Post on 03-Jan-2016
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Civil Rights Movement
Chapter 18
Jim Crow Laws
• Laws passed by southern states to limit blacks’ behavior.
• Segregation de facto: practiced segregation• Segregation de jure: legalized segregation of
the races– Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
• Homer Plessy (1/8 black)• Louisiana train car rider• Arrested/jailed
Troubled times
• Late 1800’s: southern states passed laws to keep blacks from voting (disenfranchisement)
• Restrictive laws violated civil rights of blacks:– Back of bus– Separate waiting rooms– Separate public buildings/facilities
Birth of Civil rights movement
• 1940’s: Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)– James Farmer– Organized protests against segregation in
Detroit, Denver, and Chicago– Saw non-violence as answer– 1 of their successes:
• Jackie Robinson– First African American baseball (broke color-line)
• Brooklyn Dodgers
Committee on Civil Rights
• Pres. Truman created this to investigate violence occurring in the south.– Recommendations:
• Anti-lynch laws• Federal protection of voting rights• 1948: Truman ordered the desegregation of the
military
Rosa Parks
• Dec. 1, 1955– Seated in a “black
row”– Ordered to move
• Give seat to white man
– Arrested, found guilty• No trial; fined $14
– Appealed• Led to Montgomery Bus
Boycott– Dec. 5, 1955
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Dec. 6, 1955– Montgomery Improvement Association– MLK (Baptist minister) spoke
• Motivated crowd to non-violent protest• Chosen leader of MIA
– Soon after, MLK’s house fire-bombed– No one hurt
Montgomery Bus Boycott
• To cripple bus system
• Cities’ largest % population used buses
• Choose not to ride buses after arrest of Rosa Parks– Lasted until Dec. 20, 1956
• Browder v. Gayle– Supreme Court said segregation – of buses not legal anymore
Brown v. Board of Education, 1957
• Topeka, Kansas• NAACP assisted with
$$$/support– Thurgood Marshall,
attorney
• Case won; schools now had to desegregate– Led to other public
facilities being desegregated
Little Rock 9
• 1957, Little Rock, Arkansas
• Virgil Blossom, Supt. Planned gradual integration– 9 kids (black school) chosen
– Academic performance/perfect attendance
– Gov. of Ark. Orval Faubus– Called National Guard to keep black kids out– Students heckled/spit on as they approached school– Threatened with lynching
Little Rock 9, pt. 2
• Pres. Eisenhower
– Angry with Arkansas• Nationalized Ark. National Guard (under federal
rule)– Sent them home
• Told Gov. “You must obey federal law”• Send army to escort 9 kids into school
SCLC
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference– Made up of southern black ministers
• Established by Martin Luther King, Jr.
– Pursued non-violent protest– Prayer Pilgrimage in Washington
• Helped Congress pass Civil Rights Acts
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Civil Rights Act 1957
• Eisenhower pushed this…– Established the US Civil Rights Commission– Had power to investigate civil rights violations– Also gave US federal government more power
to protect voting rights of blacks• **first Civil Rights act since Reconstruction
“Sit-ins”
• Feb. 1, 1960– Woolworth’s lunch counter
• Four black students ordered coffee/donuts– Greensboro, North Carolina
– White waitress refused to serve them– Word of sit-in spread
• “wade-ins” at white beaches• “read-ins” at libraries
– Newspapers and letters were sent to support growing student movement
SNCC-1960
• Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee– Ella Baker (organizer) – 175 students (30 states)– Grass-roots movement to include all classes
of blacks to defeat white racism and to obtain equality
Freedom Riders - 1960
• Group of white & black students from north toured the south in buses
• Usually arrested for trespassing, unlawful assembly, & violation of Jim Crow laws
• Sponsored by CORE – Their actions considered criminal in southern
states; some were jailed for crossing state lines
– Buses were stopped, people beaten
Ole Miss
• 1962…– James Meredith (black student)
• Refused admittance to Univ. of Miss.
– Gov. of Mississippi• Said he’d “rather go to jail than allow blacks into that college”
– Rioting broke out– Pres. Kennedy sent federal marshals to escort
Meredith into college– Kennedy also sent 5,000 federal troops into Miss. To
restore order
Same treatment..Alabama
• Gov. George Wallace– Personally guarded door of Univ. of Alabama
to prevent black students from entering– Federal authorities came down, forced him to
move aside
Kennedy for Civil Rights
• June 11, 1963
– Televised statement by Kennedy• Called civil rights a “moral issue”• Said America had obligation to all citizens
(regardless of skin color)• Brother (Atty. Gen.) Robert F. Kennedy worked
with Congress to push civil rights laws.
March on Washington
• August 28, 1963 “For Jobs & Freedom”
• March began at Washington Monument and ended at Lincoln Memorial– +250,000 people attended– +2,000 buses + 21 trains + 10 planes– MLK
• Gave “I Have a Dream” speech– Page 597 Textbook– Called for racial harmony + non-violence
Civil Rights Act 1964
• Signed by Pres. LB Johnson• It ended racial segregation in public
facilities & worksites• It also:
– Outlawed major forms of discrimination• Against:
– Racial– Ethnic– national or religious minority– Women
Civil Rights, pt. 2
• Allowed Justice Dept. to prosecute people who violate rights of others
• Also, created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC):– Enforced provisions for non-discrimination in
worksites• Employers cannot discriminate in hiring against
– Race, color, sex, or national origin
Selma, Alabama
• “Bloody Sunday”– March 7, 1965
• Edmund Pettis Bridge (linked Selma to Montgomery)
– March from Selma to capital to push for voting protection– Led by MLK
» State police attacked marchers; fired tear gas on them
» Clubs/whips used
March 15, 1965 President Johnson ordered federal action against Alabama leaders.
Voting Rights Act 1965
• Passed due to Selma violence…– Outlawed discrimination in voting– Prohibits any state from imposing
qualifications to vote• Specifically, Literacy Tests CANNOT be used
– No state can disqualify someone based on race
– This act renewed 4 times– Last time, Pres. George W. Bush renewed for 25 years
Watts Riots
• I week after Voting Rights passed…– Worst race riot in US history in Watts (Los
Angeles)• Violence, looting, and arson – several days• National Guard sent in to restore order• Other riots followed across nation:
– Newark, NJ– Detroit, MI – Summer 1967
» Caused over $50 million damage
Malcolm X
• Malcolm Little, born 1925• As teen, moved to Boston
– Then to NY– At 21, got trouble with law– Sent to prison; there converted to Islam
» They ruled no drugs/alcohol + separation of racesCame to be “radical” leader of black movement againstRacial injustice.Feb. 1965, Malcolm shot & killed by 3 Islamic
members.
Black Panthers
• Huey Newton & Bobby Seale created
• Symbol of young, militant blacks
• Sent armed patrols through neighborhoods to protect blacks from police abuse– Black Panthers use of military style dress and
ways led to violent fights with police.
Sudden Death
• MLK, on nation-wide “Poor People’s Campaign” : to pressure federal government to help poor people– Memphis, TN
• Met with garbage workers who were on strike
• April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot as he stood outside hotel room by James Earl Ray (white ex-con)– Ray was convicted of King’s murder.