to an organization of their choice.

 On Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Campus Activities Board will present two performances by MLK authority and impersonator Greenfair “Brother” Moses III.

 “Let Freedom Ring” will be presented at 1 p.m. in Corley Auditorium. Brother Moses will deliver one of the most powerful speeches of all time. It was a speech that King labored over as he wondered whether or not to use the phrase “I have a dream.”

 Brother Moses will also present King’s sermon known as “A Knock at Midnight” at 7 p.m. in Corley Auditorium.

 “We’d really like to see area churches attend the Wednesday evening program,” said Abrahams. “The MSSU Chamber Singers are going to open it, and we want it to feel like what it could have been like to be there for (the actual sermon).”

 Both programs are free and open to the public. 

Plans made to celebrate 50th anniversary of King march through Frankfort

The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights announced plans Wednesday to observe the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s march through Frankfort:

The historic 1964 march in Frankfort advocated for legislation to help end segregation by making discrimination illegal in the area of public accommodations such as stores, restaurants, theaters and hotels, the Commission on Human Rights said in a press release.

King, the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy and baseball great Jackie Robinson were among those who traveled to Kentucky to help lead the marchers to the Capitol and speak to the crowd from the steps.

Gov. Ned Breathitt met with Frank Stanley Jr., owner of the Louisville Defender newspaper and a key organizer of the event, other state civil rights leaders, and King and Robinson, to talk about the urgent need for a state civil rights law. The march helped build support for the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 and helped result in the Kentucky Civil Rights Act of 1966.

Trailblazing civil rights journalist receives honorary degree

(From Youngstown State University)

Trailblazing reporter Simeon Booker, an award-winning black journalist whose coverage of the Mississippi murder of Emmett Till in 1955 is credited with galvanizing the civil rights movement, receives an honorary Doctor of Letters degree on Sunday, Dec. 15, at the Fall Commencement ceremonies of Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio.

"We are honored to have Mr. Booker return to Youngstown and Youngstown State and to be recognized for the important role he played on the front lines of the civil rights movement in this country," YSU President Randy J. Dunn said.

Booker, who moved to Youngstown at the age of seven, enrolled in Youngstown College (later renamed Youngstown State University) in 1938, but withdrew after learning that black students at the school were not allowed activity cards. As part of his visit to Youngstown, Booker will be presented with a symbolic YSU activity card at a community dinner and reception Saturday, Dec. 14, on campus.

Booker, long considered the "dean" of black journalists, was the first black staff reporter at The Washington Post and worked for more than 50 years as Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent for Jet andEbony magazines. He covered murders, marches, sit-ins and freedom rides and twice followed black troops to Vietnam. He is the recipient of the Newspaper Guild Award, a Willkie Award and the Nieman Fellowship in Journalism at Harvard University. This past January, Booker was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Black Journalists. His book, Shocking the Conscience, was published this year by University Press of Mississippi.

Today in History 1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat

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New book features Freedom Riders' mug shots

A new book, Breach of Peace by Eric Etheridge, features police mug shots of the Freedom Riders:

Discovery of the mug shots taken of those young riders proved to be a photographic gold mine for Etheridge, 57, who mounted an unusual search mission as a result.

 What he did was track down the 328 arrestees after requesting their cooperation. All agreed. He then took photographs of them as they look today — most in their 70s and as committed to equal rights now as they were half a century ago.

 “Working on this project gave me a way back into my own history,” Etheridge said Saturday afternoon during an appearance at Montgomery’s old Greyhound bus station, now known as the Freedom Rides Museum.

Supreme Court will not hear "Mississippi Burning" mastermind's appeal

The U. S. Supreme Court decided this week it would not hear the appeal of convicted "Mississippi Burning" mastermind Edgar Ray Killen.

Killen, 88, is serving a 60-year sentence for his part in the 1964 murders of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney:

In his appeal, Killen declared that he deserved a new trial because his constitutional rights were violated.On Monday, his attorney, Rob Ratliff of Mobile, Ala., vowed to keep fighting, saying the "legal options are not over. Several other options exist in the course of having proper judicial review of a conviction and sentencing that failed to meet our respected standards."Justices were not asked to rule on substantive issues, but to recognize Killen's constitutional right to due process, Ratliff wrote in an email.

Congress honors Birmingham Church Bombing victims

KC artist giving MLK mural a makeover

Teachers who marched together reunite for March of Washington anniversary

Missouri celebrates 50th anniversary of March on Washington

Clinton: Stop complaining; start fixing America

President Obama observes March on Washington anniversary

Kansas Citians gather to observe March on Washington anniversary

AP Video: March on Washington 50 years later

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John Lewis: We have come too far

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Martin Luther King Philadelphia speech recovered

(From the National Heritage Society)

Tom Lingenfelter, America's History Detective of Doylestown, Pa., announced the discovery of the 46-year old magnetic quarter-inch audio tape of Dr. King's only major speech in Philadelphia (to an audience of 3500 in the alumni fieldhouse of St. Joseph's University). No other recording of this speech is known to exist.

The recorded speech along with unpublished photographs were found in the forgotten collection of the photographer/journalist who covered the event October 26,1967....all are in excellent condition.

This quintessential hour long speech of carefully measured tone, blend of logic, activism, the Bible and American history...plus the passionate desire for a fully integrated society based upon real freedoms; the voice and the reasoning of Dr. King are unmistakable. 

Lingenfelter said the photographs and tape are preserved in a secure facility while plans are being considered for its presentation to the public. 

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/23/5676705/martin-luther-kings-philadelphia.html#storylink=cpy

AP raw video: Voices heard at the Lincoln Memorial today

Thousands of marchers remember King

Ethiopian immigrant reflects on "I Have a Dream" speech

Thousands gather to commemorate March on Washington

Missouri to celebrate 50th anniversary of March on Washington

(From the state of Missouri)

The March on Washington, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Aug. 28, 1963, was a pivotal moment in our nation’s history, a time when our country stood at a crossroads for change and equality. This historic march drew more than a quarter million people who convened on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial, capturing the attention of billions of people worldwide.

August 28, 2013, marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech. To commemorate this important date of remembrance, the state of Missouri will participate in the National “Let Freedom Ring” Day with an event from 1-2 p.m. on the grounds of the Missouri State Capitol (in case of rain, the event will be moved indoors to the 1st floor Rotunda of the Missouri State Capitol). The day’s program will include music, poetry, refreshments and more.

History teacher recalls March on Washington

Another educator recalls the March on Washington

Educators recall the March on Washington

Congress commemorates 50th anniversary of March on Washington

John Lewis talks about the impact of the March on Washington

From this week's Bill Moyers and Company on PBS, an interview with Rep. John Lewis, D-Alabama, the last surviving speaker from the Aug. 20, 1963, March on Washington.

Myrlie Evers: There are times when the anger overwhelms me

Today marks 50 years since the assassination of civil rights hero Medgar Evers.

NAACP: Medgar Evers gave his life for civil rights

St. Louis newspaper archives reveal new information about Emmett Till murder

In his latest blog entry, Jackson Clarion-Ledger reporter Jerry Mitchell, whose dogged reporting helped reopen many long-closed civil rights murders and bring the killers to justice, writes about how long-missing files from a St. Louis African-American newspaper have added new information to the Emmett Till murder case:

(A)nother African-American newspaper, The St. Louis Argus, had covered the trial.
He ordered a copy of the Argus microfilm from 1955 — only to find a curious gap where the trial took place. ”Every time I interlibrary loaned the Argus, same gap,” he said. “Every time.”
Finally, an undergraduate student at Florida State, Jessica Primiani, found the missing issues at the State Historical Society of Missouri.
And what a find it was — the Argus’ publisher attended the trial along with a reporter and photographer.
“The Argus was the best represented among a very small contingent of the black press,” Houck said. ”It’s clear in examining the documents that the black community of St. Louis had a special investment in the murder of Emmett Till and the search for justice in the case.”
There are never-before-seen photographs, including a few of Mississippi NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers, who investigated Till’s killing.
Devery Anderson, who is working on a book titled, The Boy Who Never Died: The Saga of the Emmett Till Murder, said the trial coverage helped to answer questions, such as what the African-American business district in this area looked like.

Rosa Parks stamp issued on her 100th birthday

Charles Evers: We have not been forgotten

In this video, civil rights leader Charles Evers, brother of the late Medgar Evers, watches as his brother's widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, delivers the invocation during Monday's presidential inauguration.

Myrlie Evers-Williams delivers invocation at Presidential Inauguration

Myrlie Evers-Williams honored to give invocation at inauguration

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Eugene Patterson, author of famous Birmingham Church Bombing editorial, dead at 89

Former Atlanta Journal-Constitution Editor Eugene Patterson, who as an editor of a southern newspaper showed no fear in condemning the murder of four African-American girls in the bombing of the 15th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., died Saturday at age 89.

Mr. Patterson's commentary is printed below:

A Negro mother wept in the street Sunday morning in front of a Baptist Church in Birmingham. In her hand she held a shoe, one shoe, from the foot of her dead child. We hold that shoe with her.

Every one of us in the white South holds that small shoe in his hand.

It is too late to blame the sick criminals who handled the dynamite. The FBI and the police can deal with that kind. The charge against them is simple. They killed four children.

Only we can trace the truth, Southerner — you and I. We broke those children’s bodies.

We watched the stage set without staying it. We listened to the prologue unbestirred. We saw the curtain opening with disinterest. We have heard the play.

We — who go on electing politicians who heat the kettles of hate.

We — who raise no hand to silence the mean and little men who have their nigger jokes.

We — who stand aside in imagined rectitude and let the mad dogs that run in every society slide their leashes from our hand, and spring.

We — the heirs of a proud South, who protest its worth and demand it recognition — we are the ones who have ducked the difficult, skirted the uncomfortable, caviled at the challenge, resented the necessary, rationalized the unacceptable, and created the day surely when these children would die.

This is no time to load our anguish onto the murderous scapegoat who set the cap in dynamite of our own manufacture.

He didn’t know any better.

Somewhere in the dim and fevered recess of an evil mind he feels right now that he has been a hero. He is only guilty of murder. He thinks he has pleased us.

We, who know better, created a climate for child-killing by those who don’t.We of the white South who know better are the ones who must take a harsher judgment.

We hold that shoe in our hand, Southerner. Let us see it straight, and look at the blood on it. Let us compare it with the unworthy speeches of Southern public men who have traduced the Negro; match it with the spectacle of shrilling children whose parents and teachers turned them free to spit epithets at small huddles of Negro school children for a week before this Sunday in Birmingham; hold up the shoe and look beyond it to the state house in Montgomery where the official attitudes of Alabama have been spoken in heat and anger.

Let us not lay the blame on some brutal fool who didn’t know any better.

We know better. We created the day. We bear the judgment. May God have mercy on the poor South that has so been led. May what has happened hasten the day when the good South, which does live and has great being, will rise to this challenge of racial understanding and common humanity, and in the full power of its unasserted courage, assert itself.

The Sunday school play at Birmingham is ended. With a weeping Negro mother, we stand in the bitter smoke and hold a shoe. If our South is ever to be what we wish it to be, we will plant a flower of nobler resolve for the South now upon these four small graves that we dug.

Trailer released for new Jackie Robinson film

Bible used by Martin Luther King to be used at inauguration

A Bible used by slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. will be used at the inauguration of President Barack Obama Jan. 20:

Martin Luther King Jr. carried a black leather King James Bible on his journeys as a young pastor starting out in Montgomery, Ala. He turned to this “traveling Bible” for inspiration, his family says, as he fought for freedom and equality.President Obama will put his hand over King’s well-worn Bible at his public swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 21, the holiday celebrating the birthday of the slain civil rights leader. King’s Bible will be stacked with the burgundy velvet and gilded Bible used by President Abraham Lincoln at his first inauguration.

Finding old newspaper articles for your civil rights research project

The amount of material available online for civil rights research projects has grown incredibly over the past few years as more and more information is put on the internet.

Those seeking newspaper articles from the era can now find them accessible, often at no charge, by looking through the Google News archives.

You can start by typing in a search term such as "Birmingham Church Bombing" on Google. When your results come through, click on news (links for news can be found on the top and left hand sides of the page).

After the news results arrive, click on "archives" on the left side of the page. When you get your results, if you are not wanting to pay (or cannot afford to pay) for articles, hit the "free only" link on the left hand side of the page.

Most often, you will find PDFs of the newspaper pages with the information you are wanting, in this example, the Birmingham Church Bombing, highlighted.

Medgar Evers' widow to deliver invocation at Obama inauguration

Slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers' widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams will deliver the invocation at President Barack Obama's inauguration Jan. 20:

It comes 50 years after her husband was gunned down in the driveway of his Mississippi home. The inauguration falls on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Evers-Williams is a distinguished scholar at Alcorn State University in Lorman, Miss. She was chairwoman of the NAACP from 1995 to 1998.

Inaugural organizers said the Rev. Louie Giglio of Atlanta’s Passion City Church will deliver the benediction for Obama’s swearing-in.

In a statement, Obama says Evers-Williams and Giglio represent ideals of justice, equality and opportunity that he pursues.

Deadlines set for third quarter research project

Deadlines have been set for the third quarter civil rights research project in Mr. Randy Turner's eighth grade communication arts classes at East Middle School.

Internet research- Monday, January 7-Friday, January 11

Library (Book Research) Monday, January 14, Tuesday, January 15

Thesis Statement Due- Friday, January 18

First Draft Due- Monday, February 4

Final Draft Due- Monday,  March 4

(Oral presentations and multi-media will take place between Tuesday, February 5, and Friday, Feb. 22.)