, Texas. The nation and the world were struck dumb
with disbelief. Even those who had disliked his politics were horrified
at the assassination of a President in a democratic state. His supporters
felt that they had lost a friend as well as a leader. In fact many
regarded Kennedy as a savior.

The sense of shock caused despair and gloom. The fact that his successor,
Lyndon B. Johnson, was a Southerner led most civil rights supporters to
feel that there would be a reversal of federal policies on the racial
question. However, Johnson immediately tried to reassure the nation that
his intention was to carry on with the unfinished business of the Kennedy
era. By the time the Bill passed in the spring of 1964, civil rights
supporters felt that Johnson was as dependable an ally as Kennedy had
been. Instead of the vehement opposition to the public accommodations
provision of the Bill which had been expected, compliance was fairly
wide-spread and came with relatively little opposition.

It soon became clear, however, that the passage of the Civil Rights Act
was not the victory which would end the racial conflict. In fact,
violence on both sides escalated. A Washington, D. C., Negro educator,
Lemuel Penn, was gunned down by snipers as he drove through Georgia on
his way home from a training session for reserve officers. Two Klansmen
were charged, but they were acquitted. In Philadelphia, Mississippi,
three civil rights workers--two white and one black--disappeared. The
youths were later found brutally murdered. In spite of national protests,
local justice was not forthcoming.

At the same time, forewarnings of anger and violence had begun to rumble
in many Afro-American communities across the land. In spite of the
legislative victories, most ghetto Negroes found that their daily lives
had not changed. In fact, the economic gap between blacks and whites had
tended to increase as whites received the benefits of prosperity in
larger portions than did the blacks. Also, many ghetto residents, whose
lives were surrounded with crime and violence, were further angered when
they watched the evening news showing their Southern brothers kicked and
clubbed by sheriffs. These ghetto residents had not been schooled in the
tactics of nonviolent resistance. In the summer of 1964, race riots
occurred in Harlem and Rochester, N.Y., as well as in several cities in
New Jersey.

In the spring of 1965, Selma, Alabama, was the scene of a concentrat