The Civil Rights Movement

14th Amendment to the US Constitution The 14th

Amendment, ratified in 1868, requires that every state give equal protection under the law to all persons, without regard to race.

1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Plessy was arrested and fined for trying to ride an

all-white train. US Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in favor or Ferguson, stating that separate but equal was not violating Plessy’s 13th and 14th amendments, the “natural rights of man.”

The "separate but equal" doctrine relegated African American children to inadequate, unsafe schools, while the South's Jim Crow laws forbade black citizens from participating on an equal footing with white citizens.

1954 Brown v. Board of Ed

US Supreme Court bans segregation in public schools, overturning the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling

Attorneys George C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall, and James Nabrit Jr., left to right, smile together in front of the Supreme Court building after successfully arguing their case against segregation in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Brown v. Board of Ed. Cont.

“Does segregation of children in the public schools solely on the basis of race . . . deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunity?” His answer: “We believe that it does.”

Chief Justice Warren’s opinion on the court’s ruling in favor of Linda Brown, a black 1st grader who wanted to go to her neighborhood school just 7 blocks from her home, but instead had to attend the black school 1.5 hours from her home.

Montgomery, Al. Bus BoycottRosa Parks, a black woman, is arrested December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. The US Supreme Court decided that segregated seating on the buses was unconstitutional. December 20, 1956, public transportation across America was entirely desegregated; however, that did not mean that minorities were not harassed.

Little Rock Nine

9 black high school students attempt to attend classes at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Governor Faubus calls in the National Guard to prevent the black students from entering, thereby refusing the US Supreme Court ruling to integrate schools.

101st Airborne arrives 2 weeks later to escort black students into the building

Non-Violent Protests

Martin Luther King insists on non-violent protesting, a wise and effective protest used by Gandhi and Thoreau.

1960, the first sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in N.C. to force restaurants to integrate blacks at their “white only” counters.

1961 Freedom rides begin from Washington DC and spread across the nation to desegregate buses and stations

Affirmative Action 1961 , President Kennedy issues

executive order stating that federal government should take “affirmative action” to ensure fair treatment of employees and applicants regardless of race, religion, color or national origin.

Affirmative action is the term used for policies designed to remedy the effects of past discrimination against minority groups in the United States.

Affirmative action is controversial, because many people believe it encourages preferential treatment of certain groups and encourages so-called reverse discrimination.

1963

Medgar Evers, NAACP leader, is murdered at his home in Mississippi

Seattle’s first civil rights arrests made at city hall while protesting delays in hope-housing laws

250,000 people attend the March on Washington DC, King’s “I Have A Dream”

Four girls killed in the bombing of the 16th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 It prohibited segregation in public accommodations and

discrimination in education and employment, permitted withholding of federal funds from programs that had discriminatory practices, and it also gave the executive branch of government the power to enforce the act's provisions, and gave equal employment opportunities to companies with 25 or more members.

1965

Malcom X is murdered February 21, 1965

August 6th, President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965, authorizing federal examiners to register qualified voters and eliminate Jim Crow laws that prevented blacks from voting in the past.

Watt’s Riots in L.A., 34 dead, 1000 wounded stemming from a white police officer brutally beating black on-lookers after they taunted him on an arrest

Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis Tennessee, setting off riots and marches in his memory in more than 100 cities

James Earl Ray was convicted after confessing to the murder

1968

ERA: equal rights amendment

In 1972 Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution and submitted it to the states for ratification. The ERA was designed to eliminate legal discrimination against women, however needed 38 states to make it an amendment to the US Constitution. It failed.

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 extended to women victims of job bias the right to sue their employers for monetary damages.

Title IX

Title IX of the Higher Education Act (1972), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational program receiving federal funds, including athletic programs.

This is the reason we now have professional women athletes on the same caliber as men

Seattle Schools

In 1978, Seattle becomes the largest city in the US to desegregate its schools without a court order.

By 1979, the Seattle School Board was to eliminate racial imbalance in schools

Contemporary Issues

1989 Douglas Wilder of Virginia becomes the nation’s first African American governor

1992 Rodney King riots in L.A. start after a video of police officers beating King, a black man

OJ Simpson found innocent in 1995, racism present

Homosexual civil rights issues…marriage, employment, housing, insurance, taxes, etc.

Questions???

Where are we as a society in the continuum of equality?

Are we there yet? How far do we have to go? What can you do around you to improve

the rights of others?