Presented By
The Wendell Phillips Academy High School Leadership Department
Mrs. Henderson, Department Chair
Ms Banks
Mr. Brown
Mr. Jones
Mr. Larson
Mrs. Taylor
Ms Boyd, Library Media Specialist
Photograph of Ahmed Rayner courtesy of A.A. Rayner Funeral Home
Other photographs courtesy of PBS.ORG, YouTube and Google Images
Presented By
The Wendell Phillips Academy High School Leadership Department
Mrs. Henderson, Department Chair
Ms Banks
Mr. Brown
Mr. Jones
Mr. Larson
Mrs. Taylor
Ms Boyd, Library Media Specialist
Photograph of Ahmed Rayner courtesy of A.A. Rayner Funeral Home
Other photographs courtesy of PBS.ORG, YouTube and Google Images
A Powerpoint presentation on the troubled affluence in the USA after World War Two, with an emphasis on the Civil Rights Movement and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For the Irish Leaving Cert USA History topic
This covers all of how America got into World War One through how we helped end the war in Europe. It also at the end discusses the treaty of Versailles.
A Powerpoint presentation on the troubled affluence in the USA after World War Two, with an emphasis on the Civil Rights Movement and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For the Irish Leaving Cert USA History topic
This covers all of how America got into World War One through how we helped end the war in Europe. It also at the end discusses the treaty of Versailles.
1968 - PART 3 ECONOMICS AND SOCIOECONOMICS Detroits bl.docxRAJU852744
1968 - PART 3: ECONOMICS AND SOCIOECONOMICS
Detroit's black middle class emerged from 1968's upheaval
John Gallagher, USA TODAY NETWORK – Detroit
Before 1968, America’s small African-American middle class operated mostly in a segregated world.
Black-owned funeral homes, pharmacies, restaurants and clubs served a mostly black clientele in
neighborhoods like Detroit’s Black Bottom, soon to be razed for "urban renewal" — decimated like many
others by new freeways.
Many college-educated blacks were able find jobs only in a few places open to them, such as the post
office. When Ford Motor Co. was asked in 1963 to list its white-collar occupations open to African-
Americans, it had to include service jobs such as valets, porters, messengers and mail clerks just to have
any at all. Blacks then at Ford were relegated mostly to the worst dead-end jobs in assembly plants.
But after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968 and the report of the Kerner Commission on
urban unrest, America began, slowly and painfully, to offer more opportunities to people of color.
Yet, a white backlash grew along with the greater opportunities for African-Americans. In another
momentous change wrought by 1968, the white working class began to drift to the right politically, with
enormous implications for the nation's political scene that resonate today.
No place did the struggle for opportunity and the backlash against it play out more dramatically than in
Detroit.
Among those who witnessed it all was the Rev. Doug Fitch, a black Methodist pastor from Los Angeles
known for his ministry to the Black Panthers. He was recruited in 1968 to help run the Detroit Industrial
Mission, a task force designed to open up auto industry jobs to African-Americans.
“Often, those who were poor were relegated to the very dirty jobs,” Fitch, now 81, said recently. “They
were on the assembly line, but they were not in the organization as managers."
Industry responds to Kerner report
During that dramatic year, some of Detroit's corporate elite, including Henry Ford II and financier Max
Fisher, mandated more opportunities for blacks in industry, including Detroit's many auto plants. Some
civic leaders sincerely believed change was needed, while others cynically referred to such affirmative
action programs as "buying riot insurance" in hopes it would tamp down black resentment.
Not everything changed, by any means. Schools and housing patterns in Detroit would remain segregated
for decades. But over time, Fitch said, more economic opportunities opened up for African-Americans,
from the factory floor to professional offices.
"What happened is that corporations began to think seriously about new employees coming into their
business that would change the face of that corporation," Fitch said. The face of work began to “look a lot
like us.”
Statistics bear out that a new black middle class was emerging. Historian Thomas.
1968 - PART 3 ECONOMICS AND SOCIOECONOMICS Detroits bl.docxaulasnilda
1968 - PART 3: ECONOMICS AND SOCIOECONOMICS
Detroit's black middle class emerged from 1968's upheaval
John Gallagher, USA TODAY NETWORK – Detroit
Before 1968, America’s small African-American middle class operated mostly in a segregated world.
Black-owned funeral homes, pharmacies, restaurants and clubs served a mostly black clientele in
neighborhoods like Detroit’s Black Bottom, soon to be razed for "urban renewal" — decimated like many
others by new freeways.
Many college-educated blacks were able find jobs only in a few places open to them, such as the post
office. When Ford Motor Co. was asked in 1963 to list its white-collar occupations open to African-
Americans, it had to include service jobs such as valets, porters, messengers and mail clerks just to have
any at all. Blacks then at Ford were relegated mostly to the worst dead-end jobs in assembly plants.
But after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968 and the report of the Kerner Commission on
urban unrest, America began, slowly and painfully, to offer more opportunities to people of color.
Yet, a white backlash grew along with the greater opportunities for African-Americans. In another
momentous change wrought by 1968, the white working class began to drift to the right politically, with
enormous implications for the nation's political scene that resonate today.
No place did the struggle for opportunity and the backlash against it play out more dramatically than in
Detroit.
Among those who witnessed it all was the Rev. Doug Fitch, a black Methodist pastor from Los Angeles
known for his ministry to the Black Panthers. He was recruited in 1968 to help run the Detroit Industrial
Mission, a task force designed to open up auto industry jobs to African-Americans.
“Often, those who were poor were relegated to the very dirty jobs,” Fitch, now 81, said recently. “They
were on the assembly line, but they were not in the organization as managers."
Industry responds to Kerner report
During that dramatic year, some of Detroit's corporate elite, including Henry Ford II and financier Max
Fisher, mandated more opportunities for blacks in industry, including Detroit's many auto plants. Some
civic leaders sincerely believed change was needed, while others cynically referred to such affirmative
action programs as "buying riot insurance" in hopes it would tamp down black resentment.
Not everything changed, by any means. Schools and housing patterns in Detroit would remain segregated
for decades. But over time, Fitch said, more economic opportunities opened up for African-Americans,
from the factory floor to professional offices.
"What happened is that corporations began to think seriously about new employees coming into their
business that would change the face of that corporation," Fitch said. The face of work began to “look a lot
like us.”
Statistics bear out that a new black middle class was emerging. Historian Thomas ...
3. Emmett Till Not Politically Active Innocent Intelligent Not a Civil Rights Activist
4. When his mom let him visit his uncle in Money, Mississippi, Emmett and some friends hung out at this market where Emmett would talk about the north, joke of a white girl being his girlfriend and talk to the lady in the store as a dare in which he was accused of whistling at her. The woman turned out to be the wife of the owner who would here of the news as it spread like lightning.
5. Roy Bryant and his half brother JW Milam then decided to “teach the boy a lesson” as Roy felt his wife’s image was tainted by the incident so they planned to meet at 2:00 am.
6. MoseWright would then tell reporters what happened next: “Sunday morning about 2:30 someone called at the door. And, I said ‘who is it,’ and he said, ‘this is Mr. Bryant. I want to talk with you and the boy.’ And when I opened the door, there was a man standing with a pistol in one hand and a flashlight in the other hand.” The men forced their way into Emmett’s bedroom where he was sleeping and took him to their car. They beat him severely enraged he had a picture of a white woman in his wallet. They shot him and threw him in a river where his body was found a few days later .
7. A fisherman found his body three days later in the Tallahatchie River which to the surprise of many, the men were charged of kidnapping and then murder was added to the charges.
8. The trial was held in an all white courtroom and despite ample evidence it lasted only one week, “the case was lost before it began.” In the closing remarks one of the defense attorneys' told the jurors “every last Anglo Saxon one of you men in this jury has the courage to set these men free.” On September 23, 1955 the jury declared Bryant and Milam innocent after only deliberating for one hour. MoseWright, as a witness, was one of the first times African Americans accused a white of a crime in a Mississippi court of law. He had to leave the state immediately after.
9. Mamie Till held an open casket funeral for her son so people around the world could see “what they did to my boy”. He had a bullet hole in his head and his face was battered beyond recognition while his body was decomposing after several days in the river. Jet Magazine published an article about the murder with a photo of Emmett’s body. The editor, John Johnson said “ The issue, which went out on sale on September 15, 1955, sold out immediately and did as much as any other event to traumatize black America and prepare the way for the freedom movement of the sixties. A young black woman who would be influenced by the murder said “all of us remembered the photograph of Emmett Till’s face, lying in the coffin, in Jet magazine . . . That galvanized a generation as a symbol- that was our symbol- that if they did it to him, they could do it to us”
11. Former NAACP official- “The Emmett Till case became a cog in the wheel of change.” Charles C Diggs Jr.-“The Emmett Till trial is over, but we, as Negroes, should never forget its meaning. The fact that Milam and Bryant were acquitted shows us how tremendous a job we face to bring complete democracy to our entire nation. Negroes and other clear thinking Americans must combine their efforts to press for freedom and equality through both political and legal challenges.” David Halberstam- “The first great media event of the civil rights movement.” Chris Crowe- “The civil rights movement gained the momentum necessary to break free from the social bondage that had enslaved Blacks since before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.”
12. When Emmett Till was at gunpoint from two strangers he was challenged by Milam saying “You still as good as I am,” Emmett’s response to this was “Yeah.” The case was the main reason that many African Americans acted out as to what they felt was the American Dream: equality.
13. Works Cited Crowe, Chris. Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. New York: Phyllis Fogelman Books, 2003. Print. Crowe, Chris. “The lynching of Emmett Till.”The History of Jim Crow. Web. 5 April 2011. “The Lynching of Emmett Till: The horrific death of a Chicago teenager helped spark the Civil Rights Movement.” Heroism.org. Web. 5 April 2011. “The Emmett Till Case, 1955.” DIScovering U.S. History. Gale Research, 1997. Reproduced in Discovering Collection. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale Group. October, 2011. Web. 5 April 2011.
