1. 1954-1965 America’s Struggle for Civil Rights

2. 1954 Brown vs. Board of the Education  Ends constitutionality of “separate but equal” in education

3. 1955: Emmett Till The brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955 galvanized the fledging civil rights movement like no other killing of a black by white racists before it. After an all-white, all-male jury acquitted Till's two killers, the case festered for 49 years until the U.S. Justice Department reopened it in 2004. In late February of 2007, a Lefore County, Miss. grand jury declined to issue any new indictments, effectively bringing the case to an abrupt and ignoble end.

4. 1955 Rosa Parks arrested for failing to give up her seat to a white man Bus Boycott  40,o00 black riders participate  382 days MLK Jr. made president of the Montgomery Improvement Association

5. 1956 - 1957 Federal Courts and Supreme Court rule that bus segregation, separate but equal intrastate transportation, is unconstitutional Boycott ends…whites respond with violence ______________________ Greensborough, NC Woolworth’s: Whites only 75000 college kids across the South stage sit-ins in Woolworths and other white-only establishments 1961: Restaurant segregation largely ended

6. 1961 1960: Supreme Court rules that segregation of interstate travel is unconstitutional (Boynton v. VA) Freedom Riders integrate to enforce the ruling Inspired by Kennedy’s words (1961): “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. ”

7. April 1963 King organizes “Project C” marches/boycotts in Birmingham, Alabama  6000 kids join  Fire hoses and dogs used against them

8. May 1963 Birmingham agrees to integrate and hire African Americans KKK responds with rally; law enforcement joins them Kennedy sends in federal troops

9. June 1963 Kennedy proposes Civil Rights Bill  Desegregate interstate commerce  Denies federal funding to organizations that segregate  Makes 6th grade education acceptable for voter registration  Kennedy addresses the nation on television King and Randolph announce March on Washington

10. August 28,1963 The March on Washington  Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial  250,000 marchers (more than double expected)  Speakers, musicians  John Lewis speech (revised)  Martin Luther King Jr.: “I have a dream”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqS88XWt0h E

11. Autumn 1963 September 15, 1963: 16 th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham exploded by KKK members; four teen- aged girls killed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m66xzIG2q9w November 22, 1963: Kennedy assassinated  Impact on Civil Rights?

12. Johnson’s Great Society Johnson: Greatest legislator in American history?  Wanted to end segregation, poverty, lack of health care  Head Start  Job Corps and Vista  Appalachian Regional Development Act  Elementary and Secondary Education Act  Medicare  Consumer Protections  Environmental Protections  Department of Housing and Urban Development Civil Rights Act of 1964  Believed integration was morally correct and socially necessary  Outlawed public racial discrimination  Ended Jim Crow laws  Banned discrimination in employment and union membership

13. Voting Registration Selma, Alabama: 50%+ African American Population 1% African American Registered Voters March in Selma (to demonstrate violence): March 1965  MLK arrested Johnson sends Voting Rights Bill to Congress  Results in violence Selma-Montgomery March  Marchers meet violent resistance from local law enforcement  Americans across the country watch in horror  MLK Jr. organizes corresponding Ministers’ March  LBJ sends National Guard, FBI, and federal troops to protect marchers  25,000 marchers reach Montgomery Voting Rights Act of 1965: August

14. Resistance to Civil Rights George Wallace Southern Democrat 45 th Governor of Alabama, served 4 terms  “stand in the schoolhouse door”  Blocked entry to Univ. of Alabama  Blocked entry to elementary schools  Ordered state troops to Birmingham during the 1963 march Lost the Presidency 4 times  1965:Primary vs. Kennedy  1969:Ran as independent  1973:Democratic primary  Survived assassination attempt  1977 : Democratic primary Infamous Quotes: “In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” (1963 inauguration) "The President wants us to surrender this state to Martin Luther King and his group of pro-Communists who have instituted these demonstrations."

15. Differing Views of How to Achieve Civil Rights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4PqLKWuwyU Necessary Violence: e.g. Robert Williams “The Southern brute respects only force.” “Non-violence is no repellent for a sadist.” Petitioning has not led to results; violence has History shows that patience does not yield results like violence Black Power: e.g. Malcolm X Separate, rather than integrate Blacks have a right to retaliate against whites with aggression Militant civil rights policies (Malcolm X later changed his views and sought to work with whites; he was assassinated)

16. Non-Violence Inspired by:  Jesus  “turn the other cheek”  Henry David Thoreau:  Civil Disobedience (1849): People should not allow a government to override their moral consciousness  Mahatma Gandhi  defied British tyranny through non-violent civil disobedience Martin Luther King, Jr.  Baptist preacher  Civil Rights Worker  1955: Bus Boycott  1957: Southern Christian Leadership Conference  1963: March on Washington (“I have a dream”)  Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1964)  Advocated end to poverty and war in Vietnam  Assassinated April 4, 1968

17. Martin Luther King, Junior: In Memoriam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w61QB8_KOuc&feature=player_embedded