Triumph of a CrusadeChapter 21 Sec 2

I. Riding for Freedom

A. Freedom Riders 1. Civil Rights activists led by James Peck

drove 2 buses to test the unsegregated bus terminals in the South

2. Mobs of angry whites attacked the buses and beat the activists.

3. Robert Kennedy finally had to call out 400 U.S. Marshals to escort the freedom riders.

II. Standing Firm

A. Integrating Ole Miss 1. Miss U. a white only school, was finally

integrated when Air Force veteran James Meredith was enrolled in school.

2. Miss. governor Ross Barnett refused to let Meredith register.

3. On Sept 30, 1962 riots broke out on campus and it took thousands of soldiers to restore order and federal officials were forced to go with Meredith to class.

III. Marching to Washington A. “I Have a Dream”

1. On Aug 28, 1963 more than 250,000 people, including 75,000 whites converged on Washington D.C to persuade Congress to pass JFK’s proposed civil rights bill

2. Dr. King appeared and gave his famous I have a dream speech in which he appealed for peace and racial harmony

3. However, two weeks after the speech 4 girls died in Birmingham Ala. when a bomb was thrown through the window of their church.

B. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 1. Prohibited discrimination because of

race, religion, national origin, and gender. 2. Gave all citizens the right to enter

libraries, parks, washrooms, restaurants, theaters, and other public accommodations.

IV. Fighting for Voting Rights

A. Freedom Summer 1. SNCC declared the summer of 1964 the

freedom summer in which they put pressure on the government to pass voting rights. They also registered African Americans to vote

2. Fannie Lou Hammer became the voice of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) and she described how the police had arrested her and forced other prisoners to beat her when she had tried to vote.

3. The MFDP were given 2 of Miss 68 seats, but this did not satisfy them.

B. Voting Rights Act of 1965 1. After the Selma March in which

thousands of activists marched on Montgomery Ala where they were attacked by the police.

2. Weeks later the marchers marched again this time with Federal protection.

3. Congress then passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which ended the so called literacy tests that had disqualified many voters.