Transcript The Civil Rights Movement - Licking Heights School District

The Civil Rights
Movement
American Studies

Time of change and new ideas
◦ Gap between older generation and their baby
boomer children

Counterculture and the protest movement
◦ Hippies protest the war, the govt, and
traditional values of society

Atmosphere leads to increased support for
expanding the rights of minorities
◦ Women’s Liberation
◦ African American Civil Rights Movement
1960s in America

Interest Groups: people form to achieve a
common goal
◦ To convince the govt to take action on an issue
of concern (lobbyists)

Political Action Committees (PACs):
Independent organizations that contribute
to political candidates who agree with their
views
◦ Raise campaign money
◦ Raise public awareness about the issues
Political Action Groups

Minority status due to years of legal, political,
economic and social discrimination against
women
◦ 1963: Betty Friedan’s “Feminine Mystique” says
women can be more than just housewives

National Organization for Women (NOW)
◦ Founded in 1966: Fight for equal rights for women
◦ Push for laws that provide equal pay, education
opportunities, childcare centers, maternity leave
rights, and legalized abortion
 Roe v. Wade 1973
◦ Equal Rights Amendment (ERA): Guarantee men
and women have same rights and protections under
the law = never ratified
Women’s Liberation
-Today:
-More women in the
US than men
-More women with
college degrees
-Women still make 77
cents for every $1 a
man makes
-Yearly, average man
makes $47,000
-Average woman
makes $37,000
-Wage gap exists in all
racial categories

What was the perspective of women who
founded the National Organization for Women
(NOW) in 1966?

A. Women wanted to receive equal pay and
opportunities for advancement in the workplace.
B. Women were afraid of being forced to work in
physically challenging jobs.
C. Women were angry at the prospect of having
to serve in the military.
D. Women wanted to gain the right to vote and
to own property.
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Practice Question
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AIM: Founded 1968 to combat issues of
discrimination and poverty of Native
Americans
Facing high unemployment, slum housing,
police brutality, little help from the govt
1972: “Trail of Broken Treaties” March
Govt responds:
◦ More control over their education to preserve their
culture
◦ Regain some land lost as result of treaty violations
◦ Still working to restore more native land and
improve daily life in Native American community
American Indian Movement

One reason Native Americans founded the
American Indian Movement (AIM) was they
wanted to
A. reestablish reservations that had been
closed down.
B. improve life on reservations and receive
protection of their rights.
C. reawaken pride in their culture and
heritage.
D. create a separate and independent Native
American State.
Practice Question

UFW: Migrant workers seek relief through
social and political activism
◦ Many immigrants of Latin American decent
◦ Work long hours for little pay, harsh conditions and
low-quality housing
◦ Unsanitary conditions and violations of child labor
laws

Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez organized
strikes and boycotts, forcing growers to
improve conditions for the pickers
◦ Work with AFL-CIO union
United Farm Workers
-Strike: Refuse to work until worker
demands are met by company
-Boycott: Refuse to buy goods from a
company in order to put economic
pressure on them to make a change

In the 1960s and 1970s, Hispanic-American farm
workers in the United States believed their
employers were failing to provide reasonable
wages and working conditions like those received
by other American workers.

For this reason, Hispanic-American farm workers:


A. urged the exportation of agricultural produce.
B. organized the United Farm Workers
Association.
C encouraged farm producers to lower prices.
D. opposed passage of anti-discrimination laws.
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Practice Question
*African Americans:
 NAACP: Founded in 1909
◦ Work through legal system toward the goal of equal rights
◦ Fight Jim Crow Laws, lynching, segregation, and
workplace discrimination

1896:Plessy vs. Ferguson

1954: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,
Kansas
◦ Separate but equal segregation is legal
◦ Overturns Plessey v. Ferguson, separate but equal
segregation is illegal
◦ http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rightsmovement/videos/separate-but-notequal?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false
◦ Thurgood Marshall was the lawyer to defend Brown and
becomes first black Supreme Court Justice in 1967
The Civil Rights Movement

What perspective of African-Americans was
reflected in the founding of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) in 1909?
A. the desire for a return to their cultural heritage
B. the need to improve working conditions in
factories
C. the desire to end legalized discrimination based
on race
D. the belief in the importance of building a new
country in Africa
Practice Question

The U.S. Constitution is a living document
that evolves through Supreme Court
decisions. Describe the decisions in
Plessey vs. Ferguson and Brown vs. Board
of Education of Topeka, and explain how
they influenced the Constitution’s
evolution. (4 bullet points)
Practice Question

Jim Crow Laws: Legalized racism and
segregation in the South
◦ Can’t use the same pools, water fountains,
bathrooms, libraries, hospitals, schools, parks and
playgrounds, cemeteries, barbers, home/hotel, etc.
◦ Segregated restaurants, movie theaters, busses and
trains
◦ Whites can’t marry anyone with 1/8 African,
Japanese or Chinese ancestry
◦ Can’t play games, cards, dice or dominos together
◦ Last Ku Klux Klan revival during this period
 White Supremacists
◦ http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civilrights-movement/videos/sylvia-woodsfreedom?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&fre
e=false
Racism in America

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Govt orders desegregation of schools but some Southern
states resist
1956: Southern members of Congress signed Southern
Manifesto demanding legal segregation be restored
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1957: Most famous defiance in Little Rock , Arkansas

First time since Reconstruction that Fed govt took action to
advance the rights of African Americans
◦ 9 African Americans try to go to class at a formerly white high
school
◦ Governor called out National Guard to prevent desegregation
◦ Court forced him to withdraw, but angry mob turned students
away
◦ Eisenhower sends fed troops to enforce order and protect black
students
◦ Events covered on TV helped sway public opinion against racist
mobs
Desegregation
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=xERXusiEszs
http://www.history.com/topi
cs/black-history/civil-rightsmovement/videos/emmetttill-legacy?m=528e394da93ae&
s=undefined&f=1&free=false

What happened at Little Rock Arkansas?

a. African Americans desegregated schools,
without any trouble at all.
b. African Americans tried to desegregate
schools but they were not allowed in and
were humiliated.
c. African Americans desegregated schools,
with the help of Eisenhower and the
National Guard.
d. African Americans desegregated schools
with the help of Arkansas’s governor.
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Practice Question
1955: 14 yr. old boy murdered in Mississippi for
“flirting with a white woman”
 Beaten, eyes gouged out, shot, throw in a river where
he was found days later
 Mother wanted public open casket funeral to show
brutality of racism

◦ Murderers never convicted
◦ Intense criticism of Mississippi

His death played a pivotal role for gaining support for
the Civil Rights Movement

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civilrights-movement/videos/emmett-till-legacy?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=fa
lse
The Murder of Emmett Till
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1955: Rosa Parks boarded bus in Alabama and when
told to give up her seat to a white man she refused
◦ Civil Disobedience: Break a law and get caught to protest
injustice
◦ She was arrested and fined
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjXovChu1aM
◦ http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rightsmovement/videos/bet-you-didnt-know-rosaparks?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false
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Martin Luther King Jr.: Young Baptist minister
◦ Advocated of non-violence and wanted to show that peaceful
protest could be effective
◦ Helped organize boycott of the bus company to respond to
end bus segregation
Montgomery Bus Boycott
http://www.history.com/to
pics/black-history/civilrightsmovement/videos/montgo
mery-busboycott?m=528e394da93
ae&s=undefined&f=1&free
=false

Majority of bus riders were African American
◦ 1956: Unable to handle the loss of income, the city
agreed to desegregate public transportation

Supreme Court rules segregation of public
facilities is unconstitutional

King becomes head of Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC)
◦ Became recognized as civil rights leader
◦ Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi
Montgomery Bus Boycott
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1960s: Civil Rights movement gained
momentum
Organized new forms of non-violent protest
◦ Greensboro, NC: Sit-in at segregated lunch counter
in 1960 to show they would not obey segregation
laws

Black and white students organized the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC)
Sit-Ins
http://www.travelchannel.co
m/video/historic-lunchcounter-sit-in-12547
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1961: Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
◦ Sponsored bus trips around the south testing
the enforcement of the desegregation law
◦ Both blacks and whites, called freedom riders

Met opposition as soon as they entered
the south
◦ First ride in 1947: Several arrested in NC,
some end up serving in chain gangs there
Freedom Riders
1960s “Journey of Reconciliation” Freedom Rider bus
tour
 Wanted to encourage the govt to enforce
desegregation in the south

◦ Blacks ride at the front, whites in the back, violating Jim
Crow laws
◦ Blacks entered white-only restrooms, restaurants, etc. and
whites did the opposite
◦ Met violent resistance: Mobs waiting to throw stones, slash
tires, beat riders, arrest them
Birmingham and Montgomery: Promised protection
by the police but attacked in anyway
 Despite threats they continued to Mississippi

◦ Were arrested and tried for breaking state law
◦ Sentenced some to 60 day terms in state penitentiary
Freedom Riders
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/
americanexperience/freedo
mriders/watch
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News spread and more riders joined to
replace those in jail
By the end: Mississippi arrested over 300
◦ Despite beatings and arrests, they achieved their
goal and govt changed
◦ Made huge contribution at great personal cost

Senator Robert Kennedy convinced the
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to
rule that segregation of interstate bus travel
illegal
Freedom Riders

What is one direct consequence of the U.S.
civil rights movement of the 1950s and
1960s?

A. the right to freedom of religion for all
citizens
B. the end of legal segregation in public
places
C. the granting of citizenship to AfricanAmericans
D. the passing of legislation to protect the
accused
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Practice Question

After death of a NAACP leader Medgar
Evers: Largest Civil Rights demonstration
in history
◦ August 1963
“March for Jobs and Freedom”: Organized
by NAACP, CORE, SNCC, SCLC, etc.
 About 300,000 attend to fight for equality
and listen to historic speakers

◦ MLK Jr. gives his “I have a dream” speech
◦ Impact: March encourages passage of Civil
Rights Act
The Great March on Washington
http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=HRIF4_WzU1w&feature=k
p
“I still have a dream. It is a
dream deeply rooted in the
American dream. 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 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.”
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Whites in Alabama were angered by
integration of schools and Civil Rights protest
In response: Men blow up a Baptist church
used for protest meetings
Kills four innocent little girls
◦ Man seen at scene and found with dynamite is
found not guilty
◦ http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civilrights-movement/videos/bombing-of-the-16thstreet-baptistchurch?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free
=false
Bombing in Birmingham

SNCC organizes volunteers to help African
Americans in Mississippi register to vote
◦ Over 1000 out-of-state white volunteers joining
thousands of local black activists
◦ State had lowest # registered: only 6.7% of
blacks in the state
◦ Literacy tests, difficult registration process,
threats and violence had prevented them from
voting
◦ Activists were met with violent opposition
◦ Impact: Movement encourages the govt to pass
Voting Rights Act
Freedom Summer 1964
Over the course of the tenweek project:
•4 civil rights workers were
killed
•At least 3 Mississippi blacks
were murdered because of
their support for the civil
rights movement
•4 people were critically
wounded
•80 Freedom Summer workers
were beaten
•1062 people were arrested
(volunteers and locals)
•37 churches were bombed or
burned
•30 Black homes or
businesses were bombed or
burned
http://app.discoveryeducation.c
om/search?Ntt=freedom+summ
er
Landmark legislation outlaws major forms
of discrimination against racial, ethnic,
national and religious minorities, and
women.
 Outlawed:

◦ Segregation of public facilities
◦ Workplace discrimination
◦ Housing and Loan
discrimination
Civil Rights Act of 1964

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson persuaded
Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act, which
outlawed racial discrimination in public places,
such as theaters, cafeterias and hotels.
This was an attempt to
A. maintain poll taxes for African-Americans.
 B. stop African-American northward migration.
 C. end segregation legalized by Jim Crow laws.
 D. maintain literacy tests for African-Americans
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Practice Question

600 protestors beaten and tear gassed by police

In response, SNCC organizes a long march from
Selma to Montgomery, Alabama
◦ http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rightsmovement/videos/bloodysunday?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false
◦ Two attempts stopped by police and mob

Martin Luther King and SCLC come to support
marchers
◦
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Under National Guard and FBI protection
Walk 10 miles a day from March 16-24th
Successfully arrive at the capital
Encourages passage of Voting Rights Act
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rightsmovement/videos/freedommarch?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false
1965: Bloody Sunday
http://www.history.
com/topics/blackhistory/civil-rightsmovement/videos/
march-from-selmatomontgomery?m=52
8e394da93ae&s=un
defined&f=1&free=f
alse
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Makes it easier to register to vote
◦ Discrimination and literacy tests are illegal
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Federal oversight of election boards
◦ In many Southern states, less than 50% of
population was registered to vote
◦ Voting laws are finally enforced nationally
◦ New laws insight riots in cities like LA, Cleveland,
Detroit and Chicago
◦ http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civilrights-movement/videos/voting-rightsbill?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=fals
e
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
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1968: Robert Kennedy and MLK Jr. both
assassinated
War protests increase: public is distracted
Not all goals of the movement were
accomplished right away, but major impact
made on America:
◦ Non-violent protest shown as effective way to
create positive change
◦ Encourages other minority groups to fight for
equality
◦ Forces nation to redefine what we stand for and
brings up issues we still discuss today
◦ Racism becomes less socially acceptable
The End and Impact

The Civil Rights Movement was all about
the road to equality. One of the leaders of
this movement was Martin Luther King Jr.
What type of protest did he promote how
did it work? Then please explain three
different examples of Civil Disobedience
and or non-violent protest during the Civil
Rights Movement. (4 bullet points)
Practice Question

Malcom X (Malcom Little 1925-1965):

Black Panther Party: Malcom X was not a member
◦ Father killed by white supremacists, mother committed to
mental institution
◦ In prison for robbery: Studied Marcus Garvey and became
part of the Black Muslims
◦ Believed “white devils” were inherently racist and blacks
should not integrate into American society
◦ Preached against King’s non-violence and instead wanted
blacks to form their own society
◦ Also spoke against non-violence and cooperation with
whites
◦ Promoted Black nationalism and self-defense
◦ http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rightsmovement/videos/malcolmx?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false
Black Power Movement

“I Have Seen the Mountain Top” MLK’s
Last Speech
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixfwGLxRJU
8&safe=active

Gay Rights:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/alexwagner-arizona-religious-freedom-lawequivalent-to-jim-crow-laws-for-gays/
Speeches