Ch. 21.3

pp. 709-714

Continue to add to your Ch. 21/Civil Rights Era timeline

For each item: 1) define (2) explain its significanceA) Sit-insB) Freedom RidesC) Integration at “Ole Miss”D) Birmingham Marches

**Use the chart on top of p. 709 if you like**

Grew up in rural Centreville, MS

Wondered about the “white folks’ secret”

“Their homes were large and beautiful with indoor toilets and every other convenience that I knew of at the time.”

“Every house I have ever lived in was a one or two-room shack with an outdoor toilet.”

Horrified by Emmett Till’s deathWhile in college she joined the NAACP and

worked with CORE and SNCCTook part in sit-ins in Jackson, MS and was jailedHer mom begged her stop out of fearHer brother was beaten and nearly lynchedBut she continued the fight at all costsGains came at tremendous personal costChallenging white supremacy often provoked an

ugly and violent reaction

Moody (3rd from left) at a sit-in Jackson, MS in May of 1963

Hostile crowd responded by dumping food on activists

Tactic of sitting down at a segregated lunch counter or other public place; if refused service they stayed in place

Started in 1943 in Chicago at Jack Spratt Coffee House

Popular during early 1960sForced business owners to decide between serving

protesters or risking a disruption and loss of business

John Lewis of SNCC on his experiences from a sit-in in Nashville, TN:

“A group of young white men came in and they started pulling and beating primarily the young women. They put lighted cigarettes down their backs, in their hair, and they were really beating people. In a short time police officials came in and placed all of us under arrest, and not a single member of the white group, the people that were opposing our sit-in, was arrested.”

MLK told students an arrest was a “badge of honor”

By 1960, 70K+ students had participated in a sit-in

3,600 had served jail time

TIMELINEVIDEO

Boynton v. Virginia (1960)—Expanded ban on segregation on interstate buses; included bus station waiting rooms and restaurants that served interstate travelers

1961—CORE w/ help from SNCC carried out the Freedom Rides

Designed to see if southern states would obey SC ruling

Riders left Washington, DC on May 4, 1961

13 riders, both black and white

2 interstate busesHeaded south, split

up in Atlanta

Firebombed at Anniston, Alabama

*See quote and picture on p. 711

Got out of bus alive, but were beaten by waiting crowd

James Farmer (leader of CORE) called for an end to the Freedom Rides

SNCC leaders wanted to carry on

Student activist Diane Nash in response to Farmer’s concerns: “If we let them stop us with violence, the movement is dead!...Your troops have been badly battered. Let us pick up the baton and run with it!”

Photos from burning bus in Anniston shocked the nation

Violence intensified in Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama

Upon arriving in Jackson, Mississippi the Riders were arrested

Volunteer Riders stepped in and were also arrested

A secondary Freedom Rider movement began with 300 activists that same summer

Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent federal marshals to protect them

Eventually the ICC prohibited segregation in all interstate transportation

INTERACTIVE MAP

James Meredith, an African American Air Force vet, attempted to enroll to U. of Mississippi in 1961

He was denied access to the all-white school, but got legal help from the NAACP

The SC supported Meredith’s entrance, but Governor Ross Barnett disregarded the ruling

Pres. Kennedy used federal marshals to accompany Meredith to campus

Crowds protested and attacked the marshals’ vehicles, violence ensued, two bystanders were killed and hundreds were injured

Meredith continued to go to classes w/ aid of marshals

Meredith describing his experiences to the Saturday Evening Post (1962): “It hasn’t been all bad. Many students have spoke to me very pleasantly. They have stopped banging doors and throwing bottles into my dormitory now.”

“One fellow from my home town sat down at my table in the cafeteria. ‘If you’re here to get an education, I ’m for you,’ he said. ‘If you’re here to cause trouble, I’m against you.’ That seemed fair enough to me.”

Earned bachelor’s degree in 1963

VIDEOOXFORD TOWN

LYRICS

MLK & SCLC invited there in April 1963

Birmingham’s population was 40% black

King called it “the most segregated city in America”

Working w/ Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, King called for boycotts

When asked how long he would stay, King replied, until “Pharaoh lets God’s people go.”

Police commissioner “Bull” Connor replied, “I got plenty of room in the jail.”

Started w/o violence; marches & sit-insCourts ordered end to marchesKing decided to disobey ordersConnor arrested King & othersIn “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King

defended his actionsAfter a week King was released from jailHe called on young people to join movement

“Bull” Connor arrested 900+ young people

Police used high-pressure hoses and trained police dogs

Protesters were also beaten w/ clubs

TV cameras brought national attention to Birmingham

Eventually the city’s facilities were desegregated & fairer hiring practices were instituted

A few months after the settlement tragedy struck

The 16th St. Baptist Church became a targetTraining ground for activistsMeeting place for leaders, including MLK

Bombed by members of the KKK on a Sunday Morning in Sept. 1963

Four girls were killed, and 22 children were injured

Bombers were not caught until much later

Continue to add to your Ch. 21/Civil Rights Era timeline

For each item: 1) define (2) explain its significanceA) Sit-insB) Freedom RidesC) Integration at “Ole Miss”D) Birmingham Marches

**Use the chart on top of p. 709 if you like**