What were Selma Jews thinking 50 years ago?

Amherst student Marshall Bloom surveyed Selma Jews in 1965 for his American Studies honors thesis. This is what he found: click here.

 

Black-brown unity for Chuy

In Selma Congresswoman Maxine Waters urges the mostly African-American crowd of nearly 300 to form coalitions with the Latino community to elect Chuy Garcia mayor of Chicago. She spoke during a public conversation Friday night, which was part of the Selma Jubilee to commemorate the Bloody Sunday attempt to cross the Pettus Bridge 50 years ago. "We need to go into Chicago and we need to defeat Rahm Emanuel,"she said, to applause.

Is it a penguin? a praying mantis? a vest?

 

I read this before I went to bed and dreamed that the same image was replicated everywhere--because it was a common configuration of metal shaped into  a hook (upside down). Sort of. And really, it is. I would never have figured out what it was supposed to represent. 

 

Here it is again, with signage:

 

and here:

 

On display at Sewanee: University of the South thru March 11. At least until then, men shouldn't have trouble finding it.

More info: click here.

 

 

Reading Gaol

Prison Notes by Barbara Deming (1966):

...the act of putting a man in jail remains essentially the act of trying to wish that man out of existence.

A small dialogue in black and white

David Sher, a resident of B'ham, Alabama, has come up with The Comeback Town, a cyberplace for people to discuss improving the city. He hosts some black and white observations.

A white male named Jerry Carter waxes nostalgic about a more prosperous Birmingham, and memories of being young in the '40s and '50s: The Alabama Theatre was the absolute mecca for movie viewing.  I still recall my amazement when the Wurlitzer organ would rise up to stage level and music would fill the large hall.

He also appreciates efforts to bring back the magic in so-called Magic City.
A black female with the handle RavenBarnes writes of her memories, in response. I can’t comment on the Alabama Theatre because I don’t remember being allowed to even enter through the back alley and climb the stairs to the balcony like they allowed at the Lyric Theatre. I am happy that within the business community of Black Birmingham, we had the Carver Theatre and there was another black theatre down there on 4th Ave but I suppressed its name because one day while there I ordered some popcorn and I heard something say “me too” and when I looked down, it was a rat, so I never went back.

You can read Jerry Carter's response and write your own.

Were you that boy?

Fifty years ago John Ballard drove down from Boston to march in Selma. He was part of the second march, Turnaround Tuesday, and the successful march to Montgomery. He gave a young boy a ride on his shoulders and is now looking for the man he became. If you recognize the boy in the picture, call Ballard at (415) 233-2822.
[Photo from Selma Times-Journal, 1965]

An End to Confederate Heroes Day in Texas?

How come I never knew about this Confederate Heroes Day in my 18 years as a Texan? An Austin-based state lawmaker suggested getting rid of it. As the Houston Chronicle reported, Reta Brand, director of the Texas Society Order of Confederate Rose (which I'd never heard of) said in reaction to the notion of eliminating Confederate Heroes Day, January 19:
"I am very unhappy . . . . Everybody is trying to take everything away from the Confederacy. It was a vital part of Texas during that time period. Taking away the Confederate Heroes Day is totally unacceptable."

Ah, reading further in the article, I learn why I didn't know about this: The holiday became official in 1973, and I left in Fall 1974. But there's another question: Why didn't I know about the holiday's predecessor, the day that commemorates the birthdays of Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis? It was celebrated on Jan. 19, the birthday of Lee.

State Rep. Donna Howard has proposed abolishing Confederate Heroes Day (this year it coincided with Martin Luther King Day, which is just plain weird) and substituting a spring holiday that honors the Union soldiers as well as Confederate.

Apparently Brand believes in "dibs": "We had Confederate Heroes Day before there was a Martin Luther King Jr. Day, why can't they change theirs?" she asked.

Does she not realize that MLK Day is a national holiday?  Does she not realize that MLK Day is hers?

As a native Texan and half-Yankee, I'm not sure what I think. My knee-jerk reaction is to get rid of all signs of Confederateness, but that's dumb and ahistorical.  So keep the monuments, and maybe put up other monuments that will cause observers to reflect on the past. But why do we/they have to celebrate the Lost Cause?

And to add another layer: Juneteenth is another Texas holiday, which commemorates when enslaved people in Texas learned that they were free.  It is celebrated on June 19, and has become a worldwide observance.

The Confederate Roses will have to keep their hands off that particular day.