1. Chapter 21 Section 1 Notes A Brief History Of Civil Rights 1860 - 1960

2. 1860 Election Abraham Lincoln Wins
Against Slavery
So are 20 Northern “Free” States (THE UNION)
Don’t want it expanding into U.S. Territories in West
Southern States view Lincoln as a threat to their economy
Depended on Slave Labor
11 Southern slave states secede (2 more members later)
Don’t want to be part of U.S. any more
Form own government (THE CONFEDERACY)
Confederate President
Jefferson Davis

3. Civil War (April 1861 – May 1865)
North = bigger military, better equipped
More industry is key
Emancipation Proclamation (Jan. 1863)
Lincoln announces that slaves are free
War takes 4 years – NORTH WINS
Around 620,000 people die
Around 400,000 injured
Leads to 3 Constitutional Amendments

4. 13th Amendment (1865)
Abolishes slavery
14th Amendment (1868)
All people supposed to be treated equally under U.S. Laws
15th Amendment (1870)
Black men can vote

5. Reconstruction (1865 – 1877)
Northern Army (Union) stays in South after war
Helps rebuild
Wants to make sure South follows new amendments

6. Ku Klux Klan formed Roughly 500,000 White Southerners
Most former Confederate Soldiers
Wore White Costumes
Formed to secretly commit acts of violence
against Blacks while Army is still in South
Many in powerful positions
Dies out when Army leaves (re-forms in 1920s)

7. Civil Rights Act of 1875 1st attempt at major Civil Rights legislation
Supposed to stop discrimination in most places
Enforced for a bit
When U.S. Army leaves South, gets mostly ignored
U.S. Supreme Court rules it unconstitutional (1883)
All White Men
Laws allowing discrimination in South begin (Jim Crow Laws)

8. Jim Crow Laws Legality Tested
Plessy v Ferguson (1896)
Supreme Court Case
rules that separate facilities can be provided for blacks as long as they are “equal”.
Separate but Equal Doctrine
Jim Crow Laws remain legal for over 50 years!
Homer Plessy
1/8th Black
Wasn’t allowed to sit in White Only Train Car

9. NAACP Formed (1909) grows dramatically after WWII Focuses on
trying to provide an equal education
Voting
Stop illegal killings
Limited success early on

10. African – American Contributions during WWI and WWII
Blacks migrate North searching for industrial jobs when White males at war.
Paid better
No discrimination in war industries
Ordered by FDR in WWII
Doesn’t last afterwards
Segregation still existed
housing, schools
Less violence
Blacks allowed in combat halfway into WWII
They were very successful
segregated units

11. Truman Desegregates the Military
Occurs in 1948 (after WWII)
Takes awhile, but finished by mid 1950s

12. Brown v Board of Education (1954)
Most important Civil Rights decision ever
All about going to closest public school
Case revolved around 7 yr old Black Girl
I’ll explain
Decision:
Public Schools needed to be integrated
9-0 decision
Reverses Plessy v Ferguson
Thurgood
Marshall
(center) lawyer
that successfully
argued the
case on
behalf of the
Brown family.
He later became
1st Black
Supreme Court
Judge.

13. Impact of Brown Case Most States followed the decision
Led to “White Flight” (more in Sect. 3)
Some Southern states don’t
Whites threatened violence
Another Court case (Brown II in 1955)
said desegregation needed to happen fast
Southern leaders still refused

14. Eisenhower Calls in National Guard (1957)
forcibly desegregated schools
1st occurs in Little Rock, Arkansas
9 black students admitted to all white school
On national TV

15. Rosa Parks Member of the NAACP
refused to give up her seat at the front of a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama to a white man in 1955
Taken to jail (for a day)
eventually fined
Appeals the case (NAACP helped)
Lost her job due to the publicity
Harassed and intimidated during the process

16. Montgomery Bus Boycott
NAACP encouraged blacks to boycott (not use) the buses until they became integrated
Walk, Carpool
Wanted someone local to lead the movement

17. Martin Luther King Jr. Minister of large church
Extremely well educated and articulate
Promoted Nonviolent Resistance to injustice
He called his philosophy Soul Force
Buses became integrated by U.S.
Supreme Court a year later
Gains national recognition
Becomes leader of Civil Rights Movement

18. Civil Rights Act of 1957 Many Southern states still ignored this
developed mainly by LBJ (Texas Senator… before he was Pres)
Created a Federal Civil Rights Commission to address concerns
Tried to require states to follow existing Civil Rights Laws
Especially VOTING
Many Southern states still
ignored this

19. Southern Christian Leadership Conference SCLC (1957)
Led by MLK Jr
Purpose = continue causes like the bus boycotts
Bring attention to inequality in society
Stay Nonviolent (marches, write letters, meetings)
Get ordinary Americans to participate
Including Whites

20. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee SNCC (1960)
Mostly young college students
More confrontational than SCLC
Included whites early on (more in Sec 3)
Organized Sit-ins at white only lunch counters
Led to violence and other acts of hatred against them
Media coverage inspired similar acts around the U.S.
Led voter registration drives in the South