Unit 7 CP United States HistoryCivil Rights Part 1

1950’s, 1960’s, Civil RightsTruman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon

Civil Rights

• Segregation, Jim Crow Laws• Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)• NAACP• Thurgood Marshall• Brown vs. Board of Topeka (1954)• Resistance– KKK– White Citizens Council

Civil Rights

• Emmett Till (1955)– From Chicago– Mississippi– “bye baby”– Not guilty

Civil Rights

• Rosa Parks– Montgomery, Alabama– Bus Boycott (1955-1956)– SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)– MLK Jr.– Supreme Court desegregated busses

Civil Rights

• SCLC & MLK Jr.– Sit ins– Marches– Demonstrations– Non-violence– Civil disobedience– Boycotts– Cripple them economically

Civil Rights

• Little Rock, Arkansas (1957)– Central High School– Governor Orval Faubus– National Guard– Eisenhower– Put National Guard under federal government

Civil Rights

• 1957 Civil Rights Act:• gave the Attorney General greater

power over desegregation• federal government authority over

violations• Use the courts to enforce 15th

amendment

Civil Rights• SNCC (1960)– Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee– Immediate change– Sit ins

Civil Rights

• Greensboro, NC– Woolworth’s sit ins at lunch counters

Civil Rights

• Freedom Rides (1961)– SNCC & CORE– Prohibited segregation in interstate transportation– Washington DC to Jackson, MS– Fire bombed & beaten– Robert Kennedy (Attorney General)– Federal marshalls sent– ICC prohibited segregation, sue

Civil Rights

• SNCC vs. SCLC• MLK believed SNCC to confrontational• SCLC & SNCC joined in Albany, Ga. (1961)– Demonstrations & boycotts– failed

Civil Rights

• Birmingham, Alabama (1963)• “Bombingham”• 16th St. Church• Marches• Children’s March• MLK arrested• “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”• Fire hoses• Police dogs• On television, media attention

Civil Rights

• JFK Acts because of Birmingham• Proposed the 1963 Civil Rights Act• Enforce 14th and 15th amendments• Televised speech• Plans for a “March on Washington”

Civil Rights

• Medgar Evers– Field Secretary of NAACP in Mississippi– Shot in his drive way– “Ghosts of Mississippi”

Civil Rights

• August 28, 1963• March on Washington• Over 250,000• A. Philip Randolph• MLK “I Have a Dream”

JFK

• November 22, 1963• JFK assassinated

Civil Rights

• Johnson gets Congress to pass 1964 Civil Rights Act

• 1964 Civil Rights Act– Prohibited discrimination in employment and

public accomidations (no more Jim Crow)– EEOC– DOJ to enforce laws– US government will protect black voting rights

Civil Rights

• Freedom Summer (1964)– Bob Moses– SNCC– Voter registration– Mississippi– White college students recruited– Schwerner, Cheney, and Goodman– FBI and US military sent in– Shot and beaten– Guility but not of murder

Civil Rights

• Selma, Alabama (1965)– Voting rights– 1st attempt March 7th

• Bloody Sunday• No MLK

Civil Rights

• Selma, Alabama– 2nd attempt– March 21, 1965– 50 miles from Selma to Montgomery– MLK– 25,000 walked 5 days– FBI and National Guard

Unit 7 CP United States HistoryCivil Rights Part 2

• 1965– Johnson proposes Voting Rights Act of 1965– Eliminated literacy tests– US govt. registers to vote (power away from

states)– Twenty-Fourth Amendment – Outlawed the Poll Tax

Civil Rights

• The North (Chicago)• De facto segregation• Where you live• Northern cities• Jobs• Homes• Poverty• Change too slow• SCLC doesn’t work

Civil Rights

• Nation of Islam– Elijah Muhammad– Islamic heritage– A black nation within the United States

Civil Rights

• Malcolm X– Black Nationalism– Separate themselves from white America– Broke away from Nation of Islam– “any means necessary”– Began to work with MLK– Assassinated February 21, 1965

Civil Rights

• Black Panthers– Black Nationalism & violent action– White flight– Inner cities growing– End de facto segregation– Ensure that black rights weren’t violated by racist

cops– Build strong black communities– Fighting poverty– Food programs

Civil Rights

• Poverty– Riots – Violence – Summers of 1965 and 1967– Detroit, Watts, Hough

Civil Rights

• Education– Key to fight poverty– Forced busing – Boston

Where Are We Now?

• 50 year anniversary• De jure segregation gone• De facto segregation still here• 33.9% of children in poverty are black• 24.2% of African Americans live in poverty