The 1950s: A Time of Conformity and Change

I. An Improving Economy At Home

A. Eisenhower’s Economic Policies* “Moderate Republican”… more conservative than “New Deal” approach but not remove

programs either * New Cabinet post* Reflect conservative mood of the country

II. An Improving Economy at Home

B. “Eisenhower Prosperity” and Consumer Spending Introduction…

1. New Homes: Baby Boom, GI Bill2. Migration to suburbs… effect on suburbs, cities3. Automobiles: Federal / Interstate Highway Act (1956)

* Cold War/ public safety connection4. National Migration: From Rustbelt to Sunbelt

I. An Improving Economy

B. Eisenhower Prosperity5. Television

* Power of TV: “Checkers Speech”“It was a little cocker spaniel dog. And our

little girl named it Checkers. And you know the kids love that dog… [and] regardless of what they say about it, we’re going to keep it.”

I. An Improving EconomyB. Eisenhower Prosperity

6. Culture* Religion… “Beats/ Beatniks”…

Kerouac: On the Road… Caulfield… Elvis… McDonalds…

AFL-CIO* Commercial, Conservative,

Conformity…

II. Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

A. The Truman Years (‘45-’53) * Review: Jim Crow, segregation… yet asked to fight democracy overseas* Take movement into their hands* Jackie Robinson (1947)*’48: desegregation of troops

II. OriginsB. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,

Kansas* Plessy v. Ferguson… Segregation… 14th A* Civil rights groups had to turn to courts b/c no one was addressed their concerns… esp. states* Issue: Linda Brown* “Separate but equal… inherently unequal”* Southern Manifesto and states’ rights

III. The March to Equality (1955 – 1965)

A. Dr Martin Luther King* Nonviolence… Gandhi & Thoreau* Formed: Southern Christian Leadership Conference

B. Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955 – 1956) * Rosa Parks

* 381 days… company lost 65% of its revenue* 50,000: walked, car pooled, rode bicycles… endured abuse* Supreme Court: eventually ruled segregation of public buses illegal

III. The March to Equality

C. Little Rock, Arkansas*Governor Orval Faubus… ordered Nat’l Guard to prevent nine students from attending school* Refused to enforce integration* Position of Eisenhower… (v. Jackson!)…. C inC

III. The March to Equality

D. Civil Rights Acts of 1957 & 19601. First civil rights act since Reconstruction2. Civil Rights Commission: address poll taxes, grandfather clauses3. Southern senators… filibuster4. Ended by cloture

III. The March to EqualityE. Sit-ins and Freedom Rides in the South

1. Interracial groups: N. liberals and S. moderates: force changes to segregation– trains, lunch counters2. Violent confrontations…3. Interstate Commerce Commission: banned

segregation in interstate transportation (role of federal govt…)4. Sit –in: organized by CORE and SNCC (chart)

III. The March to Equality

F. Dr. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail * Birmingham: considered to be most segregated* Police: used dogs, fire hoses to break up march* White clergy: criticized disruption to “law and order”* King: no longer wait (opposite of BT Washington)* Power of TV!

III. The March to Equality

The City of Birmingham, Alabama…

III. The March to Equality

G. March on Washington “I have a dream….”* Not all shared in King’s dream… Sept 1963… Birmingham, Baptist church was bombed, killing four young girls on way to church* 4 men not charged until 45 years later* Note: importance of church in African American community & civil rights movement*JFK, nation: horrified

III. The March to Equality

H. Civil Rights Act of 1964: Sheet* Heart of Atlanta Motel v. US : segregationist owner challenged act; refused to rent rooms to blacks* Sp Ct upheld: racial segregation of private facilities engaged in interstate commerce: unconstitutional

III. The March to Equality

I. The Road to Equal Voting Rights1. Review: Chart on handout2. 24th Amendment3. Voting Rights Act of 1965 & “Freedom Summer”

III. The March to Equality

J. Other Civil Rights Struggles1. James Meredith (1962)

* Made headlines when he tried to enroll at all- white U of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”)

* Gov: personally tried to stop from enrolling* NAACP: filed lawsuit, Sp Ct upheld* Riots, Nat’l Guard… JFK: marshals to

protect* Similar to Board: Sp Ct support

integration, federal govt enforced

III. The March to Equality

J. Other Civil Rights Struggles2. Medgar Evers (June 1963)

* Member of NAACP: working to desegregate Jackson, Miss.

* White Supremacist Byron de la Beckwith murdered Evers outside his home

*Two {white} hung juries failed to convict; 1994: convicted

III. The March to Equality

J. Civil Rights Struggles3. University of Alabama (June 1963)

* Gov. George Wallace: vowed to stop two students from registering at state university

*[Speech: Same day as Evers assassination]

* Pressure from JFK/ National Guard: back down

* Were able to enroll peacefully

III. The March to Equality

J. Civil Rights Struggles4. Freedom Summer (1964)

*Voter registration… college students… went south

*KKK: Bring it on!* J. Chaney, A. Goodman, M. Schwerner…

FBI* Violent summer: mob attacks,

firebombs, churches destroyed… intimidation

III. The March to Equality

Chart: Major Civil Rights ProtestsWhat was the role of the federal govt in the civil rights movement? State? Individuals?

Chart: Major African American OrganizationsWhich group got its membership from churches? Students? City dwellers? Extremists?