Constitutional Rights

• Amendment 13

• Freed the Slaves

• Amendment 14

• Freedmen had the same rights as everyone else

• Amendment 15

• Freedmen could vote

Existing Inequalities• 1896 - Supreme

Court Case Plessy v. Ferguson

• Separate railway cars were constitutional as long as they were equal.

• Ruling applied to many other areas of life.

• Also known as Jim Crow Laws

Other Inequalities• Racial segregation - By law, public facilities were divided

into separate "white" and "colored" domains. • Exploitation- happened to blacks, Latinos, and Asians • Violence- Individual, police, organizational (KKK), and

mass racial violence against blacks, Latinos in the Southwest and Asians in California

The First Step• President Harry Truman

began the first steps. In 1947 he had created a report, To Secure These Rights, which had a detailed agenda of civil rights reforms.

• On July 26, 1948, President Truman signed Executive orders 9980 and 9981. This ordered the desegregation of the federal work force and of the armed services

Steps towards Racial Equality

• 1954• Brown v. Board of

Education of Topeka, Kansas (Supreme Court)

• “separate but equal” is unconstitutional

• Schools must be desegregated.

What Supreme Court Decision does this overturn?

Steps Toward Racial Equality

• 1955• Rosa Parks is

arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man.

• Montgomery bus boycott begins.

Martin Luther King Jr. • Martin Luther King Jr.

– Born January 15, 1929 – Died April 4, 1968

• A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career.

• He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Advocate of non-violent protests during the Civil Rights Protests

The 1950’s Review• 1951 – 22nd Amendment: Presidents

may serve only two terms.

Eisenhower Era- “I Like IKE!”

• 1953 – The Korean War ends

• 1954 – Brown v Board of Education

• 1955 – – Rosa Parks and Montgomery

bus boycott

• 1957 – – Little Rock and Central High

School integration. Eisenhower sent

troops to assure the students’ safety.

• 1957 – Sputnik launched by

Russians

Steps Toward Racial Equality• 1957• In Little Rock,

Arkansas, nine Black high school students attempt to enroll at the all white high school.

• President Eisenhower calls out federal troops to ensure they are admitted.

Hispanic Movements

• The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) had formed in 1929.

• They fought against racial segregation in schools in California and in Texas during the 1940’s.

• By 1950 there was an end to segregation of Hispanic students in all Texas public schools

The 1960’s• 1960• Dr. King insisted that

all protests be non violent.

• “Sit ins” at lunch counters in Woolworth drugstores across the South.

• Sitting at every other seat to invite sympathizers to join

Freedom Rides• 1961• Whites join in the

fight for racial equality.

• Freedom Riders – Black and White – attempt to desegregate busses.

• Some riders murdered.

KKK against Voter Registration• In 1961, the KKK began

blatantly attacking the Civil Rights Movement– Lynched, attacked, and were

extremely violent towards the Movement such as lynching and cross burning

– Joined by the White Citizens Council

• Voter Registration struggled to get African Americans registered to vote against poll taxes and literacy tests

• In 1965, the Voting Rights Act would be passed to protect against poll taxes.

March on Birmingham• 1963

• The March on Birmingham, Alabama

• Martin Luther King, Jr. urges President Kennedy to pass a civil rights bill.

Steps Toward Racial Equality• August 28, 1963• The March on

Washington, D.C.• Martin Luther King,

Jr. delivers a speech to an audience of white people and black people meeting together.

• “I have a dream” speech

Martin Luther King Jr. • Believed in the

power of non-violent protests for civil rights to be achieved

• Famous for leading the Bus Boycott, the March on Washington and “I have a Dream”

Malcolm X• Born May 25, 1929• Became a Black Muslim

leader• Advocated the complete

separation of African Americans from white people. – proposed the establishment of

a separate country for black people

– that black people use any necessary means of self-defense to protect themselves

• Assassinated in 1965

Civil Rights Act• JFK assassinated before the

act is passed November 22, 1963

• Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed.

• Signed by President Lyndon Johnson

• Banned discriminationin employment on the basis of race, color,religion, sex or nationalorigin.

• Outlawed discriminationin public accommodations

Cesar Chavez and California • Strike led against

Californian farms• Strike was for the

rights and the basic needs of the grape harvesters who were primarily Filipino and Mexican American workers

• People did not buy grapes for over 4 years with 17 million people participating

Steps Toward Racial Equality• 1964• Twenty-fourth Amendment

is passed.• Banned the payment

of poll taxes as a condition for votingin Federal elections.

• Freedom Summer begins. • Voter registration efforts

continue all through the United States.

Steps Toward Racial Equality• 1965• March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

Demanded voting rights.• Voting Rights Act of 1965 is passed.• Signed by President

Lyndon Johnson• Put entire voting

registration processunder federalcontrol.

Assassination • Riots and violence:

– 1966-1968: 100 violent race riots broke out across the US

• April 4, 1968, Dr. King assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

• Civil Rights Act passed April 11, 1968 to prohibit discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin.

Review: Key People and Events of the Civil Rights Movement:

--1954: Brown v. Board of Education--Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963: “I have a dream”--Civil Rights Acts of 1964, 1968; Voting Rights Act 1965--Assassinations of John (1963) and Robert Kennedy (1968), Malcolm X (1965), and Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968)