![]() For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages they made cotton king they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation-and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. ![]() “I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. The result has been a demeanor that passed for patience in the eyes of the white man, but covered a powerful impatience in the heart of the Negro.” The subtle, psychological technique of the North has approached in its ugliness and victimization of the Negro the outright terror and open brutality of the South. Yet one of the revelations during the past few years is the fact that the straitjackets of race prejudice and discrimination do not wear only southern labels. They are too well known to require a catalogue here. With the ending of physical slavery after the Civil War, new devices were found to "keep the Negro in his place." It would take volumes to describe these methods, extending from birth in jim-crow hospitals through burial in jim-crow sections of cemeteries. The slaveholders of America had devised with almost scientific precision their systems for keeping the Negro defenseless, emotionally and physically. Young girls were, in many cases, sold to become the breeders of fresh generations of slaves. Fathers and mothers were sold from their children and children were bargained away from their parents. Families were torn apart, friends separated, cooperation to improve their condition carefully thwarted. Punishment for any form of resistance or complaint about his condition could range from mutilation to death. He was forbidden to associate with other Negroes living on the same plantation, except when weddings or funerals took place. He was prevented from learning to read and write, prevented by laws actually inscribed in the statute books. Sheer physical force kept the Negro captive at every point. In the days of slavery, this suppression was openly, scientifically and consistently applied. The posture of silent waiting was forced upon him psychologically because he was shackled physically. “The Negro had never really been patient in the pure sense of the word.
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