Civil Rights 1950s-1970s
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Transcript of Civil Rights 1950s-1970s
Civil Rights 1950s-1970s
Truman and Civil Rights
• Justice department begins to support anti-segregation laws
• Color barrier in baseball is broken when Jackie Robinson plays for the Brooklyn Dodgers
• 1948 – Truman orders "equality of treatment and opportunity to African-Americans in the armed services
Presidents and Civil Rights
• Truman made attempts to advance the cause• Eisenhower was a segregationist. Not rabid, but
certainly doesn’t take steps to integrate• JFK was a tepid supporter of civil rights, but he
finger was always testing the political wind, which drove his decision making
• LBJ does more for Civil Rights than any other President – irony…he’s a Southerner
Emmett Till - 1955• An African-American boy (14 yrs) from Chicago• In Mississippi visiting relatives• He apparently whistled at a white store clerk,
who informed her husband, Roy Bryant • Bryant and JW Milam killed Till, beating him,
gouging out on eye, shooting him and dumping the body in a river.
• His mother insisted on an open casket and allowed photos of her mutilated son that were circulated in papers
• His murderers admitted to the killing, but were acquitted by a jury of 12 southern white men. – They deliberated for just over an hour
• There was moral outrage throughout the US and Europe. This helped to spark the civil rights movement
Public School Integration
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka - 1954
• Linda Brown – 3rd Grader – had to travel 1 mile to all-black school, passing a white school along the way
• NAACP works with Browns challenging school segregation
• Supreme Court overturns Plessy v. Ferguson – said that “Separate but equal” denied students rights under Constitution
• The first step in eliminating segregation
Loophole in Brown v. Board Decision
• “with all deliberate speed”– Southern states did not move to quickly to
reform
• Southern Manifesto – Southern Congressmen sign this document asserting that the Supreme Court’s decision violates states rights – Some Southern states threatened to disband
public schools and make all schools private
Integration in Schools
• Ike did not advance the ball with integration– Did not crack down on states that ignored
Brown v. Board
• States further North desegregated peacefully, but in the South, African-Americans met more violence and taunts
• Little Rock Crisis – 1957– Central High School , city admitted 9 blacks– Gov. Orval Faubas used National Guard to
keep blacks out• Faubas withdraws guardsmen under national
pressure
– Eisenhower sends in 101st Airborne to keep the peace
State Universities
• Slow to integrate, particularly in the South• 1956 – University of Alabama admitted Autherine Lucy
under court order, but expelled her before she could attend
• 1962 – James Meredith attended the University of Mississippi (transfer from Jackson St)– Opposed by Governor Ross Barnett sparking riots– Kennedy sent in the army – Meredith graduated the next year - Political Science
• In 1963 – Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, was vocal in his opposition to integration of the University of Alabama– Ran for President in 1968
Autherine Lucy & James Meredith
Equal Access to Public Facilities
Jim Crowism (1877-1960s)
• Practiced in most Southern states, 3 of 4 border states, and a few in the west
• Separated the races in many public facilities like buses & bus terminals, movie theaters, drinking fountains and restrooms.
• Hotels and restaurants may deny African-Americans service
Examples of Jim Crow
Montgomery Bus Boycott• Dec, 1955 – Rosa Parks refused to give
up her bus seat to a white passenger – she was arrested
• Montgomery Bus Boycott - Women’s Political Council (college educated African-American women) started a boycott of the bus company in Montgomery– Martin Luther King took a leadership role
in this effort – Lasted several months – received national
media attention– Supreme Court ruled almost a year later
that bus segregation was unconstitutional• Martin Luther King was made famous
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
• Civil rights organization founded in 1957• Co-founded by Joseph Lowrey and Ella Baker.
– It was later headed by MLK. • The organization, sparked by the success of the
Montgomery Bus Boycott, focused on nonviolent civil disobedience through protests and marches to gain civil rights for blacks.
• They thrived on media coverage to gain support around the world.
• While NAACP focused on court-based reform, SCLC focused on community-based reform
Ella Baker
• Civil rights activist involved with the NAACP and SCLC.
• She formed SNCC and went to work with them forming the plans for sit-ins and freedom rides.
• Her ideas on group-centered organizing and direct action influenced the philosophy of participatory democracy put forth by SNCC
Ella Baker
Lunch Counter Sit-Ins
• 1960 – Four African-American college students sat at the lunch counter of a Woolworth’s in Greensboro, NC– Waited for a day without being served– Sparked similar demonstrations throughout the South
• Had varying effects– Some lunch counters integrated as a result– Violence by angry whites and arrests happened in
other areas
Woolworth’s Sit-In - Greensboro
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) - 1961
• Founded under the guidance of Ella Baker led by John Lewis
• Focused membership on the younger generation• Involved in sit-ins, freedom rides, March on Washington. • Its purpose was to coordinate the use of nonviolent
direct action to attack segregation as well as other forms of racism.
• Later led by Stokely Carmichael – Began to focus on black power, Vietnam and started to abandon
the idea of passive resistance. – One of the first groups to used a decentralized organizational
structure
John Lewis
• Civil rights activist.
• Involved in sit-ins and the freedom rides during college.
• During the Selma to Montgomery march, police brutally beat him.
• At the march on Washington, Lewis, the Pres of SNCC, was critical of the Kennedy administration
Freedom Rides - 1961
• Began in May, shortly after the Bay of Pigs. • Black and White students from SNCC boarded
busses to travel through the south to test the enforcement of laws prohibiting segregation.
• The riders ran into trouble in Alabama where mobs stopped the buses and beat some of the riders.
• They continued the ride – RFK cut a deal with the Governor of Miss to protect
the riders in exchange for the justice department not enforcing segregation laws.
Freedom Rides
Birmingham - 1963
• SCLC concentrated its efforts on the heavily segregated Birmingham, Alabama
• Hold sit-ins & protest marches• Commissioner of Public Safety, Bull Connor,
turned the fire hoses & dogs on these people • Some were arrested• MLK wrote ”Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
– “We have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and non-violent pressure… Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”
March on Washington (for Jobs and Freedom) – Aug 1963
• Approx 200-500,000 people attended.• King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.• Kennedy felt that this would undermine pending
civil rights legislation and hurt other domestic initiatives.
• JFK concerned this would embarrass the United States in the world community
• Helped to push through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voters Rights act of 1965
Civil Rights Act of 1964
• LBJ has taken over Presidency after JFK’s murder
• LBJ is a creative legislator and pushes through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a tribute to the fallen President
• Prohibited segregation in public accommodations (hotels, restaurants, gas stations, theaters & parks)
• Outlawed employment discrimination on federal projects
Equitable Voter Registration
Freedom Summer - 1964
• Civil rights organizations like SNCC launched a campaign to register as many black voters as they could in Mississippi counties that had a noticeably low black voter turnout.
• Violence hindered the campaign when three students were apprehended by the KKK and murdered.
• Their murders sparked an investigation by the FBI and became a symbol of the civil rights movement
Freedom Summer
Selma to Montgomery March
• MLK and SCLC demonstrated in Selma, Alabama for voter rights– Only 2% of eligible blacks were registered in that
county– Protestors were arrested
• John Lewis organized a group to march from Selma to Montgomery
• The protestors were met by state troopers who beat the protestors when they failed to disperse
• TV cameras caught the violence
Voting Rights Act - 1965
• Signed by Johnson
• Outlawed literacy tests
• Federal voting registrars would be sent to states with less than 50% of eligible population registered
Black Power
Attitude in America, urban riots, fueled separatists from the
nonviolence camp
Nation of Islam
• Elijah Muhammad - The leader of the Nation of Islam from the 30s to the 70s. – He was similar to the Pope in that he was the
voice of Allah on Earth. – From an early age he developed a deep hatred
for white people because of the violence he witnessed
• father killed by whites. • He preached that whites were devils and inferior. • He preached complete separation from white
community (black separatism) as well as black nationalism.
– He believed in rehabilitating blacks who were alcoholics, drug users and criminals – which he had success doing.
– Had a profound impact on Malcolm X.
Nation of Islam
• Malcolm X– Becomes the leading Black Muslim– Break free of white dominance by using any
means necessary– Emphasized African cultural heritage & self-
help– Pilgrimage to Mecca softened his stance – Assassinated by members of the Nation of
Islam
Black Panthers - 1966
• Founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton
• This was a militant group of civil rights protesters who believed in black nationalism and believed in armed resistance to stop black oppression.
• They monitored police to look for abuse.
• They are an example of the new wave of civil rights activists, tired of the non-violent approach.