Civil Rights Movement Honors United States History Chapter

Civil Rights Movement Honors United States History Chapter 18. 1 -18. 2 Mr. Brink

What Life Was For Blacks Jim Crow • Plessy vs. Ferguson makes “separate but equal” De Jure vs. De Facto Segregation Public Lynching

Civil Rights. Why Now? ? ? Public Sacrifice in 2 wars but no rights at home… Legacy of hypocrisy re WWII Jews Continuation of women’s movement

Movement prior to 1954 Civil War Amendments. Jim Crow Laws. Plessy vs. Ferguson 1896 Booker T. Washington. NAACP – 1909

1940’s A. Philip Randolph Core Desegregation of the Armed Forces

Jackie Robinson, at the age of 27, became the first Black Baseball player in Major League history. Jackie Robinson faced virulent racism. Members of his own team refused to play with him. Opposing pitchers tried to beam his head, while base runners tried to spike him. He received hate mail and death threats daily. Fans shouted Racist remarks at him in every ball park. Hotels and restaurants refused to serve him

Jackie and Civil Rights Jackie Robinson’s Actions effected the world far beyond Major League Baseball. His courage and discipline in standing up against racism were a preview of the actions taken by many members of The Civil Rights Movement. The success of the Jackie Robinson experiment was a testament to fact that integration could exist

Seeking change in the courts

Early Supreme Court Battles NAACP wants legal battles • Thurgood Marshall leads (will be 1 st black justice on the Court in 1967) Sweatt v Painter • Separate wasn’t creating equal-higher education Mc. Laurin v Oklahoma State Regents • If no separate possible, equal must be followed

Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, KS May, 1954 9 -0 ruling, separate is inherently unequal Follow up ruling (Brown II) told all schools to desegregate… n. Chief Justice Earl Warren

The Southern Reaction 1956 – the “Southern Manifesto”. 100 congressmen vow to oppose Brown The KKK becomes more active. . . White Citizens Councils vow to fight integration

Little Rock, 1957 Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus refuses integration (state’s rights vs. federal rights) Mob supports Gov. Eisenhower forces integration with the 101 st Airborne

Little Rock Crisis

Events Leading Up To Rosa’ Protest Parks was an active member of The Civil Rights Movement and joined the Montgomery chapter of NAACP ( ational Association for the Advancement N Colored People) 1943. in African Americans made up 2/3 of the passengers the Bus system but still had to deal with unfair rule

The Arrest On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a White man on a bus. Parks was arrested and “People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was charged with the tired, but that isn't true. I was no violation of a segregation law in The tired physically, or no more tired Montgomery City Code. than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, 50 African American although some people have an leaders in the image of me as being old then. I community met to was forty-two. No, the only tired discuss what to do about was, was tired of giving in. ” -Ros Rosa’s arrest. Parks Autobiography

Montgomery Bus Boycott On December 5, 1955, through the rain, the African Americans in Montgomery began to boycott the busses. 40, 000 Black commuters walked to work, some as far as twenty miles. The boycott lasted 382 days. The bus companies finances struggled. Until the law that called for segregation on busses was finally lifted.

Martin Luther King Jr. Born in Atlanta, Georgia. Graduated Morehouse College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. Later, at Boston University, King received a Ph. D. in systematic theology. In 1953, at the age of 26, King became pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama. His start as a Civil Rights leader came during the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Career As A Leader In 1955 he became involved in The Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Boycott was the start to his incredible car as the most famous leader of the Civil Rights movemen He went on to deliver numerous powerful speeches promoting peace and desegregation. During The March On Washington he delivered one of most famous speeches of th century titled, “I Have A 20 Dream” Before he was assassinated in 1968, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Civil Disobedience In 1957 King helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC § A group that used the authority and powe § § § of Black churches to organize non-violent protest to support the Civil Rights Movement. King believed in the philosophy used by Gandhi in India known as nonviolent civi disobedience. He applied this philosophy to protest organized by the SCLC. The civil disobedience led to media coverage of the daily inequities suffered b Southern Blacks. The televised segregation violence led to mass public sympathy. The Civil Rights Movement became the most important political topic during the early 60’s.

18. 2 Freedom Now! Civil Rights Act of 1957 -Ike created US Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations inside the states.

The Sit-In Movement Inspired by nonviolence, students break color barriers of Jim Crow 1960 – Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, NC

The Freedom Rides 1961 – CORE sponsored test of bus Integration in South. Boynton v Virginia Buses bombed, riders attacked!!!

JFK Forced To Act To Stop the Violence, Pres. Kennedy orders Federal Transportation Commission to desegregate interstate transportation.

Integrating Higher Education SNCC and CORE – attempt to achieve change through nonviolent protest NAACP uses legal campaign • 1961 – Univ. of Georgia forced to admit two African American students (both graduated in 1963)

1962, enrolls at all white Ole Miss law school Gov. Ross Barnett won’t integrate • Medgar Evers & NAACP won court case to force him White mob tries to stop, Fed. Marshals sent in by JFK James Meredith (ex-WWII airforce)

University of Alabama

Birmingham, Alabama Capital of Segregation SCLC marches (against the law) on Good Friday, 1963 • King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” “Bull” Connor uses dogs and hoses on child marchers

Letter From a Birmingham Jail King, wrote the letter after being arrested at a peaceful protest Birmingham, Alabama. § The letter was in response to a letter sent to him by eight Alabama Clergymen called, “A Call For Unity. ” § The men recognized that injustices were occurring in Birmingham but believed that the battles for freedom shou be fought in the courtroom in not in the streets. § In the letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail, ” King justified civil disobedience by saying that without forceful action, tr civil rights would never be achieved. Direct action is justifi in the face of unjust laws.

Letters From a Birmingham Ja (cont. ) In the letter King justifies civil disobedience in the town of Birmingham. § “I cannot sit idly in Atlanta and not be concerned about wh happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. ” § “There can be no gain saying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experien grossly unjust treatment in the courts. ” § “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself. ” § “We know through painful experience that freedom is neve voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed. § “Wait has almost always meant 'never. ‘”

Eugene “Bull” Connor

A Promise & A March, 1963 In wake of Birmingham violence, JFK promises Federal changes… Black groups coordinate to march on DC to press for change

The Price of Freedom! Evers was shot and killed in 1963 hours after the speech of JFK, Meredith was shot and wounded in 1966

March On Washington More than 20, 000 Black and White Americans celebrated in a joyous day of song, prayer and speeches. The march was lead by a group of important clergy men, civil rights leaders, and politicians. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech was the climax of the day.

I Have A Dream Speech In a powerful speech, Martin Luther King Jr. stated eloquently that he desired a world were Black’s and whites to coexist equally. King’s speech was a rhetoric example oh the Black Baptist sermon style. The speech used The Bible, The Declaration of Independence, The United States Constitution and The Emancipation Proclamation a sources. He also used an incredible number of symbols in his poetic address.

I Have A Dream Speech (cont. ) The powerful words of Martin Luther King Jr. § “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and liv out the true meaning of its creed: - 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. ’” § “I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. ” § “I have a dream that my four little children will one day liv in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of th skin but by the content of their character. ” § “black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics - will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Tragedy in the Hope Birmingham’s 16 th Street Baptist Church bombed • 4 children killed JFK Assassinated

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Banned Segregation in Public Facilities Allowed Justice Dept. to prosecute discrimination Created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Southern Democrats Tried to Filibuster the Act. Strom Thurmond read a phone book for 24 hours!!!