Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs
1930–1968
African Americans
make important
gains in a long,
sometimes violent
struggle for civil
rights.
Martin Luther King, Jr. meets with
parishioners at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist
Church.
NEXT
Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs
1930–1968
SECTION 1
The Civil Rights Movement Begins
SECTION 2
The Movement Grows
SECTION 3
Victories and Losses in the Movement
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Section 1
The Civil Rights Movement
Begins
African Americans struggle to overcome racism and
discrimination in the United States.
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SECTION
1
The Civil Rights Movement Begins
Early Attempts to Gain Equal Rights
National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP)
• Segregation legal, first half of 20th century; facilities
not always equal
• African Americans, concerned whites found
NAACP, 1909
- group works for equal treatment of African
Americans
- publicizes terror, violence against African
Americans
• NAACP lawsuits in 1930s challenge segregation,
equal facilities
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SECTION
1
Postwar Changes Strengthen Protests
White Primaries Are Struck Down
• African Americans fight in WWII, but face
discrimination upon return
• Savannah NAACP gains political power by
creating large voting bloc
• Supreme Court rules primary elections are
important part of process
- white-only primaries deny Fifteenth
Amendment rights
• Southern states, including Georgia, resist
decision
• African American Primus King sues Georgia,
wins two-year court case
Continued . . .
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SECTION
1
continued Postwar
Changes Strengthen Protests
Resistance and Decline
• Some whites fear integration; KKK burns cross,
Stone Mountain, 1945
• NAACP progress erodes by 1950; pressure, Klan
threats close chapters
- Georgia membership drops to about 3,100,
most in Atlanta, Savannah
- later, civil rights movement reemerges in these
cities
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SECTION
1
Federal Support for Civil Rights
Executive Order 8802
• Executive Order 8802 prohibits discrimination in
defense industries, 1941
• Fair Employment Practice Committee enforces
order
To Secure These Rights
• Commission on Civil Rights issues report, To
Secure These Rights, 1947
- suggests ways to provide equal access to
education, housing, jobs
Dixiecrats
• 35 Southern Democrats walk out of 1948 national
convention
- form States’ Rights Party, or Dixiecrats,
opposing desegregation
NEXT
Section 2
The Movement Grows
The civil rights movement makes significant
gains during the 1950s.
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SECTION
2
The Movement Grows
Challenging Segregation in Education
Brown v. Board of Education
• Activists challenge segregation in public schools
through courts
• Brown v. Board of Education—Supreme Court
strikes down segregation
• 1954 decision calls “separate but equal” facilities
unfair, unequal
- rules public schools must desegregate
NEXT
SECTION
2
Avoiding Compliance with the Law
Massive Resistance
• Segregationist officials use “massive
resistance”—just ignore ruling
The Southern Manifesto
• 100 members of Congress sign Southern
Manifesto in 1956
- supports resistance to “forced integration,”
Brown’s reversal
- Georgia’s entire congressional delegation signs
• Georgia governor Herman Talmadge promises to
maintain segregation
• Georgia cuts funds to schools trying to integrate
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SECTION
2
Attacking Segregation of Public Facilities
Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Montgomery, Alabama bus system segregated,
1955
• Rosa Parks won’t give bus seat to white man
- Parks arrested; civil rights leaders organize
Montgomery bus boycott
• Choose the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. to lead boycott
- demand desegregated buses, AfricanAmerican drivers
• Boycott successful after a year; King becomes
new civil rights leader
NEXT
SECTION
2
continued Attacking
Segregation of Public Facilities
Little Rock, Arkansas
• African-American students try to attend Central
High School, 1957
• Arkansas governor uses National Guard to
prevent integration
• President sends federal troops to make sure
students can attend
- sends message that U.S. will not allow states
to ignore federal law
Image
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SECTION
2
Organizing the Civil Rights Movement
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC) forms, 1957
- manages civil rights movement in South; King
serves as president
- other leaders include Andrew Young, Jesse
Jackson, Ralph Abernathy
• Advocates nonviolent protest to end racism,
segregation in South
NEXT
SECTION
2
The Movement Gains Strength
Greensboro
• Four African-Americans hold “sit-in” at
Greensboro, N.C. lunch counter
- return to restaurant each day, refuse to leave
until they are served
- protest lasts six months; restaurant finally
integrated
• African Americans launch similar sit-ins across
South
Image
NEXT
SECTION
2
Civil Rights Movement in Georgia
Generation Gap in the Civil Rights Movement
• Sit-ins held in Atlanta, Macon, Savannah, Rome,
Augusta
• Settlement ends Atlanta store boycott, younger
activists unhappy
• Martin Luther King steps in, brings protesters together
• Generation gap forms between younger activists,
older leaders
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC)
• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC) forms in Atlanta
• Attracts younger activists; works closely with SCLC
in early years
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SECTION
2
Desegregating Georgia’s Schools
Desegregating the University of Georgia
• Desegregating Georgia schools happens slowly,
but without violence
• Two students sue to enter Georgia Law School,
1959; graduate 1963
Atlanta Public Schools
• Mayor William Hartsfield makes sure Atlanta
integrates smoothly
• Nine African-American students attend all-white
schools, August 1961
• Many parents keep students home, but attendance
soon back to normal
• U.S. cuts funding for segregated schools; Georgia
integrated by 1971
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Section 3
Victories and Losses in
the Movement
The civil rights movement achieves many of
its goals in the 1960s.
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SECTION
3
Victories and Losses in
the Movement
Freedom Summer, 1961
Freedom Riders
• “Freedom Riders” travel on buses through South,
1961
• Alabama segregationists firebomb a bus; beat riders
in Birmingham
The Albany Movement
• SNCC launches voter registration drive in Albany,
Georgia, 1961
- also plans nonviolent demonstrations; Freedom
Riders, King join
• Hundreds arrested; city agrees to demands if
marches end
• Protesters released in two days, but city breaks
promise
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SECTION
3
1963—A Year of Victory and Tragedy
Birmingham, 1963
• Martin Luther King leads demonstrations against
Birmingham, Alabama
• City shuts down some facilities instead of
integrating
• King arrested; more than 1,000 protesters march,
many young children
• Local police turn dogs, hoses on marchers;
violence shown on TV
A Bombing Kills Four
• Birmingham agrees to desegregate, but violence
doesn’t end
• Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombed; four
girls killed
Continued . . .
NEXT
SECTION
3
continued 1963—A Year
of Victory and Tragedy
The March on Washington
• Civil rights leaders disappointed at lack of federal
support
• March on Washington takes place August 28,
1963
• 250,000+ at Washington Monument to support
movement, non-violence
• Martin Luther King gives famous “I Have A
Dream” speech
Image
President Kennedy is Assassinated
• John F. Kennedy is shot, killed, November 22,
1963
• Many see Kennedy’s death as blow to civil rights
movement
NEXT
SECTION
3
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
A Controversial Law
• Kennedy sends controversial bill to Congress
before his death
• Lyndon B. Johnson, his successor, uses
influence to get bill passed
• Bill becomes Civil Rights Act of 1964, bans
public segregation
• Creates Equal Opportunity Employment
Commission (EEOC)
- “watchdog” agency to stop employment
discrimination
• Not all businesses comply; some close rather
than integrate
NEXT
SECTION
3
The Struggle to Vote
Freedom Summer of 1964
• Civil rights leaders need political power to
succeed
• To gain power, African Americans need to vote
• South still preventing African Americans from
voting despite laws
• SNCC organizes voter registration drive across
South, summer, 1964
• Three civil rights workers murdered in Mississippi
during drive
Continued . . .
NEXT
SECTION
3
continued The
Struggle to Vote
Selma, Alabama, 1965
• Martin Luther King organizes registration drive in
Selma, 1965
• Hundreds arrested during drive; protest lasts for
weeks, but fails
• King leads march from Selma to Montgomery to
gain support
• State police attack marchers; marchers sue, win
in court
• March resumes with federal protection, gains
national attention
Continued . . .
NEXT
SECTION
3
continued The
Struggle to Vote
Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Southern states use literacy tests, intimidation to
block voting
• Congress passes Voting Rights Act of 1965,
banning these tactics
• Thousands of African Americans register in
Georgia in 1965
• Six African Americans win state legislature seats
- Grace Towns Hamilton one of the election
winners
- first African-American woman in a Deep South
state legislature
Chart
NEXT
SECTION
3
Changes in the Movement
Radical Resistance and Separatism
• Civil rights movement has internal conflicts by
mid 1960s
• Some want to continue nonviolence, others want
more forceful methods
• African American resistance in some major cities
turns violent
• Malcolm X, others call for African-American selfdefense
• Some call for separatism—economic, social
independence from whites
• CORE, SNCC grow more radical and militant
Continued . . .
NEXT
SECTION
3
continued Changes
in the Movement
Opposition to the War
• Martin Luther King changes focus in 1967,
opposes Vietnam War
- previously did not want to lose Johnson’s
support by criticizing war
• Opposes on moral grounds; soldiers mostly poor,
African-American
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination
• King shot, killed in Memphis, April 4, 1968
NEXT
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