1. Civil Rights in the 1960s
Objective: analyze the importance of civil rights legislations; compare and contrast views of Civil Rights leaders

2. Birmingham
African-Americans in Birmingham wanted to integrate public facilities and gain better job and housing opportunities
Spring, 1963 – MLK and SCLC began a protest

3. Hundreds arrested including King
MLK writes “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in response to criticism from white church leaders calling for a calm orderly approach defending his methods

4. Protests continued
SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) recruited children for the marches but did not anticipate the level of violence that would be directed at the children

5. Nation saw horrific images on television of dogs and fire hoses being used on the marchers

6. White leaders agreed to desegregate lunch counters, remove segregation signs, and employee more African-Americans in downtown stores.

8. March on Washington
Events in Birmingham increase support for passage of new legislation to protect the civil rights of all people.
Civil rights organizations planned a huge demonstration to take place in Washington D.C.

9. August 28, 1963 - 250,000 people took part in the March on Washington

10. March ended at the Lincoln Memorial where King gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech

11. March united many groups that called for passage of civil rights laws; Kennedy promised support