1. Civil Rights
Freedom Now!

2. Sit-Ins
Success of Bus boycott & influence of non-violent resistance inspired sit-ins
1st sit-in was Feb in Greensboro, NC
4 students launched the sit-in after ordering coffee at Woolworth’s counter
They were denied service but stayed until store closed
The next day they returned with more protestors
Hundreds of protestors by first week

4. Sit-in successes Sit-ins were successful overall Why?
They continued despite arrests & violence
*It marked shift in civil rights movement
Showed African American impatience with slow pace of change
*Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee (SNCC) formed

5. Freedom Rides CORE planned nonviolent rides 1961
Dec Supreme Court ordered bus facilities open to all (but this was not enforced)
CORE sent Freedom Riders through South
At each stop, riders checked compliance
Initially only mild harassment
Riders were arrested for using white only facilities

6. Results of the Freedom Rides
May 1, busses swarmed by mob in Alabama > firebombed bus & beat riders as they escaped
In Birmingham, people hit riders with baseball bats & metal pipes > 1 permanently damaged
*NO POLICE ever arrived to help
Robert Kennedy sent in federal marshals

8. Integrating Higher Education
NAACP worked to get universities open through courts
Univ. of Mississippi was forced to admit James Meredith
Sept he arrived protected by 500 marshals
He was met by a mob of 2500
Meredith graduated in 1963 with limited friendly experiences

9. James Meredith

10. Effects of Higher Education
JFK’s Response
JFK went on TV to reprimand Mississippi for escalating violence
“The eyes of the nation & the world are upon you”
In June 1963, Gov. of Alabama George Wallace physically blocked 2 students from enrolling
With a court order however, Wallace stepped aside

11. Albany Movement Albany, Georgia
*This was a battleground for civil rights
More than 500 protestors jailed
MLK Jr. was invited to lead more demonstrations > arrested
Their tactic was to fill the jails
Leaders refused to negotiate with MLK Jr so he left > major defeat
*MLK Jr. learned he would only participate in his own-organized events

12. Birmingham Campaign Birmingham, Alabama Known for strict segregation
1963 MLK Jr. jailed > Here he wrote his “Letter from jail”
Used kids as demonstrators
900 arrested > effect?
Eugene “Bull” Connor (police chief) used fire hoses & dogs to break up protestors
Seen on TV > *Changed nations’ perception

14. Assassination of Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers was the head of the Mississippi NAACP
Evers was one of the most effective Civil Rights leaders
In 1963, he was shot in his front yard
Police arrested KKK member Byron De La Beckwith
2 all-white juries failed to reach a verdict in 2 trials so he went free
30 years later, De La Beckwith was tried again & at age 73 in 1994, he was convicted & sentenced to life in prison

15. March on Washington August 1963
To build support for the civil rights movement, leaders planned a march at the capital
200,000 people attended
One of largest demonstrations ever
*MLK Jr. “Dream Speech”
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up & live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal’… I have a dream that my 4 children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character. I have a dream today!”

16. March on Washington

17. Civil Rights Act of 1964
Kennedy wanted to pass an act ending discrimination in public areas
After the March on Washington, LBJ supported a strong civil rights bill
Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination in employment & in public accommodations