Modern Civil Rights Unit
Time frame: late 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s.
Presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson
Civil Rights Milestones of the late 40’s and 50’s:
1947: Jackie
Robinson=1st black to
play in major leagues
1948: Truman orders
end of segregation in
the military
1954: Brown v. Board of
Education ruling.
Segregated schools are
unconstitutional.
1955-1956:Montgomery bus
boycott protests segregation
on city buses; Supreme
Court rules bus segregation
unconstitutional
1957: Eisenhower uses
National Guard to enforce
school desegregation in
Little Rock, Arkansas
CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR
LEADERS
The Civil Rights movement of the 1950/60’s was made up
of a variety of groups, united by their desire to achieve
equal rights for all Americans. Originally all these groups
began as non-violent groups—some will eventually evolve
into more radical movements.
NAACP-1909, W.E.B. DuBois, et al=founding members
Worked through the courts to secure legal equality for all
Americans
NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE-1911
Assisted people moving to major American cities
CORE-1942, James Farmer, director
Used peaceful confrontations, such as sit-ins, to
bring about change. Supported the “Double V”
campaign of WWII.
SCLC-1957, MLK,Jr., et al (Ella Baker, exec director)
Organized nonviolent protests against racism and
segregation
SNCC-1960, Ella Baker and Robert Moses
Gave young activists an important role in civil rights
movement-tended to use techniques that demanded
more immediate change.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott:
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on the city bus. She is
arrested and put on trial. 
Jo Ann Robinson of the WPC (Women’s Political Council)
suggests the bus boycott. 
Martin Luther King, Jr., minister of the church where the original
meeting was held, becomes spokesperson for the protest. 
Over the next year 50,000 blacks refused to ride the bus. Despite
the company losing $$, it refused to end segregation. The
Supreme Court ruled Montgomery bus segregation
unconstitutional. 
This success introduces non violent protest for achieving equality.
Little Rock troubles:
Arkansas governor, Orval Faubus declared that he couldn’t keep
order if he enforced integration. 
He orders the National Guard to turn away 9 black students to
Central High School in Little Rock 
Pres. Eisenhower placed the National Guard under federal
command and orders them to protect the 9 students
The slow movement toward school integration has begun.
Other voices:
Other minority groups will begin to “piggy-back” on the African
American civil rights movement. Hernandez v Texas will be the first
Supreme Court case ruling against discrimination targeting a minority
other than African Americans.
Civil rights protest succeeded in battling segregation,
though protesters often faced violent opposition.
SIT-INS: During 1961, approx 70,000 students participated in
sit-ins—about 3600 of those will be jailed. MLK said the
arrests were a “badge of honor.”
FREEDOM RIDES: Boynton v Virginia expanded its ruling on
bus segregation to include interstate buses. Freedom rides
were designed to test whether states would obey. It will lead to
violence in Alabama where the riders will escape a burning bus
to be beaten by a white mob. Eventually, Attorney General
Robert Kennedy will order federal marshals to protect the
riders and the ICC will issue a ruling prohibiting segregation in
all interstate transportation.
BIRMINGHAM PROTESTS
* MLK, Jr., calls Birmingham, Alabama, “the most
segregated city in the country.”
* King is invited to Birmingham to lead protests against
segregation
* Birmingham police commissioner Eugene “Bull” Conner
vows to arrest King and other demonstrators.
* King is arrested during protest march and spends a week in
jail.
* MLK writes his famous “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”
* After being released, MLK leads another protest march,
Birmingham police respond with violence and more arrests
* Nation watches police violence on television: sympathy for
civil rights activists grows.
* Birmingham ends policies of segregation.
Political Responses:
John F. Kennedy (JFK):
 Oct. 1960, JFK offers his support to family of MLK due to
his arrest in Georgia and Robert Kennedy succeeds in
getting him released on bailcauses a swing in African
American votes to the Kennedy in Nov. However, the
election is so close he won’t have a mandate.
 Opposition from Southern Democrats in Congress slow
Kennedy’s civil rights agenda
 Khrushchev embarrasses JFK, 1961, over the violence of
Freedom Rides.
 Kennedy introduces a strong Civil Rights Bill.
 Aug, 1963, March on Washington
 Nov, 1963, Kennedy assassinated.
Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ):
 LBJ had opposed civil rights most of his political career.
 After JFK’s death, Johnson uses his pull, including the help
of the Republican minority leader, to pass the Civil Rights
Act of 1964.
 “Freedom Summer”=summer of 1964. Saw voter
registration drives though out south and much KKK activity
to stop them, including murders.
 Demo. National Convention in summer of 1964 made LBJ
realize he had to do something about Af. Am. voting rights.
 24th Amendment ratified in 1964= end to poll taxes.
 Voting Rights Act of 1965=federal officials had right to
register blacks when local officials blocked registration.
The Radical Movement
 Young people frustrated at the slow pace of change move
toward more militant movements.
 James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time and Notes of a Native
Son was a powerful voice for the civil rights movement.
 Malcolm Little = Malcolm X. He viewed white society as
oppressive.
 Nation of Islam=Black Muslims. Preached black separation
and self-help, founded in 1933 by Elijah Muhammad in
Chicago.
 Black nationalism=belief in the separate identify and racial
unity of the African American community
 Generally these ideas opposed integration.
 1964, Malcolm X formed his own religious society=Muslim
Mosque, Inc.
 1966, Stokely Carmichael, a SNCC leader moves this
organizationviolent, radical movement. Coining the
phrase “black power”.
 Fall 1966, Black Panthers, led by Bobby Seale and Huey
Newton, wanted separate black communities.
 Severe riots will erupt during 1964 and 1965. With the most
severe riots in Rochester, NY; NYC, NY; New Jersey and in
’65 the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts. Thousands of
blacks filled the streets burning cars and stores, looting,
sniping at firefighters. Leave 34 dead and >1000 wounded.
 More riots and violence will take place in 1966, 1967, 1968.
 1968, MLK is assassinated. James Earl Ray is convicted of
MLK’s murder.