Reaction to Writing the Photo Essay March 20, 2007

When we discussed in class that for this assignment a specific event would probably be the easiest course to take, I immediately thought of the 1968 Democratic Convention.  While I was interested in this topic and had done previous study on it, I was unsure as to how many pictures were actually available for the public.  I first did a Google image search just to see what was out there and came up with a few interesting shots.  However, my fear of copyright infringement actually prevented me from using a lot of interesting photos.  Many of the photos that appeared in the Google Image search had very unclear origins.  I mostly stuck with Wikipedia because we had discussed in class how to cite Wikipedia and to me it seemed the most fool proof.

Originally I wanted to just find a generic picture of Chicago to set the scene for the convention.  However, the only picture I could find of Lincoln Park specifically, the scene of a lot of the riots, was in winter, the park covered with snow.  This seemed inappropriate to me since the convention took place in the summer.  The only other pictures of Lincoln Park I found were from poster websites so I quickly abandoned that idea.  I started with Mayor Daley because when I thought about it he was such an important force behind Chicago politics and especially the events surrounding the demonstrations.   After I had the idea to use pictures of people the rest fell into place easily.

Instead of using the general city picture that had originally planned, I ended up finding the great picture of the riots which is much more fitting for the essay as a whole.  Also while I had originally wanted a picture of Tom Hayden from the 60s but when I found the more recent picture of him, speaking at a recent protest I thought that would be a good way to tie the events of the 68 convention to more recent conventions and current politics.

Overall, I really enjoyed doing the photo essay because I got to look at a lot of interesting pictures, even if I couldn’t use them all.  I also found it a somewhat anxiety ridden assignment since the consequences of copyright infringement can be very big.  However, I think that pictures are important when writing about history, especially more modern history where there is certainly a wealth of photographs to choose from.  Photos can certainly enhance the story of history and add valuable visuals when discussing important events.

1968 Democratic Convention in Photos

The 1968 Democratic National Convention took place in Chicago from August 26-29. America had been in turmoil after the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy earlier that year. Vietnam War protests were also on the rise and early on many different groups such as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Youth International Party (YIPPIES) planned to protest war policies at the convention.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia, Richard Daley

The mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley took a tough stance on protestors right from the beginning. When Chicago citizens had rioted after hearing the news of Martin Luther King’s death, Daley had been criticized for being too soft on the rioters. There had even been talk about moving the DNC to Miami. Therefore, Daley assured the planners of the convention that the police were ready to handle the incoming crowds. A common rumor is that Daley instructed the police to “shoot to kill.”

Photo credit: Wikipedia, Abbie Hoffman

The man pictured above, Abbie Hoffman, is probably one of the most notorious activists of the 1960s. He was known for his ridiculous antics, once claiming that he could levitate the Pentagon. As a leader of the YIPPIES, he was planning on bringing a group of people to Chicago to protest Vietnam. His celebrity made him a target for the trials that followed the riots at the convention. Before the convention even started the tension continued to mount. Daley implemented curfews on parks and any areas near where the convention was going to be held.

Photo credit: The Village Voice, Rioters and Police clash in Chicago

As protesters camped out in Lincoln Park, testing the curfew rules, there were violent encounters with the police. Most of these encounters were incited by the curfew and by trying to prevent protestors from reaching the convention site. Ironically, the intention of the protests were to rally for peace when the Democratic Convention is remembered for the extreme violence that took place. It is said that tear gas used by the police and stink bombs used by the protestors permeated the air of Chicago, affecting hotels where delegates were staying. A study that was later conducted by Daniel Walker, a Democratic business man placed most of the blame for the violence on the police which is a widely accepted conclusion. However, Mayor Daley disagreed and gave the police a pay raise.

Photo credit: Wikipedia, Chicago 8

One of the most famous events in the aftermath of the Chicago riots during the convention was the trial of the Chicago Eight. The original defendants included Bobby Seale, a Black Panther leader, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, Yippie leaders, Tom Hayden and Rennie Davis, prominent members of SDS, David Dellinger, Chairman of the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam , Lee Weiner, a research assistant at Northwestern University, and John Froines, professor at the University of Oregon. The trial is often categorized as a circus and early on, Bobby Seale was separated from the rest of the group. When he continuously yelled bitter comments at the judge, Julius Hoffman (no relation to Abbie), Hoffman had him bound and gagged in the courtroom which immediately led to a mistrial for Seale. The men were from then on known as the Chicago Seven. The group was the first to be prosecuted under a 1968 Civil Rights Act which made it illegal to cross state lines to incite a riot. During the trial there were large protests outside of the courtroom supporting the defendants and bringing turmoil to Chicago once again.

Photo credit: Wikipedia, Tom Hayden at the 2004 Democratic Convention

In this picture, Tom Hayden, addresses an anti-war protest at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Many of the activists that took part in the protests and riots in Chicago in 1968 are still actively involved in anti-war movements today. After many arrests and for Hayden, prosecution, these activists have not given up their resolve. While the 1960s have been long over, the legacy still lives on today.

Voices of Civil Rights Website Review March 7, 2007

Voices of the Civil Rights Movement (www.voicesofcivilrights.org). Created and maintained by Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, AARP and Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

The Voices of Civil Rights website has a clear mission and that is to become the largest archive of civil rights stories in America. Interestingly while there is certainly a large focus on the struggle for African American civil rights, it has stories about many different civil rights struggles that took place throughout American history. For example, among the stories of people who were working in the south, there is also information about Japanese internment, discrimination against Jews, the struggle for women’s suffrage, the Hispanic movement for equal rights, and many other stories that play a part in ordinary people’s struggle for a better life.
The usability of this website is very easy and even those who may be less experienced with the internet should not have a hard time using this site. On the homepage there is a horizontal navigation bar which remains a fixture at the top of the page as one moves around the site, making it very simple to get to different parts of the website. There are also many links on each portion of the site that guides a user to find the main features of the site and to easily find other aspects of the site. For example, the main content of the site is the civil rights stories that were collected by the site. When a user clicks on the link called “the voices” it leads the user to two new links, one in which the user can read featured stories and one where a user can search through the archives of the stories collected. The search page is also quite easy to use and includes a drop down menu of different story subjects, a drop down menu for different story location as well as a line to search by story year, author’s last name or a typed in keyword.
The content of this website is very vast. In total 549 stories have been collected from different people and archived on the website. There is also a great amount of information on the civil rights movement itself. One important contribution this website makes is to emphasize that civil rights activity did not just occur during the 1950s and 1960s but that the struggle for civil rights of many different people during many different time periods make up the story of the civil rights movement in America. However, while the website does make this statement several times, there is clearly a strong focus on the African-American movement. Another important part of this website is the history page which includes an extensive timeline, divided into three sections: 1868-1953, 1953-1968, and 1969-Present. The fact that the middle section of the timeline is focused on such a short period of time while the first and last section go over a much broader period of time once again shows the greater amount of information on African American movements but other movements are still represented. At the bottom of the timeline page there is also a large glossary that includes many terms discussed in the timeline so that users have access to even more information. On the history page there is also a photo gallery, which includes many images that are well known in civil rights scholarship but also some that are not. While it includes the typical pictures of the March on Washington and Rosa Parks sitting on the bus, it also has pictures of Cesar Chavez, Ralph Abernathy meeting with leaders of the American Indian Movement and pictures of gay rights protests as well as supporters for the rights of the elderly.
Another feature of this site that is important is the page called “Civil Rights Today” which outlines stories of some people who continue to fight for civil rights on a daily basis. It also emphasizes that while a lot has been done there is still a lot to be achieved. Another major part of this website is the bus tour site that was organized by the Voices of Civil Rights project. During the summer of 2004 a Voices of Civil Rights bus traveled across America to talk to local people and archive their civil rights stories. There is a detailed site that documents the trip including links to journals, video from different parts of the tour, a photo gallery of the tour as well as a detailed map outlining the route taken.
The scholarship on this site definitely has a more general tone. Since the civil rights movement covers so many different places and this website presents a broad look into these events, it does not go in to great detail about different things that happened during different movements. The timeline certainly outlines major events and the glossary that goes with it gives a little more detail. However, the main contribution this website makes to historical scholarship is the vast archive of oral histories. This is a huge contribution to social history and the history of many different civil rights movements.
The presentation of this website is also very commendable. The website looks modern and is pleasing to the eye. The website is also very organized and it is easy to know what all the aspects of the website are. There is also use of flash on the home page as well as sprinkled throughout some other places throughout the website. There is also use of video as well as an easy to use database which makes the content of the website very accessible to a general audience which is probably the type of people the creators of this website are trying to reach. Overall this website is put together very well and proves interesting to historians and the general public alike.