Transcript U.S. Cultural History

Exploring American History
Chapter 28 –
Section 2
Kennedy,
Johnson and
Civil Rights
Unit IX- Postwar
America
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Advocate of Tolerance and
Nonviolence (02:46)
Non-Violent Protests during
the Civil Rights Movement
• Civil rights workers used several direct, nonviolent methods to
confront discrimination and racism in the late 1950s and early
1960s.
– Boycotts
– Sit-ins
– Freedom Rides
• Many of these non-violent tactics were based on those of
Mohandas Gandhi—a leader in India’s struggle for
independence from Great Britain.
• American civil rights leaders such as James Farmer of CORE,
Martin Luther King Jr. of SCLC, and others shared Gandhi’s
views.
• James Lawson, an African American minister, conducted
workshops on nonviolent methods in Nashville and on college
campuses.
Kennedy, Johnson, and
Civil Rights
The Big Idea
The civil rights movement made major advances during the
presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
Main Ideas
• John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960.
• Civil rights leaders continued to fight for equality.
• Lyndon B. Johnson became president when Kennedy was
assassinated.
• Changes occurred in the civil rights movement in the late
1960s.
Main Idea 1:
John F. Kennedy was elected
president in 1960.
President Kennedy
•
Won the election of 1960
– Became youngest person ever elected president
– First Roman Catholic to become president
New Frontier
• Kennedy pursued set of proposals he called the New Frontier.
– Higher minimum wage and tax cuts to stimulate growth
– New spending on military and the space program
– Programs to help poor and unemployed
– Financial help for public schools
• Kennedy also supported the goals of civil rights movement.
Kennedy Elected
• Explain – What were two things that were
unique about John F. Kennedy as president?
• Summarize – What was the New Frontier
program?
• Evaluate – Was it a good plan for President
Kennedy to go slow on civil rights in order to
push other items in his domestic agenda?
Main Idea 2:
Civil rights leaders continued to fight
for equality.
• In 1960 the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of bus stations was
illegal.
• May 1961– Congress for Racial Equality organized Freedom Rides.
– Protests in which black and white bus riders traveled to segregated bus
stations in South
– Hoped to put pressure on President Kennedy to enforce ruling
• Violence against riders forced end of protest
• SNCC decided to continue the Freedom Rides.
– Attacked by furious mob
– Many were jailed
• Kennedy then ordered the Interstate Commerce Commission to
enforce strict bans on segregation in interstate bus terminals.
Desegregation and Civil Rights Activism (03:48)
1961: Whites Join in with Freedom Riders:
Medgar Evers is Assassinated (00:53)
Fight for Rights
Birmingham, Alabama
March on Washington
• In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr.
organized marches in
Birmingham.
• June 1963– Kennedy
announced support for a civil
rights bill.
• King was jailed for marching
without a permit.
• African American leaders held
the March on Washington to
show support for the bill.
• Released and led new marches
• May 1963– 2,500
demonstrators marched.
• Police chief ordered attack dogs
and blasted marchers with highpressure water hoses.
• Televised images shocked
nation.
• August 28, 1963– Martin
Luther King Jr. gave his
powerful “I Have a Dream”
speech before 200,000 people.
Freedom Comes to Birmingham (04:22)
August, 1963: March on Washington: MLK's (01:12)
I Have a Dream (03:48)
The Fight for Rights
Continues
• Recall – What was the primary
goal of CORE?
• Analyze – Was CORE’s protest
strategy effective?
The Fight for Rights
Continues
• Explain – Why did CORE stop its
Freedom Rides?
• Analyze – How did Eugene “Bull”
Connor’s actions help the civil rights
movement?
• Develop – Do you think it take a major
event like the attack on the marchers in
Birmingham to effect social change?
Right to Vote, The (01:23)
April 4, 1968: MLK is Assassinated by James Earl Ray
(02:41)
Main Idea 3:
Lyndon B. Johnson became president
when Kennedy was assassinated.
• On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas,
Texas.
– Shocked the nation
• Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was quickly sworn in as
president.
– Vowed to continue Kennedy’s work
– Urged Congress to pass a civil rights bill
Kennedy’s Assassination
On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was
assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
Vice President Johnson was sworn in within hours.
Kennedy’s death shocked the nation and the world.
Within hours, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald.
While being transferred to the county jail, Oswald was
shot to death by Jack Ruby.
November 22, 1963 (03:20)
Assassination of a President
• Dallas, Texas - Nov. 22,
1963
– Dealey Plaza
– Lee Harvey Oswald
– Jack Ruby
• Warren Commission
• Conspiracy Theories
• Appraisal of the Kennedy
years.
Zapruder Film- :26
The Warren Commission
• The strange circumstances surrounding President
Kennedy’s death caused people to wonder whether
Oswald had acted alone in killing the president.
• President Johnson appointed the Warren Commission
to investigate the assassination.
– They determined that there was no conspiracy and that Oswald
and Ruby had each acted alone.
– Additional government investigations and many private ones
have never found credible evidence of a conspiracy.
The Warren Commission- :40
The Kennedy Legacy
Foreign
Relations
•
Some felt the drama of the Kennedy presidency was
more evident than its achievements.
•
However, in foreign affairs, relations with the Soviet
Union had improved.
•
The Peace Corp produced goodwill toward the United
States.
•
Kennedy did not have much success with domestic
issues.
Domestic
Achievements •
He acknowledged that the nation’s social, economic,
and environmental problems would take many years to
solve.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
President
Kennedy
Medgar
Evers
•
The events in Alabama convinced President Kennedy to act on
civil rights issues.
•
Kennedy announced that he would ask for legislation to finally end
segregation in public accommodations.
•
Medgar Evers, the head of the NAACP in Mississippi, was shot
dead in his front yard.
•
Ku Klux Klan member Byron De La Beckwith was tried for the
crime but all-white juries failed to convict.
•
On August 28, 1963, the largest civil rights demonstration ever
held in the United States took place in Washington.
March
on
•
Washington
More than 200,000 people marched and listened to Martin Luther
King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Civil Rights Legislation
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Signed into law on July 2,
1964
• Signed into law in August
1965
• Banned segregation in
public places
• Gave federal government
new powers to protect
African Americans’ voting
rights
• Outlawed discrimination in
the workplace on the basis
of color, gender, religion, or
national origin
• Within three years, more
than half of all qualified
African Americans in the
South registered to vote.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Outlawed discrimination
based on race, color,
religion, sex, or national
origin: in voting,
employment, and public
services, such as
transportation.
• To enforce the constitutional
right to vote.
• To establish a Commission
on Equal Employment
Opportunity.
Right to Vote, The (01:23)
The Great Society
• President Johnson won 1964 elections by a huge margin.
• Planned program of reforms that he called the Great Society
– Included Medicare and Medicaid to help senior citizens and lowincome citizens afford health care
– Gave local schools more than $1 billion to help students with
special needs
– Created the Department of Housing and Urban Development to
help low-income families get better housing
• Congress quickly passed most of Johnson’s legislation.
Johnson Becomes
President
• Describe – How did Lyndon Johnson
become president?
• Summarize – What were the main provisions
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
• Rank – Which do you think was more
important in promoting civil rights in the
United States, the 1964 Civil Rights Act or the
1965 Voting Rights Act?
Johnson Becomes
President
• Recall – What was the Great Society?
• Analyze – Why do you think it was
significant that Robert Weaver, an
African American, was appointed to
serve as secretary of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development?
Main Idea 4:
Changes occurred in the civil rights
movement in the late 1960s.
Stokely Carmichael
•
African American activist
•
Founder of the Black Power movement
–
Called for African American independence
–
Believed blacks should reject integration, focusing instead on controlling their
own communities
Malcolm X
• Leader of the Nation of Islam
– Combined ideas about African American independence with teachings of Islam
– Helped inspire Black Power movement
– Believed African Americans had right to defend themselves, using violence if necessary
Fractures in the Movement
Black Power
Black Panthers
• Stokely
Carmichael
became the head of
SNCC.
• The Black Panther
Party was formed
in Oakland,
California, in 1966.
• SNCC abandoned
the philosophy of
nonviolence.
• Called for violent
revolution as a
means of African
American
liberation.
• Black Power
became the new
rallying cry.
• Wanted African
Americans to
depend on
themselves to solve
problems.
• Members carried
guns and
monitored African
American
neighborhoods to
guard against
police brutality.
Black Muslims
• Nation of Islam
was a large and
influential group
who believed in
Black Power.
• Message of black
nationalism, selfdiscipline, and
self-reliance.
• Malcolm X
offered message
of hope, defiance,
and black pride.
The Assassination and Legacy of Malcolm X (02:27)
The Promised Land (02:33)
The Death of Martin
Luther King Jr.
King became aware that economic issues must be part of
the civil rights movement.
King went to Memphis, Tennessee to help striking
sanitation workers. He led a march to city hall.
James Earl Ray shot and killed King as he stood on the
balcony of his motel.
Within hours, rioting erupted in more than 120 cities.
Within three weeks, 46 people were dead, some 2,600
were injured, and more than 21,000 were arrested.
April 4, 1968: MLK is Assassinated by James Earl Ray
(02:41)
A Dream Deferred (03:05)
Changes in the Civil Rights
Movement
• Describe – According to Malcolm X,
what goal should African Americans
work toward?
• Elaborate – Why do you think African
Americans were drawn to Black Power
and the Nation of Islam?