1. Civil Rights Movement

2. The Civil Rights Movement prior to1954Pre-1900 Slavery incolonial daysgraduallyreduced to South Abolitionmovement andCivil War Reconstructionand Amendments 1896 Plessy v.Ferguson allowedthe segregationof AfricanAmericans andwhites.To 1930 Marcus Garvey,Booker T.Washington, andW.E.B. Du Bois Founding of theNAACP in 1909 Great Migrationand HarlemRenaissance Rooseveltunwilling to pushtoo hard forgreater AfricanAmerican rights.To 1940 A. Philip Randolphforced a federalban againstdiscrimination indefense work. 1940s founding ofCORE President Trumandesegregated thearmed forces. Brooklyn Dodgersput an AfricanAmericanJackieRobinsonon itsroster. 3. Didnt the Civil War SolveEverything? At the end of the Civil War the Constitution wasamended to give Blacks more rights: 13th Amendment: Abolished Slavery 14th Amendment: Gave Citizenship and EqualProtection of the Constitution 15th Amendment: Right to Vote 4. Reconstruction 1876 Election Settled by specialcompromise in 1877 Southern states rewriteconstitutions Blacks lose rightspreviously won KKK emerges toharass Blacks Federal and state govt.ignored duties 14th and 15thAmendments notenforced 5. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Court ruled 7-1 thatLouisiana law segregatingblack from white trainpassengers was okay. Doctrine of Separate, ButEqual established legalsegregation Jim Crow laws spread toother facilities and states Also called de juresegregation Made Blacks second classJim Crow stage name in aminstrel show 6. Seeking Change through the CourtsThe NAACP attacked racism through the courts.In the 1930s Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall began acampaign to attack the concept of separate but equal.The NAACP began to chip away at the 1896 Supreme Court ruling inPlessy v. Fergusonthe legal basis for segregation.Examples: 1938 Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, Registrar of theUniversity of MissouriCourt Rules: States must provide law schools for all qualifiedcitizens; previously there was no law school in the state forBlacksmust either create one or integrate-Missouri creates newone 1950 Sweatt v. PainterCourt Rules: A separate law school for Blacks, even with sameteachers was not equal to that for Whites (need access todiscussions and debates; University of Texas had to integratetheir fine law schoolall other states must integrate too 7. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) NAACP and Thurgood Marshall began to focus ondesegregating the nations elementary and highschools in the 1950s. He found a case in Linda Brown of Topeka, Kansas. Similar cases working their way in other states The Supreme Court combined several schoolsegregation cases from around the country into asingle case: Brown v. Board of Education ofTopeka, Kansas. The Supreme Court was aware of this cases greatsignificance. 8. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) The Supreme Court heardarguments over a two-yearperiod. The Court also consideredresearch about segregationseffects on African Americanchildren. In 1954 Chief Justice EarlWarren issued the SupremeCourts decision. Unanimous verdict Plessy v. Ferguson wasoverturned Warren Court orderedintegration with all deliberatespeed. What does this mean? As soon as possible schoolsshould be integratedEarl Warren 9. Results of Brown v. Board of Education(1954) Most of the South did not voluntarilydesegregate even after the Brown decision Some governors stalled for a decade President will have to risk political support andenforce Courts ruling 10. States Impacted By Ruling 11. The Little Rock CrisisIntegration The Supreme Courts rulingdid not offer guidance abouthow or when desegregationshould occur. Some states integratedquickly. Other states facedstrong opposition. Virginia passed lawsthat closed schools whoplanned to integrate. In Little Rock, Arkansas,Governor Orval Faubusviolated a federal courtorder to integrate LittleRocks Central High School.The Little Rock Nine On September 4, 1957, angrywhites harassed nine blackstudents as they arrived atLittle Rocks Central HighSchool. The Arkansas National Guardturned the Little Rock Nineaway and prevented themfrom entering the school forthree weeks. Finally, President Eisenhowersent 101st Airborne to escortthe Little Rock Nine into theschool. The events in Little Rockrevealed how strong racism 12. Primary Sources-Photographs 13. Ernest Green: 1stblack student tograduate fromCentral High School. In response, nextyear GovernorFaubus closed theLittle Rock schoolsin 1958-1959 so thatintegration couldnttake place. Favors Whites: Greater ability toafford privateschools and tutors Parents moreeducated and ableto home school Control more jobsand can train whothey want 14. Emmett Till (1955) Emmett Till, 14 yrs. old fromChicago Went down to the MississippiDelta for the first time to visitrelatives. Lynched for inappropriateconduct towards white female Roy Bryant and J.W. Milamacquitted of murder charges Later confess in a paid interviewfor Look magazine Emmetts death served as agalvanizing force for outragedAfrican-Americans. Many decided that the slow legalapproach of the NAACP was notenough. Motivated more people to getinvolved 15. Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955) Rosa Parks refused to give up herseat on a bus to a white personand was arrested. Not the 1st person arrested for this Volunteered at local NAACP office Black citizens organized a boycottof the bus system. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.(MLK) selected to be theleader of the MontgomeryImprovement Association andhead of the boycott 70% of business camefrom Blacks White Citizens Council foughtMLKs action Supported bus company tokeep in business After 381 days, Supreme CourtRosaParksMartin LutherKing 16. Some walked,while others carpooled duringthe boycott 17. Non-Violent Protests during the Civil Rights Movement Civil rights workers used several direct, nonviolentmethods to confront discrimination and racism in thelate 1950s and early 1960s. Boycotts Sit-ins Freedom Rides Many of these non-violent tactics were based onthose of Mohandas Gandhia leader in Indiasstruggle for independence from Great Britain. American civil rights leaders such as James Farmerof CORE, Martin Luther King Jr. of SCLC, and othersshared Gandhis views. 18. Greensboro, NC Sit-ins (1960-) Four Black college studentswere refused service atWoolworths lunch counterdue to their skin color They refused to leave theirseats at a segregated lunchcounter More joined in protest in nextfew days 63 of 66 seats being filled withprotestors Ended protests with dailyprayers Dilemma: serve blacks andthey win or refuse and youlose business After this succeeded, thisbecame a popular tactic 19. Primary Sources-Photographs 20. Freedom Rides (Spring 1961) Supreme Court in 1960ordered that bus stationfacilities for interstatetravelers must be open toall passengers. Members of CORE andSNCC wanted to testcompliance with courtdecision Chartered a Greyhound bus Trip from Washington D.C. toNew Orleans. Mobs angry at the FreedomRiders attempts to use white-only facilities firebombed abus in Anniston, Alabamaand attacked riders withbaseball bats and metalpipes in Birmingham. 21. RESULTS: President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy orderfederal marshals to Montgomery to protect the riders. The Interstate Commerce Commission finally forced the integration of busand train stations. 22. The Albany MovementThe Movement SNCC began a sit-in inAlbanys bus station. Over 500 demonstrators werearrested. The federal government wasinformed but took no action. Local leaders asked MartinLuther King Jr. to lead moredemonstrations and to gainmore coverage for theprotests. He agreed and was alsoarrested.The Results The police chief had studiedKings tactics and madearrangements to counter-actthe nonviolent protest. When the press arrived, Kingwas released. City officials would only dealwith local leaders until Kingleft. Once King left, officials wouldnot negotiate at all. The nine-month movementfailed. 23. Birmingham, Alabama (1963) Considered most racist, segregated large city in theSouth Nicknamed Bombingham due destruction of Blackbusinesses, churches, and homes with dynamite Martin Luther King raised money to fight Birminghamssegregation laws. Volunteers began with sit-ins and marches and werequickly arrested along with King Fewer African Americans were willing to join and risktheir jobs. White clergy attacked Kings actions in a newspaperad. King wrote his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Devises Project C Large scale non-violent confrontation using children to helpdraw media attention and public sympathy from around theworld Highly effective 24. Project C in Action 25. Birmingham, Alabama (1963) More than 900children betweenages six andeighteen werearrested. Police Chief EugeneBull Connor usedpolice and firefighters to break up agroup of about 2,500student protesters. The violence ofConnors methodswas all over thetelevision news. Attitudes shiftedagainst Southernefforts to maintainsegregation Federal negotiators 26. Response to Birmingham 27. March on Washington (1963) Site of MLKs famous Ihave a dream speech. 1st proposed by A.Phillip Randolph ~250,000 peoplegathered peacefully tolobby Congress andshow support for JohnF. Kennedys civil rightslegislation. Kennedy asked King topostpone for fear ofviolence King refused 28. Tragedy in Mississippi James Chaney, and hiswhite coworkers,Andrew Goodman andMichael Schwernerdisappear Search is on Presumed dead Robert Moses,Mississippi director ofSNCC offers workers achance to go home Over 90% stay to workon project President Johnsonurges full FBIinvestigation 29. Results Judge Cox imposed sentence onDecember 29, 1967. Price and Posey received sixyears. Roberts and Bowers received tenyears. All others received four years. In regards to his sentences, "Theykilled one nigger, one Jew, and awhite man -- I gave them all whatI thought they deserved." JudgeCoxSignificance of Freedom Summer: First time jury finds whites guilty ofcivil rights violation 30. Voting Rights GrowVoting Rights Act of 1965 24th AmendmentPassed by President JohnsonFederal officials could register voters instates where discrimination continuedMore than one million blacks areregistered to vote in the South by 1968.Outlawed poll taxes in nationalelections 31. Most vote DemocratLoyalty to the party that has supported civil rights the mostPresident Kennedy, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and PresidentJohnson 32. Fractures in the MovementBlack Power Stokely Carmichaelbecame the head ofSNCC. SNCC abandonedthe philosophy ofnonviolence. Black Powerbecame the newrallying cry. Wanted AfricanAmericans todepend onthemselves to solveproblems.Black Panthers The Black PantherParty was formed inOakland, California,in 1966. Co-founders: HueyNewton and BobbySeale Called for violentrevolution as ameans of AfricanAmerican liberation. Members carriedguns and monitoredAfrican Americanneighborhoods toguard against policebrutality.Black Muslims Nation of Islamwas a large andinfluential groupwho believed inBlack Power. Elijah Mohammedfounded Message of blacknationalism, self-discipline, andself-reliance. Malcolm X offeredmessage of hope,defiance, andblack pride. 33. Call for Black Power Coined by StokleyCarmichael(SNCC) Encouraged pridein heritage: Black is beautiful Grew large afros Afro- Americanstudies Use of Africannames Symbolized byraised fist Threatening to 34. Malcolm X Views totally different fromMartin Luther King meet violence withviolence supported separatism overintegration Kicked out of the Nation ofIslam by Elijah Mohammed63 Softened stance aboutWhite race Saw many good White peopleon religious pilgrimage Less outspoken of MLK Assassinated in 1965 inHarlem Probably by members ofBorn--Malcolm Little; becomesMalcolm X