CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Who was Thurgood Marshall?
 African- American lawyer who led the challenge against segregation in Brown v. Board of Education.
 1 st African American
Supreme Court
Justice

What was Brown v. Board of
Education?
 A Supreme Court case in which segregated schools were ruled unconstitutional.
 Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson
 Led to whites entering private schools and massive resistance from whites.

What happened at Little Rock
High School?
 9 African American students desegregated Little
Rock High School.
 Eisenhower had to bring in troops to enforce the Brown v.
Board of Education decision.

Who was Rosa Parks?
 Woman who started the Montgomery Bus
Boycott
 Sparked the Civil
Rights Movement
 Song: Sister Rosa by the Neville Brothers

What was the SCLC?
 Formed in 1957 by ministers and civil rights leaders.
 Called the Southern
Christian Leadership
Conference.
 Led by Martin Luther
King Jr.

What was SNCC?
 Known was the
Student Non-Violent
Coordinating
Committee.
 Formed by mostly college students
 Led sit-ins and peaceful protests.

What were sit-ins?
 Protest tactic in which blacks occupied whites-only seats at lunch counters.
 1 st sit-in was in
Greensboro, North
Carolina (February
1960)

Who were the freedom riders?
 Name for Civil Rights activists who tried to end segregation on national buses.
 Many times the freedom riders were harassed, fire bombed, or beaten.

Who was James Meredith?
 First African American to enroll in the allwhite University of
Mississippi.
 Kennedy sent in U.S. marshals to allow
Meredith to attend school.

Song: We Shall Overcome
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Song that represented the struggles of the Civil
Rights Movement
Had been sung in African
American churches as early as 1900.
Lyndon B. Johnson used the phrase “We Shall
Overcome” in a Civil
Rights Address to
Congress.

Song: This Little Light of Mine
 A Negro spiritual that became a Civil Rights anthem in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
 Has become a very popular children’s song over the years.

Song: A Change is Gonna
Come by Sam Cooke
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Written in 1963 and released in late 1964 after Cooke’s tragic death.
Song was inspired by an incident Cooke and his band tried to register at a
"whites only" motel in
Shreveport, Louisiana and were summarily arrested for disturbing the peace.
Key song of the Civil
Rights Movement.

Black Power Movement
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Black Panther Partyfounded in Oakland,
California by Huey
Newton and Bobby
Seale in 1966. Other key leader was
Stokely Carmichael.
Demanded respect and would not turn the other cheek.
Controversial group that was investigated by the federal government.

1968 Olympics
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Tommie Smith won the gold and John Carlos won the bronze in the 200 meters.
Received the medals shoeless and with black socks to represent black poverty.
Wore beads to represent those killed in the Middle Passage and by lynching.
Carlos forgot his gloves so
Smith gave him one to wear on his left hand for the salute during the national anthem.
Both athletes were sent home and treated terribly until recently.

Song: Say It Loud I’m Black and
I’m Proud by James Brown
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Recorded in 1968 by
James Brown.
Black power movement song
Talks about prejudice towards blacks and black empowerment
Song was recorded in LA and background was sung by mostly White and
Asian children.

Speech: I Have a Dream
 Given on August 28,
1963
 Part of the March on
Washington to gain support for JFK’s Civil
Rights Bill.
 What is the dream?
 As a nation, are we all living the dream?

Song: Let Freedom Ring (Hip
Hop)
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Brown v. Board of
Education - overturns
Plessy v. Ferguson
Rosa Parks - sparked the
Montgomery Bus Boycott of December 1955.
Civil Rights Bill of 1964 -
Part of LBJ’s Great
Society, outlawed segregation in public places.

Song: Let Freedom Ring (Hip
Hop)
 Voting Rights Act of
1965 - outlawed literacy tests.
Provided for federal registration of voters in areas that had less than 50% of eligible minority voters registered. Extended by George W. Bush in
2006.

Voting Rights Act Map

Watts Riots (1965)
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Protest turned into rioting after an
African-American was pulled over by cops.
Escalated into rioting and the National
Guard was called in.
Lasted 6 days, 34 people killed, 1,000 injured and 100 million dollars of damage.
Riots also in Northern cities like Detroit and
Newark.

What was the Kerner
Commission?
 In 1968, issued a study on the cause of urban violence.
 The main cause of urban violence in the cities was white racism.
 Does this still hold true today?

What was the Civil Rights Act of
1968?
 This law banned discrimination in housing.
 Are their examples today where discrimination has occurred in housing?

What is affirmative action?
 Program that began in the late 1960’s to make special efforts to hire or enroll minorities.
 Why is this policy controversial?

Medgar Evers
 African-American Civil
Rights Activist from
Mississippi was assassinated by a white supremacist in
1963.
 Byron De La Beckwith was finally convicted of murder in 1994.

John F. Kennedy
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President of the United
States from 1961-1963
Bays of Pigs-failed attempt to overthrow
Castro
Cuban Missile Crisis
Americans embraced his optimism for a better future.
Assassinated in Dallas,
Texas by Lee Harvey
Oswald in November
1963.

Malcolm X
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Spokesperson for
Nation of Islam.
Left Nation of Islam in
1964 and advocated political and economic black nationalism.
Disagreed with Martin
Luther King Jr. philosophy of passive resistance.
Assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam in 1965.
Speech: Malcolm X video

Martin Luther King Jr.
 Leader of the American
Civil Rights Movement
 Led non-violent protests and passive resistance
(like Gandhi in India)
 Assassinated in
Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968 by
James Earl Ray.

Robert F. Kennedy
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Brother of JFK and
Attorney General under
JFK.
Ran for the Democratic
Nomination for President in 1968.
Assassinated in a
California Hotel by Sirhan
B. Sirhan because of
RFK’s support of Israel in the Six Day War.

In the Ghetto by Elvis Presley
 Made popular by Elvis
Presley in 1969.
 Calling public attention to life in the inner cities.
 Culture of poverty and cycle of violence.
 How have things changed or have they stayed the same?

Fast Car by Tracy Chapman
 Recorded in 1988.
 Song about the cycle of poverty and how it is so hard to break.
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What does the fast car represent?
What is the singer’s definition of the
American dream?

Essay Assignment
 Write a 1-2 page essay on your idea of the
American Dream. Include the following:
- Define the American Dream.
- What does it take to achieve the American
Dream?
- What roadblocks are in the way of the
American Dream?
- Why are many Americans not living the dream?