The Civil Rights
Movement
How did African Americans gain rights
after the Civil War?
• Emancipation Proclamation…freedom from
slavery
• 13th Amendment…prohibits slavery
• 14th Amendment… equal protection
• 15th Amendment… citizenship
• Reconstruction enforced these amendments
• Opposition appeared in the Ku Klux Klan
• Reconstruction ended in 1877
• Southern white voters were
concerned about the possible
impact of the African American
vote. In order to deny the vote to
blacks and lower class whites who
might vote with them, they
employed several tactics during
the 1890s.
How were African American voting
restricted?
• Poll tax – paying to register to vote
• Property qualifications – owning land to
vote
• Literacy test – test one’s ability to read
and write before voting
• Grandfather clause – allowed potential
white voters to circumvent literacy tests,
poll taxes, and other tactics designed to
disfranchise southern blacks
What were Jim Crow Laws?
• A system of legal segregation that further
degraded African Americans
• Segregation in schools, parks, public buildings,
hospitals, transportation systems, movie
theaters
• Black facilities were always inferior
How did the Supreme Court respond
to Jim Crow Laws?
• In 1883, Court overturned the Civil Rights
Act of 1875 saying 14th Amendment did
not prevent private organizations from
discriminating
• Plessy v. Ferguson – separate facilities
were legal as long as they were
considered equal – “separate but equal”
Segregation: South vs. North
• In the South: de jure segregation was
practiced because of the Jim Crow laws
(The Law)
• In the North: de facto segregation was
practiced, the “not posted” or
“unannounced separation” of races –
based on ideas and opinions of the
society (The Fact)
How did WWII foster civil rights?
• Migration of 1 million African Americans to
Northern and Western cities
• Double V Campaign – victory at home and
abroad
• Executive Order 8802: prohibit racial
discrimination in the defense industry
• Creation of CORE and the integration of
northern diners
• Increased membership in NAACP
What gains were made after WWII?
• Executive Order 9981 – prohibited
racial discrimination in the armed
forces
• President’s Committee on Civil
Rights – investigated the status of rights in
the country and proposed measures to
strengthen and protect them
Symbolic firsts?
• Jackie Robinson:
–1947, broke the color barrier in
major league baseball
–Rookie of the Year
• Ralph Bunche:
– Nobel Peace Prize (1950) for
negotiating peace accord in
Palestine between Jews and Arabs
(1st Arab-Israeli Conflict)
Closure: Sample Jim Crow Laws
• With a partner or small group of those
around you, read through the list of
examples of Jim Crow Laws.
• What are your opinions, thoughts,
comments, reactions, etc. to these laws?