1. The Civil Rights Movement
America during the 1950s and 1960s…
The Civil Rights Movement
Pictures of W.E.B. DuBois, Malcolm X, MLK Jr. and Rosa Parks

2. What rights are worth fighting for?

3. A Background to the Civil Rights Movement
Civil War Amendments
13th Amendment: abolished slavery
14th Amendment: granted citizenship to everyone born in the United States
15th Amendment: granted the right to vote to all male citizens
Civil Rights Act (1875)
outlawed segregation in public facilities
declared unconstitutional in 1883
Because this act was declared unconstitutional, segregation was allowed to stand in places around the country…perhaps if it had not been overturned, this would not have been the case.

4. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
ruled that “separate but equal” does not violate the 14th amendment
led to Jim Crow laws, mainly in the South
1890-Louisiana; law requiring RR to provide “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races”
Homer Plessy was of mixed ancestry and could “pass” as white; his disobedience of the law was a planned test of the statute to bring the law before the courts
Jim Crow laws: forbade marriage between blacks and whites; established social and religious contact restrictions; separate schools, streetcars, waiting rooms, railroad coaches, elevators, witness stands, public restrooms
-facilities provided for blacks were always inferior

6. Other Milestones The Great Migration World War II
increased demand for workers led to more jobs for African-Americans, Latinos and women
nearly 1 million African-Americans served in the armed forces
The Great Migration-
After the Civil War, many African-Americans moved north. This greatly increased during WWI when jobs were more available. But, racism and prejudice were still found in the north.
When Afr-Amer fought in the war, many returned home ready to take on racism at home after fighting for freedom abroad.
Additionally, during the war, civil rights organizations actively campaigned for voting rights and challenged Jim Crow laws. Because of protests, FDR issued an order prohibiting racial discrimination in federal agencies and companies engaged in war work

7. (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
NAACP
(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
created in 1909
legal strategy focused on the inequality between separate schools
Thurgood Marshall
lawyer who began to argue cases for the NAACP
First half of the 1900s, America spent ten times as much to educate a white child as it did to educate a black child.
1938-Thurgood Marshall begins to argue cases on behalf of the NAACP; between 1938 and 1961, they won 29/32 cases argued before the Supreme Court

8. Significant Events of the Movement

9. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
Supreme Court ruled unanimously that school segregation was unconstitutional
“In the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place.”
~Chief Justice Earl Warren
Brown v. Board:
Father of 8-year old Linda Brown (Reverend Oliver Brown) said the Board of Education of Topeka had violated her rights by denying her admission to an all-white elementary school 4 blocks from her home; the nearest all-black elementary was 21 blocks away
Brown v. Board was actually a collection of cases—a class action suit, with Brown listed as the first—included Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Washington D.C.
Chief Justice Earl Warren felt a unanimous decision was needed to enforce this decision
The belief behind the ruling was that separate facilities would be inherently unequal and separation causes one race to feel inferior

10. Reaction to the decision…
reaction was mixed and particularly negative in the South
within a year, more than 500 districts had desegregated
Brown II (1955) ordered desegregation “with all deliberate speed”
Have students, in groups, work through the school desegregation simulation—choosing which students they would select to integrate the local high school—Who Should the Community Choose?

11. Crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas
The Little Rock Nine

12. Crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas
Governor Orval Faubus orders the National Guard to turn away the 9 African-American students who will integrate Little Rock Central H.S. (1957)
a federal judge ordered Faubus to let the students enter
they faced discrimination/abuse when they tried to desegregate
The Little Rock Nine

13. Crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas
President Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and ordered paratroopers into Little Rock
Faubus shut down Central H.S the next year, rather than continue integration
The Little Rock Nine

14. Civil Rights Act of 1957 first civil rights law since Reconstruction
gave the attorney general greater power over school desegregation and gave the federal government jurisdiction over violations of African-American voting rights

15. Montgomery Bus Boycott
December 1, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat
after her arrest, leaders of the African-American community formed the “Montgomery Improvement Association” and organized a boycott of the buses
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is elected to lead the group
Rosa Parks-secretary of the local NAACP and actively opposed to segregation

16. Montgomery Bus Boycott
African-Americans refused to ride the buses for 381 days
they remained non-violent
late 1956, the Supreme Court outlawed bus segregation
Why did this approach work?
The bus boycott worked because it was an economic approach. Montgomery commerce was hurting, so they ultimately had no choice but to give in…

17. Martin Luther King Jr. became a leader of the movement
used nonviolent techniques
ex: civil disobedience-refusal to obey an unjust law

18. Southern Christian Leadership Conference
1957—with other ministers and civil rights leaders founded the SCLC
purpose: “to carry on nonviolent crusades against the evils of second-class citizenship”
hoped to gain the support of ordinary African Americans

19. Lunch Counter Sit-Ins
1960—students at Shaw University (N.C.) organized SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee)
February 1960-students staged a sit-in at a whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth’s
The movement spread and by late 1960, students had desegregated lunch counters in 48 cities

20. Lunch Counter Sit-Ins

21. Civil Rights in the North
de facto segregation-segregation that exists by practice and custom
de jure segregation-segregation by law
de facto often is harder to fight because it requires changing people’s minds, rather than just changing laws
It grew in intensity during and after WWII when many African-Americans migrated to the north; as a result, many whites fled to the suburbs
In the north, many African-Americans lived in decaying neighborhoods with schools that were falling apart. Additionally, the unemployment rate among African-Americans was more than twice as high

22. Resulting Violence
Throughout the 1960s, race riots spread through the north.
July 1964: Harlem
August 1965: Watts
1967: 100+ cities
These riots showed that African-Americans wanted and needed economic equality.
Harlem: New York City—encounter between white police and black teenagers ended with the death of a 15-year old student—led to the Harlem riot
Watts: in Los Angeles; one of the worst race riots in the nation’s history; 34 killed; hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property damage
Economic equality: in jobs, housing, education…to break the cycle of poverty, etc.

23. 1964: Harlem

24. 1965: Watts

25. Malcolm X
After he was released from prison, he preached that whites were the cause of blacks’ problems and separation was the answer.
He also preached self-defense.
After his pilgrimage to Mecca, his attitude changed dramatically.
February 21, 1965—giving a speech in Harlem, Malcolm X was assassinated.

26. Stokely Carmichael & Black Power
Carmichael was the leader of SNCC.
With “Black Power” he advocated his organization stop recruiting whites and focus on African-American pride and their own goals..

27. Black Panthers Oakland, California (October 1966)
Huey Newton and Bobby Seale
preached self-defense
Advocated self-sufficiency for African-American communities, full employment, decent housing
Also helped set up daycare centers, breakfast programs, medical centers, help for the homeless, etc.
Also sold copies of Mao Zedong’s writings

28. 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
led to the worst urban rioting in U.S. history

29. Legacy of the Movement
Kerner Commission-said the main cause of urban violence was white racism
Civil Rights Act of 1968-ended discrimination in housing
affirmative action- programs that make special effort to hire or enroll groups that have suffered discrimination
The Johnson Administration ignored many of the recommendations of the Kerner Commission.
There is still much work to be done concerning Civil Rights. In the 1960s, the government promoted affirmative action in colleges and many companies doing business with the federal government. In the 1970s, many criticized this as “reverse discrimination”. In the 1980s, Republicans eased these requirements.

30. Modern Civil Rights Issue—Jena Louisiana