USH 18:2 Challenging Segregation

• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee – College students– Mostly African-American, but some Whites– Helped desegregate public facilities in South– Helped register African-American voters

• Freedom Riders– Bus travel still remained segregated in South – Protesters boarded busses going south• Busses attacked in some southern cities

Challenging Segregation

Violence in Birmingham

• M.L. King organizers march in Alabama– Goal:• Provide spark for a violent response• Violent response would force Pres. Kennedy to act

– King thrown in jail• Writes “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

– One of the most eloquent defenses of nonviolent protest ever written

– Americans watch the brutality on T.V.• Kennedy forced to act

– Prepares a new civil rights bill

C ivil R igh ts A ct o f 1 9 6 4

• The March on Washington – August 28, 1963– Led by M.L. King– 200,000 demonstrators – March helps Kennedy pass civil rights law

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Bill doesn’t pass in Senate– “Filibuster” • Continuous speaking to stop debate of a bill• Bill eventually ‘dies’

– Kennedy’s assassination • Johnson becomes president• Southern Democrat who was able to get bill passed

– Act was most comprehensive civil rights bill congress had ever passed

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Federal Gov’t has broad power to prevent racial discrimination – People of all races and nationalities had equal

access to public accommodations – Lawsuits against school districts not desegregated– Private employers must end discrimination in

workplace – Equal Employment Opportunity Commission • Monitors job discrimination based on

– Race– Religion– Gender– National origin

Struggle for Voting Rights

• The Selma March (Jan 1965)– Campaign for voting rights – Many marchers beaten• “Bloody Sunday”

– Americans horrified as they watch on T.V.– Pres. Johnson enacts Voting Rights Act of 1965