Voter Registration

• Starting in 1961, SNCC and CORE organized voter registration campaigns in the predominantly African American counties of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.

[NAACP photograph showing people waiting in line for voter registration, at Antioch Baptist Church]

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.; LC-USZ62-122260

Voter Registration

• SNCC concentrated on voter registration because leaders believed that voting was a way to empower African Americans so that they could change racist policies in the South.

• SNCC members worked to teach African Americans necessary skills, such as reading, writing, and the correct answers to the voter registration application.

Voter Registration

• These activities caused violent reactions from Mississippi’s white supremacists.

• In June 1963, Medgar Evers, the NAACP Mississippi field secretary, was shot and killed in front of his home.

• In 1964, SNCC workers organized the Mississippi Summer Project to register African Americans to vote in the state, wanting to focus national attention on the state’s racism.

Voter Registration

• SNCC recruited Northern college students, teachers, artists, and clergy to work on the project. They believed the participation of these people would make the country concerned about discrimination and violence in Mississippi.

• The project did receive national attention, especially after three participants—two of whom were white—disappeared in June and were later found murdered and buried near Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Voter Registration

• By the end of the summer, the project had helped thousands of African Americans attempt to register, and about one thousand actually became registered voters.

• In early 1965, SCLC members employed a direct-action technique in a voting-rights protest initiated by SNCC in Selma, Alabama.

• When protests at the local courthouse were unsuccessful, protesters began to march to Montgomery, the state capital.

Voter Registration

• As marchers were leaving Selma, mounted police beat and tear-gassed them.

• Televised scenes of the violence, called Bloody Sunday, shocked many Americans, and the resulting outrage led to a commitment to continue the Selma March.

A small band of Negro teenagers march singing and clapping their hands for a short distance, Selma, Alabama.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.; LC-USZ62-127739

Voter Registration

• King and SCLC members led hundreds of people on a five-day, fifty-mile march to Montgomery.

• The Selma March drummed up broad national support for a law to protect Southern African Americans’ right to vote.

• President Johnson persuaded Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which suspended the use of literacy and other voter qualification tests in voter registration.

Voter Registration

• Over the next three years, almost one million more African Americans in the South registered to vote.

• By 1968, African American voters had having a significant impact on Southern politics.

• During the 1970s, African Americans were seeking and winning public offices in majority African American electoral districts.

Malcolm XX Born in Omaha Nebraska, Malcolm Little was the son of a

Baptist preacher who urged Blacks to stand up for their rights.

X His father was killed by White Supremacist in Michigan, in 1931.

X After time, Malcolm moved to Harlem where he became involved in gambling, drug dealing and robbery.

X Malcolm Was Arrested at the age of 20 for armed robbery. In jail he studied the teaching of theElijah Muhammad.

Elijah MuhammadX Elijah Muhammad was the leader of the

mostly Black political and religious group The Nation Of Islam.

His teachings, often perceived as racist, preached complete separation from Whites in society.

He often expressed the idea the Blacks were the first people to rule the world and that the Whites tricked them out of power and oppressed them.

Young Malcolm X developed his adept speaking skills and political ideas under the direction of Elijah Muhammad.

Nation Of Islam

X The Nation Of Islam (NOI) was an activist group that believed that most African slaves were originally Muslim.

X The NOI urged African Americans to reconvert to Islam in effort to restore the heritage that was stolen from them.

X The NOI wanted to create a second Black nation within the United States.

X The “X” in Malcolm’s name symbolizes the rejection of his slave name.

Malcolm X: The Activist

X Malcolm X made constant accusations of racism and demanded violent actions of self defense.

X He constantly retold the injustices his people suffered in the past.

X Malcolm X gathered wide spread admiration from African American’s and wide spread fear from Whites. However White college students could not ignore the harsh realities of his preachings.

Malcolm X Speaks, 1965X “Be peaceful, be courteous,

obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.”

X “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.”

X “You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”

Malcolm X was a compelling public speaker, and was frequently sought

after for quotations by the print media, radio, and television

programs from around the world. In the years between his adoption of the Nation of Islam in 1952 and his split with the organization in 1964, he always espoused the Nation's teachings, including referring to whites as "devils" who had been created in a misguided breeding program by a black scientist, and

predicting the inevitable (and imminent) return of blacks to their

natural place at the top of the social order.

Malcolm X was soon seen as the second most influential leader of the movement, after Elijah Muhammad himself. He opened

additional temples, including one in Philadelphia and was largely credited with increasing membership in the NOI from 500 in 1952 to 30,000 in 1963. He inspired the boxer Cassius Clay to join the

Nation of Islam and change his name to Muhammad Ali.

Tension In The Nation Of Islam

X By the start of the 60’s Tension was growing in The Nation of Islam. Malcolm X was exposed to

rumors that Elijah Muhammad had indulged in extramarital affairs. Adultery is shunned in the

Muslim doctrine.X Malcolm Believed that Elijah

Muhammad was jealous of his increasing popularity.

X The Nation of Islam blamed Malcolm X for his controversial remarks regarding John F. Kennedy Jr.

By the summer of 1963, tension in the Nation of Islam reached a boiling point. Malcolm believed that Elijah Muhammad was jealous of his popularity. Malcolm viewed the March on Washington critically, unable to understand why black people were excited over a demonstration "run by whites in front of a statue of a president who has been dead for a hundred years and who didn't like us when he was alive."

By the summer of 1963, tension in the Nation of Islam reached a boiling point. Malcolm believed that Elijah Muhammad was jealous of his popularity. Malcolm viewed the March on Washington critically, unable to understand why black people were excited over a demonstration "run by whites in front of a statue of a president who has been dead for a hundred years and who didn't like us when he was alive."

Later in the year Malcolm delivered a speech as he regularly would. He stated that the violence that Kennedy had failed to stop had come around to claim his life. Most explosively, he then added that with his country origins, "Chickens coming home to roost never made me sad. It only made me glad."

This comment led to widespread public outcry and led to the Nation of Islam's publicly censuring Malcolm X. Although retaining his post and rank as minister, he was banned from public speaking for ninety days by Elijah Muhammad himself. Malcolm obeyed and kept silent.

Pilgrimage to MeccaX In 1964, during a pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm

discovered that orthodox Muslims preach equality among races.

X Malcolm’s new knowledge and growing distrust with the NOI, caused him to desert his argument that all Whites are the devil.

X Malcolm X never abandoned his theory that Racism had destroyed the nation and that only Blacks could free themselves.

X In 1965 Malcolm X was assassinated by a Black Muslim

at a New York City rally.

Malcolm publicly announced his break from the Nation of Islam on March 8, 1964 and the founding of the Muslim Mosque, Inc. on March 12, 1964.

At this point, Malcolm mostly

adhered to the

teachings of the Nation of

Islam, but began

modifying them,

explicitly advocating political and

economic black

nationalism as opposed to the NOI's exclusivist religious

nationalism

Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City on February 21, 1965 on the first day of National

Brotherhood Week.

Black Power Arrives• Origins of Black Power

– SNCC and King– Limits of white liberals– Meredith Walk and Stokely

Carmichael• Black Power

– sense of pride / psychological impact

– build and celebrate black culture

– amass pol and econ. power of black community

• Diversity of Black Power– Colleges, athletes, anti-war,

etc

Black PowerBlack Power is a term that emphasizes racial pride and the desire for African Americans to achieve equality.The term promotes the creation of Black political and social institutions.The term was popularized by Stokely Carmichael during The Civil Rights Movement.Many SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) members were becoming critical of leaders that articulated non-violent responses to racism.

Stokely Carmichael

Black Panther Party

• U.S. African American Militant group.• Founded in 1966 in Oakland.• Led by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.• Believed violent revolution was the only way to

receive freedom.• Urged African Americans to arm themselves.

Out of the South: Black Panthers

• Black Power v. Civil Rights– Mostly in north and west– Younger leaders– More militant ideology

• Watts Riots (1965)• Black Panthers

– Seale and Newton– 10 point program (jobs,

exemption from military service, end police brutality

– Guns and laws• Success and failure

– grew too quick; changing ideas; repression

The Violent Panthers• In the late 60’s party leaders got

involved in violent confrontations with the police. The results was death on

both sides.• Huey Newton was tried in 1967

for killing a police officer.• Black Panther activist Bobby

Seale, was a member of the Chicago Eight. A group of eight people who

disrupted the 1968 Democratic convention.

1968

• Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. by James Earl Ray

• Assassination of Robert Kennedy – by Sirhan B. Sirhan – Kennedy was running in Democratic primary

• 1968 Democratic National Convention – violence – police beat war protesters outside the convention hall – Dan Rather, newman, was beaten while trying to get the story

Dr. King is fatally shot

in Memphis, Tennessee

Tommie Smith and John Carlos

Tommie Smith and John Carlos give the Black Power salute at the 1968 Summer Olympics.The two men were suspended by the United States team and banned from Olympic village.The action is considered a milestone of The Civil Rights Movement.

Chicano Movement

• Chavez and UFW– Grape strike– Use of ethnic symbols

• Defining Chicano• Brown Berets

– High School blowouts

• La Raza Unida• Chicano Park (1970)

BrownBerets

Chicano Park

Red and Yellow Power • Termination Policy• Red Power

– Urbanization and Politics• Indians for All Tribes

– Alcatraz Island (1969)• American Indian Movement

– Wounded Knee• Yellow Power

– Vietnam War– Yellow? Oriental? Asian

American?– SF State– Asian Community Center and

International Hotel

Second Wave of Feminism• Origins

– Liberating June Cleaver– JFK’s Presidential Commission– documented discrimination

• Betty Friedan’s “The Feminist Mystique”– the problem without a name

• Civil Rights and New Left experiences– recognizing oppression

Background• The Women's Rights Movement of

the 1960s was a second wave of activism.

• The women's movement of the 1960s drew inspiration from the civil rights movement

• It was made up of members of the middle class

• It was also caused by the sexual revolution of the 1960s– Sparked by the development of the birth-

control pill in 1960

Martin Luther King Jr. giving his"I Have A Dream“, 1963

Background Continued

• Sexual assault and domestic violence became central targets of women's activism

• The crime of rape begins to increase in numbers– Rape is sex without consent, both legally and socially

• Susan Brownmiller's book, Against Her Will, examines the history of rape

• Feminists work to create domestic violence shelters and rape crisis hotlines

National Organization for Women (NOW)

• Founded in 1966.• Founded by a group of

people, including Betty Friedan, and Rev. Pauli Murray.– The first African-American

woman Episcopal priest. • Betty Friedan became the

organization's first president.

NOW • The goal of NOW is to bring about equality for all women. • They campaigned to gain passage of the ERA

amendment at the state level.• Issues NOW deals with:

– works to eliminate discrimination and harassment in the workplace, schools, and the justice system.

– secure abortion, birth control and reproductive rights for all women

– end all forms of violence against women– eradicate racism, sexism and homophobia – promote equality and justice in society.

Betty Friedan • Wrote the book, Feminine Mystique

in 1963.• In her book, she depicted the roles of

women in industrial societies. – She focused most of her

attention on the housewife role of women.

• She referred to the problem of gender roles as "the problem without a name".

• The book became a bestseller and was the cause for the second wave of feminism in the 60s.

Feb. 4th, 1921- Feb. 4th, 2006

The problem that has no name–which is simply the fact that American women are kept from growing to their full human capacities–is taking a far greater toll on the physical and mental health of our country than any known disease.

-- Betty Friedan

Women’s Rights v. Women’s Lib• Women’s Rights

– end legal and educational discrimination

– National Organization for Women

• Women’s Lib– origins in New Left and

Civil Rights.– Consciousness raising– challenged social/cultural

oppression• Abortion• Barbie Dolls• Sexist Commercials

Shirley Chisholm

• In 1968 Shirley Chisholm of New York was the first black woman elected to the House of Representatives.

November 30, 1924 to January 1, 2005

Feminism in the 70s• Rights and Lib movements

blur• Roe v. Wade (1973)• Equal Rights Amendment• Weaknesses and Failures

– homemakers– middle class bias– failure to integrate other

races