U.S. civil rights movement questions

[therealjae]

I'm writing a story set in the mid-to-late 1960s (beginning in 1966) in which several of the characters are involved in the U.S. civil rights movement (with most of them it's specifically the SCLC, although one of them flirted with a more militant group first). I've got a huge stack of books that I'm working my way through, and I think I can take

Comments

[mariadkins]

i'm going to forward this to my writing groups and see if anyone can help you. that's about all i can do. :)

[therealjae]

Thanks! I admit I didn't expect quite so many crickets in response, so anything helps. :)

-J

[orange_fell]

I don't think there are a lot of Americans of the age you're looking for in this comm (or on LJ at all, although I could be wrong about both). Maybe try contacting libraries and historical societies in the areas you're researching?

[therealjae]

It's looking like that will probably be necessary! Thanks anyway.

-J

[sethg_prime]

Maybe the documents collected here would be helpful?

[therealjae]

What a wonderful resource! Thank you.

-J

[world_dancer]

I'm not sure about this particular situation, but you may want to look into some of the experiences of black women in the Civil Rights Movement. Patriarchal ideals were so entrenched that often they found themselves in lesser roles, treated as secretaries to take notes and make coffee.

So a white woman is likely to still be treated as a woman first, much to her disappointment. And if she's not, that may lead to a heck of a lot of resentment and trouble from the black women in the movement.

[therealjae]

I'm actually ahead of you on that (one of my other secondary characters is a black woman in the movement), but I'm still so glad you commented, because it makes me feel like I'm on the right track! It's good to hear the instinct of someone who probably knows a lot more than I do about this stuff that there would likely be resentment there. Thank you so much.

-J

[thekumquat]

Whereabouts is the story set? My mother (a white woman) ended up involved in civil rights action as she was teaching at universities in Kansas in the 60s. Her involvement started with running escorts for black people to vote, so a reasonable number of white people were needed.

[thekumquat]

The party photos I've seen showed very mixed white/black groups socializing, but I believe that was part of being a university activity - groups outside campus were probably very different.

[therealjae]

It's set in Philadelphia, but the Philly group is working on the Chicago housing issue, which is the SCLC's first northern campaign (so there's a midwestern connection too). Only one of them is a university student, though, and the setting isn't a university one. Still, if you felt like asking your mother about this and reporting back, I'd be eternally grateful!

-J

[anonymous]

Birmingham, AL (my hometown) is doing a year of events for the 50th anniversary of some notable events of the Civil Rights movement. There have been a number of interviews on the local PBS station www.bhm.org, which may have been picked up at www.npr.org. You can probably also find a lot of local memories at the site of the Birmingham News www.al.com, and through the commemoration site www.fiftyyearsforward.org

[therealjae]

Thank you for the links and your thoughts! Very helpful.

-J