The Civil Rights Movement Revised Edition

144 THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

We shall overcome, The truth will make us free....

We shall overcome someday We’ll walk hand in hand....

Oh, deep in my heart (I know that) The Lord will see us through....

I do believe (oh — —) Black and white together (now)....

We shall overcome someday. We shall all be free....

Source: Guy and Candie Carawan, Sing for Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights

Movement Through Its Songs(Bethlehem, PA: A Sing Out Publication, 1990), p. 15.

TELEPHONE CALLS TO AND FROM ATTORNEY GENERAL ROBERT KENNEDY

DURING THE FREEDOM RIDE, 22 MAY 1961

The attorney general used the telephone frequently to orchestrate the Kennedy

administration’s civil rights strategy. In one day, he made eleven calls trying to

ease tensions involving CORE’s Freedom Ride.

Time Caller Place Called

1.10 a.m. Robert Kennedy Montgomery, Alabama Martin Luther King

Fred Shuttlesworth

James McShane

1.30 a.m. Robert Kennedy Montgomery, Alabama John Patterson

1.30 a.m. Robert Kennedy Montgomery, Alabama Martin Luther King

9.25 a.m. J. Edgar Hoover Washington, DC Robert Kennedy

11.25 a.m. Senator Lister Hill Washington, DC Robert Kennedy

3.35 p.m. Robert Kennedy Washington, DC Gen. Shoup

5.10 p.m. Mayor Earl James Montgomery, Alabama Robert Kennedy

5.25 p.m. ex-Gov. James Folsom Cullman, Alabama Robert Kennedy

5.50 p.m. John F. Kennedy Washington, DC Robert Kennedy

6.02 p.m. Senator James Eastland Washington, DC Robert Kennedy

6.10 p.m. ex-Gov. James Folsom Cullman, Alabama Robert Kennedy

Source: Michal Belknap, Civil Rights, The White House, and the Justice Department,

1945–1968. Vol. 8, ‘Desegregation of Public Transportation, Facilities, and Programs’

(New York: Garland Publishing, 1991), pp. 17–18.

Document 7

MARTIN LUTHER KING’S ‘LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL,’ 16 APRIL 1963

While King was in jail after his Good Friday arrest, eight white Birmingham

clergymen criticized the demonstrations in an open letter that appeared in the

Birmingham News. King’s response – ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ – became

a classic of protest literature.

Document 8