topic 8, lesson 3: successes and setbacks

Text 1: Increasing Participation in the Political Process

• some African Americans turned to radicalism which left a bitter legacy

• southern political system used literacy tests and intimidation to keep blacks from voting

SNCC and Political Rights

• SNCC called for Freedom Summer; also established black democratic party in Mississippi for representation

• before most of the volunteers got there 3 civil rights workers were murdered (state authorities initially denied charges

Work of Political Organizations

• Democrats refused to seat MFDP; instead nationalists compromised that 2 members would be seated as “at-large delegates”

• MFDP rejected compromise

Martin Luther King Jr. Leads the March on Selma

• major campaign organized in Selma Alabama, resulted in “Bloody Sunday” when state authorities attacked marchers

• Lyndon B. Johnson called for strong federal voting rights law

Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Voting Rights Act o/ 1965 passed, a decade later it extended to hispanic voters in the southwest

• 24th amendment helped lay groundwork for Voting Rights Act

Text 2: Violence Troubles Civil Rights Efforts

Disorder in the Cities

• one of the worst race riots in Watts LA, the worst ones in Newark and Detroit

• now blacks used violence against police and white business owners in black neighborhoods

Investigating the Race Riots

• Kerner Commission called long term discrimination the most important cause of violence

• Kerner Commission findings were controversial (conservatives didn’t want to expand federal spending)

• President Johnson concerned with Vietnam War so he didn’t follow up on committee recommendations

• Urban Problems Committee formed to provide investments for low and moderate income housing

Text 3: New Civil Rights Groups

Malcolm X Offers a Different Vision

• “X” represents his lost African name; had a hard life as a youngster

• Malcolm converted to Nation of Islam in prison; became a minister and called for black nationalism

The “Black Power” Movement

• young African Americans began moving away from nonviolence and questioning the goal of integration

• “black power” first used by Stokely Carmichael, James Meredith shot and killed by white supremacist in the middle of a march

• white americans felt threatened bc they thought black power meant black violence

The Black Panthers’ Approach

• Black Panthers protected ppl from police abuse and created antipoverty programs

• entered state capitol in California carrying shotguns to protect 2nd amendment

Text 4: King Expands His Dream

• MLK disagreed w black power

• made plans for a big “Poor People’s Campaign” to address economic inequality

King’s Assassination: A Turning Point

• threats were being made against his life

• white ex-convict shot King on the balcony outside his motel room

• Lester Maddox closed business instead of complying with civil rights, as governor he wouldn’t allow MLK’s body in the Georgia state capitol building

Robert F. Kennedy Responds

• RFK wanted ppl to be compassionate abt remembering King’s legacy but instead hundreds of cities broke out in riots

Text 5: Results of the Civil Rights Movement

• civil rights movement eliminated de jure segregation; african american income and education improved

• Fair Housing Act also passed; lots of controversy over closing the social and economic gaps between blacks and whites

Controversies over Busing and Affirmative Action

• Nixon criticized busing as a means of attaining racial balance

• Nixon administration used affirmative action to close economic gap

• Some whites argued that affirmative action constituted reverse discrimination

• studies show that minority students accepted through affirmative action don’t have as high a graduation rate

Changes to the Voting Rights Act

• Congress has renewed Voting Rights Act(allows federal oversight in elections in some states) 4 times

• Court ended up releasing lots of southern states from federal supervision bc of gains in black voter registration made by states