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History Battle of Black Race for Liberty and Justice

Khalid Elhassan May 12, 2020 34 min

Deacons for Defense - Deacons for Defense and Justice — Black demonstrators arriving in Franklinton, Louisiana, after a two day march from Bogalusa. Face 2 Face Africa

35. Protecting Lawful Protesters

Black students picketing a school. Mental Floss

In early 1965, black students were peacefully picketing Jonesboro’s high school over its racist practices – black students were barred from taking some classes – when hostile police showed up. They summoned fire trucks and prepared to use fire hoses against the black kids, when armed Deacons arrived on the scene and proceeded to load shotguns within sight of the police. The police ordered the fire trucks to withdraw.

It was the first time in the twentieth century that armed blacks had successfully used weapons to protect a lawful protest from an attack by law enforcement. Louisiana’s governor was eventually forced to intervene, and he compelled Jonesboro’s authorities to work out a compromise with the protesters. It was the first capitulation to the Civil Rights movements by a Deep South governor.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.