Segregation & The Birth of the Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Movement Basics 1948-1965• Goals:

1. End Segregation2. Secure Voting Rights

• Groups:– CORE: Congress of Racial

Equality– NAACP: National Association

of the Advancement of Colored People

– SCLC: Southern Christian Leadership Conference

– SNCC: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

– Black Panthers only violent group

• Nonviolent Philosophy: Groups organized rallies, marches, sit-ins, protests, and other campaigns. Groups believed in NON VIOLENT protest. Taking a stand but refusing to use violence, even if they were met with violence.

• Leaders:– Martin Luther King Jr.– Malcolm X

Segregation• America was a divided country• Plessy v. Ferguson, segregation was constitutional

under the clause “separate but equal”• De jure segregation- segregation that is imposed by

law (Jim Crow Laws)• De facto segregation- segregation by unwritten

custom or tradition

De jure or De facto?

• No person or corporation shall require any white female nurse to nurse in

wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which negro men

are placed.

• African American’s experiencing higher rates of poverty and illiteracy

• A black man/ boy should not look a white woman in the eyes

• Every employer of white or negro males shall provide for such white or

negro males reasonably accessible and separate toilet facilities.

• It shall be unlawful for a white person to marry anyone except a white

person. Any marriage in violation of this section shall be void

• African Americans could only get low paying jobs

• No colored barber shall serve as a barber to white women or girls

• African American’s being afraid to vote even after the 15th Amendment

DE JURE

DE FACTO

DE FACTO

DE JURE

DE JURE

DE FACTO

DE JURE

DE FACTO

Birth of a Movement• After WWII African Americans were unwilling

to accept discrimination at home• New efforts begin to bring an end to racial

injustice– Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)• Organized protests against segregation in the North

– Truman uses executive power to desegregate the military (1948)

• All of the progress brings more violence to the South

NAACP Challenges Segregation

• The NAACP was the largest and most powerful civil rights organizations

• In the early 1950’s they began to challenge the legality of segregation in the courts– Thurgood Marshall-

famous African American Lawyer

NAACP in Oklahoma

• Ada Lois Fisher– Sued University of Oklahoma for denying her

because of race and won• McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents– Sued Oklahoma state for equal treatment at

universities

Brown vs. Board of Education

• BREAK THROUGH CASE!• “Separate but Equal” was finally being

challenged• The court ruled in favor of Brown and the NAACP

that segregated public education violated the U.S. Constitution

• Public schools around the country would now start to desegregate

• Brown II the court called for schools to do this “with all deliberate speed”

Brown V. Board of Education +Rosa Parks

Arrest= Start of Civil Rights Movement

• Plessy V. Ferguson• Desegregate Military- after WWII• McLaurin v. Oklahoma State• Brown v. Board (1954)

• Rosa Parks and The Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Little Rock Nine; nine young African American students volunteered to enroll at Central High. Arkansas Governor sent the state National Guard to block them from entering. President Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort the nine students for the rest of the year.

• Civil Rights Act 1957- first bill passed since Reconstruction; lacked strength

• Greensboro Sit-In

• Freedom Ride

• James Meredith, federal marshals protected him as he attended University of Mississippi. Riots broke out and President Kennedy responded by saying “Americans are free to disagree with the law but not to disobey it”

• Campaigns in Birmingham; Martin Luther King Jr. chose Birmingham because it had a reputation for being the most segregated city in the South. Marches were against city court order but they protested anyway. Public Safety Commissioner T. Eugene Connor sent police dogs and fire hoses on the protestors. Witnesses were shocked by the violence

1. Why were they campaigning in Birmingham?2. Why can’t they “wait” to end segregation,

give at least five examples of segregation King outlines.

3. How does King justify breaking laws?4. Summarize what this letter teaches you about

the Civil Rights Movement. Motives, goals, heart, plan of action?

March on Washington; 500,000 people march to support Civil Rights. King delivers “I Have a Dream” speech

• Civil Rights Act 1964; signed by president Johnson. This act banned segregation in public accommodations and outlawed discrimination in employment. People were unsure of Johnson’s view on civil rights because he was a southerner with an undistinguished record on racial matters.

• Clash of State vs. Federal rights. The South doesn’t want to give up control and the federal government has to step in and take away some of their rights.

• Roll of television- The abuse of African American protestors is captured on film. Americans around the country begin to support their cause because of the horrors they see.