1. Unit 8: Social and Political Movements
Lesson 2: The Civil Rights Movement Part 2

2.
The following link is hyperlinked to the image: Scroll down on the page, and select the clip titled, “strategy.” This is a good introduction of the Civil Rights Movement and it is less than 5 minutes long.

3. The Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Left: Rosa Parks; Below: Rev. Ralph Abernathy
Top: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Right: E.D. Nixon

4. The Voices of Montgomery
Rosa Parks is arrested:
· As in many southern states, Alabama’s Jim Crow laws required that blacks give up their seats on buses to whites.
· In December of 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

5. Dr. King:
· The NAACP, with the help of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., organized a bus boycott in Montgomery.
· Without black riders, white owned bus companies stood to lose a lot of money.
The words, “listen to Dr King…” has a hyperlink to his discussion on the importance of the boycotts. The URL is
The Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from left, at a press conference. (May 26, 1963)

8. An empty bus passes by during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1956.

9. Martin Luther King, Jr., arrested, Montgomery, Alabama, 1958.
· King was arrested, his house was bombed, yet the boycott continued.
· King insisted that his followers follow civil disobedience, or nonviolent protests against unjust laws.
Martin Luther King, Jr., arrested, Montgomery, Alabama, 1958.
(Photograph by Charles Moore)

10. "Martin Luther King Jr. was photographed by Alabama cops following his February 1956 arrest during the Montgomery bus boycott. The historic mug shot, taken when King was 27, was discovered in July 2004 by a deputy cleaning out a Montgomery County Sheriff's Department storage room. It is unclear when the notations 'DEAD' and '4-4-68' were written on the picture.”

11. Police started harassing the car pool, threatening to arrest drivers, revoke their licenses, and cancel their insurance policies.  On January 26, King was arrested for speeding and taken to jail (for driving 30 in a 25 mph zone).  A few days later his house was bombed.  Soon King was receiving dozens of hate letters and threatening phone calls every day.  In February an all-white grand jury indicted 89 people, including twenty-four ministers and all drivers in the car pool, for violating an obscure state anti-labor law that prohibited boycotts.  King was the first to be tried.  The judge found him guilty and sentenced him a year of hard labor or a fine of $500 plus court costs. 

12. A hard-won battle:
· In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was unconstitutional (1 year after Rosa Parks’ arrest!).
· Therefore, the Montgomery bus company agreed to integrate their buses and hire black bus drivers.
Dr. King and his wife, Coretta, at the conclusion of the boycott.

13. Dr. King and Reverend Ralph Abernathy riding a bus on the first day for desegregated buses in Montgomery, AL. (December 21, 1956)

14. Resistance to Bus Integration
Resistance to Bus Integration
Even though bus segregation was outlawed by the Supreme Court, many buses remained segregated in the South
In May 1961, young black and white Americans began riding on buses together as a symbol of integration. They were known as the Freedom Riders (not Freedom Writers)
Their rides were met with heavy resistance across the south
The following link is hyperlinked to the photograph: Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and select the video: “Freedom Riders Watch Preview” under the category “bonus features.”

15. MLK leads NonViolent resistance in Alabama
In 1963, he led demonstrations in Birmingham, which led to his arrest
In jail, he wrote the famous, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Read excerpts from the letter now
President Kennedy began drafting a Civil Rights Bill, and anticipating resistance to the Bill, MLK led a peaceful March on Washington D.C. (Aug 1963)
In Washington, MLK gave his famous, “I have a Dream Speech.”
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed soon after

16.
JFK Assassinated
While the March on Washington had a positive impact on JFK, the idea of civil rights legislation was halted with JFK was assassinated in Nov.1963
The following link is hyperlinked to the photograph:

17. Civil Rights Legislation
Civil Rights Act of 1964:
Segregation was made illegal in most public places
People of all races could have equal access to places such as restaurants, parks, libraries, and theatres
Voting Rights Act 1965:
Ended discrimination in voting practices (i.e. literacy tests)
Federal government was given the power to examine states’ voting laws and practices

18. Exit Ticket!
What strategies did Martin Luther King use in order to get his message of equality across to political leaders and the general population in the United States?
How did Civil Rights legislation improve the lives of Black Americans in the 1960s?