Just kidding with the headline -- the DN city editor and I were joking last night that we should have just held our in-depth series on how the momentous events of 1968 affected Philly for another two months and made it a 41st anniversary package. That would have been classic Daily News.
But seriously, I wanted to call attention to this series in the paper, which will run thoughout the week. The odd timing actually worked out perfectly, since the landmark election of 2008 is a perfect time to recall where we came from. And Girard College is an ideal place to start (more here):
National leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Roy Wilkins, national NAACP president, also marched at Girard.
Some 3,000 people came in early August 1965 to hear King speak of how "sad" it was "to stand in the city . . . that is the cradle of liberty but has a kind of Berlin Wall to keep God's colored children out."
Then, after 14 years of legal battles to break Girard's will, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling admitting black boys.
The year was 1968.
As a loosely related bonus, here's one of the many outstanding songs released that troubled year:
Best band. Ever.— Talking point sleuth- Cream was GREAT. Best band ever?...nah, can't agree. Probably top ten though.— legatus
Comment removed.- Without speakers, I couldn't tell what the song is. Little help?— SteveMG
Liberals are hailing Obama's election as the landmark achievment of the civil rights movement, and I agree. That said, liberals were less enthusiastic about previous achievments of the civil-rights movement, including Colin Powell becoming SOS, and Condoleeza Rice becoming the first African-American woman SOS. Which makes me wonder what may be more important here, race or ideology?— jmc- Although I'll venture a guess that it's "Tales of Brave Ulysses", because that's what people with no imagination think is cool. If he picked "World of Pain", I would be surprised.— SteveMG
- The luster of becoming the first African American Secretary of State loses its luster when you remember who selected him.— SteveMG
- It's White Room, Steve— legatus
SteveMG, the song is White Room (thus Will's "loosely related" description?). This is far and away my favorite Cream tune, noted for Clapton's use of the wah-wah pedal that Hendrix had pioneered.- Comment removed.
- OMG it was ok the first thousand times I heard it, so-so the next thousand times, but the last five thousand times... Therer are a lot of songs I can recognize in a split second, and that's all I ever hear of it any more: "Whi-" NEXT! My fave is "Badge". Funny thing about them is that none of the guys in the post-Cream careers did anything that sounded like Cream. Blind Faith may be the closest, I guess they had two out of three.— SteveMG
- My favorite Cream song wasn't written by the band either....Spoonful.— legatus
- A little love for Politician. Some of the guys here could relate.— SteveMG
- jmc, the first black American to be given a cabinet post (granted, not as high as State) was Robert Weaver, LBJ's Sec'y of HUD. Carter appointed the first black woman, Patricia Harris, as HUD and later HEW secretary. While I would agree that State is special (and high in the order of presidential succession), Powell's appointment had already followed a history of over 30 years of black appointments to the cabinet.
- "A little love for Politician. Some of the guys here could relate." Good choice Steve. Another favorite of mine is SWLABR (which was an acronym for "She Was Like A Bearded Rainbow")...not sure that anyone could relate though. LOL!— legatus
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
PLEASE COMMENT WITH PASSION...
...but not with racial slurs, potentially libelous allegations, obscenities or other juvenile noise. Such comments will, at our discretion, be deleted in their entirety, and repeat offenders will be blocked from commenting. ALSO: Any commenter advocating killing any government official will be immediately banned.
Thanks.
- Atrios
- Kiko's House
- Suburban Guerilla
- Booman Tribune
- All-Spin Zone
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Afro-Netizen
- Rowhouse Logic
- MyDD
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- iFlipFlop
- CorrenteWire
- upyernoz
- Tattered Coat
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- Slacktivist
- Citizen Mom
- The Next Mayor
- Philly Future
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Young Philly Politics
- Phillyblog
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Phawker
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Keystone Blog
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- BlankBaby
- Above Average Jane
- Phillyist
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- The Clog
- Josh Marshall
- Daily Kos
- Juan Cole
- Oliver Willis
- Andy Borowitz
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- BuzzFlash
- Raw Story
- Cursor
- Crooks and Liars
- Swing State Project
- Kevin Drum
- Talk Left
- AmericaBlog
- Hullabaloo
- Mad Kane
- Think Progress
- Jesus' General
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Majikthise
- Echidne of the Snakes
- David Sirota
- Glenn Greenwald
- TBogg
- Fire Dog Lake
- Taylor Marsh
- Matthew Yglesias
- Jon Swift
- Drudge Report
- Beer Leaguer
- The 700 Level
- Dick Polman
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Shallow Center
- Philling Station
- Phillies Nation
- A Citizen's Blog
- The Good Phight
- Romenesko
- Editor and Publisher
- Pressthink
- Buzzmachine
- The Inksniffer
- Media Bloodhound
- Eat the Press
- Mickey Kaus
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Blinq
- The Corner
- Instapundit
- Andrew Sullivan
- Free Republic
- James Taranto
- Blonde Sagacity
- ScrappleFace
- Blogorrhea
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- January 2008
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
