http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Butler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Years_a_Slave_(film)
1948 December 10: The General Assembly of the United Nations adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in New York, NY.
http://www.un.org/en/rights/
http://www.un.org/en/rights/
1955 December 1: Rosa Parks is arrested for
refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. A well
planned boycott of city buses continues for over a year and resulted in
desegregation on city buses and the hiring of black bus drivers. Martin
Luther King, Jr. utilizes the Gandhian philosophy of nonviolent direct
action to inspire the disciplined boycott.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1fGdGjitNY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1fGdGjitNY
1957 September 4:
Nine students volunteer to integrate Little Rock Central High School,
but are kept from entering the school by armed Arkansas national
guardsmen. International press coverage and outrage directed at US
embassies abroad contribute to Eisenhower’s decision to order the 101st
Airborne to protect students. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
warns government officials, “This situation was ruining our foreign
policy.”
1960: During the “Year of Africa” numerous
African nations gain independence. African Americans pay close attention
to this historic transformation. James Baldwin quoted one African
American as saying, “At the rate things are going here, …all of Africa
will be free before we can get a lousy cup of coffee.”
1963 August 28: More than 250,000 people
gather at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC for the March on
Washington for Jobs and Freedom. John Lewis represents the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in his speech demanding protecting
voting rights of African Americans, “One man, one vote is Africa’s cry
and it is our cry.” The March is an international event, spawning
sympathy marches around the world. On the eve of the march, pioneering
civil rights leader W. E. B. Bu Bois dies at his home in Ghana.
1964: Martin Luther King,
Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize and accepts his award in Norway. The
honor reflects the global awareness and support for his commitment to
human rights in the United States.
1964 July 2: President
Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing discrimination in
public places, federal programs, and employment.
1965 July 9: Congress passes the Voting Rights
Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act prohibited the states from using
literacy tests and other methods of excluding African Americans from
voting.
1966: Muhammad Ali, world heavyweight champion, refuses to be inducted into the US army in protest against the war in Vietnam.
1966: The Black Panther Party (BPP) is formed
in Oakland, California. As part of their 10 point program they demand,
“We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.”
1967 April 4: King speaks out against the war in Vietnam
addressing a crowd of 3,000 people in Riverside Church in New York City.
In his speech entitled “Beyond Vietnam” King argued that the war effort
was "taking the young black men who have been crippled by our society
and sending them 8,000 miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast
Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem." Two
weeks later, he and other activists lead thousands of demonstrators on
an anti-war march to the United Nations.
[...]
2008 Barack Obama wins General Elections
[...]
2008 Barack Obama wins General Elections
Source:
Orral Task:
- Give a short interpretation of this song? How does it reflect the situation of the poor - especially of the African Americans - in the USA in those days? Why did they become more self-confident?
- Imagine, as a young black man and you are living in the USA today. Which huge problems Barack Obama was confronted with? What is the reason that he didn´t reach the high expectations? What do you think about the new Trump administration!
- In your opinion, how is the situation of the African Americans today? Are they still discriminated against?
