Civil Rights in the USA Summary(1945-1968)

Survey:● The position of African Americans at the start of the period, including:– The impact of World War II on the circumstances of African Americans in the United States:

World War II had a profound impact on the treatment of African American’s as their circumstances began to slightly improve

They played a significant role in the military There was a migration of African Americans across the nation- four

million African Americans left Southern farms and Chicago’s black population grew from 270000 in 1940 to almost half a million by 1950

Demands for an end to prejudice in defence-related work began. A Philip Randolph, a black trade union leader, threatened to lead a march on Washington and President Roosevelt signed an executive order which ended discrimination in the defence workforce. By the end of WWII, there were over two million black people doing defence work

There were some instances of continuing violence against African American’s, the KKK encouraged white workers to oppose desegregation in the workplace. White workers would often strike against it and in June 1943 there were major race riots in Detroit over desegregation

The presence of African American organisations increased, and they became more influential. Trade union leaders, like A Philip Randolph and groups such as Congress of Racial Equality and the Urban League began to appear. The NAACP became more influential as its membership increased from 50000 in 1940 to 450000 by 1945

“Black consciousness” was increasing due to AA participation during WWII, black proximity to whites and growing official awareness of black demands for equality. Southern white supremacy was very slowly being challenged and a movement for civil rights was gaining support

At the beginning of WWII, the US military was strictly segregated, and black soldiers were restricted to non-combat roles such as transport, labouring and quartermaster results. Donated blood was segregated as white soldiers would not receive blood from blacks

Black soldiers eventually assumed combat roles as over 140000 served in the American Air Force, such as the Tuskegee Airmen and the 761st Tank Battalion (fought in Battle of the Bulge)

In 1940, President Roosevelt ordered that black recruits were to make up ten per cent of the military to reflect the population. Federal legislation stated that blacks could not fight alongside white troops, however, General Eisenhower allowed some black troops to fight in all white units. In 1948, President Truman’s Executive Order 9981 ordered for the desegregation of the military

A Fair Employment Practices Committee was set up during the war to deal with cases of discrimination against African American workers. Of the 8000 cases brought to the Committee, over two thirds were dismissed and funding was reduced in 1943 by Southern Congressmen

The Justice Department established a Civil Rights Section which aimed to decrease lynching and police brutality against blacks in the South

Smith v Allwright 1944 Supreme Court case declared that the exclusion of black voters from primary elections was unconstitutional under the Fifteenth Amendment. Whites in the South still tried to prevent blacks voting but between 1940 and 1947 the number of registered black voters in the South increased from 3% to 12%

– The extent of racial segregation and various forms of discrimination: Slavery- From the 16th till 19th Century, the Atlantic Slave trade took

place and most African Americans were slaves prior to the Northern win of the American Civil War (1861-1865). In the American Constitution, African American slaves were considered to be three fifths of a person

Emancipation Act of 1863- This proclamation was made in January 1863 by Lincoln during the Civil War and it freed slaves across America; it was an important turning point in the Civil War and within civil rights history. It was the precedent for the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution

Reconstruction- The period following the Civil War where America attempted to rebuild economically, socially and politically; there was a rise of resistance in the South to many of the gains achieved by former slaves, such as the introduction of grandfather clauses making it hard to vote if your grandparents were slaves and Black Codes which treated Black Americans with prejudice and enforced segregation (1865-1877)

Post-Civil-War South- Southern whites were angry during the period of reconstruction and the Klu Klux Klan was growing. In 1877, Rutherford B Hayes came into office, reconstruction ended, and the former Confederate states were left to determine the future treatment of former African American slaves

1917-1925- Over 600000 African Americans from the Southern states moved North to find more work- hostility still existed in the North but not to the same extent

Jim Crow Laws (1865)- Jim Crow laws were a collection of state and local statutes that legalised racial segregation. Named after an insulting song lyric regarding African Americans, the law, (which existed from the post-Civil War era until 1968) were meant to return Southern states to an antebellum class structure by marginalizing black Americans. Formed the basis of ‘separate but equal’

1909- The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured Peoples was created, and African Americans began attempts to improve their social situation

Violence- African Americans were subjected to widespread violence at the hands of white. In 1919 alone over 70 African Americans were lynched in the South, with crowds of white people attending lynching’s

Klu Klux Klan- The KKK rose into existence from the end of the Civil War with an aim to terrorise African Americans. Between 1882 and 1968 3446 African Americans were lynched by white vigilante groups, mostly in the South. Since the Civil War the presence of the KKK was in decline. However, in 1915, the KKK was revived under William Simmons’ as a result of white fears that America would become a nation of “crossbreeds and mongrels” as other races and religions entered the country. It claimed to have five million members by 1924. The KKK maintained a desire to suppress the aspirations of African Americans and was also anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish and anti-immigrant. The KKK was intertwined with politics as the governors of Colorado and Alabama and senators from Georgia and Texas were Klansmen

The Great Depression (1929)- During the Depression, unemployment reached 15 million by 1933, children were forced to leave school early and homes were lost. However, the experience for African Americans was much worst as their unemployment rate was far higher and the standard of living was far lower for them. Between 1933 and 1935, there were sixty-three lynchings of African Americans, with President Roosevelt taking no action in fear of losing white Southern votes. In 1931 the “Scottsboro Boys Incident” occurred in which a group of young African American men were accused and successfully framed of raping two white girls

Supreme Court cases- In Civil Rights cases in 1883, the SC held that the Federal Government could not interfere in the law-making process of Southern states. The 1896 Supreme Court Case of “Plessy v Ferguson” involved an appeal being launched in the SC that suggested that segregation contravened the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The Court held that the “separate but equal” facilities did not contravene the law, despite the large differences between coloured and white facilities. In some Southern states, state expenditure on white schools was ten times or more greater than that on blacks

Right to vote- In July 1868, the 14th Amendment was adopted which gave African Americans citizenship and legislative equality. In February 1870, the 15th Amendment was adopted, and it was declared that no citizen, regardless of race, should be denied the right to vote. In attempts to prevent this from occurring, the South introduced literary tests, which disproportionately impacted African American’s as they were more likely to be illiterate. When literary tests denied the vote to whites “grandfather clauses” were introduced which allowed descendants of an eligible voter in 1867 to vote- excluded AAs as they were descendants of slaves

Outside the South- There was large job competition, which often resulted in African Americans being unemployed. White workers often resented the presence of blacks as they feared it would depress wages, with this sometimes being an excuse for strike. The demand for housing increased and by 1900, several black ghettos had appeared in larger cities. During the construction of the Defence Department complex, the Pentagon and the extension of the Arlington National Cemetery, hundreds of black homes were demolished

Communism- The spread of communist ideology became a global concern following WWII. National security became America’s political priority, rather than focusing on domestic policy. Violence in the South would be dealt with through the means of military intervention or was left to local/state authorities, rather than national level action

Civil Rights Movement- A program of protest and civil disobedience undertaken by African Americans and their supporters in the 1950s and 1960s that aimed to overcome racist policies that denied them of fundamental civil rights

The Death of Emmitt Till, August 28th 1955- While visiting family in Money, Mississippi, 14-year-old Emmett Til, an African American from Chicago, is brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier. His assailants—the white woman’s husband and her brother—made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton-gin fan to the bank of the Tallahatchie River and ordered him to take off his clothes. The two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head and then threw his body, tied to the cotton-gin fan with barbed wire, into the river.

Focus of study:●Struggles for civil rights, including: – Formation and role of groups supporting civil rights and their ideas for change:

SNCC (1960-1976)- Student Non-Violent Coordination Committee The group emerged from the first wave of student sit ins and formed in May 1960 meeting organised by Ella Baker at Shaw University. After its involvement in the Voter Education Project, SNCC grew into a large organization with many supporters in the North who helped raise funds to support its work in the South, allowing full-time organizers to have a small salary. Many unpaid grassroots organizers

and activists also worked with SNCC on projects in the Deep South, often becoming targets of racial violence and police brutality. SNCC played a seminal role in the freedom rides, the 1963 March on Washington, Mississippi Freedom Summer, the Selma campaigns, the March Against Fear and other historic events. SNCC may be best known for its community organizing, including voter registration, freedom schools, and localized direct action all over the country, but especially in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. In the later 1960s, inspired by fiery leaders such as Stokely Carmichael, SNCC focused on black power, and draft resistance to the Vietnam War.Primary ideas- Pacifism, Civil Rights, Anti-Racism, Participatory Democracy and Black Power.

MIA (1955)- Montgomery Improvement AssociationThe Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was formed on December 5, 1955 by black ministers and community leaders in Montgomery, Alabama. Under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Edgar Nixon, the MIA was instrumental in guiding the Montgomery bus boycott, a successful campaign that focused national attention on racial segregation in the South and catapulted King into the national spotlight. Following Rosa Parks' arrest on 1 December 1955 for failing to vacate her seat for a white passenger on a Montgomery city bus, Jo Ann Robinson of the Women's Political Council and E. D. Nixon of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) launched plans for a one-day boycott of Montgomery buses on December 5, 1955, the following Monday. At a meeting that evening attended by several thousand community members, the MIA was established to oversee the continuation and maintenance of the boycott, and King, a young minister new to Montgomery, was elected its chairman president. The organization's overall mission, extended beyond the boycott campaign, as it sought to "improve the general status of Montgomery, to improve race relations, and to uplift the general tenor of the community." The MIA was initially willing to accept a compromise that was consistent with separate but equal rather than complete integration. MIA organized carpools and held weekly gatherings with sermons and music to keep the black community mobilized. Following its success in Montgomery, the MIA became one of the founding organizations of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in January 1957. The MIA lost some vital momentum after King moved from Montgomery to Atlanta in 1960, but the organization continued campaigns throughout the 1960s, focusing on voter registration, local school integration, and the integration of Montgomery city parks.

NAACP (1909)- National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People

The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as a bi-racial endeavour to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington and Moorfield Storey. The Race Riot of 1908 in Springfield, Illinois, the state capital and President

Abraham Lincoln's hometown, was a catalyst showing the urgent need for an effective civil rights organization in the U.S. In the decades around the turn of the century, the rate of lynchings of blacks, particularly men, was at an all-time high. In its early years, the NAACP was based in New York City. It concentrated on litigation in efforts to overturn disenfranchisement of blacks, which had been established in every southern state by 1908, excluding most from the political system, and the Jim Crow statutes that legalized racial segregation. By 1914, the group had 6,000 members and 50 branches. It was influential in winning the right of African Americans to serve as military officers in World War I. The NAACP began to lead lawsuits targeting disfranchisement and racial segregation early in its history. The NAACP's Legal department, headed by Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall, undertook a campaign spanning several decades to bring about the reversal of the "separate but equal" doctrine announced by the Supreme Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. The campaign for desegregation culminated in a unanimous 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education that held state-sponsored segregation of public elementary schools was unconstitutional. Bolstered by that victory, the NAACP pushed for full desegregation throughout the South. NAACP activists were excited about the judicial strategy. Starting on December 5, 1955, NAACP activists, including Edgar Nixon, its local president, and Rosa Parks, who had served as the chapter's Secretary, helped organize a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. The NAACP continued to use the Supreme Court's decision in Brown to press for desegregation of schools and public facilities throughout the country. Daisy Bates, president of its Arkansas state chapter, spearheaded the campaign by the Little Rock Nine to integrate the public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. By the mid-1960s, the NAACP had regained some of its pre-eminence in the Civil Rights Movement by pressing for civil rights legislation. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place on August 28, 1963. That fall President John F. Kennedy sent a civil rights bill to Congress before he was assassinated. President Lyndon B. Johnson worked hard to persuade Congress to pass a civil rights bill aimed at ending racial discrimination in employment, education and public accommodations and succeeded in gaining passage in July 1964. He followed that with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

CORE (1942)- Congress of Racial EqualityCORE was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in March 1942. Among the founding members were James L. Farmer, Jr., George Houser, James R. Robinson, Samuel E. Riley, Bernice Fisher, Homer Jack, and Joe Guinn. The group's inspiration was Mahatma Gandhi's teachings of non-violent resistance. On April 10, 1947, CORE sent a group of eight white (including James Peck, their publicity officer) and eight black men on what was to be a two-week Journey of Reconciliation through Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky in an effort to end segregation in interstate travel. The members of this group were arrested and jailed several times, but they received a great deal of publicity, and this marked the beginning of a long series of similar campaigns. By the early 1960s, Farmer, who had taken a hiatus

from leading the group, returned as its executive secretary and sought to repeat the 1947 journey, coining a new name for it: the Freedom Ride. On May 4, 1961, participants journeyed to the deep South, this time including women as well as men and testing segregated bus terminals as well. The riders were met with severe violence. In Anniston, Alabama, one of the buses was fire-bombed and passengers were beaten by a white mob. White mobs also attacked Freedom Riders in Birmingham and Montgomery. The violence garnered national attention, sparking a summer of similar rides by CORE, SNCC and other Civil Rights organizations and thousands of ordinary citizens.In 1960, the Chicago chapter of CORE began to challenge racial segregation in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). In 1963, the organization helped organize the famous March on Washington. On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people marched peacefully to the Lincoln Memorial to demand equal justice for all citizens under the law. At the end of the march, Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The following year, CORE along with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) helped organize the "Freedom Summer" campaign - aimed principally at ending the political disenfranchisement of African Americans in the Deep South. CORE, SNCC and COFO also established 30 Freedom Schools in towns throughout Mississippi. Volunteers taught in the schools and the curriculum now included black history, the philosophy of the civil rights movement. During the summer of 1964 over 3,000 students attended these schools and the experiment provided a model for future educational programs such as Head Start. Freedom Schools were often targets of white mobs. That summer 30 black homes and 37 black churches were firebombed. Over 80 volunteers were beaten by white mobs or racist police officers. Three CORE activists, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan on June 21, 1964

SCLC (1957)- Southern Christian Leadership ConferenceThe Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African American civil rights organization. SCLC, which is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr, and had a large role in the American civil rights movement.In 1961 and 1962, SCLC joined SNCC in the Albany Movement, a broad protest against segregation in Albany, Georgia. It is generally considered the organization's first major nonviolent campaign. At the time, it was considered by many to be unsuccessful: despite large demonstrations and many arrests, few changes were won, and the protests drew little national attention. The 1963 SCLC campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, was an unqualified success. The campaign focused on a single goal—the desegregation of Birmingham's downtown merchants. During its early years, SCLC struggled to gain footholds in black churches and communities across the South. Social activism in favour of racial equality faced fierce repression from the police, White Citizens' Council and the Ku Klux Klan. Only a few churches had the courage to defy the white-dominated status-quo by affiliating with SCLC, and those that did

risk economic retaliation against pastors and other church leaders, arson, and bombings. SCLC's advocacy of boycotts and other forms of nonviolent protest was controversial among both whites and blacks. Many black community leaders believed that segregation should be challenged in the courts and that direct action excited white resistance, hostility, and violence. SCLC's belief that churches should be involved in political activism against social ills was also deeply controversial. SCLC and King were also sometimes criticized for lack of militancy by younger activists in groups such as Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and CORE who were participating in sit-ins and Freedom Rides.On July 2, 1963, King, Randolph, and Rustin met with James Farmer Jr. of the Congress of Racial Equality, John Lewis of SNCC, Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, and Whitney Young of the Urban League to plan a united march on August 28. The media and political establishment viewed the march with great fear and trepidation over the possibility that protesters would run riot in the streets of the capital. But despite their fears, the March on Washington was a huge success, with no violence, and an estimated number of participants ranging from 200,000 to 300,000. It was also a logistical triumph—more than 2,000 buses, 21 special trains, 10 chartered aircraft, and uncounted autos converged on the city in the morning and departed without difficulty by nightfall. The crowning moment of the march was King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech in which he articulated the hopes and aspirations of the Civil Rights Movement and rooted it in two cherished gospels—the Old Testament and the unfulfilled promise of the American creed.

Black Panther Party (1966)The concept of Black Power was at the core of the BPP’s ideology and was further a concept that divided the civil rights movement. Black Power is an idea coined by Stokely Carmichael (SNCC leader and leader of James Meredith continued march from Memphis Tennessee to Jackson Mississippi), the idea came into international attention at the Mexico Olympic Games in 1968. The beliefs of Black Power include a pride in being black and having an African heritage, the right to self-determination and self-defence.In 1966, two black students for Oakland California, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale formed a radical black group called the Black Panthers. Members went around armed, dressed in leather, and white authorities considered them a major threat to law and order. Their demands included full employment, the freeing of all black prisoners, all black juries and exemption from military service. The Panthers set up community projects such as medical clinics and free breakfast programs and shoes for children. Stokely Carmichael joined them in 1968, he left for Africa in 1969. Hunted by police and the FBI, the Black Panthers faded by the early 1970s.The group rapidly rose to 5000 full time party workers across America and opinion polls showed the Panthers to have 90% support amongst Blacks in major cities. The civil rights movement had a divide between integrationist and separatist attitudes, the Black Panthers strayed from these ideologies. They argued instead that the economic and political

roots of racism were in exploitative capitalist system and that the Black struggle must be a revolutionary movement to overthrow the entire power structure in order to achieve liberation for all Black people.32% of Black people were living below the poverty line in 1966. 71% of the poor living in metropolitan areas were Black. By 1968, two-third of the Black population lived in ghettos. The Panthers realised that the movement needed to progress beyond the battles of desegregation and to address the fundamental economic problems that people face in their daily lives.The Panthers decided to take up their constitutional right to carry arms and to implement Malcom X’s philosophy of self-defence. This occurred at a time where police brutality against African Americans was common and police from the racially conservative South would be recruited to work in Northern ghettos. They would utilise their guns to overwatch police officers doing searchers on Blacks from the public.Public programs were key in the Panthers strategy. They would feed hungry children, give out food, clothing and medical care which demonstrated that they understood people’s needs. The programs achieved a great deal with limited resources and raised in people’s minds how much more could be achieved in the movement if the Panthers had the resources available to the government and the business corporations. The first program organised was the Free breakfast for Children Program.The success and nature of the Panther’s political activities and community programs was soon brought under fire from the American state. The FBI intensified the COINTELPRO against them and nearly every office in the nation was raided at some point with provision for the breakfast program being burnt out. In 1968, Bobby Hutton, the party’s first member, came out with his hands up and was shot and killed by police, with attacks escalating from this. In 1969 alone, 25 Panthers were killed. The FBI infiltrated the party and manufactured rivalries and disputes between different members.At one-point women compromised 70% of the membership of the organisation yet, all the leading positions were occupied by men. Women were confined to secretarial, administrative, childcare or other traditional roles. There were several radical Black worker groups such as DRUM (Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement), DODGE and ELARUM. Although they had some Black caucuses within the trade unions, the Panthers did not sufficiently develop this aspect of the work. The panthers understood that in order for the success of the Civil Rights Movement to occur, American society had to be transformed and capitalism had to be overthrown.– Efforts of Martin Luther King to achieve change for African Americans:Groups such as the NAACP argued for litigation; King preferred mass action as it was successful in Montgomery. King would use the SCLC to organise mass marches and would conclude events with stirring speeches. King encouraged student sit-ins and general student participation. King chose to have a protest in May 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama as it was one of the most segregated states. King continued to pursue non-violent protests after his arrest in Birmingham and the March on Washington

occurred. In 1965, he led blacks to the Selma Country Court in Alabama to help them register to vote and white violence erupted, which involved venomous snakes being thrown into black clouds. King led the Selma to Alabama state capital march and state troopers attacked marchers- this event spurred the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. In 1966, King decided to focus on the social and economic problems in the north and was eager to prevent violence. He organised walks in Chicago ghettos that were staged in white suburbs. – T he methods employed by civil rights movements in the United States across the period: local and national boycotts, direct action and political agitation:

Local and National BoycottsA boycott is an act of voluntary and intentional abstention from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict some economic loss on the target, or to indicate a moral outrage, to try to compel the target to alter an objectionable behaviour. Sometimes, a boycott can be a form of consumer activism, sometimes called moral purchasing. When a similar practise is legislated by a national government, it is known as a sanction.Boycotts often began after a dramatic incident—an act of violence or insult. The murder of George Lee in Belzoni, the attempted murder of George Metcalfe in Natchez, and the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis all led immediately to boycotts. In Clarksdale the decision to prohibit African American musicians from marching in a parade sparked a boycott. Some boycotts began as parts of broad strategies to force change, while others addressed very specific issues.Success: In 1955, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was dragged off a bus by police officers for sitting in the whites-only section. Nine months later, Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat on a Montgomery bus. Blacks began boycotting the public buses, and soon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Rev. Ralph Abernathy and other civil rights leaders joined their cause. Despite King and Abernathy’s houses being firebombed, they did not stop. “My intimidations are a small price to pay if victory can be won," King said. A federal court eventually ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional and violated the equal protection provisions of the 14th Amendment. The boycott, along with Parks’ arrest, cast a harsh spotlight on the inequities African Americans suffered in the Jim Crow South. The boycott also inspired other bus boycotts, such as the successful Tallahassee, Florida boycott of 1956–57.Brown v Board of Education helped stimulate activism among New York City parents like Mae Mallory who, with the support of the NAACP, initiated a successful lawsuit against the city and state on Brown's principles. Mallory and thousands of other parents bolstered the pressure of the lawsuit with a school boycott in 1959. During the boycott, some of the first freedom schools of the period were established. The city responded to the campaign by permitting more open transfers to high-quality, historically white schools.

Prominent civil rights boycotts in Mississippi included Belzoni, 1955; Jackson, 1960, 1962–63; Clarksdale, 1961; Canton, 1964; Issaquena County, 1964; Sharkey County, 1964; Natchez, 1965–66; Greenwood, 1965, 1968; Edwards, 1966; Grenada, 1966; Port Gibson, 1966; Fayette, 1966; Indianola, 1968; Rosedale, 1970; Vicksburg, 1972; Holly Springs and Byhalia, 1974.

Sit-insA sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to move unless their demands are met.In July 1958, the NAACP Youth Council sponsored sit-ins at the lunch counter of a Dockum Drug Store in downtown Wichita, Kansas. After three weeks, the movement successfully got the store to change its policy of segregated seating, and soon afterwards all Dockum stores in Kansas were desegregated. This movement was quickly followed in the same year by a student sit-in at a Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City led by Clara Luper, which also was successful.Mostly black students from area colleges led a sit-in at a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina. On February 1, 1960, four students, Ezell A. Blair Jr., David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Franklin McCain from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College, an all-black college, sat down at the segregated lunch counter to protest Woolworth's policy of excluding African Americans from being served food there. The four students purchased small items in other parts of the store and kept their receipts, then sat down at the lunch counter and asked to be served. After being denied service, they produced their receipts and asked why their money was good everywhere else at the store, but not at the lunch counter.The protesters had been encouraged to dress professionally, to sit quietly, and to occupy every other stool so that potential white sympathizers could join in. The Greensboro sit-in was quickly followed by other sit-ins in Richmond, Virginia; Nashville, Tennessee; and Atlanta, Georgia. The most immediately effective of these was in Nashville, where hundreds of well-organised and highly disciplined college students conducted sit-ins in coordination with a boycott campaign. As students across the south began to "sit-in" at the lunch counters of local stores, police and other officials sometimes used brutal force to physically escort the demonstrators from the lunch facilities.On March 9, 1960, an Atlanta University Centre group of students released An Appeal for Human Rights as a full-page advertisement in newspapers, including the Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta Journal, and Atlanta Daily World. Known as the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR), the group initiated the Atlanta Student Movement and began to lead sit-ins starting on March 15, 1960. By the end of 1960, the process of sit-ins had spread to every southern and border state, and even to facilities in Nevada, Illinois, and Ohio that discriminated against blacks. Demonstrators focused not only on lunch counters but also on parks, beaches, libraries, theatres, museums, and other public facilities.

Direct ActionDirect action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to others (e.g. authorities) by, for instance, revealing an existing problem, using physical violence, highlighting an alternative, or demonstrating a possible solution. During the 1950s, legal and political challenges to segregation were replaced by non-violent “direct action” tactics such as boycotts, sit-ins, and marches.Montgomery bus boycott, Greensboro sit-in, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.Selma Marches21 (March 7th-25th 1965): This march went down in history as Bloody Sunday for the violent beatings state troopers inflicted on protesters as they attempted to march peacefully from Selma, Ala., to the state capital, Montgomery. The march was aimed at fighting the lack of voting rights for African Americans. Approximately 600 protesters were to travel from Selma on U.S. Highway 80 to the state capital on March 7, 1965, led by John Lewis, then chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the Rev. Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Police violence against protesters brought the march to a shocking end. Footage of the brutality broadcast across the nation sparked public outrage and boosted support for the civil rights movement. Then civil rights leaders sought court protection for a third, full-scale march from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery. Federal District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., weighed the right of mobility against the right to march and ruled in favour of the demonstrators. "The law is clear that the right to petition one's government for the redress of grievances may be exercised in large groups...," said Judge Johnson, "and these rights may be exercised by marching, even along public highways." 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. Less than five months after the last of the three marches, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965--the best possible redress of grievances.

Political AgitationPolitical agitation or demonstration (protest), political activities in which an agitator urges people to do something.A demonstration is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favour of a political or other cause or people partaking in a protest against a cause of concern; it often consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers. Actions such as blockades and sit-ins may also be referred to as demonstrations. Demonstrations can be nonviolent or violent or can begin as nonviolent and turn violent depending on the circumstances. Selma and March on Washington– Martin Luther King and Malcom X: beliefs, aims and methods:

Martin Luther King (1929-1968)

Background: Martin Luther King Jr was born on the 15th of January 1929, his father was a Baptist minister and his mum a schoolteacher. He studied a bachelor of sociology from Atlanta Morehouse College and a degree in divinity from Crozer. He married Coretta Scott, completed a PhD in Systematic Theology and had four children. In 1955 Kin became President of the Montgomery Improvement Association which was created in protest of what happened to Rosa Parks. In January 1956, his house was bombed. In January 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He was arrested in Greensboro, Georgia in 1960 for breaking segregation laws. In 1963 he was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama. He led 130000 marchers in a Freedom Walk in Detroit in 1963 and in August the March on Washington took place where he delivered his infamous speech ‘I have a dream’. In 1964 King met President Johnson and witnessed his signing of the Public Accommodation and Fair Employment Sections Civil Rights Act on 1964. In 1965, King and others marched from Selma to Montgomery demanding voting rights. In 1966 King continues James Meredith’s March Against Fear from Memphis Tennessee to Jackson Mississippi. On the 28th of March 1968, King lead a march of striking sanitation workers in Memphis that ended in violence. On April 4th King was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee with 300000 people marching through Atlanta behind his coffin on the 9th. Beliefs and Aims: Focus on non-violent protesting. Desegregation. Integration. Focus on working rights. Wished to increase the African American vote.Methods: Groups such as the NAACP argued for litigation; King preferred mass action as it was successful in Montgomery. King would use the SCLC to organise mass marches and would conclude events with stirring speeches. King encouraged student sit-ins and general student participation. King chose to have a protest in May 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama as it was one of the most segregated states. King continued to pursue non-violent protests after his arrest in Birmingham and the March on Washington occurred. In 1965, he led blacks to the Selma Country Court in Alabama to help them register to vote and white violence erupted, which involved venomous snakes being thrown into black clouds. King led the Selma to Alabama state capital march and state troopers attacked marchers- this event spurred the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. In 1966, King decided to focus on the social and economic problems in the north and was eager to prevent violence. He organised walks in Chicago ghettos that were staged in white suburbs.

Malcolm X (1925-1965)Background: Malcolm was born on the 19th of May 1925 as one of eight children. His father was a preacher and was active in the local civil rights movement. His family were often targeted by white extremist groups as their house was burned down in 1928, they moved several times, and Earl Little died in 1931. In 1938, his mum was placed in an institution and his siblings were separated and placed into foster homes. In 1943, Malcolm Little became involved in crimes in Harlem New York, such as drug-dealing and robbery. He was arrested for larceny in 1946 and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He developed an interest in the Nation of

Islam and became a member later on as he adopted the name Malcolm X, became in contact with Elijah Muhammad and was released in 1952. He became a key figure in the Nation of Islam and established several temples. His inspiring speeches were a key reason for the Nation of Islam’s growth from 400 to 40000 members between 1952 and 1960. In 1958, he got married and have six daughters. By 1960, Malcolm X became of national and international importance, he was invited to peak at the United Nations. Malcolm X began to move away from the NOI, with Elijah Muhammad beginning to resent his growing influence. In 1964, Malcolm X converted to Sunni Islam and undertook a tour of North Africa and made the Hajj. In February 1965, he was shot dead almost certainly by NOI members who opposed his changing beliefs.Beliefs: NOI- Allah made all people black, an evil chemist made white people, Allah punished blacks by enslaving them to white devils and on judgement Day the whites would be destroyed. The NOI was anti-Semitic and racist, it believed in racial separatism and a return to Africa, strict moral code (no smoking, drugs, alcohol and pre-marriage sex). Malcolm X supported violent and radical action and viewed blacks to be a superior race. He disliked MLK until 1964 and viewed Muhammad to be the sole black leader. His ideologies began to change in 1965 as he accused the NOI of being a criminal organisation and apologised for previous comments about MLK.Aims: Black supremacy, return to Africa, serving Elijah Muhammad.Methods: Speeches. Detested the non-violent civil rights moving as he believed that “blacks should defend and advance themselves by any means necessary”.– The opposition to civil rights: the Ku Klux Klan, the White Citizens’ Council:

Ku Klux Klan (1865)The Ku Klux Klan is an American white supremacist hate group; whose primary target is African Americans. The Klan has existed in three distinct eras at different points in time during the history of the United States. Each has advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white nationalism, anti-immigration and, especially in later iterations, Nordicism and anti-Catholicism. After the decline of the national organization post-WWI, small independent groups adopted the name "Ku Klux Klan", along with variations. They had no formal relationships with each other, or connection to the second KKK, except for the fact that they copied its terminology and costumes. Beginning in the 1950s, for instance, individual Klan groups in Birmingham, Alabama, began to resist social change and blacks' efforts to improve their lives by bombing houses in transitional neighbourhoods. The white men worked in mining and steel industries, with access to these materials. There were so many bombings of blacks' homes in Birmingham by Klan groups in the 1950s that the city was nicknamed "Bombingham".During the tenure of Bull Connor as police commissioner in Birmingham, Klan groups were closely allied with the police and operated with impunity. When the Freedom Riders arrived in Birmingham in 1961, Connor gave Klan members fifteen minutes to attack the riders before

sending in the police to quell the attack. When local and state authorities failed to protect the Freedom Riders and activists, the federal government began to establish intervention and protection.In states such as Alabama and Mississippi, Klan members forged alliances with governors' administrations. In Birmingham and elsewhere, the KKK groups bombed the houses of civil rights activists. In some cases, they used physical violence, intimidation, and assassination directly against individuals. Continuing disfranchisement of blacks across the South meant that most could not serve on juries, which were all-white and demonstrably biased verdicts and sentences.Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner were three civil rights workers abducted and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan.According to a report from the Southern Regional Council in Atlanta, the homes of 40 black Southern families were bombed during 1951 and 1952. Some of the bombing victims were social activists whose work exposed them to danger, but most were either people who refused to bow to racist convention or were innocent bystanders, unsuspecting victims of random violence. According to the Tuskegee Institute, 4,743 people were lynched between 1882 and 1968 in the United States, including 3,446 African Americans and 1,297 whites. More than 73 per cent of lynchings in the post-Civil War period occurred in the Southern states. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, 4,084 African Americans were lynched between 1877 and 1950 in the South. According to the Huffington Post, a recent study puts the number of African American deaths caused by the KKK at 3960.

White Citizens’ Council (1954)The White Citizens' Councils were an associated network of white supremacist, extreme right organizations in the United States, concentrated in the South. The first was formed on July 11, 1954. With about 60,000 members across the United States, in the South, the groups were founded primarily to oppose racial integration of public schools following the US Supreme Court ruling in 1954 (Brown v Board of Education) that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. They also opposed voter registration efforts in the South, where most blacks had been disenfranchised since the turn of the 20th century, and integration of public facilities during the 1950s and 1960s. Members used intimidation tactics including economic boycotts, firing people from jobs, propaganda, and threatening and committing violence against civil-rights activists.The White Citizens' Council in Mississippi prevented school integration until 1964. As school desegregation increased in some parts of the South, in some communities the White Citizens' Council sponsored "council schools," private institutions set up for white children. Such private schools, also called segregation academies, were beyond the reach of the ruling on public schools. Many of these private "segregation academies" continue to operate today. The Council sponsored a system of twelve segregated schools in Jackson, Mississippi. Many leading state and local politicians were members of the Councils; in some states, this gave the organization immense influence over state legislatures. In Mississippi, the

State Sovereignty Commission was established, ostensibly to encourage investment in the state and promote its public image. Although funded by taxes paid by all state residents, it made grants to the segregationist Citizens' Councils, in some years providing as much as $50,000.Citizens' Councils conducted voter purges to remove Black voters from election rolls. Before the practice was found illegal in a federal court case of 1963, the Council pushed a public challenge law allowing two voters to challenge another voter to see if he was lawfully registered, a provision they used to purge the rolls of Black voters. In one parish, Bienville Parish, 95% of Black voters were purged.Although the White Citizens Council publicly eschewed the use of violence, they supported harsh economic and political tactics used against registered voters and activists. The White Citizens Council members collaborated to threaten jobs, causing people to be fired or evicted from rental homes; they boycotted businesses, ensured that activists could not get loans, among other tactics. The Citizens' Councils used economic tactics against African Americans whom they considered as supportive of desegregation and voting rights, or for belonging to the NAACP, or suspected of being activists. The tactics included "calling in" the mortgages of black citizens, denying loans and business credit, pressing employers to fire certain people, and boycotting black-owned businesses. In some cities, the Councils published lists of names of NAACP supporters and signers of anti-segregation petitions in local newspapers in order to encourage economic retaliation. For instance, in Yazoo City, Mississippi in 1955, the Citizens' Council published in the local paper the names of 53 signers of a petition for school integration. Soon afterwards, the petitioners lost their jobs and had their credit cut off.

● Key events of the civil rights movement, including: – Montgomery Bus Boycott and the role of Rosa Parks: 5th of December 1955 to December 20th, 1956. Montgomery, AlabamaAfter the Brown decision in 1954, many black groups began to test the laws of segregation. By 1955, the Women’s Political Council in Montgomery, of which Jo Ann Robinson was a leading member, had plans in place for a bus boycott, they were just waiting for the right person to be arrested, a person who would anger the black community into action, who would agree to test the segregation laws in court, and who, most importantly, was ‘above reproach’.Rosa’s Story- Rosa Parks was educated at the laboratory school at Alabama State College (no school in Montgomery for blacks), she became a seamstress as she could not find work to suit her skills, a long- time NAACP worker, had completed a workshop on race relations shortly before her arrest, was well- respected and had a spotless record.On Thursday, Dec 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a city bus and sat with 3 other blacks in the 5th row, the first row that blacks could occupy. A few stops later the front 4 rows were filled with whites and one white man was left standing. According to law, blacks & whites could not occupy the same row, so the driver asked all 4 of the blacks seated in the 5 th row to move, 3 complied, but Parks refused, she was arrested.

E.D. Nixon of the NAACP, posted Parks’ bail and told her, “Mrs. Parks, with your permission we can break down segregation on the bus with your case.” After discussing it over with her husband she agreed.That same night Jo Ann Robinson put plans for a one- day boycott into action, it was to coincide with the day Parks’ case was due to come up- the next Monday, 5th December. A group of ministers and civil rights leaders met to discuss the boycott, many agreed to spread the word and meet again on the Monday afternoon to discuss if it should be continued.On the Monday, bus after bus was empty of any black commuters. The group from Friday met again that Monday afternoon, called themselves the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), elected Martin Luther King Jr., minister ate Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, as president. The MIA called a mass meeting that night to let the people of Montgomery vote on whether to continue or not. The decision was unanimous- the boycott would continue.On Thursday, December 8th (4th day of the boycott), King and other MIA members met with officials and lawyers from the bus company and city commissioners to present a moderate desegregation plan, similar to ones implemented in other Southern cities. The bus company refused to consider it and the city officials announced that any cab driver charging less than the 45c minimum fare would be prosecuted (the black cab service had been charging blacks 10c to ride- the same as the bus fare). The MIA was faced with the prospect of having thousands of blacks with no way of getting to work.In response the MIA worked out a ‘private taxi’ plan, under which blacks who owned cars picked up and dropped off blacks who needed rides at designated points. The service worked so well so quickly that even the White Citizens Council admitted that it moved with ‘military precision’.There were many attempts by the whites to end the boycott, e.g. many attempts to reach a ‘compromise’ that were basically the system that already existed were tried, false reports that the boycott was over were made in local newspapers, attempts to split the blacks, violence towards King & Nixon’s homes being bombed, blacks were indicted under an old law prohibiting boycotts- King was the first defendant to be tried- had to pay a $500 fine & $500 court costs or 386 days in the state penitentiary. Insurance was cancelled for blacks, increase in arrests for minor traffic infringements.Some Montgomery’s business community members were frustrated with the boycott as it was costing them thousands of dollars as blacks were less likely to shop downtown, although strongly opposed to integration, the boycott was bad for business- they attempted to negotiate, this failed.The MIA had begun to fight to end the boycott in court. They had the Brown decision, which said the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine had no place in public education. The case was also being heard in the federal court, not the prejudiced local courts. The city defended segregation saying integration would lead to violence. The federal court decided 2 – 1 in favor of the blacks- the only dissent coming from a Southern judge. The city appealed, but on November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal court’s ruling, declaring segregation on buses unconstitutional.

Blacks returned to the buses on December 21st, 1956, over a year after the boycott began. Conflict erupted as the KKK led violence towards those involved, an unexploded bomb was found on Kings front porch, homes & churches were bombed, an attempt was made to start an all- whites bus company & snipers shot at buses.Significance: Buses became fully integrated in Montgomery. On January 10 & 11 1957, ministers from MIA joined other ministers from around Southern Alabama and founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and elected Martin Luther King Jr. as president. The Montgomery bus Boycott was an important start to the movement- “it helped launch a 10-year national struggle for freedom and justice, the Civil Rights Movement, that stimulated others to do the same at home and abroad”, Roberta Wright NAACP member. Reinforced the 1953, a 10-day bus boycott of routes that mainly went through black communities in Louisiana had resulted in four seats being allocated to white passengers, the back row allocated to black people and the rest to be given on a first come, first served basis. The pressure of losing 60 per cent of daily revenue for 10 days resulted in this capitulation by the bus company. Over 42 000 Black Americans participated in the boycott.– The desegregation of Little Rock High School:Brown v Board of Education 9 Dec 1952 – 17 May 1954President Eisenhower did not seek nor get involved in black problems. At best he hoped race relations would improve on their own. Inadvertently, he helped the civil rights cause with the appointment of Justice Earl Warren to the Supreme Court. It was his appointment that struck a major blow to segregation. In particular, Brown v the Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas.Charles Brown wanted to send his daughter to a school close to their home which was a white only school, instead she was to attend the black only school 20 blocks away.The NAACP supported Brown believing he had reasonable chances of success as Kansas was not a Southern state.NAACP lawyer, Thurgood Marshall argued that segregation was against the 14th amendment. Even if facilities between schools were equal, the separation harmed black children psychologically. In the 1940s, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark designed and conducted a series of experiments known colloquially as “the doll tests” to study the psychological effects of segregation on African American children. Drs. Clark used four dolls, identical except for colour, to test children’s racial perceptions. Their subjects, children between the ages of three to seven, were asked to identify both the race of the dolls and which colour doll they prefer. A majority of the children preferred the white doll and assigned positive characteristics to it. The Clarks concluded that “prejudice, discrimination, and segregation” created a feeling of inferiority among African American children and damaged their self-esteem. The doll test was only one part of Dr. Clark’s testimony in Brown – it did not constitute the largest portion of his analysis and expert report.The Supreme Court agreed with Marshall’s assessment of separate but equal and the decision was significant as it destroyed and destroyed the

constitutionality for segregation. Therefore, overruling the 1896 Plessy v Ferguson. This decision was overshadowed by the fact that no date was given for when de-segregation had to be achieved. White citizen councils soon appeared to fight the decision and massive white resistance saw several schools close down.Progress was reluctantly made on the periphery of the South. However, in the heart of the old confederacy such has Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana saw strong resistance.President Eisenhower did nothing to stop the Texas governor from using state troopers to stop school segregation. In 1955 all schools were desegregated.The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine black students who enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, on September 1957. Their attendance at the school was a test of Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students’ entry into the high school. Later that month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school.Little Rock Central High School: In response to the Brown decisions and pressure from the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Little Rock, Arkansas, the school board adopted a plan for gradual integration of its schools. The first institutions to integrate would be the high schools, beginning in September 1957. Among these was Little Rock Central High School, which opened in 1927 and was originally called Little Rock Senior High School. Two pro-segregation groups formed to oppose the plan: the Capital Citizens Council and the Mother’s League of Central High School.Who Were the Little Rock Nine? Despite the virulent opposition, nine students registered to be the first African Americans to attend Central High School. Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls had been recruited by Daisy Gaston Bates, president of the Arkansas NAACP and co-publisher of the Arkansas State Press, an influential African-American newspaper. Daisy Bates and others from the Arkansas NAACP carefully vetted the group of students and determined they all possessed the strength and determination to face the resistance they would encounter. In the weeks prior to the start of the new school year, the students participated in intensive counselling sessions guiding them on what to expect once classes began and how to respond to anticipated hostile situations.Orval Faubus: On September 2, 1957, Governor Orval Faubus announced that he would call in the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the African-American students’ entry to Central High, claiming this action was for the students’ own protection. In a televised address, Faubus insisted that violence and bloodshed might break out if black students were allowed to enter the school. The Mother’s League held a sunrise service at the school

on September 3 as a protest against integration. But that afternoon, federal judge Ronald Davies issued a ruling that desegregation would continue as planned the next day.Elizabeth Eckford: The Little Rock Nine arrived for the first day of school at Central High on September 4, 1957. Eight arrived together, driven by Bates. Elizabeth Eckford’s family, however, did not have a telephone, and Bates could not reach her to let her know of the carpool plans. Therefore, Eckford arrived alone. The Arkansas National Guard, under orders of Governor Faubus, prevented any of the Little Rock Nine from entering the doors of Central High. One of the most enduring images from this day is a photograph of Eckford, alone with a notebook in her hand, stoically approaching the school as a crowd of hostile and screaming white students and adults surround her. Eckford later recalled that one of the women spat on her. The image was printed and broadcast widely, bringing the Little Rock controversy to national and international attention.Ronald Davies: In the following weeks, federal judge Ronald Davies began legal proceedings against Governor Faubus, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower attempted to persuade Faubus to remove the National Guard and let the Little Rock Nine enter the school. Judge Davies ordered the Guard removed on September 20, and the Little Rock Police Department took over to maintain order. The police escorted the nine African-American students into the school on September 23, through an angry mob of some 1,000 white protesters gathered outside. Amidst ensuing rioting, the police removed the nine students. The following day, President Eisenhower sent in 1,200 members of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and placed them in charge of the 10,000 National Guardsmen on duty. Escorted by the troops, the Little Rock Nine attended their first full day of classes on September 25. Numerous legal challenges to integration continued throughout the year, and Faubus repeatedly expressed his wish that the Little Rock Nine be removed from Central High. Although several of the black students had positive experiences on their first day of school, according to a September 25, 1957, report in The New York Times, they experienced routine harassment and even violence throughout the rest of the year.Melba Patillo, for instance, was kicked, beaten and had acid thrown in her face. At one point white students burned an African-American effigy in a vacant lot across from the school. Gloria Ray was pushed down a flight of stairs, and the Little Rock Nine were barred from participating in extracurricular activities. Minnijean Brown was expelled from Central High School in February 1958 for retaliating against the attacks. And it was not only the students who faced harassment: Gloria Ray’s mother was fired from her job with the State of Arkansas when she refused to remove her daughter from the school. The 101st Airborne and the National Guard remained at Central High School for the duration of the year.Ernest Green: On May 25, 1958, Ernest Green, the only senior among the Little Rock Nine, became the first African-American graduate of Central High.In September 1958, one year after Central High was integrated, Governor Faubus closed all of Little Rock’s high schools for the entire year, pending

a public vote, to prevent African-American attendance. Little Rock citizens voted 19,470 to 7,561 against integration and the schools remained closed.The group has been widely recognized for their significant role in the civil rights movement. In 1999, President Clinton awarded each member of the group the Congressional Gold Medal. The nine also all received personal invitations to attend the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009.

– Freedom Rides: 4 May 1961 – 10 Dec 1961. Location: Southern United States, First Baptist Church, Parchman Farm and Jackson, MississippiAn interracial group of activists, led by CORE, decided to challenge Jim Crow segregation in the South by organising the “freedom rides”. They modelled the event off of the 1946 “Journey of Reconciliation” which aimed to test the enforcement of outlawed interstate travel segregation in Morgan v the Commonwealth of Virginia. The group similarly aimed to test the enforceability of the Boynton v Virginia case which reiterated the findings of the CoV case. The group would travel in two interracial sets of Freedom Riders on the Greyhound and Trailways buses from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans, Louisiana. The Greyhound group first encountered violence at the bus terminal in Rock Hill, South Carolina when white males beat black riders who attempted to use a “whites only” restroom. The group continued and crossed Georgia without incident. They then reached Alabama on May 14th

and the riders were met in Anniston by a mob whose members threw rocks and slashed the bus tries and 40 cars followed the bus until it left town. The driver managed to drive the bus a few miles out of town and when stopping to repair tires, white supremacists firebombed the vehicle and physically assaulted leaving protesters. Passengers were refused treatment at the hospital for smoke inhalation and that groups ride ended. The Trailways group of riders were assaulted in Anniston, they arrived at Birmingham, escorted by 30 police cars and helicopters, and encountered a larger mob who beat them with baseball bats, lead pipes and bicycle chains. White students involved were particularly targeted and heads of protesters were cracked open with the individual to be left unconscious.

Diane Nash, a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), organised a new contingent of Freedom Riders in Nashville. This second group departed from Nashville on May 14th to reinforce the CORE riders in Alabama. Upon arrival in Birmingham on May 17th, Public Safety Commissioner Eugene BULL Conner, ordered police offices to place activists in protective custody. They were transported back to Tennessee the next morning, Nash led the resilient activists back to Nashville to regroup. On May 20th, they were back in Birmingham where there were no incidents.

They travelled to Montgomery where a mob of whites carrying baseball bats, tire irons and bricks met them at the terminal. As the riders departed from the bus they swarmed and beaten. They gained media attention and were personally led to Jackson, Mississippi by James Farmer and law enforcement officials. Upon arrival, they were arrested by Jackson police and were charged with a $200 fine- they refused to pay and received a 90-day prison sentence where they were subject to beatings, lack of food and bedding. Over 300 men and women were incarcerated. Although they failed to reach New Orleans, Louisiana, the group gained international attention and a petition was filed by Attorney General Robert Kennedy to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to outlaw interstate travel segregation. The ICC immediately imposed sanction and penalties for violations of its order, the order went into effect on November 1st, 1962. An injunction was brought out against the Ku Klux Klan and federal marshals were sent to Montgomery to assist in desegregation of inner-state transport. The event further influenced campaigns such as the Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964 and the Selma Movement in 1965. –   March on Washington: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom- 28th August 1963The efforts of the Kennedy administration to bring in civil rights laws and the deteriorating situation and Alabama are considered to be the impotence for the event. In early 1963, JFK tried to push laws through the Congress to strengthen voting rights for blacks in the South and to bring about school desegregation. In the spring of 1963, activists in Birmingham, Alabama launched one of the most influential campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement: Project C, better known as The Birmingham Campaign. It would be the beginning of a series of lunch counter sit-ins, marches on City Hall and boycotts on downtown merchants to protest segregation laws in the city. Over the next couple months, the peaceful demonstrations would be met with violent attacks using high-pressure fire hoses and police dogs on men, women and children alike, producing some of the most iconic and troubling images of the Civil Rights Movement. JFK responded to these events nationally, stating that all persons’ rights are diminished when one single persons are, however the NAACP director Medhar Evans was murdered in Jackson Mississippi that evening and in June JFK sent equal rights proposal to the Congress. Hundred of protestors were arrested under orders of Mayor Bull Connor, German shepherd dogs were ordered to attack demonstrators and horses that would hit people off their feet. The event gained nation-wide media attention and the Alabama national guard was involved.It was against this background of violence and legislative inaction that civil rights leaders sought to bring pressure on the Congress to back Kennedy. Major civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King, Roy Wilkins (NAACP), Whitney Young (National Urban League), James Farmer (CORE) and John Lewis (SNCC). The march took place and between 200000 and 250000 marchers were present. There were over 5000 law enforcement officers present as they marched from the Washington Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial. Leading protest singers such as Bob

Dylan were present, and Martin Luther King delivered his infamous ‘I have a dream’ speech which was internationally televised.Significance: Divisions in the civil rights movement persisted as the Nation of Islam refused to join. The march had an emotional impact and influenced the passing of the Civil Rights Bill in 1964. The response to the event in the South remained extreme as four black children were killed as a result of a white extremist bombing of a Birmingham church, membership of the KKK spiked and violence increase in 1964, particularly in Mississippi.– ‘Mississippi Freedom Summer’ of 1964:Mississippi Summer Project began in June 1964The Project was a voter registration drive that aimed to encourage black citizens in the state of Mississippi to register to vote. At the state of 1964, on 7% of Mississippi blacks were registered to vote. Mississippi was the most segregated state in the union and violence against blacks by whites frequently occurred. The voter drive was sponsored by several civil rights groups, including CORE and SNCC. More than 700 civil rights, both black and white, came from inter-state to take part. The project was run by an organisation called the Council of Federal Organisations COFO under the guided of Bob Moses. In November 1963, over 100 white college students had worked with COFO to register black voters. In the summer in 1964 a bigger drive was planned. Moses wanted participation of white students from the North as it would increase media attention. Violence was considered inevitable as state police numbers were increased and the KKK grew to 10000 members. Mississippi elected officials, senators and mayors were opposed to the project and state laws were introduced that banned leafleting and picketing as police forces were expanded and weaponry increased.The event began in June as hundreds of trained activists entered Mississippi. They first set up an ambitious voter registration drive and they attempted to establish a black-led ‘freedom schools’ that aimed to provide free classes on African American history, politics and arts. The events gained national attention when three activists went missing, two white men named Mickey Schwerner and Andrew Goodman and a black man named James E Chaney. The police, Justice Department and Johnson administration did not take immediate action as it was perceived to be a stunt. FBI director, J Edgar Hoover, believed them to be troublemakers, however, as media coverage increased President Johnson pushed the FBI into action. Several bodies were found of black civil rights workers and on the 4th of August the bodies of the three men were found, they had been shot and Chaney beaten before being buried at a dam.Significance: Over 1000 civil rights activists were arrested by Mississippi police, the majority being black. Six people were murdered, and dozens of black churches and homes were burnt down. Following the murders nineteen people were charged with violating civil rights, however only four were prosecuted and none served more than ten years in prison. Only 1600 additional black voters’ names were added to the electoral roll. The events did succeed in making Americans aware of what black citizens had to face. The continued violence against activists highlighted divisions

within the movement as some would turn to Black Power. Some leaders from the freedom Summer continued to prominent figures in the civil rights movement and other social movements. The violence convinced Congress to pass Johnson’s civil rights proposals. Various white councils aimed to have revenge as mortgages were foreclosed, blacks were fired from their drops and food pantries for the poor were shut down.– The assassination of Martin Luther King:In Memphis, Tennessee on the 1st of February 1968, two black garbage workers named Robert Walker and Echol Cole, were crushed and killed when a garbage truck malfunctioned. Black sanitation workers went on strike by the 12th of February and King was asked to go to Memphis to support the 1300 black sanitation workers. King joined a protest march that became violent as a radical section of the march began smashing windows. He checked into the Lorraine motel and gave his last speech at the Mason Temple Church that evening. On the evening of the 4 th of April, he stepped onto his balcony and James Earl Ray shot him.His murder shocked the nation and the world. It had a major short-term significance for US race relations. The King assassination riots (April-May 1968), also known as the Holy Week Uprising, was a wave of civil disturbance which swept the United States following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. It was the greatest wave of social unrest the United States had experienced since the Civil War. The riots occurred in over 100 cities including Washington DC and Chicago and more than 35 people were killed in the violence that followed. The rioting contributed to the ‘white flight’ that was occurring in inner cities as tax base in the areas was reduced which in turn worsened the problem of poor municipal and social services. President Johnson declared the 7th of April a day of national mourning. Washington DC: Crowds of as many as 20,000 overwhelmed the District's 3,100-member police force, and President Lyndon B. Johnson dispatched some 13,600 federal troops, including 1,750 federalized D.C. National Guard troops, to assist them. Marines mounted machine guns on the steps of the Capitol and Army troops from the 3rd Infantry guarded the White House. At one point, on April 5, rioting reached within two blocks of the White House before rioters retreated. The occupation of Washington was the largest of any American city since the Civil War. Mayor Washington imposed a curfew and banned the sale of alcohol and guns in the city. By the time the city was considered pacified on Sunday, April 8, some 1,200 buildings had been burned, including over 900 stores. Damages reached $27 million.Chicago: On April 5, 1968, in Chicago, violence sparked on the West side of the city, and gradually expanded to consume a 28-block stretch of West Madison Street, with additional damage occurring on Roosevelt Road. The rioters broke windows, looted stores, and set buildings on fire. There were 36 major fires reported between 4:00 pm and 10:00 pm alone. The next day, Mayor Richard J. Daley imposed a curfew on anyone under the age of 21, closed the streets to automobile traffic, and halted the sale of guns or ammunition. Approximately 10,500 police were sent in, and by April 6, more than 6,700 Illinois National Guard troops had arrived in Chicago with

5,000 regular Army soldiers from the 1st Armored and 5th Infantry Divisions being ordered into the city by President Johnson. By the time order was restored on April 7, 11 people had died, 500 had been injured, and 2,150 had been arrested. Over 200 buildings were damaged in the disturbance with damage costs running up to $10 million.

● Achievements of the civil rights movement, including: – The nature of social and political change:Social ChangeThe clearest evidence of social change was desegregation with the most obvious forms of segregation overturned by the mid-1970s.Although it took nearly 20 years for all schools to be formally desegregated there was a great contrast of experiences between the generations of black Americans- those who had been to school prior to desegregation and those who attended after. This is similar for transport on buses, trams & trains.There was a general improvement in living standards with the rapid growth of the black middle class. Though a clear gap still exists many black Americans have improved their socio-economic status largely as a result of better access to schooling and less overt discrimination in many areas of life.There are, however, many persistent social problems that emphatically show that the nation is far from achieving racial equality. Longer-term statistics suggest that there were clearly limitations to what the civil rights movement achieved.Black communities still suffer higher infant mortality ratesThe unemployment rates still tend to be much higher than the national averageBlack ‘social mobility’ is also less stableAfrican- Americans are still far more likely to get into trouble with the law- a clear result of the poorer socio-economic performance among black communities and persistent discriminatory attitudesIt is also difficult to precisely judge the degree to which social attitudes to race have changed in the US. Undoubtedly the explicit racism expressed during the 19th and 20th centuries have been tamed to varying degrees, there is evidence of continued prejudice.The Civil Rights Act 1964 made it illegal to discriminate based on race, which helped to suppress some of the most overt forms of racism. This contributed to the improved living standards of many black familiesWhere the civil rights may have been successful in challenging racist laws and customs, it appears to have had less success in challenging racist elements of American culture.Political ChangeIn the realm of politics there is evidence for some clear change, apart from the various Acts past there were other notable changes:1965 there were 6 African Americans elected to the US House of Representatives & by 1969 there were 10black voter participation increased, in the South 1940- 3% of registered voters were black, 1950- 17% and 1964- 43%. Between 1970 & 1990

black registration had declined but in 2008 it had increased to 60% of African Americans votedBarack Obama became the first black President in 2008The civil rights movement also affected some political traditions:Pre-civil rights the Democratic Party was traditionally dominated by whites and overwhelmingly in favour of segregation- the Republican Party was considered more progressive. The Civil Rights Act 1964 implemented by the Democrat President LBJ changed this. His predecessor JFK (Democrat) began to prepare for the civil rights bill but was assassinated- LBJ took on the task and was met with strong opposition from southern Democrats- after a struggle within his own party he was able to get the bill passed through Congress. As a result, many southern members left the partyAfter 1964, the Democrats increasingly became the symbol of ‘progressive’ America and the Republicans became the symbol of ‘conservative’ America.– The significance of legislative change, the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the attitudes of US presidents: 1947- President Truman supported the To Secure These Rights report which called for an end to various forms of discrimination. In a racist nation like the US, especially its southern states, the report was radical.1948- By executive order, Truman desegregated the armed forces. However, it would be a few years for this to have practical effect. Henderson vs the US made illegal segregated dining in interstate railway cars. McLaurin vs the Oklahoma State Regents revealed that black students could not be separated from white students.1954-1957- Eisenhower’s Civil Rights Act of 1957 proved to be of little benefit for black Americans seeking to be able to vote as its hopeful provisions were diluted in Congress.1960- The Eisenhower administration introduced a second Civil Rights Act to ensure blacks could vote, it was once again ineffective as only a small percentage of black voters enrolled.1961-1963- The Kennedy administration took many symbolic steps, however little substantive change occurred. Kennedy did intervene in several violent Southern events including those in Alabama. 1963- In February the administrate brought forward a Civil Rights Bill to Congress that sought to desegregate public places and enable African Americans to vote. It bogged down in Congress and Kennedy was assassinated in November of that year. 1964- In July President Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act that was promoted by Kennedy. It ended southern legal segregation, discrimination in public areas was a crime, the act pushed school desegregation and set up an Equal Employment Commission. 1965- Johnson’s Higher Education Acton of 1965 gave assistance to poorer black colleges and enabled more graduated. He brought in Medicare and Medicaid for poorer minorities. The Voting Rights Act was passed, it allowed poll taxes and literacy tests, Mississippi had 59% of black registered to vote by 1968. Black voter registration is now almost equalled to that of whites.

1967- Johnson appointed an African American to the Supreme Court for the first time- former NAACP advocate Thurgood Marshall1968- Civil Rights Act aimed to stop discrimination in the sale and renting of housing based on race.Harry S Truman (1945-1953)- His measures took some time to come into fruition and the nation was not ready for drastic change. He made statements that supported the civil rights as he encouraged human rights of all citizens and denounced class and race alienation. Dwight D Eisenhower (1953-1961)- He had little interest in the movement and disagreed with federal intervention on the matter. He called for a conscience end to discrimination however did not want to jeopardise his position in parliament. John F Kennedy (1961-1963)- He promised to help blacks, however, the cold war was of paramount concern to Kennedy and in 1961 little was discussed about the manner. He preferred a quite legalistic approach to the manner and opposed the tactics of SNCC. He was ultimately pushed by the actions of black activist and was sympathetic to the issue. His death aided in the passing of the Civil Rights Act.Lyndon B Johnson (1963-1969)- He displayed a willingness to take risks on behalf of Hispanic and black minorities. He believed racial tensions in the south stopped people investing there. He was ambitious and championed the civil rights bill after Kennedy’s death. The Vietnam war became a priority in the US. He was considered by the NAACP leader Roy Wilkins to be far more serious on race matters.– The influence of the US civil rights movement beyond the USA: Latinos in the US- Mexican and Filipino immigrants suffered labour exploitation, had to put up with poor housing and the educational opportunities for their children were limited. Latinos had begun organised the creation of the League of united Latin American Citizens in 1929. In 1968, the Mexican American Legal Defence and Educational Fund was set up, it aimed to deal with the same issues of segregation in education and a lack of voting rights. In 1965, the Delano Grape Strike saw Mexican and Filipino people strike against California grape growers.Native North Americans- Suffered far worse health, living and education conditions than whites. Segregation was a key feature in their lives. In 1924, the Snyder Act gave native Americans citizenship, however, it was up to individual states to decide voter eligibility. In 1968, native Americans formed the American India Movement to campaign for their civil rights. In 1973, the native American struggle became violent when AIM and some of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organisation clashed with FBI agents at the Pine Ridge Reservation. Two Native Americans were killed, hundred were arrested and many AIM leaders imprisoned.Northern Ireland- In 1976, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was formed. It demanded an end to gerrymandering, discrimination in the allocation of government jobs and council housing against Catholics and the disbanding of the “B Specials”. In August 1968, the first civil rights march took place from Coalisland to Dungannon. The march ended in violence. A new civil rights group called the People’s Democracy was created, mainly consisting of university students. The organised a march

from Belfast to Londonderry in January of 1969. They were attacked by Protestants and by the end of 1969 violent conflict erupted between the groups.Australia- Charles Perkins led a Freedom Ride in support of Aboriginal rights. In 1963, Perkins founded the ‘Student Action for Aboriginies’ and in 1965, he led 28 people on a freedom ride through rural NSW. Towns such as Walgett, Moree and Kempsey were visited. Aboriginal people were denied entry to certain establishments, they could not use public swimming pools where non-Aboriginal people were, and ex-servicemen were denied entry to RSL clubs. Brought significant publicity to the plight of Aboriginal Australians and in 1967, the referendum for Aboriginal census representation was a yes.South Africa- In the 1950s and 60s, apartheid was used, roughly meaning separate development. By the 1960s, blacks, whites, Indians and mixed-race peoples were fully segregated. They would determine where a person could live, work, travel and be educated. Protests in South African lead to severe beatings with whips, arrests and long-term imprisonment. Many were killed and in 1960, security forces killed 69 protestors in the Sharpeville Massacre.