"Revolution in Georgia" radio show hosted by Larry Rubin, part 4

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	Freedom Singers: “Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed on Freedom)”	0:00
	Woke up this morning/ With my mind Stayed on Freedom/ I woke up this morning/ with my mind,	0:02
	Lord, stayed on freedom/ I woke up this morning/ with my mind stayed on freedom/ I pray, I
	pray, I Pray, Hallelujah
	Larry Rubin: It might that many of the goals for which the civil rights movement fought has been
	reached. The civil rights bill has been passed The voting rights bill has been passed. Negro
	congressmen have been elected throughout the North and several Negroes have been elected to
	prominent positions throughout the South. But is that all Negroes fought for? Listen to Senator
	Leroy Johnson, a State Senator of Georgia, he was the first Negro to be elected to the Georgia
	state Senate since Reconstruction.
	Senator Leroy Johnson: What you are doing here in Albany, Georgia in the shadow of fear and in the
	shadow of tremendous heart by persons of non-color represent what must be done by Negroes
	throughout the South if we are ever to obtain first-class citizenship. [clapping] The Negro must
	receive a greater appreciation for his own accomplishments in order to move forward. The story
	of the Negro struggle in America, starting with the slave trade in Africa, a slave trade with
	people living, lying, stealing, murdering, and dying. A slave trade with a black man, who stepped
	out of his hut for a breath of fresh air and ended up ten months later in a southern state with
	bruises on his back and brand on his chest.
	The slave trade was a truth, and in retrospect, an exercise in futility, for sought to enslave the soul of a people who was destined to be free. [clapping] Today, the Negro find himself torn between two divergent philosophies: he’staught that the fruits of this great American democracy belong to all of the citizens, and get the	2:23
	Negro find himself realistically faced with a segregated society. Today throughout the Southland,
	you will find a new kind of attitude categorizing the Negro. The kind of attitude which, which
	says to the world, I will not be satisfied with second-class citizenship for the black boys and girls
	who are moving throughout the Southland, sitting down and standing up in human dignity, and
	speaking to the content of America, and saying to America: I want to be free and I want to be
	free now. No one need to be altruistic with us. No one need to give us anything. Our demands are
	the demands of a people that belong to this country. America is my land, is my country. We need
	not be apologetic to anybody, and the Negro must stop feeling sorry for himself. He must stop
	feeling sorry for being black. [clapping] A wind of change is blowing throughout the Southland.
	You will find the kind of attitude that is exemplified in the little boy, who was stopped by a white
	man on the streets of Georgia. The white man called, [unsure: (0:04:23)] representing the
	highest and best in segregation and prejudice, stopped the little boy and said to him: this is my
	town, my streets, who are you? And the little black boy, standing on the tips of his toes, looked at
	the white man square in the face and square in the eye, said to him: I am somebody. There will
	be no room to say, take it easy, you’ve come a long way in a hundred years; you’ve got plenty of
	time, and time will cure it all. They will tell you that the time isn’t right. And I say to you that the
	answer to them is simple and very clear. The answer is not how far we have come in the last
	hundred years, but the answer is where we stand today in relation to the other group in society.
	I say to you that there has never been a single period in history where the majority	5:16
	group has given to the minority group, of its own volition and of accord, basic human rights.
	Always there have been a necessity for minority groups to fight, to sacrifice for rights obtained.
	[clapping] We must always realize that no high—no matter how high one Negro may go, that he
	can never enjoy to the fullest capacity the fruits of American democracy until the lowest Negro in
	the lowest spot, and in the lowest place in America, can enjoy the exclusive American
	democracy. We must recognize the fact that a great deal of our problems will be solved when we
	can come together as a people. When we can come together in large numbers and we can
	register together throughout the Southland, and we can build together throughout the Southland.
	And this is our salvation: at the ballet box, because here we can change the political climate of
	this great country. We can vote into office those persons who are willing to extend the fruits of
	democracy to everyman regardless of race, color, and creed. And we must be ready and willing
	and able to vote out of office those persons who would deny the fruits of democracy to all
	mankind. The progress of the Negro is moving forward. It will not be long before we can obtain
	that which must rightfully come in this land of America. Equal justice, equal job opportunity for
	all mankind. Our challenge is to remove every vestige of segregation and discrimination from
	this great land. And I submit to you that it may very well be that black men will have to teach
	America what democracy really means. It may very well be that our path here on earth is to
	make democracy work. It may very well be that the job of a black man is to bring democracy to
	the Southland and to this great country. [clapping]
	Larry Rubin: I think there’s a great tendency on the part of liberals, especially white liberals to feel that	7:46
	the Negro should not be prejudiced towards the whites. Senator Johnson was simply stating the
	problem. What he said was that in Albany, Georgia and I think this is true the South, the only
	whites the Negroes come contact with are their bosses or town rowdies. In other words, people
	who have oppressed them. These are the only way to come in contact with. I think that it would
	be unrealistic to feel that the group should not be antagonistic towards whites just as Negroes
	share in being discriminated against because they have black skin. Whites feel in the
	guilt—share in the guilt simply because they're white. This is the problem: A Negro can't say,
	well I'm not dirty; just because some other black people are dirty I shouldn’t be discriminated
	against. The black Muslims were the first Negro group, since Marcus Garvey anyway, to express
	the feelings of the average working-class Negro; that is, antagonistic toward—antagonism
	towards whites, and a wanting to combat the self-hatred that grows up in many Negroes. The
	black Muslims are very effective in combating the feeling he grows up with the black people that
	their inferior; however, although they do express a very valid feeling: their political goals—that
	is the buying several, several states or asking for several states of the United States for—to set up
	a black nation is obviously an untenable goal. And also since they are anti-Christian, I don't think
	that as an organization they will get the support of the masses of Negroes; however, they will
	gain the sympathy of the masses of the Negroes because they do express a very valid feeling.
	Also, the Muslims are basically urban and speak to Negroes living in urban industrial slumps. I
	think that as the unemployment problem grows that the black Muslims will also gain more and
	more sympathy. A lot of what I've been saying, that his black antagonism towards whites, and a
	lot of what the Senator Johnson was saying all of black versus whites, is actually a more basic
	problem of the state in racial terms: that is, the problem of our economy. There is a great
	unemployment today. There is great unrest. The Negroes that were rioting in Birmingham
	against the whites were unemployed. People want jobs. They see the problem as being against
	the white man.
	Unidentified man 1: Tell them the story of the Negro who had been working as a sharecropper,	10:44
	and he went up to the old master at the end of the season and he, he said: oh master, how did we
	do this year? Master say: well, ya, John, you, you did very good this year; you had the best crop
	of peanuts and corn and cotton I’ve ever seen, but you know what, John? We, we just did break
	even so [giggling in background], there’s no money for you this year. You going to try again
	next year? I say, well, yes sir, I guess I’ll try again next year. John worked even harder than he’d
	ever worked before, then at the end of the season he went up and said: oh, master, how did we do
	this year? I said, well, John, you did, you out did yourself; this is the best year that you’ve ever
	had. I, I, I’m just proud of you; you have more cotton and peanuts and corn; you had a
	tremendous year this year, but you know, John? We just, just break even. [laughing] You going
	to try again next year, John? Said, no I’m going to try you now! [laughing] We have contributed
	our all to the building of this nation. We have made Cotton King. We just decided we wasn’t
	going to take it anymore; we decided we’d try now. [clapping]
	Larry Rubin: The movement is getting down to more basic wishes. In the past, the Negro Civil Rights
	Movement has generally been aimed at seeking equal opportunities for Negroes who had the
	same qualifications as whites, seeking to get Negroes into professions where whites were, where
	whites are, and seeking for better business opportunities et cetera. But this does not speak to the
	general man on the street, the man who is not in fact qualified to be a businessman or to be a
	lawyer. The movement is now moving toward, towards him. The Negro middle-class has always
	been the leaders of the Negro movement.
	Franklin Frazier in his book The Black Bourgeoise describes this middle-class as being a caricature of the whites, of wanting to be white	12:52
	but more so, of proving to their neighbors and they were more than white. This is the class that
	drives around in big Cadillac; however, since the movement has started, I believe that there are
	many signs that these same people, in order to retain their leadership, for one thing, is being
	moved toward fighting for better job opportunities for the average man. Also, I think that the
	Negro middle-class is learning that now in fact they do not have to be white; that is, they do not
	have to fight for acceptance among whites entirely to be accepted as a human being because of
	the large strength that the Negro rights movement is gaining. I heard a man downtown here in
	Yellow Springs, this is an elderly gentleman. He was a member the town Council. One of the
	most respected Negroes in town, who was rather well-to- do also. He was talking to a white
	person and he said: you know, for the first time since I've been living, I realize I'm angry. I'm
	angry against whites. He said: I’m being discriminated against not economically, maybe, but
	psychologically. Whites are for instance, paternalistic toward me, he was saying. All their lives
	Negroes hear about what America is. They hear that America is a land of opportunity, that it is a
	land of freedom, that we all have liberty here. But on the other hand, they, they see realistically
	that America is not this, at least for them, and they feel now—at least many of the Negro leaders
	now feel that, well the way they phrase it is: we don't want to be integrated into a burning house.
	They see a lot of inequities that exist in America, aside from even the race problem. Negroes are
	more and more identifying with Africa, and they see that in the past, American for instance, has
	helped colonialism. There’s a, There’s a, a large feeling that the Negro not only wants to be
	integrated but wants to contribute to America. The Negro is the soul of America, as doctor
	Anderson, head the Albany movement said.
	Dr. W.G. Anderson: We feel as though we make Southwest Georgia better, the entire South will be	15:45
	better. The soul of the nation rests in the hands of the Negro. The salvation of the free world rests
	in the hands of the Negro. As we make Southwest Georgia better, we’ll make the world better.
	We will have to teach our brothers in the Deep South that it is [unsure: (0:16:11)], and we win
	the hearts and minds of people throughout this world. If we are to maintain our image as a world
	leader in a democratic society, it will not be because we are a big nation. Bigness is imposing. It
	will be because we are a great nation, and a great nation recognizes the privileges of its
	minorities. Greatness is enduring. [clapping]
	Larry Rubin: Basically, the Negro wants his rights. He wants to be able to vote. He wants job
	opportunities. He wants this. If he can somehow get it within the present system, fine; but if the
	present system is not flexible enough, he still demand his rights. What sort of change this will
	make, whether this would be a socialistic change, whether this will be—yeah I don't know what
	kind of change. I can’t predict. I will say this though, that the federal government up until now
	has been only interested in keeping the peace not in affording Negro rights. For instance, in
	Birmingham, federal troops were sent in only after the Negro started to riot, not while the white
	policeman were beating up the Negros.
	Negroes resent this very much. President Kennedy's speech was very heartening, his recent speech in which he said that he will push for a	17:32
	strong civil rights legislation in Congress, is very heartening. It’s very disheartening, however,
	that now when pushing for it, the South is able to block the action so far. I think that the civil
	rights movement will push on beyond getting the right to vote toward, for instance, unionization
	of Negro workers. I think this will be the next step. There are small signs of this now. There were
	signs when I was working in Georgia that the Negro population of Albany was getting together
	economically. They wanted to start a young federal bank to make loans to Negroes, loans that
	Negroes cannot get at that white banks. Also, their thinking of starting a credit union. I think it is
	inevitable that the Negro must be given his, his rights. More and more states are beginning to
	realize this now. The leaders of South Carolina and North Carolina, for instance, have said: well
	we're against integration and all of this but, if the federal government forces us to, we will
	comply with the Supreme Court's ruling. We don't want another Mississippi or Alabama.
	Children Singing: We shall overcome/ We shall overcome/ We shall overcome, someday/ oh,	19:07
	deep in my heart, I do believe/ We shall overcome, someday/ We’ll walk hand-in- hand/ We’ll
	walk hand-in- hand/ We’ll walk hand-in- hand, someday/ Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe/ We
	shall overcome, someday
	[change in audio clip]
	Freedom Singers: We shall overcome/ my Lord, we shall come, someday/ oh, deep in my heart, I
	do believe/ Oh, we shall overcome, someday.
	[change in audio clip]
	Freedom Singers: with my mind, stayed on freedom/ I pray, I pray, I pray, Hallelujah
	Radio host: Revolution in Georgia: The Negro Struggle for Franchise. This has been the final in
	a series of programs produced for WISO by Larry Rubin, a white Antioch student who worked
	for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Southwest Georgia’s voter registration
	movement. Tonight, Rubin examined the question, where are they going? The song “I Woke Up
	This Morning” was sung by the Freedom Singers.