CHAPTER 31:THE CIVIL RIGHTS

MOVEMENT

United States History

Nonviolent Protest and Action

With the help of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was formed to end discrimination through nonviolent means

Members of the SCLC took it one step further by organizing sit-ins Sit-ins involved sitting down in places and refusing to move Many organizers of sit-ins formed the Student Nonviolent

Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Protesters were met with violence and were not protected by

local police In fact, many protesters were arrested for their sit-ins

As a result of the work of the SCLC and SNCC, many restaurants across the South integrated

Nonviolent Protest and Action

Freedom riders Organized people to ride busses across the South to show the

discrimination still taking place One of two busses were firebombed just across the state line

in Alabama The other bus met violence in Birmingham and Montgomery President Kennedy was reluctant to help at first, but

eventually sent federal marshals to protect the ridersUniversity of Mississippi

James Meredith, a black college student, was granted a court order to enroll in Sept. 1962

The governor personally prevented Meredith from registering, with riots breaking out on campus

Eventually, Meredith registered and graduated from Ole Miss in 1963

Nonviolent Protest and Action

Birmingham, AL Site of brutal squelching of protests in May 1963 Hundreds were arrested for peaceful protest The city’s police turned dogs, nightsticks, and fire hoses on

the protesters Newspapers and television captured the violence,

horrifying the entire nation The event finally convinced JFK to enact legislation, but he

was assassinated before he could actThe March on Washington

August 28, 1963 200,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in DC Site of MLK’s famous “I have a dream…” speech

Civil Rights Act of 1964

While many protests were gaining momentum for the cause, any passage of a civil rights law in 1963 looked grim Four young black girls were killed in a church bombing in

Birmingham in Sept. 1963 JFK was assassinated in Nov. 1963

However, LBJ strongly supported passage of a lawSouthern representatives and senators tried hard to

block the billThe Civil Rights Act of 1964 went into effect on July

2, 1964 Banned discrimination in employment and public places Opened up school integration and enforcement and some

voting restrictions

Voting Rights

Voting rights were another sticking point in the movement

Mississippi was especially terrible at denying voting rights Blacks were denied the right to vote through literacy

tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, etc. Robert Moses of the SNCC went to MS in 1961 to register

blacks to vote, however was met with violence and arrestsTwenty Fourth Amendment

Passed in 1964 Outlawed the poll tax as a requirement of voting

registration

Freedom Summer

After the passing of the 24th Amendment, the SNCC, with the help of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) organized voter registration drives throughout the South

Violence met the volunteers Three workers, Andrew Goodman, a black man, and two white men,

James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, disappeared on June 21, 1964

Their bodies were found 6 weeks later in a shallow grave This discouraged many from registering

Selma, AL In 1965, MLK organized a march from Selma to Montgomery in

protest to voting rights violations Police beat many of the marchers Shocked Americans flooded Montgomery and LBJ called for a voting

rights law

Voting Rights Act of 1965

After the violence of Selma and countless other acts in the South, Congress set out to protect voting rights

In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passedAll voting registration was placed under

federal controlFederal observers moved into the South to

oversee registration of black votersBlack registration skyrocketed

Alabama: 57% by 1968 Mississippi: 59% by 1968, up from 7% in 1964

Challenges to the Movement

Not all protest and organization was peacefulSome organizations preached violence “by any

means necessary” and black supremacyThe most notorious of organizations was the Nation

of Islam Called for a separate black nation within America Malcolm X was its most well known member

Born Malcolm Little in 1925 Became a member of the Nation of Islam while in prison,

released in 1952 Criticized the nonviolent means of MLK and other leaders However, began to change his views after a trip to Mecca in 1964 Assassinated in Feb. 1965 by disgruntled black Muslims

Malcolm X

Black Power & the Black Panthers

Many began to question the nonviolent nature of the movement overall

Some called for a separate black society, rather than integration Known as Black Power Instilled a sense of pride in being black, as well as

separationThe Black Panthers were created based on the

idea of Black Power Political party movement for blacks Provide subsistence for the black community Create self defense organizations against racist police

oppression

The Struggle Continues…

MLK continued to urge nonviolent protest He took the fight to the North, particularly Chicago Violence broke out in Chicago and the suburbs in response to

marches In August 1965, in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, riots

broke out, killing dozens and injuring thousands Detroit was the worst in 1967, with 43 dead and millions in

damageKing organized a Poor Man’s Campaign to march on

Washington in protest to social program money being diverted to Vietnam

Tragically, on April 4, 1968, MLK was gunned down by a sniper James Earl Ray was found guilty of the murder Riots erupted in cities across the country after the assassination

The Struggle Continues…

White opposition continued to plague the movement Busing: Several cities ordered desegregation by busing students to

other neighborhoods Protests erupted in many cities, especially Boston The Supreme Court struck down the required busing in 1974

Affirmative action: act of giving preference to women and minorities in hiring and schooling to make up for past discrimination Many argued that it was “reverse discrimination” Quotas were used often to fill positions In 1978, Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke ended quotas after Alan Bakke argued

that he was unfairly denied admission to medical school

However, the movement had many great successes Blacks became more politically active, winning elections and voting

more More blacks began to own businesses and attend college Salaries increased for black workers