The American Civil Rights Movement

Starring: Martin Luther King & Malcolm X

Truman ‘45-52 Democrat

Eisenhower ‘52-60 Republican

Kennedy ‘60-63 (assassinated) Democrat

Johnson ‘63-68 Democrat

Nixon ‘68-74 Republican

Ford ‘74-77 Republican

Carter ‘77-80 Democrat

Reagan ‘81 - ‘89 Republican

George Bush Snr ‘89-93 Republican

Clinton ‘93-00 Democrat

George Bush Jnr ‘01-08 Republican

Barack Obama ‘09 - ? Democrat

Truman had a pro-black attitude which irritated many in the South.

Harry Truman 45-52 (Democrat)

Eisenhower: Republican1952-60

He was also in favour of civil rights for blacks.

Made two efforts (‘1957 & 60) to make it easier for blacks to vote

In 1954 Supreme Court ruled the concept of separate schools for blacks illegal & contrary to US Constitution.

“Jim Crow laws” in southern states had been in effect since 1896 despite abolishment of slavery.

They required segregation of blacks and whites in schools, restaurants, hotels, bus seating, and even in fountain use.

In 1954 these laws were made illegal, but equal rights in theory didn’t translate into practice.

Background...

• In 1955, 15 year old Claudette Colvin

refused a white male her seat on a bus.

• Later the same yr, a black woman , Rosa Parks, refused to give up her

seat to a white male on a bus in Mongomery, Alabama.

Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin

Rosa Parks

Parks was arrested.

Blacks boycotted the bus services in Montgomery for a year - until the company discarded the policy.

Martin Luther King

This campaign in Montgomery was led by a 26 year old Baptist minister- Martin Luther King.

King had been influenced by the non-violent tactics of Gandhi in India.

His Civil Rights movement in the US therefore resembled the non-violent protests in India.

An example - Blacks campaigned the southern states in “Freedom Rider” bus tours.

1963 was a turning point year .

Martin Luther King organized his March on Washington.

250 000 people showed up to present a petition to a sympathetic President Kennedy.

Response by whites: 4 black children were killed in a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.

There is also a possibility Kennedy’s assassination (November 22, 1963) was at least partially a response to his receptiveness to black civil rights.

MLK’s Speeches ...

MLK’s Assassinationtook place April 4th, 1968

Stokely Carmichael & Malcolm X

Not all Afro-Americans agreed with MLK’s non-violent tactics.

Stokely Carmichael led the Black Power movement. He urged blacks to “stop begging and take power.”

Some black Muslims even called for a separate black state within the US

Malcolm X was one such leader. He was a black Muslim-American who advocated an aggressive black nationalism & separate “black” state.

He was assassinated while giving a speech in New York - by black Muslims.

"You don't integrate with a sinking ship."

Malcolm X

Anger amongst blacks eventually erupted into violent rioting.

In the LA ghettos in 1965 - such a riot claimed 34 lives.

Between 1965-68 more than 150 riots resulted in 69 more deaths

The main cause of unrest was black poverty (33% of blacks below poverty line in 1970’s).

Riots & Violence

Blacks also staged “sit-ins” in hotels and cafes reserved for whites.

These campaigns provoked brutal attacks by racist white gangs in the South.

these attacks were filmed on TV news, thus black rights issues received much publicity across the nation.

In 1951, a suit was filed against the Board of Education of Topeka Texas. The plaintiffs were 13 parents on behalf of their twenty children. The suit called for the school district to reverse its policy of racial segregation. The parents eventually won this case named after one of the father’s, Mr. Oliver Brown. Handed down in May 1954, the Court's unanimous (9-0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." This victory paved the way for integration & the civil rights movement.

Landmark Rulings1. BROWN VS. BOARD OF

EDUCATION

In 1957 a serious problem arose for Eisenhower over desegregated schools in Little Rock. The school board and the city’s mayor agreed that efforts should be made to accept the law de-segregating schools. But the governor of Arkansas, Orville Faubus, had other ideas.

Faubus ordered 270 National Guard troops to move into the Central High School. He argued that the troops were needed to maintain law & order as 9 black students were set to enter this white school for the first time. In fact, their task was to keep these students out of the school.

On the first day of the school year, the 9 students did not show up on the advice of the school board. On the second day, they arrived escorted by two white and two African-American ministers. They were stopped from entering by the National Guard. As the students left, they were verbally abused by white students & adults from Little Rock. These scenes were captured on television and shown throughout the world. America was shocked at what it saw.

From http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/little_rock.htm

2. Little Rock, Arkansas

3. Civil Rights Act 1964

A year after Kennedy’s assassination, President Johnson was able to pass his Civil Rights bill.

This bill was part of Kennedy’s “New Frontier” plan, aimed at eliminating discrimination based on colour resulting in segregation of blacks in public places.

Although this Civil Rights Act had been Kennedy’s idea, it was blocked by the Republicans in Congress who had a majority during his presidency.

NB: Blacks had to pass literacy tests in order to vote. Many of them couldn’t and this bothered Kennedy. 70% of the blacks who could vote - voted for him.