1950s & 1960s

1. 1950s & 1960s American History II - Unit 6 Ms. Brown

2. Review • What was LBJ’s Great Society? • Vision for America’s future • Consisted on War on Poverty measures, and other sweeping reforms to fix areas of society • How was LBJ’s Great Society similar to FDR’s New Deal? • Both relied on deficit spending • Both aimed to cure problems with society and the economy • How was LBJ’s Great Society different than FDR’s New Deal? • New Deal focused more on providing jobs and economic reform, while the Great Society focused on a broader range of issues including civil rights/discrimination, the environment, consumer protection, education, housing, and healthcare • How did the decisions made by the Warren Court reflect the general attitude of reform during the 1960s? • The SCOTUS under Chief Justice Earl Warren worked to expand and redefine the rights of Americans (representation in Congress, rights of the accused, protections of expression/speech/religion, battling discrimination)

3. 6.4 – Challenging Segregation

4. Read excerpt from I’ve Got The Light Of Freedom by Charles Payne. • Brainstorm the following questions: • What surprised you most while reading? • What are some obstacles blacks faced in Mississippi? • Why/how do you think people “got away” with these actions and behaviors? • 1955 – Murder of Emmett Till Introduction to the era…

5. Types of Segregation de jure segregation de facto segregation Segregation that exists by practice and customs Enforced by society (ex: racial violence) Ex: social disapproval of interracial couples More difficult to fight than de jure segregation because it involves changing a society’s attitudes • Segregation that exists due to laws • Enforced by the government • Ex: Jim Crow laws • Change can be difficult but only requires the repealing of laws

6. Civil Rights Act of 1875 – outlawed segregation in public facilities • Declared unconstitutional in 1883 by all-white SCOTUS • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) • 1890 – Louisiana passed a law requiring “separate but equal” train accommodations Homer Plessy (1/8 black) bought a ticket for a white car, eventually being kicked off the train • Claimed 13th and 14th Amendment rights were violated • SCOTUS ruled that LA did not violate rights and “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional • Jim Crow laws passed throughout the nation, especially in southern states The Segregation System

7. 1910-1930s – Great Migration north but faced with nationwide segregation, discrimination, and violence • 1940s - WWII • White men went to war, open jobs for blacks (lower wages) • Black troops originally denied combat roles, but later proved brave in war  inspired to fight for equal rights and freedom from oppression at home • 1948 – Truman banned discrimination in armed forces Segregation in the 20th Century

8. NAACP legal strategy - use the court system to fight de jure (law) segregation • Easier to change the law than change attitudes with sit-ins and protests • Intelligent and charismatic team of lawyers win 29 of 32 SCOTUS cases • Charles Hamilton Houston • Thurgood Marshall – talented NAACP lawyer and 1st black SCOTUS Justice (1967) Challenging Segregation in Court

9. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) • Background • Linda Brown denied acceptance to local white school while the black school was 21 blocks away • Brown and 13 families filed a class-action suit against the school district challenging their policy of racial segregation • Arguments • Brown – segregation in schools on the basis of race violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection under the law clause • Board of Ed – Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) declared separate and equal facilities constitutional

10. Ruling – 9-0 in favor of Brown • segregated schools were “inherently unequal” and thus schools across the nation were to desegregate • Part of the Warren Court reforms • 1955 – Brown II – schools to desegregate with “all deliberate speed” • What is problematic about that language? Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

11. Southern states (GA, AL, MI) resisted desegregation Resurgence of KKK and racial violence 1957 – the “Little Rock Nine” tried to attend a high school  National Guard called to defuse violence and let the black students in Black students constantly teased, tortured, and picked on by students and teachers Civil Rights Act of 1957 – gave the US Attorney General power over school desegregation and gave the fed gov’t jurisdiction over violations of blacks’ voting rights Reaction to Brown v. Board

12. 1954 – Jo Ann Robinson (professor and president of the Women’s Political Council) wrote a letter to the mayor of Montgomery, AL asking for desegregation of public buses • Robinson, E.D. Nixon (president of Montgomery NAACP), and the NAACP waited for a prime incident to serve as the catalyst for a boycott • Let’s recount the Rosa Parks story… Boycotting Segregation

13. seamstress and Montgomery NAACP secretary Long history of civil rights activism Dec. 1, 1955 - Sitting the black section of the bus, refused to give her seat to a white  arrested Aware of the consequences Nixon and Robinson decided to act that night with the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to implement a boycott of the bus system Rosa Parks

14. 1955-56 - 381 days • Intricate system of carpooling • Economic effects • House work • Bussing system suffered • Increased violence met with nonviolent resistance • 1956 – Supreme Court ruled bus segregation was unconstitutional • Proved community organizing worked and that everyday people could make an impact Montgomery Bus Boycott

15. Recently moved to Montgomery • Young pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church • E.D. Nixon asked King to be the face of the Montgomery Bus Boycott • Charismatic and young • Relatively unknown (fresh face) • Hesitant to lead, but eventually agreed  national recognition • MBB Video Martin Luther King Jr.

16. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the Civil Rights Movement as a whole, show that it is people/communities NOT individuals that initiate change! • Top-down approach that you have been taught your whole life… is WRONG!

17. Grassroots movement – social, political, or economic change driven by the community, not by the government or political organizations • 1957 – Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) founded by King and several ministers/activists – “to carry on nonviolent crusades against the evils of second-class citizenship” • Teachings of Jesus, Gandhi, Thoreau • Used black churches as an organizing base Grassroots Movements

18. Ella Baker • SCLC’s director • not fond of King (sexist, domineering) • Believed change comes from the people – bottom-up not top-down • 1960 – helped found Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, “snick”) at Shaw University • Relied on student involvement to initiate grassroots movements in communities around the south Grassroots Movements

19. CORE staged the first sit-ins in Chicago in the 1940s  SNCC followed this model • Student sit-ins – refusal to move from a designated area • Most famous – NC A&T SNCC members in Greensboro at Woolworths in Feb 1960 • July 1960 – 1st blacks served in Greensboro Woolworths • Violence, intimidation, humiliation, suspension from school • National (and international) publicity The Movement Spreads