Civil Rights Movement 1954 1968 It can be

Civil Rights Movement 1954 -1968 "It can be said of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that, short of a declaration of war, no other act of Congress had a more violent background - a background of confrontation, official violence, injury, and murder. "

“ What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load… Or does it explode? ” – Langston Hughes

Jim Crow Laws

Executive Order 9981

Stirrings of a New Movement • CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) – What were their goals? – How are they different from NAACP?

Brown vs. Board of Education: May 1954 “Does segregation of children in public school solely on the basis of race…deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does…to separate them solely because of their race generates of feeling inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in way unlikely to ever be undone. ” –Chief Justice Earl Warren, argued by Thurgood Marshall

Murder of Emmett Till

“The only tired I was, was tired of giving in. ” – Rosa Parks

Fight to end city bus segregation

The Montgomery Bus Boycott December 1955 “There comes a time when people get tired…of being segregated and humiliated, tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression. We have no alternative but to protest. ” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Little Rock School Integration 1957 “In the present case the troops are there, pursuant to law, solely for the purpose of preventing interference with the orders of the Court. ” – President Eisenhower

The Philosophy of “Passive Resistance” “Through nonviolence, courage displaces fear. Love transcends hate. Acceptance dissipates prejudice; hope ends despair. Peace dominates war. Justice for all overthrows injustice. ” –Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) founding statement

Sit In’s: Greensbor o Four first to start this movement

Swim in’s

Martin Luther King, Jr What qualities does he have that makes him such a well known figure of the movement of passive resistance?

Freedom Rides 1961 The goal of the Freedom Riders was for a mix of white and African American people to ride buses through the Deep South, where interstate bus segregation was illegally enforced, in a hope to be arrested and therefore forcing the Justice Department to enforce laws

Bull Connor: Children’s March in Birmingham, Alabama 1963 As the chief of police of Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1960 s, Bull Connor became a symbol of bigotry. He infamously fought against integration by using fire hoses and police attack dogs against protest marchers. His aggressive tactics backfired when the spectacle of the brutality being broadcast on national television served as one of the catalysts for major social and legal change in the South.

James Meredith: 1962

March on Washington - 1963 “He has seen little children stand up against dogs, pistol packing policemen and pressure hoses, and they kept on coming, wave after wave. So the white man is afraid. He is afraid of his own conscience. ” – Congressman Adam Powell

Civil Rights Act of 1964 …full desegregation of public facilities on the basis of race, creed, or color, a direct result of a decade of “passive resistance”

Selma Marches for Voting Rights: 1965 The Selma to Montgomery marches were three marches in 1965 that marked the political and emotional peak of the American Civil Right’s movement. The call was to call attention to voting rights. The first march took place on March 7, 1965 —the televised live "Bloody Sunday" — when 600 marchers were attacked by state and local police with clubs and tear gas. The second march took place on March 9. Only the third march, which began on March 21 and lasted five days, made it to Montgomery, 54 miles away.

Voting Rights Act of 1965 What restrictions did this law remove at the polls and how did it protect the African American right to vote?

Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee – April 4, 1968

“Black Power” Movement Emerges • Malcolm X: “Blacks should separate from white society” • Stokely Carmichael: “…in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom. No man can give anybody his freedom. A man is born free. “co • Black Panthers: revolutionary political organization founded by Huey Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, California. (Ten Point Plan)

What tactics and philosophies were behind the move away from a decade of non-violent “passive resistance”?

A Republican party electoral strategy to increase support among white Democratic voters in the South by appealing to racism against African Americans. “Southern Strategy”

Essential Question • To what extent were non-violent protests effective in accomplishing their goals? • In what ways did the advent of television help the movement?