1. Civil Rights & Black Power
Unofficial
Segregation
In the North

2. Slow Progress
With the passage of the 1964 & 65 Civil Rights Acts and the 24th amendment added on to the constitution many AA’s expected change but it was slow in coming
Many minorities still faced economic & social discrimination in the meantime.

3. Everyone Can’t Be Happy!
People questioned the nonviolent approach
Younger leaders rejected ideas of nonviolence & integration
Anger over continued injustice led to more militant rhetoric and urban riots
Author James Baldwin who
wrote movingly of the Black
experience in America
The Fire Next Time
His writings touched all
Readers no matter their race!

4. A Strong Voice of the Civil Rights Movement
“the Negro’s past, of …death and humiliation; fear by day and night; fear as deep as the marrow of the bone; doubt that he was worthy of life, since everyone around him denied it….”
Notes of a Native Son
James Baldwin
1955

5. Malcolm X
Outside the mainstream civil rights movement, more political leaders emerged.
The most well known during the Civil Rights Era was Malcolm X
Born Malcolm Little he would later change his name.
He grew up in the ghettos of
Detroit, Boston, & NY. At 20
He was arrested for burglary
& while serving a 7 year sentence
He joined the Nation of Islam.

6. Black Nationalism
The Nation of Islam, a group often called Black Muslims, who viewed white society as oppressive & preached black separation and self help
Founded by Elijah Muhammad
The key to self-knowledge was knowing ones enemy & the enemy for the nation of Islam was white society
Spent 12 years as a minister for the
nation & won followers w/his fiery
speeches. He spread the idea of
black nationalism: a belief in the
separate identity and racial unity of
African American community.

7. Opposition to Integration
Early on Malcolm X disagreed with both the tactics & goals of the early Civil Rights Movement
He called the march on Washington the “Farce on Washington”
Because of many strong statements like this tensions grew between Malcolm and his mentor
He ended up leaving the Nation of Islam and formed his own organization, The Muslim Mosque,Inc.

8. A Change of Heart
Not soon after the split he makes a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holy city of Islam
This pilgrimage changed his views about separatism and hatred of white people
This change would lead to his assasination but his message of black nationalism would live on. (SNCC)
He wanted to unify the movement
But in February of 1965 his plans
Were cut short by a hail of gunfire
At a rally in NY, 3 members of the
Nation of Islam were charged

9. 1968 Olympics
Black Power
SNCC leader Stokely Carmicheal was on of those influenced by Malcolm X
After being beaten & jailed the group became more militant
Carry guns for self-defense, to make the group exclusively for blacks
“We shall overrun”
Black Power: called on
African Americans “to unite,
to recognize their heritage,
to build on a sense of
Community…to define their
Own goals, to lead their own
Organizations & support those
Organizations”

10. Black Panthers
In the fall of 1966 a new more militant political party was formed The Black Panthers
Wanted African Americans to lead their own communities
Govt. needed to rebuild nation’s ghettos to make up for years of neglect
“Power flows through a barrel of a gun”
Bobby Seale & Huey Newton
Although they had violent
encounters with the police,
they also set up community
programs, daycare centers & free breakfast programs

11. The Break
Black power led to a serious split in the civil rights movement
SNCC and The Black Panthers were considered too radical
The main problem was that the early movement addressed de jure segregation, racial separation created by law but did not recognize de facto segregation, separation caused by social conditions such as poverty

12. Realities The reality was that segregation took place all over the US
Residents of ghetto neighborhoods was police officers as dangerous oppressors, not upholders of justice
“Like an occupying soldier in a bitterly hostile country”
Frustrations boiled over into several riots in several cities

13. Riots Anger boiled over into riots and looting 1964 riots Rochester NY
NY City
New Jersey
*One of the most violent would take place in LA, the neighborhood of Watts. August 11, 1965
In reaction to a police beating of a
young African American and outraged
crowd touched off 6 days of rioting
1000’s filled the streets
Burning cars and stores
Stealing & shooting at firefighters
34 people died & more than a 1000
were injured.

14. Violence Continued The violence spreads “Burn Baby Burn”
Assassination of King leads to more riots
A commission was assigned to deal with these issues
The question of whether real progress was happening still lingered
Lyndon Johnson asked why?
Segregation was illegal & thousands of AA’s were now voting

15. The Legacy of the Movement
88% rise in the # of AA elected officials
AA Mayors and Congressmen were elected
1966 the 1st AA was elected to the Texas State Senate, Barbara Jordan
After being elected to US Congress she noted why the movement was necessary.

16. “The Civil rights movement called American to look at itself in a giant mirror…Do the black people who were born on this soil, who are American citizens, do the really feel that this is the land of opportunity, the land of the free?…America had to say no.”
The attempt to change the answer to this question created the Civil Rights Movement.