Mr. Maurer
America in History III
Name: ________________________
Eyes on the Prize
Primary Source Activity
Instructions: Read each of these quotes from Eyes on the Prize.
1. Underline what you think are especially important words and phrases.
2. What do you think is the overall message of each quotation?
3. If you were writing a research paper on the Civil Rights Movement, what
conclusions could you draw from this primary source?
#1. William J. Simmons, Citizens Councils of Mississippi (1:16:20)
“When the civil rights workers invaded the state in the summer of 1964 to change us,
presumably into their own image, they were met with a feeling of some curiosity, but mostly
resentment. They fanned out across the state, made a great to-do of breaking up our customs, of
flaunting social practices that had been respected by people here over the years.”
#2. Malcom X (1:32:40)
“And I think that the people in this part of the world would do well to listen to Dr. Martin
Luther King and give him what he’s asking for and give it to him fast before some other factions
come along and try to do it another way. What he’s asking for is right – that’s the ballot. And if
he can’t get it the way he’s trying to get it then it’s going to be got one way or the other.”
#3. James Forman, Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (1:41:44)
“There’s only one man in this country that can stop George Wallace and those posses.
We can present thousands and thousands of bodies in the streets if we want to. And we can have
all of the soul force and the moral commitment around this world. But a lot of these problems
will not be solved until that shagged old place called the White House begins to shake and gets
on the phone and says, ‘now listen George, we’re coming down there and throw you in jail if you
don’t stop that mess.’”
#4. Mayor Ben West (Nashville) (39:53)
“And I tried the best that I could to answer it frankly and honestly, that I could not agree
that it was morally right for someone to sell them merchandise and refuse them service, and I had
to answer it in exactly that way.”
#5. Charles Sherrod, Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (48:23)
“Now I can’t help how Dr. King might have felt, or Wyatt Tee [Walker] might have felt,
or Bernard Lee, or any of the rest of ‘em in the SCLC, NAACP, or CORE, or any other group.
But as far as we were concerned, things moved on. We didn’t skip one beat.”
Primary Source #6 – Pravda, 1963
The cartoon at left was published in the Soviet
government-controlled newspaper Pravda
during the Birmingham, Alabama protests in
1963.
1. Who do the four figures in the cartoon
represent?
2. Consider U.S./Soviet relations at the time.
What motives might Pravda had for publishing
a cartoon like this?
3. If you were writing a research paper on the Civil Rights Movement, what conclusions could you
support by citing this primary source?