A movie sponsored by the U.S. Office of War Information:made in 1944. details here :
This is a sepia saturday post.
The theme is around images that feature " cold stone statues and haunted, unrecognisable faces...."
The statue pictured is that of "Lifting the Veil of Ignorance" a monument to educator Booker T. Washington on the campus of Tuskegee University in Macon County.
The statue is by Charles Keck , and was dedicated in 1922.
I didnt know of Booker T until I saw this movie . You can read about his life here:
My immediate thought, while watching the movie , was that I guess those Alabama students you see would have had to sit at the back of their buses travelling from the college after filming ..........
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till
Maybe Emmitt Till's Open Coffin did more for US Civil Rights than any Statue or movie ever did.....?
Maybe Emmitt Till's Open Coffin did more for US Civil Rights than any Statue or movie ever did.....?
7 comments:
I was surprised the video did not specifically mention the famous Tuskegee Airmen participating in WWII. Perhaps the video was made before those men became known as a separate unit of the Army's airforce?
Probably the students at Tuskegee lived in campus housing. Tuskegee, Alabama was pretty much out in the country. I doubt they had buses back in the 1940s. However, if they had had buses, they would have had to ride in the back. During this same time the infamous Tuskegee experiment was going on - the one where they didn't give the syphilitic patients penicillin when it became available. https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/faq.htm
The armed services were still segregated.The order to integrate wasn't signed until July 26, 1948, after WW2 was over.
What an excellent film clip. Thanks for sharing it. And yes, unfortunately the armed forces still had segregation in WW II. I don't know what Emmitt Till's Open Coffin is/was. Will look at the link now.
Thank you for posting this inspiring and informative historical video. The Tuskegee Airmen have long been beacons for civil rights, fighting racism inside and outside the military even as they engaged in battle. This year I was able to see Emmitt Till's original coffin at the U.S. National Museum of African American History and Culture, where it was donated by his mother after he was reinterred in a new coffin. I was deeply moved to wait in a long, silent, respectful line to file past his coffin just as so many did in 1955 after his brutal murder at 14 by white racists.
Interesting that the film seems to celebrate the achievement of black Americans without questioning the segregation.
I was reading today how high population largely urban states had returned the same number of senators as low population largely rural states meaning the Republicans won the Senate even though 12 million more people voted democrat than Republican.
I don't know a lot about history but it seems to me that the American Civil War has never really gone away. I realize that's a sweeping statement and would welcome insight from anyone who knows more than me!
Very informative. You're lucky to get to travel to Washington this year.
The film is surprisingly optimistic about higher education for African-Americans while ignoring the inherent evils of the segregated South that forced the formation of the Historic Black Colleges like Tuskegee. The horrific murder of Emmett Till was a rare evil that inspired a furious reaction across America for social justice. I hope I have a chance to visit the new museum in Washington too.
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