The Triumphs of a Crusade

Chapter 29 Section 2

I Riding For FreedomA. New Volunteers

•CORE Freedom Riders test SC case that ended segregation on busses • Beat up riders and firebombed

the bus end Freedom Ride• SNCC volunteers continue and

ride to Birmingham (Alabama)• Police Com. Pull them off the bus

& beat them take them to Tenn.•Return to bus term. And sit in

white only waiting term.• Refused service until Robert

Kennedy calls set off to Montgomery

•Kennedy promised riders protection but no police at terminal• Angry white mob w/ weapons

instead Nat'l media attention that denounces the beatings

• JFK sends US Marshalls to protect riders on the rest of journey• ICC ends segregation in all

interstate travel facilities

II Standing FirmA. Integrating Ole Miss

• James Meredith wins SC case allowing him to attend the all white University of Mississippi AKA Ole Miss• Gov refuses to allow him to register

• JFK follows precedent used by Eisenhower in Little Rock & sends Marshalls to escort Meredith riots on campus (2 deaths)• Federal officials protect him on

campus and his parents at home

B. Heading to Birmingham•Birmingham was city known for its

strict enforcement of total segregation in public life• Reputation for racial violence

•MLK & SCLC invited to help desegregate the city •MLK leads march into Birmingham

on Good Friday Pol. Com. Arrests them•MLK writes open letter to white rel.

leaders

• Posts bail & organizes over a thousand children march in Birmingham (the “Children’s Crusade”) arrested• Next day another group of children

march fire hosed on Nat'l TV• Beat other and set dogs loose on them

• These protests, econ. Boycott, & neg. media attention end of segregation in Birmingham• Also convinced JFK that only a civil

rights act would end the disorder and satisfy Af. Amer.

III Marching to WashingtonA. A Dream of Equality• JFK demands congress pass a

civil rights bill• Proposes one that guaranteed

equal access to pub. Accommodations & gave US attorney power to file school desegregation suits

•March on Washington (more than 250,000 ppl) including 75,00 whites•MLK stops reading written speech

and improvises “I have a dream” speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vDWWy4CMhE

B. More Violence•2 weeks after MLK’s speech

bombing at Birmingham church kills 4 girls•2 months later JFK assassinated JBJ carries his legacy & gets Civil Rights Act of 1964• Prohibited discrimination

because of race, religion, national origin, and gender giving access to public accommodations to all (libraries/parks, restaurants/etc.)

IV Fighting for Voting RightsA. Freedom Summer

• CORE & SNCC plan voting rights campaign that would gain Nat'l publicity Congress to pass voting rights act• Project known as Freedom Summer

focused on Mississippi•White college students recruited &

taught non violence resistance tech.• 1,000 vol. (mostly white & 1/3 women)

went to Miss to help the maj. Af. Amer. SNCC register voters

• Disappearance of 3 civ. Rights workers no action by congress

B. The Selma Campaign• SCLC conducts major campaign in Selma (Alabama)

were SNCC had been for 2 yrs.• Af. Amer. More than ½ of pop but only 3% of voters

• MLK hoped that Selma Campaign would provoke a hostile white response convince LBJ to sponsor a fed. Voting rights law• Demonstrator shot and killed 50 mile march from

Selma to state cap. Of Montgomery• TV news bulletins interrupt TV scheduling to show extreme

violence against marchers demonstrators pouring into Selma

• LBJ urges congress to quickly pass new voting rights act

D. Voting Rights Act of 1965• 10 weeks after Selma to Montgomery

march Congress passes Voting Rights Act of 1965• Eliminates the literacy test that disqualified

many voters• Fed officials can enroll voters denied by state

officials• Af. Amer voters – Selma 10% 60% in 4

yrs. & tripled in S• Huge civil rights victory BUT centuries of

segregation and discrimination produced deep rooted SOCIAL & ECONOMIC inequalities erupt in violence in Northern cities