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.