The Civil Rights Movement

1. The Civil Rights Movement

2. The System of Segregation • Since the 1890s, a government mandated system of segregation had been in place in the United States • The wars in Europe and Vietnam, set the stage for the modern-day civil rights movement • If African Americans could fight for their country in foreign lands, didn’t they deserve rights here? • Why defend democracy across the world, when true democracy didn’t exist at home?

3. The Court Challenge to Segregation • Eight-year old Linda Brown had charged that the board of education of Topeka, Kansas, had violated her rights by denying her admission to an all-white elementary school • In Brown vs. Board of Education, the supreme court struck down segregation in schooling as a violation to the 14th amendment • It would be difficult for the government to enforce these new standards

4. Resistance to School Desegregation • KKK reappeared to prevent African American children from attending school • Little Rock Crisis • Nine African American students attempted to integrate Little Rock Central High School • A federal judge ordered they be allowed in • Soldiers were sent to protect the students, but they were harassed outside, in the stairways, halls and cafeteria • The school was shut down, because of the chaos.

5. Montgomery Bus Boycott • Began by Martin Luther King after Rosa Parks arrest • For one year, African Americans in Montgomery walked to work, church, etc, rather than taking the bus • This destroyed the bus industry, and by the next year, Montgomery busses were integrated

6. Sit-Ins • Began by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee • Protesters would sit down and refuse to leave until they were served • Popularized by students at NC A & T University • Students were beaten, spit on and had food thrown on them, yet they did nothing in return

7. Freedom Riders • African Americans and White Americans rode busses into the deep south in an effort to force integration • Hoped to provoke a violent reaction that would convince the government to enforce integration laws • Riders were brutally beaten, busses were bombed • Movement worked, as segregation was banned on all interstate travel facilities

8. Heading to Birmingham • Had a long history of racial violence • 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing • Birmingham Children’s March • Civil Rights leaders decided that something had to be done about Birmingham • Led protests, economic boycotts and negative media coverage • Finally convinced officials to end segregation

9. March on Washington • 1963 • 250,000 people assembled on the national mall to protest for Civil Rights • Here, MLK gave his most famous speech • I Have a Dream • Led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

10. The Selma Campaign • 1965 • Major voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama • 50-mile protest march from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital • Turned violent • TV crews captured the violence • That summer, the Voting Rights Act was passed

11. New Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement • Malcolm X • Stokely Carmichael • Leader of SNCC • Led black power movement • Black Panthers • Fought police brutality • Advocated for self-sufficiency of African-American communities