The Civil Rights Movement

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The Civil Rights Movement
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Introduction

• Challenge to segregation
• Laws
• Customs
• Debates vary on the time period
• 1955-1965 (Montgomery Bus Boycott to the Voting
  Rights Act)
• Begin? Has it ended?
• Other names
• Black Freedom Movement
• The Negro Revolution
• The Second Reconstruction

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Segregation

• Attempt by southern whites to separate the races
  in every aspect of life.
• Jim Crow Laws were created to insure this.
  (named after a minstrel show character who
  embodied multiple negative stereotypes)
• During Reconstruction, Blacks had made
  advancements and were represented in government.
  
• As soon as Reconstruction ended, S. Whites moved
  to regain control, and end any positive steps
  made.

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• Between 1890-1910, Southern States passed laws
  making it harder for African Americans to
  participate in government.
• Literacy tests
• Property ownership
• Poll taxes
• Primaries only open to white voters

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• Jim Crow laws established separate facilities for
  whites and colored citizens.
• Schools, transportation, restaurants, parks, etc.
• Many facilities were inferior
• For 75 years--new laws were added, separating the
  races, and pounding in the message that whites
  believed the African Americans to be inferior.

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Early resistance to segregation

• Frequent protests were made about segregation
• 1896, Supreme Court ruled that Separate but Equal
  was legal in Plessy v. Ferguson in a case over
  rail car travel.
• Case would provide constitutional protection for
  segregation laws for 50 years.

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• Many organizations began to form
• 1890 National Afro-American League
• 1905 Niagara Movement
• 1909 National Association for the Advancement
  of Colored People (NAACP)
• 1910 Urban League
• WEB Dubois, was the leader of the NAACP, which
  became the leader in fighting against
  segregation.
• Challenged laws through legal action
• 1935, Charles H. Houston won the first Supreme
  Court battle for the NAACP, giving it strength
  and momentum.
• 1939, Houstons chief aide, Thurgood Marshall
  became the head of NAACP Legal Defense Fund

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Early leaders of the NAACP
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WWI

• Many African Americans joined to fight for the
  countrybut were segregated, and could not become
  officers
• Many others migrated to the north, temporarily
  taking vacated jobs, and forming African American
  communities in northern cities.
• Political pressure was placed on northern
  politicians

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1930s

• The depression was particularly hard on African
  AmericansWhite business owners often didnt
  employ them in large African American
  communities.
• 1st Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt was big influence on
  FDR, and in 1937, he appointed Hugo Black to the
  S.C. (big supporter of equal rights).
• 1938, courts demand Missouri provide first public
  law school for blacks.

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WWII

• 1939-40, editors demand better treatment than WWI
  offered.
• 1941, A. Philip Randolph organized a march on
  D.C.
• To stop the march, FDR passed legislation to help
  African Americans
• Fair Employment Practices Committee
• Did little, but effect of protest was big.

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• Segregation in the armed forces continued
• Some advancements were made at home.
• Pay for jobs improved
• White primaries were outlawed.
• The experience of fighting racism in Europe would
  form a lasting impression on many when they
  returned home.

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Last segregated troops
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School Desegregation

• Following WWII, Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP
  legal defense fund, tried and won many cases
  against segregation, but their focus was on
  schools.
• 1950 Sweat v. Painter declared that the
  University of Texas had to integrate its Law
  School.
• 1954 Issued the landmark ruling in Brown v.
  Board of Education, that stated that segregated
  education was unconstitutional

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Reaction to Brown v. Board of Education

• South reacts negatively to the Supreme Court
  decision
• Public Schools were closed
• African American employees that favored
  integration were fired from their jobs
• All white private schools were formed
• Virtually no schools were desegregated in the
  first years, and one dist. In VA close completely.

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Central High School Little Rock, Arkansas

• 1957, Governor Orval Faubus defied a Federal
  Court Order to allow nine African American
  Students.
• President Eisenhower sent the National Guard to
  insure that they were allowed to go to school.
• Covered by National media, which showed many
  Americans how dramatic the situation was in many
  places.

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National Guard assists students into Central High
School
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Thurgood Marshall on the steps of Central High
School with seven of the Central Nine.
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• KKK has a rise in membership in south
• killing of young Emmett Till for flirting w/ a
  white woman, and the subsequent acquittal of
  those involved, highlighted the racism in the
  south to the rest of the nation

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Montgomery Bus Boycott

• December 1, 1955, NAACP member Rosa Parks was
  arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a
  Montgomery, AL bus.
• Almost overnight, a boycott of Montgomery buses
  was organized, and for a year, African Americans
  refused to ride the bus.
• Nov. 1956, a federal court ordered Montgomery
  buses to be desegregated.

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Martin Luther King Jr.
Speaking on the virtues of non-violent protest
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• MLK Jr. was the president of the organization
  that organized the boycott, making him a national
  figure
• 1957, he becomes the president of the Southern
  Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
• Wanted to complement the NAACP, through the use
  of non-violent, direct protest to segregation
• Used demonstrations, marches, and boycotts.
• White reaction to these protests led to federal
  attention of segregation laws

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Sit-ins

• Feb. 1, 1960, 4 N.C AT Univ. students sat at a
  white only lunch counter in a local restaurant.
• Within weeks, the sit-ins were spread throughout
  the south
• Displayed the dedication of young African
  Americans to all of America

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• Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee
  (SNCC), was supported by MLK Jr., but its real
  leader was Ella Baker
• Baker favored focusing more on individual
  communities, and less on national change. This
  caused occasional tensions between the groups

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Freedom Riders

• In 1961, SNCC members decided to test Supreme Ct.
  decision that forbid segregation on interstate
  bus transportation.
• The rides began in WA. D.C., and went South.
• Once the buses reached Alabama, riders were
  beaten, and buses were burned.
• Violence brought sharp criticism to the South and
  its refusal to protect the riders

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• Freedom rides helped to desegregate some bus
  stations, but was most successful in bringing the
  issue to the front of peoples thoughts in the
  United States. Also shows the struggles that the
  young African Americans are willing to go through
  to get their point across.

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SCLC Campaigns

• Early 1960s they plan a series of protests
• Plan to utterly disrupt life
• Force an end to segregation laws
• Required 1000s of protesters, willing to go to
  jail if necessary.
• 1961, protests in Albany, GA failed to make
  changes
• 1963, Birmingham, Mississippi proved to be a
  different story.

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Birmingham protests

• There was a belief that the Birmingham police
  commissioner, Eugene, Bull Connor would meet
  protests with force
• SCLC invited teenagers and school children to
  join the protests to up the ante
• Connor responded to protests with police dogs and
  fire hoses to scatter the protesters.
• Scenes were shown throughout the country.

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• In Birmingham, white politicians agreed to end
  some segregation
• Employers agreed to hire more African Americans
  to jobs and to desegregate some public
  accommodations.
• Most importantly, national legislation against
  segregation was begun.

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Desegregating Universities

• 1962, James Meredith applied to University of
  Mississippi.
• UM attempted to block his admission
• After legal battle, he was admitted, but Gov.
  Ross Barnett, refused to obey the court order.
• JFK sent Federal Marshals to see that he was
  allowed to attend
• Riots broke out on his first night as marshals
  were attacked2 people were killed, several 100
  were wounded.

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• Gov. George Wallace of Alabama attempted to do
  the same.
• JFK sent full force of US Army to force the
  issue, and prevent violence.
• Pushed JFK to initiate a commitment to end
  segregation with legislation.
• 1963, Kennedy initiated Civil Rights legislation
  in Congress.

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March on Washington

• In August of 1963, a march was planned to keep
  the pressure on the Kennedy administration.
• Purposefully, it kept in mind the plan of A.
  Philip Randolph, who was in attendance along with
  members of all the major groups.
• In front of an audience of 200,000 and the
  Lincoln statue, MLK Jr. delivered his famous, I
  have a dream speech.

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• After the assassination of Kennedy in 1963, new
  president, Lyndon B. Johnson pushed the
  legislation through as a tribute to JFK.
• Civil Rights act passed in 1964, despite fierce
  opposition by southern states.
• It provided the following
• Desegregation of all public accommodations
• An end to discrimination in education and
  employment
• And granted the executive branch of the govt.
  permission to enforce these laws.

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Voter Registration

• Also in the early 60s, groups like the SNCC
  worked to get African Americans registered to
  vote.
• Met high resistance from white supremacist
  groups.
• Medgar Evers, a leader in the NAACP group in
  Mississippi was shot in front of his home.

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• 1965, a march on Montgomery, AL from Selma,
  Alabama was organized and led by MLK Jr.
• As they left Selma, mounted police tear gassed
  and beat marchers.
• This caused such commotion to lead LBJ into
  further legislation, ending all voter
  registration rules requiring literacy and other
  voter qualification tests.
• 3 years after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, over
  a million new African Americans had become
  registered voters.

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Tougher Tactics

• After 1965, MLK began to change his tactics,
  looking to improve the economic status of
  impoverished African Americans, nation-wide.
• He planned another march on D.C. to tackle this
  issue, but was assassinated in 1968.
• The march took place, but failed to secure any
  more attention from Congress.

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• MLKs tactics began to be questioned by many that
  felt that civil disobedience would no longer
  advance their cause.
• Main opponent was the SNCC, led by Stokely
  Carmichael who popularized the term Black
  Power.
• Black Power advocates were influenced by Malcolm
  X.

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• Malcolm X was a Nation of Islam minister who was
  assassinated in 1965.
• His teachings emphasized self-sufficiency and
  black separatism.
• Emphasized black pride and self-assertion.
• These ideas were condemned by many whites as
  racist and by Civil Rights leaders as undermining
  to a process that had made so much progress.

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• Carmichael and his successor in the SNCC, H. Rap
  Brand became symbols of the new radicalism
• Opposition grew to their views when the Black
  Panther party gained popularity.
• Advocated violence to further their cause
• Battled police in Chicago and Oakland.
• Several leaders were killed or imprisoned for
  battling policemen.

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Black Power images
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Bobby Seale, Newtons co-leader of the Black
Panther party.
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United States Olympic athletes use Black Power
salute instead of putting hands over their hearts
during the playing of the National Anthem during
the award ceremony.
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End of the Civil Rights Movement

• Varying opinions
• End of the march on Montgomery
• Assassination of MLK Jr.
• Not over yet
• Continuing issues from the 70s
• School bussing
• Affirmative Action
• Charter Schools (my own personal belief?)

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