Civil Rights Movement Test

13th amendment (1865)

abolition of slavery

Jim Crow laws

• inspired by slavery’s black codes

• state & city legislatures - segregated non-white citizens

Reconstruction period

• some 600 African Americans elected as political leaders

• followed by voter suppression (esp in the south)

Disenfranchisement of African Americans

• poll tax

• literacy tests

• grandfather clause

• intimidation

• violence

KKK

• founded by former confederate soldiers in 1865

• Tennessee

Other Organizations like the KKK

• Knights of the White Camellia

• White League

• Red Shirts

Enforcement Acts of 1870-1871

• penalties for interfering in the voting process and authorized the President to employ the army to uphold the act

  • aimed at KK and other similar organizations that attempted to disenfranchise black voters

Brown v Board of Education I (1954)

• 5 cases that challenged the segregation in schools

• representation for desegregation: Thurgood Marshall (NAACP)

• ruled separate but equal as unjust in education

Brown v Board of Education II (1955)

• desegregation of schools should proceed with all deliberate speed

Southern Manifesto (1956)

• reaction to Brown v Board cases - 96 southern congressmen expressed their opposition to the ruling

Little Rock Nine (1957)

• group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School

• followed by the Little Rock Crisis (students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Gov of Arkansas)

• federal assistance needed

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56)

• organizers: ED Nixon (NAACP) & JA Robinson

• boycott ended with Gayle v Browder (1956)

  • segregated buses violated 14th amendment

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

• formed in 1957

• ML King and R Abernathy - founders & most prominent members

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

• founded in 1960

  • after successful Greenboro, NC sit-ins

• distinguished members:

  • John Lewis

  • Fred Shuttleworth

  • Hosea Williams

1st Freedom Ride

• 1947 = Journey of Reconciliation

• sponsored by CORE

• check compliance of supreme court ruling from 1946 banning segregation on interstate buses

Freedom Rides of 1961

• sponsored by CORE (James Farmer = organizer)

• help from NAACP and SCLC

• test compliance with ruling of Boynton v Virginia (1960)

  • expanded the Morgan decision - outlawed segregated rooms, lunch counters, restrooms for interstate passengers

  • 430 riders in total - 300 arrested

  • first riders = John Lewis & James Farmer

• success: ICC passes the decision to desegregate bus and rail stations

Freedom Summer (1964)

• MISSISSIPPI SUMMER PROJECT

• sought to increase black voter registration in Mississippi

  • fell below 16% national average in black voter registration

• Mississippi Voter Project proposed by Bob Moses (director of SNCC)

10 week Freedom Summer campaign

• mass voter registration drives

• creation of Freedom Schools

• community centers

• research programs

• development of a progressive, independent political part - Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDOP)

Council of Federated Organizations (COFO)

• SNCC collaborated with other organizations - CORE and NAACP - to coordinate civil rights groups during Mississippi Freedom Summer

• ¾ of 800 students = white; 300 women; mean age = 21

June 20, 1964

• first wave of recruits = 200

• left for Mississippi from Oxoford, Ohio

• next day:

  • 3 civil right works reported missing

  • bodies foun 6 months later

• lynched (James Chaney, Michael Shwerner, Andrew Goodman - first 2 = CORE workers)

• found in Neshoba County, Mississippi

• KKK perpetrators arrested and all but one released

Civil Rights Act (1964)

• landmark & benchmark civil rights legislation

• protected basic rights of minorities

• ending racial discrimination in employment, education, outlawed segregation in public places, most private business, voting

• ratification of 24th amendment to Constitution - outlawed poll tax (Jan ‘65)

• basis for affirmative action

Voting Rights Act (1965)

• suspended all literacy tests & intimidation at polls

• AL, GA, LA, MS, SC, VA, NC, AK

Civil Rights Act (1968) = Fair Housing Act

• aimed to ban discrimination in housing as private practice & public policy

  • banks, insurance companies, and real estate boards

Nation of Islam (NOI)

• 1930

• traditional Islam with black nationalist ideas and race-based theology

• mocked non-violence movement

• “hate group” - MLK

• separatism + armed self-defense against white aggression

  • E Muhammad & L. Farrakhan

Malcom X

• mocked non-violence

• dismissed aspirations of civil rights leaders as fantasy

• condemned conciliatory style as debasing

• appointed as minister & national spokesman for Nation of Islam

Organizations involved with Brown v Board

NAACP

Organizations involved with Montgomery Bus Boycott

NAACP

Organizations involved with Freedom Rides

NAACP, SCLC, & CORE (main organizer)

Freedom Summer

NAACP, SNCC (main organizer), CORE