Who is Herman Boone?

Because three high schools were forced to integrate in order to create T.C. Williams High School, the student bodies and faculty members were forced to integrate as well.  As a result, Bill Yoast, the longtime coach and hopeful Hall of Famer, is asked to step down.  Herman Boone, the school's first African American faculty member, replaces Yoast as coach of T.C. Williams High School.  The Head of the Negro School Board, who is referred to as Doctor Day, recruited Coach Boone to coach at T.C. Williams.  When Doctor Day is meeting with Coach Boone at Boone's house, Doctor says "Folks in Carolina say you marched with Dr. King.  Say you stood toe to toe with the Klan.  Say you're a race man."  When I re-watched the movie for the assignment, I was surprised to hear all of the small comments that were made that had to do with things that we discussed in class about the Civil Rights Movement.  The fact that Doctor Day was able to recruit Coach Boone, a man who marched with Dr. King and fought against the Klan, is something that Doctor is very proud of and excited about.  Doctor Day is excited about this because "black folks have never had anything in this city to call their own except humiliation and despair."

One of the first organizations created after the war in the South was the Ku Klux Klan which was founded in 1865 by white Confederate soldiers who were concerned about the racial implications of black freedom (Hist page 276).  One of the Klan's main interests was the restoration of white supremacy.  In order to intimidate Black and Republican voters, southern Democrats used violence to attempt to control southern politics.  The Ku Klux Klan used violence to harass black and white Republicans and physically block black southerners from casting ballots in elections (Hist page 286).  The goal of groups like the KKK was to stop Republican support in the South to ensure election victories for the Democratic Party.  A good example of the violence of the Ku Klux Klan can be seen in the Major Problems document "Lucy McMillan, A Former Slave in South Carolina, Testifies About White Violence, 1871."  The former slave testifies with the Joint Select Committee her experience of the Klan burning down her house (Major Problems "Lucy McMillan, A Former Slave in South Carolina, Testifies About White Violence, 1871").  An interesting point about the Ku Klux Klan was that the organization died down in the late 1800s but enjoyed a revival in the 1920s.  The resurgence of the Klan was partly inspired by the film Birth of a Nation, in which the Klan was positively portrayed (lecture 10/6/11).  The Klan of this time period saw itself as "the embodiment of old Protestant and southern virtues" (Hist page 383).

In Remember the Titans, Doctor Day also makes the point that Coach Boone marched with Dr. King.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist minister who was at the forefront of the African American Civil Rights Movement.  King became a civil rights activist early in his career by leading the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and by founding the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (Hist page 445).  The reason that King has to found this group is because his own religious denomination, the black Baptists, will not join.  They are fearful of direct assaults and direct challenges to white supremacy (lecture 11/8/11).  It is clear that the black Baptists have every right to be fearful because Southern white supremacists would do anything to stop desegregation and black voting.  Martin Luther King, Jr.'s iconic moment was his effort to lead the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (Hist page 454).  In the Major Problems document "Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Defends Seamstress Rosa Parks, 1955," King gives the sermon in response to Park's arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person.  This sermon helped to launch the Montgomery Buss Boycott as well as King's career as a civil rights activist (Major Problems "Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Defends Seamstress Rosa Parks, 1955" document).         

The fact that Doctor Day made the point that Coach Boone fought against the Klan and marched with Dr. King is very prevalent to much of what we discussed about the Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s.