The Struggle for Equality

1. The Struggle for Equality Civil Rights in the 50’s and 60’s

9. What is segregation? • Segregation is the separation of people according to race or ethnicity. • Before 1950 segregation was common in the U.S.A. • Segregation deprived minorities of their rights.

10. Two kinds of segregation • de jure segregation • Segregation by law • Common in the South • Laws forbid African-Americans from attending the same church, using the same swimming pool, eating in restaurants, or marrying White people. • de facto segregation • Segregation without laws • Common in the North • Housing discrimination made segregation in the North. White community groups did not allow non-Whites to live in White neighborhoods. Every ethnic group had its own part of town.

11. Plessy v Ferguson Is Separate Equal ? • Facts: • 1896 Homer Plessy took a seat in the “Whites Only” car of a train and refused to move. He was arrested, tried, and convicted in the District Court of New Orleans for breaking Louisiana’s segregation law. • Question: • Was the Louisiana law separating blacks and whites on railroad cars legal? • Decision: • Split decision that “separate but equal” law did not violate the 14th amendment

12. Why did Americans’ View on Segregation Change?

13. Reason #1 – World War II and the Korean War • During World War II and the Korean War, racial minorities such as African-Americans, Hispanics, or Native Americans gained respect of the white troops they had served with

14. Reason #1 – World War II and the Korean War • Most people believed America had fought those wars for democracy and freedom. • Racial segregation started to seem un-American to many. People remembered that Hitler and the other “bad guys” had been racists.

15. Reason #2 – The Cold War • During the Cold War, America was trying to convince the world that it was better than the Soviet Union, racism made America look bad to the rest of the world. • Communists could use America’s racism as an example showing that the U.S. was evil.

16. Reason #3 - Television • With the arrival of television, Americans could watch the news daily. • The non-violent civil disobedience used by King made the civil rights protesters look like good people and made their opponents look hateful, and violent. • People could also hear Dr. King’s inspiring speeches. He was a powerful speaker who knew how to change people’s hearts and minds.

17. Reason 4: Direct Action by Groups Wanting Equality

18. NAACP and leaders • Thurgood Marshall, lawyer, cases involving school segregation • Rosa Parks—refuses to give up her seat on the bus to a white man and as a result the Montgomery Bus Boycott occurs. • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—he gains national prominence as a leader during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Arrested in Birmingham • Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

19. How did they do it? • Civil rights leaders used non-violent protests, civil disobedience, and legal action to change the U.S.

20. Non-Violent Protest • Boycotts • Refusing to buy goods or services from a business in order to force it to change its policies • Hunger strikes • Refusing to eat anything in order to get attention for your cause • Petitions • Writing a letter to ask the government or a company to change its policy, and then getting as many people to sign it as possible. • Marches and demonstrations • Getting as many people as possible to gather in one place to get attention to your cause • Strikes • Refusing to work in order to force your managers or government to change their policies

21. Civil disobedience • Breaking the law or causing a disturbance in order to get attention for your cause. • Sit ins • The protesters come into a place, sit down, and refuse to move.

22. Legal action • Lawyers can challenge a law or policy in court. If they convince the judge that the law or policy is unconstitutional, then the judge will order them to change. • People can speak at government hearings or meetings and try to convince legislators to make new laws or repeal unfair ones.

23. Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka KSIs Separate Equal ? • Facts: • In 1954 Linda Brown’s parents wanted her to attend the school close to her home. Kansas law stated she had to attend a segregated school. NAACP and attorney Thurgood Marshall tested the law. • Question: • Can Linda Brown attend an “all white” school?

24. Linda Brown • In 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren said that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. He ordered all the schools to end segregation.

25. Rosa Parks • In Alabama, the bus company had a rule that said all African-Americans had to sit in the back of the bus. • In 1955, Rosa Parks, an African-American women, was coming home from work and was very tired. The seats in the back were full, but the front seats were empty. She sat down in the front. When the bus driver ordered her to move, she refused. He called the police and they arrested her.

26. Rosa Parks • Montgomery Bus Boycott: For months, African-Americans walked or gave each other rides. The bus company lost money because most of their passengers were African-Americans. • Eventually, they were forced to change their rule or go out of business. • In 1956, the Supreme Court declared segregation on public transportation unconstitutional.

27. Southern Christian Leadership Conference • The organization created by MLK • The promoted equality and the end to segregation through non-violent means

28. College students in Greensboro • In 1960, many restaurants would not serve African-Americans. To protest this some African-American college students in Greensboro, North Carolina decided to go to a lunch counter at a Woolworth’s Department store and order food. • The servers refused to serve them, but the students refused to leave.

29. College students in Greensboro • These lunch counter protests spread throughout the U.S. Many white students came along to support the African-Americans.

30. College students in Greensboro • The students always stayed peaceful, even when attacked or arrested. This made the racists look hateful and evil. • This strategy was very successful and convinced many Whites to support civil rights for minorities.

31. 1957 Little Rock, ArkansasCentral High School - Orval Faubus the Governor of Arkansas refused to allow nine students to integrate the local high school - 101st Airborne was sent in by President Eisenhower to enforce the court order

32. Southern Manifesto • Southern Manifesto was signed by ALL but three southern leaders • Al Gore, Sr., Tennessee • Lyndon Johnson, Texas • Estes Kefauver, Tennessee • Called for resistance –appealed to emotions of prejudices and paranoia.

33. March to Selma

34. March on WashingtonAugust 28, 1963

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36. “Momentum”Timeline • May 1961, Freedom Riders • Sep 1962, integrating the University of Mississippi • Apr 1963, Birmingham • June 1963, integrating the University of Alabama • Aug 1963, March on Washington • Summer of ’64 Freedom Summer

37. Freedom Riders • Apr-Dec 1961 • Who: CORE and SNCC (congress of racial equality and student nonviolent coordinating committee) • Plan of Action: to test the SC decision banning segregation on interstate bus routes • Obstacles: violence • Results: Desegregated busses due to loss of profit

38. University of Mississippi • September 1962 • Who: James Meredith and JFK • Plan of Action: integrate UM • Obstacles: Governor Ross Barnett, riots, and death • Results: JFK ordered federal marshals to escort Meredith. James Meredith

39. Heading to Birmingham • April 1963 • Who: Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, MLK, and the SCLC • Plan of Action: demonstrate and march • Obstacles: Police violence • Results: an end to segregation in Birmingham

40. University of Alabama • June 1963 • Who: Gov. George Wallace • Plan of Action: integrate the University of Alabama • Obstacles: Governor George Wallace • Results: JFK used federal troops to enforce the desegregation

41. George Wallace “In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”

42. March on Washington • August 1963 • Who: CR leaders, to include MLK • Plan of Action: converge on the nation’s capital • Obstacles: ? • Results: Short Term=continued violence (murder and assassination), Long Term=Civil Rights Act of 1964

43. Freedom Summer • Summer of ’64 • Who: SNCC and volunteers • Where: Mississippi • Plan of Action: register voters • Obstacles: Local officers killed volunteers • Results: Congress did not pass a Voters Rights act.

44. The Selma Campaign • Early 1965 • Who: SCLC and SNCC • Plan of Action: Voter registration drive and march to Montgomery • Obstacles: violent, local law officers • Reaction: LBJ responded by asking Congress for the swift passage of a new voting rights act. It passed in 1965.

45. Malcolm X Malcolm X did not believe in nonviolence and believed African Americans should fight and defend themselves He also believed that African Americans should return to Africa and in the meantime have their own nation in North America He later converts to Sunni Islam and goes on the Hajj, it is there that he sees people from all over the world working together and he believes integration could work As time goes on however he rejects violence and is assassinated for turning against the Nation of Islam

46. Johnson’s Race Policy Lyndon B Johnson will take over for the slain Kennedy and begin his “Great Society” a continuation of Kennedy’s New Frontier Johnson was a southerner who will reshape American politics by signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Results African Americans gained more freedoms The South left Johnson’s Democratic party and joined the Republican party Tension did not end, at the assassination of King in 68 cities (including Raleigh) will have race riots

47. Stokely Carmichael and the Black Panther Party • Stokely Carmichael was a former leader of SNCC and a Freedom Rider • As time went on he became more radical and came to believe that whites could not help African Americans achieve equality and that they had to seize their own power (This is the Black Power movement) • Stokely will eventually leave SNCC and join the more radical Black Panther Party that believed African Americans must take up arms to defend themselves, and in some cases start a revolution

48. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Because of the Civil Rights movement, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This law ended all racial discrimination in public facilities such as restrooms, restaurants, buses, movie theaters, and swimming pools.

49. Voting Rights Act 1965 • Prohibited discrimination at voting polls • Established bilingual ballots in areas with large amount of non-English speaking minorities • Outlawed literacy tests for voters • Gave Federal Government power to oversee all elections

50. Civil Rights act of 1968 • Written as a follow-up to the CRA of 1964 • Created to enforce equal housing opportunities for all races • Basically you cannot refuse to rent or sell a house to anyone, anywhere, based upon their race