Bell Quiz (pgs. 710 – 716)

1. Bell Quiz (pgs. 710 – 716) 1) In what city was the first freedom riders bus attacked? 2) What year was James Meredith enrolled in Ole Miss University? 3) What was the purpose of the March on Washington D.C.? 4) What was the goal of the Freedom Summer project? 5) Who was the voice of the MFDP at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

2. Answers 1) Anniston, Alabama 2) 1962 3) To persuade Congress to pass Kennedy’s civil rights bill. 4) To influence Congress to pass voting rights acts and register as many African American voters as possible. 5) Fannie Lou Hamer.

3. Freedom Riders • Civil rights activists volunteered to ride interstate buses into the South and challenge segregation. • Sponsored by CORE and SNCC • The first Freedom Ride left Washington D.C. on May 4, 1961. • Arrested in Mississippi for trespassing, unlawful assembly, and violating state and local Jim Crow laws.

4. Violence against Freedom Riders • Anniston, Alabama 200 angry whites attacked and firebombed a freedom rider bus. • The Riders were beaten as they fled the burning bus. • Other Freedom Riders were beaten by KKK members in Birmingham under the orders of Police Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor.

5. SNCC takes over the freedom rides • May 17th 1961 a new set of riders took a bus to Birmingham where they were beaten and arrested. • Reports of the bus burning and beatings reached U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy. • May 20th the riders set out for Montgomery again with same result.

6. Outcome • Newspapers throughout the nation reported the violence. • President Kennedy sent 400 U.S. marshals to protect the riders on the rest of the trip. • The attorney general and the Interstate Commerce Commission banned segregation in all interstate travel facilities.

7. James Meredith: Ole Miss Univ. • October 1, 1962, Meredith became the first black student at Ole Miss. • His enrollment was opposed by Governor Ross Barnett. • President Kennedy ordered federal marshals to escort Meredith onto campus; resulting in a campus wide riot. • The riots resulted in two deaths, 200 arrests and took federal troops 15 hours to regain control.

8. Freedom Summer • A campaign to register as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi. • In 1962 only 6% of African-Americans were registered to vote in Mississippi. • Organized by the NAACP, CORE, the SCLC and SNCC • The goal was to register black voters and influence Congress to pass voting rights acts. • June, 21 1964 three civil rights workers were abducted, tortured and killed by Klansmen and local police from Philadelphia, Mississippi.

9. Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) • SNCC organized the MFDP in order to win seats at the 1964 Democratic National Convention from Mississippi’s all-white Democratic Party. • Fannie Lou Hamer was the voice of MFDP. • MFDP gained 2 of the 68 seats.

10. March on Washington D.C. • August 28, 1963 • CORE, SNCC, the SCLC, and the NAACP organized the march on D.C. to persuade Congress to pass President Kennedy’s civil rights bill. • Approximately 250,000 people took part in the march. • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. • Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed shortly after the march.

11. “I Have a Dream Speech” http://www.archive.org/details/MLKDream (Audio Only)

12. The Selma Campaign • http://www.historycentral.com/Sixties/Selma.html • 1965, the SCLC conducted a major voting rights campaign in Selma, AL • 2,000 African Americans were arrested in demonstrations and one person was killed. • MLK organized a protest march from Selma to Montgomery. • Police beat and used tear gas on the demonstrators. • President Johnson asked Congress to pass new voting rights acts swiftly. • Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.