The Great MigrationThe Great Migration
First wave (1915-25) caused by need for black labor to replace immigrants during World War I
Second wave (1930s-60s) in response to Depression & AAA programs that drove sharecroppers off land
Significance: made blacks politically visible– Able to vote & enjoyed
greater civil liberties– Became swing vote in cities
World War II & the Cold WarWorld War II & the Cold War WWII led to great increase in black
activism– Pittsburg Courier launched “Double V”
campaign to fight racism at home as well as abroad
– NAACP membership increased from 50,000 to 400,000
– James Farmer founded CORE (Congress Of Racial Equality) to fight segregation in Chicago
Cold War put pressure on U.S. gov’t to live up to stated ideology
Desegregating the SchoolsDesegregating the Schools NAACP Legal Division made strategic
decision to devote limited resources to school desegregation
Took gradual approach to overturn Plessy– Ex rel. Gaines (1938): Missouri must build
separate black law school or admit Gaines to white law school
– Sweatt v. Painter (1950): separate black law school couldn’t be equal due to “intangible factors”
Brown v. Board of Ed. of Topeka (1954): “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”
Charles Houston
Thurgood Marshall
The ReactionThe Reaction White backlash:
– Southern Manifesto– Revival of Ku Klux Klan
Little Rock (1957):– Gov. Orval Faubus called out state
militia to prevent integration of Central High School
– Pres. Eisenhower sent in 1,000 troops to escort 9 black students
Ole Miss (1962):– Gov. Barnett refused to allow
James Meredith to enroll– Kennedy sent federal marshals &
troops to escort Meredith onto campus
Little Rock, 1957
James Meredith, 1962
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Montgomery Bus Boycottthe Montgomery Bus Boycott
Attended Crozer Seminary in Philadelphia & B.U. for doctorate
Became pastor of Dexter Ave. Baptist Church in Montgomery, Sept. 1954
Lead Montgomery Improvement Association’s bus boycott, Dec. 1955 - Dec. 1956
Time did cover story in Feb. 18, 1957 issue, & King received the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal in June 1957
Coretta & Martin King after hisconviction, March 22, 1956
The Southern Christian The Southern Christian Leadership ConferenceLeadership Conference
Based on Christianity & Gandhi’s exampleDramatized evil to shock white consciencesBased on respect for laws & American idealsIntegrationist, not separationistDeliberately picked virulent racists whom they
knew would provide violent drama– Bull Connor in Birmingham, 1963– Jim Clark in Selma, 1965
March on March on Washington,Washington,
Aug. 28, 1963Aug. 28, 1963
A. Philip Randolph orginally planned it to be about jobs
Became rally in support of Kennedy’s civil rights bill
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech appealed to patriotism, using lyrics from “America” Photos from David Cone,
Martin & Malcolm & America
Congress Of Racial Equality Congress Of Racial Equality and the Freedom Ridesand the Freedom Rides
CORE had sponsored initial Freedom Rides in 1947, to test Morgan v. Virginia decision
1961 Freedom Rides tested Boynton v. Virginia ruling
Met with violence in Alabama
The Greensboro Sit-Ins, 1960The Greensboro Sit-Ins, 1960 Ezell Blair, Jr., Joseph
McNeil, David Richmond & Franklin McClain = original four– All Southerners, NAACP– Dressed neatly & acted
politely– 100s joined them by
Saturday Woolworth’s sales
declined 20% & profits 50% in 1960
July 25 – integration finally achieved
Student Nonviolent Student Nonviolent Coordinating CommitteeCoordinating Committee
April 15-17, 1960 conference at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. called & funded by SCLC– More than 200 delegates from 50 schools & 13 states– Ella Barker was SCLC advisor to SNCC
By Spring 1964, SNCC had over 150 field workers across the South, concentrating on voter registration
Major effort = Mississippi Freedom Summer, 1964
Senator Lyndon B. JohnsonSenator Lyndon B. Johnsonand Civil Rightsand Civil Rights
Refused to sign Southern Manifesto Got Civil Rights Act of 1957 through Congress:
– Est. Civil Rights Commission & Civil Rights Division in Justice Dept.
– Watered down by removing section that accelerated school desegregation & adding right to jury trials (guaranteeing acquittals for whites)
Civil Rights Act of 1960: – extended life of CRC – provided federal court referees to register blacks– made it a federal crime to interfere with court orders or cross
state lines to commit violence
The Civil Rights Act of 1964The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Discrimination in all places of public accommodation outlawed (hotels, restaurants, etc.)
Required literacy tests to be administered in writing, & presumed all 6th grade graduates were literate
Attorney General empowered to bring school desegregation suits
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission created
Pres. Johnson hands pen toRev. King after signing theCivil Rights Act of 1964
Extending African-American Extending African-American Voting RightsVoting Rights
24th Amendment (1964) ended poll tax Court ruled Congressional districts must have “substantial
equality”:– Wesberry v. Sanders (1964) – “one man, one vote” rule est.– Reynolds v. Sims (1964) applied rule to state legislatures
Voting Rights Act of 1965:– Authorized Attorney General to send federal registrars of voters– Suspended literacy tests in counties where less than half of adults
had voted in 1964– Required any change in voting laws to be pre-cleared with Justice
Dept.
The Impact of the Voting Rights ActThe Impact of the Voting Rights Actand other legal changesand other legal changes
Copyright 1997, Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Black PowerBlack Power New SNCC leaders Stokely
Carmichael & Rap Brown abandoned nonviolent strategy and goal of integration
Malcolm X & the Nation of Islam espoused radical black separatism
Spawned growing white backlash– Riots seemed to show ingratitude
of blacks– Northerners couldn’t see ghettoes
as products of racism– Affirmative action seemed to be
reverse discrimination
Stokely Carmichael
Malcolm X & Elijah
Mohammed
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