Summary from Throughline: In 1965, Jimmie Lee Jackson was an unarmed black civil rights activist who was murdered in Marion, Ala., after a peaceful protest. His murder brought newfound energy to the civil rights movement, leading to the march to Montgomery that ended in "Bloody Sunday." This week, we share an episode we loved from White Lies as they look for answers to a murder that happened more than half a century ago.
Essential Question:
Notes Story of James Reeb
And Jimmie Lee Jackson
-peaceful protesters getting beaten by officers February 1965 Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot by a state trooper
His death didn't get a lot of attention
No roses and attention from the public
-death from a white man Jim Rebb brought more attention to this bigger issue
“And I think the case could be made that this is still a massive problem today, and that's what makes the Black Lives Matter movement such a resonant story today and how it connects back to our story as well.” - A Lot of people were attached to the case, everyone knew Jimmie Lee Jackson Turner was a man was done with the lack of racial progress Marion African Americans weren’t aloud to vote.
They would walk up to the front desk and all they would say is come back tomorrow.
When they did let them through the African Americans had to go through a huge stack of papers of questions.
“These so-called literacy tests, which weren't fully banned until 1970, could also include sections that required prospective voters to read aloud, then interpret, then transcribe long passages of legalese from the Alabama Constitution, a notoriously noxious and long-winded document that was crafted in 1901.”
They had to teach people to pass the test
Local leader of the voting rights movement of Marion Albert Turner took action to get Black voters
February 1965- They no longer planned to go through the tests so they took direct action until they got the right to vote
Tried to register black voters in 1965 but only 75 people did
Used direct action so they have the right to vote
So many people were arrested they ran out of room
February 18th- Albert Turner called for a night march, Officials of Marion heard about it and radioed reinforcements.
Protesters sprayed their cameras said Richard Valeriani who was part of the Selma correspondent for NBC news and got a wind of what's happening.
Troopers were done so they started whipping people
The whole town surrounded by troopers
Jimmie went into a small cafe
White man pretending to be nice but said they are no hospitals for people like you said to Valeriani
He was just taking shelter and beat jimmie because he tried to push him and his grandfather through the troopers
2/18/65- Jimmie was in the hospital, He might recover from the wounds after surgery a journal from a nurse named Vera Booker
He got infected and died eight days later he was 26 years old
Two funerals: Open casket and one at the church
Walked four miles to put jimmie in the grave
Someone went to shot the Jimmies grave up
Jimmies death catalyzed the black community, it created a force that he was able to mobilize and direct into a march
Jimmies grandfather thinks they should continue with the marches he had nothing else to lose
SNCC didn’t go to Alabama because white people are too mean and black people are too scared
1963 the civil rights movement reaching apec
That God wanted us to be equal he would make us white, a woman who worked for a white family as a nurse and created a bond with those families.
Dr King in Montgomery ending certain types of normalities
ALabama had X on the map for a reason it was too volatile place to organiza
Department of Justice sued the city lawsuit over unconstitutional voter suppression in 1964
“The Department of Justice actually sued the city in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit over unconstitutional voter suppression in 1964”
The man who shot Jimmie Lee Jackson was not brought to justice in 1965
Admitted later he shot him
All they heard trooper killed a man during the civil rights movement
Take this case to the grand jury
Fowler said he didn’t mean to kill anyone
- Fowler agreed to plead guilty, got out of jail early
The best case is the defendant gets time but also brings answers to the family