Civil Rights Movement

Chapter 29Civil Rights MovementThe Montgomery Bus BoycottStarted December 1, 1955Montgomery, AlabamaThey would boycott the city buses until they could sit anywhere they wantedRosa ParksThursday, December 1, 1955Sat in fifth rowShe was arrestedE.D. Nixon, LawyerJo Ann RobinsonPut plans for a one-day boycott into actionMimeographed handouts urging blacks to stay off the city buses on MondayGroup of ministers and civil rights leaders held a meetingMartin Luther King, JrBus after empty bus rolled past his houseGroup met again and called themselves the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)Should we extend the boycottMIAThe boycott would continueDay four MIA leaders met with bus company and city officialsBus company refused the compromiseCity officials came back withBoycottMIA worked out a private taxi planWhites tried to end the boycott in every way possible.One technique divide the black communityEffort to break up the boycott failedBoycottWhites then turned to violenceBombed Kings home on January 30 and Nixons home on February 1Whites turned to the lawWhites tried to break down the private taxi systemBoycottDespite all the pressures to end the boycott, blacks continued to stay off the buses.It was costing the business community thousands of dollarsBoycottBlacks would only accept full integrationHelp from Brown v Board of Education which said that separate but equal doctrine had no place in public educationBoycottCommon sense the court would rule the same for public facilitiesPlus these battles are being fought in Federal court not local courtsNovember 13, 1956 Supreme Court upheld the federal courts ruling

BoycottS.C. declared segregation on buses unconstitutionalMontgomery Bus Boycott was officially overBut they still faced challenges getting shot at, houses being bombed, ect.Sit-InsFirst one February 1, 1960 at a F.W. Woolworth Company store in Greensboro, North Carolina4 black college students sat at a whites only lunch counterSit-InsA larger group of students returned the next dayWire services had picked up the storyCivil rights organizations began to spread the wordSit-InsBasic Plan a group of students would go to a lunch counter and ask to be servedIf served they would move on to the nextIf not would not move until they had beenIf arrested a new group would take overSit-InsDos and DontShow yourself friendly at all timesSit straight and always face the counterDont strike back, or curse or laugh outDont hold conversationsDont block entrancesSit-InsWere dressed in their best Sunday clothingNorthern students heard of the movement and decided to help and picketed local branches of chain storesSit-InsFebruary 27, in Nashville were attackedPolice arrived and let the white teens go while arresting the protesters for disorderly conductLawyer Z. Alexander Looby he began his arguments the judge turned his backSit-InsProtesters were found guilty and fined $150 plus court costsApril 19 Loobys home was blown upBecause he was so well respected by everybody so everybody was enragedMay 10 6 Nachville lunch counters began serving blacksSit-InsBy August 1961, they had attracted over 70,000 participants and generated over 3,000 arrestsSit-InsThe Freedom RidersStrategy an interracial group would board buses destined for the southWhites in the back and blacks in the frontAt rest stops whites would go into blacks-only areas and vice versaThe Freedom RidersLeft Washington DC on May 4,1961Was to arrive in New Orleans on May 17But on Mothers Day, May 14 the Freedom Riders split up into two groups to travel through Alabama

The Freedom RidersThe first group was met by a mob of about 200 angry people in Anniston.They stoned the bus and slashed the tiresBus managed to get away and stopped 6 miles out of town to change the tiresFreedom RidersThere it was firebombedThe second bus ran into a mob in BirminghamRiders were severely beatenThey were determined to continueFreedom RidersThe bus company did not want to continue2 days they negotiatedFreedom Riders flew to New OrleansFreedom RidersSit-In students in Nashville decided to go to BirminghamAttorney General Kennedy leaned on the bus company and the policeMay 17 the police arrested the Nashville Freedom Riders and placed them in protective custodyFreedom RidersPolice took the students to the state lineStudents went right back to BirminghamMeeting Governor, Justice Department aide, head of the state highway patrol, and Attorney General

Freedom RidersResults Police will protect the Freedom RidersGreyhound Busses would carry the Riders from Birmingham to Montgomery

Freedom RidersEntered Montgomery city limits the police disappearedBus terminal many whites showed upJim Zwerg, a white rider, got off the bus firstThe crowd started beating himFreedom RidersAs other riders got off they started to get beatSome there watching tried to stop the beatings but they would get pounced onFreedom RidersKing flew to Montgomery and held a mass meeting in a churchA mob surrounds the churchKing called Kennedy and they all were able to leave safelyFreedom RidersKennedy then asks for a cooling-off periodFreedom Riders said noContinued on to MississippiAt Jackson no violence but were arrested

Freedom RidersKennedy and Mississippi Governor reached an agreement May 25 the Freedom Riders are triedSentenced to 60 days in the state penitentiary

Freedom RidersMore Riders arrived to continueThey were arrestedMore arrived more arrestedBy the end of the summer more than 300 had been arrestedFreedom RidersNever made it to New OrleansBut they forced the Kennedy Administration to take a stand on civil rightsFreedom Riders

BirminghamRev. Fred Shuttlesworth of Birmingham invited King to come visitBirmingham was called Bombingham because there were 18 unsolved bombings in black neighborhoods over a six-year spanBirmingham18 unsolved bombings in black neighborhoods over a six-year spanApril 6 police arrested 45 protestersNext day Palm Sunday more protesters are arrestedBirminghamJudge issued an order preventing organized demonstrationsEveryone knew that Martin Luther King, Jr. was to be arrested next

BirminghamKing ended up getting arrested and was put into solitary confinement for 8 daysCivil rights leaders then organized the childrenMay 2, 50 teenagers started marching towards downtownBirminghamWere arrested and placed in police vansAnother group left the church and they were put in vans

BirminghamAnd then another group until they had to start loading school busses because all the vans were fullThree hours later 959 children were in jail

BirminghamThe next day over a thousand more children stayed out of school and went to marchSince there was no more room in the jails firefighters were called and ordered to turn hoses on the children

BirminghamSome refused to budge so they turned even more powerful hoses on themSo strong was the stream that it broke bones and rolled protesters down the street

BirminghamThe nation was shocked when they saw the picturesThe Birmingham business community agreed to integrate lunch countersCivil Rights movement in Birmingham

March on WashingtonAfter Birmingham, President Kennedy proposed a new civil rights billTo show that the bill had widespread support the civil rights groups organized a marchMarch on WashingtonOrganizers hoped to draw a crowd of 100,000Instead over 250,000 people from around the nationArrived in more than 30 special trains2,000 chartered busesMarch on WashingtonDescended on Washington, DC on August 28, 1963Famous I Have a Dream speech

Mississippi and Freedom SummerIn the 60s Mississippi was the poorest state in the nationHad a terrible voting rights violationsMississippi was 45% black But only 5% of voting age blacks were registered Mississippi and Freedom SummerNAACP went to Mississippi to try and register more blacksMarion Barry started workshops to teach young blacks nonviolent protest methodsYoung black people volunteered to helpMississippi and Freedom SummerBegan by holding sit-ins arrested and expelled from schoolMet with violence sprayed with paint and had pepper thrown in their eyesMedgar Evers home was bombedStudents who protested this were beatenMississippi and Freedom SummerMedgar Evers a native of Mississippi and a World War II veteranMedger EversCouncil of Federated Organization (COFO)Organized the Freedom Vote

Mississippi and Freedom SummerTwo main goalsTo show Mississippi whites and the nation that blacks wanted to voteTo give blacks practice in casting a ballotMississippi and Freedom SummerSuring the summer of 1964 they held a voter registration driveKnown as Freedom Summer800 volunteers gathered for a week-long orientationMississippi and Freedom SummerJune 21, the day after the first 200 recruits let for Mississippi 3 workers disappearedMichael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney

Mississippi and Freedom SummerHad been taken to jail for speeding charges but were releasedThen no one knows what happenedFBI did not get involved for a full dayThey were found dead on August 4Mississippi and Freedom SummerFreedom Summer helped get blacks registered to vote and started their foothold in getting elected 3 Civil Rights VolunteersPete Segeer