Civil Rights Taking on Segregation American History 2

Reconstruction Did former slaves gain civil rights? 14th Amendment (1868) – citizenship and equal protection of the law to former slaves Civil Rights Act of 1875 – outlawed segregation in public facilities Declared unconstitutional in 1883.

Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” did not violate 14th Amendment Came from a Louisiana law for railroads.

Migration Around WWI, African-Americans began migrating away from the South. Sharecroppers left for industrial jobs

Beginnings of a Civil Rights Movement African-Americans worked in war industries and served in the armed services during WWII. After fighting fascists, had energy to fight racism at home

Beginnings of a Civil Rights Movement (continued) Some organizations worked to end Jim Crow laws FDR issued directive prohibiting discrimination in war industries.

NAACP leads challenge to segregation Legal strategy focuses on schools Nation spent 10 x $ educating a white child over a black child (photos pg. 907)

Thurgood Marshall Leads a team of talented law students in fighting segregation for NAACP

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) Marshall’s biggest victory Linda Brown’s father sued b/c she couldn’t go to white school close to her house Supreme Court struck down segregation in schooling as unconstitutional

Reactions to Brown Some Southern governors vowed resistance Brown II – desegregation implemented “with all deliberate speed”

Crisis in Little Rock Sept. 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus ordered National Guard to turn away the “Little Rock Nine”

Eisenhower takes acton Eisenhower placed Arkansas Nat’l Guard under federal control and orders 1,000 paratroopers to Little Rock. Gov. Faubus closes school at the end of the year.

Slow Integration 1964 (10 years after Brown), less than 2 percent of African-American students in the South attended integrated schools

Civil Rights Act of 1957 Pushed by (senator) LBJ, gave Fed. Gov’t. more power to desegregate schools. Provided for a permanent Civil Rights Commission Justice Dept new powers to protect voting rights

Some thought Ike didn’t do enough

Montgomery Bus Boycott Montgomery buses had segregated seating. Dec. 1, 1955 - Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus after being ordered to do so by the driver.

NAACP begins bus boycott in Montgomery Montgomery Improvement Association – organized boycott – elected Martin Luther King, Jr to lead.

Dr. King’s Ideas Jesus – love enemies Henry David Throreau (transcendentalist) – civil disobedience A. Philip Randolph – organize mass demonstrations Mohandas Ghandi – resist oppression without violence

Southern Christian Leadership Conference 1957, King teamed up with other civil rights leaders to found the SCLC “to carry out nonviolent crusades against the evils of second class citizenship”

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee SNCC founded by Shaw University students (Raleigh)

Sit-ins CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) – staged first sit-ins in 1942 1960, Students from NC A & T staged a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro TV cameras brought this movement into people’s homes Many other sit-ins were staged across the country

Emmett Till 14 – year-old African American murdered after allegedly flirting with a white woman

L. Battling for Black Rights Civil Rights Act was starting to fight discrim. Voting rights remained a problem Poll taxes, literacy tests, voting laws, intimidation 24th Amend.- banned poll taxes- freedom summer of 1964- deaths of civil rights workers

Overall gains by end of 60s- over ½ black school children in integrated schools by early 70s, voter reg. On rise, hundreds of elected officials, rising economic status

King’s voter drive in Selma, AL- Montgomery-65 Voting Rights Act 1965- outlawed literacy tests, stationed federal observers at southern registration points- began real political change for black people 100 years after Civil War

M. Black Power VRA of 65- end of nonviolent civil rights protests Watts Riot- August 1965- 1 week- police brutality Division b/t black civil rights leaders King’s nonviolent ideas vs. militant ideas like Malcolm X Nation of Islam- separate from “blue-eyed white devils”- assassinated in 1965 Black Panther party established mid 1960s 1966- Stokely Carmichael of SNCC began preaching doctrine of Black Power- assimilationists vs. separatists

Long hot summers of 67-69- more inner city race riots April 4, 1968- Memphis, TN- MLK killed by James Earl Ray- resulted in riots