Hello historians.
Im sorry if any of this is wrong, Im very new to this website. only here because my grandson is real tired of me telling him to ask my questions to his history teacher, so he sent me here.
When I was a young kid (long ago!!), I remember my pa and my grampa having a whole disagreement about Civil Rights and especially Dr. Martin Luther King. My pa was a big fan of him and even went to washington on the march and for all my life I have been a big fan as well because of him. But my grampa thought the whole thing was stupid, said that "we should all just keep our heads down or the white man will chop em off.". He told me that the best thing we could do was keep to ourselves and help our neighbours and stay away from the whites. Even as a kid I thought he was just a grumpy old man, Thankfully he died before he knew I married a white woman from Ohio!! But now that Im a grumpy old man myself (haha!!) Ive started to wonder about all of that, and why he thought that way, and if lots of other people were the same, especially the old ones because their all gone now.
So to cut the whole story down and make it clear, Im asking about black people in the Fifties and Sixties and how they felt about Civil Rights. Did lots of people think the whole thing was a bad idea because we were stickin our necks out? Or were most people like my pa and wanted to march on washington and get the laws changed like they did.
Me and my pa are from Georgia if that makes any diffrence. My grampa was the son of a slave and he was born in South Carolina.
Best Wishes, Leonard Snell.
Hey Leonard, welcome to /r/AskHistorians!
Your Grandpa wasn't alone in his views, although the reasons he gave might have differed slightly from those of the people I know about.
The Civil Rights Movement was like pretty much any other movement in that it was powered by a wide range of people from different backgrounds, who held an equally wide range of opinions. This meant that while some saw King as a progressive thinker who was aiming to change things, others were worried about upsetting the status quo and the pushback that might come from white communities.
This wasn't a new fear for the black community. There had been plenty of reprisals against black organisers in the past. Stores that would refuse to sell goods, and landlords that would refuse to rent homes were two. More insidious were school boards that were dominated by white officials and would rearrange funding from black schools, leaving them unable to afford teachers, education materials, and other essentials.
I remember a story about black activists who were trying to get people in their communities registered to vote. It was difficult, because of literacy tests, but they were making progress. But at some point, they faced opposition from church leaders who weren't happy with their influence over the community being subverted by these educating activists(who were mostly women). Some of these leaders had been threatened by white businessmen in the community too - they were told if they didn't put a stop to the registration drives, they would be refused business. These were what I suppose you would call the upper class of the black communities. A particular example that was given in the story was their clothing being of higher quality, often tailored, and brought from upmarket white shops. The nicer clothes which were a sign of their position would become unavailable to them if they were locked out.
These are fairly passive forms of intimidation, but I think their existence shows a strain of "keep your head down" thinking that was definitely present. Upsetting the cart meant turbulent times for black communities, and if some were doing OK, they weren't liable to want to threaten that. On the other hand, if they were struggling, the violent forms of intimidation that were far more common(lynchings, beatings) were an even more potent threat that could discourage efforts.
I think most people, including your grandpa, wanted change. What they feared was what would replace the system they already had, and what punishment might be meted out by white authorities or even ordinary white people if they were seen to be advocating change. Your grandpa being the son of a slave might have mattered too: if he had memories of his father's stories, or even his own experiences at the time, that very likely could have shaped his thoughts about being too noisy.
Hope this helps a bit, it might be a bit scattered as I haven't slept in awhile. Keep an eye on the post and you might get a few more answers too.