Civil Rights

1. Civil Rights

2. From 1898 to the 1950’s, laws regarding race were influenced the Plessey vs. Ferguson Supreme Court decision • In the Plessey vs. Ferguson decision, the US Supreme Court said that segregation between the races was legal, as long as it was “separate but equal”

3. Many Southern states passed the Jim Crow Laws • Jim Crow Laws: laws that officially separated the races • Whites and blacks could not marry, have social relationships, or attend mixed race religious services • There were separate schools, waiting rooms, trains cars, public bathrooms, etc.

4. The Civil Rights movement became very big after WW2 • Four factors led to the rise of the Civil Rights movement • 1.)African-American migration to the North • 2.)The New Deal • 3.)World War II • 4.)NAACP

5. African-American migration • From 1910 to 1940, the African-American population in New York City went from 60,000 to 450,000 • As the population increased, African-Americans in the North began gaining political influence

6. New Deal • New Deal: Economic program to help the economy during the Great Depression • The New Deal helped African-Americans because FDR and the Democratic actively courted the African-American community for their votes

7. World War II • African-Americans went to war for the US, just like everyone else • How can the US be outraged at the Nazis and then come home to a segregated society? • Also, many African-Americans moved to the North during WW2 to work for the war effort

8. NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) • The NAACP was a Northern based organization that raised money to help African-Americans • The NAACP routinely raised money to fight unjust laws in court

9. The NAACP specifically targeted the Plessey v. Ferguson case • In Plessey v. Ferguson, the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal (separate but equal) • One of the more influential legal advisors to the NAACP was Charles Hamilton Houston, a law professor at Howard University, who suggested that the NAACP sue on behalf of African-American school students

10. Brown v. Board of Education • In 1951, Oliver Brown sued the school board of Topeka, Kansas because his 8-year old daughter could not attend the school closest to her home because it was a “whites only” school • Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP agreed to take the case

11. In 1954, the US Supreme Court ruled: • The “separate but equal” portion of the Plessey v. Ferguson case was unconstitutional • All public schools in the US had to be desegregated with “all deliberate speed”

12. Reaction to the Brown vs. Board decision was mixed • Kansas and Oklahoma had no problems with the decision • The governor of Texas warned it would “take years” to desegregate schools • Georgia Governor Herman Talmadge claimed that he was never going to allow desegregation in schools

13. Within a year, 500 schools districts desegregated • However, in some places, the desegregation of schools led to the rise of the KKK • Schools in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Washington, DC were now desegregated

14. As schools became desegregated, problems arose in Little Rock, Arkansas • Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus sent the National Guard to stop the “Little Rock Nine” (African-American students who volunteered to desegregate Central High School)

15. Knowing that there was going to be problems, the NAACP in Little Rock called the students to tell them not to come to school on the first day • One student, Elizabeth Eckford, did not have a phone • Elizabeth Eckford was heckled and confronted as she entered Central HS • As a result, President Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under Federal control

16. The next major step in Civil Rights reform was the Montgomery Bus Boycott • Rosa Parks, an NAACP member, refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a crowded bus • Rosa Parks was arrested for violating segregation laws

17. Jo Ann Robinson of the Women’s Political Council suggested a bus boycott • The plan was for all African-Americans to avoid riding the public bus system in Montgomery, Alabama until the rules were changed • Jo Ann Robinson asked Martin Luther King to become the spokesman of the boycott

18. The bus boycott lasted for over one year • Some whites participated in the boycott by driving blacks to where they had to go • In 1956, the US Supreme Court ruled that public buses could not be segregated

19. The Montgomery Bus Boycott made Martin Luther King a household name in the US • MLK was appealing because he wanted protesters to practice nonviolent resistance • MLK’s influence: • 1.)Jesus (love your enemies) • 2.)Henry David Thoreau (civil disobedience: the refusal to obey an unjust law) • 3.)A. Philip Randolph (how to organize a demonstration) • 4.)Ghandi (do not use violence)

20. MLK began a civil rights group called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) • The SCLC wanted to “to carry on nonviolent crusades against the evils of second class citizenship” • The SCLC used churches as the base for their protests

21. Another major civil rights group was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) • SNCC was founded by Ella Baker, who wanted more college students involved in the Civil Rights • Many college students were upset because colleges in the South were slow to integrate

22. CORE began to use sit-ins as a form of protest • Sit-ins were effective because it forced business owners to decide whether to give the protestors what they wanted or potentially lose business

23. One famous sit-in was at Woolworth’s in Greensboro, NC • College students wanted to eat at the all-white food lunch counter at Woolworth’s Department Store • TV cameras were there as whites began to violently move the black protestors • Eventually, Woolworth’s removed lunch counter seats and raised the price of food to discourage future sit-ins • Many people in the North were disgusted by what they saw on TV

24. Another major incident in the Civil Rights movement was the freedom rides • The freedom riders took two public buses throughout the South to make sure that the laws regarding desegregated buses were being followed • CORE and SNCC teamed up to pack the buses with Civil Rights activists

25. In Alabama, white racists beat up African-Americans on the first bus • Some of the riders were beat with chains and others were pistol whipped

26. The second bus saw much more violence • In Anniston, Alabama, 200 whites attacked the bus • The mob smashed the windows and threw a fire bomb in the bus • No one died, but many people were outraged

27. The Greyhound bus company refused to continue driving the bus • US Attorney General Robert Kennedy ordered the bus company and driver to continue the trip • Violence kept follow the bus throughout Alabama • Eventually, JFK sent federal marshals to protect the bus until the trip ended in Jackson, Mississippi

28. As schools were desegregating in Mississippi, James Meredith attempted to enroll at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) • James Meredith was an Air Force veteran who won a Federal court case to integrate the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) • Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett personally blocked Meredith from registering

29. When James Meredith faced difficulty, the Federal government became involved • JFK ordered Federal marshals to escort Meredith to class • When riots broke out on campus, two people died • Meredith, however, stayed at Ole Miss

30. Birmingham, Alabama continued to be a problem with people who wanted Civil Rights • Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth (SCLC member) invited MLK to Birmingham to protest with the African-American community • Shuttlesworth, MLK, and the SCLC protested for a week

31. MLK was eventually arrested on Good Friday • While in jail, MLK wrote a letter to white religious leader who thought he was working too fast • “When you have to concoct an answer for a five year old who asks “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?...then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait

32. When MLK posted bail, he planned more demonstrations in Birmingham • Birmingham Police Commissioner Bull Connor tried to stop the demonstrations • The police in Birmingham met the demonstrators with fire hoses and attack dogs • The rest of the country was shocked when they saw this on TV

33. As violence increased, JFK became more involved • June 11, 1963, JFK sent troops to force Alabama Governor George Wallace to desegregate the University of Alabama • JFK demanded that Congress pass a Civil Rights Bill • Just hours after a JFK Civil Rights speech, Medgar Evers, a leader of the NAACP, was murdered

34. In the early 1960’s, all Civil Rights groups wants African-Americans to develop a new identity • Through the 1960’s, the Civil Rights movement began to change • People began focusing on what was happening in the North

35. In the North, African-Americans dealt with de facto segregation • De facto segregation: segregation that exists by practice and custom • De facto segregation is difficult because it deals more with people’s attitudes • In a sense, its segregation because we accept it

36. De facto segregation increased after WW2 as more African-Americans moved to the North • “White Flight:” great numbers of whites move out of the cities and into the nearby suburbs • Meanwhile, many African-Americans lived in poor housing in the Northern cities • Traditional African-American schools did not score as well • Unemployment rates were higher in black neighborhoods

37. Therefore, there was a great amount of anger in the black neighborhoods • African-Americans were especially angry with the police, who they saw as oppressors • MLK led a march in Chicago in 1966 to end de facto segregation • Some whites in Chicago met the protesters by throwing rocks and bottles

38. In the South, African-Americans dealt with de jure segregation • De jure segregation: segregation by law

39. Violence in many inner cities continued throughout the 1960’s • A race riot occurred in Harlem in 1964 because the death of a 15 year old African-American boy was blamed on the police

40. One of the worst race riots in the US occurred in Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles • 34 people died and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property was destroyed

41. Many whites did not understand this sudden jump in violence • Would this cause the African-American community to lose all of the gains made in the Civil Rights movement? • In reality, many African-Americans were upset with the lack of job opportunities and money • By the mid 1960’s, MLK began speaking more and more about economic issues

42. As the Civil Rights movement wore on, more radical and militant leaders emerged • The most famous radical leader was Malcolm X (real name is Malcolm Little) • As a child, Malcolm X spent time in jail • While in jail, Malcolm X joined the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims)

43. The Nation of Islam viewed white society as oppressive • The leader of the Nation of Islam was Elijah Muhammad • Elijah Muhammad believed that Allah would create a “Black Nation” of nonwhite people

44. Malcolm X did not support MLK • Malcolm X called the March on Washington the “Farce on Washington” • Malcolm X believed the non violent Civil Rights movement was merely “begging the white man” • Malcolm X did not think anyone really wanted integration

45. Eventually, Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad had major disagreements regarding the Nation of Islam • Malcolm X created his own organization called the Muslim Mosque, Inc

46. In 1964, Malcolm X made the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, which changed his life • After seeing so many different types of Muslims worshipping peacefully at Mecca, he believed that whites and blacks could work together in the US • Many people in the Nation of Islam were upset with Malcolm X’s change

47. In February 1965, Malcolm X was shot and killed while giving a speech • Three Nation of Islam members were arrested for his murder

48. Tension between the Civil Rights groups became public in 1966 • James Meredith was shot while setting out to complete his “walk against fear” campaign • MLK (SCLC) and Stokely Carmichael (SNCC) agreed that their members would finish Meredith’s walk • On the walk, it became clear that SNCC had become very militant

49. SNCC made fun of MLK’s “We shall overcome” quote • SNCC liked to say “We shall overrun” • Stokely Carmichael began the idea of “Black Power:” a call for black people to begin to define their own goals and to lead their own organizations • MLK cautioned Carmichael that his actions would antagonize whites

50. Another more militant group was the Black Panthers • The Black Panthers were founded in Oakland, California in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale • The Black Panthers wanted to fight police brutality in black neighborhoods