IV. Demand for Civil Rights A.The Struggle for Equality After WWII the campaign for civil rights began to accelerate Truman’s Actions Truman publically

IV. Demand for Civil Rights

A. The Struggle for Equality• After WWII the campaign for civil rights began to

accelerate

Truman’s Actions• Truman publically supported civil rights for many

years, despite being raised in the South


• Sept. 1946: Truman tried to persuade Congress to abolish the poll tax, pass an anti-lynching law, and to establish a board to prevent discriminatory practices in hiring-Congress refused to address any of these issues


• July 1948: Truman banned discrimination in the hiring of federal employees and ordered the integration of the armed forces-change came slowly however – the armed forces weren’t integrated until 1950


Jackie Robinson• For many years, major league baseball had refused to

allow African Americans to participate, forcing them to play in the separate Negro Leagues

• 1945: Brooklyn Dodger general manager Branch Richey decided to challenge the ban


• Richey chose Jackie Robinson to break the color barrier-He had earned letters in football, basketball, baseball, and track while attending UCLA

• Before signing him up, Richey attempted to discourage Robinson though insults and threatening violence when he called Robinson into his office


-Robinson replied, “Mr. Richey, do you want a ballplayer who’s afraid to fight back?”-Richey answered, “I want a player with guts enough not to fight back.”

• 1947: Robinson joined the Dodgers, becoming the first African American to play in the major leagues

• Despite threats and racial slurs, Robinson acted with dignity and even won the Rookie of the Year award


• Robinson paved the way for other African Americans to play professionally in other sports


B. Brown vs. Board of Education• Probably the greatest civil rights victory in the early

postwar period took place in the courts• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) held that segregation of

the races was constitutional as long as facilities were equal – “separate but equal”


• 1951: Oliver Brown sued the Topeka, Kansas, Board of Education to allow his 8-year-old daughter Linda to attend a school that only white children were allowed to attend-She passed the school on her way to the bus that took her to a distant school for African Americans

• After appeals, the case reached the US Supreme Court where lawyer Thurgood Marshall argued on behalf of Brown and against segregation in American schools

IV. Demand for Civil Rights• May 17, 1954: The Supreme Court issued its historic

ruling by declaring that “separate facilities are inherently unequal”

• President Eisenhower, who privately disagreed with the ruling, said “the Supreme Court has spoken and I am sworn to uphold the constitutional processes in this country; I will obey.”

• 1955: The Court ruled that local school boards should move to desegregate “with all deliberate speed”


C. The Montgomery Bus Boycott• 1955: The nation’s attention shifted from the

courts to the streets of Montgomery, AL• Dec. 1955: Rosa Parks took a seat in the middle

section of a bus, where both African Americans and whites were usually allowed to sit

• When a white man got on the bus and had no where to sit, the driver order Parks to give up her seat


• She refused and was arrested at the next stop• Civil rights leaders in Montgomery quickly met and

decided to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott-Called for African Americans to refuse to use the entire bus system until the company agreed to change its segregation policy


• Martin Luther King, Jr., the 26-year-old minister at the church where the initial meeting took place, became the spokesperson for the protest-“There comes a time when people get tired…tired of being segregated and humiliated, tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression. We have no alternative but to protest.”


• Over the next year, 50,000 African Americans in Montgomery walked, rode bicycles, or joined car pools to avoid the city buses

• Despite losing money, the company refused to change its policies

• The Supreme Court finally ruled that bus segregation, like school segregation, was unconstitutional


• The bus boycott produced a new generation of leaders in the African American community, particularly King

• It also introduced non-violent protest as a means of achieving equality


D. Resistance in Little Rock• The Brown decision and the Montgomery protest

caused many white southerners to react with fear and angry resistance

• The worst confrontation came at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas

• 1957: Governor Orval Faubus declared that he could not keep order if he had to enforce integration, or the bringing together of different races


• Faubus posted National Guard troops at the school who turned away nine African American students-His actions was a direct challenge to the Constitution and the ruling of the courts

• Eisenhower acted by placing the National Guard under federal command to protect the nine students

• Military presence continued during the whole school year

I. Life in the 1960s:

• Civil Rights Movement (1945-1970) – Major Events:

-1955 – Emmett Till Case-1955-1956 – Montgomery Bus Boycott-1957 – Little Rock public schools


• 1960 – Sit-in Movement begins – Feb. 1, 1960, 4 college students from Greensboro, NC went into a Woolworth’s store and sat down at the “whites only” lunch counter and ordered coffee – the waitress refused to serve them – the students stayed seated in silent protest until the store closed – the next day several more students joined them – even more came the following day – the movement spread throughout the South


• 1961 - Freedom Rides begin – boarded buses that would take them across the South - the freedom riders wanted to end segregation on buses and trains – many were beaten and some even killed by angry whites – in Sept. 1961 the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) outlawed segregation in interstate travel


• 1963 – Violence in Mississippi - Medgar Evers, a civil rights leader who helped integrate the University of Mississippi (James Meredith was the first African-Am. to be admitted), was shot and killed in his driveway

• 1963 – Struggle in Birmingham, Alabama – one of the most segregated cities in America – Alabama Governor George Wallace said, “I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” – police used fire hoses, dogs, and electric cattle prods to break up the demonstrations


• 1963 – March on Washington – JFK had proposed a strong civil rights bill – 250,000 gathered in Wash. D.C. to rally support for the bill – Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech

• 1965 – Selma March – voting rights were being denied in Selma, AL – a 30 mile march was held from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery in protest – Alabama State Police met the marchers at the edge of town and fired tear gas into the crowd


• 1965 – Watts Riot – a ghetto in LA – riot started when a white police officer arrested an African-American driver on charges of reckless driving – led to 5 days of violence – 34 people died

I. Life in the 1960s:• Martin Luther King, Jr.-born and raised in Atlanta, GA-from a middle class family – his father was also a

preacher-entered college at the age of 15-based his non-violent method of protest on the

teachings of Mohandas Ghandi (leader of India’s revolt against England)

-this strategy was designed to provoke violent responses from racist whites that would be covered by the media -…


…hoped the media images would bring outraged responses from all Americans – in turn, this would put pressure on the federal gov’t to intervene and protect the civil rights of African-American citizens

-assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, TN (1968) – riots erupted in 60 cities across the country – 37 died


• Malcolm X-born Malcolm Little in Omaha, NE-father was killed by whites when he was a child-ran away to Harlem and was arrested for burglary-while in jail he learned of the Black Muslim movement and

its leader Elijah Muhammad-joined the Black Muslims after his release from jail and

soon became their spokesperson-believed that African-Americans should separate

themselves from whites – opposed integration


Documents

IV. Demand for Civil Rights A.The Struggle for Equality After WWII the campaign for civil rights began to accelerate Truman’s Actions Truman publically