U S History Unit 9 Liberty Justice for
U. S. History Unit 9 – Liberty & Justice for All – Civil Rights Movement Chapter 20, Sections 3 – Great Society & Chapter 21 – Civil Rights
THE GREAT SOCIETY • A fourth-generation Texan, Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) entered politics in 1937 as a congressman • Johnson admired Franklin Roosevelt who took the young congressman under his wing • Johnson became a senator in 1948 and by 1955 he was Senate majority leader Senator Johnson pictured in 1958
JOHNSON’S DOMESTIC AGENDA • As soon as Johnson took office, he urged Congress to pass the tax-cut bill that Kennedy had sent to Capital Hill • The tax cut passed and $10 billion in cuts took effect
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 • In July of 1964, LBJ pushed the Civil Rights Act through Congress • The Act prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin, and granted the federal government new powers to enforce the law LBJ signs the Civil Rights Act as Martin Luther King watches
VOTING RIGHTS ACT 1965 • Part of the Civil Rights Act was to insure voting rights for all Americans. • The act prohibited literacy tests or other discriminatory. practices for voting • The act insured consistent election practices. "By the way, what's the big word? "
THE WAR ON POVERTY • Following his tax cut and Civil Rights Act successes, LBJ launched his War on Poverty. • In August of 1964 he pushed through Congress a series of measures known as the Economic Opportunity Act. • The Act provided $1 billion in aid to the inner city.
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY ACT THE EOA legislation created: • The Job Corps. • VISTA (Volunteers in service to America). • Project Head Start for underprivileged preschoolers. • The Community Action Program which encouraged the poor to participate in public works program. Project Head Start is still going strong
THE 1964 ELECTION • In 1964, the Republicans nominated conservative senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona to oppose Democrat Lyndon Johnson. • Goldwater opposed LBJ’s social legislation. • Goldwater alienated voters by suggesting the use of nuclear weapons in Cuba and North Vietnam.
LBJ WINS BY A LANDSLIDE • LBJ won the 1964 election by a landslide. • For many it was an anti. Goldwater vote. • Many Americans saw Goldwater as a War Hawk. • The Democrats also increased their majority in Congress. • Now Johnson launched his reform program in earnest.
LBJ easily defeats Goldwater in ‘ 64
BUILDING THE GREAT SOCIETY • In May of 1964, LBJ summed up his vision for America in a phrase: “The Great Society. ” • By the time he left the White House in 1969, Congress had passed 206 of LBJ’s Great Society legislative initiatives.
EDUCATION • Johnson considered education “the key which can unlock the door to the Great Society. ” • The Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided $1 billion to help public schools buy textbooks and library materials. • This Act represented the first major federal aid package for education ever.
HEALTHCARE • LBJ and Congress enhanced Social Security by establishing Medicare and Medicaid. • Medicare provided hospital insurance and low-cost medical care to the elderly. • Medicaid provided health benefits to the poor.
HOUSING Weaver • LBJ and Congress appropriated money to build 240, 000 units of low-rent public housing; established the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and appointed the first black cabinet member, Robert Weaver, as HUD’s first leader.
IMMIGRATION REFORM • The Great Society also brought reform to immigration laws. • The Natural Origins Acts of the 1920 s strongly discriminated against immigration by those outside of Western Europe. • The Immigration Act of 1965 opened the door for many non-European immigrants to settle in the U. S.
THE ENVIRONMENT • LBJ also actively sought to improve the environment. • The Water Quality Act of 1965 required states to clean up their rivers and lakes. • LBJ also ordered the government to clean up corporate polluters of the environment.
CONSUMER PROTECTION • Consumer advocates also made gains during the 1960 s. • Major safety laws were passed in the U. S. auto industry and Congress passed the Wholesome Meat Act of 1967. • LBJ said, “Americans can feel safer now in their homes, on the road, and at the supermarket. ”
SUPREME COURT REFORMS SOCIETY, TOO • Reform and change were not limited to the Executive and Legislative branches. • The Judicial Branch led by the Supreme Court and Chief Justice Earl Warren did much to protect individual rights. Warren
WARREN COURT AND SUSPECT’S RIGHTS • In Mapp v. Ohio (1961) the Supreme Court ruled that illegally seized evidence could not be used in court. • In Escobedo v. Illinois the court ruled that the accused has the right to have an attorney present when questioned by police. • In Miranda v. Arizona the court ruled that all suspects must be read their rights before questioning.
IMPACT OF GREAT SOCIETY • The Great Society and the Warren Court changed the United States. • No president in Post-WWII era extended the power and reach of the federal government more than LBJ. • The War on Poverty helped the Civil Rights initiative make a difference and the massive tax cuts spurred the economy.
THE SEGREGATION SYSTEM • 1896 Supreme Court, in Plessy v. Ferguson, ruled “separate but equal” law did not violate 14 th Amendment. • States throughout nation, especially in South, passed laws known as Jim Crow Laws. • Laws separated the races (schools, streetcars, waiting rooms, elevators, restrooms, etc…) • Prevented interracial marriages between blacks and whites.
DEVELOPING CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT • WWII set stage for civil rights movement: • 1 st – demand for soldiers created a shortage of white male laborers. • 2 nd – nearly 1 million African Americans served in the armed forces. • 3 rd – organizations campaigned for African American voting rights & challenged Jim Crow Laws. In response, FDR issued directive prohibiting racial discrimination by federal agencies and companies working for govt.
CHALLENGING SEGREATION IN COURT • Desegregation campaign was led largely by NAACP. • NAACP lawyers and Thurgood Marshall (future Supreme Court Justice) won 29 out of 32 cases argued before the Supreme Court. • Marshall’s most stunning case was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Father of 8 year old Linda Brown challenged school district when his daughter shouldn’t have to go to an all black school 21 blocks away when an all white school was only 4 blocks away.
CRISIS IN LITTLE ROCK • Governor of Arkansas showed support for segregation and ordered the National Guard to turn away the “Little Rock Nine” – 9 African American students who volunteered to integrate at Central High School. • President Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and ordered a 1, 000 troops into Little Rock to protect the “Little Rock Nine” teenagers while attending class.
CRISIS IN LITTLE ROCK • At the end of the year, Governor of Arkansas shut down Central High rather than let integration continue. • Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The law gave the attorney general greater power over school desegregation. It also gave federal govt jurisdiction over violations of African American voting rights.
ROSA PARKS • Dec 1955, Rosa Parks took a seat in the front row of the “colored” section of a Montgomery, Alabama bus. • As the bus filled up, the driver ordered Parks and three other African Americans passengers to move and make room for a white man. • Parks refused to move and was arrested.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. • Doctor King started his movement on civil rights as the elected leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association. • King’s brand of protesting, through non-violent resistance, “soul force”. His teachings came from many different people: • Love one’s enemies – Jesus. • Civil disobedience/refusal to obey unjust laws – Henry David Thoreau. • Massive demonstrations – A. Phillip Randolph. • Resist oppression without violence – Gandhi.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. • In 1957, MLK joined with, and became president of, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to “carry on nonviolent crusades against evils of second class citizenship. ” • SCLC planned to stage protests and demonstrations throughout the South.
DEMONSTRATING FOR FREEDOM • Chicago – 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) staged the first sit-in, where African American protesters sat down at segregated lunch counters and refused to leave until they were served. • By late 1960, students had descended on and desegregated lunch counters in some 48 cities in 11 states. • Student protesters endured arrests, beatings, suspension from college, tear gas, and fire hoses but the army of nonviolent students refused to back down.
RIDING FOR FREEDOM • Civil rights activists took two buses across the South to test the Supreme Courts decisions to ban segregated seating on interstate bus routes and segregated facilities in bus terminals. Activists were know as freedom riders. • Many freedom riders, black and white activists, were beaten, and one bus was set on fire.
STANDING FIRM • 1962 - Ole Miss University, veteran James Meredith was blocked from registering as a student by Governor Ross Barnett. Federal marshals were ordered to escort Meredith to the registrar’s office. Riots broke out that night with two deaths. • 1963 – University of Alabama, troops were sent in to force Governor George Wallace to honor a court order desegregating the school.
MARCHING TO WASHINGTON • Aug 1963, over 250, 000 people, including 75, 000 whites, converged on Washington DC to demand immediate passage of civil rights bill. • At Lincoln Memorial, MLK gave his famous speech “I Have a Dream. ”
I HAVE A 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 my four little 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 that one day the state of Alabama … 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. ”
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT • Three months after MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech President JFK was assassinated in Dallas. • Seven months later, July 1964, President LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination because of race, religion, national origin, and gender. It gave all citizens the right to enter libraries, parks, washrooms, restaurants, theaters, and other public accommodations.
FIGHTING FOR VOTING RIGHTS • Right of African Americans to vote remained elusive. • 1965, MLK and 600 protesters marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. That night, mayhem broke out and more protesters poured into Selma. In two weeks, over 25, 000 protesters marched again for Montgomery with federal protection. • Congress finally passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that eliminated the so-called literacy tests.
NEW LEADERS VOICE DISCONTENT • Protesters who rioted were urged by leaders like Malcom X, to take complete control of their communities, livelihoods, and culture. He preached that whites were the cause of the black condition and that blacks should separate from white society. • In 1966, Oakland, CA. , the Black Panthers were established to fight police brutality in the ghetto. Dressed in black attire they preached self-defense and sold copies of writings of Mao Zedong.
KING’S DEATH • April 1968, King stood on his hotel balcony, in Memphis, TN, and was shot and killed by James Earl Ray. • Rage over King’s death led to the worst urban rioting in U. S. history. Over 100 cities exploded in flames.
LEGACY OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT • LBJ appointed the Kerner Commission to study the causes of urban violence. Main cause was white racism. Report said, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal. • Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which ended discrimination in housing. • To help equalize education and job opportunities, the govt began to promote affirmative action.
- Slides: 39