Introduction & Background Civil Rights Introduction & Background
Introduction What are civil rights? Where are they “guaranteed?” Rights to full legal, economic, political & social equality by virtue of citizenship Guaranteed in U.S. Constitution (including 13th & 14th Amendments) & acts of Congress (civil liberties, due process, equal protection, freedom from discrimination) Does treating people equally mean treating them the same? A man & woman apply for job as shoe sales person… Two patients come to the doctor with a headache. One has a brain tumor the other a headache.. Two students enter school with stairs to entrance. 1 is in a wheelchair… Two students live in the same school district. They are the same age but different races…
History of Civil Rights Colonial America Early slavery 1800s Abolition movement – End slavery (Frederick Douglass) Civil War 1860-65 Reconstruction 13th - 14th - 15th - Late 1800s Legalized racism in the South (Jim Crow laws)
Early Figures Booker T. Washington WEB DuBois Blacks should work within the systems Economic value Ex. Tuskegee School WEB DuBois Founded NAACP End racism, violence & segregation Improve legal rights *Used the courts to achieve change
Atlanta Compromise “… No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is not at the bottom of life we must begin, & not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities… In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet as one hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” - Booker T. Washington
Important Events Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 Great Depression Upheld constitutionality of racial segregation Railroads “separate but equal” is OK Great Depression 1930s: Blacks suffered as a group > voted for New Deal Shift from voting for Republicans to Democrats FDR: fails civil rights because he fears lack of support from whites
Early Civil Rights Victories 1940 NAACP Legal Defense Fund founded by Thurgood Marshall 1941 Ban against discrimination in defense industry (A. Phillip Randolph) 1942 Funding of CORE 1947 Integration of MLB with Jackie Robinson https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=jackie+robinson&&view=detail&mid=73C47930B52937AFA5D473C47930B52937AFA5D4&FORM=VRDGAR 1948 Truman desegregates military
Integrating Schools Brown v. Board of Education Separate schools for blacks & whites violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection Clear ruling but lack of enforcement or deadline
School Integration continued Little Rock Nine 1957 Gov. Orval Faubus violated court order to integrate Arkansas 9 Black students harassed on 1st day of school Eisenhower tried to talk to Gov. but Sept. 24th he announced on TV sending in federal troops https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=little+rock+9&&view=detail&mid=1E51D9C9C6E8313169CA1E51D9C9C6E8313169CA&FORM=VRDGAR
Little Rock Nine
Montgomery Bus Boycott Bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama Blacks made up 2/3 of all riders Couldn’t sit in front rows, couldn’t share row with whites… In 1955, Rosa Parks sat in the black section but when the white section filled, she refused to move > arrested
Boycott continued Boycott NAACP called for 1-day boycott (90% of riders obliged) Boycott led by Martin Luther King Jr. Churches set up carpools (rolling churches) but whites denied insurance *1956 Supreme Court ruled segregation on buses unconstitutional
Non-Violent Resistance SCLC emerges Southern Christian Leadership Conference led by MLK Jr. Inspired by success of bus boycott Committed to non-violence
Non-Violent Influence Based on influence from Gandhi CORE & SCLC used non-violence Organizations set up training on how to resist & passive behavior Led to the sit-in movement