Character Analysis: The Three Super Heroes

(Younge, Samuel Leamon, Jr.) Rosa Parks made a path for activists, and Samuel Younge took that rocky path. “There were protests when white officials intentionally refused to indict Marvin Segrest, the person who killed Younge.” (Chandler,

14 year old Emmett Till was going to see relatives in Money Mississippi, on August 24th 1955 when he allegedly flirted with a white cashier at a grocery store. 4 days later, two white men beat, caused major injury, and shot him in the head. The men were adjudicated for murder, but an all-white, male jury cleared them of any wrong doing. Till's murder and the open casket funeral spurred the developing Civil Rights Movement.

Ben Chester White On January 5, 1899, Ben Chester White, an African American, was born. About sixty-seven years later, on June 10, 1966, White was shot and murdered near Pretty Creek in Natchez, Mississippi. His murderers were three hate-filled gunmen that were incorporated with the Ku Klux Klan, which is a group of people who believe that whites are more superior than blacks. The reason they wanted to murder White was to give Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a motive to come to Natchez, White had no involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, until his devastating murder.

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett commonly known as Ida B Wells was one of the nation 's most vocal anti-lynch activist of her time.(Steptoe) It all started when three of her African American friends were lynched after they opened up a store, the People’s Grocery, which competed well with a white owned grocery store nearby. A white mob attacked the People’s Grocery and three white men were injured, the owners of the store were then jailed when they were later broken out and lynched. This infuriated Wells and she wrote after the incident urging African Americans to leave Memphis, “There is, therefore, only one thing left to do; save our money and leave a town which will neither protect our lives and property, nor give us a fair trial in the courts, but takes us out and murders us in cold blood when accused by white persons.” This caused some 6,000 African-Americans to leave Memphis while others started boycotts on white businesses.(Wikipedia)

The killing of Kennedy, which followed the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. only deepened America's

Another controversial lynching was the lynching of Jesse Washington. Washington was a 17 year old black boy who worked for farmers in Waco, Texas. On May 8th 1916, Washington was arrested for the murder of fifty-three-year-old Lucy Fryer, the wife of the white farmer he worked for. Washington confessed to raping and murdering Mrs. Fryer and was immediately transferred to the Dallas country Jail where McLennan county sheriff Samuel S. Fleming took care of him. Fleming wanted to prevent potential mob violence from happening, “at least until the accused could have his day in court” (SoRelle).

Civil rights leader and social activist Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a world renown correspondence, Letter From Birmingham Jail, in April of 1963, during a time when segregation was at it’s peak in the South. When King was making his mark in American history, the United States was experiencing great social unrest due to the injustice towards their colored citizens, which would lead to social rights rallies and unnecessary violence. In response to King’s peaceful protesting, the white community viewed “[his] nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist,” and subsequently imprisoned the pastor (para 27). King specifically wrote to the white clergymen who had earlier addressed a letter to him as to why he was apprehended, in which they argued that his actions were untimely and unconstitutional. In response, King emphasized that justice is never timely, and the refusal to acknowledge equal rights was inhumane and regressive.

They called it the “Pottawatomie Massacre.” Brown’s had thirty men fighting for the country. “He fight hard, but Osawatomie burned to the ground.” (335) Brown’s actions after the destruction of the free-state town of Lawrence were like the president 's action. Everyone in Lawrence was talking about Brown, and they

“Americans didn’t want to be believe that these things occurred in the name of the American people and for the sake of freedom”, so it was something that was swept under the rug until journalist got a hold of it. I understand now why the Vietnam War caused many to be diagnosed with PTSD and why it was very unpopular war. I am still interested in knowing the South Vietnamese side of the story, as well as the North

The White racist is fiercely opposed to the decision. In September 2nd, the state Governor Forbes to "riot" in the name of sending out of the National Guard to stop black students to school, but did not succeed. The 23 day, in the Governor's indulgence, thousands of racist surrounded by schools, beaten black reporters, and the 8 school students to get rid of the black. Then several southern states had an attack on black people. Little Rock event shocked the whole world, the Eisenhower Administration forced the 24th sent paratroopers, more than 2000 people rushed to the little rock, "protection" of the back entrance.

The article titled, “Govt. Powerless To Interfere Says Attorney General”, showed the unwillingness of the federal government to outlaw lynchings. Senator Robert F. Wagner had sent Attorney General Homer Cummings, a telegram, to look into the events of two lynchings in Mississippi and Georgia. According to one report, a mob shot and killed an African-American blacksmith named Tom Green for killing his white boss due to a wage dispute.

The south attacked the fort at around 4:00 pm. They overran the fort before dusk. More than 300 African Americans were killed. Some believed that they were helpless after surrendering and some believe that they were running. This had big effects on the war because the north thought that killing prisoners of war was wrong but the south thought it was law abiding.

The MLK unit showed me a lot about my interests and non interests. Although, the Emmett Till situation is what grabbed my attention. It was typical during the 1950 's for blacks to be killed, but what stood out the most is when his mother requested to have an open casket at his funeral. She wanted everyone to see what they had done to her 14-year old boy. Emmett 's case became representative of the disparity of justice for blacks in the South.

Under the Declaration Independence, it says that everyone has the right to life. In America that does not apply to black people. In the early 1920s, there was a large race riot in Tulsa around 300 innocent black people were killed. It started when black shoe shiner Dick Rowland was arrested after being accused of assaulting a white woman in elevator published by a paper eager to win the local circulation war with the title “To Lynch Negro Tonight”. Whites gathered outside the courthouse of where Rowland was being held to lynch him, blacks came from Greenwood to protect Rowland.

People all over the globe were standing up for their selves and for what they believe was the right thing to do. Many loss their lives in these movements, but no death impacted their country like the death on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4th in Memphis, Tennessee. King was conducting a movement for underpay Black garbage collectors when he was shot by a white assassin. The events that follow the tragedy were just horrendous, riots took over the ghettos all over the country that’s how important and powerful Marin Luther King was, he might have been more important to the American People than the President himself. The 1960s was the definition of American