Civil Rights Movement

The Emmett Till Case

Video about the Case

Please look away if you uncomfortable with looking at the real photos of

Emmett Till

Jim Crow Laws

Laws designed to continue segregation after the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments

Predominantly in the South

Found ways to legalize discrimination of African-Americans

Examples of Jim Crow Laws A black male could not offer his hand to a white male

because that assumed they were equals. • Offer hand to woman—considered rape

Whites and blacks were not supposed to eat together—if they did it was partitioned and whites ate first

Under no circumstance was a black male to offer to light the cigarette of a white female• Implied Intimacy

No P.D.A. because it offended white people

Blacks did not have titles (Mr., Mrs., Ma’am, Sir, etc.)

White motorists had the right away

Plessy v. Ferguson Mixed-Race man, Homer Plessy (1/8th Black)

• Considered a black person in the south

In 1896 he was arrested when he refused to leave a whites-only train car

He was tried and convicted of violating Louisiana's segregation laws

“Separate but Equal Doctrine”

Brown v. Board of Education

Linda Brown, a 9 year old girl from Topeka, Kansas

She must travel several blocks, through a railroad yard, cross several busy streets to catch a bus miles from her house. • White-only school is only blocks away

Attorneys argue this is “separate but not equal”• Board argued that segregation in school would prepare children

for segregation in adulthood• Board wins the case in quick decision in 1951

After appeals the Supreme Court overturns their earlier decision in 1954

Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955-56

Reaction to Rosa Parks arrest Protesters refused to ride the city bus First major actions on the Civil Rights

Movement In-part to MLK, the movement becomes a

national protest• Spent 2 weeks in jail, which further encouraged

protesters Federal district court ruled the public

transportation rules for blacks were unconstitutional

Review Montgomery Bus Boycott

Jim Crow Laws

Plessy v. Ferguson

Brown v. Board of Education

Facebook Page Overview

Who Are They? Rosa Parks

NAACP

James Meredith

Freedom Riders

Nation of Islam

Malcolm X

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Black Panthers

Thurgood Marshall

Freedom Rides Bus rides organized in the early 1960’s to challenge

segregation

Challenged laws of segregation on interstate transportation

James Farmer led the group of 7 blacks and 6 whites • Left from DC to travel through numerous southern states• Interracial seating a key to their ride

A mob of white people at a stop in Alabama attacked the bus, slashed its tires, and then firebombed it. The escaping riders were beat

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The March on Washington• Aug. 28, 1963: over 200,000 demonstrators• “I have a dream”

Bill filibustered in Senate• Previous C.R. Acts filibustered (ex: 1957—

Thurmond)• 87 days later, cloture occurs and bill easily passes

Equal Employment, more power to attorney general to force desegregation

Malcolm X &The Black Muslims

Joined Nation of Islam (Black Muslims)• Preached black nationalism• Separate from whites and form self-governing

communities

Black Muslims ran own schools, business, newspaper, and advocated self defense

Malcolm X eventually thought integrated society possible—left group• Killed by Black Muslims in 1965

Black Panthers Believed in black power, black

nationalism, and economic self-sufficiency

Believed revolution necessary in America

Wanted African Americans to arm themselves and force whites to give equal rights