Civil Rights Movement Veterans Website

This website is of, by, and for Veterans of the Southern Freedom Movement of the 1960s. It is where we tell it like it was, the way we lived it.

The mass media called it the "Civil Rights Movement," but most of us who were involved in it prefer the term "Freedom Movement" because it was about so much more than just civil rights.

Today, from what you see in the mass media and read in textbooks and websites, you would think that the Freedom Movement only existed in a few states of the deep South, — but that is not so. The Freedom Movement lived and fought in every state and every city of America, North and South, East and West. There were some differences between the Southern and Northern wings of the Movement, but those differences were minor compared to the Movement's essence. North or South, it was the same movement everywhere.

This website is devoted to the "Southern Freedom Movement," the Freedom Movement as it existed in the South. Not because the Northern wing of the Movement was unimportant — it was enormously important, — but because the Southern Movement was the part of the Movement that we participated in and know enough about to build this website. Hopefully, some day soon activists from the Northern wing of the Movement will do the same.

For us, the heart and soul of our website is emphasizing the central role played by ordinary people transforming their lives through extraordinary courage. The Civil Rights Movement was above all a mass peoples' movement — people coming together to change their lives for themselves. But all too often that central fact has been quietly dropped out of history in favor of a "benevolent" court ruling, a few charismatic leaders, a handful of famous protests in a few well-known places, some tragic martyrs, and the gracious largess of magnanimous legislators.

Our purpose is to make sure that there is at least one place where the Movement story is told by those who actually lived it. We want to set the record straight. Without the courage, determination, and activity of hundreds of thousands of men and women of all ages in cities, towns, and hamlets across the South (and the nation) there would have been no Civil Rights Movement, no famous leaders, no court rulings, no new laws, and no change.

In addition to documenting the Southern Freedom Movement by telling it like it was and testifying to what we did and what it meant to us, this website is also a place to begin renewing the ties that once bound us together in a beloved community, a place for finding lost friends, and a tool for helping fellow veterans in need. And it is a living memorial for our fallen comrades.

To meet this mission, we provide:

Veterans Roll Call. A section where we can post information about ourselves, — where and when and what we did in the Movement, where we've gone and what we've done and thought since, what we've achieved, milestones we've passed, and how old friends can reach us.
In Memory. A section where we can post our testimony and memories of brothers and sisters who have passed on. We may not have an Arlington Cemetery or an Eternal Flame in Washington, but we can build a remembrance of word and thought more meaningful than dead stone and mute grass.
The Movement and History & Timeline. Sections providing information about the Southern Freedom Movement as it was seen and understood by those who lived it.
Our Stories A section providing the full text of oral histories, statements, interviews, and narratives by Movement veterans.
Our Thoughts. A section where individual Movement veterans contribute their thoughts and analyses of the Movement and current events.
Discussions. Transcipts of discussions by Movement veterans on Movement-related topics.
Photo Album. Our collection of photos from our Movement.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). A where veterans can post their answers to the questions most often asked by students interested in the Civil Rights Movement.
Documents. A compilation of original source documents from the Southern Freedom Movement.
Poetry. A collection of poems about the Freedom Movement by civil rights workers and others.
Speakers List A list of Freedom Movement veterans available for speaking engagements. Schools, churches, youth groups, and other organizations who wish to hear first-hand from those who participated in the Civil Rights Movement can use this list to directly contact Freedom Movement veterans.
Web Links. A section that provides links to web-based resources about the Civil Rights Movement.
Bibliography An extesive list of books, music, and videos about and from the Southern Freedom Movement.
Your Thoughts. Where visitors can enter their comments about the Southern Freedom Movement and this site.

If you were active with CORE, NAACP, SCLC, SNCC, SCEF, SSOC, Delta Ministry, Deacons for Defense, or other organizations active in the Freedom Movement during the 1960s, we ask you to contribute yourself.

Please consider adding your name, history, and testimony to the Civil Rights Movement Veterans web site. And if the spirit moves, add a tribute for one who has moved on. Please read the roll call guidelines to assist you.

We need your help to reach other sisters and brothers. Please let everyone you know from the Movement about this site.

Please note that this web site is for documenting what we did in the Freedom Movement, what it meant to us, and what we have done since. And above all, it is for rebuilding the beloved community that we all shared. Personal attacks or denigration of individually named Movement veterans, or carrying on old vendettas, is not appropriate here.

This website is maintained by Westwind Writers Inc.
Bruce Hartford
Westwind Writers
2301 Harrison St. #205
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.642.7933
webspinner@crmvet.org