6.5 – Civil Rights movement in the 1960s

Freedom Riders – May 1961 Volunteers set out to ride buses across the south Used to test the SCOTUS decision banning segregated buses and terminals Freedom Riders wanted to invoke violence so President JFK would HAVE to enforce the law Buses immediately attacked, activists beaten, bombs on buses https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/asset/iml04_vid_music/ https://youtu.be/erenla41-r8 https://youtu.be/WPuBGcng6Tw

Freedom Riders Freedom Riders forced to call off bus rides due to bus company frustration and damage  SNCC volunteers from Nashville picked up the cause

Desegregating Birmingham Spring 1963 – activists focused on Birmingham “This is the most segregated city in America. We have to stick together if we ever want to change its ways.” – MLK on Birmingham

Desegregating Birmingham MLK’s Arrest April 12, 1963 – MLK and a small group of SCLC activists arrested in Birmingham where they held days of demonstrations and marches in the streets and churches “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” - Letter to white religious leaders who criticized his actions as a pastor… Posted bail on April 20

Desegregating Birmingham Children’s Crusade May 2, 1963 – more than 1,000 black children marched on Birmingham – 959 children arrested May 3 – second Children’s Crusade, met with violent police force and captured on TV Fire hoses, attack dogs National/international attention  Birmingham ended segregation JFK convinced civil rights legislation needed to end violence

JFK Takes a Stand June 1963 – JFK sent federal troops to force Gov. George Wallace to admit black students to Univ. of Alabama Medgar Evers, NAACP secretary and WWII vet, murdered in front of his house  killer released after 2 hung juries could not convict him  Angered blacks – Gov. “I say, Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!” Wallace “Are we to say to the world – and much more importantly, to each other – that this is the land of the free, except for the Negroes?” - JFK

Civil Rights Journal #2 The year is now 1958. You are 18 years old and hoping to attend college in the South. The governors of the South have publicly stated they do not intend to let any Colored students attend their colleges despite desegregation orders. What thoughts and feelings do you have about these statements? What do you intend to do? Do you intend to attempt to go to the college anyway? Do you intend to protest? Do you choose to not go to college instead and accept the situation as it is? Explain your choices thoroughly in a half page letter or journal entry.

Civil Rights in DC JFK proposed a civil rights bill that guaranteed equal access to public facilities and allowed the Attorney Gen. to file legal suits against school districts refusing to integrate

Civil Rights in DC August 28, 1963 – March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom organized by SCLC to pressure Congress into passing civil rights legislation More than 250,000 (75,000 whites) marched on Washington Various speakers presented arguments for the passage of the civil rights bill MLK delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech

16th Street Baptist Church Bombing - Sept. 1963 KKK members in a car hurled a bomb into a church in Birmingham 4 young girls killed, extreme violence and mobs followed  2 male teenagers died As of 2000, the living culprits have been tried and convicted

Civil Rights Act of 1964 Nov. 1963 - JFK (civil rights supporter) assassinated Lyndon B. Johnson = POTUS  Signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Prohibited discrimination because of race, religion, national origin, and gender Established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The Selma Campaign 1965 – major voting rights campaign in Selma, AL More than 2,000 SCLC and SNCC members arrested MLK announced a 50-mile protest march from Selma to Montgomery Began on March 7, 1965 with 600 protestors  Became known as Bloody Sunday Met with extreme violence (bombs, beating, whips, clubs, tear gas) and had to turn back March 17 - LBJ proposed a new voting rights act March 21 – Marchers set out for Montgomery again, with federal protection Eventually reached 25,000 people

Voting Rights Act of 1965 Summer 1965 – Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed Eliminated literacy tests Allowed federal officials to register voters (taken out the hands of local gov’ts) Percentage of registered black voters tripled in the South Some felt legislation did not do enough… still serious social and economic inequities