The Southern Institute for Education and Research

PART III: QUESTIONS - - TEACHER COPY

Instructions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1. What was Radical Reconstruction? When did it occur? How did it end? What was its significance?

Radical Reconstruction was the period following the Civil War from 1867 to 1877 during which so-called Radicals in the U.S. Congress controlled Federal policy towards the South. During this period of time, despite the intense opposition by white vigilantes, black people in the South enjoyed political and civil rights. In Louisiana, those rights were gradually abolished following the withdrawal of Federal troops from the state in 1877.

2. What happened to the Rhodes family in Thibodaux, Louisiana? What happened to the school teacher? What was the purpose behind these actions?

The Rhodes family was threatened with death and forced to flee Thibodaux to New Orleans. As a black family which owned land, the Rhodes were viewed as a threat to local whites. Segregation was based on the premise that blacks were inferior. A black who owned land was an inviting target to a white man who did not. Black and white teachers of black children were particularly inviting targets. Educating black children was the great taboo. It threatened the structure of segregation, which was based upon keeping a people ignorant.

3. Who was Homer Plessy? Describe the incident that led to the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson. In what year did the incident occur?

Homer Plessy was a light-skinned black man who decided to test Louisiana's segregation laws in 1892. He sat in an "all white" coach on a train from New Orleans to Covington. Plessy was ejected from his seat. He promptly sued the railroad company. John Ferguson, a Federal judge in New Orleans, decided in favor of the railroad company, and the case was then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

What did the Supreme Court decide in Plessy v. Ferguson?

The Supreme Court endorsed the opinion of the lower court and decided in favor of the railroad company. The court established that "separate but equal" in public facilities was constitutional.

What effect did the Supreme Court's decision have on race relations in the United States?

The decision greatly contributed to the entrenchment of legal segregation in the South.

4. One Supreme Court Justice, John Holland, disagreed with the decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. He wrote, "The destinies of the two races in this country are indissolubly linked together, and the interests of both require the common government of all should not permit the seed of race hate planted under the sanction of law."
Do you agree or disagree with the statement, "...the two races in this country are indissolubly linked together?" Explain your answer.

This answer depends on the student's opinion, but it must be supported by examples.

5. What was the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Brown v. the Board of Education? In what year was this decision rendered?

In May 1954, the Supreme Court decided in Brown v. the Board that "separate but equal" in public education was unconstitutional.

What was the reaction of the majority of the white South to Brown v. the Board of Education?

Generally speaking, the white South opposed the Brown v. the Board decision and stood against integration of public schools. White supremacists organized the White Citizens' Council to fight desegregation.

6. Benjamin Hooks, then director of the NAACP, describes the Brown v. the Board decision this way: "The victory was tremendous. It was the most important since the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. It was the most important psychological victory since Emancipation."
What was the Emancipation Proclamation? Who issued it? In what year?

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. It freed the slaves in the states then in rebellion. The Proclamation did not free the slaves in the territories then occupied by Federal troops in Louisiana.

What were the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the constitution?

In 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery. The 14th Amendment, in 1868, established that all person born or naturalized in the United States enjoyed the rights of citizenship. It extended constitutional rights and liberties to blacks and to other people previously denied those rights. It made the federal government the protector of those rights. In 1879, the 15th Amendment stated: "The right of a citizen of the United States to vote shall not be denied because he was once an indentured servant or a slave. The right to vote cannot be denied because of race or color."

Ask the students why NAACP director Benjamin Hooks viewed the Brown v the Board decision as the "the most important psychological victory since Emancipation." Specifically, what does Hooks mean by "psychological victory? "

A possible answer: the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. the Board established that black people should be treated equally in the field of education, and this offered the possibility that education would help black people overcome the problems before them. White supremacists had traditionally denied black children the opportunity to be educated in the hope that an ignorant populace would be unwilling to confront the unfairness of Jim Crow segregation.

7. Who was Leander Perez, and what was his role during the Civil Rights period?

Leander Perez was a wealthy white supremacist and lawyer who led the White Citizens' Council in its fights against desegregation. He despised blacks and Jews and described integration as a communist inspired attempt to promote race mixing and thereby to weaken the United States.

8. Who was Rosa Keller, and what was her role during the Civil Rights period?

Rosa Keller was a wealthy white woman from Uptown New Orleans who was one of the few white people to work in favor of desegregation.

9. Who was John McDonogh?

John McDonogh was a 19th century philanthropist and slave owner who endowed the Baltimore and New Orleans public schools.

Describe the traditional McDonogh Day celebration.

Each year in May students from public schools in New Orleans paid homage to McDonogh by placing flowers at the foot of his statue in Lafayette Park. It was a festive occasion involving bands and singing. Afterwards, each school paraded before the mayor who stood across the street at Gallier Hall and handed out keys to the city to each school delegation.

Why did black teachers and community leaders object to the way in which the ceremony was organized?

Black people objected to the McDonogh Day ceremony because it was conducted according to the rules of Jim Crow segregation. White children went first, and black children followed after the last white school delegation had received its keys to the city. Black children often had to stand in the hot sun and watch as the white schools went before them. The ceremony was humiliating and suggested that the black children were "less" than the white children.

Describe the McDonogh Day in 1954. What happened?

Black schools staged a boycott of McDonogh Day in 1954. They simply did not show up. The boycott was observed by the overwhelming majority of blacks students and teachers in the city.

What was the significance of the McDonogh Day Boycott?

It was the first time that all the diverse groups within the black community banded together to stage a large protest of segregation.

PART III: QUESTIONS - - STUDENT COPY

Instructions: answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1. What was Reconstruction? When did it occur? How did it end? What was its significance?
2. What happened to the Rhodes family in Thibodaux, Louisiana? Why did this happen?
3. Who was Homer Plessy? Describe the incident that led to the Supreme Court's case Plessy v. Ferguson. In what year did the incident occur?
What did the Supreme Court decide in Plessy v. Ferguson?
What effect did the Supreme Court's decision have on race relations in the United States?
4. One Supreme Court Justice, John Holland, disagreed with the decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. He wrote, "The destinies of the two races in this country are indissolubly linked together, and the interests of both require the common government of all should not permit the seed of race hate planted under the sanction of law."
Do you agree or disagree with the statement "the two races in this country are indissolubly linked together?" Explain your answer.
5. What was the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Brown v. the Board of Education? In what year was this decision rendered?
As succinctly as you can, compare and contrast "Plessy vs. Ferguson" and "Brown vs. the Board of Education."
6. Benjamin Hooks, then director of the NAACP, describes the Brown v. the Board decision this way: "The victory was tremendous. It was the most important since the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. It was the most important psychological victory since Emancipation."
What were the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments?
What was the Emancipation Proclamation? Who issued it? In what year?
In your opinion, what does Hooks mean with the expression "psychological victory?" Explain.
7. Who was Leander Perez, and what was his role during the Civil Rights period?
8. Who was Rosa Keller, and what was her role during the Civil Rights period?
9. Who was John McDonogh?
Describe the traditional McDonogh Day celebration.
Why did black teachers and community leaders object to the way in which the ceremony was organized?
Describe the McDonogh Day Boycott of 1954. What happened?
In your opinion, what was the significance of the McDonogh Day Boycott?

PART IV - - LECTURE NOTES

"I had a lot of people say, Why don't you let someone else do it?' You know, if everybody said, Let somebody else do it,' and nobody's going to do nothing."
-- Vergie Castle, mother of Oretha Castle-Haley

Part IV of A House Divided focuses on a dramatic year in the history of New Orleans: 1960.

OBJECTIVE:

In Part IV, the student should become familiar with the events of 1960. In this year, the Consumer League intensified its boycott of the merchants on Dryades St., and shortly afterwards CORE activists launched the sit-ins of the segregated lunch counters on Canal Street. On November 14, 1960, the New Orleans public schools were ordered desegregated by Federal Judge Skelley Wright. Here, on the eve of the school desegregation crisis, Part IV ends.

PREPARATION:

Before the students view Part IV of A House Divided, present a short lecture to them on the information provided below.

1. DRYADES STREET

For many years the stores along Dryades Street, the second largest shopping district in the city, served the black clientele of the neighborhood. Virtually all of the people who worked in the stores as managers and clerks were white; the great majority were family members in one extended way or another. Black people were occasionally employed on the mops and brooms level.

QUOTE:

In A House Divided, Avery Alexander says this about Dryades Street:
There were a hundred stores and there were no blacks clerking in any of the stores. No managers, no assistant managers. No white collar workers. We didn't believe it was equitable when ninety percent of the customers were black.

HISTORICAL POINT:

An organization of early black activists known as the Consumer League came into existence to protest the discriminatory hiring practices of the Dryades St. merchants. Among the leaders of the Consumer League were Avery Alexander, Dr. Raymond Floyd, A.L. Davis, Dr. Henry Mitchell, and others. Their lawyers, Lolis Elie, Nils Douglas, Robert Collins, Ernest "Dutch" Morial, and others, provided free legal counsel.
The Consumer League representatives negotiated with representatives of the Dryades Street merchants for several months, but no progress ensued.

QUOTE:

Dr. Henry Mitchell described the dialogue:
We conferred with the owners, the shop owners. The dialogue went on for two or three months. There answer was, 'What will happen to our white customers?' Our answer was, 'You better worry about the ninety-five percent of your customers.'
The merchants did not budge, and the Consumers' League launched a boycott of the Dryades Street stores. The Consumer's League members were joined on the picket lines by black students from the local colleges, including Oretha Castle, Jerome Smith, and Rudy Lombard. A few white students joined them. In the summer of 1960, these students organized a New Orleans chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

HISTORICAL POINT:

The Dryades Street Boycott was the first organized march for civil rights in New Orleans during the twentieth century.
The boycott began to be felt by the merchants in April 1960. Easter was a traditional time of good business, but Dryades Street was quiet on the Friday before Easter. There were no shoppers. This pressure compelled several of the merchants to hire blacks for jobs above the menial level. The Consumer League claimed credit for thirty jobs for black people on Dryades Street. But some merchants refused to yield. Inevitably, they were forced to close, or they chose to move to the suburbs. Dryades Street, once a bustling shopping district, is today a veritable ghost town. It comprises a row of boarded up store fronts, mute testament to one of the early civil rights victories in New Orleans.

QUOTE:

Avery Alexander, one of the leaders of the boycott, described the attitude of the merchants:
They ignored our pleas to hire blacks. (We said) 'If we boycott then blacks may leave and they might not come back,' and that's true. The place is just about dead now.
(question) "Was it worth it to kill Dryades Street?"
(Avery Alexander) "'Yes."

QUESTION:

Ask the students: was it "worth it to kill" the Dryades Street shopping district? A great deal was lost, but a great deal was gained. What were the losses? What was gained? Was it a matter of principle over practicality?

2. CANAL STREET

The students who met on the picket lines boycotting the Dryades Street stores formed a CORE chapter in New Orleans. They agreed to stage sit-in demonstrations at the segregated lunch counters on Canal Street. The black protest on Dryades Street and black protest on Canal Street were two different matters altogether.

HISTORICAL POINT:

The Dryades Street merchants were largely Jewish, but the businesses on Canal Street were owned by (or involved as lawyers, bankers, etc) the Christian white business elite of the city. This segment of the populace was not without anti-Semitic bias and tended to view the Jewish merchants of Dryades Street with a certain derision. In contrast, the protest on Canal Street was seen much more clearly as a threat to the existing order because it involved not the Jewish merchants but the wealthy denizens of the Boston Club and the other social clubs representing wealthy Uptown New Orleans.
On September 9, 1960, seven CORE activists struck at the Woolworth's on Canal Street. The lunch counter at Woolworth's was not an exception to the general rule of segregation, and black people were not permitted (by law) to sit at the counter reserved for "white only."
On this September morning, the CORE members sat at the "white only" counter. The waitresses, all of whom were white, refused to serve the black patrons and pointed out in a dumbfounded manner that blacks were not permitted to sit at the counter. It was, they tried to explain, the law. To the CORE members, the law was precisely the problem.
Rudy Lombard of CORE, one of the activists at Woolworth's the first day of the sit-in, said: "We went in the morning, and waited until the afternoon. They finally decided to arrest us. They were talking to everybody trying to figure out what to do." The activists were arrested for "criminal mischief" and released when local black congregations and the ACLU posted bond.
The next day activists from the NAACP Youth Council picketed Woolworth's. The sit-ins on Canal Street continued, despite the daily arrests and trips to Central Lockup. Crowds of angry whites gathered at Woolworth's and later at McCrory's and Kress's department stores to observe the sit-ins by CORE and NAACP activists. The crowds gawked at the protesters and heaped abuse upon them, including racial epithets, scalding coffee, and acid.
Arrested the first day of the sit-ins, Rudy Lombard of CORE understood that jail was a part of the struggle: "My idea of going to jail is to show the extent of your commitment."

HISTORICAL POINT:

The Canal Street protest was led by activists from CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality. Rudy Lombard was the chairman of CORE in New Orleans, and among its leading members were Oretha Castle and Jerome Smith. CORE was largely at odds with the NAACP, believing the NAACP relied too heavily on legal challenges rather than militant protest and direct action. The CORE chapter in New Orleans was racially mixed. There were black students from Southern University of New Orleans as well as from LSU in New Orleans (later UNO). A relatively few students joined from Dillard and Xavier Universities. In addition, a few white students from Tulane University and LSU in New Orleans. Some of the university presidents expelled the students who participated in civil rights protests.
In A House Divided, Rudy Lombard says, "CORE felt this was not enough. People in CORE decided the legal process would work but it would take too long. We wanted to change segregation immediately."

QUOTE:

In reference to the small number of activists who took part in the desegregation action on Canal Street, Rudy Lombard said, "I think a small group of people are responsible for the most part for big change."

QUESTION:

Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Who are the leaders in your group, in your class, in your community? How do people become leaders? How are leaders different from others?
Oretha Castle has this to say about the small number of CORE activists who launched the protest on Canal Street: "We must have been crazy." Her mother, Vergie Castle, says this: "I had a lot of people say, 'Why don't you let someone else do it, you know.' If everybody said, 'Let somebody else do it,' and nobody is going to do nothing, you know." Explore this point with your students.
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