Hello, everyone. How are you doing today? We are to open this time capsule from the 1960s. This period was a time of turmoil, fear, self-expression, love, hate, war, self-respect, self-determination and relevance. The first item I have here is a picture of one of the most beautiful women of her time, Dorothy Dandridge. Dorothy was born on November 9, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio to Cyril and Ruby Dandridge, but Cyril left Ruby a few months before this future actress, singer and pin-up beauty was born. (Robinson, 1966)
She would later see him at the Cotton Club when she was performing with her group, the Dandridge Sisters, with her two stunningly beautiful sisters. She was the first black actress to get nominated for an Academy Award for the career-making role Carmen Jones. Dorothy was married and divorced twice once to Harold Nickolas of the infamous Nickolas Brothers and next to a white man Jack Denison, who swindled her fortune down to zip. It was rumored she had an affair with Otto Preminger director of Porgy and Bess and Carmen Jones of which she starred. Dorothy had a daughter with Harold but she had special needs and needed to be institutionalized, she paid for her daughters’ special circumstances until her bankruptcy. Then she was force to put her in a state institution.
When her daughter was 20, during the time of all this turmoil, Dandridge was diagnosed with depression when she had a nervous breakdown and was prescribed meds. Dorothy soon started feeling better and her career was on an upswing but on September 8, 1965 she was found dead on her bathroom floor. The coroners’ office stated it was suicide brought on by barbiturate overdose but inside sources state that she would have never did that and believe she was killed and it was a cover up. (Bio.com, 2015) (Dandridge, 1963)
She was a beauty icon and like Dandridge died before her time. Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Baker on June 1, 1926. She suffered several hardships while she was young. It was once rumored that Marilyn’s father was Clark Gable, but nothing was ever substantiated and she never met her father. Monroe once said that she grew up in orphanages and foster homes where she was sexually mishandled so she thought the best way to get out of that cycle of abuse is to get married so in 1942 she wed her boyfriend at the time, Jimmy Doughtry. (Bio.com, 2015) Jimmy urged her to quit school so she could be a housewife. When the Merchant Marines sent Jimmy to World War Two, Norma went to work just like all the other housewives to support themselves while their husbands are gone. At the plant she worked at as a fluke some Army photographers asked her would she pose for pictures for the soldiers going to war and she did. The cameras loved her and she became a pin-up model from then on. When Jimmy came home he gave her an ultimatum stop working and be his wife or leave and continue modeling… she chose the ladder. She officially changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. She divorced Jimmy in 1946. After that she bleached her hair blonde and signed an acting contract.
She did many film roles for which some were flops while others garnered her great praise such as "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "How to Marry a Millionaire." She had married two more times to a famous baseball player Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller. It was also rumored that she had an affair with both J.F.K. and R.F.K. Before her untimely death she performed a sexy rendition of the song "Happy Birthday." She died on August 5, 1962 in her Brentwood, California home—an apparent suicide because of an overdose of drugs, but there has been speculation of murder because of her connection to both of the Kennedy boys. (Henriksen, 2010)
My third item is a picture of Malcolm X, a dynamic leader of his time. Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 25, 1925 he was the fourth of eight children in his family home his father was a preacher and his mother was a homemaker. His father was an avid believer of equal rights for blacks. In Malcolm’s early years his family was subjected to white supremacy actions from the KKK. His father was found dead in 1931 on some race car track after a run in with the local KKK (Ku Klux Klan). During Malcolm’s teens he got hooked up with criminal influences and started selling drugs and dated white women …back in those days it was a murder sentence just too even say hi to a white woman. Doing those things plus dressing in pinstriped Zoot suits drew the attention of the authorities and it landed him in jail charged and convicted of Larceny for 10 years in 1946. (Carson)
An avid reader, Malcolm inhaled books like he was breathing air, he encountered a member of the Nation of Islam and by the time he came out he was their premier orator. X started the saying “By any means necessary.” Which could include uses violence if need be. He was just the opposite of Martin Luther King who preached peaceful boycott sit-ins. In 1963 Malcolm started to have a change of heart with the teachings of Elijah Mahammad and the Nation of Islam after he took a pilgrimage to Mecca and met Muslims of all cultures. He started preaching brotherhood between all cultures. On February 21, 1965 he was assassinated when three gunmen shot him while he was giving a speech. They caught the gunmen but there has been speculation that he was assassinated by the government. (Bio.com, 2015)
My fourth item is a picture of the Rev. Martin Luther King, the leader of the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. was born Michael Luther King on January 15, 1929 to a religious couple the Rev. Martin Luther King and Alberta Williams King. After his grandfather died he changed his name to Martin Jr. to honor such an amazing man. King excelled as his studies so much so he was skipped two grades then entered Morehouse College at the tender age of 15. His intentions was to study medicine but religion intrigued Martin more. Martin then went to two other universities before preaching Gandhi’s stance on non-violence. In 1952, Martin met Coretta Scott, who would become his adoringly beautiful wife. In 1953 they were married. Martin was the leader of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference). (Bio, 2015) One day a black lady refused to give up her seat and that forced Martin to take up her and the rest of the black culture's plight.
Martin help stage sit-ins voter registrations for blacks and marches. In 1963, Martin organized a march on Washington where he gave a dynamic speech “I Have a Dream” which changed the way we see the world he gave black people something dream and strive for. King Led years of peaceful protest and marches but people opposed to his beliefs would reward his actions with violence but he and his followers stayed the course. On April 3, 1968 he was assassinated by a convict James Earl Ray. Some believed he knew he was going to be killed because in his last speech he stated “I have seen the Promised Land, I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to that Promised Land.” Some believed he was also foretelling the election of our first multi-cultured president, Barack Obama. Y’all thought I was going to say Bill Clinton right? Conspiracy theorists say James was just a fall guy and it was the F.B.I. that killed King. (Peake, 2010)
My last item is a picture of Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General and U.S. Senator of the United States. R.F. K or Robert Francis Kennedy was born November 20, 1925 to Parents of Affluent abundance Joseph a businessman and Rose a housewife. Bobby as his family affectionately called him was raised a devout catholic, he had seven siblings most of which are well known including J.F.K. and Ted Kennedy. Soon after graduating from Harvard he married Ethel Skakel and moved directly into politics by running his brother John’s senate campaign. In 1961 his brother appointed him Attorney General of the U.S .
He pledged war on organized crime that earned him plenty of enemies. Bobby sent the federal forces to supply safe passage to black students the right to an education by protecting them from angry white mobs that are violent. (William O'Neil, 2010) Bobby was John’s most respected advisor when it came to the decisions that weigh on the president’s head. In 1963 his brother was assassinated and it left him crushed but he still felt obligated to America so after a speech he gave in Indianapolis after the passing of an outstanding civil rights leader M.L.K. he had a resolve to run and win the presidency but that dream was cut short on June 5, 1968 because a deranged gunman named Sirhan Sirhan murdered him. As you can tell, the 60s was a time of lost innocence and turmoil these are not all the things that shaped our great land at the time I just hope that you do more research of that time so we won’t repeat these actions. We lost some great talents in the 60s just think what the world would have looked like if these people lived long enough to see their full potential. (Bio.com, 2015)
During this time of unrest in the world we need some leaders in our community to help us break down barriers. Instead of just holding our national leaders to task we need our local government accountable for their fallings with the community at large. We need a Malcolm X, Martin Luther King or even a Gandhi to lead us pass the promise land and to serenity and acceptance of others when we say #blacklivesmatter don't mean we are discounting any other race, creed, mental, cultures, gender, faith, law enforcement, handicapped, government, faction, political party... we are just wanting to be considered equal with everyone else not in spite of. We are trying to insinuate that our lives mean more than any other race.
References
Bio. (2015). Martin Luther King. Retrieved from Biography.com: http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king...
Bio.com. (2015). Dorothy Dandridge. Retrieved from Biography.com: http://www.biography.com/people/dorothy-dandridge-...
Bio.com. (2015). Malcolm X. Retrieved from Biography.com: http://www.biography.com/people/malcolm-x-9396195#...
Bio.com. (2015). Marilyn Monroe. Retrieved from Biography.com: http://www.biography.com/people/marilyn-monroe-941...
Bio.com. (2015). Robert Kennedy . Retrieved from Biography.com: http://www.biography.com/people/robert-kennedy-936...
Carson, C. (n.d.). Malcolm X. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/eds/deta...
Dandridge, D. (1963). Dororthy. Biography,com. Bing. Retrieved 2015
Henriksen, M. A. (2010). Marilyn Monroe. Retrieved 2015, from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/eds/deta...
Peake, T. (2010). Martin Luther King. Retrieved from Kaplan University: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/eds/deta...
Robert B. Denhardt, J. V. (2013). Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations (3 ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd. Retrieved 2015
Robinson, L. (1966). Dorothy Dandridge Hollywood's Tragic Enigma. Ebony, pp. 71-82. Retrieved 2015, from http://books.google.com/books?id=IjAJ7Wl1voUC&pg=P...
William O'Neil. (2010). Robert Kennedy. Retrieved from Kaplan University: http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/eds/deta...
