The Split

From Peaceful Protest to Black Power

Overview of Early Civil Rights MovementFocus on ending “Jim Crow” in the South –

Desegregation, Voting Rights, Civil Rights for Southern Blacks

• Court challenges to Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) by NAACP throughout first half of 20th century

• Formation of:– CORE– SCLC– SNCC

• Montgomery Bus Boycott• Sit-Ins• Freedom Riders• Integration of public schools &

universities• Protest Marches (DC, Selma)• Voter Registration Drives

• Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (1954)

– Supreme courts rules against “separate but equal”

– Desegregation of Schools• Organization of the Civil Rights

Movement– Martin Luther King, Jr. leader of

movement– Philosophy of civil disobedience and

“militant non-violence” • Southern white reaction: mass arrests,

police brutality, white mob violence, bombings, murders & assassinations

• National TV coverage Federal Intervention

– Marshals, US soldiers sent into South– Civil Rights Act 1964– Voting Rights Act 1965

• Martin Luther King wins 1964 Nobel Peace Prize

Why a Split?• Civil Rights movement had been successful at ending Jim

Crow in the mostly rural South• 70% of black population lived in metropolitan areas (cities)

– 1916 to 1970: over 6 million black people moved north– 1940 to 1960: Chicago's black population grew from 278,000 to

813,000– Central-city ghettos were bypassed by post-war prosperity

• Widespread employment discrimination, crime, lack of police• Forced to live in overcrowded slums or into public-housing high rises• Urban blacks grew very disillusioned with life in the north

• Non-violent tactics that succeeded in the rural South did not readily worked in northern cities

• Some questioned the nonviolent approach—was it really working?– Still much injustice and violence– Some African Americans believed that nonviolence and integration

within white society wouldn’t work, prejudice was too deep

James Baldwin• Author of over two dozen novels and essays

• The Fire Next Time (1963)– Wrote that suffering and oppression set African

Americans apart, but also made them stronger– African Americans were angry and tired of

promises

Black Nationalism

• Black Nationalism – a belief in the separate identify and racial unity of the African American community

• Nation of Islam – founded by Elijah Muhammad. – Believed the enemy of the Nation

of Islam was white society– Believed in taking no political

action

Malcolm X• Born Malcolm Little

– Excellent jr. high school student, but with limited opportunities he turned to crime

• Sentenced to 7 years in jail in Boston for burglary– took advantage of prison education system

• In prison he joined Nation of Islam (aka the Black Muslims)– Changed name to Malcolm X – X replaced the slave-name he inherited– Believed white society was oppressive– Preached black separation from white

society and self-help– Very charismatic, forceful speaker

Malcolm X & Non-Integration• Malcolm X disagreed w/ the tactics and

goals of the early civil rights movement– Called for the complete separation of African

Americans from white people– Proposed creating a separate country for black

people until African Americans could return to Africa– Rejected the strategy of nonviolence – Taught that black people should use any necessary

means of self-defense to protect themselves

• Civil rights organizations denounced Malcolm X an irresponsible extremist– Malcolm X was equally critical of the civil rights

movement – He described its leaders as "stooges" for the

white establishment and said that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a "chump"

– Called March on Washington “Farce of Washington”

Non-integration (continued)• Malcolm X's speeches had a

powerful effect on his audiences, generally African Americans who lived in the Northern and Western cities tired of being told to wait for freedom, justice, equality, and respect– Many blacks felt that he expressed their

complaints better than the civil rights movement did.

• Eventually Malcolm X came to disagree with Elijah Muhammad on many things, especially lack of political action

– Left the Nation of Islam to form his own religious organization, Muslim Mosque, Inc.

Malcolm X’s Assassination• After a pilgrimage to Mecca

(hajj) and talking with African Muslims, Malcolm X changed his view on the civil rights movement– He was ready to work with other

civil rights leaders and white Americans on some issues

• February 21, 1965 shot to death at a rally in Manhattan NY– 3 members of Nation of Islam

charged with his murder

Black Power• Stokely Carmichael

– Member of SNCC– Heard Malcolm X’s message– Rose to SNCC leadership and the group became more militant– After being jailed & beaten for participating in

demonstrations, he was tired of nonviolence• Encouraged SNCC members to carry guns for self-defense• Wanted to make the group exclusively black, rejecting all

white activists.

The Split with SNCC The March Against Fear, June, 1966

- Greenwood, Mississippi, Carmichael was arrested; took the speaker's platform and delivered his famous "Black Power" speech- Called on African Americans to unite, recognize their heritage and

build a sense of community- Blacks should define their own goals, lead their own organizations,

and support those organizations.- SNCC's "Black Power" slogan was now competing with SCLC's

"Freedom Now" slogan. - MLK had left for Chicago to organize the open housing marches,

returned to to find that the civil rights movements' internal divisions between the old guard and new guard had gone public.

- King’s followers were singing “We Shall Overcome”- Carmichael’s followers over-sang them with “We Shall Overrun”

Black Panthers• Formed by Bobby Seale and

Huey Newton– Wanted African Americans to

lead their own communities– Demanded that the federal

government rebuild the nation’s ghettos to make up for years of neglect

– Newton followed words of Mao Zedong, “Power flows from the barrel of a gun”

• Gave rise to the “Black is Beautiful” slogan

The Split

Early Civil RightsMovement___________________

_____________________________________________

• NAACP• SCLC• CORE

– Moderate organizations– Sought desegregation and

equal rights– Belief in nonviolent

protest; court cases, marches, sit-ins

– Civil disobedience

Later Civil Rights Movement_____________________________________________

• SNCC• Nation of Islam• Black Panthers

– Emphasis on “Black Nationalism”

– Did not agree with integration with white society, separatist

– Self-sufficiency for black community

– Confrontational with police

Segregation• De jure segregation

(“Segregation of the day”)– Racial separation created by

law– Early civil rights movement

focused battles on this

• De facto segregation(“Segregation by fact”)– Separation caused by poverty,

mortgage discrimination; “racial steering” restricted blacks to certain neighborhoods

– “Redlining” – no services, supermarkets, banks, jobs

– Later civil rights movement concentrated on this

Magenta = +50% Black

Boston MA

Los Angeles CA

Race Riots• 1964-1968, dozens of race

riots broke out in black urban neighborhoods, mostly in northern & western cities– African Americans were frustrated, kept

out of well-paying jobs, job training programs, and suburban housing

– Inner-city schools were run-down & inadequate

– Police officers were viewed as dangerous oppressors rather than upholders of justice

– Many riots began after an arrest or incident of police brutality / shooting of an African American

– “Violent urban renewal”

MLK after the split• 1966 – had begun to focus on housing

discrimination in Chicago when split occurred• 1967 - Opposed Vietnam War

– Saw a "cruel irony" of American blacks fighting, dying for a country which treated them as second class citizens

• Poor People's Campaign, 1968 – King / SCLC called on government to invest in

rebuilding America's cities– Felt Congress had "hostility to the poor" by spending

$ on the war rather than on urban blight

Assassination• March 29, 1968 - King went to

Memphis, TN to support black sanitation workers on strike for higher wages and better treatment

• April 4 - King shot and killed as he stood on his motel's second floor balcony

• King’s assassination led to a nationwide wave of riots in Washington DC, Chicago, Baltimore, Louisville, Kansas City, and dozens of other cities

Legacy of Civil Rights Movement– Civil Rights Act 1964 – ended much discrimination

for blacks and women– Voting Rights Act 1965 – African Americans vote &

hold office without restrictions• Number of African American elected officials rose by 88%

– Civil Rights Act 1968 – Segregation made illegal• aka Fair Housing Act

– Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

– Gave rise to many other protest movements in the late 1960s - early 1970s