Don Palabraz

The Southern Manifesto

Back in the day on March 12th, 1956, the so-called Southern Manifesto was introduced in a Congressional speech by Representative Howard Smith. An identical version initially drafted by Senator Strom Thurmond was also presented in the U.S. Senate as well. The Manifesto was in direct response to the Supreme Court Ruling in the case of Brown v The Board of Education. The decision that called for the mandatory desegregation of schools in the United States was seen by lawmakers who signed on to the document as a substitution of “naked power” for “established law.” The Manifesto actually went on to claim that the landmark civil rights ruling had the effect of “destroying the amicable relations between the white and the negro races.” It further stated that it “planted hatred and suspicion where there has been heretofore friendship and understanding.”

I’m sure our black listeners and others are having a good chuckle at that characterization!

The press release reads as follows:

On Friday March 12, the Los Angeles Academy of Arts & Enterprise charter school (LAAAE) is holding a benefit concert featuring international folk artists Inti-Illimani at the Los Angeles Theater Center (514 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013)

One show only starts at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale at http://thelatc.org/

The concert will celebrate LAAAE’s recent charter renewal by the Los Angeles Unified School District.  On March 2, 2010, LAUSD voted unanimously to approve the school’s charter for an additional five years.

In support of the Chilean earthquake victims, LAAAE is offering a limited number of community concert tickets at $30, reduced from $100.  A percentage of these ticket sales will be donated to the Chile Earthquake Relief Fund via the Chilean Embassy.

A Raisin in the Sun

Back in the day on March 11th, 1959, “A Raisin in the Sun” became the first play written by an African-American woman and directed by an African-American man to stage on Broadway. The storyline centered on the decision of a black family to move from the south side of Chicago to an all-white neighborhood. Named after a line in the famed Langston Hughes poem “A Dream Deferred,” the play echoed the life experience of the playwright Lorraine Hansberry whose own family had to file litigation under similar circumstances in Chicago. The cast and crew of “A Raisin in the Sun,” featured the talents of the likes of Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier who help the production open to acclaim.The Ethel Barrymore Theater erupted in applause on opening night and critical praise followed soon thereafter. Hansberry’s work brought new black audiences to the theater, but also introduced existing white audiences to an artistic representation of African-American life they had previously been unexposed to.

Perhaps this is part of the reason why the New York Times would go on to call “A Raisin in the Sun,” a play that “changed American theater forever.”

The Death of Harriet Tubman

Back in the day on March 10th, 1913, Harriet Tubman died of pneumonia in Auburn, New York. Born into slavery in Maryland under the name Araminta Ross, Tubman dedicated much of her life to the cause of dismantling the system of slavery in the Southern United States. Fearing being sold and separated from her family, the “Moses of her people,” herself escaped the bondage of chattel slavery and made her way to Philadelphia. After working and saving money, Tubman returned to the South to help free family and friends through a series of safe houses. In time, multiple trips back for the same purpose, gained her the distinction of being the most well known “conductor” of the Underground Railroad. She freed over three hundred slaves prior to the onset of the Civil War. When military conflict broke out between the Union and the Confederacy, Tubman served as a spy, scout, and cook for the North. After the war, she fought unsuccessfully for the U.S. government to recognize her wartime services and give her veteran’s benefits.

However, after Tubman’s death, the people of Auburn buried her with full military honors.