TWENTIETHCHHURYA.\lERI CAN$B v this rime johnKenned yw asPr esident. He
sympathized with the blacksandw o rkedo ma plan
toens urethat allAmeri cans .ofan yrace.wou ld
rcccrvcequal treat m en t .Kenn ed yse n this schemeto
Congressto bem adeinto alaw. He wasmurdered
before this could happen.b ut his successor.Lyndon
Johnson. madegcn ing th ela wp assedo ne of his first
al ms.
In19&1th e C ivilRightsActbecame thelawo fth e
land. M an yAmer ican shopedthatits passingwould
m ark the beginn i n go f anewag eofracialharmony
andfriendship in theUnitedStates.Theywere
di sap point ed. T he racialdifficulties of theUnited
States We re to o d eep-rootedto besolvedby simple
alterati on s in thelaw.o r b y demonstr at ion s and
m arches.Changeswereneededin humanatti tu d es
andinunderlying eco nom iccond itio ns.
Inthe 1960 s m o stAmericanblackswere stillworse
h o u sed , wor se educated .andworsep aid thano the r
America ns. Some rejectedwithcontemptthe ideaso f
leaders likeMartin LutherKingthatblac ks and
w hitessho uldlearntoliveto geth er sideby sideIII
eq ualityand frien dship. "Therearc man y of my
poor.b lack .igno rantbrothe rspr eachi n gth e
ignorant an d lying stu ff that youshouldlo veyou r
enemy, " p ro claimed the leaderofa group called the
BlackMuslims. "Wha t foolcanlove his enemy!"
T he BlackMuslims wereonlyaminorit y .Uut othe r
blackAmeri can sw ere beco m in gin crea smg lv
im patientat thei r lackofprogresstoward srea l
cqualitv-ces pec iallyeconomicequality. In thehot
summersofthem id1960sthisimpatienceboiled
o ve r int o violence.
III Augu stItJ65 .thestreetsofwarrs. ab lackg he tt oltl
Lo s Angeles. becamea bat tl efield, For si x dayspolice
andriotersfoughtamongb urn ingcars and buildi ng s.
A lar g e areawas burned out .Thirt y- fo u rpeople
were killedando v erathousandwereinj ur ed.
T heWattsriotw asfollowedbyothers-inC hicago.
Detroit.NewYork.Washington. Agovernment
inquiry b lam edlackofj o bs fortheri ot s.Butm an y
believedth e causeswentdeeper.When one black
leaderw asas kedabo u ttheviolence hc replied." If a
man's sta ndingo n yourtoeandyo u' vcpetitioned.
begged .plead ed .doneeverythingpo ssible andhe
stillwon'tm ove-you'v egotto pushh imoff,"
In April 1968. M artinLutherKing was murde red.114
Thedreamdeferred
Lan gst o n H ug hes is one o f th e best known
America npoetsofthetwentiethcen tu ry.H e was
also black. Thepoembelov..·wasinspiredbyhis
experiencesoflife inH arlem. the black ghett oof
NewYork.ToHughesit seem edth atthepeople
ofHarlem 'shopesofbettertr eatment had been
delayed-"deferred'-fortoo101lg.
Whathappenstoadreamdeferred?
D ocs itdryup
likea raisin in th e sun?
O r fester likeasore-
And th enrun?
Do csit stinklike rottenmeat?
O rcrust andsugarover-
lik easyrupysweet?
Maybeitjust sags
like a heav y load.
Ord"csi/explode?
LangstonH ugh esJIewas shotd ead on the balconyofamorel in
Mem ph is,T enn essee, by awhitesniper.Many
b lacks nowturnedtotheBlackPowerm o vement.
B lac kPowertaughtthatth eon lyway for blacks to
get j usncc wasto fightforit.
limin th e I970sand 1 9805 most blacksdecide dthat
vot ingw asa mo re effectivewaytoIm p ro vetheir
positio n .Their ideawasto elect bl acksto po sition sof
power - ascitycouncilors. asm ayo rsofcit ies,as
m emb ersofCongress.j esse-jackso n , a former
assist antofMartinLuthe r King 's, becam ethechief
s poke sm anforthisidea." Weneed10.000b lacks
running:foroffice[tryingtoget elect ed ]."he to ld
them ."J USt run!Run!Run!If yo urunyoumig ht
lose. If youdon'trun.you' reguarantee dto lo se."
B y 19R5mo re than5. 000 ofth e 50 .f)! )!) elected
o fficials in the U nit edSta resw ere black. TIllS
n u mber includedthem ayors of s uc hlar gecities as
LosAngel es.C hicago.Philadelphia andWash ing ton.
In19~JacksoJlh im selfcameclo seto beingchose nas
th e Democrat icPart y 'scand id at ein thePr esidential
elect ion of'rhatyear.Andwhites. aswellas blacks.
votedfo rhim.