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Goal 11, part 1. Though African-Americans had been fighting against segregation and discrimination since the 1880’s, the modern civil rights movement began in the post-World War II era. Some early notables: 1948: President Harry Truman integrated the
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Though African-Americans had been fighting against segregation and discrimination since the 1880’s, the modern civil rights movement began in the post-World War II era. Some early notables: 1948: President Harry Truman integrated the US military. The Korean War would be the first US war in which soldiers of all ethnicities fought together in integrated units. 1948: In part as a response to the above, the Democratic Party divided in the presidential elections of that year (Truman was a Democrat). Southern Democrats formed the Dixiecrats and ran Strom Thurmond of South Carolina as their candidate.
The Republicans launched a strong attack in that year also. To the surprise of many, Truman won re-election. Chicago Tribune headline that erroneously announced the defeat of Truman
1947: Jackie Robinson became the first baseball player admitted into the Major Leagues. This ended the era of segregated baseball during which blacks could play only in the Negro League. Other sports soon followed this example.
Brown v Board of Education was the most significant milestone of this era. • This 1954 ruling • Overturned the 1896 ruling in Plessey v Ferguson in which the Supreme Court had declared racial segregation legal (“Separate but equal”) • Ruled that segregation by race is “inherently unequal” • Ruled that the nation’s public schools should end segregation “with all deliberate speed.”
The following year, segregation on public transportation was challenged by Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama. A year-long boycott of the buses followed. Martin Luther King, Jr. Helped organize the boycott. He formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and adopted the principles of non-violent resistance.
For the next 14 years (1955 – 1968), King was the main voice of the civil rights movement. Some main events: Selma (Alabama) March, 1965
1957: Federal troops required to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas
1960: Greensboro, NC – “Sit-in” at Woolworth’s 1961: Freedom riders attacked in Alabama
1962: James Meredith – first black student at University of Mississippi 1963: Demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama
1963: Governor George Wallace confronting federal marshals at University of Alabama JFK speech following the incident
“Freedom Summer” - 1964 1965 – 1968 sees riots in major cities: Watts (LA), 1965
Greater militancy with “Black Power” – SDS, Black Panthers, Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Malcolm X, Black Muslims
1968: King’s assassination in Memphis marks the end of an era, but some milestones had been achieved: Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Civil Rights Act of 1968