The Civil Rights Era

1
The Civil Rights Era

• Student made

2
The Beginning

• Ever since slavery began, there have been racist
  feeling toward the African American race
• The black people were forced to work on
  plantations and considered subhuman and could be
  bought and sold as property
  
  
  With these activities and
  feeling going around, it is no surprise that the
  black people were still harshly discriminated
  against after they were freed
• They were not allowed to vote and didn't hold any
  civil rights
• Even after amendments to the constitution let
  them vote, many scared the brave black voters by
  beating and killing them
• Of course, many black and white people had tried
  to end discrimination but it had never gained
  much support until the early 1950's
• This is around the time that groups of brave
  African Americans held protests and spoke out
  against racists
• Great leaders began to emerge such as Martin
  Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks
• Though the courts, the black people got schools
  unsegregated and bus seats open to anyone

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continuation of The Beginning

• However all of these protests held took a great
  amount of bravery because hate groups such as
  the Ku Klux Klan were trying to scare the black
  people away from anything that would gain them
  equality in society
• These groups, along with angry white mobs,
  violently attacked any African Americans that
  took a stand and fought slavery
• Eventually, the bravery of the black people paid
  of and segregation was abolished
• However, they fight for equality was not over
• The majority of white people still had racist
  feeling against blacks and stopped them from
  getting a good education and a well paying job
• The fight for equality is not over, but with the
  courage of people like Martin Luther King, Rosa
  Parks, and many other, we have come a long way.
• Ku Klux Klan
• Targets mostly blacks but also Roman Catholics
  and Jews
• Marched through towns with their pointed hoods
  making threats against people they disliked
• Burned crosses on lawns
• Beat, mutilated, and killed anyone they
  considered "subhuman
• Bombed black churches and other buildings
• Tried to keep black from voting and try to deter
  and stop all civil rights movements
• Controlled many people through fear

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Important People

• Malcolm X
• His father was murdered by the KKK and his mother
  had a nervous breakdown so he was an orphan
• He became a prominent spokes person for the Black
  Muslims in 1960
• In 1963, when he said the death of president
  Kennedy was like "the chickens coming home to
  roost", he was "kicked out" of the group
• 1964 he founded the Organization of African
  American Unity
• He was on the radio, television, and made public
  apperances to try and gain support and
  revolutionize the way racism was fought
• He was more extreme than other MLK and sometimes
  called other black leaders of being "unwitting
  tools of the white liberals"Rosa Parks
• Famous for staying at the front of the bus when a
  white person told her to move
• She was "tired of being told what to do
• Arrested for her actions
• Her actions resulted in the bus boycott lead by
  MLK

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Continuation of Important People

• Lost her job and had to move
• She worked as a fundraiser for the NAACP
• Before the bus incident she had been a secretary
  for the NAACP
• Had tried to vote before but was deterredDr.
  Martin Luther King Jr.
• Most famous for his "I have a dream speech" in
  which almost 200,000 people attended in 1963
• Before his speech, he founded the Southern
  Christian Leadership Conference which aimed to
  stop racial segregation
• He wanted to have nonviolent ways of fighting
  discrimination61690 In 1959, he studied with
  Ghandi and his principles of nonviolent
  persuasion
• He lead many boycotts, marches, and speeches to
  rally support and end segregation
• One of the most powerful and influential leaders
  in the fight against racism and segregation

6
Segregation and discrimination

• Segregation became a way of life for the people
  in the South
• Colored people were not allowed to use the same
  facilities as the white people (bathrooms,
  drinking fountains, schools etc.)
• Supremacy groups such as the KKK, destroyed Negro
  property and burned crosses to demoralize the
  African Americans
• hardly any African Americans voted due to
  pressure from hateful whites
• Blacks usually lived in the lesser parts of
  town, because they were not allowed into the
  usually nicer white areas
• Little Rock 9 was 9 black students attended an
  all white school, they were viciously attacked by
  their peers Military troops had to assist the
  children school
• KKK members bombed a church on Sunday it killed
  4 school girls
• Black people began to fight back
• 1955-Montgomery Bus Boycott- Rosa Parks refused
  to give up her seat to a white man on a bus she
  was arrested and the Negroes began to boycott
  public buses
• Blacks formed organized sit-ins to negatively
  impact the stores that didnt serve them (blacks)
• Freedom Riders-They were people who traveled on
  buses and emphasized the blacks right to vote
  many were beaten and almost burned to death

7
The Movement

• African Americans eagerly defended themselves
  from segregation
• Martin Luther King Jr. gave speeches to rally up
  fellows citizens, and protest against
  discrimination
• NAACP wins Brown vs. Board of Education-1954
  (Linda Brown)
• 1957- Dr. King forms SCLC (Southern Christian
  Leadership Conference) to help with better
  coordination of civil rights groups
• In the early 1960s, the groups helped end
  segregation in many restaurants, stores, schools
  and public buildings
• Dr. King made his famous I have a dream speech
• Blacks begin to make improvements in governmental
  and social status
• Jackie Robinson became the first African American
  professional baseball player-1947
• 1950-Ralph J. Bunche was the first African
  American to win the Nobel Peace Prize
• 1967-Thurgood Marshall-he was first black Supreme
  Court Justice
• Discrimination and segregation finally began to
  clear