Allen knew his life was in danger in Amite County, Miss. He stayed because his mother was elderly & needed care.
When his mother died, Allen made plans to move to Milwaukee. (Great Migration continues.)
The night before Allen was to leave, he was murdered. #terrorism
Traditional Civil Rights Movement narratives ignore that fight for civil, voting, & human rights was frequently met with terrorist violence, as exemplified by story of Louis Allen and countless others. #TeachOutsideTextbook
Herbert Lee was murdered in 1961 in broad daylight by a state legislator (coroner’s jury acquitted same day).
Lee had bravely supported Bob Moses on SNCC voter registration in majority-Black, Klan-ridden Amite Cty with only one Black registered voter. zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/herb…
Teach long (and ongoing) history of fight for voting rights.
Teach about history (and current role) of FBI and the Black Freedom Movement (& other liberation movements -- Young Lords, American Indian Movement, & more) with free lesson ⬇️.
Students read & analyze primary documents about COINTELPRO. #TeachTruth zinnedproject.org/materials/coin…
We offer all people's history lessons at ZEP site for free to teachers. Donations from individuals like you make that possible.
Contribute today so we can continue to develop and offer more lessons -- and defend teachers' right to use them. Donate ⬇️ zinnedproject.org/donate/
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"The Greensboro sit-ins inspired mass movement across the South. By April 1960, 70 southern cities had sit-ins of their own. Direct-action sit-ins made public what Jim Crow wanted to hide – Black resistance to segregation." via youth-led @snccdigital⬇️ snccdigital.org/events/sit-ins…
Read about earlier sit-ins: 1943 with Pauli Murray & other @HowardU students; 1958 with high school teacher Clara Luper & NAACP Youth Council in Oklahoma; 1958 with students Ron Walters and members of the @NAACP Youth Council in Wichita, Kansas, & more. zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/katz…
"Our will can create a new America in 1972, one where there’s freedom from violence & war at home & abroad. Where there’s freedom from poverty and discrimination."
Free lesson ⬇️for gr. 7+, an interactive activity with excerpts from @marthasjones_' book for students to learn about leading role of Black women in fight for voting rights throughout U.S. history. Includes Mary McLeod Bethune in Florida #AllorNothingAP zinnedproject.org/materials/teac…
Jan. 1966: Vernon Dahmer said on radio he'd pay Miss. poll tax for anyone who couldn't afford to register to vote.
Next day, Klan firebombed his home, killing Dahmer. His sons, in U.S. military to "defend democracy" overseas, returned home for funeral. zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/vern…
In March 1966, SCOTUS banned poll taxes for state & local elections in 1963 lawsuit initiated by Joseph Jordan Jr., a Norfolk attorney on behalf of Evelyn T. Butts. (Virginia poll tax had been made law in 1902, to reverse Reconstruction era gains.) See ⬇️ zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/harp…
#tdih 1848 "Our nation seems resolved to rush on in her wicked career, though the road be ditched with human blood, and paved with human skulls. Well, be it so." -- Frederick Douglass on U.S. war with Mexico, in North Star editorial
1/4🧵 zinnedproject.org/materials/nort…
"The taste of human blood and the smell of powder seem to have extinguished the senses, seared the conscience, and subverted the reason of the people." -- Frederick Douglass on U.S. war with Mexico 2/4
"Let the press, the pulpit, the church, the people at large, unite at once; & let petitions flood the halls of Congress . . ., asking for the instant recall of our forces from Mexico. This may not save us, but it's our only hope." --Frederick Douglass 3/4 zinnedproject.org/materials/sold…
In a white supremacist attempt to prevent Revels from assuming his elected position, his opponents said that despite having lived in U.S. all his life, he could not be seated because Senate required nine years of citizenship. The 14th Amendment had passed only two years earlier.
Attack on Revels, & rights of people of Miss. to representation: part of history of white supremacist voter suppression & attempts to delegitimize elected Black leaders: not seating Julian Bond, Trump's (media fueled) birther campaigns, & more. Lessons ⬇️ zinnedproject.org/materials/teac…
"Thousands of largely female workers engaged in a successful walkout, standing firm against mill owners, militia, & police. Meetings were translated into nearly 30 languages." -- Robert Forrant on Lawrence, Mass. Bread and Roses Strike, began #tdih 1912 ⬇️ zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/brea…
Contrary to standard narrative, Bread & Roses Strike was not a spontaneous walkout. The pay cut was flashpoint, but block-by-block neighborhood organizing had taken place for months in advance of the New Year. Workers were fed up & they were ready. @iww zinnedproject.org/materials/brea…
"To suggest that 1912 strike started in a flash over a wage cut diminishes purposeful behavior of immigrant laborers who built unity out of diversity. It also diminishes the importance of organized labor and other org. efforts to challenge injustices today. . ." -- Robert Forrant