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Black Freedom Struggle. 1950s and 1960s. Some Events of the Black Freedom Struggle. 1954: Brown v. Board of Education 1955: Murder of Emmet Till 1955: Rosa Parks arrested 1956: Montgomery bus boycott 1957: “Little Rock Nine” 1960: Lunch-counter sit-in, North Carolina 1961: Freedom rides
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Black Freedom Struggle 1950s and 1960s
Some Events of theBlack Freedom Struggle • 1954: Brown v. Board of Education • 1955: Murder of Emmet Till • 1955: Rosa Parks arrested • 1956: Montgomery bus boycott • 1957: “Little Rock Nine” • 1960: Lunch-counter sit-in, North Carolina • 1961: Freedom rides • 1963: Murder of Medgar Evers • 1963: March on Washington
1955 Murder of Emmet Till Mose Wright
Supreme Court Civil Rights Cases
What did the Supreme Court do? • Brown v. Board of Education, 1954 • Baker v. Carr, 1963 (Warren felt this his most important decision) • It established the case for “one person one vote” for state legislatures as well as the House of Representatives • As a result, most states had to redraw electoral districts, thus making state legislatures more responsive to metropolitan interests.
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), when accused criminals cannot afford to hire lawyers, states must provide them without charge • Miranda v. Arizona (1966), Court required officers to inform suspects of their rights upon arrest; and it overturned convictions based on evidence obtained by unlawful arrest, electronic surveillance, or without a search warrant.
Supreme Court often moved ahead of public opinion. • Abington School District v. Schempp (1963), ruled that a PA law requiring Bible reading and prayer in school violated the First Amendment principle of separation of church and state.
Major Civil Rights legislation • Civil Rights Act of 1964, guaranteed access of all Americans to public accommodations, public education, employment, and voting
What did Congress do? • Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 opening of the War on Poverty • Voting Rights Act, 1965, banned literacy tests and ensured access to the voting booth • National Housing Act of 1968, authorized increase in funding for affordable housing • Civil Rights Act, 1968, banned discrimination in housing and jury service
After passage of Civil Rights Act • Black protest moved from simply legal equality to economic equality. It no longer held nonviolence as its basic principle. • Waves of urban uprisings in the 1960s, Watts in LA; Newark and Detroit in 1967, and DC in 1968.
Radicalizing the Civil Rights Movement • Black protest moved from simply legal equality to economic equality. • It no longer held nonviolence as its basic principle. • Waves of urban uprisings in the 1960s, Watts in LA; Newark and Detroit in 1967, and DC in 1968.
SNCC, Stokely Carmichael • Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee • Among its leaders: James Lawson, Ella Baker, Stokely Carmichael
CORE • Congress of Racial Equality • Organized Freedom Rides
Malcolm X • Initially a member of the Nation of Islam, “black muslims”; called for separation from white society; • in 1964 he left the Nation of Islam and advocated working with integrationists • assassinated by three black muslims in 1965 at a Harlem rally.
Black Panther Party • Huey Newton and Bobby Seale organized the Black Panther Party after an unarmed teen was killed in SF in 1966 • Founded in Oakland • White backlash to Black Panther Party
During Kennedy’s “New Frontier” • President Kennedy established the President’s Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) in 1961 • First chairwoman: Eleanor Roosevelt • Equal Pay Act 1963
During Johnson’s “Great Society” • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination based on gender in hiring and extended affirmative action to women. • It was not enforced, called a “fluke” • Betty Friedan and Pauli Murray founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966
Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm • First Black woman elected to Congress
Women’s Liberation Movement • Inspired by successes of SNCC • More radical than NOW • Cellestine Ware founded New York Radical Feminists and called the predominately white leadership of women’s groups to work for issues of minority women.
Ms. • Women’s magazine founded by Gloria Steinem
ERA • Equal Rights Amendment passed Congress in 1972 • “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” • It was endorsed by President Nixon • It was never ratified
Opponents • Conservative wing Republican Party • Spokewoman Phyllis Schlafly • She believed God predetermined women’s roles and that the Congress or legal structure should not regulate them