Chapter 21

Civil Rights

Section 1

•Taking on Segregation

The Segregation System

Segregation was made constitutional by the case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 stating the case of “Separate but Equal” meaning that segregation was legal as long as equal service was given to all parties.

Many blacks tried to escape Southern racism by fleeing north in the early 20th century only to discover it was the same everywhere

The Segregation System

World War II in many ways set the tone for the Civil Rights movement in 3 ways

The demand for soldiers created a shortage of white laborers in jobs back home in which blacks filled

Nearly 1 million blacks served in the military and due to this the military had to do away with their discriminatory policies

During the war Civil Rights activists actively fought for voting rights for blacks and challenged Jim Crow laws which in turn forced FDR to prohibit discrimination from any agencies and all companies involved in war activities

Challenging Segregation in Court

The desegregation campaign was led mostly by the NAACPCharles Hamilton Houston was a brilliant man who was a Howard

University law professor helped lead the NAACP He Houston had several of his law students train under Thurgood

Marshall in 1938 and over the next 23 years Marshall and his NAACP lawyers that came from Houston would win 29 out of 32 cases argued before the supreme court on Civil Rights

Challenging Segregation in Court

A few of the court cases Morgan v. Virginia – (1946) made unconstitutional segregation

seating on interstate buses Sweatt v. Painter – (1950) stated that schools must allow blacks to

enroll even if their were separate but equal black schools Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, Kansas – (1954) made

segregation at schools unconstitutional.

Reaction to Brown Decision

States reacted differently to desegregation some fought it hard while others did not

Little Rock Arkansas was a key ground for 1 of the 1st fights on segregation as 9 students tried to integrate Central HS in Little Rock, AR and had much resistance

The NAACP got involved to help fight the resistance and tensions got very high in the area

Eisenhower was forced to get the Arkansas National Guard involvedEventually this high school was shut down by locals as opposed to

dealing with desegregation

Montgomery Bus Boycott

December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, AL and was arrested for it.

The NAACP called for a bus boycott due to this arrestBecause of these occurrences the local NAACP leaders formed the

Montgomery Improvement Association to organize the boycott and elected a local pastor named Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to head it up

Martin Luther King and the SCLC

King lead the boycotts and pushed at all cost to continue to protest non-violently

He based his teachings on the teachings of the following: Jesus Henry David Thoreau (a writer that spoke on civil disobedience) A. Phillip Randolph (organizing massive demonstrations) Mohandas Ghandi (nonviolence resistance of oppression)

Martin Luther King and the SCLC

In 1957 following the Bus Boycott he founded the (SCLC) Southern Christian Leadership Conference

This was to carry on non-violent protests towards more civil rights Ella Baker was the 1st director of the SCLC They formed the “snick” or the Student Nonviolent Coordinating

Committee to fight injustices in schools

The Movement Spreads

! Type of protest they regularly had was called a sit in where blacks would sit at segregated lunch tables and refuse to move

These movements began to show up on tv and caused many violent scenes and more and more began to pop up across the country

Section 2

The Triumphs of a Crusade

Riding for Freedom

1961 segregation activists got on a bus to challenge bus segregation hoping people would enact violence against them so they could get the government to enforce the law

In Anniston, AL Bus 2 was attacked by about 200 peopleThe bus company refused to carry the CORE members any farther

after their bus was destroyed so a different bus company agreed to carry them

When they got to Birmingham they were pulled from the bus by the police and beaten and staged a protest by sitting in the white only waiting room in the bus station for 18 hours

Riding for Freedom

Alabama officials promised the Kennedy’s that they would be safe but when the bus reached Montgomery a group of men with lead pipes and bats met the buses and pulled them from the buses and beat them

There were no cops present during this time The country was outraged (which was what the riders wanted) and

these acts got the ICC to eventually ban all segregation from interstate travel facilities

Standing Firm

James Meredith won a federal court case in 1962 allowing him to integrate Ole Miss.

Governor Ross Barnett refused to allow him in and JFK sent federal marshals' to escort him to class

Riots broke out all over campus resulting in deaths and many injuries Birmingham was a place known for it’s strict enforcement of

segregation in public places and so Fred Shuttlesworth led protests in Birmingham to fight this

Standing Firm

MLK and other protesters were arrested in Birmingham and while in jail planned more protests

On May 2, 1963 many protesters marched and Police Chief “Bull” Connor’s men arrested 959 of them.

May 3rd they led another protest and were hosed down with fire hoses in the streets

Eventually through much national pressure Birmingham ended segregation

Standing Firm

Alabama Governor George Wallace took a stand to prevent The University of Alabama from becoming integrated saying “Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”

Wallace stood in the doorways of the U of Alabama until JFK sent the National Guard in to allow Vivian Jones and James Hood to enter the U of Alabama in 1963.

JFK took a stand for Civil Rights bills and shortly after WWII veteran Medgar Evers was killed by a sniper while planning a boycott in Mississippi by Byron de la Beckwith but Beckwith was never convicted

Marching to Washington

A. Phillip Randolph and Bayard Rustin summoned over 250,000 Americans to march on Washington D.C. to get the Civil Rights bills passed on August 28, 1963

This is where Dr. King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech 2 weeks later in Birmingham 4 girls were killed in Birmingham in the

16th street Baptist church bombing 2 months later JFK was killed July 2nd, 1964 LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited

all discrimination for any reason in America

Fighting for Voting Rights

In June 1964 thousands of people in Mississippi went in to register voters to vote and do away with voting discrepencies

3 civil rights workers went missing in Neshoba County Mississippi during this time and it was later learned they were killed by klansmen and local police

Civil Rights activists formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party to give themselves a say in politics and elected Fannie Lou Hamer as the voice of their party in 1964

LBJ afraid he would lose southern democratic votes compromised and gave them 2 seats in their house in order to ban discrimination which in turn angered Hamer after she found out this was done

Fighting for Voting Rights

The SCLC launched another major voting rights campaign in Selma in 1965

Protester Jimmy Lee Jackson was killed in turn prompting Dr. King to lead the 50 mile protest march from Selma to Montgomery

Violence broke out and eventually the Government had to send in troops to escort the marchers to Montgomery

Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed by LBJ in the summer of 1965 which eliminated the literacy test required to be able to vote

Section 3

•Challenges and Changes in the Movement

African Americans Seek Greater Equality

In the North African-Americans dealt with de facto segregation (segregation that exists due to practice and custom.)

This type of segregation is more difficult to deal with than de jure segregation which is (segregation by law) because you have to change peoples attitudes not just a law

“white flight” took place in most cities as whites moved to the suburbs as blacks moved north into the cities

They saw violence from many people in the northern cities especially Chicago

African Americans Seek Greater Equality

Violence between blacks and white police popped up all over the country

1964 violence between black teens and police occurred in New York City which caused a death and then sparked riots in Harlem

August 11, 1965 5 days after the voting rights bill was passed the largest riots in the country broke out in Watts a black neighborhood in Los Angeles

New Leaders Voice Discontent

Malcolm X was a black rights activist that preached violence as opposed to peace like Dr. King preached

Malcolm X (formerly Malcolm Little) went to jail for burglary at age of 20 and while in jail he studied Islam based on the teachings of Elijah Muhammad head of the “Black Muslims”

Malcolm left and went to the middle east and studied Islam at Mecca and when he returned he changed his tune and was more for trying to fight racism with “ballots instead of bullets”

On February 21, 1965 Malcolm X was shot and killed while giving a speech in Harlem

New Leaders Voice Discontent

Stokely Carmichael was a black leader that after suffering from violence while attempting to participate in a walk for freedom

The SNCC workers that were under Carmichael became very militant and under Carmichaels leadership pushed for “Black Power” (a call for black people to define their own goals and lead their own organizations

In 1966 Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded a political party they called the Black Panthers in order to fight police brutality in the streets

They preached self defense and studied the teachings of Mao Zedong the Chinese Communist leader

There was a lot of violence between the black panthers and police over the next few years

1968 – A Turning Point in Civil Rights

April 4, 1968 James Earl Ray shot and killed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a high powered rifle while he stood on the balcony of his hotel

Robert Kennedy the day of his death spoke and made a passionate plea for nonviolence but it instead sparked riots all over the country

Mostly in Northern Cities which were hit the hardest with riots Robert Kennedy was then later assassinated in June 1968 by a

Jordanian immigrant upset over his support of Israel

Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement

March 1, 1968 the Kerner Commission released a report stating the bad situation in our country between blacks and whites and made a call for change and a plea for ways to change attitudes

Civil Rights Act of 1968 was passed which was the most significant form of legislation since reconstruction towards racism

This bill ended discrimination in housing More and more blacks begin to graduate college and advance in

society

Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement

By 1970 2/3 of eligible African American voters were registered to vote

The number of black elected officials grew significantly over the yearsJesse Jackson tried to run for President in 1984 and 1988 By 1996-1997 the white flight had reversed the trend of segregation

as most blacks in cities attended inner city schools with fewer than 10% whites in those schools

Affirmative Action was put into play making special efforts to hire or enroll groups that have suffered discrimination in different fields of profession.