The Civil Rights Movement in the United States

SOL REVIEW MATERIALS FOR UNIT TEN

“Jim Crow” laws in the South – and throughout the United States – created separate schools and public facilities, separating white students from African-Americans, Latinos, or Asian students.

Separate public facilities were created across America, including restrooms, lobbies, restaurant and theatre seating, and water fountains.

Races were isolated from one another socially.

SEGREGATION IN AMERICA

The Supreme Court case of Plessy V. Ferguson (1896) was a ruling which allowed segregation and “Jim Crow” laws to stay in place for more than fifty years.

The ruling stated that segregation was legal, as long as the institutions created were “separate but equal.”

In general, there was plenty of separate, but not very much equal. Facilities for blacks were almost always of a poorer quality.

PLESSY V. FERGUSON

The case of Brown V. Board of Education, Topeka, KS ended legal segregation in the public schools when the decision was announced in 1954.

NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall argued the segregation violated the 14th Amendments “equal protection” clause.

Chief Justice Earl Warren agreed, and segregated schools were struck down by the Supreme Court “with all deliberate speed.”

BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION, TOPEKA, KS

Rosa Parks started the Montgomery Bus Boycott on December 1, 1955 when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on the bus.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

MLK founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference after winning a victory for the Civil Rights Movement here.

The NAACP argued the legal aspects of the case – victorious, again!

THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT, 1955 - 1956

THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT IS VICTORIOUS

The Montgomery Bus Boycott brought together three very important Civil Rights leaders: Rosa Parks, who was arrested, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who led the movement, and Thurgood Marshall, who argued the case against segregation on the Montgomery City Busses successfully.

The Greensboro Four organized the first successful sit-in of a lunch counter in the South. College students – especially members of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) – used this tactic throughout the Civil Rights Movement in order to cause economic consequences to segregationists and racist businesses.

SIT-INS

The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) led the Freedom Rides in the summer of 1961. There goal was to take busses all the way from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans, LA – and to test the laws against segregation on interstate busses. The group met potentially deadly violence along the way, and were subjected to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment along the way. Eventually, members of the group decided to fly to New Orleans.

THE FREEDOM RIDERS

In Anniston, Alabama, the Freedom Riders Greyhound bus was firebombed and it’s tires were slashed by racist mobs.

THE FREEDOM RIDES

Most of the protests which were organized during the Civil Rights Movement were planned ahead of time by organizations that believed in non-violence, civil disobedience, and passive resistance. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was one such group. More prominent, though, was Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) which organized the marches in Birmingham, Alabama and supported the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August of 1963.

ORGANIZED PROTESTS IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

At the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Martin Luther King delivered the “I Have a Dream” Speech and activists demanded the Civil Rights legislation – eventually, the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR JOBS AND

FREEDOM

Martin Luther King delivering the “I Have a Dream” Speech.

“I HAVE A DREAM”

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was established in 1909 by W.E.B. DuBois. The NAACP played a major role in filing legal challenges against segregation throughout the 1950s and 1960s – and most of them were successful, thanks to Thurgood Marshall. They assisted students like the Little Rock Nine in making the transition to integrated schools. The group also played an important role speaking out against racism and violence in the South during the 1950s and 1960s.

NAACP

Passive Resistance: Resistance against law enforcement was a major part of the SCLC and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s strategy to make change in the United States. Although he encouraged people to break unjust laws, King never advocated violence.

Civil Disobedience: Breaking the law in an orderly and organized manner. Often, Martin Luther King organized marches or protests which were called “Unlawful assemblies.” In these cases, he asked his followers to go to jail peacefully and to accept the consequences with the knowledge that “undeserved suffering is redemptive.”

Non-Violence: King advise to respond to brute force with “soul force.” Even when the police or angry racist mobs used violence against African-American protesters, he advised marchers to turn the other cheek.

Christian Beliefs: It is important to remember that MLK was a real Christian Minister – he was strongly influenced by Jesus Christ, Gandhi, and other pacifist theologians.

PRACTICES OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.“…I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice….I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character….I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers….I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

“I HAVE A DREAM…” – A PORTION OF THE SPEECH

TO CONSIDER

Dr. Charles Drew created the blood banking system that allows blood transfusions to take place and saves lives every day. His work was especially vital to helping soldiers survive during the Second World War.

NOTABLE AFRICAN-AMERICANS

Henry Louis Gates is a professor of history at Harvard University and a leading intellectual.

He has authored several books, many of which argue that a Euro-centric version of American history is not an accurate portrayal of the past. Indeed, African-American perspectives – and the perspectives of women and other minority groups are essential to understanding history.

HENRY LOUIS GATES, HISTORIAN AND INTELLECTUAL

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings:

The free bird leap son the back of the windAnd floats downstream ill the current endsAnd dips his wings in the orange sun raysAnd dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks down his narrow cageCan seldom see through his bars of rageHis wings are clipped and his feet are tiedSo he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with fearful trillOf the things unknown but longed for stillAnd his tune is heard on the distant hill, for The caged bird sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breezeAnd the trade winds soft through the sighing treesAnd the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawnAnd he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreamsHis shadow shouts on a nightmare screamHis wings are clipped and his feet are tiedSo he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings with a fearful trillOf things unknown but longed for stillAnd his tune is heard on the distant hillFor the caged bird sings of freedom.

- by Maya Angelou

MAYA ANGELOU

Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law after helping to push the legislation through Congress. The law forbid segregation, discrimination in hiring practices, and other racist practices across the United States. In addition to forbidding racist actions, it also forbid discrimination due to skin color, religion, or sex. It was the crowning accomplishment of both the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Movement of the 1960s.

CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION

In the Election of 1964, it had become apparent that many African-Americans still had a difficult time accessing the ballot in parts of the Deep South. After the Selma March of 1965, when hundreds of peacefully assembled African-Americans were beaten by Alabama State Troopers for simply organizing a demonstration, public support for the Voting Rights Act gained momentum.

The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 to guarantee that all African-Americans were able to vote in national elections. Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the bill into law.

THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965

During the 1960s, women still faced obstacles to advancement and significant disadvantages in the workplace: 1. Discrimination against women in hiring practices was

common, and it was legal until 1964. 2. Companies paid lower wages for women than for men

doing the same job. This is still common practice in the United States.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbid discrimination in hiring practices according to race. It was not only a victory for African-Americans during the Civil Rights Movement, but also for women.

CHANGING ROLE OF WOMEN

Goals of the National Organization for Women (NOW) included equal opportunity and equal pay for equal work. They also supported reproductive rights and women’s health issues. The group advocated for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN

Today, the number of athletic scholarships offered by colleges and universities for men and women is the same, giving female athletes the ability to complete in sports on the college level.

TITLE NINE – EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN

The Equal Rights Amendment, despite its failure, and a focus on equal opportunity employment created a wider range of options and advancement for women in business and public service:

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification

Despite the relative simplicity of this proposed amendment to the Constitution, the Equal Rights Amendment was never passed.

THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT (ERA)