Chapter 23 The Civil Rights Movement 1945 1975

Chapter 23 The Civil Rights Movement 1945 -1975

The Beginnings ● ● Civil rights act of 1875 – outlawed segregation in public facilities. Was found unconstitutional in 1883 by the all white Supreme Court De facto segregation – in customs (default) and prevalent up North 1 De jure segregation – by law and common in the South 2

THE FIRST STEPS Plessy v Ferguson – Supreme Court upheld separate but equal doctrine – not a violation of 14 th amendment 3 States made Jim Crow laws to separate the races WWII helped set the stage 1) African Americans were able to get jobs 2) African Americans served in the military 3) during the war African Americans fought Jim Crow laws (A. Phillip Randolph) Jackie Robinson was the 1 st AA to play in the majors in 1947 and CORE came out to do peaceful protest ● ●

Thurgood Marshall 4 ● ● ● Lawyer for the NAACP who won 29/32 cases argued before the SC and first AA supreme court (chief) justice. One of the most famous was 5/17/54 in Brown v. Board of Education (Topeka, KS) Chief Justice Earl Warren presided and it affected 12 mil students in 21 states

THE LITTLE ROCK NINE 5 Some places resisted Brown as the KKK reappeared and business’s were boycotted In Arkansas desegregation was happening as the state was the 1 st Southern state to allow African Americans into state universities Gov. Orval Faubus was against it though. 9/57 he ordered national guard to turn away 9 AA students who had agreed to integrate Central High but a fed’l judge ordered them to be let it in. ● ●

Eckford and Massery ● ● ● The NAACP arranged to have 8 of the 9 escorted in but the 9 th, Elizabeth Eckford, went by herself. Eisenhower ordered the national guard and 1 k paratroopers in. This showed the Pres would not allow open defiance of the law

THE BOYCOTT THAT WORKED Rosa Parks – 12/1/55 sat down in the “colored only” section of a bus in Montgomery, AL and a white guy wanted to sit there as the bus filled up. The driver told her to move and she refused. She was arrested. 6 Following this, MLK was chosen to lead the Montgomery Improvement Association and he led 5 k-15 k people to boycott the Montgomery buses for 381 days…as a result, the SC outlawed bus segregation in 1956 ● ●

Martin Luther King, Jr. 7 ● ● Preached non-violent resistance and civil disobedience to unjust laws – “soul force” (inspired by Thoreau) Helped to found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) after the bus boycott… staged nonviolent protests.

SIT-IN: A NEW TYPE OF PROTEST 8 One of the founders of SCLC helped to find the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in April 1960 at Shaw University They started doing sit-ins, which they modeled after CORE, who staged the first sit-in in Chicago in 1942 The famous one that started this new wave was on Feb. 1, 1960 in Greensboro, NC at Woolworth’s restaurant in which four students sat down at the counter and refused to leave until they were served. Sit-ins started spreading around the country and by late 1960, 48 cities in 11 states had desegregated lunch counters. ● ●

FREEDOMRIDERS 9 African American and whites rode in interstate buses into south to test the 1960 SC decision Boynton v. Virginia, which outlawed racial segregation in interstate transportation facilities. 436 Freedom Riders were arrested and the buses were attacked viciously throughout the ride especially in AL where the bus was firebombed. JFK stepped in and MS protected the riders and Fed Trans Com mandated desegregation, but JFK said he wouldn’t step in if “riders” were arrested for disturbing the peace. ● ● ●

James Meredith: A Veteran and a Pioneer ● ● 9/1962 -he won a court case that allowed him to enroll at Ole Miss Governor Ross Barnett refused to let him register JFK ordered fed’l marshals to escort him to register and later to all of his classes 9/30/62 – riots broke = 2 deaths and 200 arrests

Birmingham: and the Famous Letter ● ● MLK came here to help desegregate. May 2 nd, MLK led 1 k AA children on a march into Birmingham – 959 were arrested (“Bull” Conner) May 3 rd, a 2 nd children march, this time they were clubbed, attacked by dogs… Finally Birmingham ended segregation

George Wallace: “Segregation Now and Segregation Forever” 10 ● (D) – the Governor of AL ran as an independent and he was a proponent of segregation and state’s rights. He won 5 Southern states and helped Nixon win in 1972. . . then he got shot and had a “change of heart”

MARCH ONWASHINGTON A. Philip Randolph (labor leader) and Bayard Rustin SCLC asked Americans to March on DC to persuade Congress to pass the civil rights act 8/28/63, 250 k went to the Washington Monument…MLK’s ”I have a dream” speech Civil Rights Act 1964 – just less than a year later, it was passed prohibiting discrimination and gave the fed’l gov’t the right to enforce desegregation of schools (it was filibustered for 80 days). . . LBJ got it passed in JFK’s memoriam. 11 ● ● ●

Freedom Summer + Voting Rights Act of 1965 12 ● ● Groups began traveling the South, registering blacks to vote in hopes Congress would pass a voting act. Congress passed and Johnson signed the voting right act the following year which outlawed the literacy test and the % of AA registered to vote tripled in the South

Getting rid of the rest of Jim Crow ● ● ● 24 th amendment – abolished the poor tax and gave everyone the right to vote in primaries 13 Baker v Carr and Reynolds v Simms limited racial gerrymandering. . . ”one man one vote” Despite this, Race riots sprang up around the country – in 1967 riots and violence took place in over 100 cities.

Malcolm X 14 ● ● While in jail, he started practicing the Nation of Islam for Black Muslims. He then preached blacks separatism, w/ violence if necessary After going to Mecca, he decided that blacks should 1 st try the “Ballot” and peace He was killed in 2 -21 -65 while speaking in Harlem by N. O. I.

STOKLEYCARMICHAEL AND BLACK POWER 15 June 66 – Meredith started walking from TN border to Jackson, MS but was attacked MLK and Carmichael (heading the SNCC) continued but Carmichael became ok with violence. He was arrested and showed up to the next rally w/ bruises. He urged AA to have black power and stop recruiting whites and to define their own goals. ● ●

Black Panthers 16 ● ● Founded in 1966 to fight police brutality in the ghetto, self sufficiency for AA communities, full employment, decent housing, exempt from military services They had some issues w/the law but established day care centers, free breakfast programs/med clinics, homeless services

MLK’s Death ● ● ● He objected to the Black Panther movement b/c he was against violence 4 -4 -68, MLK was shot by James Earl Ray. . . Memphis “War on Poverty” Over 100 cities had riots