Sixty years ago........Things were simpler back then

The Trashmen..............Surfin Bird' - Bird is the Word

 

Majestic...............................

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

-The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., as excerpted from his Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

Full text of the letter is here.

Fifty years ago.............................

The Jaynells..........................................I'll Stay Home

Fifty years ago............................

At the movies............Vincent Price, et. al., in The Raven

Fifty years ago......................

A two-minute Crest commercial that aired on Judy Garland's TV show on December 29, 1963.  What a difference fifty years makes!

Fifty years ago.............................

At the movies................................Federico Fellini's 8 1/2

Fifty years ago..........................

At the movies........................Jason and The Argonauts

Fifty years ago..........................

Live TV.......Tex Ritter recites the Gettysburg Address  12/26/63

Fifty years ago............................

The Life Treasury of Christmas Music..............Patapan

Fifty years ago..........................

The Beatles interviewed, two takes, Christmas 1963

Fifty years ago........................

Phil Spector..........................A Christmas Gift for You

Fifty years ago...........................

Judy Garland with friends and family share some carols

Fifty years ago....................................

Laurel Lea........................................The First Noel

Fifty years ago.............................

James Bond............................From Russia With Love

Fifty years ago.......................................

Kenny Dorham........................If Ever I Would Leave You

Fifty years ago..............................

Roy Orbison......................................Pretty Paper

Fifty years ago....................................

LBJ addresses the UN General Assembly          12/17/63

Fifty years ago.............................

Nancy Wilson....................That's What I Want For Christmas

Fifty years ago...............................

Alexander "Mudcat"  Thomas.................Mudcat's Blues

Fifty years ago.......................................

Sonny Rollins et. al...................There Will Never Be Another You