The Struggle for Civil Rights

A Brief History of Civil Rights to the 1950s

• 1863: Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation, ending slavery in the South.

• 1865: 13th Amendment ended slavery throughout the U.S.

• 1866: 14th Amendment granted citizenship rights to “all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.”

• 1870: 15th Amendment stated people could NOT be denied the right to vote based on race.

• Despite this constitutional progress, the Southern states responded with:

• poll taxes

• Literacy tests

• grandfather clauses

• Jim Crow laws segregation in the South

• In 1896, the Supreme Court legalized “separate but equal” in Plessy v. Ferguson.

• Although there were attempts at reform during the Progressive Era (the NAACP was formed in 1909), the South clung tightly to strictly defined classes and rules based on race until well into the 1950s.

WWII: A Turning Point• Many African Americans served with honor during

WWII—the Marines enlisted African Americans for the first time and the Navy commissioned first African American officers during the war.

• Despite their efforts, African Americans served in segregated units.

• Having fought a war against oppression and in favor of human rights, Truman issued Executive Order 9981 in 1948—which ended segregation in the U.S. armed forces.

This would prove to be the beginning of a concerted effort by African Americans to finalize realize the equality that had been promised to them nearly 100 years before . . .

The Beginning of Change: Brown vs. Board of Education

• In 1954, the Supreme Court, hearing

a claim from parents in Topeka

Kansas, declared that “segregated

educational facilities are

inherently unequal.”

Despite this ruling, the

South would cling

tightly to their

segregated class structure.

1950s Racism and the Social

Structure in the South: The

Story of Emmett Till

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas—1954

Significance:• 1st step in southern

desegregation

• sent message that federal government supported African American rights

• met w/ GREAT resistance in the South

Montgomery Bus Boycott—1955

Significance:• proved

effectiveness of non-violence

• pushed MLK to forefront

• desegregated Montgomery buses

Southern Christian Leadership Conference—1957

Significance:• Most active civil rights group

• promoted non-violent approach

 

Little Rock Nine—1957

Significance:

• proved that federal government was behind desegregation

Sit-In Movement—1960

Significance:• national news

coveragewidespread/white support

• policies changed store by store

Freedom Riders Mobilized—1961

Significance:

• Federal Interstate Commerce Commission issued rules to integrate all bus and train stations.

Birmingham Campaign—1963 Significance:• proved importance of media

coverage/success of non-violence

• Birmingham began desegregation

Activity: Primary Source Analysis

“Other America”

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

JFK’s Address on Civil Rights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BEhKgoA86U

March On Washington

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

Significance:• brought more national attention to Civil Rights cause

• led to Civil Rights Act 1964

Civil Rights Act 1964

• Banned discrimination in employment and ALL public accommodations—gave federal government power to enforce desegregation EVERYWHERE

Voting Rights Act 1965

What was it?• Literacy tests, poll

taxes, etc. were outlawed

• gave federal government power to oversee local and national elections for fairness

Significance:• within 3 weeks, 27,000

African Americans had registered to vote in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana

Conclusions• 1955—1965: Federal government took increasingly

strong steps to ensure federal laws regarding CR were upheld

• Early movement ended de jure segregation (legal), BUT de facto segregation (in practice) continued.

--Neighborhoods, bank loans, employment

• By 1965, many African Americans were losing patience with the slow pace of real progress in their daily lives . . .