The ~ivil Ri~hts Movement Gets Un~erwaj,How did the Civil Rights Movement begin?

On the cold afternoon of December 1,1955, Rosa Parks boarded a bus inMontgomery, Alabama. Mrs. Parks wastired after working all day. Because shewas an Mrican American she sat in the"colored" section in the back of the bus.Only white people could sit in the frontof the bus. That was because the busesand other public places were segregat-ed, or separated, in Montgomery. Mrs.Parks took a seat in the first row of the"colored" section.

Union had spies in the United States.Spies had given the Soviet Union infor-mation about the atomic bomb.

News about spies raised fears aboutcommunism. In 1947, the movie indus-try in Hollywood came under attack.Actors, writers, and directors who weresuspected of being communists were puton blacklists. A blacklist is a list ofpeople who are considered suspicious.Blacklisted people could not find jobs.

People in other industries were alsoinvestigated. Thousands of people allover the country lost their jobs.

Senator Joseph McCarthy brought theanti-communist scare to its peak. Whenhe began his activities in 1950, heclaimed that he had a list of 205 com-munists in the government. Later, hechanged that number several times. Yethe never proved any government workera communist.

African Americans were forced to live underlegal segregation in the South. Even drinkingfountains such as this one were divided into"colored" and "white."

McCarthy's downfall Between1950 and 1954, McCarthy was one of themost feared politicians in the UnitedStates. Then, he went too far. In 1954,he accused the U.S. Army of having com-munists in its ranks. A Senate commit-tee investigated his charges. Itsmeetings were carried live on television.

On television, millions of Americanssaw that McCarthy had no proof to backup his charges. The country turnedagainst him. In December 1954, theSenate voted to condemn his actions.Within a few years, the communistscare was over. However, it left a deepscar on American life.

the South, there were laws that segre-gated people. The North did not havelegal segregation. However, prejudiceoften made segregation a fact of life.Mrican Americans in the northern citiesusually could not get housing in whiteneighborhoods. They often could onlyfind low-paying jobs.

However, some progress had beenmade after the war. In 1947, JackieRobinson became the first AfricanAmerican to play major league baseball.Other Mrican Americans quickly joinedhim in the major leagues. In 1948,President Truman ordered an end tosegregation in the U.S. military. He alsoended segregation in the government.He afJpointed the first Mrican Americanfederal judge.

Elizabeth Eckford bravely passed through anugly crowd to enter Little Rock High School.Federal troops were sent in by PresidentEisenhower to enforce the integration.

Rosa Parks' arrest Soon the whitesection of the bus filled up. The bus dri-ver then told Mrs. Parks to give her seatto a white person. Mrs. Parks refused.She later recalled, "I don't really knowwhy 1 wouldn't move. There was no plotor plan at all. 1 was just tired."

The bus driver said he would call thepolice and have Mrs. Parks arrested."You may do that," she answered. Thepolice came and arrested Mrs. Parks.

Segregation in educationHowever, there was still much segrega-tion as the 1950s began. This was espe-cially true in education. Twenty-onestates plus Washington, D.C. had segre-gated schools. Segregated schools wereactually legal. In 1896, the SupremeCourt had approved it in the Plessy v.Ferguson case. The Court ruled thatseparate school systems for whites andblacks were legal as long as they wereequal. In the real world, separateschools were never equal.

By the 1950s, the NAACP wanted toconvince the Supreme Court to reversePlessy v. Ferguson. The NAACP's chieflawyer in that struggle was ThurgoodMarshall. In 1954, a new case reachedthe Supreme Court. It was calledBrown v. Board of Education ofTopeka, Kansas.

In this case, Oliver Brown wanted hisdaughter to attend an all-white schoolnear their home. She had been travelingto a black school more than two miles(3.2 kilometers) away. All the SupremeCourt justices agreed. They said segre-gation in all public schools was against

Segregation North and SouthRosa Parks' arrest was one example ofthe injustices Mrican Americans facedafter World War II. In many places in

the constitution. Brown v. Board ofEducation was one of the SupremeCourt's most important decisions.

The court ordered school districts tointegrate right away. Many did. Butwhites in many parts of the South didnot integrate. In September 1957, a keytest came in Little Rock, Arkansas. Thegovernor of Arkansas tried to use theNational Guard to stop black studentsfrom entering Central High School.

President Eisenhower acted to enforcethe law. He took command of theNational Guard away from the governorand sent in federal soldiers.

The boycott lasted for 381 days. Therewere several attempts to break the boy-cott. A bomb exploded on the porch ofDr. King's house. The police arrested theleaders of the boycott. Still the boycottcontinued. As one person said, "I'm notwalking for myself. I'm walking for mychildren and my grandchildren."

In late 1956, the Supreme Court out-lawed segregation on Alabama buses. InDecember, Dr. King and other AfricanAmerican leaders boarded integratedMontgomery buses.

The successful fights against segrega-tion in the South were only a beginning.The struggle against segregation grewduring the 1960s. You will read aboutthat effort in Chapter 23.

Boycotting the buses Anotherway to fight segregation was the boy-cott. A boycott is when people refuse tobuy goods or services from a certaincompany. Mter the arrest of Rosa Parks,Mrican Americans boycotted the busesin Montgomery, Alabama. A young min-ister named Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.led the boycott. King believed that thestruggle against segregation had to benonviolent. He wanted to use onlypeaceful methods to fight segregation.

D1. Which Supreme Court decision

outlawed segregation in publicschools?

2. What action sparked theMontgomery bus boycott?

I

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., led Mrican Americans on a march inWashington, D.C., for equal rights and jobs. Some whites joined thedemonstration.

Looking at Key Terms.March on Washington. Black Muslims. Black Power.Black Panthers. Rainbow Coalition

.affirmative action: a pol-icy for correcting discrimi-nation by increasing oppor-tunities for certain groups

Looking at Key Words.tactic: a way of achieving

a goal.sit-in: a protest in which

people take a seat andrefuse to leave

.freedom ride: a bus tripto test Mrican Americans'rights

.,[~3 BI--

What were the major goals and accomplishmentsof the Civil Rights Movement?

lunch counter in Greensboro, NorthCarolina. The waitress refused to taketheir order. "This is a 'white' lunchcounter," she said.

The students quietly waited to beserved. They waited all day. Day afterday the students came. They were usinga new tactic. A tactic is a way ofachieving a goal. This tactic was the sit-in. It is a protest in which people take aseat and refuse to leave.

Soon sit-ins spread to other cities.Hostile whites jeered and dumped foodon the students. The students did notstrike back. The Student NonviolentCoordinating Committee (SNCC) hadorganized them. It taught protesters tomeet violence with nonviolence.

In 1961, 21-year-old John Lewisstepped off a bus in Montgomery,Alabama. White men with bats tried tokeep Mrican Americans such as Lewisout of the bus station's "white" waitingroom. Thirty years later, Lewis was aU.S. Representative from Alabama. Hereturned to Montgomery's bus station.Whites and African Americans sattogether. Legal segregation was nolonger an issue.

The Civil Rights Movement changedthe nation. It gave new hope-and newfreedoms-to Mrican Americans. But itleft many issues unsolved.

Many civil rights groups Newgroups such as SNCC worked alongsideolder groups such as the NAACP. Onekey group was the Southern ChristianLeadership Conference (SCLC). The

On February 1, 1960, four AfricanAmerican college students sat down at a

What progress did the Civil RightsMovement make after 1960?

White resistance Many Southernwhites resisted the Civil RightsMovement. Most did so peacefully. But afew went much further. They murderedcivil rights workers. They plantedbombs in Mrican American churches. In1963, such a bomb killed four smallgirls in Birmingham, Alabama.

Trouble in Birmingham MartinLuther King, Jr., led protest marchesthrough Birmingham. The police arrest-ed the marchers. King went to jail, butthe protests continued. In one day,Birmingham officials arrested morethan 900 students.

Americans saw the protests on televi-sion. Viewers saw police dogs attackingchildren. They saw police striking pro-testers with clubs. Many people feltsympathy for the protesters. The eventsin Birmingham upset President

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., wasone of its leaders.

Another important group was theCongress of Racial Equality, or CORE.It introduced the freedom ride.Freedom rides were bus trips to testcivil rights laws. Federal courts ruledthat buses that go between states mustbe open equally to all races. Freedomrides put those rulings into practice.

Starting in 1961, Mrican Americanslike John Lewis bought bus tickets.They traveled from city to city acrossthe South. At each stop, they enteredthe bus station. They ordered meals.They drank from "white" fountains.They used "white" restrooms.

White mobs attacked the freedom rid-ers. Local police looked on in silence.Sometimes police arrested the freedomriders. Finally, the federal governmentsent in marshals to protect the riders.

..,[]3J I8F

Kennedy. He proposed a new civil rightsbill to protect Mrican Americans' rights.

March on Washington To rallysupport for the bill, civil rights leadersstaged a March on Washington. Morethan 250,000 people took part onAugust 28, 1963. Many whites marchedalongside Mrican Americans.

Martin Luther King, Jr., gave a pow-erful speech. "I have a dream," he said.In his dream, race no longer mattered.African Americans and whites workedtogether. They ate together. They wentto school together. Together, they were"Free at last!"

Reading a Chart. What trend in AfricanAmerican voter registration occurred in all ofthe states from 1960-1966? What state had thegreatest increase?

King had emerged as the central figureof the Civil Rights Movement. The nextyear, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Gains and more challengesKennedy's civil rights bill became theCivil Rights Act of 1964. It barred dis-crimination in places like restaurantsand hotels. It also outlawed discrimina-tion in jobs.

In 1964, 1,000 volunteers went south.They registered thousands of newAfrican American voters. But Ku KluxKlan members murdered three volun-teers in Mississippi.

Selma In 1965, civil rights effortsfocused on Selma, Alabama. Policearrested SNCC members who tried toregister voters.

Then Martin Luther King, Jr.,announced a 50-mile march. It startedin Selma. Its goal was Montgomery, thestate capital. Police on horses attackedthe marchers.

President Johnson sent federal troopsto protect the marchers. He pushedthrough a new civil rights bill. TheVoting Rights Act of 1965 sent federalagents to register voters in the South.

Mrican Americans Explore New Paths in the

~earch for Equalitj.How did black nationalism change theCivil Rights Movement?

Some Mrican Americans thought theCivil Rights Movement was not moving

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Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights and peace movement leaders led morethan 125,000 people in a parade opposing the Vietnam War. The march ended at theUnited Nations building where Dr. King presented a formal note of protest.

fast enough. In the late 1960s somestrong new people became leaders. TheCivil Rights Movement split.

African Americans were fighting anddying in Vietnam. Moreover, the warwas draining money from programs inMrican American communities.

King began to speak out against theVietnam War. He worked for better jobsand housing for African Americans inNorthern cities. But he still urged non-violence. So new leaders arose to chal-lenge him.

Malcolm X One of the most power-ful new voices belonged to Malcolm X.He expressed the anger that manyMrican Americans felt towards whites.He also called on Mrican Americans tosolve their own problems.

Malcolm X was a spokesperson for theNation of Islam. This religious groupwas led by Elijah Muhammad. Memberswere known as Black Muslims.Muhammad taught that whites should

Is Nonviolence Enough? MartinLuther King, Jr., insisted on nonvio-lence. He thought African Americansshould work closely with whites. Butcritics said his tactics were not working.They pointed to the murders of civilrights workers. Critics agreed that lawswere changing. But they said that thecost to Mrican Americans was too high.

Critics also said many problems ofMrican American life had not changed.Most African Americans still lived insegregated, run-down housing. AfricanAmericans earned only half as muchmoney as whites. Their unemploymentrate was double that of whites.

The Vietnam War added to AfricanAmerican anger. Large numbers of

alism. (See Chapter 12.) AfricanAmericans took pride in their Africanheritage. In the 1960s, this led to a newslogan: "Black is beautiful." AfricanAmericans began wearing African-styleclothing and hairdos. They worked forAfrican American unity in new ways.

Black Power The cry of "BlackPower" rang through American cities. Itwas first used by a young man namedStokely Carmichael. Carmichael becamehead ofSNCC in 1966.

To many African Americans, BlackPower was an exciting idea.Carmichael defined it as "a call forblack people to begin to define their owngoals." He said SNCC should stoprecruiting white members.

But the "Black Power" slogan worriedmany civil rights leaders. They neededwhite support to get civil rights billsthrough Congress. They urgedCarmichael to stop using the phrase. Herefused. The split between SNCC andother civil rights organizations widened.

After Malcom X left the Black Muslims, hecalled himself Brother Malcolm. He urgedAfrican Americans to defend themselves in thecivil rights fight.

be

avoided. African Americans shouldseparate from whites. They should con-trol their own lives.

In 1964, after a trip to Africa andMecca, Malcolm X split withMuhammad. He gave up the idea ofcomplete separation. He focused on win-ning political power for AfricanAmericans. But he still believed theremust be a revolution in U.S. society.

In February 1965, Malcolm Xaddressed a meeting in Harlem.Suddenly, three Mrican American gun-men killed him. His death showed theconflict that was ripping the CivilRights Movement apart.

Black Panthers In California,Mrican Americans started a new politi-cal party. They called themselves theBlack Panthers. Their goal was forAfrican Americans to run their owncommunities. They started free-lunchprograms and other self help programs.

Leaders of the Black Panthers consid-ered the police to be an enemy. Theyclaimed they had a right to self defense.So they carried guns in public. TheBlack Panthers became a target ofpolice harassment. They were in severalshoot-outs with the police.

Many Mrican American leaders spokeout against the Black Panthers' use ofviolence. However, the Black Panthersattracted hundreds of members.

Black nationalism again MalcolmX inspired a new sense of black nation-

Riots in the cities AfricanAmerican rage often exploded on city

~napler ~~1~~

During the 1970s and 1980s, thenation's mood turned conservative.Some Great Society programs wereended. Others were cut back.

streets. From 1964 to 1967, riots brokeout in city after city. The riots arose outof African American anger againstraCIsm.

President Johnson created a group tofind out the causes of the riots. In 1968,that group, the Kerner Commission,came to a frightening conclusion. "Ournation is moving toward two societies,one black, one white-separate andunequal." The commission urgedAmericans to remove barriers to equali-ty. It asked for "new attitudes" and "newunderstanding."

Some of the deadliest riots came justweeks after the Kerner Commissionmade its report. On April 4, 1968, awhite man shot and killed MartinLuther King, Jr., in Memphis,Tennessee. Riots broke out in 125 cities.Forty-five people lost their lives. Oneresult was a white backlash. Whitesbegan to show less support for the CivilRights Movement in general.

Running for President AfricanAmericans kept promoting socialchange. Two Mrican Americans ran forPresident. They were Shirley Chisolmand Jesse Jackson.

In 1968, Chisolm- became the firstMrican American woman ever elected toCongress. She ran for President in 1972.She made it as far as the first ballot ofthe Democratic convention. Her cam-paign opened people's minds to the pos-sibility of an African American or awoman as President.

Jackson is a Baptist minister. Heworked closely with Martin Luther

Marchers gathered in Washington, D.C., forthe 30th anniversary of the 1963 Marchon Washington. Civil rights was still an issuein 1993.

By 1970, the Civil Rights Movementwas losing speed. African Americanswere divided. Meanwhile, the whitebacklash made many leaders less inter-ested in the movement. Congress showedless support for new civil rights laws. Sodid Presidents. The nation focused onnew issues, like the Vietnam War.

How did conditions chqnge for AfricanAmericans after the 1960s?

King, Jr. Jackson ran in the Democraticprimary elections of 1984 and 1988. Hehad many enthusiastic supporters.Among them were African Americans,Latinos, whites, and others. Jacksoncalled his followers the RainbowCoalition. Jackson became a promi-nent figure in the Democratic party. Buthe was not nominated.

The barriers to voting had fallen. Nowpoliticians had to listen to AfricanAmerican concerns.

Mrican Americans also became bettereducated. By the 1990s, 12 percent ofAfrican Americans and 22 percent ofwhites aged 25 or above held collegedegrees. The gap was narrowing.

Mrican Americans had reached someof the highest positions in U.S. society.Colin Powell served -as chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff. He held thenation's highest military position duringthe Gulf War of 1991.

Yet equality for African Americanshas still not been achieved. In 1992, dis-turbances swept areas of Los Angeles.Many people believed these distur-bances were caused by the same condi-tions that had caused the riots of the1960s. Much had changed in U.S. soci-ety. But much remained to be changed.

Affirmative action PresidentJohnson introduced affirmativeaction. It was a policy for correctingdiscrimination by increasing opportuni-ties for certain groups. Affirmativeaction helped African Americans getjobs and get into schools. It also helpedwomen, Latinos, and other groups.

Many people believed affirmativeaction was unfair. They called it"reverse discrimination." In the earlydays, civil rights issues had seemedclear-cut. But affirmative action wasmore complex. People could not agreeabout these issues. Some felt that affir-mative action was fair. Others did not.Debate continued into the 1990s.

Summing Up The Civil RightsMovement had victories and setbacks.

1 ~ ~ I ~~apter ~~