Chapter 26: The Civil Rights Movement

What was the 1896 Supreme Court case of Plessy vs. Ferguson?

it upheld segregation under “separate but equal” doctrine

What organization did James Farmer form in 1942?

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

What was CORE and who’s ideas of nonviolent direct action did it embrace?

used nonviolence to fight for racial equality and embraced Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas

What did a 1947 report by the Presidential Committee on Civil Rights (“To Secure These Rights”) call for?

strong federal action to ensure African American equality

What did Truman sign/do in 1948?

executive orders to desegregate federal agencies and armed forces and urged Congress to abolish poll tax & restore the Fair Employment Practice Committee

Who formed the States’ Rights Democratic Party (“Dixiecrats”)?

Southern white Democrats led by Strom Thurmond of South Carolina in 1948

What did the Dixiecrats do?

blocked congressional action on civil rights in 1950s

What was the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)?

union groups with large numbers of minority workers, improved wages and working conditions for Mexican Americans and other minorities

What was the 1947 case of Mendez vs. Westminster School District?

it ruled that segregated schools for Mexican Americans were unconstitutional and laid groundwork for future challenges to segregation

What was the American GI Forum?

formed in 1948 to protest treatment of Mexican American WWII veterans (segregated military cemeteries, for example)

What did Japanese Americans form?

the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)

What did the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) do?

successfully challenged California’s Alien Land Law, which prohibited Japanese immigrants from owning land and allow those immigrants to become US citizens

What was the 1954 Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka?

NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall argued that segregation violated the 14th Amendment and then the Supreme Court declared segregation as unconstitutional

What was the “Southern manifesto”?

signed in 1956 by 101 Congressional members who denounced Brown decision as “abuse of power” and called for “massive resistance” to integration

What happened as a result of the Supreme Court declaring segregation as unconstitutional?

KKK membership soared

What happened in 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas?

nine African American students attempted to enroll at all-white Central High School but white mobs blocked doorways to school and Arkansas governor Orval Faubus sent National Guard to keep “Little Rock Nine” out

What did Dwight Eisenhower do to protect the “Little Rock Nine”?

he sent federal troops to Little Rock and ordered National Guard to protect the nine students and escort them into the high school

What did Rosa Parks do on December 1, 1955?

she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, AL because she violated segregation laws

Who organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

How long did the Montgomery Bus Boycott last and what happened because of it?

it lasted for 381 days until the Supreme Court ruled segregation on public transportation unconstitutional in Nov. 1956

What was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)?

founded by Martin Luther King with other African American ministers to coordinate civil rights activity in the South

What were the 1960 Greensboro, NC sit-ins?

four African American college students sat at a “whites only” lunch counter in quiet protest; students were harassed, beaten, pelted with food for three weeks until restaurant agreed to desegregate

What was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)?

formed in 1960 by Ella Baker to continue protesting; 50,000 participants at sit-ins in 126 cities, with 3600 arrests

What did CORE organize in Summer 1961?

freedom rides

What were the freedom rides?

they happened on Greyhound buses to protest ongoing segregation of interstate buses which Supreme Court had ruled unconstitutional; students rode Greyhound buses throughout the South stopping at bus stations

What happened to students participating in the freedom rides and who helped protect them?

they were attacked at various locations and one bus was firebombed. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (JFK’s brother) dispatched federal marshals to escort and protect freedom riders

What happened to the march MLK organized in Birmingham, AL to protest employment discrimination?

police responded with dogs, water cannons and electric cattle prods; hundreds arrested, including MLK

What was the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”?

penned by MLK which explained why direct action was needed to create change; Americans will either “preserve the evil system of segregation” or side with the “great wells of democracy, the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.”

What did Kennedy promise in June 1963?

 a new civil rights bill and denounced racism & segregation

What was the March on Washington on August 28, 1963?

250,000 activists marched to support Kennedy’s bill, campaign for jobs and freedom, and mark the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and was where MLK had his “I Have A Dream” speech on steps of Lincoln Memorial

Who became president on November 22, 1963 after Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas?

VP Lyndon Johnson (“LBJ”)

What did Lyndon Johnson pledge when he assumed office?

to pass Kennedy’s civil rights bill

What was the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

passed by Congress it outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin & gender, guaranteed equal access to public accommodations and schools, and created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to fight job discrimination

What did the 24th Amendment outlaw?

the poll tax (1964)

What was “Bloody Sunday”?

MLK organized a march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery (state capital) to protest the murder of a voting rights activist and state troopers attacked protestors (1965)

What was the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

banned literacy tests & grandfather clauses, Attorney General could send federal examiners to register voters in any county where registration was less than 50%

What was the outcome of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

in 1960: 20% of African Americans had been registered but in 1970: 62% of African Americans had been registered

What were many civil rights leaders like Stokely Carmichael, Frances Beal, John Lewis frustrated about?

the slow progress of reform and the stubborn resistance by southern whites

What was black nationalism?

many African Americans began supporting it, Nation of Islam which meant wearing African-style clothing, supporting African American-owned businesses, total separation from white society, pride in African American history, and “self-help”: African Americans creating their own community institutions (schools, churches, community centers, etc.)

Who advocated for black nationalism and was the spokesman for the Nation of Islam?

Malcolm X

What were some things Malcolm X advocated for?

militant separatism from white society, self-defense, & aggressive confrontation to police brutality; advocated for uniting poor whites and blacks

Why did Malcolm X break from the Nation of Islam and what happened as a result?

he left in 1964 after pilgrimage to Mecca and  began to work with traditional civil rights groups. February 21, 1965: assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam

What was the Black Panther Party?

created in 1966 by Huey Newton & Bobby Seale in CA and was a militant organization dedicated to protecting African Americans from police violence, empowering black community and self-defense. They opposed the Vietnam War & supported third world revolutionary movements and created free breakfast program for children; testing program for sickle-cell anemia

What was the Young Lords Organization (YLO)?

formed by Jose Jimenez in NY, which sought self-determination (statehood) for Puerto Rico and improved conditions for Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico and the U.S.; inspired by Black Panthers. Fought against slumlords who let apartment buildings become dilapidated and worked to improve access to healthcare for Puerto Rican women

Who was MLK assassinated by on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, TN?

KKK member James Earl Ray

What happened after MLK was assassinated?

rioting in hundreds of US cities

Who founded the United Farm Workers (UFW)?

Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta

What was the United Farm Workers (UFW)?

a union of farm workers in CA who fought for better working conditions & pay for migrant workers that organized nationwide boycott of grapes in support of grape pickers strike in 1965 until 1970 when CA grape growers signed contracts recognizing UFW and their ability to negotiate contracts for grape pickers

Who founded the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF)?

Mario Obledo

What was the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF)?

based on NAACP, it focused on legal issues and fought to protect Mexican Americans from discrimination in housing, education and employment

What was the American Indian Movement (AIM)?

founded by Dennis Banks & Clyde Bellecourt, to address problems of Native Americans, including poverty and police brutality, fought to end relocation programs that forced many Native Americans to move to cities

What was the 1972 March of Broken Treaties?

AIM members seized/ransacked Bureau of Indian Affairs office in Washington, D.C.

What happened in 1973 between AIM and the FBI?

a  71 day standoff at Wounded Knee, South Dakota which ended with a negotiation between the two sides