Section 2: Challenging Segregation Jan 1960 Students in North Carolina staged a sit-in at Woolworth’s diners. Determined to sit at the white-only counter till they were served, the students endure physical and verbal abuse in order to make their stand. They never fought back, and because so their behavior in contrast with the violence and anger they faced, grabbed the nation’s attention.

Jesse Jackson: This sit-in movement brought large numbers of idealistic and energized college students into the civil rights struggle. Many of whom had become discouraged by the slow pace of desegregation. Jesse Jackson was one of those students. A student leader at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College The sit-in offered Jackson and his fellow students a way to take matters into their own hands in a peaceful but powerful way.

SNCC: Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee Organized by students in an effort for desegregation and voter registration for African Americans in the south. SNCC early leaders were Marion Barry (became mayor of D.C.) and John Lewis, who later became a member of congress.

SNCC Between 1960 and 1965, SNCC Played a Key role in Desegregation public facilities. Also sent volunteers into rural areas of the deep south to register African Americans to vote May were met with violence when they went to register, several had their lives threatened. In 1964 local officials brutally murdered three SNCC workers. One SNCC organizer, a former sharecropper name Fannie Lou Hamer, had been evicted from her farm after registering to vote, and later arrested for urging other African Americans to do the same. She then helped organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and challenged the segregated Democratic Party at the 1964 Democratic National Convention

Freedom Riders Despite rulings that outlawed segregation in interstate bus services, much of the south still segregated its public transportation. In 1961 CORE leader James Farmer asked teams of African Americans and whites to travel into the south to draw attention to the south’s refusal to integrate bus terminals. The team became known as the Freedom Riders.

John F. Kennedy and Civil Rights Reluctant to offend southern members of congress and preoccupied with foreign affairs, President Kennedy responded slowly to the growing violence in the south. Although the African Americans vote for Kennedy had been overwhelming, when it came to taking a stand for Civil Rights he feared angering and losing the support of many southern senator in which he needed. He did allow the Justice department, run by his brother Robert Kennedy to support civil rights. Robert Kennedy tried to help African Americans register to vote by having the civil rights division of the justice department fight lawsuits throughout the south. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., left, and Robert F. Kennedy

Kennedy did become involved in certain civil rights actions, but not in the way many African Americans were hoping for. After the Freedom Riders were attacked in Montgomery, Kennedy publicly urged them to stop the rides and give everyone a “cooling off period”. James Farmer responded that, there would be no cooling off and sent a team of Freedom Riders into Mississippi. To stop the violence Kennedy made a deal with Senator James Eastland of Mississippi, a strong segregation supporter. If Eastland would use his influence to prevent the violence, Kennedy would not object to the Mississippi police arresting the riders.

Bailing the Riders out The cost of bailing the riders out of jail was so expensive that Freedom Riders came close danger of shutting down. When the NAACP heard about the Freedom Riders situation, they offered their huge bail bond account to keep the rides going. When Kennedy found that the Freedom Riders were still active, he changed his position and ordered the Interstate Commerce Commission to tighten its regulations against segregated bus terminals.

Efforts Continued in Southern Schools: James Meredith applied for a transfer to the University of Mississippi. The Universtiy of Mississippi had failed to comply with supreme court ruling ending segregation in education. September 1962 Meredith tried to register at the University Admin office, the Governor of Mississippi “blocked his path” When Kennedy dispatched federal marshalls to escort Meredith to the campus, an angry white mob attacked the campus. The attack lasted all night. Kennedy ordered the army to send several thousand troops to the campus and for the rest of the year Meredith attended classes at the University under federal guards.

Violence in Birmingham Realizing Kennedy and the government would only intervene in civil rights actions if violence was involved King decided to launch demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, knowing they would probably provoke violence During the protests King was arrested. While in jail he wrote on paper that had been smuggled into his cell The “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is one of the most eloquent defense of nonviolent protests ever written

Violence in Birmingham After King was released the protests began to grow again. They were responded to with force. Police used clubs, police dogs and high pressure fire hoses on the demonstrators, including women and children. The nation watched on TV and began to wonder if the government was losing control. The result Kennedy ordered his aides to prepare a new civil rights bill. .

The Civil Rights Act Of 1964 President Kennedy used the violent events in the South as a platform to announce his civil rights bill In order to help Kennedy push through his new bill M.L.K. organized a march on Washington. On Aug 28, 1963, more then 200,000 demonstrators of all races marched to the nation’s capitol where M.L.K. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech.

The Civil Rights bill become law Still worried the bill would never pass, many African Americans became disheartened. Then President Kennedy was assassinated and vice President Lyndon Johnson became President, and many were skeptical he would continue to support the bill. Using his knowledge of how Congress worked, Johnson put pressure on Congress and in 1964 the Civil Rights Bill passed the House of Representatives by a majority of 290 to 130. On July 2, 1964 President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most comprehensive civil rights law Congress has ever enacted.

Civil Rights Act of 1964 *It gave the federal government broad power to prevent racial discrimination in a number of areas. *Made segregation illegal in most places *Gave equal access to public facilities as restaurants, parks, libraries and theaters *Gave the Attorney General more power to bring lawsuits to force schools to desegregate. *Required employers to end discrimination in the work place. *Established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as a permanent agency in the federal government. But, even after the Civil Rights Act was passed voting rights were still a problem for the African American. --The act did little to address voting issues African Americas still were facing. 

Bloody Sunday To address the issue (of voting rights still being violated) Dr. King organized a march from the Selma to the State Capitol in Montgomery. On Sunday March 7, 1965 the 500 person march began. As the protestors approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which led out of Selma they protestors were met by 200 state troopers and deputized citizens. While the marchers kneeled in prayer the troops brutally attacked the demonstrators in full view of the cameras. The event later became known as “Bloody Sunday” Johnson was furious and as a result he appeared on television 8 days later to propose a new voting rights law.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 On Aug 3, 1965, the House of Representative passed the voting rights bill by a wide margin. The act also authorized the attorney general to send federal examiners to register qualified voters, bypassing local officials who often refused to register African Americans. The law also suspended discriminatory devices such as literacy tests in counties where less than half of all adults had been allowed to vote. By the end of the year almost 250,000 African Americans had registered to vote. The Passage of the Voting Rights act of 1965 marked a turning point in the civil rights movement. The movement had now achieved two major legislative goals. After 1965 the movement began to shift its focus and pay more attention to achieving full social and economic equality for African Americans.