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Another Account of the Second Freedom Summer

Jo Freeman Reviews

My Summer Vacation 1965
By Mary Swope
Self-published, 2011, 127 pp
Available from the author at alphogal@sonic.net

The summer of 1965 was an important one for the civil rights movement, but about the only event that is remembered is the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Believing that it would become law in June, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference organized a summer project called SCOPE.

Mary Swope was one of those who went South with SCOPE, and is only the third to write a book about it. She learned about SCOPE at San Francisco State College where she was finishing her M.A. in art. Her family had taught her that “if you see an injustice and have a chance to right it, you should,” so she took a very unusual “summer vacation.”

When she returned home she hastily typed up a rough account of her experiences, then put it away. Four decades later she polished the manuscript and published it herself, along with lots of photos she took at the time. The result is a fascinating look at the day-to-day work of these summer volunteers.

SCOPE brought between three and four hundred young people to work in six Southern states. They spent a lot of time canvassing to bring prospective voters to the county registrars, but the removal of the tests which restricted black registration didn’t take effect until August 6, and only a few counties got federal examiners before the summer ended.

Arriving at the Atlanta Freedom House in July, Mary missed orientation and was not sent to a county project. For the first month she worked in the Atlanta office, keeping the books and putting out the only issue of the SCOPE newsletter. (A copy is at the back of the book). Her descriptions of life in the Freedom House and the people she met are very poignant.

SCOPE director Hosea Williams finally let her get out of the office. She went with other staff to Crawfordville, GA to assist at a march, and to Greensboro, AL to photograph more marches.

In Greensboro, county seat of Hale County in Alabama’s black belt, local African-Americans were staging marches to the courthouse to protest the stiff literacy test which kept so many from registering to vote. By the time Mary arrived in late July, several locals had been beaten while marching and two black churches had been burned.

November 21, 2011
Holiday Desserts: Pumpkin and Pecan Pies, Gingerbread Men and Christmas Cookies

by Margaret Cullison

Pie almost always finished off our holiday meals. Except for one unfortunate year, when Mom steamed carrot pudding on the stove for hours and served it with hard sauce. I didn’t like the dense sticky pudding or the sweet sauce. This must have been the family consensus, because the carrot pudding never showed up again.

More at: http://seniorwomen.com/articles/cullison/articlesCullisonHolidayDesserts.html

November 20, 2011
Is the Female Brain Innately Inferior? Stanford neuroscientist tackles myths about the brain

by Susan Fisk*

We have all heard that women are from Venus and men from Mars, with brains from equally distant galaxies. You may have heard that in comparison to men, women have smaller, inferior brains ruled by estrogen instead of testosterone, and that they are innately less mathematical. Some believe that these differences cause men to have fundamentally superior brains, leading to disparate careers, achievements and successes. With women holding just 16 of the CEO spots at Fortune 500 companies, winning only 17% of the seats in Congress, and graduating with just 18% of all computer science degrees, innate brain differences have even been used to explain, or justify, these outcomes.

Josef Parvizi, Clayman Institute fellow* and assistant professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University Medical Center, argued such statements are beliefs unsubstantiated by neuroscience, or even by basic logic. In a talk given at the Clayman Institute, Parvizi challenged these myths.

Gender Brain Myth #1: Brain size matters

The first myth Parvizi tackled was that women are innately less intelligent than men because they have smaller brains. While men have larger brains on an absolute level, there are no sex differences in brain size once body mass is controlled. The male brain is not proportionately larger than that of the female brain; men are just physically larger, on average. Furthermore, if absolute brain size were all that mattered, whales and elephants, both of which have much larger brains than humans, would outwit men and women.

Gender Brain Myth #2: Women and men have different brains due to estrogen and testosterone

Many believe that “male” and “female” hormones differentially shape the brain, leading some to conclude that these hormonal differences cause men to be better leaders and thinkers. Although it is true that males generally have more testosterone, while females have more estrogen, men and women possess both hormones. These hormones perform other functions besides those related to reproduction; for instance, the male brain needs estrogen for normal brain development and function. And testosterone is also important to women; for example, in the development and maintenance of libido.

Although the popular press often touts the importance of testosterone to the behavior of men, this claim is also overstated. A 1996 study showed that even unnaturally large doses of testosterone did not alter the mood or behavior of normal men (although it did exaggerate aggression for men who were already aggressive).

Lastly, Parvizi stated that even if estrogen and testosterone did shape the brain in different ways, it is an unsubstantiated, logical leap to conclude that such differences cause, “…men to occupy top academic positions in the sciences and engineering or top positions of political or social power, while women are hopelessly ill-equipped for such offices.”

Gender Brain Myth #3: Men are naturally better at math

But perhaps the most damning myth, which has even been espoused by a former president of Harvard, is that men are innately better at math and women are naturally better at verbal tasks. The logic is that gendered differences in math and verbal scores on standardized tests must result from intrinsic, biological differences in the brains of women and men. According to Parvizi, this logic is flawed: “Differences seen in cognitive tests do not necessarily provide direct evidence that those differences are in fact innate.”

If not inherent abilities, what can explain the differences in test scores? Evidence shows that test scores are not immune to social factors. Extensive empirical research on stereotype threat has demonstrated that if a person is exposed to a negative stereotype about a group to which they belong (e.g. women, Asians, African-Americans), they will then perform worse on tasks related to the stereotype. A striking example comes from a study on Asian-American women. When reminded of being Asian (which invokes stereotypes of high math ability) they scored higher than the control group (which was not reminded of their race or gender) on a math test. However, when Asian-American women were reminded of being female (which invokes stereotypes of poor math performance), they scored lower on the math test than the control group.

In this manner, social factors can greatly influence test performance. “Consequently, we are not in a position to draw any conclusions regarding sex differences in the brain and their relationship to differential cognitive abilities,” concluded Parvizi, “as we have yet to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that there are indeed real differences in ability.”

November 17, 2011
Consider CultureWatch’s Four Gift Book Suggestions: Murder, Assassination, Racial Hatred and Ageism

In This Issue

Margolick has written a profile of two women, Elizabeth and Hazel, who appeared in an iconic photograph taken during the desegregation attempt at Little Rock’s High School. How they have handled both friendship and distancing is a long and complex tale. In Agewise: Fighting the New Ageism in America author Gullette explores the causes and effects of a youth culture that makes growing old wrong in the eyes of many Americans. Assisted Dying, a mystery novel, provides a fast ride on the highways of Florida’s Gold Coast and would make a terrific book group choice. Millard’s Destiny of a Republic carefully lays out a sensitive, detailed account of President Garfield’s murder and is on our reviewer’s highly recommended list.

Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock
by David Margolick © 2011
Published by Yale University; Hardcover: 284 pp

Those of us who lived through the tumultuous days of the Civil Rights Movement will find much easily-remembered history in this book, but also much new territory to consider, written as it is from a 50-years-on perspective.

David Margolick has written a profile of two women who appeared in an iconic photograph, taken during the desegregation attempt at Little Rock’s Central High School in September of 1957. That photographer was focused on a 16-year-old black girl, Elizabeth Eckford, as she tried to get to school past the Arkansas National Guard, which had been ordered out by Governor Orville Faubus to keep Negroes out of the school. In the photograph, Elizabeth was being followed by a crowd of angry whites, most of them adults, who taunted her, shouting things like “push her!” and “drag her over to this tree.” Directly behind her, we can see a couple of white students. The one with a pretty face twisted into a snarling mask of anger, mouth open wide as she spewed racial insults, was Hazel Bryan, 15, and also a student at Central. That picture was picked up by the press, not only in America, but all over the world. What it said about the America of those days needed no translation in the foreign press.

Back in 1954, following decision in the case of Brown vs. the Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas, it took just five days for the Little Rock School Board to announce its intention to comply with the decision that state laws mandating segregation of schools were illegal. It took another three years and extensive lobbying by the NAACP, however, for some brave people on the Board to decide to integrate Central High School … slowly. Nine black students were invited to enroll, based on their good school records and their teachers’ recommendations.

It is often forgotten that this attempt pre-dated the legislative mandate of 1964 by a good seven years. Those in Little Rock who took the first, tentative steps to end segregation were probably not aware of the precautions they needed to take as they began the transition. They were obviously unprepared for the inflammatory actions of Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas, who called out the Arkansas National Guard to block the black children from entrance to the school.

Faubus was end-played by the Mayor of Little Rock, who asked President Eisenhower to call in the 101st Airborne to provide safe passage for the nine black students. Eisenhower then federalized the Arkansas National Guard, so that they had to take orders from the President, not the governor. Faubus, however, continued to play legislative games, calling an Extra Session of the State Legislature to extend segregation.

November 16, 2011
Bills to Curb Violence Against Indian Women, Families Subject of Hearing

Women’s Policy Inc

On November 10, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing on several bills, including the Alaska Safe Families and Villages Act (S. 1192) and the Stand Against Violence and Empower (SAVE) Native Women Act (S. 1763).

Sponsored by Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK), the Alaska Safe Families and Villages Act would establish a demonstration program at the Office of Justice Programs at the Department of Justice that will give a limited number of Indian tribes the legal jurisdiction and enforcement capabilities to reduce domestic violence against Native women and children, among other provisions.

The SAVE Native Women Act, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), would amend the Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (P.L. 90-351) to include sex trafficking among the crimes for which the federal government may provide grants to Indian tribal governments and organizations for the purposes of reducing or eliminating violence against Indian women.

The provision of services to youth who are victims of, or have been exposed to, domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking would be added to the list of eligible uses of grants under S. 1763. The bill also would include “the development of legislation and policies that enhance best practices for responding to violent crimes against Indian women” as one of the eligible uses.

Tribal coalition grants also would be established in order to increase awareness of violence against Indian women; improve responses to such violence at the state, federal, and local levels; identify and provide technical assistance to improve access to services for women who have been victimized; and develop and promote best practices for responding to such violence.

Tribes and tribal organizations also would be granted jurisdiction over domestic violence crimes and violations of protective orders.

“For a host of reasons, the current legal structure for prosecuting domestic violence in Indian country is inadequate to prevent or stop this pattern of escalating violence,” said Thomas Perrelli, associate attorney general at the Department of Justice (DOJ).

He added, “Until recently, no matter how violent the offense, tribal courts could only sentence Indian offenders to one year in prison. Under the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 [P.L. 111-211], landmark legislation enacted last year in no small part due to the efforts of this committee, tribal courts can now sentence Indian offenders for up to three years per offense, provided defendants are given certain procedural protections, including legal counsel. But tribal courts have no authority at all to prosecute a non-Indian, even if he lives on the reservation and is married to a tribal member. Tribal police officers who respond to a domestic violence call, only to discover that the accused is non-Indian and therefore outside the tribe’s criminal jurisdiction, often mistakenly believe they cannot even make an arrest.”

November 15, 2011
Her Majesty the Queen’s Painter and Limner in Scotland

The major exhibition in 2011 at the Scottish National Gallery highlights the work of one of Scotland’s most accomplished living artists, Dame Elizabeth Blackadder.

Celebrating the artist’s 80th birthday, the exhibition presents her work in all its diversity, ranging from the much-loved studies after nature, to lesser-known paintings which will challenge expectations. This landmark exhibition spans six decades of Blackadder’s career, beginning with her work in the 1950s and culminating in her most recent paintings.

Since the opening of the exhibition that launched her career in 1959, Elizabeth Blackadder has become renowned for her paintings, prints and drawings. Her work is both cherished by the public whilst being highly respected by the art establishment. She was the first woman artist to be elected to both the Royal Academy and Royal Scottish Academy and in 2001 she was honoured with the title Her Majesty the Queen’s Painter and Limner in Scotland, a role that began with Sir Henry Raeburn almost 200 years ago.

Born in Falkirk in 1931, Blackadder studied at Edinburgh University and Edinburgh College of Art. Her early work was shaped by her acquaintance with the Scottish painters William Gillies, William MacTaggart and Anne Redpath, whom she met through her studies. Blackadder’s outstanding technical ability was visible from the outset and she thrived in an environment which focused on the primacy of drawing and observation. The exhibition begins with early drawings of the Italian landscape and its architecture, shown alongside portraits from the period. This will include one of Blackadder herself completed when she was just twenty. These striking works still appear fresh over fifty years later, demonstrating her innate ability with paint and line.

From the 1960s onwards, the motif of still-life became key to her development. Like other individual artistic voices of her generation, such as David Hockney and Howard Hodgkin, Blackadder quickly saw the possibilities offered by the vibrant colour and dynamism of Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism. Her subsequent works injected new life into the Edinburgh School tradition of finding subject matter in the surrounding world. Dazzling canvases, such as Flowers and a Red Table, fill the central room of the exhibition, revealing the energising effect these developments have had on her art.

Blackadder’s studies from nature are perhaps the best-known and best-loved of all her work. They illustrate a fascination which has continued throughout her long career; the desire to capture the world around her, with no subject being too small or insignificant. Under Blackadder’s analytical eye the modest form of a flower or shell is transformed into a symphony of colour, shape and rhythm. These works are celebrated with a room dedicated to her drawings, prints and especially her watercolours produced from nature.

November 11, 2011
The 18-Minute Gap, Wiretaps and Cash: Nixon’s Grand Jury Testimony Released
WHAT: Two separate releases of historical records from the Presidency of Richard M. Nixon.
1. The National Archives in College Park, MD, will open 26 files from its Records of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force (WSPF) collection including transcripts of President Nixon’s grand jury testimony of June 23-24, 1975, pursuant to the July 29, 2011, order by Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In response to a petition filed in the case In Re Petition of Stanley Kutler, et al., Chief Judge Lamberth, ordered that the transcript of Mr. Nixon’s testimony and the “Associated Materials” to that testimony be released to the public following the review of these documents for any information that must be redacted as required by law. There are a few redactions made for the privacy of living persons. In addition, there are several portions of the testimony that were deemed to be properly classified for national security. These portions, as well as parts of the accompanying materials, have been referred for declassification. When the National Archives receives a reply to these referrals, the transcript and accompanying materials will be updated.
2. The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, one of 13 Presidential libraries operated by the National Archives, will open textual materials and sound recordings from its Nixon Presidential Historical Materials, including: The segments of five transcripts of White House taped conversations from 1971 and 1973, which are part of the materials associated with President Richard M. Nixon’s June 23-24, 1975 grand jury testimony. The Library will open approximately 3,000 pages of formerly classified national security materials, including National Security Council materials and Henry A. Kissinger (HAK) telephone conversation transcripts.
The Library plans to open an additional 45,000 pages from the collection of Ken Cole, the President’s chief domestic policy aide in 1973-74. The Library will also release approximately 45 minutes of presidential dictabelt sound recordings from 1970, including the President’s dictated recollections of his historic early morning visit to the Lincoln Memorial on May 9, 1970. Finally, the Library will open additional video oral histories, including those of Judge Laurence Silberman, former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), and former Massachusetts Governor William Weld.

WHEN: Thursday, November 10, 2011, 12 p.m. EST/9 a.m. PST

WHERE: Online: Files from the National Archives’ WSPF collection including the transcript of President Nixon’s grand jury testimony and associated materials, will be available at http://www.archives.gov/research/investigations/watergate/nixon-grand-jury/.

Nixon Presidential Historical Materials released by the Nixon Presidential Library will be available at http://www.nixonlibrary.gov.

In person: Files from the National Archives’ WSPF collection will be available at the textual research room of the National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, Maryland.

Nixon Presidential Historical Materials released by the Library will be available at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard, Yorba Linda, California.

Background on the Nixon Grand Jury Testimony

In May 1975, the Watergate Special Prosecution Force (WSPF) decided that it was necessary to question former President Richard M. Nixon in connection with various investigations being conducted by that office. The circumstances of this testimony were negotiated with Mr. Nixon’s attorneys, Herbert J. Miller, Jr., and R. Stan Mortenson. It was determined that Mr. Nixon would be questioned over the period of two days, June 23 and June 24, 1975, and that the testimony would be taken as part of various investigations being conducted by the January 7, 1974, Grand Jury for the District of Columbia (the third Watergate Grand Jury). Chief Judge George Hart signed an order authorizing that the sworn deposition of Mr. Nixon be taken at the Coast Guard Station in San Mateo, California with two members of the grand jury present. The deposition was taken in California because Mr. Nixon’s doctor had determined that Mr. Nixon was unable to travel to Washington DC for health reasons.
November 10, 2011
Copia — Retail, Thrift, and Dark Stores, 2001-11

The Cleveland Museum of Art presents the first major museum exhibition of contemporary photographer Brian Ulrich’s work from a decade-long examination of the American consumer psyche in Copia — Retail, Thrift, and Dark Stores, 2001-11. From the Latin word for “plenty,” the artist’s Copia series explores economic, cultural and political implications of commercialism and American consumer culture. The exhibition, featuring almost 60 photographs, will be on view to January 16, 2012 in the museum’s east wing photography galleries.

“Ulrich’s work invites us to contemplate the broader ecology of consumer culture, the interconnectedness of consumers, what they buy, and what they choose to leave behind,” says C. Griffith Mann, the chief curator. “His photographs offer haunting images that explore the landscapes of American consumer culture.”

The body of work in the exhibition, curated by Tom Hinson, the museum’s curator emeritus, is divided into three parts: Retail, Thrift and Dark Stores.

For the work included in the Retail phase (2001-06), Ulrich traveled extensively throughout the United States. He initially used a hand-held camera with the viewfinder at waist level, which allowed him to remain anonymous while documenting shoppers engrossed in navigating the abundance of goods found in vast enclosed malls and big-box stores.

The second phase, Thrift (2005-08), focuses on thrift stores, the collecting places for discarded and unwanted consumer products, and its workers, as they tried to bring order to the vast amounts of donated, discarded and unwanted consumer products.

The concluding group, Dark Stores (2008-11), features images in which Ulrich explores the impact of the 2008 financial crisis with haunting architectural landscapes of abandoned buildings and empty parking lots that have become commonplace in towns across America. Photographs from the Cleveland area are featured in the Retail and Dark Stores sections of the exhibition.

“I had to see if people were indeed patriotic shopping in response to the events on September 11th,” says Brian Ulrich, photographer, referring to the beginning of his decade-long investigation. “Not only was it clear that this was the case, but standing in a big box store or shopping mall, I could see the entire trajectory of the 20th century economy and ideology playing out in the excess of goods and overwhelmed stares of the shoppers.

Ten years later, I hope that these photographs serve to add as a marker in which we can learn about our behaviors, habits, comforts and purpose.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication titled
Brian Ulrich: Is This Place Great Or What comprised of the entire Copia series, including a statement from Brian Ulrich and an essay by Juliet B. Schor, professor of sociology at Boston College, entitled Shopapalooza: The Boom and Bust of the Retail Economy.

The catalogue is made available by the Cleveland Museum of Art and Aperture, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to promoting photography. More programming information and details are available at www.ClevelandArt.org.

Photos:

(1) 2003. Brian Ulrich (American, b. 1971). Ultrachrome Inkjet Print; 101.6 x 127 cm. Courtesy of the artist. © Brian Ulrich

(2) 2006. Brian Ulrich (American, b. 1971). Ultrachrome Inkjet Print, printed 2011; 101.6 x 76.2 cm. Collection of Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell. © Brian Ulrich

November 9, 2011
Middle-Class Societies Invest More in Public Education

This article was created by the Center for American Progress Action Fund*

By David Madland and Nick Bunker

America’s economic future depends in large part on the quality of our nation’s public education. Education increases productivity, sparks innovation, and boosts our economic competitiveness. In a globally competitive environment, we can’t afford to have a poorly educated workforce.

To boast a world-class public education system requires investments. Alas, we have not invested as much as needed to stay ahead of our international competitors, and the results are clear: Fifteen countries now have higher college graduation rates than us, and our average test scores are lower than those of not just peer countries but also less wealthy places such as Slovenia and Poland.

Not surprisingly, the American public thinks we should be making greater investments in education, with polls showing strong and growing support for increased spending. Seventy-two percent of Americans support spending more on education today, up from 65 percent in 1985. So why have we not been making the investments in education that the public desires and the economy demands?

There are of course many reasons but a key, though often overlooked, piece of the explanation is the decline of the American middle class. Societies with a strong middle class make greater investments in public goods such as education, which helps fuel their future economic success. Because paying for private school imposes a much greater, and sometimes impossible, hardship on middle-class families than it does on the wealthy, middle-class families have a strong incentive to make public schools work. The middle class invests its time and energy in public schools and supports higher levels of spending on education — and especially the taxes necessary to pay for it — than do the rich.

Moreover, people in strong middle-class societies feel they share a similar fate and thus are more willing to make investments that they may not directly benefit from, such as, for example, in education when they do not have school-age children.

Over the past several decades, however, America became less of a middle-class society as the wealthy captured most of the economy’s gains. The top 1 percent’s share of income rose to 23.5 percent in 2007, the last year before the beginning of the Great Recession, up from 9.12 percent in 1974, while over this same time period, the share of income going to the middle class (defined as the middle 60 percent of the population) fell from 52.2 percent to just 46.9 percent. The share of income going to the bottom 20 percent over this period stayed around 3 percent, declining by less than 1 percentage point.

As the rich pull away from the middle class, the relative political power of the wealthy significantly increases compared to the middle class.

As the rich pull away from the middle class, the relative political power of the wealthy significantly increases compared to the middle class. This dramatic change in power distorts our political system, leading to not as much investment in the public goods needed to maintain a healthy middle class, including a great public education system. The rich are able not only to purchase ever more political influence but also boost their political power relative to the middle class, which now feels less influential and thus votes less often and gets involved in politics less frequently. As a result, the views of the American middle class now hold less political weight than they used to.

Because of the decline of the middle class, education spending is lower than it would be otherwise. Indeed, four decades ago the United States ranked second among high-income countries in education spending as a share of GDP — the broadest measure of a country’s income level — with only Canada outspending us, according to the World Bank. In 2008, the most recent year data are available, we ranked 11th — and Canada, whose middle class has also shrunk significantly, dropped to 16th, as countries with stronger middle classes like Sweden and New Zealand edged ahead.

November 8, 2011
Two Essays by Adrienne G. Cannon: Music and Medicare & Another Era

by Adrienne G. Cannon

Come on … smile with me through the non-stop counseling that tells us older folks how to stay young. You know … it goes this way: work out crossword or math puzzles; better yet struggle with those impossible number combinations needed to solve Seduko puzzles, play bridge or learn another language and, oh yes, take a dance class. We can politely agree as we sigh at the amount of effort proscribed for us so we can maintain our mental faculties at their optimum level … and avoid illness even if it is covered by Medicare.

Sitting in a chair is not so bad, I reason, as I would be while grappling with those mind games. But for me, there has to be a point to it all. So my favorite thing to do, while I am sitting, is to join with colleagues while playing in concert bands. Such bonding with friends should make those advice-givers happy as I am following what the sociologists say will keep me connected.

And what friends they are! Some are older than I am (at times by twenty years) and need help carrying their instrument (or in the case of a piano or a timpani, finding where they are located), setting up their music stand, even getting in and out of their chair, especially after a long rehearsal. I can empathize with this last ailment, in my seventieth decade, when arthritis is showing its effects on my aging joints.

But how we come alive when we begin to play! We are joined in a renewal of spirit as we play through the score following the conductor, as we count measures, observe the key signature, sense the rhythm and interpret the dynamics. Some of us have played all of our lives; others of us have returned to an instrument we played as a younger person. Yet the whole group (concert band, chamber group, swing band) continues to perform activities that younger folks envy.

Our hearing discrimination is better than many of our peers, our vision, poor as it may be, is keen enough to read a musical transcript, our minds can calculate notes and render them into sound by key combinations or breath production. No wonder musicians seem to live longer and hurt less. Maybe the prescription for staying healthy is not Medicare nor mind-bending games. Maybe making and enjoying music, for ourselves and our appreciative friends and family, is the program we should subscribe to.

Photo from Wikipedia, Indiana Wind Symphony.

©2011 Adrienne G. Cannon for SeniorWomen.com

November 8, 2011