Civil Rights Movement

Tripartite System of Domination

The system of control over Black people in the South, enforced economically, politically, and personally

Economic Oppression

Refers to the systematic exploitation and disenfranchisement of Black individuals through discriminatory labor practices, wage disparities, and limited access to financial resources.

Indigenous Base

The principle that the Civil Rights Movement grew from within the Black community, leveraging existing institutions (like the Church), leaders, and financial resources, rather than being a spontaneous event or purely external elite-driven effort.

Newcomer Status

Being new to the community allowed many movement leaders to be economically independent of the local white power structure and unify divided communities.

Organization of Organizations

A successful organizational model (used by the UDL, MIA, ICC) where an umbrella group coordinates various local community organizations (churches, civic leagues) to minimize rivalries and maintain mass unity.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Landmark Supreme Court decision ruling that state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Plessy V. Ferguson

A Supreme Court case that upheld state racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal."

Jim Crow

A two-tiered system that existed largely in the South and was created for blacks and whites. Laws that forced blacks to succumb to second-class citizenship by adhering to a “separate and unequal” law

De jure segregation

Racial segregation that occurs because of laws or administrative decisions by public agencies 

De facto segregation

Racial segregation that occurs not as a result of deliberate intentions but because of past social and economic conditions or practices

Sharecropping

A system of agricultural labor where tenants farm land owned by someone else in exchange for a share of the crops, often leading to debt and economic dependency.

The Great Migration

The movement of millions of African Americans from the rural South to urban areas in the North and West between 1916 and 1970, seeking better economic opportunities and escaping racial discrimination.

Modern Civil Rights Movement

The Black movement that emerged in the South during the 1950s, when large masses of Black people became directly involved in economic boycotts, street marches, and mass meetings through nonviolent direct action

Functions of the Church

• Institutional center of the Civil Rights Movement

• Provided an organizational base

• Clergy were economically indepement of whites

• Cornerstone of life for African Americans

• Provided an institution with freedom of control from whites

Components of an effective boycott

• Leadership

• Organization

• Finance 

The church supplied all three components 

Significance of Baton Rouge

It exhibited the first evidence that racial segregation could be challenged by mass action

• Until this point, we only see racial segregation being attacked through the courts 

Reverend T.J. Jemison

• Leader of the Baton Rouge Bus Boycott

• Created the organizational blueprint for the UDL that was used to direct the mass bus boycott (United Defense League)

NAACP

• Formed by white and black intellectuals

• Prior to the start of the Civil Rights Movement, it served as the major organization formed to fight equal rights for Blacks 

The Lynching of Emmett Till

• Fourteen year old Chicago boy who was visiting relatives in Mississippi

• Allegedly violated racial etiquette by talking to or whistling at a white woman

• Till was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered 

Movement Center

A social organization within the community of a subordinate group which mobilizes, organizes, and coordinates collective action aimed at attaining the common ends of that subordinate group

Examples of a Movement Center

• UDL (United Defense League)

• The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)

• Inter Civic Council (ICC)

• Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR)

How did the Movement Centers differ from NAACP?

• Disruptive tactics by masses

• Decision making and procedures was not done bureaucratically so decisions could be made quickly.

How did Church Culture Contribute to Movement Centers?

It provided a large base of people to support activism and organize protests. Churches often served as meeting places and mobilized their congregations for civil rights initiatives.

Rosa Parks

• Secretary for the local NAACP in 1943

• Member of the church community 

• An activist whose refusal to give up her bus seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, becoming an iconic symbol of the Civil Rights Movement

• Chosen because she was seen as a “good” Christian woman

• Not the first woman to refuse to give up her seat

Who planned the Montgomery mass bus boycott?

E.D Nixon and Jo Ann Robinson

What did Montgomery contribute to the Civil Rights Movement?

• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• The MIA

• A successful year long boycott

• Non-violent training was introduced and taught to the black masses

• Became a grassroots protest led by committed individuals

Tallahassee Bus Boycott

• Sparked when two students were arrested for refusing to give up their seats

• The significance of the Tallahassee victory was in demonstrating that the black masses could be organized for protest in small Southern cities.’

• Led by Reverend C.K Steele and the ICC

Birmingham Bus Boycott

• The NAACP was outlawed, so the ACMHR was created by Reverend Shuttleworth 

• ACMHR asked for Black poliecemen but was denied

• The ACMHR then boycotted the buses

• Demonstrated that movements could be deliberately organized to accomplish long-term goals

Birmingham became known as

"Bombingham" because of the bombs that frequently exploded in the black community

What historical phenomena were critical to the emergence of the SCLC?

• Rapid urbanization of African Americans

• Two world wars

• The Cold War

• Anticolonial struggles in African nations

• U.S. Supreme Court school desegregation

Ella Baker

A civil rights activist and key organizer, known for her role in founding the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and her emphasis on grassroots organizing.

Structure of the SCLC

• Male-dominated

• Largely comprised of ministers

• Closely related to the black community- the church and the NAACP

• Rooted in the Black protest tradition

Did the NAACP feel threatened by the SCLC

Yes, the NAACP was concerned about the SCLC's grassroots approach (instead of legal approaches) and its potential to draw support away from established civil rights organizations.

Crusade for Citizenship 

SCLC’s campaign to enroll Black voters and promote voting rights during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

What Challenges did the Crusade face?

White resistance, including literacy-test obstacles, poll taxes, and gerrymandering.

Was the Crusade for Citizenship a success?

While showing early promise, the Crusade for Citizenship faced less coherent and durable Southwide implementation compared to the bus boycotts.

What was the first-scale mass Black protest against Jim Crow bus segregation?

Baton Rougue bus boycott

Nonviolent direct action

A strategy employed by the civil rights movement involving boycotts, sit-ins, and marches.

Highlander Folk School (HFS)

A center that provided training for Black leaders and promoted interracial education.

CORE

Congress of Racial Equality, an organization that employed nonviolent strategies and collaborated with SCLC.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

A student-led organization that emerged to coordinate youth efforts in the civil rights movement.

Mass meetings

Gatherings that served as hubs for mobilization, fundraising, and community organization.

Charisma in leadership

The quality that enhances a leader's effectiveness, recognizable in figures like Martin Luther King Jr.

Nashville Movement

A significant movement in the late 1950s-1960s that produced many leaders in the civil rights movement, including figures like John Lewis and Diane Nash.

Nashville Christian Leadership Council (NCLC)

An affiliate of the SCLC that was central to the Nashville Movement, focusing on training students for leadership roles in civil rights activism.

Reverend Kelly Miller Smith

President of the NCLC who was also the local NAACP president; a key organizer of the Nashville movement.

Reverend James Lawson

Chair of the Projects Committee of the NCLC, known for conducting workshops on nonviolent direct action.

Massive Resistance

A policy by Virginia officials to prevent school integration, leading to protests organized by leaders like Reverend Wyatt Walker.

Sit-in Movement

A series of nonviolent protests at segregated lunch counters, starting with a significant event at Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960.

Freedom Rides (1961)

Integrated bus rides testing federal desegregation rulings, leading to significant national attention.

What Movement Center initiated the Freedom Rides?

CORE

The Freedom Ride was tailor-made for CORE, why?

CORE leaders knew that the rides would provoke dramatic responses, and they wanted those reactions so they could gain more public recognition and garner support for the organization.

What happened to the freedom Riders after entering Alabama?

They were severely attacked by mobs. SNCC and NCLC came to their aid to continue the Freedom Rides 

Little Rock Nine

• A group of Black students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School after Brown V. Board

• The students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by the Governor of Arkansas.

• They then attended after the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Who represented the Little Rock 9?

Daisy Bates

What role did the Kennedy administration play?

The Kennedy administration's signals were mixed, sometimes supportive of voter registration efforts, but also sometimes seen as deflecting the movement toward gradualism or away from direct action.

The Albany Movement 

• Several organizations including SNCC formed a movement center

• Led by Dr. William Anderson

• Black spirituals become an important part of the Albany Movement 

Goal of the Albany Movement

End all forms of racial oppression in Albany

Was Albany a success?

No, because:

• Rivarly between SCLC and SNCC

• King’s conservatism

• Poor planning

• Tactical maneuvers of Albany’s white power structure

Birmingham decided to do their own movement similar to Albany. They had a few specific goals:

• To score a victory that would serve as an example to be used by other black communities 

• Establish fair hiring practices 

• Desegregate lunch counters 

• Drop charges against arrested protestors 

Was the Birmingham movement a success?

Yes

Why was Birmingham an ideal location for the Birmingham Movement?

• Strong movement center already in Birmingham (ACMHR)

• SCLC territory

• Considered one of the most racist cities in the South

Project C

C represented confrontation with the city’s white power structure, consisting of 3 prongs

1. The business and industrial elites are controlling the economy

2. The political elites maintain the racial status quo

3. White extremist organizations like the White Citizens' Councils and the Ku Klux Klan 

Major Opponents to the Birmingham Movement

• Governor George Wallace

• Eugene “Bull” Connor, Director of Public Safety

B Day

Consisted of an economic boycott and sit ins at downtown stores

D Day

Elementary, high school, and college students would participate in demonstrations