Transcript Ch. 28, Section 1 “The Civil Rights Movement takes Shape”

Ch. 28, Section 1
“The Civil Rights
Movement takes Shape”
African Americans Freed from Slavery
• Emancipation Proclamation by
Abraham Lincoln in 1863 freed all
slaves in Confederate held territory
during the Civil War
• Reconstruction following the Civil
War readmitted southern states into
the Union
• 13th Amendment – freed slaves
• 14th Amendment – gave former
slaves citizenship
• 15th Amendment – protected the
right to vote for former slaves
African Americans at end of 19th Century
 Redemption – with the end of
Reconstruction in 1876 and the
removal of federal troops from the
South, the Southern Democratic Party
sought to regain control (often with
the support of groups like the KKK)
 Jim Crow laws – set up segregation in
public places in the South
 Plessy v. Ferguson – US Supreme
Court case that said that “separate
but equal” segregation was legal
 Restrictions on voting – in violation of
the 15th Amendment Southern states
passed laws to restrict their right to
vote (Grandfather’s clause, literacy
tests, poll taxes)
Early Civil
Rights Leaders
• Booker T. Washington
• W.E.B. DuBois
– Lived in the North
– Lived in the South
– Graduated from Harvard
– Wrote “Up from Slavery”
– One of the founders of
– founded the Tuskegee
the NAACP (National
Institute
Association for the
Advancement of Colored
– Encouraged blacks to lift
People) which fought
themselves up
discrimination in the
economically and through
courts
education before asking
– Wanted full rights
immediately
for full political rights
The Great Migration
 The economic opportunities of the
era (during WWI and the prosperous
1920s) triggered a widespread
migration of black Americans from
the rural south to the industrial
centers of the north - and especially
to New York City
 In New York and other cities, black
Americans explored new
opportunities for intellectual and
social freedom
 Black American artists, writers, and
musicians began to use their talents
to work for civil rights and obtain
equality
Marcus Garvey
 African American civil rights leader
in New York in 1920s
 Encouraged black people around
the world to express pride in their
culture and to unite to build
strength
 Encouraged African Americans to
build economic independence by
building their own businesses and
supporting other businesses
owned by black people
 Founded the Universal Negro
Improvement Association to help
spread black nationalism (what his
ideas are collectively known as)
Harlem Renaissance
• The Harlem
Renaissance was a
flowering of African
American social thought
which was expressed
through
– Paintings
– Music
– Dance
– Theater
– Literature
Effects of the Harlem Renaissance
• The Harlem Renaissance helped to redefine how Americans
and the world understood African American culture.
• It integrated black and white cultures, and marked the
beginning of a black urban society.
• The Harlem Renaissance set the stage for the civil rights
movement of the 1950s and 60s.
Civil Rights in the
1940s and 1950s
 A. Phillip Randolph – Activist
who convinced FDR & US Gov. to
say that African Americans could
not be discriminated against in
hiring by defense contractors
during WWII
 Jackie Robinson was the first
African American to play Major
League baseball in 1947
 President Truman integrated the
armed forces and ended
discrimination in hiring for
federal government jobs in 1948
Brown v. Board of Education
• Brown v. Board of
Education (1954) – a
Supreme Court case that
ruled that segregation in
schools and public places
was unconstitutional
(overturned Plessy v.
Ferguson case)
• Public schools were to
integrate the following
school year, though few
schools in the South did so
• Thurgood Marshall – led
the NAACP attorneys who
argued the case before the
Supreme Court
Rosa Parks
• Black passengers were
required to sit in the
back of city buses, and
were to give up their
seats if the whites-only
section were full
• An NAACP worker in
Montgomery, Alabama
refused to give up her
seat on December 1,
1955 and was arrested
Montgomery
Bus Boycott
• In protest of the arrest of
Rosa Parks local African
American leaders called for
a boycott of the
Montgomery city buses
• Thousands supported the
boycott and city buses lost
70% of their riders
• It lasted 381 days
• In November 1956 the
Supreme Court ruled that
segregation on public buses
was illegal
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• MLK was the 26 year old
minister who was asked to
lead the bus boycott
• He believed in non-violent
protests to bring the
wrongs of segregation to
the nation’s attention
• Southern Christian
Leadership Conference
(SCLC) – formed by King
and other ministers to lead
campaigns for civil rights
throughout the South
Little Rock Nine
• To test the Brown v. Board of
Education ruling, nine honors
students applied for and were
admitted to Little Rock Central
H.S. in September, 1957
• Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus
called in the National Guard to
turn the students away
• Eight of the students arrived
early and were not allowed in
• One student, 15 year old
Elizabeth Eckford, arrived later
and faced a screaming mob
before being escorted to safety
Little Rock Nine
Admitted
• For weeks the nine
students were kept away
from school
• President Eisenhower
sent in federal troops to
escort the students to
class
• The students still faced
harassment and threats
all year
• In May of 1958, Ernest
Green became the first
African American
graduate at Little Rock
Central High School
Greensboro Sit-in
 4 students of North Carolina
A&T University decided to
challenge segregation in the
city of Greensboro in 1960
 They sat down at the lunch
counter in Woolworth’s
department store (which
only whites were allowed to
do) and refused to give up
their seats until they were
served
 More students joined them
the next day
Results of Sit-Ins
 Students at sit-ins faced violence
from angry whites and were
often arrested
 Boycotts of businesses and the
sit-in protests led many
restaurants and businesses (like
Woolworth’s) to integrate
 The sit-ins showed young people
that they could be a force in the
civil rights movement
 The Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
was formed by the student
leaders of the sit-ins to continue
the struggle for civil rights