Unit 5 Notes 2:Causes and Effects in the

Civil Rights Movement

Modern U.S. HistoryUnit 5: Civil Rights

Instructions for Notes 2• These notes will help you understand

the Causes and Effects of laws passed during the Civil Rights movement.– Each page has a law in the middle. This is

surrounded by actions taken to help pass the law.

• Next to each action, make sure you put a “V” for violent or a “NV” for nonviolent to help you keep them apart.– Remember that violent or nonviolent

applies to the path the people fighting for civil rights took, not what was done to them by others.

NAACP

• The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) worked through legal strategy to overcome the inequity in education between blacks and whites. With a legal team headed by Thurgood Marshall (who would later become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice)

NAACP• The NAACP won

cases outlawing school segregation including the important Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954). In this case the Supreme Court said that separate but equal in education is a violation of the 14th Amendment.

NV

Emmett Till

• 14 year old Emmett Till visited his great uncle in Mississippi. He reportedly whistled at a white woman while in a shop. Two days later he was removed from his home, beaten, shot, and drowned by two white men.

Emmett Till• The white men were

acquitted by an all white, male jury. Till’s mother insisted on an open casket so that the world could see what had happened to her son. The white men admitted their guilt and sold their story for money, but were never punished by the law.

NV - Mom’s choice to have an open casket funeral

Rosa Parks

• On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks sat in the front row of the black section of the bus. As the bus filled, the white driver told her to move back. Parks refused and was arrested.

Rosa Parks• Parks was a well

respected member of the African-American community in Montgomery, Alabama and was an officer of the NAACP. Parks had planned this action because, as she recalled, “it was time for someone to stand up—or in my case, sit down, I refused to move.”

NV

Montgomery Bus Boycott• In response to Parks’

arrest, leaders of the Montgomery African American community chose 26-year-old Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to lead the boycott. On December 5, 1955, Dr. King spoke to a crowd of thousands and began the bus boycott.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

• For 381 days 90% of Montgomery’s African American community boycotted the buses. They walked or organized car pools and taxis. Finally, in 1956, the Supreme Court outlawed bus segregation.

NV

Civil Rights Act of 1957

• Established federal Commission on Civil Rights

• Established a Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department to enforce civil rights laws

• Enlarged federal power to protect voting rights

Little Rock Nine• In September 1957, 9

African American students were the first to integrate Little Rock, Arkansas' Central High School. The governor ordered the Arkansas National Guard to turn the students away and the students faced harassment during their attempt to enter the school.

Little Rock Nine

• Eisenhower ordered federal troops to escort the students to and from school and protect them during their day. At the end of the year the governor closed the school rather than have it integrated.

NV

Lunch Counter Sit-Ins• In February of

1960, students participating in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organized sit-ins at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, NC.

Lunch Counter Sit-ins• TV crews covered

the event as whites beat, jeered at, and poured food over the students who refused to fight back. This coverage sparked other sit-ins across the South. By late 1960, students had desegregated lunch counters in 48 cities across 11 states.

NV

Freedom Riders• On May 4, 1961 two

busses of African American and white activists left Washington D.C. to travel to New Orleans. Their travel through the South was to protest segregation on interstate bus lines, something that had been deemed illegal.

Freedom Riders• The groups were

consistently met with extreme violence and a second group had to arrive to continue the ride when those of the first group were too injured to go on. They never made it to New Orleans, but did get as far as Jackson, Mississippi where they were arrested.

NV

March on Birmingham• In April of 1963, Martin

Luther King, Jr. flew to Birmingham Alabama to assist the local SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) in desegregating Birmingham, “the most segregated city in America” according to MLK. Demonstrations were held and King was arrested. During this time he wrote his letter from a Birmingham Jail.

March on Birmingham• On May 2, 1953,

more than 1000 African American children marched on Birmingham. Most were arrested. On May 3, a 2nd children’s march came under attack from police including fire hoses and attack dogs. The nation watched as Birmingham police brutally attacked these children.

NV

• We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

• We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait."

Excerpt from Letter from a Birmingham Jail

• But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?";

Excerpt from Letter from a Birmingham Jail

• when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness"--then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.

Excerpt from Letter from a Birmingham Jail

• I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."

Excerpt from Letter from a Birmingham Jail

March on Washington D.C.

• On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people (including about 75,000 whites) gathered at the Washington Monument and marched to the Lincoln Memorial. There speakers, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to demand the immediate passage of the Civil Rights Bill. Dr. King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech at this event.

March on Washington D.C.NV

Birmingham Church Bombing

• On September 15, 1963, the KKK threw a bomb into the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four young girls, one 11 –year-old and three 14-year-olds, were killed. No one was punished for the crime until May 2001 when one of the Klansmen that bombed the church was found guilty and sentenced to life in jail.

V – KKK action

JFK’s Assasination• In November

1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Vice President Johnson vowed to continue his work in Civil Rights.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Banned most discrimination in employment and in public accommodations

• Enlarged federal power to protect voting rights and speed up school desegregation

• Established Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to ensure fair treatment in employment

Freedom SummerIn Mississippi, during the summer of 1963, civil

rights activists began registering as many African Americans as they could to vote. Most of the volunteers for this project were northern college students.

Freedom Summer

• Many were white and 1/3 were women. These activists faced many problems while trying to register voters. 3 of the Freedom Summer workers were murdered (see next page for more info).

NV

Fannie Lou Hamer at the 1964 Democratic National Convention

SNCC organized the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to gain seats for African Americans in Mississippi’s all white Democratic Party. At the Democratic National Convention, Fannie Lou Hamer described conditions in Mississippi including how she was jailed for registering to vote in 1962 and how she was beaten in jailNV

The Selma Campaign

In 1965, the SCLC and SNCC organized a voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama. By the end of 1965, more than 2,000 African Americans had been arrested in demonstrations. During police violence at one demonstration at a church, Jimmy Lee Jackson was shot and killed.

NV

The Selma to Montgomery MarchTo protest Jackson’s murder and

to take the demonstration to the state capital of Montgomery, Martin Luther King announced a 50-mile protest march from Selma to Montgomery. On March 7, 1965, approximately 600 protesters left for Montgomery. TV cameras captured the scene as police beat and gassed protesters that night.

The Selma to Montgomery March

• Ten days later, President Johnson presented Congress with a new voting rights act and asked for its quick passage. On March 21, 1965, 3,000 marchers set out again for Montgomery with federal protection. The number of marchers grew to 25,000.

NV

24th Amendment• Passed January 24, 1964• Outlawed poll taxes

Voting Rights Act of 1965• Eliminated Voter Literacy Test• Enabled federal examiners to register

voters.

Freedom Summer—1964

• During the voter registration drive in Mississippi, 3 Freedom Summer workers, 2 white men from the North and 1 black man from Mississippi, were murdered. They were arrested by the sheriff and then released after he notified the KKK of their whereabouts. The activists were removed from their car, tortured, shot, and buried. Only after weeks of searching were their bodies found. Mississippi refused to prosecute the sheriff and others.

V – KKK Action

1968 AssassinationsOn April 4, 1968,

Martin Luther King was killed on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. His death devastated the nation and 100 cities exploded in violent race riots.

Dr. and Mrs. King

1968 Assassinations• On June 6, 1968,

Robert Kennedy was assassinated while giving a speech in L.A. Kennedy was running for President. The deaths of both of these men were great blows to the non-violent Civil Rights movement.

The Kerner Commission Report

On March 1, 1968, the Kerner Commission released its report. President Johnson had appointed this group to study the causes of urban violence. The report said that the one main cause of urban violence was white racism. The report called for social programs to provide jobs and housing for African Americans and the end to de facto segregation.

Urban Riots

In the mid-1960’s clashes between white authority and black civilians were rampant. In New York City during July 1964, a 15-year-old student was killed in an encounter with police. This sparked a riot in Harlem. On August 11, 1965, the worst race riots in America’s history happened in Watts, a predominantly African American community in L.A. 34 people were killed in Watts. 1966 and 1967 saw more violence with a riot in Detroit in 1967 that killed 43 people.

Urban RiotsV

Malcolm XAfter victories over de jure

segregation, how to battle de facto segregation became a large problem. New leaders arose with new methods that empowered many civil rights activists. Malcolm X became a leader in the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims). He urged a message of separation from whites for blacks because he felt that whites were the cause of poor conditions for blacks.

Malcolm X• His call to self-defense for blacks appealed to an

increasing sense of racial pride. Malcolm X also believed that blacks should work to improve their own communities rather than working for complete integration. After embarking on a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964, Malcolm X broke with the teachings of the Nation of Islam and proposed a new idea called “ballots or bullets”. His idea was that if blacks don’t use the ballot they would have to use bullets so they should try the ballot.

Malcolm X

• While giving a speech in Harlem on February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was shot 16 times and killed. Many suspect that it was because of his separation with the Nation of Islam.

V

Black PowerThe idea of Black Power was

popularized through a SNCC worker named Stokely Carmichael in 1966. Carmichael embodied a number of African Americans who were frustrated with the violence against them. His idea of Black Power was a, “call for black people to begin to define their own goals . . . [and] to lead their own organizations.” Black Power also meant focusing on African pride rather than trying to join with the whites.

V

The Black Panther Party

In October of 1966, the Black Panther Party was formed in Oakland, California. This party advocated self defense against police brutality and self sufficiency for African American communities.

The Black Panther Party• Similar to the Black Power

movement, the Black Panthers worked to improve the situations of Blacks themselves, such as establishing daycare centers, meal programs, medical clinics, and assistance to the homeless. Several shootouts occurred between the Panthers and the police which caused many FBI investigations of the BPP.

V

Civil Rights Act of 1968

• Prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of most housing

• Strengthened anti-lynching laws• Made it a FEDERAL crime to harm civil

rights workers

Violent vs. Nonviolent• Things to keep in mind:

– While both the nonviolent and violent civil rights movement existed at the same time, the nonviolent movement was most popular during the 1950’s and 1960’s while fighting de jure segregation – segregation that comes from the law (Brown v. Board of Education, Voting Rights Act, etc.)

– The “violent” side of the movement gained popularity in reaction to de facto segregation – segregation that exists within people and prevents minorities from getting good jobs, housing, education, etc. This focus was more in the North during the early 1960’s and everywhere in the late 1960’s and 1970’s

Malcolm X Movie• You are about to watch clips from Spike

Lee’s movie about Malcolm X. – The clips start with the intro to the movie which

is a famous speech given by Malcolm X– Next you will see a selection of speeches given by

Malcolm X while he was working for the Nation of Islam

– Malcolm then returns on a plane from a pilgrimage to Mecca after he left the Nation of Islam. You will also see the problems he encountered with having his life threatened.

– Then you will see Malcolm preparing for the speech at the Audobon Ballroom (where he was killed) and finally Ossie Davis reading the eulogy he delivered at Malcolm X’s funeral

– If you are interested in this movie, please watch the entire thing for extra credit (you can find it on Netflix)