EXCERPT FROM THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE:
When in the Course of human events,
it becomes necessary for one people
to dissolve the political bands which
have connected them with another, and
to assume among the powers of the earth,
the separate and equal station to which
the Laws of Nature and of Nature's
God entitle them, a decent respect
to the opinions of mankind requires
that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit
of Happiness. -- That to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted
among Men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed, --
That whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the Right
of the People to alter or to abolish
it, and to institute
new Government, laying its foundation
on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall
seem most likely to effect their Safety
and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will
dictate that Governments long established
should not be changed for light and
transient causes; and accordingly all
experience hath shewn, that mankind
are more disposed to suffer, while
evils are sufferable, than to right
themselves by abolishing the forms
to which they are accustomed. But when
a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same Object
evinces a design to reduce them under
absolute Despotism, it is their right,
it is their duty, to throw off such
Government, and to provide new Guards
for their future security…
In 1942, the Detroit Housing Commission
chose a housing project site for blacks
in a predominantly white neighbourhood.
Called Sojourner Truth, growing resentment
by whites led to riots in 1942. Local
and national media anticipated more
trouble. Life Magazine called the increased
tensions “dynamite.”
(Collage
shows, clockwise from top left, Police
arresting
a white real
estate operator who had been inciting
the riot; Police arresting a Negro;
Home guard troops; Sign with American
flag, "We want white tenants in
our white community," directly
opposite the housing project.)
We hold these truths to be
self-evident
All men are created equal
Certain inalienable Rights
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
To secure these rights
Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive
It is the Right of the People to abolish it
Object!
design
reduce
it is their right
it is their duty
to throw off such Government |
Photograph
shows James Meredith walking to class
accompanied by U.S. marshals.
James Howard Meredith was born in Kosciusko,
Mississippi of Native American
(Choctaw) and African American heritage.
Meredith enlisted in the United
States Air Force right out of high
school and served from 1951 to 1960.
He
then attended Jackson State College
for two years.Meredith became the first
black student at the University of
Mississippi
after being barred from entering.
His enrollment, opposed by Governor
Ross Barnett, required federal
troops to enforce and led to a
violent clash which left two people
dead, 48 soldiers injured and 30
U.S. marshals with gun wounds.
Meredith led a civil rights march,
the March Against Fear from Memphis,
Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi
in 1966, where a sniper shot him.
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