1. The Civil Rights Movement
Chapter 29

2. Section 1: The Movement Begins
Origins of the Movement
The Civil Rights Movement Begins
African American Churches
Eisenhower and Civil Rights

3. The Origins of the Movement
African American civil rights movement begins after Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man – Starts a bus boycott – demand for equal rights
1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson (establishes separate but equal)
Jim Crow laws segregating African Americans in the South
De facto segregation (segregation by custom and tradition) in the North
NAACP – supported court cases trying to eliminate segregation; provided financial support and lawyers to African Americans
African Americans voted for Democrats who supported civil rights legislation (Strong Democratic Party)
1942 – CORE founded – used sit-ins as a form of protest

4. The Civil Rights Movement Begins
After WWII, African Americans had fought for equality overseas and wanted it at home as well
Thurgood Marshall – works to end segregation in public schools
Brown v. Board of Education – ended segregation in public schools
Brown v. Board angered many white southerners who supported segregation
Montgomery bus boycott led by Montgomery Improvement Association headed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – nonviolent passive resistance
Bus boycott forced the Supreme court to find Alabama’s bus segregation laws unconstitutional

5. African American Churches
African American churches play a big role in the success of the boycott, through being the center of forums, planning, and organization
SCLC, led by Dr. King, challenged segregation of public transportation,, housing, voting, and other public accommodations

6. Eisenhower and Civil Rights
Eisenhower was the 1st president since Reconstruction to send troops to protect the rights of African Americans
Little Rock Arkansas, President Eisenhower sends federal troops to protect African Americans from angry mobs surrounding desegregated schools
Civil Rights Act of 1957 – protected African Americans’ right to vote – 1st step in bringing the federal government into the civil rights debate

7. Section 2: Challenging Segregation
The Sit-in Movement
SNCC
Freedom Riders
Kennedy and Civil Rights
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Struggle for Voting Rights

8. The Sit-In Movement
1960 – 4 African Americans stage a sit-in at Woolworth’s – led to a mass movement for civil rights using sit-ins across the nation
Jesse Jackson – leader of sit-ins in North Carolina – felt it gave them the power to change things

9. SNCC
Students for the SNCC as a way to organize for the civil rights movement
Marion Barry and John Lewis – early SNCC leaders
Robert Moses points out that rural African Americans needed help along with those in urban areas
Many SNCC volunteers were beaten and some were even killed
Fannie Lou Hamer – SNCC volunteer who is beaten in police custody in Mississippi – helps organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

10. Freedom Riders
CORE leader James Farmer asks protesters to travel South to integrate bus terminals – teams become known as the Freedom Riders
Violence erupts in Alabama – televised violence shocks many Americans
Kennedy compelled to control violence

11. JFK and Civil Rights
Kennedy campaigned for civil rights – African Americans helped get him elected
Once in office he became very cautious on civil rights and avoided new legislation
Robert Kennedy, his brother, actively supported civil rights
Attempted to reach agreements – riders asked to stop protesting
CORE uses funds to bail riders out of jail – NAACP helps to let the rides continue
Kennedy responds – Interstate Commerce Commission to increase regulations against segregation at bus terminals – segregation ends by 1962
1962 – James Meredith (African Americans air force veteran) attends University of Mississippi, but needs troops to guard him.
King, frustrated with the movement, holds demonstrations in Alabama that incite violence in order to force the president to act

12. Civil Rights Act of 1964
Kennedy announces his civil rights bill on national television
King marches 200,000 demonstrators to the nations capital to stage a peaceful rally in order to pressure Congress into passing the bill
Senators filibuster the bill, Congress unable to pass the bill
After Kennedy’s assassination, Johnson commits himself to passing the bill
It eventually passes:
Gave federal government broad power to stop racial discrimination in segregation of public places
Bring lawsuits against school segregation
Required employers to end discrimination in the workplace

13. Struggle for Voting Rights
Civil Rights Act didn’t protect voting rights – Many African Americans were prevented from voting in the South
Protest staged in Selma, Alabama – march for freedom stopped by 200 state troopers and protesters are attacked – Bloody Sunday
1965 – Voting Rights Act of 1965
Federal examiners to register qualified voters
Bypassed local officials in the voter registration process
Resulted in 250,000 newly registered African Americans

14. Section 3: New Issues Problems Facing Urban African Americans
The Shift to Economic Rights
Black Power
Assassination of Dr. King

15. Problems Facing Urban African Americans
Racism was still common after the 50s and 60s
Economic and social problems = difficult to address
– race riots break out in many American cities:
Watts riots – lasted 6 days
Detroit riots – US Army sent in to retake control
Kerner Commission created to make recommendations to prevent further urban riots
Concluded that the problems lied within white society and white racism
Recommendation: 2 million new jobs and 6 million new units of public housing
Due to concerns over Vietnam President Johnson never endorses the recommendation

16. Shift to Economic Rights
Dr. King begins to shift his focus onto improving economic conditions for African Americans
Chicago Movement – effort to call attention to the deplorable housing conditions in Chicago
Dr. King moves into the slums of Chicago with his family
King marched through the white suburbs and was protected with police from Mayor Richard Daley
Daley and King propose new program to clean up the slums

17. Black Power
Many African Americans sought out new strategies of self defense and living free from whites
Black Power – 2 meanings:
Physical self-defense and violence
Stokely Carmichael – control the economic, social, and political direction of their struggle for equality
Opposed assimilation – popular in poor neighborhoods – Dr. King and others were very critical of black power
Malcolm X – symbol of black power movement – part of the Nation of Islam (believed that African Americans should separate themselves from whites and form their own self-governing communities)
Malcolm X later breaks away from the Nation of Islam and begins to believe in an integrated society
1965 – 3 members of the Nation of Islam assassinate Malcolm X
Victimized by the past, but don’t need to be victimized now by racism
Formation of the Black Panthers
New generation of militant black youth
Black power, black nationalism, and economic self-sufficiency
Black Panthers believed that a revolution was necessary to gain equal rights.

18. Assassination of Dr. King
Late 1960s – Civil Rights movement fragmented into many competing organizations
Assassination of Dr. King led to national mourning as well as riots in over 100 cities
After Dr. King’s death, Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which contained provisions for fair and equitable housing