Civil Rights

As my research in University 198 continues, I have been provided with a lens to 1966 in the form of more letters from Bizz Johnson’s constituents. All of the letters that I had the opportunity to observe were posted between June and July of that year and were all opposed to the passage of the bill H.R 14765. Though I would like to hope that today there wouldn’t be such a vehement opposition to equality in housing, this was sadly not the case for all of those writing in and declaring their hatred for this bill.

The timing of these letters corresponds with the increased presence and aggression of American forces in Vietnam, giving credence to the notion that with troubles overseas come movements and troubles here at home. While the violence rose overseas, violence in turn rose in the United States in the form of race riots and anti-war demonstrations. In this particular case, it is apparent that fear and ignorance have manifested themselves in the form of racism and discrimination against those just in pursuit of a fair chance of a home.

Those who wrote letters in to Senator Johnson expressed their opinions that the loss that they would experience should this bill pass would be clear “discrimination against whites” (as can be seen in the first of the images below). Others saw this as imposing on their freedoms as an American citizen, arguing that one can’t take freedoms from some just to give them to another. In spite of such zealous opinions, Bizz Johnson’s answers (if he himself ever saw the letters at all) were identical and generic, as can be seen on the blue onion paper. Though it is important to have political efficacy, a response like that may make some feel as though their time sending their letter is undervalued. In spite of this, the overwhelming amount of passion people of this time felt for what they believed, whether it was morally right or not, makes this generation seem more passive than anything.