1950’s- 1960’s Civil Rights
Movement
Chapter 37: The Eisenhower Era
Chapter 38:The Stormy Sixties
Paradox;
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Freedom for whom?
Equality for whom?
Segregation in the South
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Jim Crow Laws (1881)
Segregated public facilities
“separate but equal”
Adopted across the South
SEGREGATION
Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
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Man 7/8th’s white & 1/8th
African American tried to sit
in “whites only” railway car
Was Arrested
He sued
Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
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Supreme Court Ruled:
that “separate but equal”
laws did not violate 14th
amendment”
Supreme Court Ruling gave
South permission to
discriminate!
Roberto Alvarez vs. Board of Trustees of
the Lemon Grove School District
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San Diego, California
1931 School Principal
refused to allow Mexican
students to his school
Separate School for 74
Mexican students was
built
Court Ruled: “Racial
Segregation illegal”
Mendez v. Westminster School District
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1946, Orange County
California
Parents fought to
“Desegregate” schools
Racial discrimination
Court ruling:
“segregation based solely
on national origin
unconstitutional”
Earl Warren
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Appointed Chief
Justice of the Supreme
Court
Early 1950’s
“Warren Court” one
of the most liberal in
history
Brown vs. Board of Education
(1954)
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Linda Brown- 1st
grader
had to travel an hour
½ to attend African
American School
a white school was
located less than one
mile away form her
home
Brown vs. Board of Education (1954)
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NAACP (The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People)
encouraged Brown Family to sue the Topeka, Kansas
school board
Argument: Linda’s equal rights had been violated
Thurgood Marshall
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Represented Brown family
Later became 1st African
American to serve on
Supreme Court
Argued 14th amendment
guarantees ALL citizens
equal protection under
law
“equal opportunity”
Supreme Court Ruled:
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“ separate facilities
are inherently
unequal”
Ruling Overturned
1896 Plessy vs.
Ferguson Decision
Supreme Court Ordered
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The desegregation of all public school facilities
Not well received by Southerners
Little Rock, Arkansas 1957
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Governor of Arkansas
Orval Faubus
Ordered National
Guard to bar the
entrance
Of 9 African American
students to an all
white High School
“Little Rock 9” - 1957
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9 African American
Students allowed
entrance by federal
court ruling
Violent protests
erupted
President Eisenhower
ordered federal troops
to the city
To escort students to
school !
In Response, Orval Faubus
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Shut down all public
schools
In order to rebel
against integration/
desegregation
Rosa Parks
Montgomery, Alabama,
1955
 Refused to give up her
seat to a white patron
on a city bus
 Arrested & fined
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Dr. Martin Luther King
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Organized bus
boycott
Until buses were
desegregated
African Americans
made up 95% of
Montgomery’s bus
riders
Dr. Martin Luther King
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& the Southern
Christian Leadership
Conference
Challenged Jim Crow
Laws in South
Believed in peaceful
protest
“Non-violent
resistance”
“Sit- Ins”
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1960, Greensboro
North Carolina
Local High School &
College students
Sat at a Woolworth’s
white’s only lunch
counter and
Refused to leave until
they were served
“sit –Ins” -Non-violent Protest
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“Sit – in”
Lasted 6 months
Students took turn
rotating seats
Formed the Student
non-violent
Coordinating
Committee
“Freedom Summer”
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1961 – a group of
mostly college
students formed
Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE)
Boarded busses in
North and traveled
South to protest
against segregation
Freedom Riders
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Showed support for
Desegregation of
public transportation
In Alabama
Faced firebombs
Several “riders” were
severely beat
Attorney General
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Robert Kennedy
Sent federal marshals
to protect freedom
riders
Signaled a victory for
CORE
Birmingham, Alabama 1963
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City closed all public
facilities as a protest
against integration
Dr. King Staged a
march- 1963
Was arrested & Jailed
“letter from
Birmingham jail”
Peaceful Protest in Birmingham
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Turned violent when
Police Commissioner
ordered the use of
dogs, fire hoses against
non-violent protesters
John F. Kennedy
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Actively began to seek
legislation to protect
civil rights
JFK’s “New Frontier”
addressed :
poverty
unemployment
racism
August 28, 1963
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Dr. King organized
most successful march
in U.S. history
Washington, D.C.
To show support of
civil rights legislation
“I Have a Dream”
speech
I Have a Dream…

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up
and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘we hold
these truths to be self evident, that all men are
created equal’…”
November 22, 1963
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John F. Kennedy was
assassinated in Texas
Lee Harvey Oswald
lone gunman
Lyndon B. Johnson
became President
1964-1968
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“Long hot
summers”
Race riots erupted in
Los Angeles (Watts),
Chicago, Atlanta
Lyndon B. Johnson
concluded that…
Poverty & lack of
opportunity prompted
riots
1. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, 1964
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outlawed segregation of public accommodations
Est. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Made illegal discrimination based on race, gender, religion,
ethnic origin
2. VOTING RIGHTS ACT, 1965
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Outlawed literacy tests for voters
Nationalized voter registration system
Lyndon B. Johnson
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Formally Elected
President, 1964
Platform: “Great
Society”
To expand civil rights
cut income taxes
rid society of poverty
LBJ’s Great Society Programs
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1. Economic Opportunity Act 1964:
Job Corps, Head Start, Upward Bound Programs
2. Medical Care Act 1965 :
Medicare, Medicaid
3. Housing and Urban Development Act: 1966
To improve housing for poor & urban families
4. Immigration Act of 1965 - repealed “quotas” benefit to
millions of immigrants from Latin America & Asia
LBJ’s Great Society Programs
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5. Higher Education ACT –1965 Scholarships & low
interest loans to needy students
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6. National Endowments for the Arts &
Humanities 1965 – promotes artistic & cultural
activities
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7. Truth in Packaging Act 1966- to protect consumers
from misleading claims
Native Americans, 1964
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Hundreds Lobbied in
Washington
For the inclusion of
Native Americans in
President Johnson’s
“war on poverty”
Native American Rights
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Suffered worst
poverty
Inadequate housing
Highest disease &
death rates
Life expectancy of 44
President Johnson
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Responded by establishing
1. National Council on Indian Opportunity
2. Appointed 1st Native American to head Bureau of
Indian Affairs
Militant Native American Groups
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“Native American”
became preferred
term
Mocked Columbus
Day
Stages sit- ins at
museums which
housed Native
American remains
American Indian Movement (AIM)
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Founded in 1968
Promoted traditional
ways of Native
American life
Wanted to prevent
police brutality and
harassment of Native
Americans
Wanted Textbooks to
include Native American
experience/history
American Indian Movement (AIM)
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November 1969
Occupied Alcatraz
Island
Lived in island for 19
months as protest
Alcatraz
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A symbol of
conditions on
reservations:
No running water,
inadequate sanitation
facilities, no
unemployment, no
health care , soil
unproductive
AIM
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Inspired Native American to be proud of their heritage
1970 census: 800,000 people identified themselves as
Native Americans
Many for the first time
Chicano Movement
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MECHAMovimiento
Estudiantil Chicano de
Aztlan
Led Chicano high
school students in
boycott of classes in
East Los Angeles
“blowouts” 1968
Chicanos Protested
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Poor educational
conditions in their
schools
Demanded bilingual
education
Demanded Chicano
Studies classes in
colleges/Universities
Cesar Chavez
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Non violent resistance
To fight for social
change mid 60’s
United Farm Workers
Organized consumer
boycotts of table
grapes
Dr. King was Assassinated
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April, 1968
In Memphis, Tennessee
Robert Kennedy
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Was Assassinated in
Los Angeles
June, 1968