Civil Rights Legislation 15th Amendment 1870 (race) Civil Rights Act 1957 (Commission on Civil Rights) Civil Rights Act 1960 (expanded 1957 Act) Civil Rights Act 1964 (no discrimination in public accommodations, facilities, and schools)

I love a feel-good presentation. So look at the 1st photo I love a feel-good presentation! So look at the 1st photo. Actually, this is a postcard – the sort of thing that you send when you’re on vacation, you’re having a great time in Paris and you send your family and friends a postcard of the Eiffel Tower. Hard to believe, but back in the day people saw nothing wrong with lynchings and sending postcards of the lynchings. So you’re looking at the corpse of a man who’s been burned, dismembered and hanged. Unbelievable. Take a look at the faces – it was taken around 1920, and those faces … they’re pretty pleased with themselves. That guy nonchalantly leaning against the hanging post – and the guy in the bottom right – they’re happy to look directly into the camera, no shame. And the boys in the 2nd photo – it was taken in 1957 when schools were desegregated. They’re protesting having to go to school with black children. Those boys are the grandsons of the men in the first photo – there’s only 40 years between the 2 photos. In the first photo, lynching is legal and acceptable; in the 2nd photo, lynching’s no longer legal, but I’m guessing that those boys would bring it back in a heartbeat if they could. So why was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 necessary when all the other legislation was in place to suppress racism? Do you really think that the hatred that you’re looking at in the first photo could possibly disappear in 2 generations, in only 40 years?

And now, 50 Years Later … Puts a chill through you, doesn’t it?

The Lynching of Lige Daniels, TX, 1920 The Postcard’s Text: “This was made in the courtyard in Center, Texas. He is a 16 year old Black boy. He killed Earl’s grandma. She was Florence’s mother. Give this to Bud. From Aunt Myrtle” With Your Elbow Partner: Discuss the emotions that the writer of this text might have felt as she wrote. What sort of an opinion do you think that she might have had about lynchings? What feelings do the photo and text kindle in you, the product of a century later? This is a postcard showing the murder of a 16 year old young man. The crowd’s gathered around, keen to be in the photo of it all – a regular day out for everyone. Look at that boy in the front – he’s having a grand time. As you look at the postcard and read the text, can you understand why it took so much legislation to suppress racism?