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August 14-16th in Springfield, IL included 5,000 white and European individuals as the mob and 2,000 African American refugees in retaliation for an alleged rape and murder of a white woman. This event was the catalyst which prompted the NAACP to be formed. -
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans. -
The Costigan Warner Bill made lynching illegal. It was never made into a federal crime though, even with subsequent bills passed due to US Senators receiving opposition from Southern senators. -
Born on September 15th, 1940 Essie Mae Moody is born and later due to a birth certificate error has her name changed to Anne Moody. -
Jackie Robinson, Floyd Patterson, Curt Flood, Margaretta Belafonte are among those in the Jackson NAACP convention to which Moody attends against the wishes of her mother who is being threatened for Moody's social activism in Centreville. -
Moody receives a basketball scholarship to attend Natchez Junior College. During this time, Samuel O'Quinn is murdered for his interest in the Civil Rights Movement and the NAACP. Less than two weeks later, Rev. Dupree and his family flee their home in Fort Adams to escape being lynched by a white mob. -
Originally the FBI ruled that the motive for his murder was due to someone wanting his land. Years later under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007, they reopened the investigation but closed it in 2012 with the thought that those responsible were dead.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/samuel-oquinn -
Dupree and his family flee their home in Fort Adams (19 miles west of Woodville) to escape a white mob intending to lynch him due to his mentioning the NAACP in a sermon. -
Tougaloo was ground zero for the civil rights movement. The college housed teh Freedom Riders, set the stage for protests, set up voting registration drives, and served as a training ground. It also served as resting place and a safe place to strategize. Freedom Riders found refuge here after their release from Parchman state prison.
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/02/01/civil-rights-tougaloo-eye-storm/22700265/ -
Anne Moody and classmates Memphis and Pearlena start the sit-in at 11:15am. Joann Trumpauer ends up joining the sit -in after Memphis is beaten and arrested. This was one of the most violently attacked sit-in during the 1960s lasting nearly three hours with participants being beaten, slashed, kicked, condiments spilled all over them, and burned with cigarettes. -
1) Hiring of Negro policemen and school crossing guards
2) Removal of segregation signs from public facilities
3) Improvement of job opportunities for Negroes on city payrolls
4) Encouraging public eating establishments to serve both whites and Negroes
5) Integration of public parks and libraries
6) The naming of a Negro to the City Parks and Recreation Committee
7) Integration of public schools
8) Forcing service stations to integrate rest rooms -
Moody conducted several workshops where students were taught to protect themselves, "if you wanted to protect the neck to offset a karate blow, you clasped your hands behind the neck". These workshops were handled by SNCC and CORE which was able to draw teenagers in more than the NAACP. The NAACP, meanwhile, handled all the bail and legal services as well as public relations. -
NAACP leader Medgar Evans was assassinated at his residence after attending a NAACP function. Moody watches the news bulletin in Jackson at the Dennis residence. Evidence pointed to Byron de la Beckwith who was a member of Mississippi's White Citizens Council. He was prosecuted twice with hung juries. Only on February 5th 1994 was Beckwith finally charged and found guilty.
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Moody attends the March on Washington where she hears MLK's "I have a Dream" speech -
On Moody's 23rd birthday as she is eating breakfast, she hears the news bulletin of the 16th Street bombing which killed four girls in Birmingham, AL. This is a turning point for Moody where she vows that nonviolence protest is "out" for her. -
Moody finds out she is on a KKK Blacklist, essentially a hit list due to her activism. This along with previous trials culminates in her deciding to leave Canton, MI after the free election. -
As Moody works in the diner in New Orleans she hears the new of JFK's assassination and fears that will be the end of hope for the movement. -
Moody's Uncle Clifton is murdered a few miles north of Woodville on how way home from work. He was shot to death in a suspected "terror killing" to remind Negroes to stop fighting for civil rights. -
Moody walks the stage and receives her B.S. before the anticipated Freedom Summer -
On July 2nd 1964, the Civil Rights Act is passed and prevents discrimination in any public places including schools and restaurants. -
While African Americans have rights today that have been long denied, the struggle for true racial equality in America is still a raging battle. Racial profiling, racially motivated crimes, false accusations, police brutality, inequalities in income and resources reflect the long way we have to go still. George Floyd's murder has recently highlighted the race divide which still exists.
