Civil Rights
Chapter 21
Early Segregation in
America

Post Civil War
South
Segregation
 Jim Crow Laws


Plessy v. Ferguson
(1896)

‘Separate But Equal’
Segregation Into the
20th Century

Civil Rights Act of 1875

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WWI – Great Migration
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“All Persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the
accommodations of inns, pubic conveyances on land or water,
theaters, and other places of public amusement”
Ruled Unconstitutional By an All-White Supreme Court in 1883
Segregation and Prejudice in the North
WWII Changes

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New Jobs in America Due to WWII Soldiers Leaving
African Soldiers Fight ‘Equally’ in WWII
Roosevelt Prohibits Racial Discrimination by Federal Agencies and
Companies Engaged in War Effort
The NAACP Works
for Change

The NAACP Looked to Challenge
Segregation in American Society


Morgan v. Virginia (1946)


Thurgood Marshall
An early activist for the
NAACP and eventually a
Supreme Court Member
Supreme Court rules laws mandating
segregated seating on interstate busses
unconstitutional
Sweatt v. Painter (1950)


Focused on Inequality in School
Systems
State Law Schools Must Admit Black
Applicants, Even if Separate Black
Schools Still Exist
Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka (1954)

Segregation in Public Schools is
Unconstitutional.
The Montgomery
Bus Boycott


Rosa Parks – Sparks Issue
of Segregation of Busses in
Montgomery, Al
Montgomery Improvement
Association Develops


Rosa Parks:
Member of the NAACP Who
‘Sparked’ the Montgomery Boycott
on Dec. 1, 1955
Leader: Martin Luther King
Jr.
Complete Bus Boycott in
Montgomery for 381 Days

Bus Segregation is Outlawed
in 1956
Response and Opposition
to Change


States/Areas Reacted Differently to Brown Decision
Little Rock School District
‘Little Rock Nine’
 Governor Orval Faubus is a Segregationist

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School is Eventually Shut Down
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Increased Power For Attorney General on School
Desegregation
 Federal Government Increased Power in Terms of Voting
Rights

The ‘Little Rock Nine’
Martin Luther King
‘Planting the Seed of Change’

Advocated Means of Change
Using Soul Force

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Nonviolent
Civil Disobedience
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC)


“To carry on nonviolent
crusades against the evils of
second – class citizenship”
Looking for ‘grassroots’ Support
Other Means of Change

Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee
(SNCC)


Ella Baker: First Director of
the SCLC
Students (start @ Shaw U.)
Begin to Organize to ‘Speed
– Up’ Change From the
Brown Decision
CORE (Congress of Racial
Equality)

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Sit – Ins
Eventually Used by These
Organizations to Advocate
Change
The Triumphs of a Crusade
A photo of a bus from the ‘Freedom
Riders’ who tested the banning of
segregation on busses on interstate
commerce in 1961.
The Freedom Riders

Combined Action of SNCC and CORE to Test and Force the
Federal Government to Enforce the Desegregation of the
Busses in America

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Attacks on the Freedom Riders

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Planned Route: Washington D.C. – New Orleans
Rock Hill, South Carolina
Birmingham, Alabama
Anniston, Alabama
Purpose of the Riders

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Media Coverage Around the Country
End Result = President Sent the Federal Marshals to Protect the
Riders and the Interstate Commerce Commission Banned all
Segregation in any Interstate Travel Facilities
Integrating
‘Ole Miss’



Meredith Was Denied
Admission to U. of Miss. By
Governor Ross Barnett
Federal Government (Kennedy)
Escorted Him w/ Federal
Marshals to Registrars Office
Riots Ensued on Campus

WWII Veteran James Meredith
Who Attempted to Enter the
University of Mississippi in 1962

2 Deaths
Marshals Escorted to Class for
Months
The March
on Washington

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President Kennedy Sent
Congress the Civil Rights Bill
of 1964
African Civil Rights Leaders
Believed a Massive National
Protest Could ‘Push’ the Senate
to Pass the Bill
Kennedy Endorsed But Was
Leary About the March


Bayard Rustin (top) and A. Philip Randolph
(bottom) (SCLC) promoted a massive march
on Washington D.C.

Possible Backlash From Whites
250,000 People Participated in
the March
Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a
Dream’ Speech
The March
Those (approximately 250,000)
participating in the Washington March
with the Washington Monument in the
background.
Reactions to the
Washington March

Violence and Murders

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Four Girls in Birmingham,
AL Killed
John F. Kennedy
Assassinated
New President: Lyndon B.
Johnson  Vowed to Carry
on Kennedy’s Work
Civil Rights Act of 1964

Prohibited Discrimination
Because of Race, Religion,
National Origin, or Gender.
Freedom Summer

Freedom Summer


Who:

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Voice of the MFDP at the 1964
Democratic National
Convention

Civil Rights Groups & College
Students  Nonviolence
Mississippi Freedom Democratic
Party (MFDP)

Fannie Lou Hamer
CORE and SNCC Project to Secure
Voting Rights For African Americans
Formed to Gain a Seat in Mississippi’s
All White Democratic Party
Results: Johnson Feared a Loss of
Votes in Mississippi
Result: Compromise – 2 of 68 Seats
Given to MFDP

Supporters Felt Betrayed
The Voting Rights
Act of 1965

The Selma Campaign

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Voting Rights Act Passed

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SCLC March in March, 1965 Over Murder of Demonstrator in
Voting Rights Campaign
TV Aired Blacks Being Beaten by Police Officials
Violence Convinced President Johnson to Pass the Act
The Act Stated:


Eliminated Literacy Tests for Voting Rights
Federal Examiners Could Enroll Votes Denied Suffrage by Local
Officials

National Results: Tripled Percentage of Registered Voters in the South
Segregation in America

De Facto Segregation
Segregation by practice and custom
 Prevalent in the North during WWII era

‘White Flight’
 Results: Housing / School Problems

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More Difficult to battle
De Jure Segregation
Segregation by law
 Easier to battle  Legislation

New Leaders in the Civil Rights Era
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Nation of Islam
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Elijah Muhammad
Malcolm X
African Separation from Society
Armed Self – Defense
Response to riots and other
violence toward Africans
New Strategy

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After trip to Mecca
‘Ballots or Bullets’
Shot Feb. 21, 1965
Black Power & the Black Panthers

Black Power

Stokely Carmichael

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Led march started by James Meredith (Tennessee to Jackson)
SNCC & CORE becoming militant
‘We Shall Overrun’
Black Power  ‘Call for black people to begin to define their own goals and
lead their own organizations’
Black Panthers

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Huey Newton and Bobby Seale
Founded to fight police brutality in the ghetto in Oakland
Black leather jackets, berets, sunglasses
Established daycares, breakfast programs, medical clinics in the
ghettos
A Turning Point in the Movement

Martin Luther King
Rejected Black Power
movement & other violent
means
 Planned Poor People’s March
on Washington in 1968

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Assassinated by James Earl
Ray – April 4, 1968
Result  Urban rioting
across America

Worst in Chicago, Baltimore,
Kansas City
Results of the Civil Rights Movement

Kerner Commission

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Studied causes of urban violence  Racism
Called for action to end de facto segregation to wipe out ghetto
environment in cities
Ignored by Lyndon Johnson
The Gains of the Movement

Civil Rights Act of 1968

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Ended discrimination in housing
Pride in African racial identity
Political Gains
Affirmative Action

To equalize job and school opportunities for African Americans