Expansion & Challenges

 Voter Education Project (VEP)  Founded by SNCC & CORE ’62  Registered blacks to vote > lots of opposition  Greatest challenge = Mississippi > terror tactics  24 th Amendment  Banned taxes on citizens who vote  Freedom Summer 1964  College students registered African Americans (mostly SNCC volunteers)  Volunteers mainly white, northern & upper middle class  Education equality ▪ Mississippi spent $82/year on white students vs. $22/ year on black students

 Crisis in Mississippi  1 volunteer went missing June ’64  3 others were arrested for speeding after investigating a church bombing  After arrest, they were never heard from again  LBJ announced major manhunt > bodies found  Results  Dec. ’64, 21 suspects were arrested for murder (most were KKK members)  State dropped charges but put on federal trial for violation of civil rights  *1 st time conviction in Mississippi for killing civil rights workers  Freedom Summer was a success despite murder  Taught students & registered 17,000 to vote

 Jan. ’65 MLK campaigned for voting with marches  By end of Jan, marchers were arrested but police acted with restraint  MLK & marchers gained national attention on TV  MLK announced a 4-day march from Selma to Montgomery to protest death of a marcher by state troopers  Gov. George Wallace said march wouldn’t be tolerated  Mar. 7, 1965, 600 began 54- mile march on bridge outside Selma but police blocked  Police fired on marchers (shown on TV)  MLK not present at march but vowed to resume march

 Civil Rights Act of 1964  Initiated by JFK but passed by LBJ  No discrimination in public areas or employment  No unequal voting requirements  Voting Rights Act of 1965  No literacy (or other types of tests) to prevent black voters  *1 of most important pieces of Civil Rights legislation  Within 3 weeks of passage, 27,000+ African Americans in Mississippi, Alabama & Louisiana were registered to vote

 De jure segregation  Segregation by law  Ends when laws that created it are repealed  De facto segregation  Exists thru custom & practice  *More difficult to overcome  Ex: Blacks couldn’t buy / rent in white neighborhoods; banks made loans difficult  Watts 1965  35,000 took part in 6-day riot destroying entire city blocks  3000 arrested, 34 killed  Detroit July 1967  Week of violence  43 deaths, 1000s of injuries & arrests  Kerner Commission  Investigated causes of violence  *Blamed poverty & discrimination

 Most whites saw the civil rights movement as unified but it was actually very diverse  1st signs of trouble = Freedom Summer 1964 because as harassment of CORE/SNCC workers in Mississippi increased, some rejected philosophy of non-violence  Also weakened when NAACP, CORE & SCLC favored compromise at MFDP while SNCC felt betrayed

 May 1966  Stokely Carmichael replaced moderate leadership of John Lewis as head of SNCC  Carmichael abandoned the philosophy of non-violence  March Against Fear 1966 > after arrested, he raised a clenched fist in salute & shouted defiance  Slogan became: Black Power  Carmichael  Recognized the need for economic & political power  “This is the twenty-seventh time I have been arrested - & I ain’t going to jail no more. The only way we’re going to stop them white men from whippin’ us is to take over. We been saying freedom for 6 years - & we ain’t got nothin’. What we gonna start now is ‘Black Power.” – Stokely Carmichael June 17, 1966

 Black Power appealed to many young African Americans  Inspired by Huey Newton & Bobby Seale who founded Black Panthers Party Oct  They rejected nonviolence & called for a violent revolution as a means to liberation  Some carried guns & monitored neighborhoods against police brutality

 1 of largest & most influential groups was the Nation of Islam  Based on Islamic religion, it was founded in 1930 & members were Black Muslims  Led by Elijah Muhammad who taught the message of black nationalism, self-discipline & self-reliance  Nation of Islam forbade smoking, gambling, alcohol & stressed cleanliness, thriftiness, & conservative dress  In the 1960s, they had 65,000 followers

 Fiery minister of Black Muslims  Offered message of hope, defiance & black pride  Initially critical of MLK & nonviolence but in 1964, he broke with the Black Muslims & after visiting an Islamic holy site in Saudi Arabia, became a changed man  He preached black power but cooperated with other civil rights leaders & called for racial harmony  Feb Malcolm X was assassinated by Black Muslims for being a “traitor”

 MLK realized economic issues needed to be included  Went to Memphis, TN in March ’68 to help city workers in march against discrimination & pay  He led a march & rally at City Hall  The next day, James Earl Ray shot & killed MLK Jr. with a high-powered rifle as he stood on the balcony of a motel  Within hours of MLK Jr.’s death, riots erupted in 120+ cities  Within 3 weeks, 46 were dead, 2,600 were injured, & 21,000 were arrested  Nearly 55,000 troops were required to restore order