Civil Rights in America

History of Segregation• Civil Rights Act of 1875 – “all persons… shall be entitled to

the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations… of Inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement.”; in 1883, the Supreme Court declared this Civil Rights Act unconstitutional

• Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) – Supreme Court ruled that “equal but separate” was constitutional and could be enforced by state governments

• In 1948, President Truman issues an Executive Order ending segregation in the armed forces

Thurgood Marshall

• NAACP lawyer appointed to lead team of lawyers in various Civil Rights court cases

• He won 29 out of 32 cases & each was a milestone case that chipped away at segregation. . .

Brown v. Board of Education

• May 1954 – Marshall won his most important Civil Rights victory

• Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson that promoted the “separate but equal” philosophy

• Ruling was that separate was NOT always equal, and it made segregation in schools illegal

Court Cases• Edgewood ISD vs. Kirby – landmark case in

Texas education, redistributes taxes from wealthier school districts to poorer ones to ensure all students are receiving equal opportunities, leads to “Robin Hood”

• Delgado vs. Bastrop ISD – forced desegregation of Mexican American children in Texas schools

• Mendez vs. Westminster – forced desegregation of Mexican American children in California schools

Court Cases cont…

• Hernandez vs. Texas – Supreme Court states Mexican Americans and any other racial group have equal protection under the 14th Amendment

• Sweatt vs. Painter – forced desegregation in law schools; Texas had tried creating a law school specifically for black students to be able to keep segregation in the schools

Desegregation Begins

• “Little Rock Nine” (1957) 9 African-American students in Arkansas who volunteered to be the first to integrate Little Rock’s Central H.S. – Governor Orval Faubus tried to block this integration by

calling out the Arkansas National Guard– President Eisenhower put the Guard under his control to

protect the 9 students– This set a precedent that the Federal Government was

serious about desegregation or integration

Southern Politicians

• George Wallace, Orval Faubus, Lester Maddox – governors who carried out racial segregation, even after the federal government had outlawed it

• Democratic Senators – attempted to block civil rights legislation, specifically the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Known as the event that begins the modern Civil Rights Era

• Rosa Parks – In 1955, she refused to give up her seat to a white man and will lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott– Following her arrest, African

Americans in Montgomery refuse to ride city buses for 381 days until The Supreme Court outlaws bus segregation

Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Leader of the Civil Rights movement who advocated nonviolence

• Won the Nobel Peace Prize because of his work during the Civil Rights Era

• Led the March on Washington in 1963 where 250,000 met in D.C. to demand the passage of civil rights legislation and delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech to inspire the crowd

• Assassinated in 1968

“I HAVE A DREAM”“I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties

and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

– Martin Luther King Jr. (August 28, 1963)

“Freedom Riders”

• 1961 – Civil Rights activists took a 2 bus tour of the South to challenge segregated bus terminals or facilities – They wanted a violent reaction that would force President Kennedy to

confront segregation – Passengers were beaten, buses were burned, and Kennedy sends

Federal Marshals to protect the buses– Desegregation of bus terminals begins

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Birmingham_campaign_water_hoses.jpg

John F. Kennedy& Civil Rights

• Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 & Lyndon B. Johnson promised to carry on Kennedy’s work

• Civil Rights Act of 1964 – abolished racial, religious, and sex discrimination by employers; banned firing based on these same characteristics

CORE

• Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) pushes for more rights for minorities and advocates for them using nonviolent means

• “Freedom Summer” – 1964, CORE and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organized a voter registration drive for Mississippi using thousands of college students of all races and are met with violent reactions (3 confirmed deaths)

Voting Rights

• 13th, 14th, & 15th Amendments – ended slavery, provided protection for African Americans, and gave them the right to vote (Free Citizens Vote)

• 19th Amendment (1920) – gave women the right to vote

• 24th Amendment (1964) – eliminated the poll tax for voters

• Voting Rights Act of 1965 – eliminated the literacy tests

New Leaders

• Malcolm X– First taught violence and

confrontation to end segregation– Later preaches “ballots not bullets” and nonviolent

advocacy for desegregation– Assassinated by a member of his religious group for

changing his views

• Black Panthers – political partycreated in 1966 to fight police brutality in the ghetto & advocated self-sufficiency for African-American communities (preached armed self-defense & communism)

• Believed nonviolence wasn’t working fast enough and that violence would speed up the process of desegregation

Non-African American Rights

• Cesar Chavez – fights for the rights of migrant workers and founded the United Farm Workers to expand opportunities for them (nonviolent, such as boycotts, strikes, etc.)

• Delores Huerta – fought for farmers’ rights, specifically women

• Betty Friedan – stirs up women’s rights again by writing The Feminine Mystique

• League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)

Results of Civil Rights Era

• Increase in voter registration– Suffrage amendments, Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Increase in voter turnouts• Increase in number of minorities running for office

and being elected into office• Laws that end racial segregation

– Civil Rights Act of 1964, Civil Rights Act of 1968, Affirmative Action, Title IX

• Expanded opportunities for minorities and women

Civil Rights Legacy

• Civil Rights Act of 1968 – ended legal discrimination in housing market (rentals & sales)

• Affirmative Action – programs begun by the government to provide more opportunities for minorities and women in employment, education, and business

• Great Society – programs designed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice and expand economic opportunities for minorities

• Title IX – equalized opportunities by banning discrimination based on sex (women’s athletics benefits the most)

Types of Segregation

1. De Facto Segregation – segregation that exists by practice and custom & can be harder to fight because it involves changing people’s minds not just laws

2. De Jure Segregation – segregation by law

Trouble in Birmingham

• Birmingham, Alabama was the most segregated and racially violent city in the U.S. (18 racial bombings from 1957 to 1963)

• M.L. King Jr. was invited to help “desegregate” the city• (April 12, 1963) King was arrested during a demonstration • (April 20) a “Children’s Crusade” began downtown• (May 3) he led a “Children’s March” through the city & this time

it was caught on camera– Birmingham police were filmed using water hoses, attack dogs, and

clubs to break up the demonstration

• After seeing this film, Pres. Kennedy became convinced that only a stronger civil rights law would help the situation

Race Riots

• (July, 1964) Angry crowds

threw stones at M.L. King Jr.

as he led a march through Chicago to address “De Facto Segregation” & they forced him out of the city

• (July, 1964) Harlem Race Riot over death of 15-year-old during a clash between police & protesters

• (August, 1965) Watts Riot in Los Angeles killed 34 people & caused over $300 million of damage

• Between 1966 & 1967, riots broke out in 100 U.S. cities over racial inequality

A Turning Point

• (April 4, 1968) M.L. King Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray as he stood on a hotel balcony in Memphis, TN

• When MLK was shot, Robert Kennedy was campaigning for President and made a plea for non-violence (over 100 cities erupted in the worst racial violence & chaos ever in the U.S.)– Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June, 1968