America in the 1960's

Why were MLK’s ideas facing criticism?

• Change was not happening quickly enough

• Many African Americans remained angry and frustrated

• They still faced poverty, low wages, inadequate housing and poor education.

• Many angry African Americans resorted to arson & looting.

Freedom Riders S.P.E.N.D

• May 4th, 1961, seven black and six white ‘Freedom Riders’ left Washington D.C. on two different buses. They aimed to spark a crisis and worldwide publicity so that the federal government would force states to desegregate.

• On May 15th, the first bus reached Anniston, Alabama. Over 100 KKK members surrounded it, slashing the tyres and smashing the windows. Someone tossed a firebomb into the bus through a broken window and held the doors shut. When passengers escaped, they were beaten up.

• On the second bus, riders were pulled off the bus and beaten up in Anniston. They got back on the bus and drove to Birmingham, where they were beaten up again. The chief of police, ‘Bull’ Connor told the police not to stop KKK members.

• The SNCC sent more Riders to Birmingham. The publicity forced the federal government to get them safely to Montgomery. On may 20, the police escorted the bus to just outside Montgomery, then left.

• One boy was set on fire by KKK members roaming Montgomery. The police arrested the Riders for starting a riot.

Freedom Riders Significance

• Press coverage of the attacks was a huge embarrassment to the government

• Despite the violence, more people volunteered for Freedom Rides.

• Over the Summer, there were over 60 Freedom Rides.

• Over 300 Riders went to Jackson’s segregated jail. Many were beaten and tortured.

• On November 1st, the federal government said federal officers would enforce desegregation if states did not obey.

• The Southern states began to desegregate bus facilities and the Freedom Rides ended.

James Meredith Case S.P.E.N.D

• Between 1956-1962, some Southern universities began to desegregate without much trouble.

• In 1962, James Meredith re-applied to the University of Mississippi (often called ‘Ole Miss’) which had rejected him in May 1961.

• The NAACP had challenges his rejection, arguing that it was because he was black.

• The Supreme Court ordered the University to admit him. University officials and the state’s governor disobeyed the Supreme Court by physically stopping Meredith from registering.

James Meredith Case Significance

• Meredith returned to register on September 30th with 500 federal officials.

• A mob of over 3,000, many armed, attacked the federal officials. Kenny spoke on television and radio, calling for calm, but was ignored.

• The mob chanted in favour of the state’s governor and against the federal government.

• Fires were started and streetlights were shot out. Bricks, firebombs, and other missiles were thrown and guns were fired. The marshals could only use tear gas.

• Two civilians died.

• Somewhere between 245 and 375 civilians were injured. Over 160 federal marshals were badly injured, 28 of which were shot.

• Kennedy sent in federal troops, who eventually stopped the rioting.

Birmingham March S.P.E.N.D

• In May 1963, MLK organised a non-violent protest in one of the USA’s most segregated cities - Birmingham, Alabama. It was also known as ‘Bombingham’ due to the regular bombing of black churches, homes, and businesses.

• It was also where ‘Bull’ Connor was the chief of police and it was believed that he could be easily provoked into using violence against peaceful protesters.

• Some protesters were even as young as six.

• On May 2nd, 30,000 people took part in the march, and police, under the orders of Chief Bull Connor, attacked the protesters with dogs, water cannons, tear gas, electric cattle prods, and batons

• Over 900 people of all ages were arrested.

• News reports and photos of the event spread worldwide, causing horror. Kennedy said the photos made him feel sick and ashamed, and they also gave the USSR Cold War propaganda ammunition.

Long Term Effects of the Birmingham March

• Federal government had an increased fear of widespread rioting

• Protests in other cities across all of USA

• A month later, 143 cities had some desegregation

• Many black people felt that progress was too slow and forced desegregation didn’t work if local white people didn’t accept it

• Some black Americans questioned the tactics used by civil rights campaigners (e.g. they felt it was wrong to endanger children in protests)

• Many more Americans saw civil rights as the most urgent issue for the USA

• Government produced a tougher civil rights bill

Washington March S.P.E.N.D

• Almost immediately after Birmingham, civil rights leaders planned a protest march involving people from all over the USA - the march on Washington for jobs and freedom.

• 28 August 1963

• Washington was chosen as the location because the White House and Congress were there.

• Over 250,000 people, about 40,000 of them white, took part.

• It was peaceful and good-humoured, and was broadcast on live television all around the world.

Washington March Significance

• Over 250,000 people, showed huge support for the civil rights movement all across the USA. Neither federal nor state governments could argue that it was a minor issue.

• Broadcast live on television in the USA and other countries.

• King’s speech was powerful as it gained more support, and meant many people saw King as the leader of the movement.

• The crowd was significant as black and white people protested together peacefully.

• Showed support for civil rights from all classes. Famous people such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez attended.

Freedom Summer S.P.E.N.D

• 1964

• Right to vote only helped black Americans if they were registered to vote and not prevented from voting.

• 1962-64, about 700,000 black Americans in the South registered to vote. However, in the countryside and the Deep South the number of black people registered to vote hardly rose at all.

• In 1964, SNCC and CORE set up ‘Freedom Summer’ in Mississippi. About 1,000 volunteers went to Mississippi to work with local campaigners on projects in the black community

• Most volunteers were white college students from good families

• Many white Mississippians called the project an invasion and argued that the northern students did not understand the South. There were over 10,000 KKK members in Mississippi. Before the invasion they burned 61 crosses at the same time across the state to show their power and anger.

• During the Summer they burned 37 black churches and 30 homes, and beat up countless volunteers and black people.

• About 17,000 black people tried to register to vote, but only 1,600 succeeded.

Freedom Summer Significance

• Voter registration was important as 1964 was Election Year.

• Volunteers were chosen because they were white, making any violence against them even bigger news.

• Many black people lost their jobs for going to civil rights meetings, trying to register to vote, or allowing their children to go to a Freedom School.

• On June 21st, three CORE workers were arrested and released on the same evening. On their way home, they were murdered by the KKK. The bodies were not found until August 4th - they had been shot, and were found alongside the bodies of eight black men.

• Freedom Schools were made to teach black children. Others held voter registration classes to teach locals how to pass the voter registration tests.

• The Freedom Summer made people aware of the problems of registering to vote

• About 17,000 black people tried to register to vote, but only 1,600 succeeded.

Selma March S.P.E.N.D

• In Alabama (1965), more black people were entitled to vote than white people, yet only 1% of black people were registered to vote. This was due to fear of violence, despite the SNCC’s work.

• The SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) and King were invited to campaign in Selma. They arrived in January 1965, the same time Johnson was stressing the need for a Voting Rights Act to make voting tests fair and help black Americans qualify to vote.

• In Selma, people protested against the voting registration tests. Others tried to register to vote.

• Johnson spoke again in favour of voting registrations and the number of protesters rose, as did the violence. One protester died.

• On March 7th, about 600 protesters set out to march from Selma to Montgomery. State troopers stopped them just outside Selma, firing tear gas and attacking protesters with clubs and electric cattle prods. This came to be known as ‘Bloody Sunday’

Selma March Significance

• USA made world headlines for it’s abuse of black people.

• In both parts of Congress, many spoke against the violence and in favour of voter registration.

• All over the country people marched in support of those attacked on Bloody Sunday. Hundreds, both black and white, set off to join the marches.

• Johnson used an executive order to federalise the state national guard. They then escorted the marchers from Selma to Montgomery on 21-24 March.

• King led the march and gave a speech to a crowd of 25,000 in Montgomery on March 25th.

• Kennedy’s assassination and the growing protests led to a greater awareness of the issues of civil rights in the USA, putting an increased pressure on Congress.

Development of Civil Rights Laws/Acts from 1957-68

• In 1957, Eisenhower passed a Civil Rights Act to ensure that all African-Americans could exercise their right to vote. The Act banned any person from interfering with any other person’s right to vote, made discrimination illegal, and created the Civil Rights Commission to prosecute those who denied people their rights. In practice, little was done to enforce this act.

• In 1964, the Civil Rights Act prohibited racial discrimination and prejudice in employment, gave black pupils the right to use any public facilities and established the Equal Opportunities Commission to look into complaints of discrimination and prejudice.

• In 1965, the Voting Rights Act gave all Americans the right to vote (only passed into law in 1968)

• In 1967, interracial marriage was legalised.

• In 1968, the Fair Housing Act made racial discrimination illegal when buying and renting houses and other property. The 1968 Civil Rights Act meant housing could not be sold or rented on the basis of race, religion, national origin or sex.

1965-67 Race Riots

American cities suffered a wave of race riots from 1965 to 1967. These were not the cities of the Southern states where African Americans faced the most religious discrimination. These were the cities in the North and West which had large African-American populations but which were officially free of racism.

The cause of riots in most cases was poor relations between the police and African Americans. Most of the USA’s cities were divided along race lines. Most of the police forces were white. Many black working class people who lived in the inner cities felt that they did not get the same protection from crime as whites. They distrusted the police. The most serious of these riots were in the Watts area of Los Angeles in August 1965 and in Detroit in July 1967.

How could the government (Kennedy and Johnson) claim credit for the Civil Rights Act?

• Kennedy sent in troops to restore order and ordered Birmingham City Council to desegregate.

• He had supported the new Civil Rights Act that aimed to give African Americans full equality in housing and education.

• On November 22nd, he was due to give a speech in Dallas, saying “only an America which practises what it preaches about equal rights and social justice will be respected”, but he was assassinated.

• Johnson called for the Act to become law as a memorial to Kennedy

• In 1965, the murder of Viola Liuzzo outraged Johnson. Soon after, he introduced the Voting Rights Bill, which aimed to remove legal barriers that prevented African Americans from voting.

• Laws can be changed, but attitudes need to change too.

• They were role models.

• However, their laws weren’t enforced well enough.

How could MLK claim credit for the Civil Rights Act?

• Led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and organised demonstrations and marches, all while staying non-violent.

• In one year, King himself travelled 780,000 miles and made 208 speeches.

• Organised the nonviolent protest march in Birmingham, Alabama

• In the Summer of 1963, he organised the largest civil rights demonstration in American history

• On August 28th, he spoke to over 200,000 people gathered around the Lincoln memorial in the centre of Washington D.C and gave one of the famous speeches in history.

• Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his nonviolent approach to eliminating racism.

• Inspired others to take action

• Role model

• Had a lot of charisma and was good with his words

• Brought a lot of publicity to the movement and was a good leader and front of the movement.

How could ordinary African Americans claim credit for the Civil Rights Act?

• They were the forefront of all protests, marches, boycotts, etc

• Ordinary African Americans provided 75% of the bus companies business, so the boycott was very effective at making them lose money.

• Organised freedom rides and performed sit-ins despite the discrimination they faced.

• Made up the 30,000 people who took part in the Alabama march and were ruthlessly attacked by Bull Connor.

• If the public didn’t support MLK and the President, nothing would’ve happened or changed.

• They were prepared to risk their livelihood, going to prison, or getting beaten.

MLK Motivations and Tactics

• Inspired and guided by his Christian faith

• Before he was a civil activist, he was a minister

• Felt that Jesus could serve as the inspiration behind a violence-free movement inspired by love

• Decided not to use armed bodyguards despite threats on his life

• Reacted to violent experiences, such as the bombing of his home, with compassion.

• Applied nonviolence to all situations, making it a way of life.

Black Power Movement

• By the 1960s, a new form of black protest movement had developed, rejecting King’s methods of nonviolence. The leaders of these radical movements came from Northern states.

• They argued that, in the cities of the North, black Americans faced intense racial discrimination in the form of poverty, inadequate housing, poor health, lack of educational provision, low wages, and crime problems. The Civil Rights Campaign, in their view, had done nothing to deal with these problems.

• Black radicals believed that black Americans should be more ready to assert themselves.

• Adopted slogans such as “Black is Beautiful” and “Black Power!”

• Argued that blacks should take control of their own lives and not wait until white America was prepared for change.

Stokely Carmichael

• Civil rights campaigner who said “What we need is black power!” He and his supporters believed black Americans should stop asking for white people to help them. Instead, they should form their own communities, choose their own leaders, and use violence if necessary.

• Outraged by the murder of James Meredith in 1966

Nation of Islam

• A group that argued for separatism (keeping races apart). It said that white society was racist and corrupt, and rejected Christianity as a white man’s religion, urging African Americans to follow Islam. Malcolm X was the best known member.

Black Panthers

• Formed in California 1966. Had roughly 5000 members by 1968.

• An extreme militant group that totally rejected King’s nonviolent ideas. Argued that African-Americans needed t protect themselves from white racists and a racist police force by using violence if necessary.

• Saw their role as defending black Americans from racism.

Why did riots get worse in 1968?

• Assassination of MLK on April 4th, 1968

Positive contributions made by Black Power Groups

• Johnson was forced to introduce a Voting Rights Bill in 1965, allowing government agents to inspect voting booths to make sure they were taking place properly.

• Ended the literacy tests that voters had previously had to complete.

• After 1965, major cities like Detroit, Atlanta, all had black mayors.

• 1968 Civil Rights Act meant big change.

Negative contributions made by Black Power Groups

• Violence alienated white supporters who supported the movement due to the violence.

• Generally agreed that they were behind the race riots

• Gave the law enforcement the opportunity to track down African Americans due to things like riots and assassinations

• It gave racist whites a reason to argue that they don’t deserve equal rights if they resort to illegal violence

• Many thought it instead widened the gap

JFK’s New Frontier’s impact on Civil Rights

Success:

• JFK spoke often about his commitment to Civil Rights

• Gave more important government jobs to African Americans than any other President before.

• Created the Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity (CEEO) to ensure that all people employed with the Federal government had equal employment opportunities.

• Stood up to Southern politicians who failed to defend civil rights, and sent in soldiers to protect a black student, James Meredith

Failure:

• Some argue he could have done more, and he was concerned about what Southern politicians thought of him

• CEEO only helped those who already had a government job and did nothing to actively help millions of unemployed African Americans find jobs

• Tried to get MLK to call off his great march in Washington as he felt it might make some politicians in Congress determined to resist civil rights

JFK’s New Frontier’s impact on Economy

Success:

• Cut taxes to give people more money to spend

• Made $900 million available to businesses to create new jobs and gave grants to companies to buy high-tech equipment and train their workers to use it

• Increased government spending on the armed forces, creating jobs

Failure:

• New equipment in factories could mean fewer workers were needed, so some people lost their jobs.

• Many jobs were prone to spending cuts

• By 1963, 4.5 million people were unemployed, only 1 million fewer than in 1960

• Unemployment rate for African Americans was twice that of white Americans

JFK’s New Frontier’s impact on Healthcare and Poverty

Success:

• Increased minimum hourly wage from $1 to $1.25 and made $4.9 billion available for loans to improve housing. clear slum areas and build road and telephone lines.

• Established training schemes for the unemployed

• Social Security Act increased benefits for the elderly and unemployed

• Raised money for research into mental illness and allocated funds to develop poor countryside areas

• Had plans to introduce an ambitious system of health insurance for the elderly called ‘Medicar'e’

Failure:

• Minimum wage was only helpful to those in work

• Loans for people to improve their housing were only helpful if the recipient could afford the loan repayments

• US Congress defeated his proposals for Medicare

JFK’s New Frontier’s impact on Education

Success:

• Established the Peace Corps, an organisation which sent volunteers abroad to assist people in poorer countries

• They would work as teachers, doctors, nurses, and technical advisors.

• Greatly appealed to young Americans and was a huge success - it still survives

Failure:

• Efforts to provide federal funds for schools were denied

• Congress was dominated by politicians from Southern States who had clashed with him over civil rights, so refused to support his plans

JFK Background

• Became America’s youngest president in 1961

• Democrat

• Glamorous, attractive, witty and wealthy

• Married to a beautiful wife and had a young family

• Decorated as a WW2 War Hero

• Took over America during troubled times

Great Society (definition)

• LBJ’s plans for the future American society. A place with no social or racial injustice and a place where any child can achieve their dreams. The ideal future.

LBJ’s Plans for his Great Society

Unemployment:

• Minimum wage increased from $1.25 to $1.40

• Job Corps helped high school leavers get jobs.

Education:

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided major funding for schools

• Operation Headstart gave money to schools in poverty

Poor Housing:

• Housing Act funded low income housing

Medical Care:

• Medicare provided healthcare for poor families

• Safety standards increased for consumer products

• Volunteers in Service to America was a new version of the peace corps

Environment:

• Wilderness Protection Act saved 9.1 million acres of forest

• Air + Water Quality Acts tightened controls over pollution

• Immigration Act ended racial quotas

• Cities Model Act cleared inner-city slums

Civil Rights:

• Removed the last of the Jim Crowe Laws

• 1965 Voting Rights Act removed literacy tests required for African Americans to vote

• Within 12 months, there were 400,000 new African American voters

• New Civil Rights Act JFK promised to pass banned discrimination based on race and gender

How Great was Johnson’s Society (Most to least successful)

• 56% of African Americans lived in poverty. By 1970 this had fallen to around 30%

• White families saw a reduction in poverty from 18% to only 8%

• Millions now had access to a good standard of healthcare

• He spent far too much on his reforms

• Unemployment was on the increase after his first full presidency

• There was widespread rioting in cities

• LBJ fully supported the Vietnam War, which was becoming unpopular and costly.

Problems faced by women in 1960’s

• Women earned 60% less than men for doing the same job. 95% of managers were men - the majority of work for women was part time and with limited responsibility. Only 4% of doctors were women. In some jobs, women could be dismissed if they married.

Feminist Movement Definition

• In 1966, Friedan and others established the National Organisation for Women (NOW) to demand complete equal rights for women in the US law and a woman’s rights with regards to reproduction.

• Other organisations began to appear, and they were collectively known as the feminist movement.

Things Influencing the Creation of the Feminist Movement

WW2:

• Women began to work in factories during WW2. Being able to earn their own money and not relying on their husbands gave them a new sense of independence. Many were unwilling to give this up after the War and gradually more women went out to work. By 1960, women made up half the workforce, and the war wouldn’t have been won without women.

Work of Individuals:

• Betty Friedan argued that for middle-class women the home had become a concentration camp and that most women wished to break out of this limited environment. In 1963, she published her book ‘The Feminine Mystique’. Eleanor Roosevelt pressured FDR to set up the Status Commission to report on women in the workplace.

Civil Rights Movement:

• The black Civil Rights Movement led many people to believe that other rights, such as women’s rights, should be addressed. The Equal Pay Act was followed, in 1964, by the Civil Rights Act that banned discrimination in employment on the basis of race and sex.

NOW Bill of Rights

The NOW adopted a Bill of Rights as it’s first National Conference in 1967.

Within a few years, NOW had around 40,000 members. They wanted complete equal rights in regard to reproduction. They wrote to politicians organised large demonstrations and took to court companies that failed to pay the same wages as men.

Impact of Feminist Movement in 1960s+70s

• Equal Pay Act in 1963 - Making it law that women and men receive equal pay for the same job

• Contraceptives available for married couples in 1965 - if made available for everyone, there was a fear it would promote promiscuity

• No Fault Divorce Law 1969 - Allows couples to divorce by mutual consent

• Educational Amendment Act 1972 - Banned sexual discrimination in education, enabling girls to study the same subjects as boys. Courses are rewritten to encourage girls to aim for more interesting careers.

ERA + Stop ERA

In 1972, the ERA was passed by Congress. It said that ‘Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied by the United States or any State on account of sex’.

However, the stop ERA campaign, led by Phyllis Schlafly, opposed the change. Schlafly argued that ERA would lead to women in combat, greater abortion ates, unisex bathrooms, and homosexual marriages.

The campaign was successful - the ERA failed to become part of US Constitution because not enough States voted for it. Also, despite changes to the law, women’s average pay remained well below that of men and widespread sex discrimination was still common. Even as late as 1985 there were still only 24 female politicians in Congress (out of 535)

Roe Vs. Wade

One of the key crusades was the campaign to legalise abortion. Feminists argued that women should be able to decide what happens to their own body and should not be forced to have a child if they didn’t want to. In the famous ‘Roe V. Wade’ court case, lawyers argued successfully that 21 year old Jane Roe (her real name was Norma McCorvey) had the right to an abortion.

She had already had two children, both of whom had been put up for abortion. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that women had the right to safe and legal abortion, overriding the anti-abortion laws of many states.

Tactics/Methods used by Feminist Demonstrators

As well as removing and burning bras, some women refused to wear make-up. In 1968, over 400 Women’s Libbers (as the protesters were known) disrupted the Miss World Beauty Contest in Atlantic City by setting up litter bins (called freedom trashcans) and throwing in things like bras, curlers, tweezers, high heels and scrubbing brushes.