Civil Rights & Black Power Movement Exam #3 Study Guide

Mississippi Freedom Summer (1964): Purpose

- The goal of Freedom Summer was to demonstrate that Black people had an interest in voting

-White Southerners rationalized disenfranchisement by claiming Black people were uninterested in voting, so organizers decided to demonstrate that if the opportunity was given, black people would engage

-Held a mock election where 70-80,000 African Americans cast votes in their own precincts

Mississippi Freedom Summer (1964): Planning

-Strategy was to recruit Northern White college students to draw national media attention to Mississippi's racial terror.

-Wanted to force a federal response to Southern violence by making White America face the racist realities of the South

-The students (who were primarily white) would stay with and mooch from different homes, specifically during breakfast time to educate families while also receiving a meal

Freedom Schools: Structure

Freedom Schools were held in churches, community centers, and homes

Freedom Schools: Curriculum

Students studied African American history, constitutional rights, critical thinking and were taught to question systemic injustice and envision new possibilities.

Freedom Schools: Outcomes

Freedom schools cultivated a generation of activists. Many students went on to become organizers, educators, and community leaders

Freedom Schools: Song

Students composed songs and stories to document their experience to help them process the trauma, build solidarity, and express their freedom dreams

Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner Murders

-In June of Freedom Summer -- 2 white and 1 black organizer --disappeared from near Philadelphia, MS.

-Sparked massive media coverage, primarily because the organizers were white. Because of their white complexion, the murders became the most covered incident of Freedom Summer

-Ella Baker highlights that America does not value life equally, and that we cannot rest until they do

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP)

Organized primary elections and conventions, demonstrating that Black Mississippians wanted to participate in elections.

Atlantic City Challenge

In 1964, the MFDP sought to challenge the all-White Mississippi delegation at the Democratic National Convention

Legality & Morality on MFDP Side

Legality: Following the rules of the democratic process

Morality: Rejecting violence while pushing for equality

Fannie Lou Hamer: "I Question America"

-Delivered at the 1964 Democratic National Convention

- Challenged the United States' violent suppression of Black Americans trying to vote and denial of basic human rights

-President Lyndon B. Johnson, afraid of losing White Southern support, interrupted the speech.

Two seat compromise proposed and rejected

President Lyndon B. Johnson ensured that the MFDP only had limited success. The National Democratic Party offered the MFDP a mere two seats. The MFDP rejected this compromise, proclaiming "We didn't come all this way for no two seats!"

Political realignment begins: Causes

The National Democratic Party embraced the MFDP and their civil/voting rights platform. Willingness to enfranchise African Americans outraged White Southerners

Political realignment begins: Consequences

-Avid White supremacists in the South began voting for Republicans

-Nixon began this trend campaigning on "law and order" appealing to upset white Southerners

SNCC frustration with the Democratic Party Leadership

Frustrated with the outcomes of the Atlantic City Challenge (2 non-voting seats). Left Mississippi and moved to Alabama with the intent of creating their own independent party (LCFP)

The four "Acts" of Malcolm X's life

Malcolm Little (I), Detroit Red (II), Malcolm X (III), El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (IV)

Malcolm Little

-Son of Garveyites known for organizing for Black nationalism

-Family partook in the Great Migration moving to Lansing, MI. Home bombed by neighbors who did not want to live near a Black family.

-Learned that racism had no borders, specifically after his father was murdered because of his activist work.

-His childhood was further disrupted when his mother was institutionalized and he and his siblings were separated.

Detroit Red

-Malcolm moved to Boston as a teen to live with his older sister

-Got involved in more trouble, committing petty crimes and hustling to survive.

-Chapter of his life was defined by a rejection of white authority, rebellion, and survival.

-"Detroit Red" winds up being sent to prison for 8-10 years for running a burglary that involved a white women

Malcolm X

-Malcolm was mad at the world while in prison the nickname "Satan"

-He discovers Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam and is reborn as Malcolm X

-Once out of prison, Malcolm X rises to fame becoming the national spokesman for the Nation of Islam and helps grow membership by appealing to Black dignity

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz

-Malcolm splits from the NOI after learning Elijah Muhammad had inappropriate relationships with minors, began embracing orthodox Islam

-Malcolm partook in the Hajj pilgrimage to the Mecca; underwent a significant transformation as a result of witnessing unity across color lines

-During the Hajj, Malcolm evolved a new ideology, now believing that White people are redeemable, only through Orthodox Islam (recognize the humanity in all people)

Nation of Islam (NOI): View of form

Emphasized Black nationalism, self-reliance, racial pride, and economic independence

It advocated for Black separation from white society, promoted self-defense, discipline, and community empowerment

Elijah Muhammad

Leader of the Nation of Islam

Malcolm X finds out that Elijah Muhammad had children with multiple young secretaries, causing him to split from the NOI

Malcolm's view on self-defense

Fundamental human right, matter of basic survival, and a legal entitlement; If they don't protect us, we must protect ourselves

Importance of Pilgrimage to Mecca to Malcolm's religious world view (1964):

-Went on a religious pilgrimage (Hajj) which shattered his racial dogma

-For the first time, Malcolm witnessed unity across racial lines in Europe. Emerged a new political vision that prompted him to reach towards Southern activists rather than stay separate.

Malcolm X's Assassination (1965):

Assassinated at Audubon Ballroom while preparing to give a speech for his Organization of Afro-American Unity

Selma, Alabama as capitol of the Black Belt

-Selma was the economic capital of the Black Belt Movement

-Epitomized Southern resistance to Black political participation despite being the majority demographic

Dallas County Voters League (DCVL)

Founded in the 1920's

Sustained voter registration efforts for decades despite violent opposition

Denounced systematic disenfranchisement by challenging literacy tests, poll taxes, and intimidation.

SNCC Organizing in Selma before 1965

-Alabama was viewed as a "clean slate" with untapped organizing potential

-Lead SNCC organizers: Bernard & Colia Lafayette moved to Selma in 1963, promoting patient community building, citizenship education, and leadership development despite facing constant harassment, violence, and death rest.

Freedom Day (October 7, 1964)

-SNCC, the Dallas County Voters League, and leaders like James Forman organized hundreds to register to vote at the Dallas County Courthouse

-Potential voters were met with arrests and intimidation, yet still remained optimistic

SCLC Choosing Selma to launch Campaign (1965)

Amelia Boynton if Dr. King and the SCLC to bring their national profile and resources to Selma. SCLS knew authorities like Sheriff Jim Clark would exemplify the racial terror of the South

Goal of the SCLC choosing Selma

Create "Birmingham for voting rights", a dramatic confrontation to force federal intervention by participating in daily marches to the courthouse and spotlighting the mass arrests that would follow suit.

Jimmy Lee Jackson murder and the Selma to Montgomery March

-During the Perry County Night March (a peaceful march for voting rights) Jimmy Lee Jackson, a 26 y/o church deacon & father, was shot by a state trooper while attempting to protect his mother

-Direct catalyst for Bloody Sunday.

Purpose of Bloody Sunday

To protest Black voter disenfranchisement and demand justice for the fatal shooting of activist Jimmie Lee Jackson

Bloody Sunday (March 7, 1965): Events of the day

-Led by John Lewis and SNCC. 600 marchers set out towards Montgomery from Selma

-While crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, marchers encountered state troopers under the direction of Sheriff Jim Clark, who attacked marchers with clubs, tear gas, and whips

-At least 58 were hospitalized

Bloody Sunday (March 7, 1965): Events of the day and impact of television

At least 48 million watched the horror unfold on television, disrupting the Nuremberg trials

LBJ "We Shall Overcome" Speech

-March 15, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson addresses a joint session in Congress just 8 days after Bloody Sunday

-Urged Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act

-Declared "We Shall Overcome" , adopting the movement's anthem

Voting Rights Act (1965)

-Signed into law by LBJ in August of 1965

-The brutal Bloody Sunday attack served as a catalyst

-Banned discriminatory voting practices, such as literacy tests, and allowed the federal government to oversee elections

Freedom North (Chicago 1966)

King confronts segregation outside the South

Beyond Vietnam (Riverside Church, 1967)

King denounces militarism, racism, and capitalism — marking a radical shift in his public critique of America

Poor People's Campaign (1968)

Focus on eliminating poverty in American and economic rights for all poor people

All Labor Has Dignity

King stands with sanitation workers in Memphis, tying civil rights to labor rights to human rights

King as Radical Thinker

Against war, poverty, and capitalism — a full critique of American society

Human Rights & Civil Rights

Shift from access to equality toward economic redistribution

Chaos or Community?

America at a crossroads: choose justice or deepen inequality

Bloody Lowndes

-Name given to Lowndes County due to decades of violent suppression of Black political participation

-Crucial because it shows how terror and disenfranchisement created the conditions for radical politics.

80% Black, 0% registered voters (before 1965)

A demographic paradox that made Lowndes the clearest example of what "freedom rights" could mean when politically realized

Selma's Ripple Effect

-The Selma campaign created an opening for deep local organizing rather than national mobilizing

-SNCC filled the vacuum with grassroots work

Landowning Communities (White Hall, Trickem)

Landownership enabled independence from white economic retaliation, allowing residents to lead

Mass Meetings

Not just rallies; These were political education spaces, combining freedom songs, testimony, and strategy

Armed Self-Defense

Lowndes activists rejected "universal nonviolence." Armed self-defense was a practical necessity and a political assertion of a civil and human right

Tent City

-Emergency housing for families evicted for registering to vote

-A symbol of sacrifice and determination — and the material costs of democratic participation

John Hulett

Charismatic, strategic, and uncompromising; Helped lead the shift from protest to political power

Stokely Carmichael

SNCC organizer whose work in Lowndes shaped his evolution; Later coined "Black Power" publicly in 1966, but its origin point was Lowndes County

Lillian McGill

LCCMHR secretary and "brains of the movement." Demonstrates the centrality of local women to grassroots organizing

The Jackson Family (Mathew & Emma Jackson)

Their home became SNCC headquarters; they endured night riders and retaliation. Example of movement families - ordinary people doing extraordinary things that made the local movement possible

Courtland Cox

His question — "What would it profit a person to have the vote and not be able to control it?" — captures the move from protest to actual political power

LCCMHR (Lowndes County Christian Movement for Human Rights)

Created March 1965 as the local movement vehicle; Modeled after Fred Shuttlesworth's ACMHR

Voting Rights Act Implementation (1965)

Federal officials took over voter registration in areas with discriminatory practices; As a result, approximately 90% of applications handled by federal registrars were approved

Jonathan Daniels Murder (August 1965)

Instead of derailing the movement, the violence further cemented SNCC and the Black community's resolve

Lowndes County Training School Boycott (April 1965)

Students demanded better facilities, leadership, and respect. Demonstrated that the priority for African Americans was quality education and access to the resources that would enable a quality education, and not integration merely for the sake of sitting next to white children

Freedom-of-Choice Desegregation Plan (1965-1966)

Designed to fail; only five Black students allowed to transfer. Court intervention (Judge Frank M. Johnson) in 1966 forced meaningful desegregation.

From Freedom Rights to Freedom Politics

Lowndes demonstrated the limits of "winning the vote" without control of institutions, resources, and governance

Independent Black Political Action

The LCFO (Lowndes County Freedom Organization) was the first independent Black political party since Reconstruction. A full break from the white-controlled Democratic Party

Grassroots Democracy

Participatory democracy wasn't rhetoric—it was practice: workshops, primers, mock elections, budgeting lessons

Black Panther Symbol

Not originally Huey Newton's or the Okland based BPP for Self Defense; the LCFO used it first because the panther "comes out fighting when cornered." An emblem of survival, dignity, and political autonomy.

Black Power as a Local Idea Before a National Slogan

Lowndes County showed:

Black Power = control, not hate

Power = economic justice + political independence