1. Civil Rights in the 60’s

2. What success was seen in the 1950’s?

3. Major Victory
Challenging the law:
· African Americans continued their struggle for equality, which became known as the civil rights movement.
· In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that “separate but equal” facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional.
A Sign at the Greyhound Bus Station, Rome, Georgia September (Esther Bubley, photographer)

4. "The Rex theater for Negro People." Leland, Mississippi, November Marion Post Wolcott, photographer.

5. "A cafe near the tobacco market." Durham, North Carolina. May 1940.

6. " People waiting for a bus at the Greyhound bus terminal
" People waiting for a bus at the Greyhound bus terminal." Memphis, Tennessee. September Esther Bubley, photographer.

8. · With help from the NAACP, the case of Brown v
· With help from the NAACP, the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka reached the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality of Plessy v. Ferguson.

9. · In the case, Oliver Brown challenged that his daughter, Linda, should be allowed to attend an all-white school near her home instead of the distant all-black school she had been assigned to.
Oliver Brown was a welder for the Santa Fe Railroad and a part-time assistant pastor at St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Linda Brown was in the third grade when her father began his class action lawsuit.

10. · Brown’s lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, argued that “separate” could never be “equal” and that segregated schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee to provide “equal protection” to all citizens.

11. * In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Brown family, and schools nationwide were ordered to be desegregated.
George E.C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall, and James M. Nabrit, following Supreme Court decision ending segregation.

12. MLK Fourth generation Minister
Rose to prominence during the Montgomery Bus Boycott
The most influential Civil Rights Movement leader

13. Sought to awaken moderate Americans
Lived with constant death threats and physical intimidation

14. Kennedy and Civil Rights
Actively courted black votes
Proposed Civil Rights legislation, but was blocked by Southern Congressmen

15. Was accused to have moved slowly on Civil Rights issues
Kennedy did not want to lose Congressional Support.

16. March on Washington - 1963 “March for Jobs and Freedom”
Opposed by Kennedy, who didn’t want to alienate southern congressmen

17. Scorned by many Black Nationalist Groups
Became a very powerful symbol

18. “I Have a Dream” speech
August 28, 1963

19. Johnson and Civil rights
Picked up where Kennedy left off
Johnson acted more than Kennedy did on Civil Rights legislation

20. Johnson and Civil Rights
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964
Banned different voting standards
Banned discrimination in public places
Banned discrimination on the base of race, sex, age, religion or nation of origin

21. “We have lost the south for a generation” - LBJ

22. Freedom Summer - 1964 Mostly college students (white and black)
Sought to register voters

23. Subject to extreme violence
Churches and houses were burned and bombed
James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerman were murdered

24. Selma, Alabama - 1965 Protest led by MLK Violence against protestors
LBJ supports with federal troops

25. Led to important legislation:
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Federal officials could register voters
24th Amendment
Banned Poll taxes

26. The Rise of Black Nationalism

27. The Rise of Black Nationalism
Many disavowed non-violence, felt it did not work, or took too long.
“We shall overcome” became “We shall overrun”
Clashed with police, violence was not uncommon

28. Malcolm X Born to activist parents
Outstanding student in Junior High, but dropped out
Very critical of MLK and non-violence, very distrusting of white society.
1965 – Allegedly Assassinated by the Nation of Islam

29. "At one time the whites in the United States called him a racialist, and extremist, and a Communist. Then the Black Muslims came along and the whites thanked the Lord for Martin Luther King."

30. Black Panthers Most influential Black Nationalist group
Originally created to monitor police in California

31. 1968
Assassination of MLK leads to widespread rioting and disillusionment
The Civil Rights movement is robbed of its most prominent leaders
Considered end to Civil Rights Movement

32. Tensions run high throughout the country; minor incidents set off riots that last for days, and destroy black neighborhoods.

33. Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement
Barbara Jordan (Texas) 1st Black State Senator in Texas since Reconstruction, later US Congresswoman

34. Black Mayors in many cities
Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman elected to Congress

35. Civil Rights reform Stalls after 1968
Black officials up 90%
Thurgood Marshall becomes a Supreme Court justice