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THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2009
NEWS 5A
Photo courtesy of the Spencer Research Library
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Emotion and energy run high during a civil rights protest on National Affairs week in 1964. Although African Americans had gained most legal equality by this time, they continued to suffer discrimination and racism from many white residents and students in Lawrence.
RACE RIOTS
Photo courtesy of the Spencer Research Library
The KU Vietnam Committee marches down Jayhawk Boulevard in April 1966. The committee advocated for the U.S. to make negotiations with Vietnam and end the war.
Bill Tuttle, professor emeritus of American Studies and author of "Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919," came to the University of Kansas in 1967. He began research on racial tensions and riots soon after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. King's assassination and the broad injustices suffered by black people at the time led to a tense, violent atmosphere in all of America. One riot in Kansas City resulted in the death of six people. Another race riot in Detroit led to the deaths of 43.
"That was very much in the air — these urban disorders, urban race riots," Tuttle said. "And the language I came pretty important, too. Were
they riots? Were they rebellions? It's different."
N e w m a n s said Lawrence High School students initially got involved because they weren't allowed to nominate a black homecoming king and
BILL TUTTLE
American Studies
Professor Emeritus
"That was very much in the air — these urban disorders, urban race riots."
queen. Although a few black students turned to more violent avenues of activism, Tuttle said Lawrence High was the birthplace of some of the most prominent and effective leaders in the Lawrence black civil rights movement.
Black graduates of Lawrence High who "moved up the hill" got organized and ultimately created the Black Student Union.
Tuttle said the Black Student Union used powerful and sophisticated means of getting its message out. Established in 1968, BSU was founded as an advocate of diversity on campus. BSU printed its own newspaper, and also organized rallies to promote the cause.
At the forefront of every rally, riot or protest was a cause. Newman said the cause was often buried under the violent means of promoting it, which could render it "ineffective, and even harmful, to its goals. The "agitators" from Kansas City and Topeka caused real danger.
For instance, along Tennessee Street, it was common for police cars to be shot at as they drove by. At night, people would string piano wire at neck-height across alleyways, and then light fires on both ends to lure in police officers and firemen to slice their necks.
OUT WITH SKIRTS: THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT
Women who made it to college were pulled into the movement rapidly. Barbara Moffet, who said she was a very impressionable freshman when she came to the University, was drawn to the idea quickly. She found out about the movement when a girl who sat next to her in class wore jeans instead of a skirt.
I was just shocked. I just couldn't even imagine that, and the more I thought about it, I thought it was a good thing."
"She told me there was a movement that was going to give equality to women with men — equal pay and things like that," she said. "And
The women's movement had the greatest progress, perhaps more than any other movement of the time. Beth Bailey, author of "Sex in the Heartland," which explores the sexual revolution and women's movement in Lawrence, said young women today were extremely fortunate for their current standing.
"I worry that those who have grown up in a much more equitable world take it for granted and whether they're aware or not of how recently these battles were," Bailey said.
Linda Thompson, a 1972 graduate, said she was only one of 10 girls in hen high school class to graduate from college.
"Women weren't expected to go to college," she said. "It was sort of a rarity."
Thompson said women who made it to college were limited in what they could do.
They were expected to pursue only certain occupations, such as becoming secretaries, nurses or teachers.
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, female college graduates had a low representation in the workplace in 1960. Only 39 percent of 30- to 34-years-old female graduates had jobs. 74 percent of these women were teachers.
WAR AND PEACE
The Vietnam War resonated deeply within everyone. These emotions clashed in the open air, in the streets and sidewalks of Jayhawk Boulevard and led to mass conglomerations of students chanting and marching in front of Strong Hall, where Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe resided.
"People were congregating in large groups to protest things — and of course, they were in their rights to do that," she said.
These kinds of protests were the ones that Linda Thompson was willing to attend. She said she liked
them because, for the most part, they were peaceful.
Thompson remembers the
It's arguable whether anti-war protesters made any progress by their own hand, but undoubtedly, they made a lot of noise. Tuttle recalled an anti-war protest in Memorial Stadium in May 1969. It was the day
anti-war protests to be nonviolent. Although people were strong in their convictions against the Vietnam War, she didn't recall feeling in danger.
"They would hold hands and sing. Most people were stoned out of their minds," Thompson said.
of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) Review. Hundreds of people, including Tuttle, attended the event and anticipated a protest.
LINDA THOMPSON
1972 KU graduate
In November 1969, Tuttle said the students held a moratorium of war. Hundreds of people marched down Jayhawk Boulevard, toting signs and chanting anti-war slogans.
"As the cadets marched out to the field, the anti-war protesters also took to the field," he said. "Nobody got hurt. Nobody wanted to hurt anybody. But they did want to lie down in front of them — make it difficult for them to march."
Currently, the U.S. is fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
"People were congregating in large groups to protest things — and of course, they were in their rights to do that."
Rather than gathering in the streets for daily or weekly protests, those who oppose the war release their frustrations in blogs, editorials and letters to Congress. Those who support the war might boast a yellow ribbon on the back of their vehicles. Either way, few take to the streets.
'THE WORLD WAS ENDING'
Late in the evening of April 20, 1970, the then Student Memorial Union, where the Kansas Union sits now, was set on fire. By the time the fire was under control, the inside was destroyed, costing about $3 million in repairs. Various theories circulated for months about who caused the fire, but the investigation eventually went cold.
Barbara Moffet was a sophormore when the Union arson happened. She remembers seeing the flames from her dorm room in GSP Residence Hall.
"I remember thinking that the world was ending," she said.
Linda Thompson also remem bered the event to be deeply troubling.
"That was so upsetting and so frightening because, you know, you were at college and loved it. So, that was very disturbing," she said.
That same spring. Thompson remembers sitting in a large class with about 500 people when suddenly a group of black militants walked in and began velling.
"They came in and threatened us all — said they were going to kill us all and burn down the entire campus," she said. "And that's when they called in the National Guard to make sure things weren't happening like that."
With the tension on campus, Thompson said she welcomed the National Guard. They escorted students to class and to the library, always carrying rifles. Because of the severity of the situation, the University cancelled finals and students were encouraged to head home as soon as possible.
'THE REFORMATION'
After the Union was gutted by fire, University officials began rethinking the function and purpose of student government. Although it was the Union fire that ultimately forced the administration to improve, the massive protesting on campus, particularly with African Americans being excluded from sororities and fraternities, played a key role in
THE PRICE FOR A 'GOOD MEAL'
Although to a lesser extent than black people, hippies suffered the rejection of the Lawrence community as well. Police officer Verner Newman recalled one hippie couple living on campus that was struggling financially through school. Newman said this was, in large part, because the husband refused to cut his long hair and nobody would hire him.
Newman has never forgotten the day the man decided to go to Johnny's in north Lawrence for a meal. He said he warned the man that Johnny notoriously hated hippies and black people and would surely kill him. Despite the warnings, the man went. Newman laughed when he recalled the result.
"They let him eat, but they beat the devil out of him," he said. "He had two black eyes and a nose bust, but he said, 'I got me a good meal.'"
Tom Cox, Shawnee second-year graduate student and chairman of the Student Rights Committee, said it was a culmination of the protests and movements that spurred the creation of the Student Code of Rights and Responsibilities. Similar to a Bill of Rights, it granted legitimate authority to Student Senate. Before this reformation, no student had ever served in University administration boards or was allowed to take part in executive decisions.
pressing forward.
Cox said the rights committee had become a way for students to voice ideas and concerns with the prospect of actually putting them into governance. At the same time, the committee protects the rights of students.
"The Student Rights Committee is there to provide an avenue to people with concerns to essentially redress the government if they have
an issue," he said.
Technically, people could protest and rally on campus with the same vigor as in the '60s and '70s without University objection, said Cox. But even with two wars, gender, race, and gay and lesbian inequity, that has not happened.
"I think a lot of why we don't see that any more is that, as the Internet becomes the norm, people can become a 'fan' of an issue, or join a group page or Twitter about it, and they feel like they've contributed to the cause," he said.
Bailey said she suspected the Internet has played a big role in changing the way students try to initiate movement.
"The mechanisms have changed — people are less likely to believe that going out and marching is going to make a difference," she said. "I think that people's political
SEE ACTIVISM ON PAGE 6A