Transcript Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Movement
From 1940s-1960s
From Non-violence to violence
Essential Question
What were the goals and tactics of
the different leaders of the Civil
Rights movement?
What are the landmark Civil Rights
laws and events?
Origins of the Civil Rights Movement
1950s African American Life in the South
• School segregation
• Poll taxes
• Literacy tests
• Grandfather clauses
• Intimidation
• Social segregation
 All of these conditions kept Afr. Amer. poorly educated
 Economic discrimination kept them in a state of poverty
Civil Rights
• Truman-first modern president to use the powers
of his office to challenge racial discrimination
– Used his executive powers to establish the Committee
on Civil Rights in 1946
– Strengthened the civil rights div. in Justice Department
– 1948 ordered the end of racial discrimination in the fed.
dept. and all three branches of the armed forces
• Urged Congress to pass the Fair Employment
Practices Commission that would prevent
employers from discriminating against the hiring of
Afr. Amer. Southern Dems blocked the legislation.
Jackie Robinson
1947
1st African American to play
Jackie Robinson, at the age
of 27, became the first Black
Baseball player in Major
League history.
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Jackie’s Courage
Jackie Robinson faced virulent
racism.
Members of his own team refused
to play with him.
Opposing pitchers tried to beam his
head, while base runners tried to
spike him.
He received hate mail and death
threats daily.
Fans shouted Racist remarks at him
in every ball park.
Hotels and restaurants refused to
serve him
Jackie and Civil Rights
Jackie Robinson’s Actions effected the world
far beyond Major League Baseball.
His courage and discipline in standing up
against racism were a preview of the actions
taken by many members of The Civil Rights
Movement.
The success of the Jackie Robinson
experiment was a testament to fact that
integration could exist.
Social Changes
Attitudes in the Cold War
• US reputation of democracy
and freedom in Cold War
doesn’t match treatment of
African Americans=this
needs fixing
Changes in Demographics
• Origins trace back to Great
Migration
• Join Dems in New Deal and
growing influence in party
politics in 50s
School Desegregation/NAACP
• NAACP worked for desegregation in the overturn of the Plessy
vs Fergusson case
• Won some cases in 1940s
Brown Decision
**Landmark Case**
• May 1954-overturned the Plessy case
• Lawyer Thurgood Marshall
• Argued segregation of black children in public schools was
unconstitutional because it violated the 14th
amendment=equal protection of laws
• Chief Justice Earl Warren
• Separate facilities are inherently unequal and
unconstitutional
• Segregation in schools should end with all deliberate speed
Pre-Court Opinions
Warren
•Reston, 1953
•About the times:
•“Nothing has divided the nation in
the post-war era more than
questions involving racial
segregation or the freedoms …
protected by the First Amendment”
•About Warren:
•“As Governor of California, he
generally was ranked with the
liberals in his party”
Rehnquist
1971, the
year Rehnquist
is appointed a
justice aide
Rehnquist is
quoted as
saying, “I am
opposed to all
civil rights
laws” in an
affidavit
Significance of Brown for Civil Rights
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Brown V Bd. Of Ed: Most important 20th C. case re: Race
Relations
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Integration of schools  equal opportunity for success,
employment
The Warren Court reveals itself as a liberal, activist court
Liberal court: for human, individual, civil rights
Activist court: the Supreme Court assumes responsibility for
the racial status of public education in the nation
Unexpected: Warren follows FDR and the New Deal
Rejects the Jeffersonian Ideal: “The government that governs
least governs best”
The Warren court view: states hinder the improvement of
justice in America
Brown   desegregation of the entire country
The federal government has finally begun to enforce the 13th,
14th, and 15th Amendments
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Brown, For and
Against •Pro-Brown
•Chicago
Defender,
June 12,
1954
•(right)
•Anti-Brown
•John Kennedy,
•Arkansas Democrat,
•May 22, 1954
•(left)
Resistance in the South
• States fought the decision
• Arkansas 1956 Gov. Orval Faubus used state
National Guard to prevent 9 African American
students from entering Little Rock Central HS
– Known as the “Little Rock Nine”
• Eisenhower used Fed. Troops to protect
students as they entered
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was born on
February 4, 1913. She
grew up in Pine Level,
Alabama, right outside
of Montgomery.
In the South, Jim Crowe
laws segregated African
American’s and whites
in almost every aspect
of life.
– This included a seating policy on
buses. White’s sat in the front,
Blacks sat in the back.
– Buses also drove White students
to school. Black students were
forced to walk everyday.
Events Leading Up To Rosa’s
Protest
Parks was an active member of The Civil Rights
Movement and joined the Montgomery chapter of
NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People) in 1943.
In 1944 Jackie Robinson refused to give up his bus seat
in Texas.
In 1955, Black Activist in Montgomery were building a
case around Claudette Colvin, a 15 year old girl who
refused to give up her seat on a bus. She was arrested
and forcibly removed from the bus.
African Americans made up 75% of the passengers in
the Bus system but still had to deal with unfair rules.
The Arrest
On December 1, 1955 Rosa
Parks refused to give up
her seat to a White man
on a bus.
Parks was arrested and
charged with the violation
of a segregation law in The
Montgomery City Code.
50 African American
leaders in the community
met to discuss what to do
about Rosa’s arrest.
“People always say that I
didn't give up my seat because
I was tired, but that isn't true.
I was not tired physically, or
no more tired than I usually
was at the end of a working
day. I was not old, although
some people have an image of
me as being old then. I was
forty-two. No, the only tired I
was, was tired of giving in.” Rosa Parks Autobiography
Montgomery Bus Boycott
On December 5, 1955, through
the rain, the African Americans
in Montgomery began to
boycott the busses.
40,000 Black commuters
walked to work, some as far as
twenty miles.
The boycott lasted 382 days.
The bus companies finances
struggled. Until the law that
called for segregation on
busses was finally lifted.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
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1955-Year long boycott
Organized by MLK
Emerged as a leader of non-violent movement
1956-Supreme Court ruled segregation laws
are unconstitutional
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Born in Atlanta, Georgia.
Graduated Morehouse College with a Bachelor of
Arts degree in Sociology.
Later, at Boston University, King received a Ph.D.
in systematic theology.
In 1953, at the age of 26, King
became pastor at the Dexter
Avenue Baptist Church
in Montgomery Alabama.
His start as a Civil Rights
leader came during the
Montgomery
Bus Boycott.
Emmett Till [video]
• Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was
visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi
on August 24, 1955 when he
reportedly flirted with a white cashier
at a grocery store.
• Four days later, two white men
kidnapped Till, beat him, and shot him
in the head.
• The men were tried for murder, but an
all-white, male jury acquitted them.
• Till's murder and open casket funeral
galvanized the emerging civil rights
movement.
• After their trial, they
infamously admitted
their part in the
murder.
**Tills death, which
made national headlines,
set off a firestorm that
launched the Civil Rights
Movement.
Emmett Till
Medger Evers
• Medgar Evers, whose civil rights activism in
Mississippi began with the death of Emmett
Till in 1955. Evers was assassinated by a white
supremacist in 1963.
Federal Laws
• Civil Rights Act of 1957 and 1960
• Civil Rights Commission
– Gave Justice Department new powers to protect
voting rights
*Despite this legislation, southern officials used an
arsenal of obstructive tactics to discourage African
Americans from voting.
Nonviolent Protests
• SCLC-Southern Christian Leadership
Conference
– 1957-formed by MLK
– Organized ministers and churches in south
• SNCC-Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee
– 1960s, Sit-in tactic: restaurants, hotels, buildings,
pools, libraries, transportation in south
Greensboro,
North Carolina
• Sit-in movement @
Woolworth Lunch
Counter
Ruby Bridges
 In 1960, at the age of 6, Ruby Bridges became the first
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black elementary school child to attend a white school.
Due to White opposition of integration, Ruby needed to be
escorted to school by federal marshals.
After Ruby entered the school, many of the teachers
refused to teach and many of the White students went
home.
Ruby went to school everyday.
The Problem We All Live With, By Norman
Rockwell
At the young age of 6 Ruby Bridges stood up to the most horrific kind of hatred, racism.
No one warned Ruby about the mob she would face or told her about the incredible feat
that she would reach by entering the school. It is hard to imagine just how much courage
it took for Ruby Bridges to wake up every morning and go to school. Norman Rockwell
tries to capture the loneliness and fear that Ruby must have felt.
Career As A Leader
• In 1955 he became involved in The
Montgomery Bus Boycott. The
Boycott was the start to his
incredible career as the most
famous leader of the Civil Rights
movement.
• He went on to deliver numerous
powerful speeches promoting peace
and desegregation.
• During The March On Washington
he delivered one of the most
famous speeches of 20th century
titled, “I Have A Dream”
• Before he was assassinated in 1968,
he won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Civil Disobedience
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In 1957 King helped found the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC).
 A group that used the authority and power of Black
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churches to organize non-violent protest to support
the Civil Rights Movement.
King believed in the philosophy used by Gandhi in
India known as nonviolent civil disobedience. He
applied this philosophy to protest organized by the
SCLC.
The civil disobedience led to media coverage of the
daily inequities suffered by Southern Blacks.
The televised segregation violence led to mass public
sympathy. The Civil Rights Movement became the
most important political topic during the early 60’s.
March On Washington
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More than 20,000 Black
and White Americans
celebrated in a joyous day
of song, prayer and
speeches.
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The march was lead by a
group of important clergy
men, civil rights leaders,
and politicians.
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Martin Luther King’s “I
Have A Dream” speech
was the climax of the day.
I Have A Dream Speech
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In a powerful speech,
Martin Luther King Jr.
stated eloquently that he
desired a world were
Black’s and whites to
coexist equally.
King’s speech was a
rhetoric example oh the
Black Baptist sermon style.
The speech used The Bible,
The Declaration of
Independence, The United
States Constitution and
The Emancipation
Proclamation as sources.
He also used an incredible
number of symbols in his
poetic address.
I Have A Dream Speech (cont.)
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The powerful words of Martin Luther King Jr.
 “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out
the true meaning of its creed: - 'We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal.’”
 “I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state
sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of
oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and
justice.”
 “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but
by the content of their character.”
 “black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics - will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the
old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty,
we are free at last!"
Stony the Road we Trod:
Alabama’s role in the Modern
Civil Rights Movement
Ms. Clarke
Birmingham, Alabama
August 2-8, 2010
National Endowment for the Humanities
Landmark Workshop
• In the deep south of the early 1960s, black families
experienced some kind of humiliation or suffering every day.
In 1963, Birmingham, Ala., was one of the most violent and
segregated cities in the country, where many parents were
terrified of losing their homes and jobs. Because of that, they
were afraid to speak out.
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But Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was about to change all that,
appealing to the black community to fill the city’s jails in
protest. It was the children — the baby boomers —who rose
up and heeded his call to action.
Freedom Riders
• In 1961, a dedicated group of men
and women, black and white,
young and old (many from
university and college campuses)
across the country boarded buses,
trains and planes bound for the
deep South to challenge that
region‘s outdated Jim Crow laws
and the non-compliance with a US
Supreme Court decision already
three years old that prohibited
segregation in all interstate public
transportation facilities.
• John Lewis and a white rider were
the first to be attacked
Freedom Riders [video]
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Trained in Non-Violence, but received a warm-welcome of beatings after beatings
Undaunted by the beatings, the Freedom Riders continued on their journey until Mother’s
Day, May, 14th, 1961
Met by an angry mob (dressed in their Sunday finest as if they’d just come from church) in
Anniston, Alabama.
Due to the ferocity of the mob, the bus decided not to stop at the station and it quickly left,
already wounded by the mob who had slashed the bus’s tires at the station.
A few miles outside of Anniston the tires began to deflate and the bus was forced to pull
over.
As the bus driver fled in glee, a mob of men who had been following the bus got out of their
cars and surrounded the stricken bus.
From somewhere in the crowd a firebomb was thrown inside the bus and exploded. As the
Freedom Riders tried to escape the smoke and flames they found they could not as the exit
doors were blocked by the surging mob. Just then one of the gas tanks exploded on the bus
and the mob rushed back allowing the Freedom Riders to push the doors open and escape.
As they exited the burning bus, the Freedom Riders rushed outside still choking from the
thick smoke and were beaten by the waiting vigilantes.
As lead pipes and baseball bats were swung, only an onboard undercover agent prevented
the Freedom Riders from being lynched that day as he fired his gun into the air.
Later that same day the Freedom Riders were beaten a second time as they arrived in
Birmingham, Alabama.
Bull Connor, Birmingham, AL
• In 1962, Connor ordered closing of 60 Birmingham parks rather
than follow a court order to desegregate public facilities.
• Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference decided to put their efforts on the most thoroughly
segregated city in the United States, Birmingham. It was called
Project C (for "Confrontation").
• SCLC wanted to target the business section of Birmingham
through economic boycott and demonstrations.
• Throughout April 1963 Martin Luther King led smaller
demonstrations, which resulted in his arrest along with many
others.
• April 1963, King and the SCLC looked for ways
to jumpstart the campaign.
• When the arrest and jailing of King did little to
attract more protestors, SCLC staff member
James Bevel proposed recruiting local
students, arguing that while many adults may
be reluctant to participate in demonstrations
for fear of losing their jobs, their children had
less to lose.
Letter From a
Birmingham
Jail
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King, wrote the letter after being arrested at a peaceful protest in
Birmingham, Alabama.
 The letter was in response to a letter sent to him by eight Alabama
Clergymen called, “A Call For Unity.”
 The men recognized that injustices were occurring in Birmingham
but believed that the battles for freedom should be fought in the
courtroom in not in the streets.
 In the letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King justified civil
disobedience by saying that without forceful action, true civil rights
would never be achieved. Direct action is justified in the face of
unjust laws.
Letters From a Birmingham Jail (cont.)
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In the letter King justifies civil disobedience in the town of
Birmingham.
 “I cannot sit idly in Atlanta and not be concerned about what
happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere.”
 “There can be no gain saying the fact that racial injustice engulfs
this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly
segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is
widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust
treatment in the courts.”
 “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The
yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.”
 “We know through painful experience that freedom is never
voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the
oppressed.
 “Wait has almost always meant 'never.‘”
The Children’s Crusade [video]
• The final phase of Project C introduced a revolutionary and
controversial new tactic that used young people in the
demonstrations.
• On May 2, 1963, the first children came out and marched through
the streets of Birmingham.
• 959 children ranging from ages 6–18 had been arrested.
• By May 3, massive amounts of demonstrators were participating
and Connor ordered the use of fire hoses and attack dogs.
• This didn’t stop the demonstrators, but generated bad publicity for
Connor through the news media.
• The use of fire hoses continued for several days, and by May 7,
Connor and the police department had jailed over three thousand
demonstrators.
The marchers — some as young as 6 and 7 — were arrested. But the courage
of these baby boomers had an effect. A week later, downtown Birmingham
agreed to desegregate its lunch counters, restrooms and water fountains.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-MuWDsv5pg [video]
“Bombingham”
The 16th Street
Baptist Church
in Birmingham,
Alabama was
bombed on
Sunday,
September 15,
1963 as an act
of racially
motivated
terrorism
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Only in death did Denise McNair get her
wish to speak out for equal rights. Her
senseless murder along with three other
girls at the 16th Street Baptist Church
bombing became a turning point in the
fight for civil rights.
As outrage replaced fear, America finally
said enough. Only months after the
church bombing, President Lyndon
Johnson led the passage of the civil rights
act.
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And so began the idea for a children’s
march through downtown. Thousands of
kids — baby boomers all — wanted to
take part, and Chris and Maxine McNair’s
daughter Denise was no exception.
"She wanted to go and march," Chris
McNair recalls. "And her mother and
another lady told her that, ‘You are too
small to march.’ And she immediately
looked at them and said, ‘Hey, you're not
little. Why aren’t you marching?‘”
Denise wasn't allowed to march, but she
was about to make an even greater impact
on the civil rights front.
Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964
[video]
• Voter registration, established health centers,
freedom schools
• Although approximately 17,000 black residents of
Mississippi attempted to register to vote in the
summer of 1964, only 1,600 of the completed
applications were accepted by local registrars.
*Highlighting the need for federal voting rights
legislation, these efforts created political
momentum for the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964
• In an effort to address Mississippi’s separate and
unequal public education system:
• Established 41 Freedom Schools attended by
more than 3,000 young black students
throughout the state.
– Taught math, reading, and other traditional courses,
black history, the philosophy of the civil rights
movement, and leadership skills that provided them
with the intellectual and practical tools to carry on the
struggle after the summer volunteers departed.
The Alternate
Civil Rights Movement
Non-violence isn’t the only
method
Malcolm X [video,
student made, stop at 10 minutes]
X Born in Omaha Nebraska, Malcolm Little was
the son of a Baptist preacher who urged Blacks
to stand up for their rights.
X His father was killed by White Supremacist in
Michigan, in 1931.
X After time, Malcolm moved to Harlem where he
became involved in gambling, drug dealing and
robbery.
X Malcolm Was Arrested at the age
of 20 for armed robbery. In jail
he studied the teaching of the
Elijah Muhammad.
Elijah Muhammad
X Elijah Muhammad was the leader
of the mostly Black political and
religious group The Nation Of
Islam.
 His teachings, often perceived as
racist, preached complete
separation from Whites in
society.
 He often expressed the idea the
Blacks were the first people to
rule the world and that the
Whites tricked them out of
power and oppressed them.
 Young Malcolm X developed his
adept speaking skills and political
ideas under the direction of Elijah
Muhammad.
Nation Of Islam
X The Nation Of Islam
(NOI) was an activist
group that believed that
most African slaves
were originally Muslim.
X The NOI urged African
Americans to reconvert
to Islam in effort to
restore the heritage that was stolen from them.
X The NOI wanted to create a second Black
nation within the United States.
X The “X” in Malcolm’s name symbolizes the
rejection of his slave name.
Malcolm X: The Activist
X Malcolm X made constant
accusations of racism and
demanded violent actions of
self defense.
X He constantly retold the
injustices his people suffered in
the past.
X Malcolm X gathered wide
spread admiration from African
American’s and wide spread
fear from Whites. However
White college students could
not ignore the harsh realities of
his preaching's.
Tension In The Nation Of Islam
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By the start of the 60’s Tension
was growing in The Nation of
Islam.
 Malcolm X was exposed to
rumors that Elijah Muhammad
had indulged in extramarital
affairs.
 Adultery is shunned in the
Muslim doctrine.
X Malcolm Believed that Elijah
Muhammad was jealous of his
increasing popularity.
X The Nation of Islam blamed
Malcolm X for his
controversial remarks
regarding John F. Kennedy Jr.
The JFK Controversy
X After the assassination of
John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X
made a speech.
 Malcolm claimed that the
violence Kennedy failed to
prevent ended up to come
back and claim his life.
 He stated that assassination
was an example of “the
chickens coming home to
roost"
 He later stated, "Chickens
coming home to roost never
made me sad. It only made
me glad."
 This comment lead to
widespread public dismay.
Pilgrimage to Mecca
X In 1964, during a pilgrimage to Mecca,
Malcolm discovered that orthodox Muslims
preach equality among races.
X Malcolm’s new knowledge and growing
distrust with the NOI, caused him to desert
his argument that all Whites are the devil.
X Malcolm X never abandoned his theory that
Racism had destroyed the nation and that
only Blacks could free themselves.
X In February, 1965 Malcolm X was assassinated
by a Black Muslim at a New York City rally.
Malcolm X Speaks, 1965
X “Be peaceful, be courteous,
obey the law, respect
everyone; but if someone puts
his hand on you, send him to
the cemetery.”
X “Nobody can give you
freedom. Nobody can give you
equality or justice or anything.
If you're a man, you take it.”
X “You can't separate peace from
freedom because no one can
be at peace unless he has his
freedom.”
Malcolm X Quotes (On King)
X He got the peace prize, we got the problem.... If I'm
following a general, and he's leading me into a battle,
and the enemy tends to give him rewards, or awards, I
get suspicious of him. Especially if he gets a peace
award before the war is over.
X I'll say nothing against him. At one time the whites in
the United States called him a racialist, and extremist,
and a Communist. Then the Black Muslims came along
and the whites thanked the Lord for Martin Luther
King.
X I want Dr. King to know that I didn't come to Selma to
make his job difficult. I really did come thinking I could
make it easier. If the white people realize what the
alternative is, perhaps they will be more willing to hear
Dr. King.
X Dr. King wants the same thing I want -- freedom!
Black Power
Black Power is a term that emphasizes racial pride and
the desire for African Americans to achieve equality.
The term promotes the creation of Black political and
social institutions.
The term was popularized by Stokely Carmichael during
The Civil Rights Movement.
Many SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee) members were becoming critical of leaders
that articulated non-violent responses to racism.
Stokely
Carmichael
Tommie Smith and John Carlos
Tommie Smith and
John Carlos give the
Black Power salute at
the 1968 Summer
Olympics.
The two men were
suspended by the
United States team and
banned from Olympic
village.
The action is
considered a milestone
of The Civil Rights
Movement.
Black Panther Party
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U.S. African American Militant group.
Founded in 1966 in Oakland.
Led by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
Believed violent revolution was the only
way to receive freedom.
• Urged African Americans to arm
themselves.
The Violent Panthers
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In the late 60’s party
leaders got involved in
violent confrontations
with the police.
 The results was death on
both sides.
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Huey Newton was tried
in 1967 for killing a
police officer.
Black Panther activist
Bobby Seale, was a
member of the Chicago
Eight.
 A group of eight people
who disrupted the 1968
Democratic convention.
LBJ’s The Great Society: Civil Rights
Program
Year
What it did…
Civil Rights Act
1964
Segregation illegal and federal
government more power to enforce
school desegregation
Equal Employment
Commission
1964
End racial discrimination in
employment
24th Amendment
1964
Banned poll tax
Voting Rights Act
1965
In reaction to violence in Selma/King
marches-no literacy tests and federal
registrars
Conclusion
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During The American Civil Rights Movement many
different and unique leaders and groups came to
power.
Some preached violence, some preached peace,
some preached protest and some preached
resilience.
However, every leader had one thing in common.
They all wanted freedom and they all wanted
equality for their race.
Today we celebrate the leaders struggles because it
was there work that got us to the point we are at
today.
Now, not everything is completely equal. But it is
clear that we have come a long way since Martin
Luther King Jr. marched in Washington and cried out,
“I Have A Dream”