Ch. 14 Section 3

NEW SUCCESSES & CHALLENGES

TERMS & PEOPLE

• Freedom Summer – 1964 effort to register African American voters in Mississippi.

• Fannie Lou Hamer – gave testimony at the Democratic Convention and described how she had been beaten, fired from her job and displaced form her home all because she wanted to register to vote.

• Voting Rights Act – law that banned literacy tests and empowered the federal government to oversee voter registration.

• Twenty-fourth Amendment – constitutional amendment that banned the poll tax as a voting requirement.

• Kerner Commission – group set up to investigate the causes of race riots in American cities in the 1960s.

TERMS & PEOPLE CONTINUED

• Malcolm X – Became the Nation of Islam’s most prominent minister; however, became willing to consider limited acceptance of whites. He was shot and killed in February 1965.

• Nation of Islam – African American religious organization founded in 1930 that advocated separation of the races. Several members were convicted of Malcolm X’s murder.

• Black power – movement in the 1960s that urged African Americas to use their collective political and economic power to gain equality.

• Black Panthers – organization of militant African Americans founded in 1966.

I. PUSH FOR VOTING RIGHTSA. Freedom Summer – over 1,000 volunteers, mostly black

and white students, went to Mississippi because in 1964, not a single African American person was registered to vote in five counties that had African American majorities.

B. March in Selma – MLK Jr. organized a campaign to pressure the federal government to enact voting rights legislation.

1. “Bloody Sunday” – heavily armed state troopers blocked the path of protesters attempting to march to Selma, Alabama.

2. Outrage hits the nation as images of Selma flashed across television sets. President Johnson called for a strong federal voting rights law.

African American Voter Registration

State 1964 1968

Alabama 23.0 56.7

Louisiana 32.0 59.3

Mississippi 6.7 59.4

Texas 57.7 83.1

Virginia 45.7 58.4

This table shows voter registration rates in some southern states before and after the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Which state listed in the table had the greatest increase in voter registration between 1964 and 1968?

Answer: MISSISSIPPI at an increase of 52.7%

Percentage of voting-age African Americans

II. FRUSTRATION EXPLODES INTO VIOLENCE

A. Riots Erupt in Several Cities in Summer of 1967

1. Community of Watts in Los Angelas, CA

a) Violence, looting, and arson spread for several days before National Guard troops restored order.

2. The Worst violence occurred in:

a) Newark, New Jersey

b) Detroit, Michigan – 43 people died and property damage reached $50 million

B. Kerner Commission Determines Main Cause of Riots

1. It concluded that long-term racial discrimination stood as the single most important cause of violence.

2. The commission also recommended establishing and expanding federal programs aimed at overcoming the problems of America’s urban ghettos.

III. NEW VOICES FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS

A. Malcolm X Most well-known African American Radical

B. Black Panthers Symbolize young militant African Americans.

IV. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.A. King Continues to Seek Nonviolent Methods

1. King went to Memphis to support a strike by sanitation workers seeking better wages and working conditions.

B. King is Assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968.

1. King tells his followers regarding threats against his life “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life, but I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.”

2. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed the following day on the balcony of his hotel where he was struck by a high-powered rifle and died later at the hospital at the age of 39.

V. GAINS AND CHALLENGES

A. Legal Segregation is Eliminated

1. Effects of Civil Rights Movement

• End of legal segregation

• Passage of federal laws to protect civil rights

• End of legal barriers to African American voting and political participation

• Creation of affirmative action programs

B. Discrimination Continues

1. Justice Thurgood Marshall stated “Three hundred and fifty years ago, the Negro was dragged to this country in chains to be sold into slavery, the position of the Negro today in America is the tragic but inevitable consequence of centuries of unequal treatment.”

Provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Banned segregation in public accommodations

• Gave the federal government the ability to compel state and local school boards to desegregate their schools.

• Allowed the Justice Department to prosecute individuals who violated the civil rights of others

• Outlawed discrimination in employment based on race, color, sex, or national origin

• Established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which is responsible for investigating charges of job discrimination and for enforcing the above provisions

1. In what way did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 affect employment in the United States?

a) It gave employers the right to discriminate against people based on race.

b) It gave employees the right to organize unions.

c) It outlawed job discrimination and created the EEOC to investigate charges of job discrimination.

d) It gave the federal government the right to segregate public schools.

2. Which of the following events in the Civil Rights movement preceded the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

a) The Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

b) Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Alabama.

c) Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington.

d) All of the above

WITNESS HISTORY VIDEO EXCERPT

Civil Rights Martyrs

Discuss the history of martyrdom, the impact of martyrs in general, and specifically of the individuals discussed in the video on the civil rights movement.