Unit 6 Civil Rights Movement

Movement

Civil Rights Movement: An era of U.S. progressivism in African American rights and other minorities’ rights to make an equal society.

• Jim Crow Laws: Rights that were established to discriminate African Americans from voting, holding office, sitting in juries, obtaining an education, & keep them in poverty.

  • Churches offered solace and a way to group and freely discuss and develop leadership skills

  • Howard University was a training ground for many African American leaders

• African American Groups: NAACP, CORE, National Urban League

  • NAACP & National Urban League: group formed to fight for civil liberties & increasing job opportunities

  • CORE: A group inspired by Gandhi’s plight against the British in India

    • non-violent means to fight against

Impact of World War II: During the war, many African Americans were drafted to fight in a segregated unit, and businesses could not discriminate in hiring them on the home front

• African Americans wanted to raise their voices

• Many African Americans saw the escalation of racism in Europe and wanted to stop that in the U.S.

Other countries’ struggles: Many saw the struggle of Africans and Asians to fight against imperial rule, (ex: Gandhi in India vs the Imperial British rule)

Impact of Cold War: Many leaders became hypersensitive with the issue of freedom and democracy in the U.S, saying they were champions of the “Free World.”

Peaceful Approaches

Brown vs. Board of Education (1945)

A father wanted to send his daughter, Linda Brown, to a close “all-white” school but was denied enrollment due to her race and was forced to enroll his daughter in a farther “colored” school.

• The father sued the school board

• A NAACP lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, represented his and others’ cases to the Supreme Court

  • He argued that segregating African American children in schools sent a message of unworthiness to them

• Earl Warren’s ruling ended up being in favor of “[segregation having] no place in education”

Emmet Till (1955)

This ruling caused an uproar, lynchings and memberships in hate crime groups such as the KKK spiked.

Emmet Till was killed after whistling at a young white woman, and the all-white jury overlooked the glaring evidence condemning the murders and ruled in favor of them

• Many, especially the North, were shocked.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56)

Rosa Parks was a young African American woman who refused to get up from her seat to make space for a white man after the bus got full.

• She was arrested and sent to jail

• The local NAACP leaders took notice and organized a protest of the Montgomery City Buses.

  • The protest managed to get the buses to be integrated

  • The Southern Christian Leadership Council was formed to protest using non-violent means

Little Rock Nine (1957)

For the first time, a group of nine African American children were chosen to enroll at an “all-white” school

• The Arkansas governor assigned the National Guard to not let them enter the campus until President Eisenhower ordered him to call off the National Guard.

• The children faced assault, discrimination, & protest.

  • President Eisenhower assigned military to escort them every day

“Sit-ins”

A group of students organized a sit-in at a “whites-only” counter at a lunch place in Carolina, they were assaulted, insulted, and arrested. These “sit-ins” spread to other colleges in the South; they formed the Students Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

• this was a form of social activism: direct action to promote political and social change

Freedom Rides

CORE, Congress of Racial Equality, organized a group of interracial students to be on the bus ride until the end of its transit; they wanted to provoke an uproar

• They were met with violence

• The President had to order the Federal Marshals to protect them

Birmingham March

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders organized a protest in Birmingham. They were met with violence from the KKK and the police, (the use of water hoses, gas bombs, etc). The leaders were arrested & Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, demanding equality.

• The march was broadcast on television; the world got to see the injustice unfold by the Birmingham police

• President Kennedy sent in federal troops & tried to pass the Civil Rights Bill and failed

March on Washington

Philip Randolph and Dr. Martin Luther King, and other leaders organized a peaceful march in Washington in support of the passing of this bill

• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke his famous “I have a dream” speech.

Laws & Bills Passed

Civil Rights Bill of 1964

After Kennedy was assassinated, President Johnson was sworn into office the same day and passed the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 proclaiming:

• Discrimination based on color, race, or sex would not be tolerated in federal employment

• Schools still under the system of segregation would lose all funding

• Women and other minorities were protected

  • Employers are required to impart “Affirmative Action” when hiring, (hire more minorities and women)

• Increased Federal power to register voters

• Equal opportunities in employment

24th Amendment

An effective reversal of state use of poll taxes that kept minorities from voting

Freedom Summer

Several civil organizations had a group of volunteers register black voters in Mississippi. They were assaulted and attacked, and 3 were killed by the KKK.

Voting Rights Act of 1964

Was an effective reversal of the 15th amendment, prohibiting the use of poll taxes, literacy tests, and other means to discriminate African Americans in voting.

• Allowed the usage of federal employees to register voters

Non-Peaceful Approaches

Black Power Movement

Believed that the Civil Rights Movement was too slow, did little for economic conditions for people in the North, and that relying on sympathetic whites was undesirable; they did not believe in Dr. Martin Luther King’s method. Believed in:

• Wanted to follow their roots and involve themselves in their culture instead of being assimilated into the mainstream American culture

• Fight racism directly

• Avoid contact with whites

• Take control of their own community

• Approve social conditions of African Americans

Malcom X

Malcom X in his youth was in a life of crime until he went to jail when he was 20, there he met the Nation of Islam’s leader Elijah Muhammed.

After he was released, he began preaching Nation of Islam’s ideals (black nationalism and separation from whites) until he ventured to Mecca. There he saw people of all color living together in society and denounced Elijah Muhammed’s ways and worked with more moderate leaders.

• Muhammed sent an assassin after Malcom X and he was killed.

Black Panther Party

Bobby Seale and Huey Newton formed the Black Panther Party to provide black neighborhoods. They used intimidation by carrying weapons, and wearing all black; they provided security.

• They started a lunch program for poor black children

• They had a 10 Point Program demanding reparation for the years of injustice against African Americans

Stokely Carmichael

Stokely Carmichael took over the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Council and made it more militarized and believed in the use of violence to protest.

• Black Power meant more than just violence, it meant pride in African American identity

  • New fashions, and black studies courses