New York City’s Hidden History – Freedom Day

Huge civil rights protest, half a million, 60 years ago. And some of you might want to say, “but the March on Washington was sixty and a half years ago – and it was a quarter million” – which is correct. And it makes the point. A protest, twice the size, not in Washington DC but here in New York City, happened 60 years ago, and it is hidden.

The NY Daily news sent a note to subscribers – 60 years ago (Wednesday) a few hundred school kids skipped schools to greet the Beatles at JFK. A few hundred. None of the NY newspapers sent out notices about the 60th anniversary of half a million kids boycotting school earlier the same week.

Why hide the history? Few people know about “Freedom Day” – it is omitted from our history text books – around the country, and, worse, in New York State and New York City. Why do leaders and educators hide such a major event?

Let’s pause for a second, and just review what happened. February 3, 1964 was Freedom Day in New York City. 470,000 students boycotted school, and many engaged in additional protest and demonstration. They were demanding integration. They got empty promises, that were broken.

I don’t trust you anymore
You keep on saying, “Go slow”
Go slow
But that’s just the trouble (too slow)
Desegregation (too slow)
Mass participation (too slow)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ25-U3jNWM

Other actions, strategies, and protests have occurred since. With the same results. Or less. New York City operates one of the most highly segregated big city school systems in the nation today.

From Time Magazine, September 2020:

(that’s an 8 minute video. There’s also a print story)

So Freedom Day was momentously huge. It did not bring about change. It set the pattern for promising discussions or studies down the road, and delivering nothing.

Is Freedom Day part of our history?

If a textbook in Colorado skipped over a huge protest in another part of the country that did not result in big change – I kind of get that. But half a million students is a lot. And the fact that the Civil Rights Movement produced the March on Washington that we think of as a turning point, but Freedom Day, twice as big, that did not change anything… probably worth mentioning.

But we are not in Colorado. We are in New York City. And when there are large national events or changes, we often include lessons on how they played out in our state. New York City during the Civil War (draft riots). New York City and immigration (Jacob Riis and Tenements). New York City and suburbanization (Levittown). But what about the struggle against segregation? That was across the country, including here. And a massive school boycott – that’s the biggest political action by students in New York City, well, ever. How do we leave our history out of our textbooks?

There is Black History in New York in our textbooks. I don’t have a DoE approved book at home – but Brittanica Kids has an article about riots in Harlem. But nothing about Freedom Day. Freedom Day was organized. It involved many, many more people. Why would Brittanica (and I assume other texts) privilege a story of chaotic response over an inspiring, bigger story of well-organized response?

Is Freedom Day “uncomfortable”?

If the March on Washington is history, but Freedom Day is not… If the Harlem riots are history… but Freedom Day is not… maybe the question is who is making that decision – and do they have an interest in including some stories and excluding others.

Yet, King highlighted the venality of more “polite” forms of racism and challenged Northern liberals to address racism at home — and not just in the South. Violence and hate-filled rhetoric were not the only methods by which White supremacy was maintained. King identified how people, including those who may have deplored Southern injustice, maintained the racial status quo. Moderates and liberals deployed “both-sidesism,” argued that time would solve the problems of racism, cast disruptive protest as unwise and unreasonable and embraced ideas like the “culture of poverty” to justify strong-arm policing and explain away inequities in their own cities.

https://www.aaihs.org/martin-luther-king-jr-s-challenge-to-his-liberal-allies/

Freedom Day challenged – and the fact that it occurred challenges – present tense – the racial status quo in New York City. The stories of the riots provide a rationale (false) for more and more aggressive policing – and that is “policing” which was, and continues to be, largely directed at people of color. And the story of the defeat of Freedom Day highlights the duplicity of those who counsel patience, going slow, “this is not the right time,” more study, etc.

More Links

I have been writing about Freedom Day for several years. This year I am four days late. Short post. Meandering story I told kids one year.

Chris Bonastia’s book covers much of the story of Freedom Day in detail. I recommend it.

Who decides what is history?

Freedom Day is uncomfortable. It is inconvenient. But it was a huge, huge event. It was defeated by double-talking politicians. And it continues to be mistreated, by being kept hidden from generations of students. Who has decided, up to now, that it is not taught in our schools? And who will decide to remedy that injustice?