The Observer, September 14, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 3
Taylor Branch speaks out on civil rights
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Last Friday, students and community members flowed into Severance Hall to hear Taylor Branch speak on "Myth and Miracle from the King Years."
Branch, an authority on Martin Luther King Jr. and author of a trilogy of books about King's life, spoke as the recipient of the Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Achievement Award.
Branch's speech covered the civil rights movement, starting with his memories of growing up in the south and continuing on to the effect of the movement on the rest of the world.
To begin, Branch reminisced about his father's relationship with Peter Mitchell, the head employee of the dry-cleaning business owned by the elder Branch. Mitchell would wear a nicely-pressed suit and $100 shoes on his trek to work every day, though upon arrival he would immediately doff these clothes and put on a grubbier outfit more suitable for the high temperatures and nature of the work. According to Branch, Mitchell thought that this was the safest way for a black man to cross Atlanta safely that early in the morning.
Mitchell and Branch's father were good friends who would attend baseball games together on a regular basis. Though they would walk to the stadium together, they had to part ways a few blocks from the stadium so that Mitchell could sit in the colored section. Branch would often accompany the two to the games, and recalled a very telling comment by Mitchell: "I don't like this." Although Branch said he knew not to question what, exactly, Mitchell didn't like, it was well-understood.
Branch also dealt with the ways in which the civil rights movement paved the way for other movements of equality. Branch mentioned White v. Crook, a 1966 case that challenged the restriction of women on juries. He also spoke on the early-'60s decision by Harvard to allow women to matriculate: both of these events groundbreaking at the time.
"We now take it for granted that women will go to Harvard, that they will serve on juries," said Branch.
Branch also cited the civil rights movement as the catalyst for the demonstration at Tiananmen Square and the Immigration Act of 1965. The immigration bill overturned the previous act, which set the immigration quota for most countries of the world at zero. Branch blames the 1920 act on the eugenics movement, which "ranked races in order of presumed worth" and which declined in popularity throughout the time of King.
Today's politicians disappoint Branch. This disappointment started in the 80s, when Reagan became president and opposed the Civil Rights Act, and continues today with the semantics of the political world.
"The watchword then was 'movement,'" said Branch. According to him, the civil rights movement tested people's fear and allowed them to discover other people who wanted rights as well. "Every step in the march was moving history forward."
The watchword today, on the other hand, is spin. "It means there's no inherent motion anymore, just going round and round," said Branch. "It's politics for entertainment." This is due, Branch contends, in part to the lack of interest from the public. "We're consumers who want politicians to do stuff for us."
