In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
On Saturday March 27th 1965, President Lyndon Johnson was “declaring war” on one of the most horrific white supremacist groups of all time: The Ku Klux Klan (KKK).? He did so via a mass television broadcast where he attacked the Klan after a woman by the name of Mrs. Liuzzo was killed by four men who were apparently associated with the Ku Klux Klan. The President was fierce in his statement...
On April 1st 1965, a cross was burned outside the late Viola Liuzzo’s house in Detroit, Michigan. The Brownsville Herald reported a few days later that another cross had since been burned, making it “the fourth cross burning in Detroit in less than 24 hours.” The incident occurred on the front lawn of the Liuzzo house just two days after the funeral of Viola Liuzzo, commemorating...
"We will oppose…with every facility at our command, and with every ounce of our energy, the attempt being made to mix the white and Negro races in our classrooms. Let there be no misunderstanding, no weasel words, on this point: we dedicate our every capacity to preserve segregation in the schools."
- Virginia Governor James Lindsay Almond, Jr.
Dr....
In March of 1965, Sister Mary Paul of Detroit wrote a letter to the sisters of her Order describing her experiences while in Alabama as a hospital volunteer during the Civil Rights Movement. She states, “they probably could not have gone on if it had not been for the support of the North,” demonstrating the dire circumstances that led her to get involved in the first place. Being from the north,...
Marie Priscilla Martin was born on October 24, 1917 in Wilcox County, Alabama. From a poor family, Marie dropped out of high school to get married, and had three children. She eventually went to a junior college and became a dental hygienist. Foster became more involved in the voting rights movement because of her outrage over the racial inequality and injustice that she was constantly witnessing.
It’s...
On March 7, 1965 African Americans flooded the streets of Selma and headed west to Alabama’s capitol, Montgomery, to participate in a peaceful protest for racial equality. There was a lot of anticipation that led up to this march, as it was a long walk and a big mission. Although Dr. King was not able to attend, the people still assembled at Brown Chapel in Selma, Alabama with high hopes and a...
On March 6, 1965, Eileen Walbert, Helen Baer, Mary Young Gonzalez, and many more concerned white citizens began a controversial march in protest of voter registration issues in Selma, Alabama. As Gonzalez recounts, Selma “had jeeps stacked with rifles outside the courthouse as a threat to the black people who had been trying to go in to register to vote.” To compound matters, Baer remembers...
At the White House signing ceremony for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared, “Let us close the springs of racial poison.”
Although President John F. Kennedy had promised in his 1960 campaign to introduce civil rights legislation, by the spring of 1963 he had still taken no action. On May 2, 1963, the push for civil rights burst into living rooms across...
On March 17, 1951 the Sandspur—Rollins College’s student news publication, published an article called “Trustees Back Faculty Cuts.” The newspaper article reported on the responses of various groups at Rollins on their opinions on the faculty dismissals that were carried out by President Wagner and supported by the Board of Trustees. According to the article, Rollins and faculty...