Civil Rights in MississippiMississippi Studies

Coach Marbury(cdt Mrs. Bailey)

History-1876-1900 Most people were Sharecroppers

Black Exodus-black farmers left MS & headed out West, eventually many came back

Plessy v. Ferguson 1896: separate but equal facilities is okay led to Jim Crow laws which were used in the south for 50+ more years!

Great Migration 1910-WWII: blacks left to go north (better working conditions), they were forced off trains, arrested & sometimes sent back to the fields

Changes Are Coming!

1946-Truman & Fair Employment Practices: prohibited racial discrimination in hiring, & desegregation of Armed Forces

The same year Medgar Evers led a group of WWII vets to vote, but they were turned away at the polls by whites

Brown v. Board of Edu 1954: public facilities MUST be desegregated- it over-turned Plessy!

Citizens Council 1954: began in Indianola to prevent desegregation of public schools. Had 80,000 members by 1956

Beginning of the Movement in MS

Murder of Emmett Till 1955: 14 yr old from Chicago was beaten & murdered in Money, MS for whistling at a white woman- gained national attention!

State Sovereignty Commission 1956: developed to keep the Federal gov’t from encroaching on states’ rights. Included the gov’r, lt. gov’r, and other prominent citizens

Resolution of Interposition 1956: stated that MS was sovereign, and that all public officials in MS could prohibit peacefully & lawfully the implementation of integration

Ross Barnett elected 1959: promised to keep schools segregated.

Civil Rights Events Medgar Evers: Field Secretary for NAACP

1954-1963

• organized boycotts of area businesses

• Organized voter registration efforts

• Publicized racial terrorism

Shot & killed at his home Jun 1963

Paul B Johnson: Elected to governor in 1963

• He stated “Hate, prejudice, & ignorance would not lead Mississippi.” (This was the beginning of the end of white supremacy in MS)

• Freedom Summer 1964: Civil Rights activity dramatically increased that summer! Students from all over the US came to the south to: register blacks to vote!

Civil Rights Organizations

COFO (Council of Federated Organizations)

• Composed of reps from various organizations: NAACP, SCLC, SNCC, & CORE

• Conducted “Freedom Schools”- taught blacks how to answer tricky questions asked of blacks at voter registration centers

SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)

• founded by MLK, Jr., coordinated protest activities all over the south

SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee)

• Interracial group of students advocating non violence, supporting the Freedom Rides in 1961 & March on DC in 1963

• CORE (Congress of Racial Equality)

• a nonviolent approach to combating racial prejudice

Freedom Summer 1964

Philadelphia Murders: 3 COFO workers, Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, & Andrew Goodman were murdered by the KKK & their bodies were found in an earthen dam

Freedom Democratic Party: biracial group of Dem’s went to the DNC in NJ demanding seats at the convention. They were only given 2 seats, they got mad & left.

Fannie Lou Hamer: brought nat’l attention to the way blacks were treated in MS after having spoken on nat’l t.v. at the DNC

Change at Last! Civil Rights Act of 1964: Forbid discrimination

based on race, religion, national origin, & gender in public facilities or places of employment

Voting Rights Act of 1965: outlawed literacy tests & poll taxes

Election of 1967: 22 blacks elected to public office. John Bell Williams elected as gov’r

• 1969-70 dual public school system was abolished- this caused many white students to withdraw & go to private school

Jackson State University Protest