The Civil Rights Movement

1. The Civil Rights Movement

2. Warren Court’s Brown Decision

3. 1954 Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, KS • It is no longer OK to have separate but equal facilities for whites and blacks, especially when it comes to public education

5. http://www.history.com/topics/1950s/videos#brown-vs-board-of-education-separate-is-not-equalhttp://www.history.com/topics/1950s/videos#brown-vs-board-of-education-separate-is-not-equal

6. Greensboro sit-in 1960 Who:   4 black students from the North Carolina A&T What:  They sat down at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, NC.   -refused service, but allowed to sit at the counter.  -in 2 months the sit-in movement spread to 54 cities in 9 states. -6 months after the sit-ins began, the original 4 protesters were served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter. -Sit-ins were effective in the South at integrating public facilities.  Significance: The sit-in movement demonstrated the power of Martin Luther King’s strategy of nonviolent, passive resistance to injustice.

8. Rosa Parks

9. Rosa Parks Story • On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery AL, she refused to obey the bus driver ‘s order to give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. This act of civil disobedience had the effect of sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

10. The Little Rock Nine • A group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor OrvalFaubus & then attended after the intervention of President Eisenhower, is considered to be one of the most important events in the Civil Rights Movement. On their 1st day of school, troops from the Arkansas National Guard would not let them enter the school & and they were followed by mobs making threats to lynch.

12. The residents of Little Rock voted in 1958 to close the schools rather than desegregate. The 1958-59 school year thus became known as the “Lost Year”

13. http://www.history.com/topics/1950s/videos#little-rock-9

14. Malcolm X • Born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. Detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, antisemitism & violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history

15. Freedom Rides 1961 • Who:  Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) & individuals from around the U.S. • What: The Freedom Rides were organized by CORE to test the effectiveness of a 1960 Supreme Court decision, Boynton v. Virginia, which prohibited racial segregation in public areas that served interstate travelers. • A small interracial group of core members traveling in 2 busses challenged southern segregated rest rooms, waiting rooms, & restaurants in bus terminals between Washington, D.C., and New Orleans. The 1st bus was set on fire & some passengers were beaten.  The freedom ride movement caught on, & hundreds of busses rolled into the south from all over the U.S. • Significance: The initial Freedom Rides furthered desegregation in terminals throughout the South & demonstrated that civil rights victories in the Deep South were possible.

16. Black Activists & Organizations of the 1960s • Stokely Carmichael: black separatist & a Pan-Africanist & leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Black Panther Party, and participated in the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). • SNCC: Original student members were organizers of sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in the south.  Its purpose then was to coordinate the use of nonviolent direct action to attack segregation & other forms of racism. When Carmichael led the organization, it focused on Black Power and then fighting against the Vietnam War. • Roy Wilkins: He was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and between 1931 and 1934 was assistant NAACP secretary under Walter Francis White. When DuBois left the organization in 1934, Wilkins replaced him as editor of the official magazine of the NAACP • NAACP: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded February 12, 1909 to work on behalf of African Americans. By the mid-1960s, the NAACP had regained some of its preeminence in the Civil Rights Movement by pressing for civil rights legislation.

17. SNCC forms on college campuses to keep protests and sit-ins going

19. Black Activists & Organizations of the 1960s • James L. Farmer: In 1942, he founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), played a pivotal role in the U.S. Civil Rights movement.  It sought to apply the principles of nonviolence as a tactic against segregation • Huey Percy Newton: He was the co-founder and inspirational leader of the Black Panther Party.  • Black Panther Party: A revolutionary, Black Nationalist organization also founded by Bobby Seale and Richard Aoki.  It grew to national prominence in the U.S. & is a representative of the counterculture revolutions of the 1960s. It was founded on the principles of its Ten-Point Program, which called for greater autonomy of black Americans and correction of the injustices of racism. 

20. Civil Rights Act of 1964 What: The act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, creed (religion), national origin, and sex.  It was originally made to protect the rights of blacks.  However, the bill was amended prior to passage to protect the civil rights of women too.    Significance: The Act transformed American society. It prohibited discrimination in public facilities and in employment. The "Jim Crow" laws in the South were abolished, and it was illegal to compel segregation of the races in schools, housing, or hiring.  This is one of the most important laws in U.S. history.

22. Selma Bridge (1965) Who:  Martin Luther King Jr. / Black Community of Marion, Alabama What:  Outraged over the killing of a demonstrator by a state trooper in Marion, Alabama, the black community of Marion decided to hold a march. On "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965, about 600 civil rights marchers headed east out of Selma on U.S. Route 80. They only reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge about six blocks away, when they were confronted by the state & local police.  The police attacked them with billy clubs & tear gas & drove them back into Selma. 2 days later on March 9, MLK, Jr., led a "symbolic" march to the bridge. Then civil rights leaders sought court protection for a 3rd, full-scale march from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery. Federal District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. ruled in favor of the demonstrators.  On Sunday, March 21, about 3,200 marchers set out for Montgomery, walking 12 miles a day and sleeping in fields. By the time they reached the capitol on Thursday, March 25, they were 25,000-strong. Significance:   Less than 5 months after the last of the 3 marches, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965

23. Voting Rights Act of 1965 Who: President Lyndon Johnson What: This landmark law provided for the United States Department of Justice to supervise the registration of voters in states with histories of voter registration discrimination against minority citizens. Significance: Because of this Act, within five years, millions of blacks were registered to vote and their votes changed the character of Southern politics.

24. Black Militancy after 1965 • What: August 1965, frustrations with high unemployment & poverty led to riots, one specifically in the Watts section of Los Angeles (primarily a black neighborhood).  • In the summers of 1966 & 1967, urban riots occurred in the poorer neighborhoods of several Northern cities.  • The summer of 1967 saw 150 racial confrontations and 40 riots.  In 1968, the summer after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., many race riots broke out again.  These urban riots of the mid-1960s voiced black rage & demands for Black Power, which changed the tone of the civil rights movement. Many people such as Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X helped to promote black economic and political independence.  Conflicts soon arose between the older civil rights organizations, such as the NAACP, and black power advocates, with their aura of militancy and violence.  Some blacks called for racial pride and separatism instead of integration.  Civil rights demands shifted from color-blinded to color-consciousness. • Significance: By the end of the 1960s, the African American quest for political justice (votes) shifted more to economic justice (jobs).  The civil rights movement had strongly influenced other groups, which adopted its protest tactics.

25. 1968 Democratic Convention Riots • What:   August, 1968, the Democrats held their convention in Chicago.  Antiwar protestors battled police before a national television audience.  • Significance: The depths of antiwar protest were obvious.  Further, many Americans viewed the protestors as dangerous radicals, which fueled Nixon’s campaign on behalf of the “silent majority.”

26. 1968 Washington, DC Riots • Where:  Washington D.C., Baltimore, & Chicago • What:  The ready availability of jobs in the growing federal government attracted many to Washington in the 1960s, and middle class African-American neighborhoods prospered.  As word of King's murder by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee, spread on the evening of April 4, crowds began to gather.  By 11pm, widespread looting had begun (as well as in over 30 other cities). • Significance: The riots utterly devastated Washington's inner city economy. With the destruction or closing of businesses, thousands of jobs were lost, and insurance rates soared. Made uneasy by the violence, city residents of all races accelerated their departure for suburban areas, depressing property values. Crime in the burned out neighborhoods rose sharply, further discouraging investment.

27. Assassination of MLK • Who:                Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Earl Ray • When:              April 4, 1968 • Where:             On the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee • What:  He was preparing to lead a local march in support of the predominantly black Memphis sanitation workers’ union on strike at the time.  The assassination led to a nationwide wave of riots in more than 60 cities.  Two months later they captured and escaped convict James Earl Ray.  He confessed of killing him because of his extensive civil rights work. • Significance:King left a huge impact on America through his promotion of non-violence and racial equality.  He was considered a peacemaker and martyr.  It was a huge loss for America to lose the most famous leader of American Civil Rights Movement. 

29. http://www.history.com/topics/1960s/videos#martin-luther-king-jr-leads-the-march-on-washingtonhttp://www.history.com/topics/1960s/videos#martin-luther-king-jr-leads-the-march-on-washington

31. Assassination of RFK • When: June 5, 1968 • Who:   Robert F. Kennedy and Sirhan B. Sirhan • What:  4 years after the death of his brother John F. Kennedy.  In a crowded kitchen passageway, Sirhan B. Sirhan, a 24-year-old Los Angeles resident, fired a .22 caliber revolver directly into the crowd surrounding Kennedy.  Kennedy never regained consciousness and died in the early morning hours of June 6, 1968 at the age of 42.  Kennedy was appointed by his brother as Attorney General for his administration.  • Significance: He was one of President Kennedy’s most trusted advisors.  In 1964, after his brother’s death, he was elected to the U.S. Senate from the NY & at the time of his assassination he was running for president.

33. Women’s Rights The Feminine Mystique (1963) and Betty Freidan (and NOW) Who: Betty Freidan What:   Freidan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963) is the book that launched the modern women’s movement.  Freidan spoke in rousing terms to millions of able, educated women who applauded her indictment of the stifling boredom of suburban housewives trapped in the “comfortable concentration camp.”   She told them of “the problem that has no name,” which is simply the fact that American women are kept from growing to their full human capacities. She argued that the “problem” was taking a far greater toll on the physical and mental health of our country than any known disease. Significance: Freidan and her literature were most often credited with launching the “second wave” of the American feminist movement in the later half of the twentieth century.  She was founder (1966) and first president of NOW, the National Organization for Women.

34. Roe v. Wade 1973 • The Court held that a woman's right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy (recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut) protected by the 14th Amendment. The decision gave a woman total autonomy over the pregnancy during the 1st trimester & defined different levels of state interest for the 2nd & 3rd trimesters. As a result, the laws of 46 states were affected by the Court's ruling.

36. Native Americans • In 1968 Native American leaders demanded a reimbursement for lands that government had taken through treaties & Indians engaged in violent confrontations with Federal authorities.