In 1959, African Americans demanded the right to vote in the counties of Fayette and Haywood, Tennessee thus starting the Fayette and Haywood County movements. However, the victory was short lived, because after they won the right to vote, many became evicted from their homes, and were forced to live in tents.
On February 24, 2015, the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change in the College of Arts and Sciences, will launch two websites mapping out civil rights history, archives, the struggles and success that came with them, during a special release event happening at the University Center River Room.
Daphene McFerren, director at Benjamin L. Hooks Institute, explained the ideas behind the website and what’s to be expected from it.
“The website tells us about the continual struggle with the issue of race as part of American life,” McFerren said. “We use the site to show the history.”
The two sites, “Mapping Civil Rights History”, and “Tent City” will be available to the public on Feb. 24. The Mapping Civil Rights History website will give various locations of civil rights areas on a map, with photos and history pieces to go along with it. The other website, “Tent City”, will use stories of the movement through FBI files, newsletters, and photographs to tell the stories of the Civil Rights era in Fayette County, TN.
“I hope the website will be used by historians, people who want to learn about civil rights, and people of different races,” McFerren said. “The website exists to provide education.”
The Tennessee Department of Education now requires that 11th grade history include the Fayette and Haywood County Movements as a part of their curriculum.
“The issue of race and how African American men are treated are just as relevant today as it was in 1960,” McFerren said. “We need to make sure as a nation everyone starts on a level playing field.”
Dr. Esra Ozdenerol, Associate Director of Hooks Institute, contributed to the website by focusing her work on Geographic Information System mapping, to capture spatial information like the 150 civil rights locations throughout West Tennessee.
“I created the mapping site,” Ozdenerol said. “I’m all about political speech, freedom of expression, and political movement.”
Ozdenerol was given a research grant to create a GIS mapping website that would give people information about civil right events and locations. She wants to use the website to reach out to people and have them learn more about events that aren’t as well known.
“The past is a great indicator of the future,” Ozdenerol said. “We need to appreciate past sacrifices and their accomplishments. I want the next generations to learn about what’s happened in the past.”
The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change hopes that through technology and social media, these stories, photographs, and videos message will spread and that a common knowledge of civil rights will form.
“I want my own boys to learn more about the events,” Ozdenerol said. “We know about Dr. King, but there are more activists than that that have contributed.”
Cutline: In this photo, the 1968 sanitation workers go on strike in Memphis, a major milestone in the Civil Rights Movement.
Credit: 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike, Special Collections, University of Memphis Libraries
