Major Events of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s & 60s SWBAT: Explain actions taken during the Civil Rights Movement to end segregation

Do Now  Recalling the video clip, The Century: America’s Time – Happy Days  What were the major civil rights events in the 1950s?  Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS  Little Rock Nine  Rosa Parks  Montgomery Bus Boycott

The Children’s March  Analyze the timeline. You are responsible for knowing the context of all words in bold & underlined.  As you watch The Children’s March, complete the guiding questionsThe Children’s March

Massive Resistance  In 1956, 82 out of 106 southern congressmen and every senator except Lyndon B. Johnson, Albert Gore and Estes Kefauver signed a Southern Manifesto  Denounced the Brown decision  Accused the Supreme Court of a “clear abuse of judicial power”  Massive Resistance  Sen. Harry F. Byrd (D-VA) called for resistance to forced integration; slowdown integration by passing laws  Example: Closed public schools that integrated and offered funds to white students to attend private schools

Greensboro, NC & Sit-ins  Greensboro prided itself in being the first city in the South to declare its willingness to abide by the Brown v. Board of Ed. decision  However, by 1960, most schools were still segregated and public spaces were still segregated  Upset with the slow pace of change, students sit at the counter of the local Woolworth’s, which was reserved for whites.  Students did this every day for 5 months until they were served

Greensboro, NC & Sit-ins  The civil disobedience sparked sit-ins in other parts of the South  Often resulted in…

Birmingham, AL  Birmingham may have been the most segregated and violent city in the South  Over 50 bombings of black homes and institutions since WWII  Blacks demonstrated for greater economic opportunities and the desegregation of local businesses  Leaders invite Martin Luther King to come to Birmingham  King is arrested during demonstrations

Letter from a Birmingham Jail  King writes a letter from prison in response to local clergy who were calling for patience “Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, ‘Wait.’ But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim;…when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted…as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park…and see the tears welling up in her eyes when she is told Funtown is closed to colored children…then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.”

Birmingham, AL  After his release from prison, King calls on students to demonstrate  Birmingham officials responds with force  Television captures the images of attack dogs, fire hoses, and excessive force  Many Americans and JFK come to endorse the goals of the Civil Rights Movement  Kennedy realized he could not call the U.S. the beacon of freedom while practicing racial inequality within its own borders  Kennedy calls on Congress to pass civil rights legislation Civil Rights Address on June 11, 1963

Birmingham, AL  Segregationist continue the violence in Birmingham  Bomb explodes at a Baptist church in September 1963 killing four girls

“Jobs & Freedom”: The March on Washington  The March on Washington (August 28, 1963)  250,000 black and white Americans gather to show support for civil rights legislation  Goals  Public-works program to reduce unemployment  Increase in minimum wage  Law protecting against employment discrimination  While reflecting cooperation between whites and blacks…  Women did not speak at the event  SNCC leader John Lewis’ speech was edited by organizers

“I Have a Dream” Interestingly, the original speech did not have “I have a dream” incorporated into it

Lyndon B. Johnson We have talked long enough about equal rights in this country. It is now time to write the next chapter and write it in the books of law.

Civil Rights Act of 1964  Banned discrimination in employment on the basis of race, religion, national origin, and sex  Guaranteed equal access to public accommodations and schools  Authorized the Attorney General to institute lawsuits to protect constitutional rights in public schools and facilities I think we just delivered the South to the Republican Party

 States that ratified amendment  Ratified post-enactment: 1977 (VA), 1989 (NC), 2002 (AL), 2009 (TX)  Rejected amendment  Didn’t ratify amendment 24 th Amendment

Freedom Summer  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not address obstacles to black suffrage  SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), and the NAACP launched voter registration drives in Mississippi  Only 1200 voters registered due to violence  37 black churches bombed or burned  Three activists were kidnapped and murdered

Voting Rights Act of 1965  In January 1965, King launched a voting rights campaign in Selma, AL (355 out of 15,000 blacks allowed to register to vote)  Gov. Wallace banned a demonstration march  King lead a march from Selma to Montgomery  State police assaulted the marchers with cattle prods, whips and tear gas

Voting Rights Act of 1965  The violence against non-violent demonstrators was again broadcast on television  Johnson calls on Congress to pass a law securing the right to vote  Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to enforce the 14 th and 15 th Amendments  Outlawed literacy tests  Authorized Attorney General to investigate any county that had less than 50 percent registration LBJ & MLK shaking hands after the legislation was signed

The Changing Black Movement  Many blacks grew frustrated with the slow pace of reform and white resistance  Others believed it was time to move onto black poverty and economic disadvantages  Neither new laws nor marches seemed to address these issues

Malcolm X  Read excerpts from Malcolm X’s speeches.

Black Power  Ideas/Values  Freedom from whites who tried to dictate the civil rights movement’s goals  Advocated for the election of more black officials  Freedom could only be won via a revolutionary struggle for self- determination  “Black is beautiful”  Abandon the term “negro” for “Afro-American”

Black Panthers  Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, CA in 1966  Advocated for armed self-defense against police brutality  Demanded release of black prisoners due to racism in the criminal justice system  Established  a free breakfast program for children  Health clinics to test for sickle-cell anemia  Violent clashes with police, FBI investigations, and deadly shootouts led to the decline of the organization

Conclusion  “There is a different type of Negro emerging. They are not going to wait for the evolutionary process for their rights to be a man.”  Major riots break out in NYC, LA, and Detroit  Whites blame Democratic party  King admitted he had failed to “take the civil rights movement to the masses”  King heckler: “We don’t need your dreams; we need jobs!”  By 1967, escalation in Vietnam halted reforms