18/01/2021
In celebration of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. I’m airing my interview with David L. Chappell, author of WAKING FROM THE DREAM: The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King Jr. on Economic Perspectives today at 5:30 p.m. CDT on KAZI 88.7 FM.
In the interview we discussed at length the role of Jesse Jackson in leading the Chicago office of Operation Breadbasket, the economic wing of the Southern Christian Leadership Council.
In the interview Chappell said, “After the the Civil Rights Act of 64 and the Voting Rights Act of 65 were passed, they turned their attention more and more to northern cities, Cleveland, where things did not go so well for Dr. King, and then also Chicago, where again, things did not go so well. But they were more focused, you might say in the tradition of the Urban League more, except with the the direct action tactics of SCLC on economic issues, on fundamental day to day questions like jobs, landlords exploiting and taking advantage of people, and discriminating against people, and increasingly attempting to build a coalition that wasn't just African American, but that brought together disadvantaged people, people who were held outside and below the ladder of opportunity...”
David Chappell is Professor of Modern American History at the University of Oklahoma. He is author of INSIDE AGITATORS: White Southerners in the Civil Rights Movement and A STONE OF HOPE: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow.
