4 Little Girls-Birmingham Church Bombing

Birmingham Alabama was known for its civil rights violence, bombings and strong "southern tradition" it was also one of the battle fields of the civil rights movements. On a Sunday Morning in 1963 four little African American girls would attend their last church service. The sixteenth street Baptist church was a church known for housing civil rights leaders and many racist whites knew this. On the morning of september 15, 1963 reports came in of a white man getting out of his car and being seen wandering around the church soon after at 10:22 am a bomb went off killing four little girls. Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair all young girls were killed in the blast. The case was unsolved for sometime until Attorney General Bill Baxley reopened the case presenting evidence that was not used in the first case and found Robert Chambliss guilty and sentenced to life in prison. ALthough the families will never fully heal many of the the parents in the movie seemed to be a little better off knowing that Chambliss was found guilty.

"BOMBINGHAM"

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views and research

Commercial Appeal

The views taken in writing during the 1960’s civil Rights movement

In the time period spanning from the early 1960’s to April of 1968 the civil rights movement was under an epic change. Many people where actually starting to challenge their rights at any cost. During this time of violence and social unrest many southern papers were thrust full on into this epic chain of events. One of these papers was the Commercial Appeal out of Memphis, Tennessee. The Commercial Appeal covered the sanitation strikes in Memphis and was also there when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It also covered many early civil rights events in Memphis during the time. Being a news medium for the south the commercial appeal had to choose how they would portray many of these events and how they would be perceived by their readership.

In looking into past newspaper from the 1950’s a constant trend was occurring involving newspapers keeping African Americans out of the public eye, unless they were in trouble. Many of these earlier press releases and news stories depicted the African American society as almost non-existent and if you were to find a story if would be in the back of a newspaper in the smallest print allowed. We see a huge shift in newspaper writing from the 1950’s to 1960’s as well. Many papers started to evolve and shift their writing to keep up with the changing times, although still referred to as Negroes, African American’s gained a little more dignity by having their names mentioned and quotes used in a newspaper and being able to have their voices heard for once. The 1960’s was a time when African Americans quotes were used to have their voices heard in stories, mainly by the newspapers.

A newspaper basis itself on credibility and without that, its most basic structure, the newspaper loses its readership as well as its ethical nature to report the topics without harm or malice towards others. The size of the medium outlet also has a lot to do with this. Many small town papers in bigger mediums chose to either write with a neutral view or a positive view of civil rights events and African American as a whole.

Newspapers in the south can be modeled after a see-saw in the way that some newspapers are positive while others where negative and sometime they would slowly change sides. Some papers would print news happening in African American society on the pages they should be while other papers would sway the truth or print big stories about African Americans in the very back in the smallest print allowed. A certain Instance that occurred happened in Jackson Mississippi. The Jackson Sun reluctantly sent a reporter to report on students who were protesting their right to vote in the presidential election. The aftermath saw 144 students put into jail. Was their story allowed to be printed on the front page? Absolutely not . The southern way that had been around for so long was swaying papers to write in a more reserved manor. While some papers where just afraid of the violence that could turn on them if reporting stories. The Jackson Sun would come out later and say that by playing down big civil rights events it would create a better transition into these new changing times. This was the mood of many of the southern papers.

Research Questions

Research questions were put together to research 10 articles published in Memphis, Tennessee newspaper The Commercial Appeal. Through these five questions one can determine the attitude of the paper towards the articles. The articles were taken from April 1, 1968-April 6, 1968 the events covering sanitation strikes up until the death of Martin Luther King Jr. death.

Commercial Appeal

The Commercial Appeal is a newspaper in Memphis, Tennessee that covered many early civil rights activities. I believe the Commercial Appeal to be a very unbiased paper that printed the news the way it was supposed to be seen, during a time when people were swayed by societal laws that did not open up for change. The Commercial Appeal in a way went against these societal norms to print the news how it was supposed to be seen, in every light possible, no matter what. In my paper I want show the readers the views and sides the Commercial Appeal took as well as tell about the actual events that took place and show how the writers of the paper took it upon themselves to show the “real” side of the story.

Slavery in the south has always been an issue and up until very recently nothing was done about it. Many early newspapers in the south were forced to make a

decision whether to print the news how they saw it or how the readers wanted to see it and depending on the area they were in were judged in different ways. Civil Rights news was the main focus of this time period and depending how the newspapers distributed the information was either helpful or harmful to the African American society. In smaller, more rural areas, newspapers might not even mention events about African Americans, while in big cities depending on what region you were in, would have to tell most important information ,some being more bias than others. In this time period, late 1950’s to early 1970’s, we see an increase in African Americans in the news, this was an important time for African Americans trying to voice their opinions because so many people were listening and the media during this time were the eyes and ears of the rest of the country. Another big point for newspapers was how they would present the information, as I stated in the above depending on what area you came from it mattered what you would hear but how they presented the information would also be a factor. In some newspapers they would put very important information in smaller text or of to the side. For instance the Commercial Appeal showed Martin Luther King Jr. on the front page of the newspaper when he died with a few articles about him on the inside. If a famous

figure as big as MLK had died in our time he would most likely have the whole paper be about him. The early south was just not that interested in these events in the beginning and it took papers like the Commercial Appeal to lead the way for other papers.

1968 in Memphis was a hard time for African Americans, Sanitation workers began to go on strike after 2 men were killed. The two men killed were Echol Cole and Robert Walker the city gave the families one months salary and 500 dollars for their funerals and nobody from the company came to the funeral. On top of this wages were not high and if workers were sent home due to weather they would not receive wages while the whites would. Viewing this as the last draw many rallied together to try and stop this kind of treatment. Many Religious groups as well as the African American community came together to march and protest. The city saw its fare share of violence during this time and even the murder of a 16 year old black boy who was

simply walking with protesters. After hearing about these events MLK decided that he wanted to go to Memphis and see what he could do even though he was strongly urged not to. After days of meeting and talking to protesters as well as city officials things seemed to be getting a little better until MLK was assassinated while standing on his hotel balcony. This was a huge blow to the African American society losing a leader of that magnitude but

because of his death many good things stemmed. The Sanitation workers were able to get what they wanted and were finally treated fairly. The workers earned higher salaries and also gained many other rights that they did not have in the beginning. Although a great man was lost this day this is when things started to turn around for

African Americans, His loss sent shockwaves through the United States that many did not see before. In other words people started to pay attention to what was going on in the south and how horrible it was. April 6, 1968 was the day that started many riots in the US and started a revolution so to speak for African American’s everywhere.

As you can see this event in Memphis was of epic proportion causing events to spur up in Memphis as well as across the US. The Commercial Appeal recorded the news as it happened for being in the South there is no real bias shown to blacks or

whites. I did expect to read a lot more on the day of the assassination but was still very surprised that they covered it as thoroughly as they did. Being a bigger Newspaper in the south the Commercial Appeal was forced to cover many of the big events that happened. They also documented and got great interviews with many of MLK’s close friends and family.

I will now go into further detail about why it was a big deal for newspapers to cover civil rights issues. In early American times African Americans were stripped of their rights and dignity through slavery. They were forced to work for low wages as well as treated inhumanly. In the early days they were never given an opportunity to voice their opinion and if they did were quickly killed or put into their place. The role early news mediums played was let the public know what was going on in the world. Many early African Americans were uneducated and unable to read to know what was going on in society especially their society (African American society) . Newspapers had two choices print the news or print what their white constituents wanted to read. In my own best words this is how I see the newspapers shaping early

African American views. They either printed what was happening or printed what was happening with a few blank spots, the blank spots being African American news.

During the coverage of the sanitation strikes in Memphis the Commercial Appeal did a very good job of documenting as well as keeping readers up with the news. I was a little saddened to see smaller articles but realized that given the times and circumstances in which the paper was printing that this was probably normal, some papers would not even give news like that. I also found it interesting that they reffered to African Americans as negro in the paper which once again I guess for the time was normal other than those to minor details their stories don’t tend to take a side of the African Americans or Southern Whites I’d like to refer to their style of writing as straight shooters. One article that proves they were straight shooters is one

they title “King’s slaying stuns troops in war zone” I say this because they didn’t have to write about this it is kind of an extra story they go on to say this tragedy was the same magnitude of kennedy’s death which is epic for a white newspaper they also tend to use a lot of quotes from African Americans as well as an African American Senator, which tells me they see everyones opinion and answers as newsworthy and of equal. Even before MLK’s death The Commercial Appeal was unbias towards African Americans. Another article I noticed that was very interesting was one a Commercial Appeal writer wrote “ There are two truths to be learned by the Beale Street violence. First, seeing is not believing, because prejudice can distort vision. Second, objective reporting from a scene of violence is impossible because things happen too fast to delve into causes and motivations and rightness of either crime or the police response.” He is saying that the police brutality needs to stop, and that many police jump to conclusions about what is going on because of the color of the people who are protesting. For a writer to say “hey you are wrong” given the times this shows the Commercial Appeal writers were educated and not racist but open to news and the stories they were telling.

The writers seemed to portray the people they were talking about as best as possible and wanted the rest of their readers, the non ignorant ones, to see what the African Americans were going through without blatantly saying “hey racist whites are wrong!” Every writer I have come across in articles related to the sanitation worker strikes seem to voice their opinions as they see fit. The paper does a good job of keeping up with the changing times but in a time of civil unrest makes sure both sides of the story are told. In another article the author lists quotes of many government officials (white officials) who reach out to the situation and MLK. New York Gov. Nelson A. Rockerfeller states : “ I am directing that the flags on all state buildings and facilities be flown at half staff tomorrow from sunrist to sunset as an expression of the deep sorrow felt by New Yorkers as well men of good will throughout our nation and the world.” As well as a quote from a southern Gov. Winthrop Rockerfeller states: “ I

am shocked by another act of violence that has been injected into an already explosive situation. Murder under any circumstance is deplorable. I can only interpret this as the

irresponsible act of a deranged mind.” The paper shows points of view from a southern government official and Northern official both of which show great remorse for what had happened. Both of these quotes are used through the newspaper to show the rest of their readers that not only is this event affecting Memphis but the world and that things like this cant happen and go unnoticed anymore. It created a sense of justice in the south and although there was still violence many communities came together to stop these types of things.

The Commercial Appeals coverage of MLK’s assassination was some of the best, not only because they were based in Memphis but because of their bias approach and ability to cover all the angles. The morning of the assassination the front page read “ Dr. King is slain by sniper.” Followed by events that happened because of the death. They show a story about arsen and looting because of Kings death as well as what

Johnson planned to do and statements released by Kings followers saying to stay calm and not retaliate.

In a sense the Newspapers ability to cover stories and spread the word of what happened helped to stop racism in the south. I said stop not completely shut out because there are still traces around the south. Papers like the Commercial Appeal took a stand and wrote about the real issues that were happening without any blinds, they took real people and let them voice their opinions and shared their views with the rest of society as well as the nation.

Summary of Coverage

In the time spanning March of 1968-April 4, 1968 Memphis Tennessee was going through one of the most critical changes during the civil Rights movement and The Commercial Appeal was there to follow all of its news.

Memphis could be looked upon as a battlefield for civil rights movement. In March of 1968 Sanitation workers went on strike because of unfair wages and few rights. For weeks they demonstrated and much violence occurred. When Martin Luther King arrived in Late March he began to spread the word of peaceful protesting. A week after getting to Memphis Martin Luther King had been Killed while standing outside his room at the Lorraine Motel. From here the Media world was thrust full on into a tornado of news from who it was to how it happened. The Commercial Appeal was able to keep a neutral standpoint and report the news to its community on a basis in which readers might sway their old fashioned views.

TIME LINE-SANITATION STRIKES AND MARTIN LUTHER KING'S ASSASINATION

Memphis, Tennessee Feb-March 1968

Sanitation Strikes/Martin Luther King's death

February 1, 1968- Two men are killed in a sanitation truck from an accident.

February 12, 1968- Sanitation workers go on strike.

February 13, 1968- An International Union official comes to Memphis from Washington to talk to the mayor and try to set things right. Mayor says he will just hire new sanitation workers if strikes continue.

February 14, 1968- Talks break off and trash starts to pile up.

February 26-27, 1968- Marches begin and protesters begin to march on city hall.

March 18, 1968- Newspapers post that protests are failing but 17000 show up for city wide march.

March 28, 1968- March turns deadly when police attack the crowd using tear gas baton's and gas. A 16 year old boy named larry payne is killed.

March 29, 1968 President Johnson offers to help with the strikes but mayor Henry Loeb turns them down.

April 3, 1968- Martin Luther King returns to Memphis and gives his " I've been to the Mountain top" address. He cancelled his trip to Africa to try to help in Memphis.


April 4, 1968- James Earl Ray Assassinates Martin Luther King Jr. from the balcony of his hotel.

April 16, 1968- The strike ends after both sides reach agreements.







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Nabil - Commercial Appeal

1. How well of a job did The Commercial Appeal, a southern newspaper, cover civil rights in the changing south?

2. What side did they choose to cover, that of the whites or of the blacks?

3. What were some of the big events in Memphis that The Commercial Appeal covered?

During the Early days of Civil Rights, Many news mediums in the South, where torn between how to cover certain civil rights issues. We see an early constant trend of lack of coverage of African American news stories but stories about whites where properly addressed. A lack of being informed leaves people out of the loop and in a state of turmoil with being unaware of the “real” world. In a sense African Americans in areas where African American issues/events where not documented in the news where living in a world cut off from American society. Through my research and writings I hope to find how well the Commercial Appeal has documented as well as covered the early civil rights events that happened in and around Memphis as well as the rest of the United States.