“Our lives begin to end the day we
become silent about things that matter.”
MLK
“Shallow understanding from people of
good will is more frustrating than
absolute misunderstanding from people
of ill will.”
MLK
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We look forward to a world
founded upon four essential
freedoms. The first is freedom
of speech and expression…
The second is freedom of a person to
workship God in his own way…The third is
freedom from want…The fourth is
freedom from fear…
I.
After WWII, Americans were
concerned with Civil Rights
issues because of 6 million
Jews killed in the Holocaust
and the continued
segregation of African
Americans in society and in
the military
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Poll Tax
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Grandfather Clause
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Intimidation by KKK
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Literacy Tests (you try it!)
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Gerrymandering (re-drawing Congressional
districts)
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Schools (supported by Plessy case of 1896
and overturned by Brown case of 1954)
Public transportation
Restaurants (‘lunch counters’)
Shopping facilities
Entertainment
Hotels
Water fountains and restrooms
Neighborhoods
Intermarriage laws (‘miscegenation’)
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De jure—segregation by law
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De facto—segregation by practice or
custom
Great migration and rise of black middle
class
 Black universities
 NAACP
 Harlem Renaissance
 New Deal programs
 Music industry
 Jesse Owen—Olympian
 Jackie Robinson--Baseball
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Truman’s Executive Order desegregating
the army and federal government--1948
(Response of the ‘Dixiecrats’ split the
Democratic Party in the Election of 1948Truman still won)
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Thoreau’s ideas of Civil Disobedience
(passive resistance and strategy of nonviolence)
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Used by Gandhi for independence of
India after WWII
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Used by King and others…
Civil Rights issues addressed by the three
branches of government
 Executive—the enforcement and
executive orders
 Legislation—new laws
 Judicial—interpretation of the
Constitution and lower laws
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One step forward and

Two steps backward…
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Civil Rights Act of 1964
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Voting Rights Act of 1965
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24th Amendment—eliminated poll tax
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Practice of Affirmative Action in work
place, college admissions, etc.
13th—ended slavery
 14th—citizenship for former slaves
 15th—suffrage for former slaves
(Remember: “Free citizens vote.”)
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24th—ended poll tax
 26—suffrage for 18 year olds
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A.Dred Scott v. Sanford—1857—ruled for
slavery everywhere in the U.S.—
overturned in 1865 by the 13th & 14th
amendments
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B.Plessy v. Ferguson—1896—ruled for
segregation—“separate but equal”—
overturned by Brown decision
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1944—Orange County, California
Hispanic families sued for students to attend local
schools
Courts heard testimony regarding culture and
language
Rued to de-segregate California schools. This
applied to Asian Americans and African Americans
also
The Anderson Law passed and signed by Governor
Earl Warren
Warren was later named as the chief justice of the
Supreme Court and wrote the ruling for Brown v. The
Board of Education
The Warren Court is famous for “liberal” decisions
(Miranda rights, etc.)

C.Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
1954—ruled to de-segregate schools—referred to 14th
amendment
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D. Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S.—1964
Referred to commerce clause of Civil Rights Act of 1964—
ruled against any segregation in commercial areas
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E. Loving v. Virginia—1967—ruled against miscegenation
laws—cited 14th amendment
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F. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenberg Board of
Education—1971
Upheld integration of schools to be achieved by
busing if necessary
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G. Regents of the University of California v.
Bakke—1978
Upheld affirmative action but ruled against rigid use
of racial quotas
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H. Shaw v. Reno—1993
Ruled that racial gerrymandering was illegal—
upheld Equal Protection Clause of the 14th
Amendment
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To Kill a Mockingbird
Warriors Don’t Cry
The Help
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Invisible Man
A Lesson Before Dying
The Wedding
Quakertown
White Lilacs
Secret Life of Bees
Roots
The Autobiography of Miss Jean Pittmann
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Mississippi Burning
Ghosts of Mississippi
In the Heat of the Night
Remember the Titans
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Great Debate
Glory Road
The Defiant Ones
Raisin in the Sun
Driving Miss Daisy
Roots
The Autobiography of Miss Jean Pittmann
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Emmitt Till (Mississippi)
Montgomery Bus Boycott (Alabama)
Little Rock Nine and Central High School (Arkansas)
Nashville Sit-ins (N.C. and Tennessee)
Albany Demonstrations (arrest of King—Georgia)
Birmingham Demonstrations (arrest of King—Alabama)
JFK’s Civil Rights Act proposed
March on Washington, August 1963
Voting Registration Efforts
Malcolm X and Northern Efforts
Assassination of Medgar Evers (Alabama)
Mississippi Summer Project
Freedom Summer and the Murder of Three Students (Miss.)
Mississippi Freedom Party and The 1964 Democratic Convention
Selma Voting Registation and Boycotts (Alabama)
March from Selma to Montgomery (Alabama)
NAACP
 Southern Christian Leadership
Conference
 Students Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee
 Congress of Racial Equality
 Nat ional Urban League
 Nation of Islam
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Slaughterhouse Cases and 1883 Civil
rights Cases
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Film: Birth of a Nation, 1915
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Marcus Garvey
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FDR’s Fair Employment Practices
Commission (and A. Philip Randolph)
King—SCLC
 Roy Wilkins—NAACP
 Stokely Carmichael—SNCC
 Huey Newton—Black Panthers
 Malcolm X—Black Muslims
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Note: Ida Wells-Barnett, Ella Baker, Diane
Nash
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Reynolds v. Sims—1964—Congressional
reapportionment based most recent
census date
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What does this mean?
How did the Civil War resolve it or did it?
How was this an issue in the 1950s and
1960s?
How is this an issue today?
View the next slide: Which side does
Wallace represent?
Which side does the Deputy Attorney
General represent?
Which side does the trooper represent?

Is it always wrong to
defy the law?
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When, if ever, is it
right to defy a
society’s laws?
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Who are models of
Civil Disobedience?
1.
Underline everything you
think is an injustice.
2.
Circle everything you think
is illegal today.
3.
What types of actions are
regulated by laws?
4.
Some people say you can’t
change behavior by
passing laws, but that is
what laws do. Which
actions would be the most
difficult to change?
5.
How have conditions
described in King’s letter
changed today?
15.
Whose philosophy made the most sense
for America in the 1960’s, Martin’s or
Malcolm’s?
Explain and back up your argument
with details from the documents
provided.