civil rights timeline: 1945-1963

Post war American problems for black Americans

-African Americans fought for freedom in ww2 but returned home to segregation and Jim Crow laws in the south

-contrast between US ideals and racial inequality- AA excluded from American dream

To secure these rights 1947

-Truman’s committee for anti-lynching laws, protection of suffrage and end segregation

-backlash from Dixiecrats who broke from democrat party 1948

Desegregation of armed forces 1948

-executive orders 9981

-victory showed executive power without congress

-start of federal enforcement for equal rights

Sweatt v painter 1950

-NAACP challenged segregation in higher education

-showed cracks in separate but equal

Brown v board 1954

-Supreme Court declared segregation unconstitutional

-landmark- gave legal momentum to civil rights

-some states ignored it

Montgomery bus boycott 1955-56

-sparked by Rosa parks

-demonstrated economic power of African Americans - caused Brouder v Gayle

-emergence of mass protests and challenged south

The southern manifesto 1956

-signed by 101 congressmen against brown v board

-showed political resistance against federal CR enforcement

Little Rock crisis 1957

-Orval Faubus blocked integration of central high school - so Eisenhower sent troops to enforce it

-proved federal government could override state defiance

Civil rights act 1957

-aimed to protect black voting rights

-LIMITED IMPACT- weak enforcement and filibustered by southern senators

-more symbolic than transformative

Sit-ins and SNCC

-greensbo four- non violent action

-SNCC formed -organised further protests and youth led activism

Civil rights act 1960

-strengthened powers to protect voting rights

-still limited +vague enforcement -reflected growing awareness but reluctance to challenge southern power

Freedom rides 1961

-CORE and SNCC tested segregation on interstate travel

-violent backlash in Alabama - riders threatened, buses firebombed

-Kennedy forced to respond with Interstate Commerce Commission - DESEGREGATED TRAVEL- showed radicals forcing federal hand

James Meredith and ole miss 1962

-James Meredith blocked from joining missippi university by governor Ross Barnett

-JFK sent troops to enforce Meredith

-riots against Meredith going to Missippi by white segregationists killed 2 civilians

-showed JFK gradual movement towards federal intervention

Birmingham campaign 1963

-MLKs SCLC led mass demonstrations in segregated cities- met with dogs and fire hoses

-media coverage caused US public to be shocked by AA treatment- changed public perception and caused JFK to draft civil rights legislation

MLKs letter from Birmingham jail 1963

-defended civil disobedience

-criticised white moderates who thought order was more important than justice

-reframed American ideals

March on Washington 1963

-250,000 protestors demanded jobs and civil rights

-MLK “I have a dream” speech fused American ideals with civil rights goals

-increased public support for civil rights movement and marked unity within movement itself

JFK proposed civil rights act 1963

-comprehensive legislation proposed after Birmingham and March on Washington

—> outlawed segregation in public spaces, employment discrimination and school segregation

-stalled in congress but passed by LBJ 1964

Key CR opponent- southern democrats

Filibustered civil rights bills and maintained Jim Crow laws

Key CR opponent- KKK and white citizen councils

Used violence, intimidation and economic retaliation

Key CR opponent -governors Faubus, Bernard and Wallace

Undermined federal authority and escalated crisis

Key CR opponents- J. Edgar Hoover and FBI

-surveilled and undermined CR leaders eg MLK

Key CR opponents- white moderates

Delayed change in place of order