Thursday, May 21st SWBAT describe the progression of African Americans’ quest for equal rights since the abolition of slavery

Do Now: Complete your chart

Bus burning in Anniston, Alabama

The Civil Rights movementA. Civil rights militants

1. Freedom Riders were organized by CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) a. May 1961: rode interstate buses to verify

segregation was not happening b. In Alabama, their bus was burned, they were

arrested, and beaten by the KKK c. More Freedom Riders kept coming all

summer

d. Attorney General asked the ICC to rule against segregation of interstate transportation facilities

-- Sent 400 marshals to protect the Freedom Riderse. In September, 1961, the ICC announced segregation in interstate transportation was over

2. James Meredith demanded admission into the

University of Mississippi

a. September 1962, JFK sent the U.S. Army to enforce a court order to enroll Meredith into “Ole Miss”

James Meredith is escorted by two U.S.

marshals as he enters the admissions building at the University of Mississippi

3. Alabama, 1963 a. 1963, the city closed parks, playgrounds,

swimming pools, and golf courses to avoid desegregation

b. Martin Luther King, Jr. chose Birmingham as a target for desegregation as it would pose the toughest challenge

c. King and his supporters were arrested and jailed for two weeks

d. After his release, King began using black school children for demonstrations

Cattle prods, police dogs, and fire hoses were used on demonstrators

Public pressure mounted for civil rights legislation

e. Local leaders gave in and desegregated the large department stores

King called off the demonstrations

f. Afterwards, King’s motel was bombed (as was his brother’s home)

After rioting erupted, JFK decided to side with King

In June, Birmingham was desegregated

Wreckage of the bombed Gaston Motel where King had stayed during the Birmingham March, May 11, 1963

Vivian Malone enters the U of

Alabama admissions

office to register for classes

Kennedy pursues civil rights1. Integration of University of Alabama

a. June 1963: JFK nationalized the Alabama National Guard to enforce a court order for the integration of James Hood and Vivian Malone

Evers was shot in the back on his driveway as he approached his family at home.

b. That night, Medgar Evers, NAACP director in Mississippi,

was assassinated in retaliation for the U of Alabama incident

We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution. The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who will represent him… hen who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay? One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free… This Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.

2. Proposal of a Civil Rights Act

Kennedy poses with civil rights leaders after announcing the civil rights act. Martin Luther King is

located 3rd from left, A. Philip Randolph, center.

D. March on Washington, August 1963 1. Largest protest in U.S. thus far 2. Organized in part by A. Philip Randolph 3. Protesters demanded passage of Kennedy’s civil

rights bill and for job opportunities 4. The climax of the event was King’s “I have a dream”

speech

And when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children - black

men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants - will be able to join hands and to sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at last;

thank God Almighty, we are free at last." 

The Triumph of Civil Rights

A. 24th Amendment (1964): abolished poll taxes in federal elections

B. Civil Rights Act of 1964 1. Johnson’s skill with Congress got Kennedy’s bill passed

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Bill, July 2, 1964

2. Provisions a. Forbade segregation in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and sporting arenas that did business in interstate commerce -- Equal Employment Opportunities created to

enforce the law b. Relieved individuals of responsibility for bringing

discrimination complaints to court themselves -- Federal gov’t was now responsible

c. Eliminated remaining restrictions on African American voting

d. Title VII: discrimination based on race, religion, gender and national origin in the workplace was illegal 3. Result: most businesses in the South’s cities and larger towns desegregated immediately

Voting Rights Act of 1965 1. Existing legislation still did not fully enforce 15th

Amendment guarantees of suffrage 2. March from Selma to Washington,1965 a. Only 383 of 15,000 blacks were registered to vote in Selma b. In response to violence in Selma civil rights leaders announced a climactic protest march

3. Provisions a. Literacy tests were unlawful if 50% of all voting-age citizens were registered to vote b. If local registrars would not enroll African Americans, the president could send federal examiners who would c. Result: 740,000 African Americans were registered to vote within three years

Affirmative Action1. LBJ signed an executive order in1965 requiring employers on federal contracts to ensure underprivileged women and minorities were hired. -- Purpose: give preferences to minorities to make up for past discrimination2. President Nixon later furthered affirmative action through the “Philadelphia Plan”

3. Resulta. African American, Asian, and Hispanic

enrollment in universities increased dramaticallyb. Women benefitted significantly in the workplace

4. Cries of “reverse discrimination” among white men occurred in the 1970s 5. Bakke case, 1978: race could only be used as a factor if minorities were equally qualified

Thurgood Marshall1. LBJ appointed Marshall as the first African American to

the Supreme Court in 19672. Marshall was most famous for his victory in Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Thurgood Marshall in the Oval Office,

1967

The rise of Black PowerA. Not all African Americans agreed with non-violence and civil disobedience

1. After passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, King’s methods seemed obsolete to many younger African Americans

2. Many questioned if integration was a worthwhile goal

3. African Americans still experienced poverty and discrimination in the inner-cities as well as police brutality

B. Black Separatism1. Some argued for the separation of the races by

occupying an exclusive area of land in the U.S. supplied by the federal government

a. Opposite of integration b. Inspired by ideas of Marcus Garvey

c. The Nation of Islam was the most notable and well-organized of the black separatist groups

2. Malcolm Xa. Most vocal and brilliant orator of the Nation of Islamb. Preached religious justification for black separatism and furthering of black rights “through any means necessary.” -- Believed non-violence encouraged white violence

c. His ideas became the foundation for the Black Power movement

C. SNCC and Stokely Carmichael1. Influenced by Malcolm X2. 1966, CORE and SNCC called for all-black staffing,

rejecting interracial cooperation3. “Black Power”

a. Response to the shooting of James Meredith in 1966b. Appealed to racial pride, black nationalism, struggle against “white tyranny”

c. Joined the Black Panthers in late ‘60s

4. Black Panthersa. Based in Oakland and founded by Huey Newton

and Bobby Sealeb. Revolutionary socialist movement c. Para-military organization to protect blacks from

white violence and police brutalityd. FBI effectively undermined the group

Bobby Seale and Huey Newton stand in the street

armed with weapons

D. Violence in the Inner City 1. Poverty, unemployment, and racial discrimination were

common in the inner city.2. Racial disorders hit in the summers of 1965, 1966, and

1967a. Watts Riots in L.A., March 11-16,1965b. 1967, 7,000 arrested in Detroit

c. 150 cities experienced racial disorders in 1967

3. Kerner Commission appointed by LBJ to investigate causes for riots

a. Conclusions concerning causes Frustrated hopes of African Americans led

to violenceEncouragement of violence by white

terrorists and black protest groups led to violence

Blacks felt powerless in a society dominated by whites

b. Recommendations End racial barriers in jobs, education and

housing Greater gov’t response Increased communication

E. Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

1. April 4, 1968: King shot on the balcony of a Memphis motel

2. Riots broke out around the country

The Lorraine Motel in Memphis which is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum.

The wreath marks the spot where King

was shot.

African American civil rights movement in retrospect1. Years between 1954 and 1968 can be seen as the

“Second Reconstruction”-- Equality before the law was largely achieved

2. Other minorities such as women, Hispanics, Native Americans, and gays/lesbians looked to the civil rights movement of the ‘50s and ‘60s as a model for the own efforts.