Snapshot 1960… From Small Beginnings…

May 25, 2023 by · Leave a Comment 

What happened? On July 16, 1960, a group of eight African American students – seven in high school and one in college, entered the “whites only” wing of the public library in Greenville, South Carolina to protest the library’s policy of segregation (the library had separate wings for blacks and whites).

Peaceful or violent? They entered the “whites only” wing quietly, selected books from the shelves, and sat down to read in silent protest.

Effective? While only lasting 40 minutes (at which point they were arrested), their actions led to the eventual desegregation of the library a mere 2 months later.

Public response? According to Wikipedia, although the library put up a fuss, and even initially closed stating, “the efforts made by a few Negroes to use the White library will now deprive White and Negro citizens of the benefit of a library”, they eventually reopened due to pressure from the black and white residents of the community.

“Red and yellow, black and white; they are precious…”

Legacy? While it is hard to measure the spidering impact of such “small” efforts, one of the “Greenville 8” is now a household name: Reverend Jesse Jackson.

The small report found on page 19 of The New York Times dated July 17, 1960 is symbolically shown in large format below.

Great Headlines Speak For Themselves… Clark Gable’s death report…

May 15, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

The best headlines need no commentary. Such is the case with the HERALD EXPRESS, Los Angeles, November 17, 1960: “CLARK GABLE DIES WITH A SMILE, SIGHBlog-4-24-2015-Clark-Gable-Death

They put it in print… Castro given a year or less…

February 23, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

Blog-2-23-2015-CastroHistorical perspective offers so much as we reflect upon some of the headlines of the past, particularly those proven to be so wrong. With the reestablishing of relations with Cuba currently in the headlines, we dug through out archives and found a headline which history has shown could not have been more wrong.  The “Detroit Free Press” of October 20, 1960, in announcing the beginning of the embargo against Cuba, ran a banner headline: “CASTRO COLLAPSE FORESEEN” and one of the subheads noting: “Fidel Given Year or Less“.  This is now a newspaper much more interesting today than it was almost 55 years ago.

What a fascinating hobby!