"The Winners" (1967) by Walter Williams, Jr.

Victory on the Home Front

Regional Culture History

Lesson 7

In "The Winners" Walter Williams, Jr. makes use of pastel, a soft subdued shade, to capture the liveliness and excitement of young boys. Given concerns for safety, one of the more difficult decisions made by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others was the encouragement and allowance of children to participate in the Civil Rights struggle.

 

 

Consideration:

 


Statement from a text by Dr. King whereby he acknowledges the difficult yet important decision of allowing children to enter the Civil Rights struggle.

 

 

Images which depict the liveliness and excitement of children participating in marches, sit-ins, and other demonstrations juxtaposed against law enforcement agents subduing them with water hoses and dogs.

Consideration:

 


Regional participation during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's brought about moral and spiritual victories, particularly in the South, that wrought social and political change at the national level. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference( SCLS) was an umbrella organization founded to synchronize and spearhead the Civil Rights Movement in the South as testing ground. Thus many regional forces had to be mobilized if the movement were to gain momentum to achieve success on certain fronts.

 

Search the Internet to find answers to these questions:

 

 


a) What type aid did Dr. King get from supporters in the South?

 

b) Who is Harry Belafonte and what type assistance did he lend to the Civil Rights Movement?

 

c) Did Dr. King receive support from the church?

 

Consideration:

 


When Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, one could say that he was a winner who had achieved victory on the home front. Read Dr. King's Nobel acceptance speech to determine whether or not he informs about what has been won, or why agitation would continue in the struggle for civil rights.

 

After being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. King changed strategies applicable to civil rights. He shifted focus from civil rights as a domestic problem to an international problem, and began to publicly criticize the Viet Nam war. In spring 1967, 500,000 marchers of all ages converged on Central Park chanting, "Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?" Dozens of young men ceremoniously burned their draft cards, and the so-called resistance phase of the anti-war movement was well under way.


Exercise:

Search the Internet to find answers to these questions:

a) Locate a newspaper account which assess Dr. King's anti-war stand.

 

b) Determine if that same newspaper assesses the spring 1967 rally in Central Park.

 

c) Does coverage of both forms of protest seem fairly equal appears biased in favor of encouraging tolerance for one form of protest over the other?

 

 

 


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