THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

UNIT 14The First Generation of Civil Rights

Leaders

CIVIL RIGHTS TERMS AND LAWS

Civil Rights: the rights of citizens…any citizens! Free speech, freedom of religion, trial by jury of

peers, property ownership, voting, travel… ALL guaranteed by the Bill of Rights in our Constitution.

Segregation: separation of races May also separate by many characteristics.

Civil Rights Act of 1875: equal accommodations for blacks and whites, including the right to serve on juries… 1883: Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional

PLESSY V. FERGUSON

Supreme Court ruling that created the separate-but-equal concept…

Train passenger in Louisiana sued for the right to ride where he pleased.

Segregation the law of the land until 1954

Allowed for the segregation of facilities

Jim Crow Laws i.e.…Separate restrooms, water

fountains railroad cars, waiting rooms, dining rooms

Blacks were allowed to vote in “general” November elections, however most states prohibited blacks from voting in primaries.

1943: In front of Greyhound StationRome, Georgia

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON Preached Education and

Patience

Born into a slave family in 1856 Virginia

Believed economic independence for blacks would lead to social and political equality

Established the Tuskegee Institute

Atlanta Compromise speech on social equality

W.E.B. DUBOIS ACTIVISM… ”The Here and

Now”

Believed in social activism… Blacks needed to unite and

actively work towards equality

Member of the Niagara Movement A group of black educators

and professional men who met secretly to eliminate discrimination

Lynching: Illegal hangingsW.E.B Dubois

ATLANTA RACE RIOT OF 1906

Due to false stories and reports in newspapers and by officials

Whites and blacks rioted in downtown Atlanta

Martial Law declared to regain control

Military Rule

18 blacks and 3 whites died…100s were injured…property damage excessiveNewspaper clippings

from era

THE NAACP National Assoc. for

the Advancement of Colored People

Formed by members of the Niagara Movement and white liberals

Founded in 1909 by Oswald Garrison Villard

Work towards the rights of black Americans

BACK-TO-AFRICA MOVEMENT

Marcus Garvey and Bishop Henry Turner… Promised cheap

transportation to Liberia (Africa) for the purpose of establishing colonies.

Program was a scam to take advantage of the under privileged blacks

The Laurada departing for Liberia

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE Inter-racial group that

worked to solve problems facing blacks in the cities.

Many cities were unprepared for the rapid growth of population brought on by The Great Migration…

1916-1930: movement of the black population from rural south to urban north

Routes of The Great Migration

BLACKS AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE

1908: Georgia passed the Grandfather Clause:Stated that only those men whose fathers

or grandfathers had been eligible to vote in 1867 could vote now. Kept most Georgia blacks from voting

Other qualifications needed to vote:Own propertyPay a poll tax (a tax to vote)Pass a literacy (reading) test

EARLY CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS

John Hope-Educator•Active in calming Atlanta Race Riots•1st Black President of Morehouse College •Believed in WEB Dubois

Lucy C. Laney•Began Augusta’s 1st black kindergarten•Opened the Haines Normal School

Selena Sloan Butler-Child Activist•Founder of 1st black PTA•Served on the White House Conference on Child and Health Protection

EARLY CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS II

Thomas A. Dorsey

* “Father of Gospel”

*Revolutionized blues music…

*”If you don’t believe I’m

leaving, you can count the days I

am gone!

William Finch

*”Father of Black Public

Schools”

*Atlanta City Council Member

Richard Robert Wright, Sr.* Organized

black farming co-ops…

*States 1st public high school for

blacks*Achieved

highest rank of black man at time-Major.

* “And the truth shall make you

free!”

TRIAL OF LEO M. FRANK Supt. Of National Pencil

Company factory Accused of killing 14yr. Old

Mary Phagan

Jewish

Convicted on testimony of black janitor

Pardoned by governor but lynched in Marietta by mob led by KKK.

KKKs rebirth in Stone Mtn. Active in all southern states,

Midwest, and Cal. 1915

Leo M. Frank and Mary Phagan

EARLY CIVIL RIGHT LEADERS III

Henry O. Flipper* 1st black to graduate from West

Point*Special organizer and agent for

U.S. Dept. of Justice

Henry Hugh Proctor* Pastor of 1st Congregational

Church in Atlanta* Formed a committee of blacks

and whites to relieve racial tensions

Adam Daniel Williams* Martin Luther King Jr.

Grandfather*Charter member of Atlanta’s

NAACP* Organized boycotts and rallies

EARLY CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS IV

Carrie Steele• As a maid, found children left at Atlanta’s

Union Railroad Station and cared for them.• Opened the Carrie Steele Pitts Orphanage-

1888.

Amanda Dickson• Black mother and white father (Bi-

racial)• Plantation father left her his estate• Challenged in court and she won!

CIVIL RIGHTS 2ND GENERATION

Brown v. Board of Education1954 Supreme Court ruling that wiped out

the legal basis for racial segregation in public education.

Georgia Governors (Talmadge and Griffin) along with the Georgia General Assembly resisted all efforts to desegregate schools. Went as far as threatening to abolish the public

school system.1961-Atlanta began to integrate public schools

2ND GENERATION CIVIL RIGHTS Rosa Parks:

Montgomery, Alabama woman arrested for not giving up her bus seat to a white passenger. Following her arrest, the black community,

organized by Martin Luther King, boycotted the city bus system.

Ralph McGill:White newspaper editor (Atlanta

Constitution) who wrote about the barriers facing the black southerner…trying to educate other areas of the country as to the goings on in the south.

2ND GENERATION LEADERS Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Created civil rights organization, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) headquartered in Atlanta

Ralph Abernathy: Pastor; advisor and aide to MLK…treasurer of SCLC

Andrew Young: minister; director of voter registration for SCLC and top

aide to MLK Black democrat congressman from Georgia

Lonnie King and Julian Bond: Formed Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee

(SNCC) headquartered in Atlanta

THE ALBANY MOVEMENT Organization formed by local black civil

rights groups in Albany, Georgia…Goal was to end segregation in the city

through negotiationMany were jailed along with MLK and

Abernathy

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” MLK’s penned a letter describing his

actions and telling people to believe in the Civil Rights cause while being held in solitary confinement.

MARCH ON WASHINGTON Civil Rights leaders from across America organized

a march on Washington DC in August 1963 to demonstrate the national support for Civil Rights. Called on our nations leaders to pass far-reaching civil

rights legislation MLK’s “I have a dream…” speech given here!!

Civil Rights Act of 1964: Prohibits racial discrimination in employment and labor

unions and in public facilities…federal gov’t could withhold funds from school districts refusing to integrate.

Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States: Supreme Court ruled that discrimination by race in privately

owned public accommodations could no longer segregate

2ND GENERATION CONTINUED Voting Rights Act of 1965:

Federal government now had jurisdiction of registering voters and could send in examiners and officials to assure discrimination was not taking place!

Maynard Jackson:First African American to head a major

southern city as mayor elected Mayor of Atlanta in 1973

Strong supporter of expansion and modernization of Atlanta’s airport (Hartsfield-JACKSON Airport)

CREDITS Page 3: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may18.html Page 4: http://www.nps.gov/archive/bowa/btwbio.html Page 5: http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96feb/dubois.html Page 6: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-3033 Page 7: http://www.naacp.org/about/ Page 8:

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=4#

Page 9: http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/545.html Page 11: http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/franklin/bio.html Page 11: http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/815/Lucy_Laney_was_a_pure_educator__ Page 11: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2508 Page 12: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1603 Page 12: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/es/pa/free_1 Page 13: http://www.atlantanation.com/leofrank.html Page 14: http://www.history.army.mil/topics/afam/flipper.htm Page 14: http://www.atlantaga.gov/government/urbandesign_fircongre.aspx Page 14: http://shamrocks147.blogspot.com/2006/01/reverend-adam-daniel-williams.html Page 15: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2912 Page 15: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-821