Post WWII Boom, Great Society & Civil Rights Movement

Great Society & Civil Rights Movement

The New Frontier & Great SocietyKennedys vision of progress medical care for aged, rebuild urban areas, educationPracticed deficit spending to stimulate economyIncrease defense budget by 20%

Increased minimum wage, extension of unemployment insuranceEstablished Peace Corps volunteer assistance to developing nationsAlliance for Progress aid to Latin America ($12 billion)Investment in space program, race to the moon (Neil Armstrong 1969)

Convinced Congress to cut $10 billion in taxes: people spent more, businesses & tax revenue grew!War on Poverty Economic Opportunity Act: youth programs, small business loans, job training, Head Start

Johnson took over after Kennedys assassination

Civil Rights Act (1964): prohibited discrimination based on sex, religion, national origin, race

Great Society: end poverty & racial injustice, higher standard of living & equal opportunityw/ support from democratic led Congress, Johnson able to push through laws on education, Medicare & Medicaid, Housing & Urban Development, immigration, environment

Won big (1964) vs. Barry Goldwater (fear of nukes, not escalating war in Vietnam)

Warren Court: rulings protected rights of the accused: illegally attained evidence couldnt be used, legal counsel to those who couldnt afford it, lawyer present during questioning, rights read before questioningImpact of Great Society: extended power of federal govt, poverty fell from 21% to 11%, funding his programs increased federal deficit

Civil Rights Act (1875) declared unconstitutional 1883Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Supreme court ruled separate but equal didnt violate 14th AmendmentSouthern states had passed Jim Crow laws, black facilities were always inferior

Civil Rights Movement 1950s & 60s

WWII helped set stage for movement, labor shortage, 1 million African Americans joined military

Desegregation led by NAACP & Charles HoustonFocused on inequality in separated schools & placed Thurgood Marshall as leader of councilMorgan v. Virginia (1964) unconstitutional mandating of segregated seating on interstate buses

Arkansas 1st southern state to admit African Americans to state university w/o orderGovernor ordered national guard to turn students away at Central High School

Brown v. Board of Education (Topeka): segregated schools unequal (unanimous decision) Reaction was mixed & faced resistance in South (Miss & GA)

federal judge ordered them in (Little Rock Nine)

Eisenhower placed Ark. guard under federal controlRosa Parks (1955) arrested for not giving up seat on bus for white manAfrican American leaders organized a bus boycott led by Martin Luther King Jr.

Boycott lasted 381 days until Supreme Court outlaws bus segregation in 1956MLK based teachings & practices on Jesus, Thoreau, Phillip Randolph, Gandhi

joined Southern Christian Leadership Conference that organized other protests & demonstrations

1960 students from NC A & T organized sit-in at Woolworth lunch counter covered by media

Movement spread, students formed picket lines at national chains that practiced segregation (48 cities, 11 states)

1961 freedom riders took a 2 bus trip across south to challenge interstate segregated facilitiesBus One was met by hostile mob in Birmingham, Alabama (chains, brass knuckles, pistols)

Bus Two was followed out of Anniston, Alabama tire blew & fire bomb thrown in

New group joined in Birmingham & were beaten by police & driven to Tenn but returnedBus driver refused to take them out of fear & riders protested in white only facility for 18hrs until call from Robert Kennedy

Alabama officials promised protection but riders faced violence in Montgomery, AlabamaPresident Kennedy used US Marshalls to protect them on their journey & ICC banned segregation in all interstate travel facilities

James Meredith won court case for admittance into Ole Miss but Governor refused to let him register

Kennedy ordered marshals to escort himSep. 30, 1962 riots broke out1963 March on Washington: MLK I have a dream influenced public opinion to support civil rights laws, power of non-violent mass protest

Birmingham, Alabama considered most segregated city, King flew in & led demonstrationsKing was arrested on April 12th, 1963posted bail & organized a march on May 2 (over 900 arrested)

May 3rd another march, camera caught brutalityContinued protests, boycotts & negative media convinced officials to desegregate & Kennedy to push for new civil rights legislation

Kennedy ordered troops to force Gov Wallace to desegregate Univ. of Ala

Convinced Congress to pass Civil Rights Act (1964): prohibited discrimination, desegregated public accommodationsVolunteers went to Miss to register blacks to vote in 1964 known as Freedom Summer3 murdered in Neshoba

Jimmy Lee Jackson shot & killed in Selma, Ala

King organized 50 mile march (March 1965) demonstrators beaten as violence erupted, media captured mayhem Marchers organized again on March 21st w/ federal protection

Voting Rights Act (1965): outlaws literacy tests, federal registrars sent to South

De facto segregation still existed & more difficult to change (economic & social power)Urban blacks lived in decaying slums, rent to landlords who failed to comply w/ ordinances, schools deteriorated, unemployment 2x whites

Urban riots erupted in major cities throughout 60s (100, 1967) Worst was Watts in LA (1965)

Malcolm X rose w/in Nation of Islam taught that blacks should separate from white society & be able to defend themselves against white violenceWent to Mecca & broke w/ Nation of Islam & changed some of his views, assassinated Feb. 1965

Black Power movement grew led by Stokely Carmichael who was arrested & beaten in MissBlack Panther Party established in Oct 1966 Civil Rights Movement in Virginia: Oliver Hill Legal defense team in VA

massive resistance to ruling, closed some schools, established private academies, white flight from urban schoolsKing assassinated on April 4, 1968March 1968 the Kerner Commission issued report on urban violence - named 1 cause: white racism

helped end de jure segregation in schools, housing, transportation; passed Civil Rights legislation, graduation rates rose, pride & identity, increased voters/elected officials, lowered colored bar in entertainment

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