Civil Rights in the 1960s Objective: analyze the importance of civil rights legislations; compare and contrast views of Civil Rights leaders
Birmingham African-Americans in Birmingham wanted to integrate public facilities and gain better job and housing opportunities Spring, 1963 – MLK and SCLC began a protest
Hundreds arrested including King MLK writes “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in response to criticism from white church leaders calling for a calm orderly approach defending his methods
Protests continued SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) recruited children for the marches but did not anticipate the level of violence that would be directed at the children
Nation saw horrific images on television of dogs and fire hoses being used on the marchers
White leaders agreed to desegregate lunch counters, remove segregation signs, and employee more African-Americans in downtown stores.
March on Washington Events in Birmingham increase support for passage of new legislation to protect the civil rights of all people. Civil rights organizations planned a huge demonstration to take place in Washington D.C.
August 28, 1963 - 250,000 people took part in the March on Washington
March ended at the Lincoln Memorial where King gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech
March united many groups that called for passage of civil rights laws; Kennedy promised support