united states history
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CHAPTER 31:THE CIVIL RIGHTS
MOVEMENT
United States History
Nonviolent Protest and Action
With the help of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was formed to end discrimination through nonviolent means
Members of the SCLC took it one step further by organizing sit-ins Sit-ins involved sitting down in places and refusing to move Many organizers of sit-ins formed the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Protesters were met with violence and were not protected by
local police In fact, many protesters were arrested for their sit-ins
As a result of the work of the SCLC and SNCC, many restaurants across the South integrated
Nonviolent Protest and Action
Freedom riders Organized people to ride busses across the South to show the
discrimination still taking place One of two busses were firebombed just across the state line in
Alabama The other bus met violence in Birmingham and Montgomery President Kennedy was reluctant to help at first, but eventually
sent federal marshals to protect the ridersUniversity of Mississippi
James Meredith, a black college student, was granted a court order to enroll in Sept. 1962
The governor personally prevented Meredith from registering, with riots breaking out on campus
Eventually, Meredith registered and graduated from Ole Miss in 1963
Nonviolent Protest and Action
Birmingham, AL Site of brutal squelching of protests in May 1963 Hundreds were arrested for peaceful protest The city’s police turned dogs, nightsticks, and fire hoses on
the protesters Newspapers and television captured the violence, horrifying
the entire nation The event finally convinced JFK to enact legislation, but he
was assassinated before he could actThe March on Washington
August 28, 1963 200,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in DC Site of MLK’s famous “I have a dream…” speech
Civil Rights Act of 1964
While many protests were gaining momentum for the cause, any passage of a civil rights law in 1963 looked grim Four young black girls were killed in a church bombing in
Birmingham in Sept. 1963 JFK was assassinated in Nov. 1963
However, LBJ strongly supported passage of a lawSouthern representatives and senators tried hard to
block the billThe Civil Rights Act of 1964 went into effect on July 2,
1964 Banned discrimination in employment and public places Opened up school integration and enforcement and some voting
restrictions
Voting Rights
Voting rights were another sticking point in the movement
Mississippi was especially terrible at denying voting rights Blacks were denied the right to vote through literacy tests,
poll taxes, grandfather clauses, etc. Robert Moses of the SNCC went to MS in 1961 to register
blacks to vote, however was met with violence and arrestsTwenty Fourth Amendment
Passed in 1964 Outlawed the poll tax as a requirement of voting
registration
Freedom Summer
After the passing of the 24th Amendment, the SNCC, with the help of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) organized voter registration drives throughout the South
Violence met the volunteers Three workers, Andrew Goodman, a black man, and two white men,
James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, disappeared on June 21, 1964 Their bodies were found 6 weeks later in a shallow grave This discouraged many from registering
Selma, AL In 1965, MLK organized a march from Selma to Montgomery in
protest to voting rights violations Police beat many of the marchers Shocked Americans flooded Montgomery and LBJ called for a voting
rights law
Voting Rights Act of 1965
After the violence of Selma and countless other acts in the South, Congress set out to protect voting rights
In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passedAll voting registration was placed under
federal controlFederal observers moved into the South to
oversee registration of black votersBlack registration skyrocketed
Alabama: 57% by 1968 Mississippi: 59% by 1968, up from 7% in 1964
Challenges to the Movement
Not all protest and organization was peacefulSome organizations preached violence “by any
means necessary” and black supremacyThe most notorious of organizations was the Nation
of Islam Called for a separate black nation within America Malcolm X was its most well known member
Born Malcolm Little in 1925 Became a member of the Nation of Islam while in prison,
released in 1952 Criticized the nonviolent means of MLK and other leaders However, began to change his views after a trip to Mecca in 1964 Assassinated in Feb. 1965 by disgruntled black Muslims
Malcolm X
Black Power & the Black Panthers
Many began to question the nonviolent nature of the movement overall
Some called for a separate black society, rather than integration Known as Black Power Instilled a sense of pride in being black, as well as
separationThe Black Panthers were created based on the idea
of Black Power Political party movement for blacks Provide subsistence for the black community Create self defense organizations against racist police
oppression
The Struggle Continues…
MLK continued to urge nonviolent protest He took the fight to the North, particularly Chicago Violence broke out in Chicago and the suburbs in response to
marches In August 1965, in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, riots
broke out, killing dozens and injuring thousands Detroit was the worst in 1967, with 43 dead and millions in damage
King organized a Poor Man’s Campaign to march on Washington in protest to social program money being diverted to Vietnam
Tragically, on April 4, 1968, MLK was gunned down by a sniper James Earl Ray was found guilty of the murder Riots erupted in cities across the country after the assassination
The Struggle Continues…
White opposition continued to plague the movement Busing: Several cities ordered desegregation by busing students to
other neighborhoods Protests erupted in many cities, especially Boston The Supreme Court struck down the required busing in 1974
Affirmative action: act of giving preference to women and minorities in hiring and schooling to make up for past discrimination Many argued that it was “reverse discrimination” Quotas were used often to fill positions In 1978, Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke ended quotas after Alan Bakke argued that
he was unfairly denied admission to medical school However, the movement had many great successes
Blacks became more politically active, winning elections and voting more
More blacks began to own businesses and attend college Salaries increased for black workers
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