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Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Movement. Ch 27: 1945 – 1975. Early Civil Rights Actions. Under Pres Truman Appointed a Committee on Civil Rights Recommended several actions but Congress refused them Used Executive Order to desegregate the military Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers

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Civil Rights Movement

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  1. Civil Rights Movement Ch 27: 1945 – 1975

  2. Early Civil Rights Actions • Under Pres Truman • Appointed a Committee on Civil Rights • Recommended several actions but Congress refused them • Used Executive Order to desegregate the military • Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers • 1st African American to play Major League Baseball • Faced harassment & death threats to play • Viewed by some as step in the right direction

  3. Brown v. Board of Ed., Topeka, KS • Supreme Court Case overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 • unanimous decision • Said “separate but equal” was inherently unequal • Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote decision • Thurgood Marshall – lawyer for NAACP & Linda Brown • 1955, Court added that schools be desegregated “with all deliberate speed” • In response, the KKK staged a revival

  4. 1955 • Emmitt Till, 14, from Chicago • Visited family in Mississippi • Kidnapped, beaten, shot & body dumped in river • Supposedly whistled at a white woman • 2 whites are found not guilty by all-white jury • Bragged about the murder later • Montgomery Bus Boycott began • Rosa Parks’ arrest & Dr. King’s leadership led to success of boycott 13 months later

  5. Civil Rights Leading Organizations • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) • Est. in 1910, Key leaders: Dr. DuBois, Roy Wilkins • 1st worked to stop lynchings, then provided legal services; always – non-violent methods of protest • Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) • Est. in 1957, Dr. King – 1st President • Stressed non-violent methods of protest • Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, SNCC • Est. 1960, encouraged young to join movement • Became more radical under Stokely Carmichael

  6. Little Rock Nine • Central High School in Little Rock, AK • All-white school ordered to be desegregated in 1957 • Gov. Orval Faubus blocked federal order • Eisenhower sent in US Army to protect the 9 students • President proved enforcement powers • Daily they faced angry white crowds & even received death threats

  7. Greensboro Sit – In • North Carolina Woolworth’s store • Started with 4 students from NC A&T College • Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, David Richmond, & Ezell Blair, Jr. • Daily sat at segregated lunch counter • Faced crowds, taunts, hit, coffee dumped on them • 6 months later finally were served • Inspired other sit – ins around the country • Became effective method to end segregation at public places (parks, theatres, libraries, pools)

  8. 1961-62 • Freedom Rides, Summer 1961 • Bus trips throughout South to test desegregation after Boynton v. Virginia, 1960 Supreme Court case • Attacked by mobs, firebombed • Organized by SNCC & the Congress of Racial Equality, CORE (est. 1942, smaller organization to fight discrimination; also non-violent) • James Meredith & Ole Miss – University of Miss • Gov Ross Barnett fought integration • 1962, Kennedy sent in Army to stops riots on campus & to protect Meredith

  9. 1963 – Pivotal Year • Birmingham, AL protests • Dr. King arrested – wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” on non-violent methods • Eugene “Bull” Connor orders use of fire hoses & dogs to break up protests; images shown on TV! • Murder of Medgar Evers, NAACP, Jackson, Miss • Killed in front of his home • Bryan De La Beckwith, 2 trials ended w/ hung juries • 30 years later finally convicted

  10. March on Washington • August 28, 1963, Washington DC • 250,000 people marched on the Mall area • To Lincoln Memorial • For equality, jobs, & support proposed Civil Rights Act that Pres Kennedy also wanted • International TV showed peaceful event • Dr King’s “I have a Dream” Speech – key event • Others: John Lewis/ SNCC; A. Philip Randolph, Rosa Parks, Charlton Heston • Music: Marian Anderson, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul, & Mary; & many others

  11. Positive News after March • Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize • 24th Amendment ratified – no more poll taxes • 11 southern states had been using poll taxes • Pres Johnson signed Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity • strongest Civil Rights law since Reconstruction • Also reaffirmed Federal gov’t right to enforce it • Some will argue it only passed because of JFK’s death

  12. Not all news is good… • Bomb explodes in a Birmingham, AL church • Killed 4 girls attending Sunday school, Sept 1963 • FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover actually blocked investigation • 1 convicted in 1972, 1 died, 1 in 2001 & last in 2002 • Miss – 3 voter registration workers murdered • Bodies found 6 weeks later in an earthen dam –Aug ’64 • Ringleader Edgar Ray Killen convicted in 2005 • Feb ‘65, Malcolm X murdered for becoming less radical in beliefs, had broke w/ Nation of Islam • 3 assassins from the Nation of Islam were convicted

  13. March from Selma, AL • To demonstrate support for voting rights & registration – organized by SCLC • Aim to march to Montgomery • Gov. George Wallace • Stopped at Pettus Bridge by Police • “Bloody Sunday” – 50 marchers are hurt after police use tear gas, whips & clubs • Finally Aug, Congress passed Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Prohibits poll taxes, literacy tests & other restrictions

  14. Violence Grew • Aug 1965 – Watts Riots in CA • 6 days of race riots in predominately Black neighborhood of Los Angeles • Killed 34, $200 million in damages • Rise of the Black Panthers – militant organization • Founders: Huey Newton & Bobby Seale, 1966 • Called for African Americans to get weapons for a violent revolution for liberation • Resulted in many clashes w/ police & court cases • July ‘67 – Race riots in Newark, NJ & Detroit

  15. Loving v. Virginia, 1967 • Mildred Jeter married Richard Loving in 1958 • In Washington DC, but lived in Virginia • Virginia arrested them for violating the law • Anti-miscegenation statute – banned inter-racial marriages • Found guilty & sentenced to 1 yr, suspended if they moved from VA, not to return for 25 yrs • Supreme Court overturned the case, 9-0 • All racial restrictions on marriage unconstitutional

  16. Dr. King’s Assassination • Apr 4, 1968 • Memphis, TN; balcony of motel room • James Earl Ray – career criminal & open racist • Caught in London 2 months later • plead guilty = life in prison • 3 days later recanted confession & claimed his innocence for rest of his life (d. 1998) • Riots broke out in 125 cities across US • Pres Candidate Robert Kennedy called for calm • RFK also assassinated in June ’68 by SirhanSirhan

  17. President Johnson’s Leadership • 1965 Executive Order on affirmative action • Requires gov’t contractors to hire minorities • Kerner Commission • National advisory board • Proclaimed that US was becoming two societies; 1 black & 1 white that was separate & unequal • Civil Rights Act of 1968 • Prohibited discrimination in sale, rental, & financing of housing

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