The Civil Rights Movement

World War II

• African Americans Allowed to Fight• Harsh Discrimination Still in US• Voting– Right to Vote after Civil War– Unfair Literacy Tests and Violent Threats Prevent

Voting For Many

The Committee of Civil Rights

• African American Groups March to Washington– Demand Equal Rights– Demand KKK Made Illegal

• Harry Truman, 1946• Study Discrimination and Create Solutions• End Military Segregation (1948)• Hiring Discrimination (1948)

Brown Vs. Board of Education

• Plessy Vs. Ferguson = Separate but Equal Facilities are Legal

• Many Unhappy – African American Facilities were Not Equal to White Facilities

• All Public Schools Need to Desegregate with “All Deliberate Speed”

Little Rock Nine

• Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas (1957)• Governor Threatened to Have State National Guard

Keep Students Out on TV• All Supposed to Ride Together, One Did Not Get the

Message = Mob Followed Her Out• Federal Troops Eventually Had to Escort Students to

School• Stayed in School• Governor Closed the School System For a Year to

Protest

Montgomery Bus Boycott• Rosa Parks• Martin Luther King Jr. Leads Groups• 70% of Regular Passengers Refused to Ride• Violent Attempts to Stop Boycott– Bombing Homes

• Supreme Court Forces Bus Integration (1956)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ank52Zi_S0

Woolworth’s Protest

• Greensboro, NC• Sit-In• Nonviolent Resistance• Food Thrown, Insults Shouted, Attacked

Protestors• SNCC Formed as a Result

Freedom Rides• Protest Southern Bus System• Riders Constantly Attacked• Robert Kennedy = “Cooling Off Period”• Protestors = “We’ve Been Cooling Off for 350

Years”• Federal Troops Sent for Protection• Ends Bus and Train Segregation

March on Washington

• 250,000 People March to Washington DC• Gather Near Lincoln Memorial• Listened to Speeches• “I Have A Dream” Speech• Waves of Violence Occur– Kennedy Assassination– Church Bombings = 4 Girls Killed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Banned Segregation in Public Places• Banned Discrimination By Universities,

Employers, Government, and Unions– Based on Race, Sex, Religion, National Origin

Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Government Can Inspect Voting Procedures• Protect Voting Rights• Within 3 Years, More Than Half of Eligible

African Americans Register to Vote

Malcolm X

• Leader of Nation Of Islam• Favored Black Separatism Over Integration• Right to Protect From Violence• 3 Members of Nation of Islam Kill During a

Speech in New York City

Black Power Movement

• African American Power and Independence• Take Control of Communities and Future• Riots Break Out

MLK Jr. Assassination

• “Poor People’s Campaign”• Led to Strikes of Many Blue Collar Industries– Garbage Men in Tennessee

• Hidden Gunman Shoots King During a Speech• Civil Rights Movement Loses Fuel After Death

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKZ5jgOvmuk