The Right Societ, Billy Morrow Jackson,Civil Rights Poster1964

Description

These posters make me sad, but wer cannot forget the past...we do need to move forward...these posters deserve to be properly displayed in a special spot. The 1960's were turbulent times. Civil Rights Movements were a major turning point in our history.
I borrowed and copied the following discription form "Kneal" magizine August 2018 for your history lesson.
The Right Society
“The Right Society”
captures some of the complexity of the times. There are seven figures in this print. Starting at the far left, there is Malcom X. He is pictured with horns and an Islamic star as well as angel wings. This represents the alternate ways Malcom has been viewed. Seldom was anyone neutral. He was either an angel or a devil. He is playing a harp in the shape of an X.
The next figure is a man in an elephant/mammoth costume holding an American flag (revolutionary War.) The man/mammoth who is sitting on the egg is Barry Goldwater. Goldwater was the republican candidate for President, running against Lyndon Johnson, in 1964. He was known for his promotion of States Rights and was very much against Civil Rights. The mammoth is considered extinct. Does the egg imply that Goldwater
“laid an egg”
when he lost dismally to Lyndon Johnson? Relic of the past? He is being pumped up by the Klansman/Pope figure. Again, as in some other images the feet are pointing in an anatomically inaccurate direction.
In the background and the centre of the picture there is a medieval knight who is holding a scroll and a pen/spear. The scroll–made from a roll of toilet paper is hung from a plumber’s helper. This scroll contains pictures and symbols of many of the disreputable figures and discredited movements in history—Hitler, Stalin, Ku Klux Klan, Swastika, etc.
In examining the knight’s Armor more closely, it is apparent that it is not Armor at all, his chest piece is a TOILET. The handle is adjacent to the knight’s right shoulder. The toilet’s water tank is what serves as his breastplate. The knight’s head is emerging from the bowl of the toilet with the seat framing his ears like a pair of earmuffs. The lid, decorated with feathers, serves as the knights’ helmet. Through this single image we see Billy Jackson Morrow’s sense of humour and use of satire at their best.
The pen/spear is a reference to the John Birch society. This echoes the birch cane held by the mammoth.
The knight has a breastplate that is decorated with a vulture with a body (child?) held in its left talon. This image is very similar to the German coat of arms.
At the base of the knight there is a military officer holding a bomb.
The next figure is a Klansman who has an air pump that is blowing up the mammoth. Again, misdirected feet.
Under the Klansman, there is a rat with a human face reading what appears to be a bible. The rat is holding a cross that is constructed of four sticks of dynamite. On the rat’s chest, a portion of the confederate flag can be seen.
The final figure, anchoring the left side of the print, is George Wallace, with a confederate flag vest. Wallace has a wind-up screw in his head. George Wallace is holding the strings of a black marionette/puppet figure; this indicates the continued desire for white supremacy and control.
The Right Society is part of a series of 8 posters on the Civil Rights Movement by Billy Morrow Jackson.
Attached is and article about the artist.
I have the entire series in the original tube .
The poster has been stored in a tube, dated Nov16,1965 mailed to St Louis FOSNCC. (St Louis Friends of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)