Transcript Free at last! Free at last! - Ms. Rzemien's Social Studies

Free at last! Free at last!
America’s Civil Rights Movement
After WWII
• After Hitler, America viewed
racism as evil
• Black soldiers fought for
America in the war but were
denied basic freedoms at
home
• Having moved to cities, more
blacks were making money
and contacts. This led to
discussion and movements
for change.
Jim Crow
• The term was generally
identified with those racist
laws and actions that deprived
African Americans of their
civil rights by defining blacks
as inferior to whites. These
laws kept blacks from voting,
from mixing with white
people in public facilities and,
in some states, from
interracial marriage and home
ownership.
Court Cases
• Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896
established segregation as
acceptable under the
Constitution.
• Thurgood Marshall and the
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People challenged this
doctrine in front of the
Supreme Court.
• Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka
makes segregation
unconstitutional in
public education.
• Schools are told to
integrate “with all
deliberate speed”
Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on the
bus to a white person and is arrested
• Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
encourages the
black
population to
walk, car pool
or ride bikes to
financially
effect the bus
lines.
• Violent reaction of whites to this nonviolent
protest gains the attention of the nation.
• The bus lines become desegregated
• The Southern Christian Leadership Conference
is formed to continue the “fight”.
Little Rock 9
• 1957 - 9 black students set to attend Central
High, an all white school, in Little Rock,
Arkansas.
• Orval Faubus, the
governor, resists and
sends in the National
Guard
• The 9 are turned
away, causing
President
Eisenhower to
reluctantly become
involved.
• The students return to the school 3 weeks later
escorted by the 101st Airborne (fully armed).
Other forms of protest
• Sit ins – Black people peacefully sit at a lunch
counter and wait to be served while whites abuse
them in a variety of ways.
Freedom Rides
• Black people board
interstate buses and sit in
the front, while white
people sit in the back.
They try to use “whites
only” facilities at the stops.
• Riders were often attacked. Pressure on
the President led Kennedy to integrate
interstate bus facilities
Children’s March
• 1963 - Birmingham,
Alabama
• Civil Rights leaders
want to embarrass city
officials by filling the
jails with children and
teens.
• While they expect
violence to increase
support for their cause,
they did not anticipate
the level of violence
that the kids would
receive – attacks by
dogs, being sprayed by
high pressure hoses,
being beaten by
policemen with billy
clubs.
Over 900 children are arrested on the first day,
but even more children showed up to march on
the next! Video: The Children’s March

Freedom Summer
• 1964 – Northern
college students come
to Mississippi to
register the black
population to vote
• They endure beatings,
harassment, bombings,
arrest, and murder but
add about 1200
registered voters to the
state numbers.
Marches
• 1963 – March on
Washington – 250,000
people demonstrate to
support civil rights
legislation. The size of
the march led many
groups to call for
federal laws. Martin
Luther King, Jr. gives
his “I Have a Dream”
speech.
• “BLOODY SUNDAY”
• 1965 – King organizes a
protest march from
Selma to Montgomery,
Alabama. Crossing a
bridge, they are attacked
by state troopers.
President Johnson is fed
up with the violence and
sends troops to protect
the marchers. He uses the
violence to push for
voting rights legislation.
Legislation
• 1964 – Using Kennedy’s assassination to get the
public to support it, Lyndon Johnson pushes
through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banning
segregation in public places and creating the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to
prevent job discrimination.
• 1965 – Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act
banning literacy tests and other laws meant to
keep blacks from voting.
Johnson’s Great Society
• A series of programs aimed
helping minorities, the poor, the
elderly, and women. It includes
legislation to promote education,
end discrimination and protect
the environment.
• Many programs, including
Medicare and Medicaid, are still
in place
Assassinations
• 1963 – Dallas, TX.
President Kennedy is
assassinated while
riding in the
presidential
motorcade. The
nation is shocked and
mourns for its
youngest, most
dynamic President.
• 1967 – Memphis,
TN. Martin Luther
King Jr. is
assassinated leading
black communities
around the nation to
explode in anger.
The peaceful leader
of the Civil Rights
Movement is
mourned…
Video Review of Civil Rights
Mexican Americans
• 1962 – Cesar Chavez, a
migrant farm worker,
decides to start a union for
farm workers. Owners
ignore it, so workers strike.
They don’t buy produce
harvested by nonunion
workers. The tactics work.
• La Raza Unida, “the united people” fight
for better jobs, education, pay and housing.
• 1968 – Students in L.A. walk out of class,
protesting for better facilities and more
relevant courses.
Native Americans
• 1961 – 400 Native
Americans from many
tribes draft the
Declaration of Indian
Purpose demanding the
“right to choose our
own way of life” and the
“responsibility of
preserving our precious
heritage.”
• 1969 – American Indian
Movement (AIM) is
founded and demands
rights for people on
reservations and
recognition of tribal laws.
• 1975 – The Self
Determination Act of
1975 gives greater tribal
control over social
programs, education, and
law enforcement.
Women’s Rights
• Women had limited rights and little control of
their own lives. They couldn’t sign contracts, sell
property, or get credit.
• 1963 – Betty Friedan writes The Feminine Mystique
which leads to organization of the National
Organization for Women (NOW) which aims to
get women better jobs and pay.