Civil Rights in the Postwar Period

Desegregating American Society  million African American citizens  2/3 living in the South  Jim Crow Laws govern all aspects of life  Only 20% of eligible southern blacks were registered to vote, 5% from the deep South

 Segregation tarnished America’s international image  An American Dilemma by Swedish scholar Gunnar Myrdal- shameful treatment of African Americans  Racial Progress after WWII  Northern cities have equal access to public accommodations  Jackie Robinson (1947)  Sweatt v. Painter (1950)  University of Texas law school, separate law schools hurt the education of black law students

Montgomery Bus Boycott  Rosa Parks (Dec. 1955)  Sparked a year-long black boycott of city buses  Introduction of Martin Luther King Jr.  Nonviolence principles from Gandhi  Importance - African American no longer going to submit to Jim Crow Laws

Brown v. Board of Education  Pres. Eisenhower showed no real interest in racial issues vs. Chief Justice Earl Warren  May 1954  Segregation in the public schools was “inherently unequal” and unconstitutional  Unanimous decision, reversed Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896  10 years later, less than 2% of eligible blacks in the Deep South were sitting in classrooms with whites

Crisis in Little Rock  Sept Little Rock School Board begins desegregation  Gov. Orval Faubus ordered National Guard to prevent 9 black students from enrolling at Central High School.  9 students not allowed to enter for 3 weeks (direct challenge to federal authority)  Eisenhower sends in 1,000 federal troops and escorted students in the school

Creation of the SCLC  Formed by King and other civil rights leaders, 1957  Southern Christian Leadership Conference  Importance - churches played large role in the civil rights movement, leadership, faith in equality

“Sit-in” Movement  Started on Feb. 1, 1960 by 4 black college freshman in Greensboro, NC  Would sit on the “whites only” section of Woolworth’s lunch counter.  By the end of the week, more than 1,000 supporters joined the sit ins.  Importance -  Several business owners began changing policies  Success of black and white youths for civil rights  Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comm. (SNCC)  Trained students in the strategies of nonviolence

Violence of the Civil Rights Era  The Murder of Emmitt Till (1955)  14-year-old from Chicago, Illinois  Visited uncle in Mississippi, did not understand racial etiquette  Claimed to have made comment to a white woman  Till kidnapped 4 days later, beaten, shot, and his body tossed in the Tallahatchie River  2 men stood trial for the murder, found not guilty, confessed to the murder several months later  Till’s funeral was open casket- see what had been done to him- 5,000 people attended

Freedom Riders  Inspired by the sit-ins, began in 1960 trying to end segregation in interstate bus companies  Kennedy sent federal marshals to protect freedom riders  First connection between Kennedy’s admin and civil rights leaders

 James Meredith- “Ole Miss”  Voter Education Project- register the South’s disenfranchised blacks  MLK began campaign in Birmingham, AL  50 cross burnings, 18 bomb attacks since 1957

 Violence was televised nationwide- led to Kennedy’s speech (June 11, 1963)- situation was a “moral issue”  Kennedy called for new civil rights legislation to protect black citizens  August- 200,000 black and white demonstrators med March on Washington- “I Have a Dream”  Violence continued-  Medgar Evers, Baptist Church bombing (both in ‘63)

Civil Rights Act of 1964  Fed govt can enforce school-desegregation  No discrimination in all kinds of public accommodations and employment  PROBLEM- voting rights- poll tax, literacy tests, intimidation  th Amendment- abolished the poll tax in federal elections

Freedom Summer  GOAL- Opening poll booths  “Mississippi Burning”- one black and two white civil rights workers killed in MS. (white juries refused to convict the whites for the murders)

Voting Rights Act of 1965  Johnson shocked about the violence at Selma, passed the Voting Rights Act  Outlawed literacy tests  Sent federal voter registrars into several southern states  Exactly 100 years after Civil War  Within 10 years, African Americans began to migrate into the South (first time since emancipation)  Marked an end of the nonviolent demonstrations

Black Power  Watts, Los Angeles  31 blacks, 3 whites dead in a week  Riots caused by police brutality  New phase of black struggle- violent confrontations  Malcolm X  Black separatism, violence  Moved to more mainstream Islam  Killed by rival Nation of Islam gunmen

 Black Panther Party  Stokely Carmichael  Oakland, CA  Black Power  Emphasized African American distinctiveness- dress, hairstyles, names  Riots- Newark, NJ (23), Detroit, MI (43), Los Angeles  April 4, MLK assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, TN