The March on Washington, Roy Wilkins with a Few of the 250,000 Participants on the Mall Heading for the Lincoln Memorial in the NAACP March on Washington on August 28, 1963.
Nationwide
Throughout the late 1960s, groups of African Americans called for nationwide change. Black youth had strong leaders to look up to and many began to protest and stand up for their civil rights.
May 1963, Alabama Fire Department Aims High-Pressure Water Hoses at Civil Rights Demonstrators.
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We saw things happening across the nation on TV. Water hoses in the South, churches being blown up, people being beaten. That added to how we felt"- Melvin Garrison, a student at the walkout. |
1963, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing -- Damaged Eastern Facade.
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"Black Power was a revolutionary movement that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. It emphasized racial pride, economic empowerment, and the creation of political and cultural institutions. During this era, there was a rise in the demand for black history courses, a greater embrace of African culture, and a spread of raw artistic expression displaying the realities of African Americans" -"Black Power", National Archives and Records Administration.
Black women in California giving the Black Power salute, August 25, 1968, "Seeing Black Women in Power".
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A black student strike at the University of Wisconsin Madison, June 16, 1969.
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"We were brought up in a time ... of civil rights. It was all over. You heard about it. Television picked it up. That's what made the difference; it galvanized you."- Karen Asper-Jordan, a resident of Philadelphia and an attendee of the walkout.
Philadelphia
In Philadelphia, youth aided black leaders in their fight against segregation and discrimination.
"By the late 1960s, the Black Power movement had significant influence in the civil rights community. Both traditional civil rights activists and younger black militants coalesced around the issue of education"- James Wolfinger and Stanley Keith Arnold, "Civil Rights (African American)", The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.
"Telling the story of the Northern civil rights movement requires us to see the problem of race in American society as a national rather than just a Southern issue. Although racial segregation was not as institutionalized in Philadelphia as it was in the American South, segregation was practiced all across the city in hotels, restaurants, theaters, workplaces, trade unions, residential neighborhoods, even schools"- Civil Rights in a Northern City: Philadelphia, Temple University Libraries.
"When we were involved in the Civil Rights Movement, we went anywhere. Anywhere there was a cause, anywhere there was an injustice, we were there . . . We didn't have cell phones back then, but word always got around about what was going on. You met someone and they told you and you told somebody else -Karen Asper-Jordan, a youth activist in Philadelphia.
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Civil Rights demonstrators advocating for the desegregation of Girard College in Philadelphia, John W. Mosley, August 2nd, 1965, Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection.
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Philadelphia Civil Rights leaders protesting, John W. Mosley, June 13th, 1965, Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection.
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"The movement against educational racism involved parents (mainly African American women), educators, and students. In addition to enduring inferior schools, black students criticized dress codes that excluded traditional African garb and demanded a curriculum that included black history" -James Wolfinger and Stanley Keith Arnold, "Civil Rights (African American)", The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.
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Black activism in the late 1960s that involved youth and called for more black representation encouraged the students to walkout.