1. 6.5 – Civil Rights movement in the 1960s

5. Freedom Riders – May 1961
Volunteers set out to ride buses across the south
Used to test the SCOTUS decision banning segregated buses and terminals
Freedom Riders wanted to invoke violence so President JFK would HAVE to enforce the law
Buses immediately attacked, activists beaten, bombs on buses

6. Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders forced to call off bus rides due to bus company frustration and damage  SNCC volunteers from Nashville picked up the cause

8. Desegregating Birmingham
Spring 1963 – activists focused on Birmingham
“This is the most segregated city in America. We have to stick together if we ever want to change its ways.” – MLK on Birmingham

9. Desegregating Birmingham
MLK’s Arrest
April 12, 1963 – MLK and a small group of SCLC activists arrested in Birmingham where they held days of demonstrations and marches in the streets and churches
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail” - Letter to white religious leaders who criticized his actions as a pastor…
Posted bail on April 20

11. Desegregating Birmingham
Children’s Crusade
May 2, 1963 – more than 1,000 black children marched on Birmingham – 959 children arrested
May 3 – second Children’s Crusade, met with violent police force and captured on TV
Fire hoses, attack dogs
National/international attention  Birmingham ended segregation
JFK convinced civil rights legislation needed to end violence

12. JFK Takes a Stand
June 1963 – JFK sent federal troops to force Gov. George Wallace to admit black students to Univ. of Alabama
Medgar Evers, NAACP secretary and WWII vet, murdered in front of his house  killer released after 2 hung juries could not convict him  Angered blacks
– Gov. “I say, Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!”
Wallace
“Are we to say to the world – and much more importantly, to each other – that this is the land of the free, except for the Negroes?” - JFK

13. Civil Rights Journal #2
The year is now You are 18 years old and hoping to attend college in the South. The governors of the South have publicly stated they do not intend to let any Colored students attend their colleges despite desegregation orders.
What thoughts and feelings do you have about these statements? What do you intend to do? Do you intend to attempt to go to the college anyway? Do you intend to protest? Do you choose to not go to college instead and accept the situation as it is? Explain your choices thoroughly in a half page letter or journal entry.

14. Civil Rights in DC
JFK proposed a civil rights bill that guaranteed equal access to public facilities and allowed the Attorney Gen. to file legal suits against school districts refusing to integrate

15. Civil Rights in DC
August 28, 1963 – March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom organized by SCLC to pressure Congress into passing civil rights legislation
More than 250,000 (75,000 whites) marched on Washington
Various speakers presented arguments for the passage of the civil rights bill
MLK delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech

18. 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing - Sept. 1963
KKK members in a car hurled a bomb into a church in Birmingham
4 young girls killed, extreme violence and mobs followed  2 male teenagers died
As of 2000, the living culprits have been tried and convicted

21. Civil Rights Act of 1964
Nov JFK (civil rights supporter) assassinated
Lyndon B. Johnson = POTUS  Signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Prohibited discrimination because of race, religion, national origin, and gender
Established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

22. The Selma Campaign 1965 – major voting rights campaign in Selma, AL
More than 2,000 SCLC and SNCC members arrested
MLK announced a 50-mile protest march from Selma to Montgomery
Began on March 7, 1965 with 600 protestors  Became known as Bloody Sunday
Met with extreme violence (bombs, beating, whips, clubs, tear gas) and had to turn back
March 17 - LBJ proposed a new voting rights act
March 21 – Marchers set out for Montgomery again, with federal protection
Eventually reached 25,000 people

24. Voting Rights Act of 1965
Summer 1965 – Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed
Eliminated literacy tests
Allowed federal officials to register voters (taken out the hands of local gov’ts)
Percentage of registered black voters tripled in the South
Some felt legislation did not do enough… still serious social and economic inequities