The Civil Rights Movement

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 To 1940 To 1930 Pre-1900 • A. Philip • Booker T. • Opposition to Randolph forced Washington and slavery in a federal ban W.E.B. Du Bois colonial days against • Founding of the discrimination in • Abolition NAACP in 1909 defense work. movement and Civil War • African • 1940s founding Americans of CORE • Legalized suffered worse racism after • President than others Reconstruction Truman during the Great desegregated • 1896 Plessy v. Depression. the armed Ferguson • Roosevelt forces. allowed the unwilling to push segregation of • Brooklyn too hard for African Dodgers put an greater African Americans and African American rights. whites. American— Jackie

What is Jim Crow? • Laws passed from 18771954 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

BEFORE

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

AFTER

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 • 1957-SCLCSouthern Christian Leadership Conference • Nonviolent group founded by MLK and southern ministers

• 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

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

• Succeeded at getting businesses to change their policies Sit-ins • 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 • After the savage beatings in Birmingham, bus companies refused to sell the Freedom Rides Riders tickets and CORE disbanded the Freedom Ride. • SNCC continued the Freedom Rides. Federal Intervention • 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.

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 demonstratorseven 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

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Did not include voting rights

Civil Rights Act of 1964

President Kennedy

Medgar Evers

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

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

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

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

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

March on • Washington

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

The Triumph of 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 Triumph of 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

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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 Act Selma Campaign Selma March • King organized • 600 African marches in Americans Selma, Alabama, began the 54to gain voting mile march. rights for African • City and state Americans. police blocked • King and many their way out of other marchers Selma. were jailed. • TV cameras • Police attacked a captured the march in Marion. police using clubs, chains, • King announced a and electric four-day march cattle prods on from Selma to the marchers. Montgomery.

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 •

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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. 2. 3. 4.

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4 girls in Birmingham Civil rights workers in Miss Malcolm X- killed in 1965 MLK killed in 1968

People began QuestioningWas it worth it? Was strategy working?

Fractures in the Movement Black Muslims Black Power

Black Panthers

• Nation of Islam • The Black Panther was a large and • Stokely Party was formed in influential group Carmichael Oakland, California, who believed in became the head in 1966. Black Power. of SNCC. • Called for violent revolution as a • Message of • SNCC abandoned means of African black the philosophy of American liberation. nationalism, nonviolence. • Members carried self-discipline, guns and monitored • Black Power and selfAfrican American became the new neighborhoods to reliance. rallying cry. guard against police • Malcolm X brutality. • Wanted African offered message Americans to of hope, depend on defiance, and themselves to 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 SeparatismAfrican 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 ISLAMAmerican 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