What was the Civil Rights Movement?What do you already know?Why did it happen?

List as many ideas as you can about civil rights.

Be prepared to share.

WARM UP

There were two phases to the Civil Rights movement: one phase

between 1945-1965 and the other after 1965.

The Civil Rights Movement

We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. We have talked for one hundred years or more. It is time now to write it in the

books of law.~ President Lyndon Johnson

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The Civil Rights Movement

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. ~ Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

Segregation

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Segregation was an attempt by many white Southerners to separate the races in every aspect of daily life.

Segregation was often called the Jim Crow system, after a minstrel show character from the 1830s who was an African American slave who embodied negative stereotypes of African Americans.

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SegregationSegregation became

common in Southern states following the end of Reconstruction in 1877. These states began to pass local and state laws that specified certain places “For Whites Only” and others for “Colored.”

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Drinking fountain on county courthouse lawn, Halifax, North Carolina;

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USF34-9058-C]

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Segregation

African Americans had separate schools, transportation, restaurants, and parks, many of which were poorly funded and inferior to those of whites.

Over the next 75 years, Jim Crow signs to separate the races went up in every possible place.

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Entrance of movie house for African Americans on Saturday afternoon, Belzoni, Mississippi Delta, Mississippi

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USF34-9058-C]

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Segregation

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The system of segregation also included the denial of voting rights, known as disenfranchisement.

Between 1890 and 1910, all Southern states passed laws imposing requirements for voting. These were used to prevent African Americans from voting, in spite of the 15th Amendment, which had been designed to protect African American voting rights.

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Segregation

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The voting requirements included the ability to read and write, which disqualified many African Americans who had not had access to education; property ownership, which excluded most African Americans, and paying a poll tax, which prevented most Southern African Americans from voting because they could not afford it.

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Left: A political cartoon about poll taxes by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

Bottom: A poll tax receipt from Birmingham, Alabama in 1896

Segregation

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Conditions for African Americans in the Northern states were somewhat better, though up to 1910 only ten percent of African Americans lived in the North.

Segregated facilities were not as common in the North, but African Americans were usually denied entrance to the best hotels and restaurants.

African Americans were usually free to vote in the North.

Actor Charlton Heston protests a whites-only restaurant

A grammatically incorrect segregation sign

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Segregation

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In the late 1800s, African Americans sued to stop separate seating in railroad cars, states’ disfranchisement of voters, and denial of access to schools and restaurants.

One of the cases against segregated rail travel was Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that “separate but equal” accommodations were constitutional.

In order to protest segregation, African Americans created national organizations.

The National Afro-American League was formed in 1890; W.E.B. Du Bois helped create the Niagara Movement in 1905 and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

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A Sign at the Greyhound Bus Station, Rome, GeorgiaEsther Bubley, photographer, September 1943.

1896- Plessy vs. FergusonLandmark court case “Separate, but Equal”

Segregation

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In 1910, the National Urban League was created to help African Americans make the transition to urban, industrial life.

In 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was founded to challenge segregation in public accommodations in the North.

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Congress of Racial Equality march in Washington DC on 22 September 1963 in memory of the children killed in the Birmingham bombings.

United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Division under the digital ID ppmsca.04298

SegregationThe NAACP became one of

the most important African American organizations of the twentieth century. It relied mainly on legal strategies that challenged segregation and discrimination in the courts.Interestingly, Obama

became president 100 years after the founding of the NAACP.

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20th Annual session of the N.A.A.C.P., 6/26/29 Cleveland, Ohio Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.; LC-USZ62-111535

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SegregationHistorian and sociologist

W.E.B. Du Bois was a founder and leader of the NAACP. Starting in 1910, he made powerful arguments protesting segregation as editor of the NAACP magazine The Crisis.

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Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois

Why Did the Civil Rights Movement Take Off After 1945?Black equality became a significant

political issue for the Democratic PartyWWII had been fought against racism

abroad—hard to keep harboring it at homeBlack veterans came home dedicated to

changeIncreasing number of White Americans

condemned segregationDiscrimination in the United States hurt

our propaganda battle against the Communists

The Truman YearsTruman’s 1948

election year agendaNo significant Civil

Rights congressional legislation

Truman moves on his own to do what he can for Civil Rights--Desegregation of the military (1948)

Jackie Robinson’s breakthrough (1947)

The Truman Years (cont.)Split at the 1948

Democratic conventionEnergized Truman hits

the campaign trail hardRepublican Dewey runs

a boring, conservative campaign

Truman’s stunning election

Truman’s “Fair Deal” (1949)

The Battle in the CourtsPlessy v. Ferguson

(1896)-- “separate but equal” facilities = legal

Smith v. Allwright (1944)

First attack = “separate is not equal”

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)-- Chief Justice Earl Warren

1954-Brown vs. Board of Education1896 Separate, but Equal law is

overturned. It is now illegal to segregate schools.

Question-What do you think happened when schools

began the integration process?

Battle in the Courts (cont.)Eisenhower

disapproves of Brown decision

Popular opposition to the Brown decision

No real progress on desegregation at first

The Eisenhower YearsEisenhower’s

philosophy related to Civil Rights laws

First Civil Rights Acts passed since the Civil War (1957 and 1960)

Opposition to the integration of Little Rock Central High School (1957)--Governor Orville Faubus

School Desegregation

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Virtually no schools in the South segregated their schools in the first years following the Brown decision.

In Virginia, one county actually closed its public schools.

In 1957, Governor Orval Faubus defied a federal court order to admit nine African American students to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Despite his disapproval of the Court’s decision, President Dwight Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce desegregation as he felt constitutionally required to enforce the law.

Protesters against integration in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1959

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1957-Little Rock Nine

The federal government uses the military to uphold African Americans' civil rights, as soldiers escort nine African American students to desegregate a school in Little Rock, Arkansas.

What do you think…The white students were thinking? The national guard members were

thinking? The nine African-American students were

thinking?

School Desegregation

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The event was covered by the national media, and the fate of the nine students attempting to integrate the school gripped the nation.

Not all school desegregation was as dramatic as Little Rock schools gradually desegregated.

Often, schools were desegregated only in theory because racially segregated neighborhoods led to segregated schools.

To overcome the problem, some school districts began busing students to schools outside their neighborhoods in the 1970s. Winston-Salem had a integration policy from 1971-1990. Now, we have school choice.

The Riverside Unified School District was the first district in the nation to voluntarily desegregate its schools.

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The first African American students to integrate Central High School

Do you feel schools today are de-segregated?

Does race still affect who goes to what school?

Do you think it is fair to create quotas of races for each school or allow parents to choose where their child goes?

Out of the Schools and Into the Buses

The arrest of Rosa Parks (December, 1955)

The Montgomery, Ala. Bus Boycott

The leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The “Montgomery” model for Civil Rights activism: boycott, publicity, courts

SCLC formed (1957)

1955- Rosa ParksParks is chosen by local civil rights group to

challenge bus rule.Refuses to give up her seat to a white

person while riding a bus. She was arrested for this! Montgomery Bus Boycott begins

1956- Browder v. GayleThe U.S. Supreme Court rules that the

segregation of Montgomery, Ala., buses is unconstitutional.

1957-Martin Luther King, Jr. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., helps

found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to work for full equality for African Americans

A Mass Movement Takes Shape

Lunch counter “sit-ins” begin: Greensboro, NC & W-S (February, 1960)

SNCC created (April, 1960)

CORE “Freedom Ride” (May, 1961)

1960-Nonviolent ProtestsFour African American college students hold a sit-

in to integrate a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., launching a wave of similar protests across the South.

1960: over 70,000 students had participated in sit-ins, 3,600 had served time in jail

Sit-Ins

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This was not a new form of protest, but the response to the sit-ins spread throughout North Carolina, and within weeks sit-ins were taking place in cities across the South.

Many restaurants were desegregated in response to the sit-ins.

This form of protest demonstrated clearly to African Americans and whites alike that young African Americans were determined to reject segregation.

In April 1960, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, to help organize and direct the student sit-in movement.

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If you were….A student living in those times, would you

have protested? Why or why not?

1961-Freedom Rides

The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) begins to organize Freedom Rides throughout the South to try to de-segregate interstate public bus travel.

The Kennedy YearsFreedom rides to test if the southern states would obey the Supreme Court decision

Riders were attacked, beaten and arrested

Robert Kennedy reluctant at first to send federal support, but later sent marshal’s to protect riders

Freedom Riders

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The violence brought national attention and fierce condemnation of Alabama officials for allowing the brutality to occur.

President John F. Kennedy stepped in to protect the Freedom Riders when it was clear that Alabama officials would not guarantee their safe travel.

The riders continued on to Jackson, Mississippi, where they were arrested, ending the protest.

The Freedom Rides did result in the desegregation of some bus stations, but more importantly they caught the attention of the American public.

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Arrest photographs of two freedom riders in 1961; in the center is the couple in their later years

Freedom riders arriving in Montgomery, Alabama in 1961

Desegregation spreads“Ole Miss”

James Meredith wishes to enroll

Supreme Court says the university has to allow him to enroll, university says no

JFK sends marshals to escort Meredith to class

Angry white protesters destroy vehicles, 2 are killed and hundreds are injured

Kennedy sent army to restore order

1963-A “Dream” is born:

More than 200,000 people march on DC, in the largest civil rights demonstration ever; MLK gives his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Four African American girls are killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

A Mass Movement Takes Shape (cont.)

Demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama (April, 1963)

Birmingham, Alabama 1963King: “the most segregated city in

America”A march in planned and begins nonviolently

with protest marches and sit-insBut it is against a city regulation that says

a person/group must have a permit to have a march/parade

King is arrested and thrown in jail

Birmingham continuedEugene “Bull” Connor arrested more than 900 of

the young people that joined with King“Bull” used attached dogs, fire-hoses and

policemenNational televised violence“Letter from Birmingham City Jail”Governor George Wallace tries to block integration

of the University of Alabama (Fall, 1963)Protesters win which leads to desegregation of

city facilities and fairer hiring practicesKennedy “If the President does not himself wage

the struggle for equal rights- if he stands above the battle- then the battle will inevitably be lost.”

Birmingham, caught in time

Birmingham Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIpfCVt2eb4

Civil Rights keep marching onWashington March: “Jobs & Freedom”

200,000 came to march

A Mass Movement Takes Shape (cont.)

JFK finally begins to campaign for Civil Rights legislation

Continued violence even in the face of some progress

Martin Luther King, Jr. and the March on Washington (August, 1963)-- “I Have a Dream”

The speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs

Criticisms on remembering MLK

“Martin Luther King, Jr., kept getting up morning after morning, knowing they [the FBI and other governmentagencies] were after him, knowing they were possessed of this zealous intensity that was illegal and immoral! And sohe was a danger to America. Why? Because he loved democracy so much he wanted to see it become real. Hewanted to march democracy from parchment to pavement. He wanted to see it become a reality in this nation. That’swhy he had a dream…

Con’tBut America has frozen him. Now they freeze King in this posture of dreaming before the sunlit summit ofexpectation at the height of his national fame in Washington, D.C., where he said, “I have a dream.” He said morethan that. We ought to have a moratorium on that speech for the next ten years. I don’t want to hear it no more! Andif you’re gonna play the speech, play the other parts of the speech: “We have come to the nation’s capital to cash acheck marked ‘insufficient funds.’ ” [In other words,] “Where’s my money?!” That’s the part we ought to play.Right? We ought to play the part where King says, “The foundations of this nation will continue to shake.” He said,“The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of this nation until the Negro is granted his fullcitizenship rights.” Play that part, too!” – Michael Eric Dyson

What do you think?

1. How does Dyson feel about the frequent attention given to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech?

2. Why is Dyson angry the media only focuses on a limited part of the “I Have a Dream” speech?

3. Why do you think the media chooses to play the section of the speech where MLK says “I have a dream…” more

so than the other parts Dyson alludes to? How does the media effect the perception we gain of public figures?

A Mass Movement Takes Shape (cont.)

Mississippi Freedom Summer Project (1964)

MFDP Protests at the 1964 Democratic convention

Voter registration in Selma, Alabama (1965)--Sheriff Jim Clark

By the mid-1960’s, substantial success in the South had been achieved

Voter Registration

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The Selma March drummed up broad national support for a law to protect Southern African Americans’ right to vote.

The 24th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1964. It prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax.

President Johnson persuaded Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which suspended the use of literacy and other voter qualification tests in voter registration.

Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King head the great civil rights march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery on March, 30 1965.

King and SCLC members led hundreds of people on a five-day, fifty-mile march to Montgomery.

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The Johnson YearsThe role of Kennedy’s

assassination in the Civil Rights movement

Civil Rights Act of 1964Anti-poll tax

Amendment (24th—1964)

Voting Rights Act (1965)

Impact of the Voting Rights Act

1964-Civil Rights Act

President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, which gives the federal government far-reaching powers to prosecute discrimination in employment, voting, and education.

1965-The Push for Voting Marches On….King organizes a protest march from Selma

to Montgomery, Alabama, for African American voting rights. A shocked nation watches on television as police club and teargas protesters.

1965-Voting is Granted to African Americans…

In the wake of the Selma-Montgomery March, the Voting rights Act is passed, outlawing the practices used in the South to disenfranchise African American voters

LBJ’s Address to the Nation

March 15, 1965

“Their cause is our cause too, because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And, we shall overcome.”

Voter Registration

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Over the next three years, almost one million more African Americans in the South registered to vote.

By 1968, African American voters had having a significant impact on Southern politics.

During the 1970s, African Americans were seeking and winning public offices in majority African American electoral districts.

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The Johnson Years (cont.)The tone of public

political discourse changed after 1965

Johnson appoints first Black cabinet secretary: Robert Weaver of HUD (1966)

Much more needed to be done for Civil Rights outside of the South, so 2nd phase began

The Era of Disillusionment: 1965 On

Early to mid-1960’s were a hopeful time for Civil Rights advocates

Goal of AssimilationAfter 1965, violence will escalate

New ProblemsResidential Discrimination

-- “Red Lining”Red lining refers to business

discrimination based on where you line (drawing lines on where you won’t serve)

The Challenges of School integration in the North

The historical, traditional segregation of northern cities

The resurrection of the KKK once again

More effective White opponents in the North

New Problems

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As desegregation continued, the membership of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) grew.

The KKK used violence or threats against anyone who was suspected of favoring desegregation or African American civil rights.

Ku Klux Klan terror, including intimidation and murder, was widespread in the South during the 1950s and 1960s, though Klan activities were not always reported in the media.

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Race RiotsWatts Riots in Los

Angeles (Summer, 1965)Riots each summer from

1965-1969--Chicago and Cleveland (1966)--Newark and Detroit (1967)--Washington, D.C. (1968)

Race Riots Watts, Los Angeles, California – August, 1965

Long-term causes – poverty, discrimination, and police brutality Immediate cause – African American pulled over – his brother wanted to drive

car home but police officer called impound lot – brother and mother arrested during argument – crowd gathered

Several days of arson and looting National Guard called in to restore order 35 dead and over 1,000 wounded

Newark, New Jersey – July,1967 Long-term causes – Italian-Americans dominated local politics despite a large

black population – blacks also suffered from poverty, poor housing, discrimination, and police brutality

Immediate cause – incapacitated African American seen being taken to police station and rumors spread that he’d been killed while in police custody

26 dead and hundreds wounded

Detroit, Michigan – July, 1967 Long-term causes – police brutality, poverty, and poor housing Immediate cause – police raid on a blind pig (speakeasy) $50 million in property damage 43 deaths and hundreds of injuries

Race Riots (cont.)Riots as an expression

of grievance against the White American consumer society

Riots shocked the White American public

Frustration and self-destruction expressed in these riots

Unlike earlier race riots, these riots were not started by White mobs

Kerner Commission Report, 1967

National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders established by LBJ

Determined cause of riots = racial discrimination

Commission’s solution = establish and expand federal programs to reduce and eliminate problems of the “racial ghetto”

Public reaction = programs considered too expensive and seen as a reward for rioting; LBJ distracted by Vietnam War

Malcolm XHonors student who ended up in jail

(burglary)Converted to Nation of Islam while in

prisonInitially preached black separationX replaced his “slave name,” LittleInitially advocated separation of races1964 – broke away from Nation of Islam,

formed own group, and went on hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)

Trip to Mecca, where he saw all races praying together, convinced him that Islam transcended race

1965 – assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam

Malcolm XThe leadership of

Malcolm X--Black Muslims--Assassinated in 1965

Cultural expressions of “Black Power”:--Afro Hairstyles--Black-studies programs-- “Negro” no longer used

Black Power MovementAfrican-American reaction to white resistance to

civil rights movement

Varied political ideologies – some adherents advocated black separatism and/or the use of violence, while others were nonviolent and wanted desegregation and equality

Overall movement saw blacks linked in a global struggle for rights and self-determination

Use of term “black” instead of “colored” or “Negro”

Celebrated African heritage by adopting African hairstyles, names, etc.e.g., Stokely Carmichael became Kwame Toure

“Black Power”Growing tension

between SNCC and Martin Luther King, Jr.--Stokely Carmichael

“Black Power”Carmichael

succeeded by H. Rap Brown as head of SNCC (1967)

Black Power MovementSNCC turns radical

under the leadership of Stokely Carmichael “Black Power”

Black Panthers“to unite, to recognize

their heritage, to build a sense of community … to begin to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations and support those organizations.”

“Black Power” (cont.)The formation of the

Black Panther Party in Oakland, CA (1966)--Huey Newton--Eldridge Cleaver

Resurrection of the philosophy of Marcus Garvey (black seperation)

Black Panthers, 1966Formed by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in

Oakland, CaliforniaRetaliated against police brutality by organizing

armed patrols of black neighborhoodsSocialist doctrine – “Ten Point” program

included calls for “Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice and Peace”

Started urban poverty programs (e.g., free breakfasts for kids)

J.Edgar Hoover called them “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country” and used numerous unlawful methods to destroy the group

Black Power, 1966“March Against Fear” voter registration

drive in Mississippi

James Meredith shot and wounded

Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Toure) and others arrested in Greenwood, Mississippi

Carmichael coined term “black power” in a speech after his release – he later coined the term “institutional racism”

Many whites felt threatened

Fair Housing Act, 1968Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968

Outlawed housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, and national origin

1974 – added sex to list of protected classes1988 – disability and familial status addedState and local governments (not federal) have, in

some areas, broadened their laws to end housing discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) oversees its enforcement

For example:You cannot be denied housing because you have a

child, or even a lot of children.You cannot be denied housing because of your race or

sex.You cannot be denied housing because of a disability.

Affirmative ActionDesigned to correct racial imbalances in education,

employment, etc.

Gives special opportunities to discriminated minorities

Begun under Kennedy and Johnson

Revised Philadelphia Plan, 1969 – under Nixon, affirmative action required for all federally-funded projects

Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 – affirmative action for all federal government positions (civil service jobs)

Controversial – many considered it to be reverse discrimination

Poor People’s Campaign, 1968MLK lived in Chicago’s black ghetto for a yearPledged himself to helping poor blacksBelieved poverty was the uniting factor

between racesSaw a “War on Poverty” as the new Civil

RightsApril, 1968 – traveled to Memphis, Tennessee,

to support striking sanitation workers

Poor People’s Campaign, 1968

MLK lived in Chicago’s black ghetto for a year

Pledged himself to helping the poor

April, 1968 – traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to support striking sanitation workers

I have been to the Mountaintophttp://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=Oehry1JC9Rk

1968-A Terrible Event Occurs…

MLK is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. His murder sparks a week of rioting across the country.

What would you want…People to remember most about MLK?

Why?

Decline of the Civil Rights Movement

Economic contraction works against Civil Rights concessions

Northern phase not as successful

Resistance from White Unions

Vietnam replaces Civil Rights as the liberal crusade

Martin Luther King, Jr. loses influence with LBJ

The End of the Movement?

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For many people the civil rights movement ended with the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968.

Others believe it was over after the Selma March, because there have not been any significant changes since then.

Still others argue the movement continues today because the goal of full equality has not yet been achieved.

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Witnesses stand over the body of Martin Luther King, Jr., and point in the direction from where the shot were fired.

Civil Rights LegacyLegal segregation ended

Federal civil rights legislation enacted

Massive numbers of African Americans became registered voters

Affirmative action gave African Americans a foot in the door to economic power

Formerly unspoken issues of discrimination, inequality, and racism became part of public discourse

“White flight” – whites intensified desertion of cities for life in suburbs

Continuing StruggleStruggle for civil rights did not end with the

1960sDiscrimination and ensuing court cases

continue to this dayPoverty continues to plague inner-cities2007 – Federal Census data showed three

times as many African Americans living in prison cells than in college dormitories

What have you learned about..Civil Rights? What questions do you still have? How can learning about civil rights help you

today?

Let’s all read a speech from Dr. King on some of the values he wanted to instill in the American people

Reflection on reading (2 paragraphs)Write the speech that the Rev. Dr. Martin

Luther King Jr. might deliver today if he were alive.

What would Dr. King have to say about the “war on terrorism” or the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan?

Do you think Dr. King would support U.S. global policies today? What evidence from his 1967

speech supports your conclusion? What policies would he urge?

Before concluding, let’s examine what was happening in W-S during the Civil Rights Movement