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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: civil rights movement

civil rights movement stories: 25 news summaries

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 Emmett Till's  
 Casket Found  
 'Rusted, Battered' 

Locals search for loved ones' graves at desecrated cemetery

Jul 10, 09 9:57 AM CDT
(Newser) - As Chicagoans mourned the desecration of a historic cemetery, the casket of civil rights icon Emmett Till was found rusted in a shack amid garbage and gravestones, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. “When we opened it up trying to find what we have, a family of possums ran out,”... More »

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Chicago • crime • murder • grave robbing • Illinois • Mississippi • civil rights • excavation • civil rights movement • Emmett Till • Burr Oak Cemetery

(AP) - The Supreme Court ruled narrowly today in a challenge to the Voting Rights Act, exempting a small Texas district from a key provision of the law, but side-stepping the larger constitutional issue. The act requires Southern areas with a history of discrimination to get advance federal approval before changing election... More »

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Valerie Plame • Alaska • lawsuit • Voting Rights Act • US Supreme Court • civil rights movement • special education

MLK's Kids Bicker Over Spielberg Biopic

Siblings plan to fight Dexter King's sale of movie rights to their father's life

May 20, 09 7:03 AM CDT
(Newser) - The sale of the movie rights to Martin Luther King Jr.'s life has revived the feud among his three surviving children, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Martin Luther King III and Bernice King say their brother Dexter—chief executive of the King estate—only informed them of the plans for... More »

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Steven Spielberg • DreamWorks • Martin Luther King Jr. • movie deal • movie rights • civil rights movement • Martin Luther King III • biopic • Bernice King • Dexter King

(Newser) - The first authorized biopic of Martin Luther King Jr. will be a Steven Spielberg production. The filmmaker's DreamWorks studio has obtained the rights from King's family, NPR reports. No word yet on whether Spielberg himself will direct or who will play the main role (Denzel? Jamie Foxx?). King’s children... More »

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entertainment • Steven Spielberg • film • DreamWorks • Martin Luther King Jr. • civil rights movement • biopic • Dexter King • American history

New Photos Bare Aftermath of King's Death

Life finally releases
grim images taken
after assassination

Apr 3, 09 4:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - Newly published photographs by a Life magazine lensman capture the aftermath of the shocking assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., including a motel worker sweeping away the blood of the civil rights crusader. Few journalists traveled to Memphis after the assassination, and Life declined to run the photos after his... More »

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photograph • civil rights • photographers • Martin Luther King Jr. • Memphis • Life • civil rights movement • Life Magazine

 MLK's Dream 
 Now a Reality: 
 69% of Blacks 

Majority of blacks say King's vision fulfilled; whites more skeptical

Jan 19, 09 9:28 AM CST
(Newser) - More than two-thirds of African Americans believe that the goals set out in Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech have been met, a CNN poll finds. That number has doubled since last March, to 69% from 34%. Although whites seem to still think race relations have... More »

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Barack Obama • race relations • poll • Martin Luther King Jr. • racial equality • civil rights movement • President Obama

High Court to Hear Challenge to Voting Rights Act

Provision forcing local governments, mainly in South, to clear changes with feds at issue

Jan 9, 09 3:23 PM CST
(Newser) - The US Supreme Court agreed today to hear a case that challenges a central section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act designed to protect minority voters in discriminatory districts, the New York Times reports. Section 5 of the law, which forces many Southern states and select districts elsewhere to get... More »

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John Roberts • Texas • appeal • Austin • Voting Rights Act • US Supreme Court • civil rights movement • racial discrimination

 Tuskegee Airmen 
 to Attend Inaugural 

Invitation recognizes their contribution to historic event

Dec 10, 08 6:22 AM CST
(Newser) - The Tuskegee Airmen of WWII have been invited to the inauguration of the nation's first black president, the New York Times reports. Barack Obama has acknowledged his debt to the elite all-black force, whose heroes fought for a country that discriminated against them. Now in their 80s and 90s, it's... More »

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Barack Obama • race • African Americans • World War II • inauguration • civil rights movement • fighter pilot • President Obama • Tuskegee airmen

 Folk Giant Odetta Dead at 77 

Odetta's powerful songs were soundtrack of '60s struggle

Dec 3, 08 2:37 AM CST
(Newser) - The woman Martin Luther King Jr. called "the queen of American folk music" has died of heart failure at the age of 77, the New York Times reports. Odetta was a huge influence on dozens of musicians from Bob Dylan to Janis Joplin as her powerful voice and songs... More »

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civil rights • folk • singer • Rosa Parks • civil rights movement

King Family Wants Cut of Obama-King Souvenir Cash

The dream may be passed down, but not the brand

Nov 14, 08 11:41 AM CST
(AP) - The family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is demanding a share of the proceeds from the sudden wave of T-shirts, posters, and other merch pairing the civil rights leader with Barack Obama, the AP reports. Obama may have inherited the dream, but they own the brand, says the... More »

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Barack Obama • brands • merchandise • civil rights • Martin Luther King Jr. • civil rights movement

Prop 8 Splits California's
Gays, Blacks

African-Americans argue gay marriage isn't a civil rights issue

Nov 8, 08 11:14 AM CST
(Newser) - California's narrowly passed ban on gay marriage has divided many of the state's gays and blacks on the issue, the Los Angeles Times reports. Exit polls show that black voters—who turned out in record numbers—backed the ban by around 70%, the biggest margin of any ethnic group. Some... More »

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gay rights • California • gay marriage • civil rights • Election 2008 • civil rights movement • African-Americans • Proposition 8

OPINION

 Jesse's Face Spoke for Millions 

Jesse Jackson's tears expressed so many possible thoughts

Nov 5, 08 1:18 PM CST
(Newser) - Not long after the networks declared Barack Obama the next American president, writes Rebecca Traister in Salon, the years worth of emotions that led up to that moment flashed across the face of Jesse Jackson. In minutes, the civil rights leader's expression transformed from a still one of disbelief, (or... More »

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Barack Obama • race • Jesse Jackson • African Americans • first families • Election 2008 • civil rights movement • President Obama

OPINION

After 43 Years, LBJ's Dream Is Realized Tonight

Voting Rights Act paved the way for Obama's candidacy, writes Caro

Aug 28, 08 10:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - As Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination tonight, author Robert A. Caro will be remembering another speech: Lyndon Johnson's 1965 address to Congress urging the passage of the Voting Rights Act. In that speech, which reduced Martin Luther King to tears, LBJ "adopted the great anthem of the civil... More »

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Barack Obama • Lyndon Johnson • Voting Rights Act • civil rights • voting rights • Martin Luther King Jr. • civil rights movement

 Obama May Signal
 The End of Black Politics

Younger politicians
are leaving elders
and history behind

Aug 9, 08 7:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama may be the most successful black candidate in American political history, but his prominence and possible presidency could be the death knell for black politics as we know it, Matt Bai writes in the New York Times Magazine. While he's not quite the “post-racial” candidate some... More »

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Barack Obama • race • politics • African Americans • Washington DC • civil rights movement • Congressional Black Caucus • politician

Rosa Parks Collection to Be Sold to Settle Estate

Auctioneer may sell thousands of personal items worth $10M

Jul 4, 08 8:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - A collection of thousands of Rosa Parks’ personal items, together valued at upwards of $10 million, will be sold by Guernsey's auction house, the AP reports. The sale is part of a settlement  between her foundation and her nieces and nephews, who challenged her will shortly after her death in... More »

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auction • Rosa Parks • civil rights movement

 Not an Icon, a Man 

Would civil rights legend be controversial in today's political climate?

Apr 4, 08 6:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - On the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination, the Washington Post looks past the legend at the multidimensional figure scholars and King's associates consider his true legacy. ”His challenge was much bigger than being nice," says historian Taylor Branch. "It was even bigger than race.... More »

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race • race relations • poverty • civil rights • Vietnam War • Martin Luther King Jr. • 1960s • Jeremiah Wright • civil rights movement • Taylor Branch

 Peace, Man: Symbol Turns 50 

The sign has endured for half a century now

Apr 4, 08 1:39 PM CDT
(Newser) - The peace symbol, an inspiration for decades of anti-war movements and one of the most recognizable hieroglyphics, turns 50 today. The symbol was introduced in 1958 at a British rally against the atomic bomb. “I drew myself, a man in despair, and put a circle around it to represent... More »

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protests • Vietnam War • peace sign • civil rights movement

 Jackson Recalls MLK,
 Targets Urban Youth 

New initiative launched at site of King's final speech

Apr 4, 08 11:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - Jesse Jackson was outside the Lorraine Motel when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, 40 years ago today, and the sound of the gunshot still echoes in his memory. Jackson talks with the Chicago Sun-Times about that day, and how race relations have "detoxified"  in the ensuing years.... More »

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Jesse Jackson • Al Sharpton • race relations • assassination • Martin Luther King Jr. • civil rights movement

Rights Activist Carr Dies at 97

Friend of Rosa Parks and organizer of 1955 Ala. Bus Boycott

Feb 23, 08 4:00 PM CST
(Newser) - Johnnie Rebecca Carr, an early leader in the civil rights movement and compatriot of Rosa Parks, has died of a stroke at age 97, the Montgomery Advertiser reports. Carr helped organize the Montgomery Improvement Association in 1955 after Parks made her famous stand on a city bus. The group's yearlong... More »

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race relations • civil rights • Martin Luther King Jr. • boycott • Rosa Parks • Johnnie Carr • Montgomery, Alabama • civil rights movement

Ubiquitous Peace Sign Turns 50

Symbol debuted at British anti-nukes rally

Feb 21, 08 2:52 PM CST
(Newser) - One of the world’s most recognizable symbols turns 50 today, the Victoria Times Colonist reports. The peace sign has become the rallying beacon for social movements from civil rights to anti-war. But textile designer Gerald Holtom designed the emblem to trumpet the fight for nuclear disarmament in England; it... More »

MORE ABOUT:
protests • Vietnam War • Martin Luther King Jr. • peace sign • Gerald Holtom • Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament • civil rights movement

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