Transcript The Civil rights Movement

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
The Roots
of the
Civil
Rights
Movement
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“Civil Rights - Eyes on the Prize 1 - Intro
Overview”
The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments were
meant to protect the rights of African
Americans under the U.S. Constitution…
But they did not because of a ruling by
the U.S. Supreme Court…
PLESSY v. FERGUSON (1896)
U.S. Supreme Court
case that made
segregation legal in
the United States
Established
the principle
of “separate
but equal”
Homer Plessy
BROWN v. BOARD
of EDUCATION (1954)
African American girl
sued for the right to go
to the school of her
choice – and WON!
Ruling overturned
Plessy v. Ferguson case
and outlawed
segregation in public
schools
BROWN v. BOARD of EDUCATION
Supreme Court ruled
segregation of public
schools was
unconstitutional
Ruling gave improved
educational opportunities
to African Americans
BROWN v. BOARD of EDUCATION
NAACP attorney
Thurgood Marshall
(center) argued the
case to end
segregation
Marshall later became the first African
American on the U.S. Supreme Court
The Movement Begins
Rosa Parks refuses
to move to the back
of the bus
Parks is arrested,
leading to the…
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Outraged over Park’s arrest, African
Americans organized a boycott of
Montgomery’s public transportation
system in 1956
African Americans
carpooled, took taxis,
or walked to avoid
taking the bus.
African Americans carpooling during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956
After a year, the city of
Montgomery was
ordered to end its
segregation policy.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
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“Montgomery Bus Boycott Documentary”
A leader emerges
The person who led the Montgomery Bus
Boycott was a Baptist minister from Atlanta.
His name was Martin Luther King, Jr.
The boycott of the busing
system of Montgomery gained
King national prominence.
MLK leaving a bus after the boycott ends
Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Born in Atlanta, GA
• Southern Baptist Minister
• Led Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Leader of the Civil Rights
Movement
• Often compared to Mohandas Gandhi
• Advocated non-violent protests
• Urged followers to disobey unjust laws
• Was arrested 30 times
Martin Luther King:
A powerful speaker
“. . . there comes a
time when people get
tired of being
trampled over by the
iron feet of
oppression.”
“… I want it to be known that we’re going
to work with grim and bold determination
to gain justice on the buses in this city. And
we are not wrong...” -- MLK
King following his first arrest
Types of Protests
• Marches
• Freedom Riders
• Sit-ins
Civil Rights Marches
Marches were the most
common form of
protests used during the
Civil Rights Movement.
Protestors would march
peacefully in an attempt
to draw national
attention to their cause.
Sit-ins
Blacks were denied
service at lunch counters.
They sat at the counter until
they were served or arrested.
Students who participated
in the sit-ins refused to
become violent.
Sit-ins raised the awareness
of the discrimination that
was occurring.
Freedom Riders
Blacks and whites
traveled into the South to
draw attention to the
South’s segregation of
bus terminals.
When Freedom Riders
arrived at various cities
in the South, white
mobs attacked them.
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“Freedom Riders Trailer”
Leaders of Civil Rights Movement
Malcolm X
Medgar Evers
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“WE SHALL OVERCOME”
“We Shall
Overcome”
became the battle
cry of the Civil
Rights Movement.
Protestors often sang
the song during civil
rights marches.
Civil Rights
Organizations
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
The movement gains national attention
Clockwise, from right,
integration of Little Rock
Central; bombing of 16th
Street Baptist Church ;
lynching of Emmitt Till;
violence in Birmingham;
murder of civil rights
workers in Mississippi
Odyssey of Emmitt Till
Emmitt Till
Emmitt Till was a 14-year-old from Chicago
whose murder in 1955 made national news.
Till was lynched and murdered after he said
“bye baby” to a white woman who was the
cashier at a store while visiting his
cousin in Money, Mississippi.
Open casket at Emmitt Till funeral
Ending school segregation
In 1957, a federal court
ordered the integration of
Little Rock Central High.
The local NAACP picked
out nine African Americans
to attend the school.
Arkansas Governor Orville
Faubus sent in the National
Guard to “keep the peace.”
On their first attempt to enter
the school, the black students
were denied entrance.
Ending school segregation
Only one of the “Little Rock Nine”
graduated, but the incident raised
national awareness about the
discrimination in the South.
The Little Rock Nine
U.S. President Dwight
D. Eisenhower called in
federal troops to
enforce the Supreme
Court ruling.
Ending school segregation
James Meredith enters Ole Miss
James Meredith is denied
admission into Ole Miss
President Kennedy sends
500 federal marshals to
escort Meredith and make
sure he was allowed to
attended classes.
Ending school segregation
Wallace fights segregation
Alabama governor George
Wallace blocks the
entrance to keep two black
students from enrolling at
the University of Alabama.
President
Kennedy
sends federal
marshals to
enforce the
federal law.
George Wallace
"The President wants us to
surrender this state to Martin
Luther King and his group of
pro-Communists who have
instituted these demonstrations."
Violence in Birmingham
During marches in Alabama,
Birmingham police chief Bull
Connor used fire hoses and
attack dogs to prevent people
from marching
The incident
raised national
awareness
about the
discrimination
in the South.
Violence in Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama, was
regarded as the most segregated
city in the South.
Because of all the bombings in
the city, Birmingham was
nicknamed “Bombingham.”
The bombing of the 16th
Street Baptist Church
killed four innocent girls.
Mississippi Burning murders
In the summer of 1964, dubbed -Freedom
Summer - three civil rights workers came
up missing in, Mississippi.
Weeks later, they were found dead,
killed by members of the Ku Klux
Klan
Michael Schwerner
James Chaney
Andrew Goodman
March on Washington
To support to President Kennedy’s Civil Rights bill,
Martin Luther King, Jr., organized a massive march on
Washington, D.C., as a show of support for the bill
On August 28,
1963, more
than 200,000
demonstrators
gathered
peacefully at
the nation’s
capital.
MLK: “I have a dream”
It was during the March on
Washington in 1963 that
Martin Luther King, Jr., gave
his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Dr. King presented his
dream of freedom and
equality for all Americans
The March on Washington
and Martin Luther King’s
speech helped to lead to the…
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Despite strong opposition
from Southern senators,
President Lyndon B.
Johnson got Congress to
pass the bill.
The law gave Congress the
power to outlaw segregation in
most public places, gave
minorities equal access to
facilities such as restaurants
and theaters.
th
24 Amendment
The 24th Amendment, ratified in
1964, helped guarantee the right
to vote for African Americans.
It abolished
poll taxes,
fees that
had to be
paid in
order to vote SNCC and SCLC
increased their
in national
voter registration
elections.
drives in the South.
Selma March/Bloody Sunday
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“Selma to Montgomery March”
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The violence in Selma
infuriated President Johnson
and led to the federal
government to step in again.
Johnson proposed a new voting
rights law and, in early August,
the Voting Rights Act of 1965
was signed into law.
"By the way, what's the big word?"
It authorized the Attorney General to send federal
examiners to register qualified voters, bypassing local
officials who tried to keep blacks from voting.
Movement takes a different direction
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was the Civil Rights Movement
leader who advocated the use of violence to
gain African American rights
He was assassinated in 1965 after
abandoning the beliefs of Black Panthers
The Black Panthers
The Black Panthers
were the group
during the Civil
Rights Movement
that urged African
Americans to fight
for their rights
The Black Panthers were led by former
SNCC leader Stokley Carmichael
Martin Luther King assassinated
Tragedy struck on April
4, 1968, when Martin
Luther King was
assassinated
King was in Memphis,
Tenn., for a march for
Sanitation Workers
The
assassination of
Martin Luther
King marked the
end of the civil
rights movement
Coming up next:
Other groups
fight for their
rights
Latinos, Native
Americans, women