Chapter 28: The Civil Rights Movement

1. Chapter 28:The Civil Rights Movement AP United States History West Blocton High School Mr. Logan Greene

2. Chapter Objectives • What were the origins of the Civil Rights Movement? • How did Martin Luther King, the SCLC and the Freedom Riders define the early movement? • What were the major moments of the movement during 1963-1965? • What successes came out from the movement? • How did the movement effect non-Africans and non-Whites?

3. After World War II • After World War II, a shift of Civil Rights being a key political issue returned for the first time since Reconstruction • The Roosevelt and Truman administration’s stances on Civil Rights solidified a turn of African-Americans to voting for democratic candidates as opposed to Republicans • However, this led to tension in the Democratic party as Southern solid democrats were still staunchly against any advancement of Civil Rights

4. After World War II • Several federal court cases began to strike down segregationist policies such as Morgan v. Virginia (1946) that declared interstate bus travel could not be segregated • Many of these decisions were spearheaded by an increasingly powerful NAACP as well as Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) • 1947 saw a huge success for the early movement as Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier becoming the first African-American Major League Baseball player

5. The Segregated South • Essentially the South had stayed the same since Plessy v. Ferguson made segregation legal with the separate but equal clause • “Colored” restrooms, waiting rooms, and schools existed to keep the races separated • However, blacks and whites lived and worked in remarkably close quarters in the South in stark contrast to the separate ghetto areas in the North

6. Brown v. Board • By 1951 the NAACP was ready to attack the doctrine of separate but equal by using schools • Lumping several cases together Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas was heard in December 1952 • On May 17, 1954 Chief Justice Earl Warren issued the Court’s unanimous ruling that separate is inherently unequal making segregation illegal in schools

7. Brown v. Board • The Supreme Court did not direct how the segregation of schools would take place • Many Southern states and communities refused to adhere to the new ruling • The issue came to a head in 1957 when President Eisenhower had to use federal troops to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas

8. Martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC • The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 brought Martin Luther King, Jr. to national prominence • King believed in Social Christianity and admired the ideals of nonviolence preached by Gandhi • To keep the momentum of the Bus Boycott going King formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) with 100 other ministers to preach civil disobedience through nonviolence as a means of change

9. Sit-Ins • A new idea of a “sit-in” arose in February 1960 when four black Freshmen in North Carolina sat down at a white only lunch counter • The four men stayed the entire day even though they were refused any service • By weeks end the store was overrun with supporters • By July, after arrests and arguments between white and black leaders the first African-American ate at the counter

10. Sit-Ins • The success of the Greensboro sit-in sent shockwaves through the South • Over the next year and half tens of thousands of reformers staged sit-ins in communities all over the South • Despite arrests sit-Ins proved successful in desegregating Nashville and Atlanta • The early sit-ins empowered an entire generation of African-American leaders

11. SNCC • The growing movement frightened many African-Americans and also created rifts in the community as traditional leaders had their power secured in their relationships with whites • To help give the new student activists a group the NAACP founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC • SNCC also included whites and sought to continue the movement independent of the African-American bureacracy

12. 1960 Election • The 1960 election between Nixon and Kennedy ignored most of the Civil Rights issued • The extremely close race showed that Civil Rights had lost ground in the federal government consciousness • However, Kennedy surprised many by beginning to take an active role in Civil Rights and strengthen support of the movement in the federal government by appointing his brother Robert as Attorney General

13. Freedom Rides • In 1961, activists from CORE planned bus rides through the South to test the ban on interstate segregation and intentionally goad Southern leaders into arresting them to make the Federal government intervene • However, during the summer the rides were interrupted with violence in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama • On the second attempt from Montgomery to Birmingham more violence ensued • The tactic worked as the Kennedy administration began enforcing the law banning bus segregation

14. Albany Movement • The Albany Movement was an attempt by SNCC and the NAACP to form a coalition in the city to fight segregation • However, infighting and other issues kept the movement in Albany from making major gains and the coalition proved to gain very little • However, in Mississippi the successful but violent integration of the University of Mississippi proved gains were still being made

15. Birmingham/Bombingham • After 1962, Civil Rights leaders chose Birmingham as the new focal point for the movement as Birmingham was the most heavily segregated city in the nation • Fred Shuttlesworth, worked with newly arrived Martin Luther King Jr. to attack the city’s segregationists policies and fight against its Public Safety Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor

16. Birmingham/Bombingham • Connor jailed many of the protesters including King himself • As the protests grew, Connor released police dogs and fire trucks with high pressure water to control protests • This turned most of Americans against the idea of continuing segregation • By May the situation had cooled and an uneasy true ensued • However a bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four black girls showed Birmingham was not peaceful yet

17. JFK, MLK, and the Washington March • By June of 1963, JFK was ready for sweeping reform • Kennedy asked Congress for a broad law ensuring voting and eliminating all public segregation • To show support the NAACP, SNCC, SCLC and CORE put aside issues and came together for a huge march on Washington • Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the Lincoln memorial and delivered his infamous “I Have a Dream Speech” as a watershed moment in the movement

18. LBJ and the Civil Rights Act • Upon Kennedy’s assassination in late 1963 many leaders were heavily concerned about Lyndon Johnson’s ascendency (his upbringing in Texas provided particular worry) • Johnson realized the new situation and did not fight the movement and instead supported it • On July 2, 1964 he signed the Civil Rights Act into law guaranteeing desegregation and fair hiring practices

19. Freedom Summer • Freedom Summer turned the focus of Civil Rights from Birmingham to rural Mississippi as workers from SNCC and CORE attempted to register poor black voters • Three workers disappeared early in the project and were later found murdered as the project showed rifts in the “Beloved Community” as white and black reformers had issues coexisting

20. Malcolm X • Some reformers became frustrated with the idea of nonviolence and simple disobedience • Malcolm Little, later Malcolm X highlighted this new sense of frustration • He joined a religious sect of radical Muslims known as the Nation of Islam that preached self-reliance, the unity of the black race, and an anti-white sentiment that preached black power by “any means necessary” • An early voice for black power, upon return from a pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm changed his views to more closely mirror Martin Luther King Jr. and the mainstream movement • He was assassinated in February, 1965 by members of the Nation of Islam

21. Selma and the Voting Rights Act • Upon Johnson’s reelection in 1964 he began drafting sweeping voting rights reform • King and other leaders chose to again create a controversy to grab national attention and chose a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama • On “Bloody Sunday” the marchers were attacked by heavily armed police forces in Selma while crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge • King lost some support when he accepted a compromise and turned back after a second march • In August 1965, spurred, by the events in Selma Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act making poll taxes, literacy tests, and other obstacles to black and poor white voting illegal

22. Beyond Black and White • Mexican-Americans: Mexican Americans enjoyed success under the Civil Rights movement and desegregation but saw many aliens deported as a new attack upon illegal immigrants arose • Japanese: In the post World War II world, Japanese Americans succeeded in gaining full citizenship and quickly recovered from the stigma of the war • Natives: Termination saw many tribes lose sovereignty and land. This led to the stark poverty and social problems that faced many tribes

23. Chapter Objectives • What were the origins of the Civil Rights Movement? • How did Martin Luther King, the SCLC and the Freedom Riders define the early movement? • What were the major moments of the movement during 1963-1965? • What successes came out from the movement? • How did the movement effect non-Africans and non-Whites?