16.2Challenging Segregation

Chapter NotesApril 30, 2014

The Sit-In MovementBackground

Sit-in Movement • In January 1960, four African American college students in Greensboro,

North Carolina, held a sit-in at a whites-only Woolworth’s lunch counter.• They refused to leave the store until given the same counter service as

whites, and they promised to return the next day. • The next day, 29 students participated in the sit-in. Within two months, sit-

ins had spread to segregated stores, restaurants, hotels, and movie theaters in 54 cities in nine states.

• The sit-in movement attracted idealistic college students who were discouraged by the slow pace of integration and were looking for a way to take matters into their own hands.

The Sit-In MovementBackground

SNCC • Leaders of the NAACP and the SCLC leaders worried that the students

would become violent. • Most students endured harassment without retribution. • The students formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

(SNCC) to focus on desegregation, voter education, and voter registration.• They used sit-ins and other nonviolent tactics to achieve their goals.

The Freedom RidersFreedom Riders • 1961 CORE leader James Farmer asked black and white volunteers, called

Freedom Riders, to travel south to protest the continued segregation of interstate bus terminals.

• The riders were met with violence from citizens and officials in several cities.Early Promise • President Kennedy campaigned as a civil rights supporter but backed away

from attempts to push through new civil rights legislation when faced with opposition from Congress.

• Robert Kennedy, the president’s brother and U.S. attorney general, filed lawsuits across the South in support of voting rights.

The Freedom Riders

President Takes Action • In response to the violence against the Freedom Riders, President Kennedy

struck a deal with a senator from Mississippi to have Freedom Riders arrested to protect them from mob violence.

• CORE and the NAACP paid the bail for the arrested riders and kept the movement alive.

Breakthrough • President Kennedy finally ordered tighter regulations against segregated

terminals, and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, took legal action against those who resisted.

• By late 1962, segregation in interstate bus terminals had ended.

The Freedom Riders

Acts of Equality • Kennedy named a large number of African Americans, including Thurgood

Marshall, to prominent government positions. • He also created the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity to

prevent discrimination in federal hiring.Confrontation • 1962 James Meredith, an African American student, received a court order

allowing him to transfer to the University of Mississippi. • The governor blocked his enrollment. President Kennedy ordered 500

federal marshals to escort Meredith to the university, but the group was attacked by a mob.

• Kennedy responded by ordering thousands of troops to the campus, where they remained until Meredith graduated the next year.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

A Calculated Risk • Dr. King launched protests in volatile Birmingham, hoping to get President

Kennedy’s attention. • Soon after the protests began, King was arrested. In jail, he explained that

his actions were justified under a moral law based on divine justice.Retaliation and Reaction • After King’s release, protests grew again. Birmingham police responded with

violence, which was broadcast nationwide. • Kennedy responded by preparing a new civil rights bill. The law outlawed

segregation in most places of public accommodation and provided equal access to public facilities.

• It gave the attorney general more power to end job discrimination and made permanent a federal commission ensuring compliance with federal law.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Bill Becomes Law • Opponents blocked passage of the bill, and setbacks continued after

Kennedy was assassinated. • His successor, Lyndon Johnson, pushed Congress hard for approval, which

finally came on July 2, 1964.Voting Rights • The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did little to address voting rights. • Intimidation and violence continued against African Americans registering to

vote.

The Struggle for Voting Rights

Selma • The Alabama town’s majority black population comprised only three percent

of registered voters because of intimidation by local authorities. • Dr. King led demonstrations in Selma. Activists were beaten and arrested,

and the events drew national attention.The President Intervenes • In response to the violence in Selma and pressure within his party, President

Johnson called for a new voting rights law. • Federal examiners were sent to register voters. • Discriminatory criteria, such as literacy tests, were outlawed.Results • The Voting Rights Act of 1965 led to hundreds of thousands of African

Americans registering to vote. • The number of African Americans elected to office grew nationwide.