The Civil Rights Movement

Fighting Segregation

The Main Idea

In the mid-1900s, the civil rights movement began to make major progress in correcting the national problem of racial

segregation.

Reading Focus

• What was the status of the civil rights movement prior to 1954?

• What were the key issues in the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, and what was its impact?

• How did events in Montgomery, Alabama, help launch the modern civil rights movement?

The Civil Rights Movement prior to 1954

Pre-1900

• Opposition to slavery in colonial days

• Abolition movement and Civil War

• Legalized racism after Reconstruction

• 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson allowed the segregation of African Americans and whites.

To 1930

• Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois

• Founding of the NAACP in 1909

• African Americans suffered worse than others during the Great Depression.

• Roosevelt unwilling to push too hard for greater African American rights.

To 1940

• A. Philip Randolph forced a federal ban against discrimination in defense work.

• 1940s founding of CORE

• President Truman desegregated the armed forces.

• Brooklyn Dodgers put an African American—Jackie Robinson—on its roster.

What is Jim Crow?

• Laws passed from 1877-1954 that LEGALLY discriminated against black people

• Examples: separate schools, bathrooms, drinking fountains, voting laws

• Basically, allowing African Americans to be treated as 2nd class citizens

Voting Restrictions

• Southern states passed laws to make sure African American could not vote in large numbers

1. Poll taxes

2. Literacy Tests

3. Grandfather Clauses

RACIAL VIOLENCE LYNCHING• 1882-92: c. 1,200 African

Americans lynched

• LYNCHING- being killed usually by mobs for a “suspected” crime without a proper trial

• Most in the South- most were never arrested/punished

PLESSY v FERGUSON

• 1896 Supreme Court Decision that made Segregation legal in the South

• “SEPARATE BUT EQUAL” will be the law in the South until the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Case

NAACP(National Association for the Advancement of

Colored People)

• Created in 1910 to “chip” away the LEGALITY of Segregation

• Long, expensive battle to prove that conditions were not equal

• Try to prove violations in 14th Amendment

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas-1954

• In a bold move, NAACP found one case to try to end Jim Crow /Segregation

• NAACP proved that the condition of 12 yr. old Linda Brown were not equal

• Brown v. Board overruled Plessy v. Ferguson

Brown v. Board of Education

The Supreme Court heard arguments over a two-year period. The Court also considered research about segregation’s effects on African American children.

In 1954 Chief Justice Earl Warren issued the Supreme Court’s decision.

All nine justices agreed that separate schools for African Americans and whites violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection of the law.

The Emmitt Till Case

•Boy from Chicago•Visiting family in Mississippi•Spoke to a white lady•Got lynched- body mutilated and thrown in water•Murderers were acquitted•Showed America how racist the south was.

BEFOREAFTER

Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott-1955

• ROSA PARKS refused to give up seat on bus

• Montgomery blacks begin 1 year boycott

• Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) emerges as young civil rights leader

• Busses are eventually desegregated.

• 1st major civil rights victory

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

• When Rosa Parks was arrested, the NAACP called for a one-day boycott of the city bus system.

• Community leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association and selected Martin Luther King Jr. as its leader.

• African Americans continued to boycott the bus system for a year—which hurt the bus system and other white businesses.

• After the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was unconstitutional, integration of the buses moved forward.

The Little Rock 9- 1957

• 9 black students sent to Little Rock Central High School to test the Brown Decision

• Protests and death threats erupted on 1st day• The school board attempted to close down the school

Little Rock 9 (cont)

• Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus rejected integration and sent in State troops to block the black students

• In bold move, President Eisenhower sent in Federal troops to escort students through school

Little Rock 9 (cont)

• The events in Little Rock demonstrated the same dilemma that existed during the Civil War 100 years earlier…

• STATES RIGHTS versus FEDERAL POWER- who should have power??

Civil Rights Strategies of Nonviolence

• NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE: those who carry out demonstrations should never use violence

• CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: nonviolently breaking unjust laws; getting arrested for a cause

• Ideas were used successfully by Gandhi in India to free India from British oppression- now used by

• MLK in America

New Organizations Formed to Fight for Civil Rights

• 1960- SNCC- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee “Snick”

• Started out as College students

• Traveled country staging demonstrations

• Used Civil Disobedience• “Jail not Bail”• More radical than SCLC

• 1957-SCLC- Southern Christian Leadership Conference

• Nonviolent group founded by MLK and southern ministers

SIT-INS (1960)

• Using Civil Disobedience, activists attempted to integrate lunch counters throughout the South

• Strategy was to politely sit at counters and get arrested (jail not bail)

• In 5 days, Sit-ins grew from 4 to 300 people in North Carolina

• SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE NATION

John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)

JFK and Civil Rights

• JFK wins 1960 Presidency in a slim margin (120,000 votes) with promise to help the cause of civil rights

• BUT was afraid to act powerfully

• 3 separate events would force JFK to take a stand

FREEDOM RIDES (1961)• In 1961, Federal

Government integrated interstate travel and integrated bus stops, train stations. Airports

• Civil Rights leaders wanted to test new freedoms

• Black and white activists rode through the South on buses together

• Buses were bombed• Riders were beaten• Ala. Governor Patterson

refused to protect riders• JFK SENT IN NATIONAL

GUARD

Results of Sit-ins and Freedom Rides

• After the savage beatings in Birmingham, bus companies refused to sell the Freedom Riders tickets and CORE disbanded the Freedom Ride.

Sit-ins

• Succeeded at getting businesses to change their policies

• Marked a shift in the civil rights movement—showed young African Americans’ growing impatience with the slow pace of change

• Leaders formed the SNCC.

Freedom Rides

• SNCC continued the Freedom Rides.

• Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent federal marshals to Montgomery to protect the riders.

• The Interstate Commerce Commission finally forced the integration of bus and train stations.

Federal Intervention

BIRMINGHAM DEMONSTRATIONS

(Spring 1963)• Birmingham, Alabama- 40%

black- city with a racist tradition• Civil Rights activists assemble

here• Chief of police, “Bull” Conner

orders dogs and fire hoses turned on the demonstrators- even kids

• MLK almost killed- MLK declares Birmingham as most important battle yet b/c broadcast all over the world

• MEDIA VICTORY

Impact of Birmingham

• Birmingham demonstrations forced JFK to propose Civil Rights Act

• Wasn’t passed until after JFK assassinated

• DID NOT include voting power

The March on Washington• Summer, 1963- not long

after Birmingham• 200,000 African

Americans converged on Washington DC to push the Government into acting on civil rights

• MLK delivers famous speech which steals the show

• JFK understands that Civil Rights act must happen

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT 1964• Proposed by JFK, passed

by LBJ• Overcame a filibuster

– PROVISIONS

1. Prohibits discrimination in public places

2. Gov’t can withhold federal money if states violate the act

3. Prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin by an employer

• Did not include voting rights

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Medgar Evers, the head of the NAACP in Mississippi, was shot dead in his front yard.

• Ku Klux Klan member Byron De La Beckwith was tried for the crime but all-white juries failed to convict.

PresidentKennedy

• The events in Alabama convinced President Kennedy to act on civil rights issues.

• Kennedy announced that he would ask for legislation to finally end segregation in public accommodations.

MedgarEvers

• On August 28, 1963, the largest civil rights demonstration ever held in the United States took place in Washington.

• More than 200,000 people marched and listened to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Marchon

Washington

The Triumphof Civil Rights

2. Selma, Alabama• There was still no leg. Enforcing

the 15th Amendment; MLK targeted Selma, AL next

• MLK used TV, newspapers to highlight discrim.; Selma Sher. Jim Clark rivaled Bull Connor

• After 2 months of beatings, arrests and a murder, a 54 mi. march to Montgomery, AL was planned

• Gov. George Wallace banned the march, but organizers marched anyway

The Triumphof Civil Rights

2. Selma, Alabama• On the way, marchers were

turned back by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge with tear gas and clubs

• Awaiting on the other side was Sheriff Clark’s deputies; violence ensued

• MLK led a 2nd march to the bridge, led prayer midway across, surprisingly turned around… the public, LBJ again supported MLK

• LBJ introduced leg. to protect Afr. Am. voter rights

VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965

• LBJ proposed– Provisions

1. Allowed African Americans to freely register to vote

2. Outlawed literacy tests and other southern restrictions to voting

The Voting Rights ActSelma Campaign

• King organized marches in Selma, Alabama, to gain voting rights for African Americans.

• King and many other marchers were jailed.

• Police attacked a march in Marion.

• King announced a four-day march from Selma to Montgomery.

Selma March

• 600 African Americans began the 54-mile march.

• City and state police blocked their way out of Selma.

• TV cameras captured the police using clubs, chains, and electric cattle prods on the marchers.

Voting Rights Act

• President Johnson asked for and received a tough voting rights law.

• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed in Congress with large majorities.

• Proved to be one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation ever passed.

24th AMENDMENT TO THE US CONSTITUTION-1964

•BANNED POLL TAXES

Disappointed Hopes

• While the movement was successful in getting legal equality, racism continues to exist.

• Many people were becoming MARTYRS for the cause of Civil Rights

1. 4 girls in Birmingham2. Civil rights workers in Miss3. Malcolm X- killed in 19654. MLK killed in 1968

• People began Questioning-Was it worth it? Was strategy working?

Black Power

•Stokely Carmichael became the head of SNCC.

• SNCC abandoned the philosophy of nonviolence.

• Black Power became the new rallying cry.

• Wanted African Americans to depend on themselves to solve problems.

Black Panthers

• The Black Panther Party was formed in Oakland, California, in 1966.

• Called for violent revolution as a means of African American liberation.

• Members carried guns and monitored African American neighborhoods to guard against police brutality.

Fractures in the MovementBlack Muslims

• Nation of Islam was a large and influential group who believed in Black Power.

• Message of black nationalism, self-discipline, and self-reliance.

•Malcolm X offered message of hope, defiance, and black pride.

The Death of Martin Luther King Jr.

King became aware that economic issues must be part of the civil rights movement.

King went to Memphis, Tennessee to help striking sanitation workers. He led a march to city hall.

James Earl Ray shot and killed King as he stood on the balcony of his motel.

Within hours, rioting erupted in more than 120 cities. Within three weeks, 46 people were dead, some 2,600 were injured, and more than 21,000 were arrested.

New Directions• Black Separatism-

African Americans that actually wanted to separate from white culture

• Black Pride- Pride in being black

• Black Power-attempt to seize political power without the help of white America

MALCOLM X• Black separatist who

embraced Islam– NATION OF ISLAM-

American black Muslim movement that followed the teaching of Muhammad

• Malcolm was more radical and more threatening to whites than MLK

• Assassinated in 1965

CHAOS in the late 1960’s

• Long. Hot, Summers - angry blacks rioted in many American cities in late 1960’s (most famous is Watts- LA ghetto)

• MLK assassinated in 1968

• RFK- Bobby Kennedy assassinated in 1968