The Civil Rights Movement Part 1 Background and

The Civil Rights Movement: Part 1 Background and the Movement up to 1965 1

What we’ve already learned… #1 13 th Amendment: Outlawed slavery 14 th Amendment: Equality under the law for all citizens 15 th Amendment: Right to vote

#2 Black Codes Laws (esp. the deep South) meant to limit rights of freedmen and to keep them as landless workers Ø Ltd. # of occupations (servants & laborers) Ø Could not own land Ø Could go to jail if no job

#3 Jim Crow laws Purpose: segregation Øhousing ØRestaurants & other public places Øtransportation

#4 Denying Voting Rights Vocab: “Disenfranchisement” Property ownership Poll taxes Literacy tests “Grandfather clause”

New content: Plessy v. Ferguson 1896: U. S. Supreme Court upheld constitutionality of Jim Crow laws ØEst’d. doctrine of “separate but equal”

Voices for equality: Booker T. Washington: learn a trade W. E. B. Du Bois: full & immediate equality Marcus Garvey: never will be equal… “Back to Africa” movement

The NAACP (Nat’l. Org. for the Advancement of Colored People) Est’d. 1909 relied mainly on legal strategies that challenged segregation and discrimination in the courts.

Some Progress… Truman integrates the Armed Forces Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier in MLBB

School Desegregation 1954: the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS, stating racially segregated education was unconstitutional, overturning the Plessy decision. Desegregate the schools! Vote Socialist Workers : Peter Camejo for president, Willie Mae Reid for vice-president. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D. C. ; LC-USZ 62 -101452

Southern whites react: By 1955, white opposition in the South had grown into massive resistance Tactics included: 1. firing school employees who supported integration 2. closing public schools rather than desegregating 3. boycotting all public education that was integrated.

School Desegregation Protesters against integration in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1959 Few schools in the South integrated in the 1 st years following the Brown decision. In Virginia, one county actually closed its public schools. In 1957, Governor Orville Faubus called out the Ark. Nat’l Guard to stop 9 African American students from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. President Dwight Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce desegregation.

Little Rock HS, 1957

KKK reborn…again As desegregation continued, the membership of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) grew. The KKK used violence or threats against anyone who was suspected of favoring desegregation or African American civil rights. Klan terror was widespread in the South during the 1950 s and 1960 s

The Montgomery Bus Boycott Dec. 1955, Rosa Parks, a seamstress, was told to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man. When Parks refused to move, she was arrested. The local NAACP recognized her arrest might rally local African Americans to protest segregated buses. Rosa Parks being fingerprinted, 1955

The Montgomery Bus Boycott The boycott lasted for more than a year In November 1956, a federal court ordered Montgomery’s buses desegregated and the boycott ended in victory.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott Martin Luther King, Jr. Baptist minister Now a national figure 1957: Became president of the new Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC The SCLC encouraged the use of nonviolent, direct action to protest segregation Marches, demonstrations, and boycotts.

Quick Review: Since 1877, Jim Crow laws in the South Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)… “separate but equal NOT unconstitutional” Brown v. Bd. of Ed (1954)…reverses Plessy decision Central HS: Little Rock, Arkansas … federal gov’t sends troops to enforce desegregation Montgomery Bus boycott (1955)…Rosa Parks…MLK becomes nat’l. figure in civil rights movement

The Movement in the Early 1960 s 1960: Greensboro, N. C. Sit-In Refused service at Woolworth’s lunch counter Stayed at the counter ‘til closing time Sparked a wave of similar non-violent protests Led to creation of SNCC

Freedom Riders Civil rights activists target interstate transportation…why? 1961: 2 buses traveling thru deep south I bus firebombed…other attacked by white mob in Birmingham, AL

Birmingham, AL 1963: Activists targeted the city as the “most segregated” city in the U. S. ML King arrested: “Letter From Birmingham Jail” Police Chief “Bull” Connor turned fire hoses and dogs loose on demonstrators JFK now convinced fed. gov’t. had to take more active role promoting civil rights

The March on Washington DC 1963: 200, 000 protested peacefully MLK: “I Have a Dream” speech 1964: Civil Rights Act of 1964

Freedom Summer (1964) Recall: Jim Crow laws denying voting rights SNCC made concentrated effort to register black voters in MISS… 1, 000 college kids (B & W) 3 volunteers murdered by Klan 1965: Congress passed Voting Rights Act Significance? Black participation in politics skyrocketed

Significance? Black participation in politics skyrocketed