The Civil Rights Movement

1. The Civil Rights Movement We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident

2. Second Class Citizens • Failure of Reconstruction • Jim Crow Laws, “Social Segregation” • Poll taxes & Literacy tests • Plessy v. Ferguson – 1896 • “Separate but Equal” • Northern Migration • Military Discrimination • Economic Status • Political Disenfranchisement

4. With segregation laws, whites sought to preserve what they considered proper "racial etiquette." The laws differed from state to state, but they consistently treated blacks as inferior.

5. Holes in the Levee • 15th Amendment - 1870 • NAACP – founded 1909 • FDR programs • New Deal provided help for 40% of the Black pop. • Truman Policies –Commission on Civil Rights - 1947 • Jackie Robinson – broke baseball’s color barrier April 15, 1947

6. Brown v. BOE Topeka • Linda Brown prevented from attending all-white school in Topeka, KS • Thurgood Marshall NAACP attorney • 1954 ruling declared segregation illegal in public schools • “the doctrine of separate but equal has no place” • The Southern Manifesto • Document written by US Congress members opposed to integration

7. Murder of Emmett Till • August 1955 • Teenager from Chicago visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi • Whistled at a white woman • Dragged from bed and beaten • Found dead 3 days later • Two white men arrested, including woman’s husband • Not guilty • No federal involvement

8. Montgomery Bus Boycott • 12/1/1955 - Rosa Parks arrested • 381 Days – segregation of public buses illegal • Montgomery Improvement Association • Martin Luther King Jr. becomes leader • Civil Rights Act 1957- crime to prevent a “qualified” person from voting

10. Little Rock • Integrate “with all deliberate speed” – many states in South did not comply • Arkansas-Sept. 1957 • Little Rock Nine • Gov. Orval Faubus • Natl. Guard • 101st Airborne • 1958 shut down schools • 1959 reopen under court order w/Federal troops

11. Beyond Black and White • Mexican Americans • LULAC • Delgado v. Bastrop ISD • Asian Americans • Chinese Exclusion Act repealed in 1952 • Asians still discriminated against • Native Americans • Termination policy • Relocation Act of 1956 • Eisenhower ends termination in 1958

12. Martin Luther King Jr. • Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) • Alliance of church-based orgs. dedicated to ending discrimination • “Confronting the forces of hate with the power of love” • Non-violence

13. Active Youth • SNCC – “snick” – 1960– student activists from South • Lunch Counter Sit-ins (SNCC) • Greensboro NC • 2/1/1960 • Woolworth’s • Launched other sin-ins in NC and around the USA • 55 cities & 13 states

16. Active Youth • CORE - founded 1942 • Freedom Riders (CORE)- protest segregation on interstate buses • Some met resistance from the police and were arrested • No Alabama Getaway • One bus was firebombed in Anniston, the other attacked in Birmingham • The busses met mobs of violence in Alabama & police escorts abandoned them • White riders received the worst of the beatings

21. Continued Struggles • James Meredith – first African American to enroll at Ole Miss • Medgar Evers – NAACP secretary shot and killed outside home June 1963 • Byron de la Beckwith • Two mistrials in 60s • Convicted in 1994 • Died in 2001 at age 80 • Albany, Ga. – police use nonviolence against protesters

23. Violence in Birmingham, Ala. • Birmingham – hotbed of civil rights violence • April 1963 MLK – “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” • Schoolchildren used as protesters • Sept. 1963 – Bomb at black Birmingham church kills four young girls • Effect of Kennedy’s assassination on civil rights • LBJ as President

26. Legislation under LBJ • Civil Rights Act 1964 • Protection of voting rights • Opening of all public facilities to all races • Commission to protect job opportunities • The Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Ended literacy test • Legal consequences for states that don’t comply

28. Freedom Summer-’64 • 24th Amendment – eliminating poll tax • Freedom Summer –Campaign to register voters in the South • Voter Education Project • Mississippi Burning – Volunteer workers murdered (2 whites from New York, 1 black from Mississippi)

32. Selma, Alabama • March 1965 – 383 out of 15,000 blacks were registered voters • 600 people 54-mile walk from Selma to Montgomery – protesting harsh treatment of blacks attempting to register to vote • “Bloody Sunday” – police attack marchers • What effect does TV coverage of the march have on the civil rights movement? • Voting Rights Act – 1965 • Voter registration under federal control • Ended literacy test • Legal consequences for states that don’t comply • 57% increase in black voters in Alabama

35. March on Washington-8/28/63“I Have a Dream” • In support of JFK’s Civil Rights Bill of ’63 • 200,000 People • MLK – “I Have a Dream” speech

37. Black Muslims/Malcolm X • Questioning the Movement • Elijah Muhammed’s Nation of Islam • Black Nationalism • Black Muslims- separatists • “By any Means Necessary” • Born Malcolm Little • 1964 began to call for unity among all people • Shot and killed Feb. 1965 NYC

39. The Movement Fractures • “Black Power” • Stokely Carmichael • Positive/negative effects • Black Panthers- Huey Newton & Bobby Seale • armed b/c didn’t trust white police • “War can only be abolished through war” • 1965-Watts, LA (6 days) • 125 riots in 2yrs. • Detroit – 43 deaths

40. BLACK POWER!! • “I’m sick and tired of going to funerals of black men who have been murdered by white men……I’ve got vengeance in my heart tonight” • “What do you want?”…. “Black Power!!!” • “Black people will not be free until we are free to determine our own destiny” • “Black self defense groups that are dedicated to defending our black communities from racist police oppression”

42. Detroit 1967

43. Newark Riots • July 13-17, 1967 • Event that triggered riots – Cab driver arrested and beaten • Factors leading to riots • Police brutality • Political exclusion of blacks • Urban renewal • Poverty/unemployment/ poor housing • Rapid demographic change/ “white flight” • Results • 26 dead, 725 injured • Close to 1500 arrested • Damage in millions • Kerner Commission

47. 1968 • MLK 4/4/68 – shot and killed by James Earl Ray • Memphis, TN • “We have business on the road to freedom…We must prove to White America that you can kill the leader but you cannot kill the dream” – Ralph Abernathy • Riots across country • 45 dead • Thousands injured

48. Tommie Smith and John Carlos

49. Attica and into the 1970s Attica – 9/1971 Prison take over in NY State 54% black prisoners, 100% white guards 5 days take over where 40 guards were held prisoner Military attack on prison = 31 dead prisoners and 9 dead guards Boston school busing 1974 – Natural school segregation Black school lack permanent teachers, furniture, supplies and books Federal district court rules that the schools are not equal and students should be bussed city wide to integrate Violence, verbal abuse and white boycotts of schools Affirmative action – plans to end discriminatory hiring practices