Civil Rights
Civil Rights
Activism, new legislation, and the Supreme
Court advance equal rights for African
Americans. But disagreements among civil
rights groups lead to a violent period for the civil
rights movement.
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Civil Rights
SECTION 1
Taking on Segregation
SECTION 2
The Triumphs of a Crusade
SECTION 3
Challenges and Changes in the Movement
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Section 1
Taking on Segregation
Activism and a
series of Supreme
Court decisions
advance equal
rights for African
Americans in the
1950s and 1960s.
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Learning Objectives:
Section 1 - Taking on Segregation
1. Explain how legalized segregation deprived African
Americans of their rights as citizens.
2. Summarize civil rights legal activity and the response to
the Plessy and Brown cases.
3. Trace Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, civil rights
activities, beginning with the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
4. Describe the expansion of the civil rights movement.
SECTION
1
Taking on Segregation
The Segregation System
Plessy v. Ferguson
• Civil Rights Act of 1875 act outlawed segregation
• In 1883, all-white Supreme Court declares Act
unconstitutional
• 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling: separate but equal
constitutional
• Many states pass Jim Crow laws separating the races
• Facilities for blacks always inferior to those for whites
Continued . . .
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Guided Reading:
What did the Civil Rights Act
of 1875 do?
Outlawed segregation in public
facilities
MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
• A – What were the effects of the Supreme
Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson?
– The Supreme Court ruled that segregation was not
unconstitutional,
– Southern states, passed segregationist Jim Crow
laws.
Guided Reading:
How did the Court rule in
Plessy?
Upheld Louisiana's "separate but
equal" law as constitutional
SECTION
1
continued
The Segregation System
Segregation Continues into the 20th Century
• After Civil War, African Americans go north to escape
racism
• North: housing in all-black areas, whites resent
job competition
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SECTION
1
continued
The Segregation System
A Developing Civil
Rights Movement
• WW II creates job
opportunities for African
Americans
• Need for fighting men
makes armed forces end
discriminatory policies
• FDR ends government,
war industries
discrimination
• Returning black veterans
fight for civil rights at home
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MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
• B – How did events during World War II lay
the groundwork for African Americans to fight
for civil rights in the 1950s?
– Blacks had experienced better job opportunities;
– Many veterans who had fought racist Germans
wanted to resist racist Americans;
– Civil rights groups had staged some successful
protest.
Guided Reading:
In what three ways did World War II help
set the stage for the modern civil rights
movement?
a. the war opened up job opportunities for
African Americans
b. African-American soldiers returned home
determined to fight for their own freedom
c. during the war, organizations had campaigned
for civil rights.
SECTION
1
Challenging Segregation in Court
The NAACP Legal Strategy
• Professor Charles Hamilton Houston
leads NAACP
legal campaign
• Focuses on most glaring inequalities
of segregated public education
• Places team of law students under
Thurgood Marshall
- win 29 out of 32 cases argued
before Supreme Court
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SECTION
1
Challenging Segregation in Court
Brown v. Board of Education
• Marshall’s greatest victory is Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka
• In 1954 case, Court unanimously strikes down
school segregation
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MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
• C – How did the Brown decision affect schools
outside of Topeka?
– Brown said that segregation has no place in public
education, so all public school must desegregate.
Guided Reading:
Who argued
Brown’s
case?
What did the
Brown ruling
declare?
Thurgood
Marshall;
NAACP
That segregation
is
unconstitutional
SECTION
1
Reaction to the Brown Decision
Resistance to School Desegregation
• Within 1 year, over 500 school districts
desegregate
• Some districts, state officials, pro-white groups
actively resist
• Court hands Brown II, orders desegregation at
“all deliberate speed”
• Eisenhower refuses to enforce compliance;
considers it impossible
Continued . . .
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MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
• D – Why weren’t schools in all regions
desegregated immediately after the Brown II
decision?
– Some southern whites and state officials resisted
segregation , and neither the president nor congress
forced them to act quickly.
SECTION
1
continued
Reaction to the Brown Decision
Crisis in Little Rock high school
the Little Rock 9
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SECTION
1
continued
Reaction to the Brown Decision
Crisis in Little Rock
• Since 1948, Arkansas integrating state university,
private groups
• Gov. Orval Faubus has National Guard turn away black
students
• Elizabeth Eckford faces abusive crowd when she tries
to enter school
• Eisenhower has Nat. Guard, paratroopers supervise
school attendance
• African-American students harassed by whites at
school all year
• 1957 Civil Rights Act—federal government power over
schools, voting
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• Woodrow Wilson Mann, the mayor of Little Rock, asked President
Eisenhower to send federal troops to enforce integration and protect the
nine students.
• On September 24, the President ordered the 101st Airborne Division of the
United States Army—without its black soldiers, who rejoined the division
a month later—to Little Rock and federalized the entire 10,000-member
Arkansas National Guard, taking it out of the hands of Faubus.
MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
• E – What effect do you think television
coverage of the Little Rock incident had on the
nation?
– Television allowed people to see the white
separatists’ cruel treatment of African American
students.
Guided Reading:
How did President
Eisenhower respond to the
Little Rock crisis?
Placed the Arkansas National
Guard under federal control;
ordered in paratroopers
SECTION
1
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Boycotting Segregation
• 1955 NAACP officer Rosa Parks arrested for not
giving up seat on bus
• Montgomery Improvement Association formed,
organizes bus boycott
• Elect 26-year-old Baptist pastor Martin Luther
King, Jr. leader
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SECTION
1
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Walking for Justice
• African Americans file lawsuit, boycott buses,
use carpools, walk
• Get support from black community, outside groups,
sympathetic whites
• 1956, Supreme Court outlaws bus segregation
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Guided Reading:
What organization What did it do?
was formed to
support Rosa
Parks?
The Montgomery
Improvement
Association
Organized a boycott
of Montgomery buses
MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
• F – Why was Rosa Park’s action on December
1, 1955 significant?
– Parks’ refusal to yield her seat to a white man led
to a boycott;
– It also brought Martin Luther King Jr. to
prominence.
SECTION
1
Martin Luther King and the SCLC
Changing the World with Soul Force
• King calls his brand of nonviolent resistance
“soul force”
- civil disobedience, massive demonstrations
• King remains nonviolent in face of violence after
Brown decision
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SECTION
1
Martin Luther King and the SCLC
From the Grassroots Up
• King, others founded the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC)
• By 1960, African-American students think pace
of change too slow
• Join Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC)
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Guided Reading:
Who was the
president of
SCLC?
What was
SCLC’s
purpose?
Martin Luther
King, Jr
To "carry on
nonviolent
crusades" against
racism
MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
• G – W hat were the central points of Dr.
King’s philosophy?
– “Soul force” or nonviolent resistance, which
included acts of civil disobedience, demonstrations
and adherence to nonviolence.
Guided Reading:
What did SNCC accomplish,
and how?
Desegregated lunch counters;
sit-ins
SECTION
1
The Movement Spreads
Demonstrating for Freedom
• SNCC adopts nonviolence, but calls for more
confrontational strategy
• Influenced by Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
to use sit-ins:
- refuse to leave segregated lunch counter until
served
• First sit-in at Greensboro, NC Woolworth’s shown
nationwide on TV
• In spite of abuse, arrests, movement grows,
spreads to North
• Late 1960, lunch counters desegregated in 48
cities in 11 states
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MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
• H – What was the role of the SCLC?
– It organized protest and demonstrations to promote
civil rights.
Guided Reading:
What did the Civil Rights Act of 1875 do?
Outlawed segregation in public facilities
How did the Court rule in Plessy?
Upheld Louisiana's "separate but equal" law as constih1tional
In what three ways did World War II help set the stage for the modern civil rights
movement?
a. the war opened up job opportunities for African Americans
b. African-American soldiers returned home determined to fight for their own freedom
c. during the war, organizations had campaigned for civil rights.
Who argued Brown’s case?
What did the Brown ruling declare?
Thurgood Marshall; NAACP
That segregation is unconstitutional
What organization was formed to support What did it do?
Rosa Parks?
Organized a boycott of Montgomery buses
The Montgon1ery Improvement Association
How did President Eisenhower respond to the Little Rock crisis?
Placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control; ordered in paratroopers
Who was the president of SCLC?
What was SCLC’s purpose?
Martin Luther King, Jr
To "carry on nonviolent crusades" against racism
What did SNCC accomplish, and how?
Desegregated lunch counters; sit-ins