one of the most important visions of the 1960s and 70s was the black panthers. the black panthers were a group that began in oakland, california, and they really called themselves the black panther party for self defense. created in response to perceived police violence and intimidation, and one of the things that's wonderful is that this poster became an iconic poster that was in the rooms of you know, myriads of high school and college students during the 1960s and early '70s. this is huie p. newton, the leader of the black panther party. what is powerful is that this poster talks a lot about what black -- where black america was in 1968-69. on the one hand there's a homage to africa. you have african zebra rug and african materials, the kind of chair that symbolizes the king chair. but you also have the sword, i mean the rifle and the pike as a

way to say that violence will be met with violence. so, for the black panther party their notion was that they will do what needs to be done in order to force america to change. and so i think being able to have this which really has the sort of wonderful quotation that really does speak about the black panther party's commitment to their community, their desire to demand the police to not violently intimidate the african-american community, plus the notion of the black panther, being an animal that is strong and aggressive and will defend itself really sent the message for many people that a non-violent way of change wasn't enough to change america. when i came back to the smithsonian in 2005, shortly

thereafter katrina hit new orleans. and one of the things that i realized is that as new orleans was devastated, often the african-american community bore the brunt of much of that devastation. one of the things that i realized that was very important for us is to document that. and as we thought about what are the things that were documented i kept seeing the picture of people being rescued, of the helicopter t coast guard, going down and having people jump into these baskets. so, i had a colleague from the museum of american history, david shea going down. i asked him, please pick up a basket for us. so, this basket was one of our earliest acquisitions. and this is a basket actually used to rescue people during katrina. so, what you've seen in many ways is a snapshot of the more than 15,000 objects that this museum has collected. and that these objects really

are at the heart what if the smithsonian is, because even if you have the most amazing technology that's possible, it really is the artifact that really brings the public to the smithsonian. and so for us, the fact that we're able to find these wonderful materials give us the greatest of confidence that we were able to craft a museum on the one hand will tell great stories, will have wonderful artifacts, will be 18 great building, but more importantly we'll be able to create an institution that will allow the public to engage candidly over the issue that has divided us more than anything else, that is race. and so our job is not just to build a museum, our job is to build a structure that within it allows a conversation to occur that makes america better. >> you can watch american artifacts and other american history tv programs at any time

by visiting our website. c-span.org/history. the first civil rights legislation since reconstruction was enacted while president git d. eisenhower was in the white house. now some 50 years after ike left the oval office thurgood marshall jr. was among those that gathered to consider his civil rights legacy. and the groundwork that preseeded the civil rights movement of the 1960s. this discussion is about 90 minutes. [ applause ] >> well, will the real dwight eisenhower please stand up? today we review the impact of eisenhower's legacy on civil rights. historians have looked at his records in this area and have come to very different conclusions. when eisenhower assumed the presidency, the armed services

had recently been integrated, segregation still held firm in public schools. no civil rights act had been passed since 1875. and the power of the military had not been used to protect the interests of african-americans since the reconstruction period. by the end of his presidency, the brown versus board of education decision in the supreme court upended the notion of separate but equal education. federal troops had been sent tine little rock, arkansas to enforce integration of a high school. and the civil rights acts of 1957 and 1960 passed into law. in some ways, president eisenhower pushed the currents of history to open greater opportunities for black people in the united states. however, in other ways he seemed to build dams that reinforced

prejudice. assessments of eisenhower's civil rights contributions written in the 1970s and 1980s pointed out the shortcomings in his record. in his memoirs, earl warren, appointed by eisenhower as the chief justice of the supreme court remarked on the president's lack of enthusiastic support for civil rights. the historian stephen ambrose described the ways eisenhower worked to eliminate discrimination in areas where federal authority clearly took precedence, but showed the president's reluctance to intervene in states. for example, by 1953, eisenhower worked through his aide max raab and the secretary of the navy, robert anderson, to complete the desegregation of the navy and air force. leaving only a few segregated

army units which would also be a memory by the end of the administration. however, in the case of the fair employment practices commission, the president opposed renewal of this agency which was intended to prevent discrimination in defense employment. he justified his decision based on the belief that federal mandates would only hold back progress because they interfered with the voluntary cooperation between blacks and whites at the local and state levels. every elected official, he believed, should, quote, promote justice and equality through leadership and persuasion. unquote. aboarding to ambrose this reluctance to take a more aggressive stance on civil rights stemmed from the

president's desire to win the votes of white southerners. other scholars echoed ambrose's conclusions. in the book "the presidency of dwight d. eisenhower" chester page jr. and elmer richardson explained that in addition to political concerns eisenhower was also part of a culture so enyou'red to segregation that he was blinded to the commonplace injustices that it fostered and the power hierarchies that it maintained. his acceptance of the system came from his life experiences, such as growing up in kansas where segregation was practiced. working in the segregated military. and socializing with friends who made jokes about black people. his experiences probably also made him instinctively aware of

the violent response that would result from any attempt to change the system. quote, if we attempt merely by passing a lot of laws to force someone to like someone else, he warned, we are just going to get into trouble. unquote. with these words i can imagine him echoing the thoughts of many white people in both the north and the south, who envisioned a day when african-americans would be treated as equal americans and an equal part of society, just not right now. or, in the foreseeable future. those who criticized eisenhower on civil rights often point out that he did not use the bully pulpit of the presidency to push this issue forward. to play a role in changing people's hearts and minds about

the issue. his reticence came to the for, most glaringly after the supreme court issued its decision striking down segregated schooling in the brown versus topeka board of education case. when the supreme court announced the decision in may 1954, the president made no public comment about the ruling other than to assert his willingness to obey the court's decision. his perspective on the brown ruling may have been expressed best in remarks that he made to his staff. quote, it's all very well to talk about school integration. but you may also be talking about social disintegration. we can't demand perfection in moral questions. all we can do is keep working toward a goal and keep it high. and the fellow who tries to tell

me that you can do these things by force is just plain nuts. unquote. these comments are the perfect expression of the go slow approach to civil rights, and they have caused many to question his commitment to racial equality. especially when he refused to condemn the southern manifesto, a document signed by over 100 southern congressmen who demanded a retraction of the brown ruling. in the judgment of historians this cautious attitude was understandable given the level of violence and hatred that were unleashed after the verdict. but, it was not necessarily fair, they stated. since it tended to favor the status quo. within the last 10 years others have evaluated eisenhower's

civil rights legacy in a different light. in part, this reconsideration was sparked by the work of political scientist fred greenstein who wrote the hidden hand presidency in 1982. greenstein focused on eisenhower's tendency to appoint highly qualified people who would carry out his policies while insulating him from any fall-out that those policies might generate. greenstein's work revolutionized the way we look at eisenhower's presidency, causing us to see ike not as a friendly golfing grandfather, but as a ery initiative of gist, setting his administration. the historian david nichols who is a dean at southwestern college in windfield, kansas, applied greenstein's ideas to

eisenhower's civil rights strategies and created a much different portrait of his contribution to the movement than earlier biographers. like greenstein, nichols emphasized the impact of eisenhower's personnel choices. the president appointed herbert brownel as the attorney general. a man who was committed to civil rights and whose legal brief supporting integration of public schools comprised part of the supreme court's information package on the brown versus board of education case. in addition, the appointments to the federal judiciary that eisenhower made shaped it for decades. the most obvious example of this was the chief justice of the supreme court, earl warren, who spear headed the judiciary's dismantling of jim crow.

in addition, judges like albert tuttle, john brown, john minor-wisdom and frank johnson jr. were appointed to lower federal courts and played key rolls in desegregating the south in the 1960s. to screen candidates for such posts, eisenhower relied on his attorney general, brownel, who was instructed not to place a known segregationist on the list of judicial candidates. so, true to greenstein's thesis, eisenhower gave considerable power to a man he trusted, who could make the president's objectives a reality. nichols also reminded readers of the other accomplishments of the administration that have received scant notice over the years. eisenhower was able to use his

credibility as a general to generate compliance on military desegregation, so that in less than two years all combat units were desegregated. he also desegregated schools on military bases in the south before the brown decision, as well as veterans hospitals. he used the power of persuasion and the prestige of his office to encourage integration of movie theaters and public accommodations in washington, d.c. and used the capital city as a model for integrating schools in 1955 and 1956. he also appointed the first african-american, e. frederick morrow, to be a white house counselor. finally, nichols emphasized the president's use of federal power for civil rights.

eisenhower was the first president since reconstruction to use the military to protect the civil rights of black people when he sent the 101st airborne to little rock, arkansas. to guard nine black high school students who wanted to attend little rock central high school. when this incident occurred in september 1957, he drew the ire of states rights activists in the south. yet, as eisenhower stated, after the brown ruling, quote, the supreme court has spoken, and i am sworn to uphold the constitutional processes of this country, and i will obey. unquote. in another exercise of federal authority the president encouraged the development of civil rights acts in 1957 and 1960. both of which were designed to protect voting rights.

attorney general brownel helped draft the legislation and wanted stronger provisions than the ones congress passed. for the president, voting rights were of paramount importance because he believed by using the vote black people would gradually change the system that was oppressing them. nichols' work portrayed eisenhower as a man shaped by a military mind-set who understood and respected the separation of powers and would not assume or usurp the privileges of the judicial or legislative branches. so, will the real dwight eisenhower please stand up? was he the eisenhower who accommodated his southern friends, who made racist jokes, who kept the one black member of his staff e. frederick morrow at

arm's length? or, was he the eisenhower who appointed judges who would uphold the 14th amendment, who integrated washington, d.c., and used the army to break segregated schooling in little rock. in many ways the frustrations we have in pinning down eisenhower's ideas on civil rights are the same frustrations many of us have with our nation's history as a whole. we have a sense that our country should have given black people the same access to the rights of citizenship and opportunity that it gave to white people. that our presidents shoulden tst goal, and not been mired in prejudice or political calculation. president eisenhower was a man who held the same casual

disregard of african-americans that many in his generation held. however, his devotion to the constitution and to the procedural guarantees of the legal system enabled him to set aside his preconceived notions and take this country to a new place. or perhaps more accurately, opened enough protected space for the grass roots civil rights activism of african-americans to survive. today we are fortunate to have panelists who can expand and elaborate on the themes and details i've tried to set out this afternoon. our first speaker is mr. thurgood marshall jr. the son of thurgood marshall sr., the lawyer whose arguments swayed the supreme court in the brown versus board of education case, and who later became the

first african-american justice on the supreme court. thurgood marshall supreme court justice. graduating from the university of virginia and the university of virginia school of law, as a young lawyer he clerked for the u.s. district judge barrington parker and served as counsel to various entities and bill clinton and as the secretary of the cabinet of the clinton administration. currently is he a partner in the international law firm but his interests go beyond a legal field. he has wide ranging interest and public spirited, serving on boards as diverse as the national fish and wildlife foundation, historical society and ethics advisory committee of the u.s. olympic economy, among

many others. newsweek magazine named him as the 100 people to watch and we have an opportunity today to hear him share his insights on the legal issues surrounding the eisenhower years and the men who shaped them. following mr. marshall we have dr. charles sanders, an associate professor at my ala mater, kansas state university. he received his undergraduate degree from louisiana university and a masters of north georgia college and from the united states naval war college and a hpd from kansas state where he has been teaching since 2001. his research is centered on military and has written a book titled "while in the hands of the enemy." one reviewer for the georgia

historical quarter wrote, no one can claim to be a serious student of civil war prisons until reading sanders' books. what i admire is his skill as a teacher which i have heard about from students and others at c kansas state. one anonymous student proclaimed, best teacher i have ever had. seriously, dr. sanders changed my life and outlook and history and critical thinking. if you go through college without taking a class from him, your education is incomplete. it's the kind of praise that all of us who are university educators envy. today dr. sanders will give us the benefit of his expertise and skills to analyze eisenhower's

racial views and the little rock crisis. so without further expansion on my part, i will turn the microphone over to mr. marshall. >> thank you, dr. speck. and i want to thank the library and the foundation for putting together this series of programs and for allowing me to come out and participate. it's been a wonderful excuse for me to build on what i have read and studied about, president eisenhower's service to our country and i have enjoyed it immensely. as some of you know, we had hoped that former secretary william coleman could join us for this discussion but his inability to join us today gives me a chance to quote from his book, which i promise you he would have done liberally this afternoon. as a true pioneer in his own right, secretary coleman's

observations, i find highly persuasive and the way in which he went about his job. as many of you know, the 1952 campaign did not really touch very much, if at all, on civil rights issues. but for those who knew president eisenhower could not have been too much of a surprise that he would tackle civil rights issues in the various ways that he did with courage and particularly with the -- his appointments that dr. speck spoke to. i wanted to open our discussion from my part of the table discussing president eisenhower's judicial appointments, partly because of what the judiciary has meant to me as a lawyer and as a member of the marshall family and also because they are remarkably

moving stories of courage and dedication and to me for the question marks that some have raised about president eisenhower's contribution on civil rights, the answers are quite clear, looking at those judicial appointments. they are also quite clear and positive when you look at his appointments generally and dr. speck alluded to that. if you didn't know in 1952 where the hearts and plans were, you didn't have to spend too much time during his inauguration to get the clue. because marion anderson who made civil rights history two years ago singing at the lincoln memorial, sang at the inauguration at his invitation. that, to me, whenever i think about it is a powerful and moving statement about how he

intended to pursue the high calling of that office. his service in the white house, if you look, there are a couple things out about americans who served on the white house staff as someone who had that experience, the -- all of us who have had that opportunity looked to the people who went before and recognized that we stood on their soldiers and the people who came before us were pioneers and given those opportunities by presidents for whom they serve. as dr. speck mentioned, president eisenhower named the first white house staffer of color. frederick mo frederick mooney. those jobs are still hard to come by and the numbers are noticeable when you have that

small pool. there were a number of other things that the eisenhowers both brought to the white house that provide further clues as to contributions that would be provided by his service. they walk the walk. they took that a step further and the president told them that segregated movie theaters really had no place in our country. he had appointments in cabinet agencies that reflected his willingness to provide opportunities for people of color. will coleman served on a commission that president eisenhower created, chaired by branch ricky. bramp branch ricky brought in ricky robinson. i'm staying in junction city and jackie robinson did his military service at ft. riley.

so i thought that was a little poig nanlt and i apologize but it was a reminder to me of yet another chapter in our history. if you look back at what branch ricky did, he didn't exactly create a fan base of everybody in the country. it was very courageous. and you take that perspective and think about what it meant to the country to see president eisenhower bring branch ricky into his administration to run a commission to diversify the federal workforce. it just is a very powerful statement. now, bill coleman was brought in to serve on that commission as well. bill has said in his book that he believes the real tipping point in american history when it comes to civil rights occurred during the eisenhower presidency and, of course, the primary piece that he points to

is the little rock school crisis, which we'll have a chance to discuss. president eisenhower very quickly moved during his presidency on a number of fronts, as you've heard. whether it was directing the district of columbia to desegregate, taking president truman, that he signed in 1948, taking that and implementing it because as we all know, there was a lot more work that needed to be done, including the health care issues and made the case repeatedly to sur his superiors during world war ii, heartbreak labor and support of our troops and the allied cause deserved an opportunity to tak