1. Strange Fruit
Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh. Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, Here is a strange and bitter crop.

3. Emmett Till: From Chicago, visiting family in Mississippi
August 1955, Till whistled at the wife of a white shop owner
Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam kidnapped Till 4 days later, beat, shot him, and tied his body to a fan and threw him in the river.
Bryant and Milam were acquitted of all charges by an all white jury and admitted to the killing months later in a magazine.

4. The Confession
About 1.5 miles southeast of the Boyce home is a lonely spot where Big Milam has hunted squirrels. The river bank is steep. The truck stopped 30 yards from the water. Big Milam ordered Bobo to pick up the fan. He staggered under its weight... carried it to the river bank. They stood silently... just hating one another. Milam: "Take off your clothes." Slowly, Bobo pulled off his shoes, his socks. He stood up, unbuttoned his shirt, dropped his pants, his shorts. He stood there naked. It was Sunday morning, a little before 7. Milam: "You still as good as I am?" Bobo: "Yeah." Milam: "You still 'had' white women?" That big .45 jumped in Big Milam's hand. The youth turned to catch that big, expanding bullet at his right ear. He dropped. They barb-wired the gin fan to his neck, rolled him into 20 feet of water. For three hours that morning, there was a fire in Big Milam's back yard: Bobo's crepe soled shoes were hard to burn. Seventy-two hours later -- eight miles downstream -- boys were fishing. They saw feet sticking out of the water. Bobo. The majority -- by no means all, but the majority -- of the white people in Mississippi 1) either approve Big Milam's action or else 2) they don't disapprove enough to risk giving their "enemies" the satisfaction of a conviction.

7. The Civil Rights Movement

8. Long Time Coming: 1865: 13th Amendment (outlaws slavery)
1866: Jim Crow Laws
1866: KKK established
1868: The 14th Amendment, which requires equal protection under the law to all persons, is ratified.
1870: The 15th Amendment, which bans racial discrimination in voting, is ratified.
1896: The Supreme Court approves the "separate but equal" segregation doctrine (Plessy v. Ferguson).

9. Montgomery Bus Boycott

10. Freedom Riders – Black and white college students who rode buses through the South to protest segregated bus terminals.
This was organized by CORE (Congress of Racial Equality)

11. Little Rock, Arkansas
Orval Faubus – Governor of Arkansas who brought in the National Guard to prevent the nine black students from entering Central High School.
Elizabeth Eckford
(1957)

12. University of Alabama June 11, 1963
George Wallace – Governor of Alabama who blocks 2 black students from enrolling at the University of Alabama by calling in the National Guard and blocking the admissions office, himself.
Federal Marshals sent by President Kennedy force him to move aside.

13. Violence in Birmingham, Alabama
May,1963- MLK decides to launch nonviolent demonstrations, including a march, in response to all the racial violence occurring at that time.
MLK wants this to provoke a violent response in order to get President Kennedy to actively support a civil rights bill.

14. MLK in Birmingham Jail

16. Sit-Ins with the SNCC
SNCC – College students who organized nonviolent protesting, such as sit-ins. They were responsible for desegregating many public facilities in the South.

17. Trying to vote in Birmingham, Alabama

18. Literacy Tests and Poll Tax
Poll tax – Tax that had to be paid before a person could vote.
Literacy Test – Voters were required to take this test before voting. Many tests consisted of 65 or more questions.
Both were first enacted in Mississippi and Alabama in 1890.
This caused the number of registered African American voters in Alabama to fall from 130,000 in 1890 to 3,700 by 1900.
1965 Alabama Literacy Test
1. For security, each state has a right to form a _________________________________.
2. The Vice President presides over _______________.
3. If no candidate for President receives a majority of the electoral vote, who decides who will become President?_____________________________
4. Of the original 13 states, the one with the largest representation in the first Congress was
_____________________________________.
5. Of which branch of government is the Speaker of the House a part?
_____Executive
_____Legislative
_____Judicial
6. How many states were required to approve the original Constitution in order for it to be in effect? _____________
7. The population census is required to be made very _____ years.

19. Church Bombing in Birmingham (1963)

21. Civil Rights Acts
Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Made segregation illegal in public places and gave federal govt. power to enforce it and to end discrimination in the work place.
It was created by President Kennedy but signed into law by President Johnson.
Voting Rights Act of 1965 – Made literacy tests illegal and forced all qualified voters to be allowed to register to vote, especially in the South.

22. Malcolm X