1. Part 1: The Civil Rights Era: Forms of Protest

2. Why Protest??? - to vent frustration and/or demand change
Characteristics of the Change Process
Step 1: A problem of injustice is identified
Step 2: People organize
Step 3: Action(s) is/are taken (protest) to bring about change
Step 4: Reaction(s) to this change may be positive or negative

3. 3. Types of Protest Non-Violent Forms Personal Statement (Individual)
Letter (example: to the editor and/or a letter of appeal)
Book (example: The Jungle, How the Other Half Lives)
Billboard, Sign or Bumper Sticker (example: anti abortion/smoking signs)
Speech (example: Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream”
Song (example: War! By Edwin Starr)

4. 3. Types of Protest Non-Violent Forms Group Demonstration
Meeting (example: Union Meeting)
March (example: 1963 March on Washington, DC; 1932 Bonus March)
Vigil (example: Annual MADD prayer session in St. Paul)
Information Booth
Picket (example: anti-war protestors)
Petition Drive (example: The Declaration of Independence)

5. 3. Types of Protest Non-Violent Forms
Civil Disobedience/Passive Resistance (unlawful activity)
Sit-in/Walk-out (example: Robbinsdale High School)
Sit-down strike (example: 1937 General Motors Plant Strike)
Trespass (example: Environmentalists)
Disrupt a meeting (example: 1968 Democratic National Convention)
Illegal March

6. 3. Types of Protest Non-Violent Forms
Economic Pressure (deny “them” $$$ or profit)
Boycott (example: Hormel Meat Packing Co. or Exxon Oil Co.)
Embargo (example: Japan before WW II or Cuba today)
A Labor Strike

7. 3. Types of Protest Non-Violent Forms
Legal Action – use the courts; law suits
Law suits (Plessy v. Ferguson or Roe v. Wade)
Government passes laws (Civil Rights Act of 1964)

8. 3. Types of Protest Violent Forms Property Destruction
Secret (covert sabotage): September 11, 2001 or OK City Bombing
Open (overt): Kristallnacht or LA Riots of 1992

9. 3. Types of Protest Violent Forms Physical (personal) Attacks
Injury (example: Palestinian rock throwers)
Assassination (example: John Wilkes Booth shot and killed Pres. Lincoln)

10. 3. Types of Protest Violent Forms
Martyrdom – self sacrifice to promote a cause
Hunger Strike (example Homer Simpson)
Suicide as protest (example Buddhist monks or kamikaze pilots)
Risking death for a cause (example MLK and Nelson Mandela)

11. The Civil Rights Era: Background & Early Events
Part 2
The Civil Rights Era: Background & Early Events

12. It Started With Slavery…

13. A Divided America
North defeats South in the American Civil War fought over slavery
In 1865, the 13th Amendment ended slavery but not white racism
In 1868, the 14th Amendment extended citizenship to African Americans
In 1870, the 15th Amendment gave suffrage rights to black males
Anti-Black protests heightened during the 1870s
Formation of the KKK (racist organization)
Jim Crow Laws were passed to keep blacks segregated and from voting (ex. Poll taxes and literacy tests)

14. Homer Plessy
Plessy
vs.
Ferguson

15. Plessy v. Ferguson (civil disobedience & legal action)
Homer Plessy boarded a railroad car designated for whites only
Plessy was 1/8th black and was required to sit in the “colored car”
In an act of planned disobedience, he refused to move; arrested & jailed
1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson
7-1 ruling set standard of “Separate but Equal” for next 58 years
Segregation was made legal as long as each facility was equal
Truth was separate was rarely equal

16. NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People est. 1909
Goal: fight segregation & establish equal rights & opportunities for blacks

17. Presidential Leadership
President Harry Truman desegregated the armed forces in 1946
Not all presidents would support the Civil Rights movement

18. Jackie Robinson

19. Jackie Robinson (personal statement)
First to break color barrier in baseball in 1947
Was chosen because he could handle the threats, not because he was the best player
His #42 is retired in all of Major League Baseball today

20. The Civil Rights Era: The Movement Makes Gains
Part 3
The Civil Rights Era: The Movement Makes Gains

21. Linda Brown

22. Brown v. Board of Education (personal statement & legal action)
2nd grader Linda Brown attended black school in Topeka, Kansas – farther away and much poorer facility than white school; separate was NOT equal
Case was argued by NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall
1954 case Brown v. Board of Education overturned standard of “separate but equal” with 9-0 ruling
This was beginning of the end for segregation

23. Brown vs. Board of Education

24. Montgomery Bus Boycotts (civil disobedience & economic pressure)
Began 100 days after murder of Emmett Till
In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white rider and was arrested
Blacks in Montgomery responded with massive bus boycott that lasted 381 days
MLK got his start in the movement by leading the boycott
Victory: busses in Montgomery were desegregated

26. Rosa Parks (6:30-9:30)

27. Brown v. Board of Education II
Supreme Court ruled in 1955 that all public schools must integrate “with all deliberate speed”
Met with massive resistance in the south

28. Crisis at Little Rock Central

29. Crisis at Little Rock Central (personal statement & legal action)
The Little Rock Nine: Nine black students chosen to break the color barrier at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957
Governor Orval Faubus deployed Arkansas National Guard to prevent the students from entering; claimed States’ Rights
President Eisenhower supported Federal government’s decision to integrate and sent 101st Airborne Division of US Army to assist the students in entering the school
Proved federalism was stronger than States’ Rights
Victory for integration and federalism

30. Little Rock 9 (9:30-14:33)

31. States’ Rights vs. Federalism

32. Sit-ins

33. Sit-Ins (civil disobedience)
Typically Southern lunch counters did not serve blacks
The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) staged several sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee
Peacefully sat at lunch counters all day; eventually met with violence and arrests
Victory: lunch counters started serving blacks

34. Freedom Riders (personal statement & legal action)
Bus facilities for interstate travel were segregated
Blacks and whites known as Freedom Riders travelled on busses throughout the South to protest
Victory: the Interstate Commerce Committee desegregated bus facilities

36. Freedom Riders (19:20-21:11)

37. James Meredith (personal statement & legal action)
Attempts to enroll in all white University of Mississippi (Ole Miss)
Governor Ross Barnett claims States’ Rights to prevent integration
JFK sends in 5,000 troops to ensure admission (riots leave 2 dead)
Victory for integration and federalism

38. Birmingham 1963
Known as “most segregated city in the South;” protesters target city
18 bombings occur between 1957 and 1963
MLK and SCLC hold marches and are arrested
Police Chief Bull Connor uses dogs and water hoses on the protesters; caught on TV and horrifies the nation
JFK: “Segregation is now everyone’s problem”
Victory: JFK proposes Civil Rights Bill

40. (group demonstration & legal action)
March on Washington 1963
(group demonstration & legal action)
200,000 protesters attempt to pressure Congress to pass JFK’s proposed Civil Rights bill
Martin Luther King gives his “I Have a Dream” speech
Victory: Lyndon Johnson passes Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbidding segregation in all public places

41. Birmingham and March on Washington 24:00-30:30

42. Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, 1964 (martyrdom)
Goal was to register blacks to vote
Victory: 1200 new voters registered
Unfortunately, 3 civil rights workers killed

43. Marches from Selma

44. Marches from Selma 1965 (group demonstration)
MLK organizes voter registration march from Selma to Montgomery
Gov. Wallace attempts to stop the march; police use tear gas and clubs
LBJ sends in troops to protect marchers
Victory: Pressure leads to Voting Rights Act of 1965; V.R. goes up 50%

45. Selma

46. Outcome: The Movement Changes
Part 4
The Civil Rights Era
Outcome: The Movement Changes

47. The Movement Changes Setting the Stage
Many were growing impatient even though many significant gains had been made
People began to question Martin Luther King’s effectiveness

48. The Movement Changes Watts Riots
Six days or riots in Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles
Started when a white police officer arrested a black driver after he failed the field sobriety test (drunk driving)
Angry crowd watched and started threw rocks and threatened police
In the end: 34 dead, 2,034 injured, 3,952 arrested
Riots were viewed by some as a reaction to racial tension

49. Watts Riots

50. Malcolm X

51. The Movement Changes Malcolm X and the Movement in the North
A movement was growing in the North calling for “segregation as equals”
Emerged in late 1960s
Unlike the South, wanted no white participation
Not very organized
Malcolm X was part of the Black Muslims
He rejected integration and believed in Black Supremacy
Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965

52. The Movement Changes March Against Fear
James Meredith organizes the March Against Fear and is shot & wounded
Martin Luther King arrives to help finish the march
Helps fuel the violent side of the changing movement

53. The Movement Changes Black Power
Stokely Carmichael of SNCC started preaching “Black Power” due to anger, frustration, and impatience
In 1966, a militant group called the Black Panthers was organized

54. The Movement Changes Supreme Court
Thurgood Marshall became the 1st black man appointed to the Supreme Court in 1967

55. The Movement Changes What a Year: 1968
The Kerner Commission concluded that white racism was cause of urban violence
Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis on April 4 while there to support a black sanitation worker’s strike
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 is passed prohibiting discrimination in housing

57. The Movement Changes
Result: The movement does not die with Martin Luther King’s assassination, but it does begin to fade away. The work had been done, however. Schools, busses, and bus facilities were integrated, voting rights were established, blacks were served at lunch counters, and the movement had the Federal government on its side. Today, although not perfect, blacks in this country have many freedoms and opportunities available to them that were only made possible by those patient protesters who worked hard to bring about change during the Civil Rights Movement.