The Civil Rights MovementThe Civil Rights Movement

A BRIEF Synopsis

SegregationSegregation

“Does segregation of children in public schools… deprive children of… equal

opportunities? We believe it does… To separate them… solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority…

that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.”

- Brown v. Board of Education

of Topeka ruling

History of SegregationHistory of Segregation • Supreme Court Case, Plessy vs. Ferguson,

1896: “separate but equal” is okay– segregated facilities for whites & blacks

• Jim Crow laws: laws that kept whites and blacks segregated in public and private

• Discrimination in housing, voting (poll taxes & grandfather clause), & jobs

• Thousands of lynchings and other violent acts

• 1948: Pres. Truman desegregates the military

Challenging Segregation in CourtChallenging Segregation in Court

• Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

• All public schools must be desegregated

• Earl Warren’s Court

Resistance to DesegregationResistance to Desegregation

• State militias, racist governors, & KKK keep segregation going

• Arkansas and the “Little Rock Nine”– Gov. of Arkansas uses state militia to keep 1st

black students out of Little Rock’s Central HS– Eisenhower sends in National Guard to “protect”

the students

The “Little Rock Nine”, Central High School,Little Rock, Arkansas

Montgomery Bus Boycott, Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1954-19561954-1956

• Rosa Parks, sitting in the “black” section of the bus, refused to give her seat to a white man and is arrested

• Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. leads a boycott of Montgomery, AL public buses

• 1956, Supreme Court outlaws bus segregation

Southern Christian Leadership Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)Conference (SCLC)

• MLK is the President of SCLC

• Used African American churches to spread their word and gain support

• Staged protests & demonstrations against inequality

Student Nonviolent Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, (SNCC) “snick”Coordinating Committee, (SNCC) “snick”

• Began in 1960 at an Shaw University in Raleigh, NC

• More confrontational and radical than SCLC

• Sit-In at Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, NC sparks other sit-ins

Woolworth’s Lunch Counter Sit-In

Who looks the fool in this picture?

Black Panthers (1966-1982)Black Panthers (1966-1982)• Founded by Bobby Seale & Huey Newton in Oakland, CA• established daycare centers, free breakfast

programs & medical clinics, homeless assistance• Militant and more violent than SCLC or SNCC

– Engaged in many shoot-outs with police; investigated by the FBI

• Point Ten of the Ten Point Program:

“WE WANT LAND, BREAD, HOUSING, EDUCATION, CLOTHING, JUSTICE, PEACE AND PEOPLE'S COMMUNITY CONTROL OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY”

Positive Changes Under LBJPositive Changes Under LBJ

• Civil Rights Act of 1964– Outlawed segregation in public places and gov’t

institutions

• Voting Rights Act of 1965– Outlawed literacy tests

• Civil Rights Act of 1968– Outlawed discrimination in housing

Malcolm X

• Joins the Nation of Islam while in prison

• Believed blacks should separate from white society because whites were the cause of blacks’ horrible condition

• 1964: Malcolm goes on a pilgrimage to Mecca– his view towards whites changes & he seeks

equality through democracy, which upsets some Muslims

• Feb. 21, 1965: Malcolm X is assassinated

“If you think we are here to tell you to love the white man, you have come to the wrong place.”

Nation of Islam Symbol

Malcolm X

Civil Rights Movement Spurs Other Civil Rights Movement Spurs Other Movements for EqualityMovements for Equality

• Latinos Unite for Equality– United Farm Workers (Huerta & Chavez).

• Native Americans Unite for Equality– American Indian Movement

• Women’s Rights Movement– National Organization for Women