Civil Rights

Freedom Now!

Sit-Ins

• Success of Bus boycott & influence of non-violent resistance inspired sit-ins

• 1st sit-in was Feb. 1960 in Greensboro, NC – 4 students launched the sit-in after ordering coffee at

Woolworth’s counter– They were denied service but stayed until store

closed– The next day they returned with more protestors– Hundreds of protestors by first week

Sit-in successes

• Sit-ins were successful overall– Why?– They continued despite arrests & violence– *It marked shift in civil rights movement– Showed African American impatience with

slow pace of change– *Student Nonviolence Coordinating

Committee (SNCC) formed

Freedom Rides

• CORE planned nonviolent rides 1961– Dec. 1960 Supreme Court

ordered bus facilities open to all (but this was not enforced)

– CORE sent Freedom Riders through South

– At each stop, riders checked compliance

– Initially only mild harassment

– Riders were arrested for using white only facilities

Results of the Freedom Rides

• Results– May 1, busses swarmed by mob in Alabama >

firebombed bus & beat riders as they escaped– In Birmingham, people hit riders with baseball

bats & metal pipes > 1 permanently damaged– *NO POLICE ever arrived to help – Robert Kennedy sent in federal marshals

Integrating Higher Education

• NAACP worked to get universities open through courts – Univ. of Mississippi was forced to admit

James Meredith– Sept. 1962 he arrived protected by 500

marshals– He was met by a mob of 2500– Meredith graduated in 1963 with limited

friendly experiences

James Meredith

Effects of Higher Education

• JFK’s Response– JFK went on TV to reprimand Mississippi for

escalating violence– “The eyes of the nation & the world are upon

you”– In June 1963, Gov. of Alabama George

Wallace physically blocked 2 students from enrolling

• With a court order however, Wallace stepped aside

Albany Movement

• Albany, Georgia– *This was a battleground

for civil rights– More than 500 protestors

jailed– MLK Jr. was invited to lead

more demonstrations > arrested

– Their tactic was to fill the jails

– Leaders refused to negotiate with MLK Jr so he left > major defeat

– *MLK Jr. learned he would only participate in his own-organized events

Birmingham Campaign

• Birmingham, Alabama– Known for strict

segregation– 1963 MLK Jr. jailed > Here

he wrote his “Letter from jail”

– Used kids as demonstrators

– 900 arrested > effect?– Eugene “Bull” Connor

(police chief) used fire hoses & dogs to break up protestors

– Seen on TV > *Changed nations’ perception

Assassination of Medgar Evers

• Medgar Evers was the head of the Mississippi NAACP– Evers was one of the most effective Civil Rights

leaders– In 1963, he was shot in his front yard– Police arrested KKK member Byron De La Beckwith– 2 all-white juries failed to reach a verdict in 2 trials so

he went free– 30 years later, De La Beckwith was tried again & at

age 73 in 1994, he was convicted & sentenced to life in prison

March on Washington• August 1963

– To build support for the civil rights movement, leaders planned a march at the capital

– 200,000 people attended– One of largest demonstrations

ever– *MLK Jr. “Dream Speech”

• “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up & live 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 my 4 children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character. I have a dream today!”

March on Washington

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Kennedy wanted to pass an act ending discrimination in public areas– After the March on Washington, LBJ

supported a strong civil rights bill– Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination

in employment & in public accommodations