Civil Rights Movement

1
The Civil Rights Movement

• Lesson 8

2
The Segregated South

• Part I

3
The Segregated South

• Reconstruction 1865-1877
• End of slavery.
• New opportunities.
• By the end, new opportunities were disappearing.
• Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes
• Removed federal soldiers from state houses.
• Louisiana
• South Carolina
• Left African-Americans to the mercy of former
  Confederates.

4
The Segregated South

• Jim Crow Laws
• Discriminatory and segregationalist laws.
• Widespread throughout the South.
• 9/10 African-Americans lived in the South.
• Goals of Jim Crow
• To impose strict segregation on southern society.
• To prevent any appearance of social equality.
• State after state enacted new laws of
  segregation.
• U.S. Supreme Court (Plessy v. Ferguson) supported
  segregation.

5
The Segregated South

• Southern states enacted new literacy tests and
  property qualifications for voting.
• Poor whites still allowed to vote.
• Lynching became common.
• As did white on black violence.
• Very small black middle class arose
• Entrepreneurs
• Professionals.
• Most African-Americans restricted to agricultural
  work or menial jobs in cities.

6
African American Leaders

• Influential leaders
• Booker T. Washington
• Born in slavery (1856).
• Educated at Freedmens school.
• Supported racial accommodation.
• Economic improvement.
• Self-reliance.
• Large African-American following.
• Business.
• Worked to open schools for African-American
  children.

7
African American Leaders

• Influential leaders
• W.E.B. Du Bois
• Alternative to Booker T Washington.
• Critical of Washingtons alleged acceptance of,
  the inferiority of the Negro.
• Blacks must fight for
• Civil equality.
• Higher education.
• 1905 Niagara Movement
• Promoted racial integration, civil, and political
  rights for African Americans.
• 1910 National Association for the Advancement of
  Colored Peoples (NAACP).

8
African American Leaders

• NAACP
• Struggle to overturn legal and economic barriers
  to equal opportunity for African Americans.
• Segregation continued.
• World War I
• Segregated units.
• Barred from Marines and the Coast Guard.
• Restricted to working as cooks, laundrymen, etc
  in the Army.
• Endured humiliating and violent treatment.
• Opposed by northern and southern troops.

9
African American Leaders

• World War II
• 2.5 million African-Americans served.
• Army.
• Air force.
• Navy.
• Marines.
• Coast Guard
• African Americans served with distinction and
  made valuable contributions to the war effort.

10
Civil Rights After WWII

• Civil Rights gained national attention.
• Black voters switched from Republican to
  Democrat.
• Why?
• The Depression, Roosevelt, and the New Deal.
• Affirmation of New Deal policies.
• New Deal policies had positively affected African
  Americans.
• Gain employment and various forms of relief.
• Supported the party of the New Deal.
• Roosevelt administration had more
  African-Americans than any previous
  administration.

11
Legal Challenges to Segregation

• Thurgood Marshall
• NAACP
• Legal Defense and Education Fund.
• Mounted legal challenges to segregation.
• Morgan v. Virginia (1946).
• Supreme Court used the interstate commerce clause
  to declare segregation on interstate buses
  unconstitutional.
• The Court also struck down
• All-white primaries, racially restrictive
  housing, and the exclusion of African-Americans
  from graduate schools and law schools.

12
Legal Challenges to Segregation

• Rulings often not enforced.
• Limited real improvements.
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
• Separate but equal.
• Violence common
• Against African-Americans who voted, pushed for
  change, or behaved inappropriately towards
  whites.
• Emmett Till.
• All white jury acquitted Tills killers.

13
Separate But Equal

• Daily realities for African Americans
• Poverty.
• Legally sanctioned segregation (de jure).
• Daily racism (de facto).
• Segregation a national problem
• South.
• D.C.
• West.
• Mid-West.
• Legal victories were minor victories.

14
Separate But Equal

• 1954 Brown v. Board of Education.
• Topeka, Kansas.
• Oliver Brown sued to allow his daughter to attend
  a nearby white school.
• Kansas courts rejected his lawsuit because of
  nearby African American schools fulfilled
  separate but equal.
• NAACP appealed to the Supreme Court.
• Thurgood Marshal, lawyer.
• Separate but unequal.
• Unequal financial resources, quality and number
  of teachers, physical and educational resources.

15
Separate But Equal

• 1954 Brown v. Board of Education, cont
• Marshall referred to the psychological impact of
  separate but equallow self esteem.
• 1952 Court unable to rule.
• 1954 Supreme Court heard the case again.
• Chief Justice Earl Warren
• separate educational facilities are inherently
  unequal.
• 1955 Court gave primary responsibility to local
  school boards.
• They should enforce the ruling with all
  deliberate speed.
• Lower federal courts to monitor progress.

16
The Reaction

• African Americans and liberals hailed the
  decision.
• Southern whites vowed to resist integration by
  all possible means.
• Virginia passed a law closing integrated schools.
• Southern congressional representatives issues the
  Southern Manifesto
• Pledged to oppose the Brown ruling.
• Eisenhower refused to support ruling.

17
Little Rock

• Little Rock, Arkansas
• Central High School.
• Scheduled to integrate in 1957.
• Parents opposed integration.
• Governor (Orval Faubus) opposed integration.
• National Guard ordered to surround school to
  prevent integration.
• Elizabeth Eckford (one of nine) was blocked by
  troops.
• Mob yelled, Lynch Her! Lynch Her!
• Continued for three weeks.

18
Little Rock

• September 20, 1957
• Federal court orders the Governor to integrate
  Central High.
• Governor Faubus removed National Guard.
• Anti-integrationists gathered to prevent the
  Little Rock Nine from entering the school.

19
Little Rock

• September 23, 1957
• Little Rock Nine secretly brought into Central
  High.
• Mobs rushed the school.
• The nine students rushed to cars.
• The integration of Central High School lasted
  three hours.
• Riots Mayor called for federal assistance.

20
Little Rock

• President Eisenhower - Sept. 24, 1957.
• Nationalized the Arkansas National Guard.
• Deployed troops from the 101st Airborne to Little
  Rock.
• To restore order not to integrate schools.
• 1957-1958
• Little Rock High Schools closed to avoid
  integration.
• Cooper v. Aaron (1959) prevented such actions in
  the future.

21
Little Rock

• Little Rock High Schools reopened.
• Integration slowly spread to lower grades.
• Many whites fled public schools.
• Enrolled children in all white private schools.
• Integration of schools slow
• 1965 2 of schools integrated.

22
No Easy Road To Freedom

• Part II

23
Introduction

• 1955
• An important year in civil rights.
• Brown v. Board of Education.
• Lynching of Emmett Till.
• Rosa Parks and Montgomery Bus Boycott.

24
The Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Rosa Parks arrest
• African-American leaders call for bus boycott.
• Submit a list of proposals
• Courteous drivers.
• Hiring of black drivers.
• Equal system of seating.
• Boycott to start on December 6, 1955.
• The day of Parks hearing.

25
(No Transcript)
26
The Montgomery Bus Boycott

• December 5, 1955
• Meeting at the Holt Street Baptist Church.
• Martin Luther King Jr.
• Baptist minister.
• New leader of The Montgomery Improvement Assoc.
• Believed the Church had a social justice role.
• Believed violence/hatred brought only ruin.
• Urged followers to bless them that curse you.

27
The Montgomery Bus Boycott

• December 6, 1955
• Parks trial.
• Found guilty fined 14.00.
• Bus boycott began.
• Bus Boycott
• Police issued tickets to car poolers.
• Insurance companies dropped automotive insurance.
• Acid thrown on the cars.

28
The Montgomery Bus Boycott

• January 30, 1956
• Dynamite thrown on Kings front porch.
• King remains calm and calls for nonviolent
  protests.
• Gayle v. Browser
• Bus segregation unconstitutional.
• The boycott
• Was the start of the nonviolent resistance.
• King wanted to build on its momentum to fight
  segregation nationwide.

29
The Montgomery Bus Boycott

• 1957
• The Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
• SCLC.
• Formed by Martin Luther King Jr. and other
  leaders.
• Backbone of civil rights movement.

30
Sit-ins and Freedom Riders

• Sit-in movement
• Four Carolina AT Students.
• Woolworths Dept. Store, Greensboro.
• Ordered food and told they could not be served.
• Remained until closing.
• The next day, 20 students showed up and engaged
  in the same protest.
• Sit-ins spread throughout the South.
• Supported by Civil Rights Leaders but remained a
  student movement.
• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

31
Sit-ins and Freedom Riders

• Freedom Riders Movement
• James Farmer.
• Depended upon opposition in order to put pressure
  of the President to enforce Boynton v. Virginia
  (integrated buses, trains, and terminals).
• May 1961
• Alabama and Mississippi.
• Anniston, Alabama white mob attacks buses
  injuring several.
• Justice Dept. representative John Seigenthaler
  obtained protection for the riders.
• The protection vanished as the buses approached
  Montgomery.
• Buses attack again. Injured included
  Seigenthaler.
• Seigenthaler deputized local officials to protect
  buses.
• Protestors arrested peacefully.

32
Sit-ins and Freedom Riders

• September 1961
• Interstate Commerce Commission upheld the Supreme
  Courts ruling prohibiting segregation.
• States and local authorities grudgingly accepted
  the desegregation of bus/train terminals.
• On to Birmingham.(next lecture).

33
The Albany Movement

• Segregationalist held their ground where the
  federal government did not step in.
• Mainly in the deep south (Albany, Georgia).
• The Albany Movement
• NAACP and SNCC.
• October 1961
• Thousands of African-Americans marched, sat-in,
  and boycotted (to integrate public facilities).
• Many spent time in jail.
• Peaceful nature of protests and arrests prevented
  an outpouring of national sympathy.

34
The Albany Movement

• December 1961
• Martin Luther King Jr. arrives in Albany.
• Made the city the symbol of the civil rights
  struggle.
• Arrested twice.
• Released quickly to avoid bad publicity.
• The Kennedy administration kept out of Albany.
• Late 1962
• Albany movement collapsed.
• Showed that mass protest without violent white
  reaction and direct federal involvement could not
  end segregation.

35
Election of 1960

• Richard Nixon
• John F. Kennedy
• African American support moved to Kennedy after
  Nixons weak stand on civil rights.
• Kennedy moved towards African-Americans.
• Helped King get released from Atlanta jail.

36
Election of 1960

• Kennedy wins 1960 election.
• Moves slowly on civil rights.
• Appoints segregationists to courts.

37
But For Birmingham

• Part III

38
But For Birmingham

• Birmingham, Alabama.
• History of racial hatred and violence.
• SCLC and Fred Shuttlesworth
• Planned to
• Fill the city jails.
• Boycott downtown dept. stores.
• Enrage Public Safety Commissioner Eugene Bull
  Connor.
• Expected violent white reaction.
• Force federal intervention (remember Albany).

39
But For Birmingham

• Martin Luther King
• Arrived in Birmingham April 1963.
• Carried a manifesto demanding
• End to racist hiring practices.
• End to segregated public accommodations.
• Creation of a biracial committee to oversee
  desegregation.
• Jailed.
• Wrote, Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
• Defending his tactics.
• Called for peaceful civil disobedience.
• Asserted that freedom would never be given.

40
But For Birmingham

• May 3, 1963
• Protestors filled Birminghams streets.
• Sheriff Bull Connors police attacked
  protestors with nightsticks, attack dogs, and
  high-pressure fire hoses.
• T.V. cameras caught it all.
• Thirteen hundred battered and bruised children
  being arrested.
• Horrified the nation.
• Caused many blacks to reject Kings message of
  non-violence.

41
But For Birmingham

• African Americans in Birmingham responded by
  fighting the police with stones and clubs.
• King and other leaders met with white business
  owners who agreed to hire black sales people.
• Did not stop the violence.
• President Kennedy ordered three thousand troops
  to Birmingham to
• Reestablish order.
• Enforce the integration agreement.

42
But For Birmingham

• Events of Birmingham
• Gave civil rights leaders the attention they
  needed.
• Encouraged President Kennedy to fulfill his
  campaign promises.
• Sent Congress civil rights legislation that would
  mandate (require) integration in all public
  places.
• Civil rights leaders organized a March on
  Washington.
• August 28, 1963.
• Martin Luther King address, I Have A Dream.

43
But For Birmingham

• The March on Washington failed to push Congress
  into action.
• Civil rights legislation stalled in committee.
• Southern whites voted to maintain segregation.
• Violence continued.
• Church bombing killed 4 children attending Sunday
  School.

44
The Death of a President

• President Kennedys poll numbers dropped
• Civil rights bill in limbo.
• Growing military commitment in Vietnam.
• President Kennedy visited Dallas, Texas
• Attempt to heal divisions within the Texas
  Democratic Party.
• November 22, 1963 President Kennedy assassinated
  in Dallas.
• Assassination traumatized the nation.

45
The Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson becomes
  President.
• Had not been known as a friend to civil rights.
• Many civil rights activists viewed the new
  president with suspicion.
• Throughout 1964, Johnson took civil rights as a
  mission.
• Traded political favors for Republican backing to
  silence 57 day filibuster.
• Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law (July 2,
  1964).

46
The Civil Rights Act of 1964

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Made it illegal to discriminate for reasons of
  race, religion, or gender in public places and
  businesses that served the public.
• Federal Fair Employment Practices Committee
  (FEPC).
• Created by Congress.
• Empowered the federal government to withhold
  federal funds from institutions that violated the
  law.

47
Freedom Summer

• Election of 1964
• Lyndon Johnson (D).
• Barry Goldwater (R).
• 40 new Democrats enter Congress.
• President Johnson pushed legislation to enact
  his, Great Society.
• War on Poverty.
• Additional funding for education.
• Protection of Civil Rights.

48
Freedom Summer

• President Johnson
• Signed executive order to require government
  contractors to practice non-discrimination in
  hiring and on the job.
• Appointed
• First African-American to the Cabinet
• Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Robert
  Weaver.
• First African-American woman to the federal
  bench
• Judge Constance Baker Motley.
• First African-American to the Supreme Court
• Justice Thurgood Marshall.

49
Freedom Summer

• Civil rights laws did not end discrimination or
  poverty.
• Large pockets of opposition to civil rights
  remained.
• Martin Luther King pushed to change voting laws
• Blacks restricted by poll taxes and literacy
  requirements.
• 24th Amendment banned poll tax.
• 1964 plans to get blacks to the polls.

50
Freedom Summer

• Freedom Summer
• Organized by Bob Moses (SNCC).
• Mississippi.
• Movement to register black voters and cultivate
  black pride.
• Whites/Blacks opened Freedom Schools
• To teach literacy and black history.
• Helped African Americans register to vote.

51
Freedom Summer

• Registering African Americans to vote was
  dangerous.
• June 1964 August 1964
• 35 shootings.
• 30 bombings.
• Three Freedom Summer workers were killed.
• Movement drew national support and registered
  60,000 new African American voters.

52
Selma, Alabama

• Voter registration drive in Selma.
• Sheriff Jim Clark arrested 2,000 protestors.
• King called for freedom march from Selma to
  Montgomery.
• March 7, 1965 Marchers faced fifty Alabama State
  Troopers and mounted forces at Pettus Bridge.
• T.V. cameras witnessed what happened.
• National outrage grew.
• Kings movement gained national support.

53
Selma, Alabama

• Alabama Governor George Wallace.
• Told President Johnson he could not provide
  protection for the marchers.
• President Johnson ordered the National Guard and
  250 federal marshals to escort the protestors.
• March 21, 1965
• March resumed 3,200.
• March 7, 1965
• March reaches Montgomery 25,000.

54
Urban Riots and Black Power

• August 1965 Los Angeles, C.A.
• Drunk driving arrest in Watts became a riot.
• Watts police had reputation for racism and
  violence.
• Riot resulted in 34 deaths and 45 million in
  damages.
• Demonstrated growing willingness of African
  Americans to reject the nonviolence movement.
• Goals over dreams.
• Force would become the tool of choice.

55
Urban Riots and Black Power

• Martin Luther King spoke to African Americans in
  Watts
• They had little use for his dream.
• King was shouted down and booed.
• New voices called African Americans to seek power
  through solidarity, independence, and violence.
• Black Power.

56
Urban Riots and Black Power

• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
• Embraced black power movement.
• New SNCC leader, Stokely Carmichael.
• Moved from biracial, nonviolent to Black Power
  resistance stressing Black Nationalism.
• Independence from white allies and violent
  rhetoric widened the gap between the radicals and
  moderates in the civil rights movement.

57
Urban Riots and Black Power

• Nation of Islam (Black Muslims).
• Founder Elijah Muhammad (1930s).
• Attracted young black males.
• Demanded adherence to a strict moral code.
• No drugs or alcohol.
• Taught black supremacy and separatism from an
  evil white world.
• 1960s Nearly one-hundred thousand strong.

58
Malcolm X

• Malcolm X
• New voice in the civil rights movement.
• Life of drugs, burglary, and pimping landed
  Malcolm Little in prison by the age of 20.
• Read books, took correspondence courses, and
  converted to the Nation of Islam.
• Changes name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X
  (representing the stolen identities of African
  slaves).

59
Malcolm X

• Malcolm X, cont
• Released from prison in 1952 (age 27).
• Became one of the most powerful and respected
  leaders in Nation of Islam.
• Rejected integration with white society.
• 1964
• Changes his beliefs (somewhat).
• Remained Black Nationalist but cooperates with
  other civil rights groups and white allies.

60
Malcolm X

• Malcolm X, cont
• Broke with Elijah Muhammad.
• February 21, 1965
• Murdered in Harlem by three Black Muslims.

61
The Black Panthers

• The Black Panthers
• Organized in 1966 by
• Huey Newton.
• Eldridge Cleaver.
• Bobby Seale.
• Developed school lunch programs.
• Involved in other community activities.
• Heavily armed and willing to use weapons.

62
Death of a Leader

• 1968
• Martin Luther King traveled to Memphis.
• Address striking sanitation workers.
• April 4, 1968
• Shot and killed by James Earl Ray.
• Civic rage in African American communities.

63
Death of a Leader

• Congress passed
• The Civil Rights Act of 1968.
• Outlawed discrimination in the sale and rental of
  housing.
• Gave the U.S. Justice Dept. the authority to
  prosecute those convicted of discrimination.