Civil Rights From 1954 - 1968
Essential Questions:
Analyze the actions that lead to
social inequalities in America in
the post-World War II era.
What were some attempts at
remedying this inequality?
What was the public reaction to
these attempts at achieving
equality?
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Racial Segregation in the 50s
• 1950s African Americans dealt with
discrimination in the workplace, around
their homes, and in every aspect of their
daily lives.
• Let’s look back at some events that lead
to the new wave of civil rights in the 50s
and 60s
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• “Jim Crow” Laws- unofficial restraints
that white Americans placed on African
Americans (1st laws enacted in 1876)
–Forced to sit in the back of buses
–Sep. lunch counters
–Sep. bathrooms
–Sep. water fountains
–Labeled
“Colored”
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Supreme Court Decisions on
Civil Rights
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Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
• Separation of all the races does
not place a badge of inferiority
upon one group over another,
thus it is not a violation of the
14th Amendment.
• Upheld a Louisiana law (1890)
that required blacks and whites
to have “separate but equal”
facilities.
– Included railroads
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Impact of Plessy
• “Separate But Equal” was legal
• Legitimized ongoing segregation in the
South
• They claimed it was to protect the
different races from harming one
another, and that it did not mean to
make blacks inferior – after seeing the
photos, do you agree? Were they equal?
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Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
• Linda Brown - 8 yrs. old
• She wanted to attend an all
white school she passed on
the way to her bus stop.
• Her school (for African
Americans) was a greater
distance away
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• Oliver Brown (Linda’s dad) filed
suit against the School Board for
not allowing Linda to attend the
nearby school
–14th amendment rights
• Appealed all the way to the U.S.
Supreme Court
• Lawyer- Thurgood Marshall
from the NAACP
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Outcome of Brown v BOE
• To separate children in grade school and high school
from others of similar age and qualifications solely
because of their race generates a feeling of
inferiority as to their status. . .that may affect their
hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be
undone
• On May 17, 1954 the Court ruled that “separate
facilities are inherently unequal” in public education
• Overturned the Plessy decision
• Linda Brown won her case!!
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Comparison of Two Cases
• Plessy - Separation of all the races does not place a
badge of inferiority upon one group over another,
thus it is not a violation of the 14th Amendment.
• Brown - To separate children in grade school and
high school from others of similar age and
qualifications solely because of their race generates a
feeling of inferiority as to their status. . .that may
affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to
be undone
• What is the major change?
– The Supreme Courts opinions regarding equal rights for all
citizens
3/23/2016
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Desegregation in Schools
• Within a year of the ruling, more than 500
school districts had desegregated their
classrooms
– The first were Washington D.C., Baltimore, and St.
Louis
• However, and especially in the south, there
formed quite a resistance to the changes
– The Ku Klux Klan help to support the resistance in
some areas
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Brown II
• To speed things up, the Supreme Court
provided another ruling in 1955 known as
Brown II, that ordered desegregation
implemented “with all deliberate speed”
• Initially, President Eisenhower refuse to
enforce this ruling saying “The fellow who
tries to tell me that you can do these things by
force is just plain nuts”
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Integrated Prom Article
• Read through the facts of one high schools
attempt at having an integrated prom.
• What surprises you about these facts?
• Surprise!!!
– This happened in April 29, 2013!
– In Wilcox County Georgia
3/23/2016
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Crisis in Little Rock
• In 1948, Arkansas had become the 1st Southern
State to admit African Americans to state
universities without being required by court
order
• However, one Governor in Little Rock wanted
nothing to do with integration
– In Sept. 1957 Gov. Faubus sent National Guard
Troops to guard against integration into Central
High School
• Stop any African American from entering white
schools
– Turned away 9 Black students which tried to enter
the school, called the Little Rock Nine
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The Little Rock Nine
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• Elizabeth Eckford faces
abusive crowd
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• Pres. Eisenhower
sent Federal
Troops to ensure
black students be
allowed to
integrate the
schools
• Slow process of
integration began
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Clinton High School, TN
• Monday, August 26, 1956, Clinton H.S.
made history by becoming the first public
high school in the South to integrate.
• 12 Black students enrolled
• Town protests- mostly from outsiders
• Troops called in to defuse situation
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The Clinton 12
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Response to Integration in
Little Rock
• 1958 – Someone bombed the schooldestroying the school.
• Fed. Investigation- unsolved case
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Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955
•Rosa Parks refused to sit in back of the bus
•Results in a win for the African American
community
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Montgomery Bus Boycott Cont’d
• Lasted for 382 days
• Took private taxis, carpools, walked,
bicycled, etc. instead of taking bus
• Bus lines lost lots of $$$$$
• Bus seats were integrated
• Organized by MLK, Jr.
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Greensboro Sit-ins
• February 1, 1960
• 4 African American
college students sat at
an all white counter in
Greensboro, NC
• Sit-ins would be
organized by Student
Nonviolent
Coordination
Committee (SNCC)
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Nashville Lunch Counters 1960
• Led by Rev. James
Lawson
• Sit-ins to desegregate
lunch counters in
Nashville
• Result: Mayor orders
the desegregation of
lunch counters
Nashville, as a result became the first
major city in the south to begin
integration of public facilities
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Part 2: The Triumphs of a Crusade
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Organizations – know these!
• NAACP – National Assoc. for the
Advancement of Colored People
• CORE – Congress of Racial Equality
(freedom rides)
• SNCC – Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (sit-ins)
• SCLC – Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (MLK, Jr.)
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Freedom Riders 1961
• An interracial group, the
Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE),
organized “freedom
rides” on interstate
buses traveling from
Washington D.C. to New
Orleans.
• Write down your
answer to the following
question:
• Who were the freedom
riders?
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Significance of the
Freedom Riders
• Challenged the segregation
of buses, rest rooms and
restaurants and violence
often erupted.
• Showed that blacks were
not the only people who
wanted change
• Result: The Interstate
Commerce Commission
ordered all interstate
vehicles and terminals to
be desegregated
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Integrating Ole Miss
• September 1962, Air Force
veteran James Meredith
won a federal court case
that allowed him to enroll
in the all white university
Ole Miss.
• Gov. Barnett refused to let
him register for classes
• Kennedy sent in Federal
Troops
• Rioting (2 died, 200 arrests,
15 hours and thousands of
soldiers to end rioting
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Bull Connor
• Eugene “Bull” Connor, was a white supremacist
police chief in Birmingham, AL
• 1963- used attack dogs and water hoses on
African American demonstrators
• Most of it was caught on video and televised.
– Viewers were shocked at what they saw and heard
(children crying)
3/23/2016
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The Fight in Birmingham
3/23/2016
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George Wallace
• 4-time Gov. of Alabama
• Resisted Federal laws for
integration in the 1960s
• “Segregation now,
segregation tomorrow,
segregation forever.”
• Blocked Univ. of AL.
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JFK vs George Wallace
3/23/2016
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Pastor from Birmingham, AL
• Leader of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference
• Leader of nonviolent demonstrations and
protest that led to the end of segregation and
the Jim Crow Laws
• “I have a dream” – March on Wash DC
3/23/2016
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
3/23/2016
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March on Washington
• August 1963
• Over half a million
blacks and whites
• Marched to Lincoln
Memorial
• “I Have a Dream”
speech
– He expressed his
want of an integrated
society
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Civil Acts Rights (1964)
• Pres. Lyndon B Johnson (JFK dead)
• Segregation in all public facilities
became illegal
• Equal Opportunity Commission was
created to ensure the end of
discrimination in the workplace
3/23/2016
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Birmingham Bombings
• 13 days after the March on Washington
• Birmingham was the scene of a dozen
bombings during the Civil Rights Movement
• 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed on
September 15, 1963
• Was a meeting place for the CORE and SCLC
• The bombing killed four young girls, 3
fourteen year olds and one 11 year old
3/23/2016
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“Bombingham”
• The four young girls
become martyrs for the
Civil Rights cause
• America was outraged
3/23/2016
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KKK Claims Responsibility
• KKK took responsibility for bombing
• Robert Chambliss- charged w/murder
and possession of dynamite
• Found not guilty of murder- served 6
months for pos. of dynamite & $100
fine
3/23/2016
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Freedom Summer- 1964
• CORE & SNCC project to register
blacks to vote in Mississippi
• Volunteers beaten & killed
• Businesses, homes, & churches
burned
• Mississippi Freedom Democratic
Party formed
– Had 2 delegates at the National
Convention in 1964
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24th Amendment
• 1964-Abolished the poll tax (which had been used
to keep African Americans from voting)
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Selma Campaign
• 1965
– Voting rights demonstrators killed in Selma, Al
– MLK leads 600 protest marchers from Selma to
Montgomery, AL
– 1st march interrupted
– 2nd March began with 3,000 – number grew to 25,000.completed (middle pic is video)
3/23/2016
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Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Passed August 1965
– Stops literacy tests
– Allows federal officials to enroll voters
– Increased black voter enrollment
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TN Influence - Diane Nash
• Nonviolent activist
• Sit-ins (Nashville) and freedom rides for Civil
Rights
• Co-founder of SNCC
• Fisk Univ. in Nashville
3/23/2016
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TN Senators Influence
Al Gore Sr. and Estes Kefauver
• Supporter of Civil Rights and
racial justice
• Sen. from TN
• Al Gore Sr. and Estes
Kefauver refused to sign the
Southern Manifesto
• Supported all of the Civil
Rights Acts in Congress
between 1953-1970
3/23/2016
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Challenges & Changes in North
• Northern Segregation
– De facto – exists by practice, custom – North
– De jure – required by law –South (Jim Crow)
– 1960s most blacks live in slums; landlords ignore
ordinances
– Black unemployment twice as high as white
– Many blacks angry at treatment by white police
– Seek greater equality
3/23/2016
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Effects
• Urban violence increases in the Mid-1960s
– Many riots
– Many whites do not understand black rage
– Blacks want & need equal opportunity in jobs,
housing and education
• Change in LBJ
– Redirects money from war on poverty to fight war
in Vietnam
3/23/2016
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New Leaders Voice Discontent
• Nation of Islam, Black Muslims
– Advocate blacks separate from whites
• Believe whites are the source of blacks’ problems
• Malcolm X- controversial leader, speaker
– Frightens whites & moderate blacks
– Taught blacks to fight for a site of their own, separate from
one inhabited by white people- self-determination
– Pilgrimage to Mecca changes attitude toward whites
– Splits with black Muslims- killed while giving speech in
1965
3/23/2016
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Malcolm X
3/23/2016
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Black Power
• CORE, SNCC become more
militant
• SCLC pursues traditional tacticsnonviolent
• Stokely Carmichael calls for Black
Power
– Blacks to control own lives,
communities without whites
– Use of armed resistance in
response to discrimination
3/23/2016
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Black Panthers
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Fight police brutality
Want black self-sufficiency
Preach ideas of Mao Zedong
Provide social services in ghettos
Win popular support among blacks
3/23/2016
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Turning Point
• King objects to Black Power Movement
• Is shot in Memphis, TN April 3, 1968
• Death leads to worst rioting in U.S. history
– Over 100 cities affected
– James Earl Ray - arrested and confesses
3/23/2016
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Civil Rights Legacy
• Gains
– Civil Rights Act of 1968 Prohibits discrimination in
housing
– More blacks finish High School, college, get better
jobs.
– Black studies programs developed
– More blacks in movies, and TV
– Voting Rights Act of 1965 increased voter
registration & more black elected officials
3/23/2016
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Civil Rights Review
1. What is segregation?
2. How did the Supreme Court case Plessy v.
Ferguson impact Southern society?
3. What Supreme Court case changed Southern
society greatly in 1954?
4. What was the first school to be integrated in the
South?
5. African American students were blocked with
armed troops from entering which high school?
3/23/2016
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Civil Rights From 1954 - 1968
Answer the Essential Questions:
Analyze the actions that lead to
social inequalities in America in
the post-World War II era.
What were some attempts at
remedying this inequality?
What was the public reaction to
these attempts at achieving
equality?
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