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“Str[a]ight from My Heart”: Black Lives, Affective Citizenship, and 1960s American Politics

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Children’s Voices from the Past

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Childhood ((PSHC))

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Abstract

In postwar America, the black freedom struggle opened school doors to increase black children’s educational opportunities. Drawing on public correspondence from children in the 1960s archived in presidential, gubernatorial, and civil rights repositories, this chapter argues that young citizens relied on constitutional principles and emotional rhetoric to provide political counsel and direct policy outcomes. Their letters represented political acts highlighting how racial violence mobilized many black and white youth to promote civil rights reforms, or, for anti-civil rights youth, generated their perception as politically marginalized citizens and victims of integration legislation. Through a practice of “affective citizenship,” children and teenagers attempted to influence policy decisions, champion generational responsibility, and reclaim human rights.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Lois Ann Clark to John F. Kennedy, September 1963, Box 220, John F. Kennedy Library (hereafter JFKL), Boston, MA.

  2. 2.

    Social science scholar Bronwyn Elisabeth Wood examines contemporary emotional citizenship practices among youth. Her work sheds light on “the significance and complexity of young people’s emotional responses to compulsory citizenship curriculum” and highlights “the potential for emotions to reveal ‘ways of knowing, being and doing in the broadest sense.’” For more, see “Young People’s Emotional Geographies of Citizenship Participation: Spatial and Relational Insights,” Emotion, Space, and Society 9 (2013), 50–58, esp. 51, 56.

  3. 3.

    Presidential, gubernatorial, and civil rights repositories archived thousands of children and teenagers’ written responses to 1960s political issues and foreign affairs.

  4. 4.

    Peter Stearns, American Cool: Constructing Twentieth-Century Emotional Style (New York University Press, 1994), 138.

  5. 5.

    Peter N. Stearns, “Girls, Boys, and Emotions: Redefinitions and Historical Change,” Journal of American History 80, no. 1 (June 1993), 36–74.

  6. 6.

    For more on letter writing and youth politics, see three articles in Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth 10, no. 3 (Fall 2017); Woody Register, “Good and Everlasting Friends: Letter-Writing and Friendship in a ‘Boy-Saving’ Reform Endeavour in Progressive-Era America, 1896 to 1906,” 380–401; Cara A. Elliot, “‘We Should Live Like One World’: White Children Write About Race and Brotherhood in Letters to Harry S. Truman,” 402–421; and Susan Eckelmann Berghel, “‘What My Generation Makes of America’: American Youth Citizenship, Civil Rights Allies, and 1960s Black Freedom Struggle,” 422–440.

  7. 7.

    Todd Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage (New York: Bantam, 1993).

  8. 8.

    I maintained grammatical and spelling errors within quotations. I only made a few adjustments if errors would impede with the comprehension of the narrative.

  9. 9.

    During the American Revolutionary era, historian Nicole Eustace posits, American citizens’ “expressions of emotion constituted declarations of status.” See Eustace, Passion of the Gale: Emotion, Power, and the Coming of the American Revolution (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 7. For more on public correspondence and citizens’ evolving political status, see also Konstantin Dierks, In My Power: Letter Writing and Communications in Early America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009).

  10. 10.

    For more on this concept, see Susan Miller, “Feeling Like a Citizen: The American Legion’s Boys State Program and the Promise of Americanism,” in Childhood, Youth, and Emotions in Modern History: National, Colonial, and Global Perspectives, ed. Stephanie Olsen (New York: Palgrave, 2015), 171.

  11. 11.

    Peter Ling and Johannah Duffy, “Back Dr. King: The Financial Transformation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1963,” The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics, and Culture 5, no. 2 (2012), 147.

  12. 12.

    Susan A. Miller, “Assent as Agency in the Early Years of the Children of the American Revolution,” Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth 9, no. 1 (Winter 2016), 49.

  13. 13.

    Elizabeth Bullen, Kristine Moruzi, and Michelle J. Smith, “Children’s Literature and the Affective Turn: Affect, Emotion, Empathy,” in Affect, Emotion, and Children’s Literature: Representation and Socialisation in Texts for Children and Young Adults, ed. Kristine Moruzi, Michelle J. Smith, and Elizabeth Bullen (New York: Routledge, 2017), 5, 10. Historians have documented American youth’s important roles as political actors and critical cultural observers. William Tuttle presents children as citizen soldiers during WWII fighting against fascism and Nazism on the home front. Jennifer Helgren’s work documents how 1940s and 1950s teenagegirls represented diplomatic channels during the Cold War. Youth organizations like the Girls Scouts or the Camp Fire Girls provided opportunities to practice citizenship duties. Other historians illustrate how black youth activism became a crucial force during 1960s civil rights direct action campaigns and voting rights struggles. These examples reveal that children and teenagers endeavor to fulfill their duties as citizens; young people served as a moral voice and political resource during times when adults failed or eschewed such responsibilities. See William Tuttle, Jr. Daddy’s Gone to War: The Second World War in the Lives of America’s Children (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Jennifer Helgren, American Girls and Global Responsibility: A New Relation to the World During the Early Cold War (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2017); Rebecca de Schweinitz, If We Could Change the World: Young People and America’s Long Struggle for Racial Equality (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009); Jon N. Hale, The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2017); William Sturkey, “‘I Want to Become a Part of History’: Freedom Summer, Freedom Schools, and the Freedom News,” Journal of African American History 95 no. 3/4 (Summer–Fall 2010), 348–368; Gael Graham, Young Activists: American High School in the Age of Protest (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2006).

  14. 14.

    Lela Brooks to JFK, September 15, 1963 (sent), Box 177, JFKL.

  15. 15.

    Mary Jones to JFK, September 16, 1963, Box 222, JFKL.

  16. 16.

    Lela and Lottie Brooks to JFK, September 16, 1963 (sent), “Oversized Opinion Mail on Civil Rights,” Box 177, JFKL.

  17. 17.

    Ibid.

  18. 18.

    Marcus McClung to JFK, November 17, 1963, Box 217, JFKL.

  19. 19.

    Reginald Brown to JFK, May 1, 1963, Box 172, JFKL.

  20. 20.

    See Glenn T. Eskew, But for Birmingham: The Local and the National Movements in the Civil Rights Struggle (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997); Frye Gaillard, Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement That Changed America (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004); Diane McWhorter, Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama; The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001).

  21. 21.

    Gertelle Doyle to JFK, May 22, 1963, Box 1227, JFKL.

  22. 22.

    Phyllis Birkhead to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 1227, JFKL.

  23. 23.

    Nora Kathleen Kosobud to JFK, May 1963, Box 174, JFKL (emphasis added).

  24. 24.

    Ethel Geigel to JFK, 1963, Box 175, JFKL, p. 1.

  25. 25.

    Ethel Geigel to JFK, 1963, Box 175, JFKL, p. 2.

  26. 26.

    Cheryl York to JFK, September 15, 1963 (sent), Box 177, JFKL.

  27. 27.

    Sue Stivender to JFK, 1963, Box 167, Oversized/Opinion Mail “Bombing,” JFKL (underlined in original).

  28. 28.

    For a more extensive discussion on Kennedy’s proposed legislative response following Wallace’s refusal to integrate the University of Alabama, see Michael Kazin and Maurice Isserman, America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012); Frye Gaillard, Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement That Changed America (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004).

  29. 29.

    Cindy Wade to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 175, Oversized/Opinion Mail “Bombing,” JFKL.

  30. 30.

    John Reigle to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 167, Oversized/Opinion Mail “Civil Rights,” JFKL (emphasis added).

  31. 31.

    Deborah Robinson to JFK, June 13, 1963, Box 166, JFKL.

  32. 32.

    Patricia Gilliam to JFK, June 5, 1963, Box 175, JFKL.

  33. 33.

    Debbie Terrell to JFK, Texas, June 11, 1963, JFKL.

  34. 34.

    Linda Brown, June 13, 1963, Box 167, JFKL.

  35. 35.

    Taylor’s perceived threat reflected Southern politicians’ critique of Kennedy’s authorized federal intervention and efforts to topple Southern traditions. Phoebe Godfrey, “Bayonets, Brainwashing, and Bathrooms: The Discourse of Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Desegregation of Little Rock’s Central High,” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 62, no. 1 (Spring 2003), 42–67.

  36. 36.

    Joanna Taylor to JFK, June 12, 1963, Box 167, JFKL.

  37. 37.

    Carmen Rosario to JFK, undated (circa 1963), Box 166, JFKL, p. 2.

  38. 38.

    Carmen Rosario to JFK, undated (circa 1963), Box 166, JFKL, p. 4.

  39. 39.

    Debbie Long to JFK, June 12, 1963, Box 167, JFKL. For other examples on children’s support for segregation, see Cynthia Anita Deas to JFK, June 11, 1963, 167, JFKL, p. 2.

  40. 40.

    Yvonne and Roberta Eubank to John F. Kennedy (hereafter JFK), May 13, 1963, Box 175, JFKL.

  41. 41.

    Lucille Marquez to JFK, May 14, 1963, Box 175, JFKL. Emphasis in original.

  42. 42.

    Christy Tyeson to Martin Luther King Jr., November 7, 1964, Folder 12, Box 79, King Papers, Martin Luther King Jr. Center, Atlanta, GA.

  43. 43.

    Christine Stradler to George Wallace, April 4, 1965, Series SG030820, Box 134, GCW Papers, ASDAH, Montgomery, AL.

  44. 44.

    Rick Curtis to JFK, September 16, 1963, Box 220, JFKL.

  45. 45.

    Norma Lee Jones to JFK, September 17, 1963, Box 220, JFKL; for reference to Lincoln, see twelve-year-old Linda Wilson’s letter to JFK, October 9, 1963, Box 222, JFKL.

  46. 46.

    Marcella Garcia to JFK, June 12, 1963, Box 175, JFKL.

  47. 47.

    Barbara Rosner to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 221, Oversized/Opinion Mail “Bombing,” JFKL.

  48. 48.

    Cheryl York to JFK, September 15, 1963 (sent), Box 177, JFKL.

  49. 49.

    Joanna D’Archangelo to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 1227, JFKL.

  50. 50.

    For an extensive discussion on pro-Wallace youth correspondence, see Susan Eckelmann Berghel, “Freedom’s Little Lights: The World of Children and Teenagers in the U.S. and Abroad During the Civil Rights Era,” Ph.D. Dissertation, Indiana University Bloomington, 2014.

  51. 51.

    Roger Weaver to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 175, JFKL.

  52. 52.

    Lela Brooks to JFK, September 15, 1963 (sent), Box 177, JFKL.

  53. 53.

    Mary Dix and Chris Powell to JFK, May, 1963, Box 175, JFKL; see also Jody Magidson to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 1227, JFKL.

  54. 54.

    Susan Feldstein to JFK, September 17, 1963, Box 177, JFKL.

  55. 55.

    James Jones to JFK, September 17, 1963, WHCSF0367-008p0118, JFKL. See also, Janet Chamberlain to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 175, JFKL.

  56. 56.

    Kathleen Saunders to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 222, Oversized/Opinion Mail “Bombing,” JFKL. For more examples, see Larry Simon to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 1227, JFKL; Merry Binger to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 1227, JFKL.

  57. 57.

    Angela Andrews to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 1226, JFKL.

  58. 58.

    Raymond Wells to JFK, 1963, Box 1228, JFKL.

  59. 59.

    Hilary Anderson to JFK, September 22, 1963, Box 221, JFKL.

  60. 60.

    Philip Broden to JFK, September 18, 1963, Box 220, JFKL.

  61. 61.

    Karen Cevasco to JFK, September 25, 1963 (Received), Box 220, JFKL.

  62. 62.

    Kathie Morgan to JFK, May 7, 1963, Box 172, JFKL.

  63. 63.

    Jody Freshman to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 174, JFKL.

  64. 64.

    Candida Todd to JFK, May 4, 1963, Box 172, JFKL (underlined in original).

  65. 65.

    Deborah Palermo to JFK, June 13, 1963, Box 1227, JFKL.

  66. 66.

    Colleen Moore to JFK, June 12, 1963, JFKWHCSF-0363-006-p0022, JFKL. For more examples, see D. Lynn Creasy to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 1226, JFKL; Edward Bowser to JFK, June 14, 1963, Box 1228, JFKL; Jean De LaRose to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 1227, JFKL; Dan Shuppert to JFK, November 18, 1963, Box 1228, JFKL.

  67. 67.

    Phyllis Rodwell, New York, September 17, 1963, JFKWHCSF-0367-008-p0114, JFKL.

  68. 68.

    Jonell Congleton to JFK, June 14, 1963, Box 1228, JFKL.

  69. 69.

    Johnie Quinn to JFK, undated, circa September 1963, Box, 220, JFKL.

  70. 70.

    Zachary Kupperberg to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 1227, JFKL.

  71. 71.

    Kathleen Saunders to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 222, JFKL. For more on the intersection of Cold War rhetoric and civil rights, see Mary Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002).

  72. 72.

    Lucille Marquiez to JFK, May 14, 1963, Box 175, JFKL.

  73. 73.

    Mark Alan Logo to JFK, 1963, Box 1228, JFKL.

  74. 74.

    Arthur Zalenski to JFK, May 20, 1963, Box 176, JFKL.

  75. 75.

    Elise Muller to JFK, September 18, 1963, Box 177, Oversized/Opinion Mail “Bombing,” JFKL.

  76. 76.

    Mary Volpe to JFK, undated, circa 1963, Box 1228, JFKL. For another example of this discussion, see James DeSane to JFK, September 17, 1963, JFKWHCSF-0367-008-p0109, JFKL.

  77. 77.

    Jody Freshman to JFK, May 10, 1963, Box 174, JFKL. See also Joyce Lynn Alexander to JFK, June 14, 1963, Box 1228, JFKL. Nine year-old Marie Montallano from New Jersey equated segregation with “foolishness and silliness.” Montallano believed, “Negroes should have just as much rights as the Southerners. … I hope you can knock some sense into those people’s heads.” Montallano to JFK, June 14, 1963, Box 1228, JFKL. High school student Tom Shimp from Ohio wrote, “In my point of view, this is just one stupid mess. … I personally see nothing wrong with the negroes, and I think I know some colored people who are better [than] a lot of whites. … these murder[er]s will experience [sic] eternal damnation.” Tom Shimp to JFK, September 18, 1963, Box 220, JFKL. See also Rachel Strong to JFK, June 11, 1963, Box 1227, JFKL; Nancy Schneider to JFK, May 9, 1963, Box 172, JFKL.

  78. 78.

    Nancy Schneider to JFK, May 9, 1963, Box 172, JFKL.

  79. 79.

    Patricia Townsend to JFK, June 13, 1963, Box 1227, JFKL.

  80. 80.

    Rudy Fichtenbaum to JFK, June 12, 1963, Box 1227, JFKL.

  81. 81.

    Amy Shulman to JFK, September 26, 1963 (received), Box 221, JFKL.

  82. 82.

    Irene Karel to JFK, September 20, 1963, Box 221, JFKL.

  83. 83.

    Ira Greenspan to JFK, May 21, 1963 Box 176, JFKL.

  84. 84.

    Helen Edwards to JFK, September 20, 1963, JFKL, Box 221, p. 2.

  85. 85.

    Edwards to JFK, p. 3.

  86. 86.

    Edwards to JFK, p. 4.

  87. 87.

    Edwards to JFK, p. 5.

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  1. University of Tennessee Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN, USA

    Susan Eckelmann Berghel

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  1. Deakin University, Burwood, VIC, Australia

    Kristine Moruzi

  2. Australian Catholic University, Fitzroy, VIC, Australia

    Nell Musgrove

  3. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Carla Pascoe Leahy

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Berghel, S.E. (2019). “Str[a]ight from My Heart”: Black Lives, Affective Citizenship, and 1960s American Politics. In: Moruzi, K., Musgrove, N., Pascoe Leahy, C. (eds) Children’s Voices from the Past. Palgrave Studies in the History of Childhood. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11896-9_5

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