The Early Civil Rights Movement

The Early Civil Rights MovementThe Early Civil Rights Movement

1954-1957

ObjectivesObjectives1)Examine the lives of African=Americans following the American Civil War.2)Discuss Plessy v. Ferguson and its effects on American society.3)Reflect what segregation would make African-Americans feel like.

African-American lives following ACWAfrican-American lives following ACW• Total U.S. population is

33,000,000o 3.5 million of that were slaves.o 13th Amendment abolished slavery!

• Many Southern states try to restrict African- Americans following the war.o Deny them rights through lawso Ku Klux Klan violence

African-America lives following ACWAfrican-America lives following ACW• Congress responds!

o 1800s, Republican Party = Northern U.S. . Democrats = Southern U.S. .

o Congress passes laws to protect African-Americans.• 14th, 15th Amendment, Civil Rights Acts 1866/1875

• Supreme Court strikes down protection.• U.S. army withdrawn after 1876 election.

o Democrats in South pass Jim Crow laws.

Justice Harlan

African-American lives following ACWAfrican-American lives following ACW• Jim Crow Laws

o De Jure Segregation of Blacks in South from whites.

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)o Separate-but-equal discrimination a-okay so long as everything is

equal.

African-American lives following ACWAfrican-American lives following ACW• Many reduced to share-cropping

o Farming someone else’s land.o Lots of debt, most families are tied to land.

• Constant discrimination and intimidationo No legal protection from violence.o No rights.

• Options?o Migration.o Stay in South.

African-American responses to Jim African-American responses to Jim

CrowCrow• WEB du Bois (1868-

1963)• Stressed full political

equality had to come first.

• Co-founded the NAACP (1909)

• Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

• Accommodated Jim Crow laws.

• Stressed education and economic advancement for blacks.

African-American resistance to Jim African-American resistance to Jim

CrowCrow• National Association for the Advancement of

Colored People (NAACP)(1909)o Used legal system to achieve civil rights.

• World Wars I and II.o Emboldened African-Americans who served as soldiers/worked in

factories.

The Civil Rights Movement BeginsThe Civil Rights Movement Begins• Brown v. Board of Education Topeka. (1954)

o Kansas allowed segregated schools.o Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), banned de jure

segregation in public facilities (schools).

Thurgood Marshall

The Civil Rights Movement BeginsThe Civil Rights Movement Begins• Murder of Emmitt Till (1955)

o 14-year old African-American kid from Chicago.o Went down to Mississippi to visit relatives.o Accused of “Whistling” at a white woman, kidnapped and murdered.

• Murderers acquitted, trial acts as catalyst to change the South.

The Civil Rights Movement BeginsThe Civil Rights Movement Begins• Largely non-violent, active resistance.• Protesters attempt to provoke responses from

Segregationist society.

ObjectivesObjectives1) Infer about Martin Luther King Jr.’s, Rosa Parks’, and Malcolm X’s motivations.

2) Examine the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

3) Compare the Little Rock Nine experience to high school problems today.

The Civil Rights MovementThe Civil Rights Movement• Lots of African-American groups working together

to fight segregation.• NAACP

o Focuses on legal court cases mostly.

• SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)o Organized traditional protests.

• CORE (Congress of Racial Equalityo Organized students for more direct action.

• Black Nationalist groupso Advocated more violent efforts to achieve civil rights.

The Civil Rights MovementThe Civil Rights Movement• Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)

o Bus lines in Alabama segregated by law

• Rosa Parks (1913-2005)o Seamstresso Worked at local NAACP chapter

Montgomery Bus BoycottMontgomery Bus Boycott

• Rosa Parks challenged her arrest.• Local Civil Rights leaders form

Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to boycott.o MLK jr. chosen as leader.

• Martin Luther King jr.o Born in Atlanta, GAo Baptist Preacher, SCLCo Stressed non-violence as best approach.

Montgomery Bus BoycottMontgomery Bus Boycott• Protest lasts for 384 days.

o Supporters carpool/walk instead of taking the bus.o Segregationist supporters attack protestors/arrest them..

• (Dec. 17th, 1956) Supreme Court rules bus segregation unconstitutional.o Browder v. Gayle

• MIA wins!

Little Rock Nine in Arkansas Little Rock Nine in Arkansas

(1957)(1957)

• 3 years after Brown v. Board…o Most school systems still segregated.o Arkansas schools making progress.

• Central High about to desegregate.o AR. Governor Orval Faubus orders National Guard to stop it.

Little Rock Nine in Arkansas Little Rock Nine in Arkansas

(1957)(1957)• AR. Governor orders Natl. Guard to stop

desegregation.o 3 weeks Little Rock Nine barred from entering school

• POTUS Eisenhower orders 101st Airborne in to force school to integrate.

• Result: Little Rock High is desegregated.

Early Civil Rights LegislationEarly Civil Rights Legislation• Civil Rights Movement puts pressure on

U.S.• Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1957

o Very basic, set up commission to investigate voter discrimination.

o Only supposed to last 2 years.o No real enforcement provisions.

• Civil Rights Act of 1960 o Extended 1957’s Commission by several years.