Civil Rights in America

The Movement 1950-1970

The Constitution 13th Amendment (1865): abolished slavery

14th Amendment (1866): Defines a citizen as anyone born or naturalized in the US. Equal protection of law clause.

15th Amendment (1869): voting will not be withheld on “account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Early Civil Rights

Voting, while protected by the constitution, was withheld from African Americans by:Literacy

testsPoll Taxes

Supreme Court Ruling: separate-but-equal facilities for black and whites did not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.

Jim Crow & the South

Jim Crow Laws: laws aimed at segregating society.

Schools, parks, hospitals, public transport, and other places.

Was challenged in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Jim Crow Laws & the South

Barbers. No colored barber shall serve as a barber (to) white girls or women (Georgia).

Burial. The officer in charge shall not bury, or allow to be buried, any colored persons upon ground set apart or used for the burial of white persons (Georgia).

Nurses. No person or corporation shall require any white female nurse to nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which Negro men are placed (Alabama).

White and black prisoners could not be chained together (6 states)

Brown v. Board of Education Topeka (1954)

8 year old Linda Brown

Court struck down segregation in schools UNANIMOUSLY.

Violation of the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause.

Brown II (1955): ordered desegregation to be implemented with “all deliberate speed.”

Reactions to Brown Southern states some stated

desegregation would “take years” Mississippi and Georgia vowed total

resistance.

Little Rock Crisis: Arkansas governor Orval Faubus called out the national guard to turn away the “Little Rock Nine.”

Boycotting Segregation: Montgomery Bus Boycott

In 1955 Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a public bus and is arrested.

NAACP enlisted the help of Martin Luther King, Jr. to organize a boycott.

Boycott lasted 381 days and operated on principal of nonviolence.

1956: Supreme Court outlawed bus segregation.

Sit-ins became a popular form of protest

March on Washington

August 28th, 1963: African Americans march on Washington D.C. to show their support for a new Civil Rights bill and to convince Congress to pass it. “I Have a Dream”

Racial harmony

In the South: four Birmingham girls die when a bomb was hurdled through their church window. (MTG)

Voting Rights

Summer of ‘64: Freedom Summer

Civil Rights groups trained students in non-violence and sent them out to help African Americans register to vote.

Faced with violence and racism.

The Help

Set in 1962, two years before the freedom summer, after bus boycotts and sit-in, after Brown vs. Board of Education

Deals mostly with issues of race but also includes feminism as well

Women’s Liberation Movement

Tensions regarding traditional roles of women. 1960s saw a lower rate

of female college attendance than in the 1920s

Media husband the breadwinner, wife the homemaker.

Unit Requirements

Annotation

As you read, annotate each chapter in the book

If it’s a library copy see me for sticky notes or purchase some Notes must push your thinking deeper

Notes must show your thinking

Notice and analyze plot, character, author’s purpose, author’s craft

Refer to your notes on annotations for ideas on what to mark

(PowerPoint from the first week is on my website)

Annotations will be checked twice this unit for daily grades First time random

Second at the end of the unit

Reading Calendar and Reading Quizzes

Keep up with your calendar and if you fall behind, spend your weekends catching up on your reading.

(Reading quizzes each Monday)

Journals

The following components will be recorded in your notebooks

They will be checked randomly once during the unit and will serve as an exam grade at the end of the unitGrade will be based on completion and quality

Character Tracking

Make a section in your notebook titled: Characters of The Help

Make a page (front and back) for: Skeeter

Minnie

Aibileen

Divide your paper in half vertically

On the left record Major Discoveries/Insights about these characters

On the right record Important Quotes that reveal the depth of their character

For minor characters I recommend keeping a list with brief descriptions on the inside front flap of your book

History Tracking

Make a section (at least 2 pages) in your notebook titled: History in The Help

Find at least 15 historical references as you read the book

Google each one and record a BRIEF description of it’s historical relevance

Note the source of your findings (do not use Wikipedia more than 5 times!)

Your notes should look as follows:

1. Rosa Parks: Civil rights activist famous for the Montgomery Bus Boycotts – worked with MLK. Lived 1913-2005 (biography.com)

Dialectical Journals

After the character and history tracking sections, make a section titled: Dialectical Journals

Annotations can aid you greatly!

Refer to your handout for more information and requirements, we will do one of these entries together