Group Review #3

Alexa Calomiris, Sam Clark, Keeley Frost, Chip Olges, Blaire Smith

History 345 - Civil Rights in Memphis

Dr. Charles W. McKinney

11/7/16

Group Review #3

The Black Student Movement, which ended up changing many aspects of campus life for students of diverse backgrounds (i.e. race, class, and gender), was an extension of the Civil Rights Movement. From the 1950’s to 1970’s, African American college students grappled with similar debates like other civil rights activists regarding gaining greater black representation, inclusion, and acceptance within the American society. The book, The Black Revolution on Campus, by Martha Biondi told the story of the Black Student Movement and showed how students transformed American higher education when they moved toward the forefront of the black freedom struggle. In Battling the Plantation Mentality: Memphis and the Black Freedom Struggle, Laurie B. Green showed the significance of black students pushing back against the oppression of the Edward Hull Crump political machine allow them to become the leaders of the black freedom struggle in Memphis, Tennessee. Finally, in the book, Black Power in the Bluff City: African American Youth and Student Activism in Memphis, 1965-1975, Shirletta J. Kinchen claimed that youth and student activism shaped the black freedom movement in Memphis because the students articulated Black Power ideology. In their efforts to mobilize and combat the white supremacy that encompassed campuses, African American students throughout the United States and specifically within Memphis, used various tactics - i.e. strikes, take-overs, sit-ins, boycotts, and group organizations - to resist oppression and gain greater freedom.

According to Biondi, historically black colleges and universities triggered active leadership and the beginning of the Black Student Movement. In The Black Revolution on Campus, Biondi explained that due to the quest for self-reliance and self-determination, the leaders of the Black Student Movement sought to end white control in black colleges, and the students, who participated in the Civil Rights Movement, “turned their activist energies to the campuses, [demanded] Black studies departments, student inclusion in governance, more resources, and the end of compulsory ROTC and in loco parentis” (Biondi 8). The Black Student Movement had both beneficial and detrimental effects on the overall black freedom struggle, yet the students managed to change American higher education by “[opening] admissions to affirmative action and the rise of Black cultural centers and Black studies” (Biondi 269) and “successfully [pressuring] institutions of higher education to place much greater emphasis and importance on Black college and university attendance and graduation” (Biondi 270).

As black students became further involved in the movement, white resistance still played  major role in the movements suppression. While the Black Student Union used militant tactics to launch a strike at the San Francisco State College, vowing to shut down the campus until their demands (to fundamentally redefine higher education) were met, they were unfortunately confronted by state police, who violently arrested over eight hundred strikers. Although the strikes faced resistance from the state, the black student activists brought attention to the media about the significance of Black colleges and education for African Americans in the United States. The African American students at Northwestern University of Evanston, Illinois, forcefully and creatively asserted their demands and achieved peaceful settlements by taking over the bursar’s office with the help of Lerone Bennett and C.L.R. James. Also, at Crane Junior College, black student activist organized a list of demands that pertained to integrating African American history into the curriculum (i.e. change the college’s name to Malcolm X College, hire more black professors, increase opportunity and upward mobility in the community, and employ a black president) and would boycott the classes of professors that did not support their vision (Biondi 107). Since black student activists collectively resisted and challenged white superiority on campuses, the Black Student Movement insisted higher education was a right and not a privilege; therefore, the government needed to make higher education (especially access to African studies) an equal and affordable opportunity for all students.

The resistance to integration only continued as the force of students affected events even outside of the classroom. The fourth chapter, in Battling the Plantation Mentality, “Night Train, Freedom Train,” explained the Freedom Train controversy within the city of Memphis between mayor Edward H. Crump and black leaders. The support from the LeMoyne College NAACP in regards to the Freedom Train further demonstrated the shift in the Memphis African American community to student leaders. Mayor Crump refused to let the Freedom Train stop in the city of Memphis in 1948 because of his strong commitment to segregation. However, despite Crump’s attempt to prevent Memphians from experiencing the Freedom Train, students and faculty members of LeMoyne College rented a bus and traveled to Jackson, TN to visit the exhibit. Their actions signified “a fugitive journey from the stifling confines of Crump-dominated thought to a nationwide dialogue centered on freedom” (Green 129). The LeMoyne students were told to become “leaders of freedom,” and it was because the younger African American population was becoming less patient in regards to their status and opportunity within the United States (Green 132). Young African Americans, who had a great desire for equality in America, worked with the Memphis community to confront segregation by attending holding rallies  and encouraged African Americans to vote.

However, LeMoyne College, although small, found even more ways to involve themselves in the Black Student Movement and the overall Civil Rights Movement. As protests on campuses throughout the country raged, it was the merger of the two colleges, Lemoyne College and Owen Junior College, which initially set off the firestorm of student protest in Memphis that posed the question, “Why not Lemoyne-Owen?” Lemoyne College itself was founded in 1866 and was solidified by a large donation in 1971 by Francis J. LeMoyne. As the college grew it began to compete indirectly with Memphis State University. Therefore, in order to help maintain success in the city, the college's president, Dr. Hollis F. Price, decided to merge with nearby Owen Junior College, which would “increase the effectiveness and attractiveness of both schools” (Kinchen 121). However, because “officials decided to merge without much student or community input,” a showdown was inevitable in “a time when students all around the nation demanded a larger role in determining the direction of the institution” (Kinchen 121). In 1967, about a year before the merger, “approximately one hundred students voiced their displeasure with the merger” and were ignored by school officials (Kinchen 122). An Owen student, Black Power activists, and Invader John B. Smith protested a year later stating that Owen had a unique purpose which “provides educational opportunities to many black students who would not be able to meet the entrance requirements at LeMoyne or Memphis State” (Kinchen 122). In June of 1968, only months after MLK’s assassination, Owen Junior College held it’s last commencement and LeMoyne-Owen College was born. However, the merger did not stop the organizing.

As the older, formerly Owen Junior College students began to intermingle with the younger LeMoyne crowd, together they began to pressure the school into making many changes to campus life. In efforts to provide an outlet for students discontent with campus ideas, students created the “Inquiry Week,” which was seen by the FBI as provoking. During the week many civil rights leader were invited to speak, and specifically a speech by Invader Coby Smith was seen as inflammatory, as he told the students about their “role and responsibility as black students in the current local movement” (Kinchen 124). The rising tensions and demands came to a head on November 21st, when “students planned a “sit-down” protests in the halls of the administration building” (Kinchen 126). They produced a manifesto - “Force and Power (A Senior’s Comment)” - and were joined by many of the local Invaders. The Invaders were helping the students with their demands, while the students helped the Invaders by giving them a platform for their Black Power agenda. On November 25th, the protests became much more physical. Students ran through the halls to disrupt the campus and attract attention. Then, in the afternoon, they gathered outside the administration building and, when the faculty and administration denied their demands, barricaded the building and only let out certain lower-tier employees and locked out many faculty. Invaders were said to have gathered guns in case the police arrived, and after President Price failed to engage with the students, the siege continued. For nearly 20 hours, the buildings were largely under the control of the students, until student fatigue and a desire for normalcy lead to students to the negotiating table (without the “People’s Army” of the Invaders). They then asked the Invaders to leave, which they refused, and soon shots were fired. In the end, many of the demands were agreed to, but the “attitude remained amongst officials that the protest was an unnecessary and unfortunate event” (Kinchen 138). Still, the students were successful and an air of activism continued on campus, and the protests spread across the city to Memphis State.

On another campus in the city of Memphis, students at Memphis State University began to resist their unequal treatment and exclusion from the mainstream of society and campus life.  While the number of African American students attending MSU significantly increased during the late 1960’s, they were not socially accepted and recognized throughout the racist campus by other white students and faculty members. The African American students, who no longer wanted to be isolated on their own campus, looked for ways to integrate campus life. Therefore, they organized unified institutions, like the Black Student Association, to maintain and promote their cultural identity and demand for inclusion. The African American students active and formal organization allowed them to collectively come together and push back against the unfair treatment and ultimately they were able to further the Civil Rights Movement by uniting.

The Black Student Movement was a huge branch off and addition to the Civil Rights Movement that changed campus life for all students. Youth and student resistance paved the way for the younger generation to have the education their elders were never able to receive, as told by Martha Biondi. Not only did university life change for the students of color, but the leaders of the campus, the faculty and staff, needed to demonstrate the same leadership by also becoming integrated. The young generation became leaders in the Civil Rights Movement as demonstrated in Laurie B. Green’s book. Shirletta J. Kinchen professed the empowerment behind black ideology that was brought about by this younger, university-ages education. They had one goal, a chance at a higher education, and would do whatever it took to try and accomplish it. The black men and women of this age were a huge asset to the cause, and the power black men and women showed during the Black Student Movement helped propel the Civil Rights Movement forward past the confines of higher education integration.

Bibliography:

Biondi, Martha. The Black Revolution on Campus. Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2014.

Green, Laurie B. Battling the Plantation Mentality: Memphis and the Black Freedom Struggle. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2007.

Kinchen, Shirletta J. Black Power in the Bluff City: African American Youth and Student Activism in Memphis, 1965-1975. Knoxville: U of Tennessee, 2016. Print.