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Civil Rights
Freedom Now!
Sit-Ins
• Success of Bus boycott & influence of non-violent resistance inspired sit-ins
• 1st sit-in was Feb. 1960 in Greensboro, NC – 4 students launched the sit-in after ordering coffee at
Woolworth’s counter– They were denied service but stayed until store
closed– The next day they returned with more protestors– Hundreds of protestors by first week
Sit-in successes
• Sit-ins were successful overall– Why?– They continued despite arrests & violence– *It marked shift in civil rights movement– Showed African American impatience with
slow pace of change– *Student Nonviolence Coordinating
Committee (SNCC) formed
Freedom Rides
• CORE planned nonviolent rides 1961– Dec. 1960 Supreme Court
ordered bus facilities open to all (but this was not enforced)
– CORE sent Freedom Riders through South
– At each stop, riders checked compliance
– Initially only mild harassment
– Riders were arrested for using white only facilities
Results of the Freedom Rides
• Results– May 1, busses swarmed by mob in Alabama >
firebombed bus & beat riders as they escaped– In Birmingham, people hit riders with baseball
bats & metal pipes > 1 permanently damaged– *NO POLICE ever arrived to help – Robert Kennedy sent in federal marshals
Integrating Higher Education
• NAACP worked to get universities open through courts – Univ. of Mississippi was forced to admit
James Meredith– Sept. 1962 he arrived protected by 500
marshals– He was met by a mob of 2500– Meredith graduated in 1963 with limited
friendly experiences
James Meredith
Effects of Higher Education
• JFK’s Response– JFK went on TV to reprimand Mississippi for
escalating violence– “The eyes of the nation & the world are upon
you”– In June 1963, Gov. of Alabama George
Wallace physically blocked 2 students from enrolling
• With a court order however, Wallace stepped aside
Albany Movement
• Albany, Georgia– *This was a battleground
for civil rights– More than 500 protestors
jailed– MLK Jr. was invited to lead
more demonstrations > arrested
– Their tactic was to fill the jails
– Leaders refused to negotiate with MLK Jr so he left > major defeat
– *MLK Jr. learned he would only participate in his own-organized events
Birmingham Campaign
• Birmingham, Alabama– Known for strict
segregation– 1963 MLK Jr. jailed > Here
he wrote his “Letter from jail”
– Used kids as demonstrators
– 900 arrested > effect?– Eugene “Bull” Connor
(police chief) used fire hoses & dogs to break up protestors
– Seen on TV > *Changed nations’ perception
Assassination of Medgar Evers
• Medgar Evers was the head of the Mississippi NAACP– Evers was one of the most effective Civil Rights
leaders– In 1963, he was shot in his front yard– Police arrested KKK member Byron De La Beckwith– 2 all-white juries failed to reach a verdict in 2 trials so
he went free– 30 years later, De La Beckwith was tried again & at
age 73 in 1994, he was convicted & sentenced to life in prison
March on Washington• August 1963
– To build support for the civil rights movement, leaders planned a march at the capital
– 200,000 people attended– One of largest demonstrations
ever– *MLK Jr. “Dream Speech”
• “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up & live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal’… I have a dream that my 4 children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character. I have a dream today!”
March on Washington
Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Kennedy wanted to pass an act ending discrimination in public areas– After the March on Washington, LBJ
supported a strong civil rights bill– Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination
in employment & in public accommodations
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