The Civil Rights
Movement
Chapter 25
What court case upheld the
principle of ‘separate but equal’?
Brown v Board of
Education
2. Dred Scott v
Sanford
3. Plessy v Ferguson
4. McCulloch v
Maryland
1.
Origins of the Civil Rights
Movement

1865- the Civil War ended

13th Amendment (1865)- officially ended slavery

14th Amendment (1868)- identified who was a
US citizen & specified that all US citizens have
“equal protection of the laws”.

15th Amendment (1870)- states may not
interfere with any man’s right to vote= gave
black men the vote.
Origins of Civil Rights Movement
1896-Plessy v Ferguson – established “separate
but equal” segregation (segregation by law)mostly in the South.
 * “Jim Crow Laws”
 De facto segregation – segregation by custom
(no law)- popular in the north
 Poll taxes, literacy
tests, lynching
 Niagara Falls
Movement
 NAACP (1909)worked
to end segregation.

The Beginnings
NAACP- (1939-1961) led by
attorney Thurgood Marshall;
fought segregation, lynching.
 Thurgood Marshall- later 1st
black justice on Supreme Court
 CORE- Congress of Racial
Equality (1942)- used “sit-ins”
to fight against segregation.
 *Brown v Board of Education
(1954)
◦ Called for desegregating
public schools
◦ Overturned Plessy v
Ferguson’s ‘separate but
equal’

Southern Manifesto

1956

101 Southern members of Congress

Denounced the ruling in Brown, as a clear
abuse of judicial power & pledged to
reverse it

Encouraged white Southerners to defy the
Supreme Court
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Became National leader of the
civil rights movement

At age 26 Led Montgomery
Bus Boycott

◦ In response to Rosa Parks
◦ Huge success with desegregation immediately
Influenced by Gandhi – non-violent protest
 Civil Disobedience – essay written by

Henry David Thoreau.
◦ Can disobey a law if it is unjust
**The Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955





1955- Rosa Parks- arrested for sitting in the
“white section” of the Montgomery public transit.
Martin Luther King Jr. –chosen to lead a boycott
of the public bus system in Montgomery,
Alabama.
**King’s methods – passive non-violent
resistance; “Civil Disobedience”
Boycott lasted 1 year; Supreme Court ruled in
Park’s favor.
Montgomery bus transit system desegregated.

*Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC)
◦ Established by King (1st president)
◦ Group of black ministers with goal
of ending segregation & encouraging
blacks to vote
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

1957- Governor Faubus ordered troops to
Little Rock High to prevent 9 African
Americans from entering
*Little Rock 9
Importance: Governor
had used the National
Guard to oppose the
federal government

Result: Eisenhower sent federal troops to
Little Rock to enforce federal law
Little Rock 9
The Civil Rights Act of 1957
1st civil rights law since Reconstruction
 Created a Civil Rights division within
the Department of Justice (federal
government can seek court injunctions
against anyone interfering with an ind.
Right to vote).
 Created US Commission on Civil
Rights- investigate voting rights
violations
 * SCLC- began a push to register 2 million
new African-American voters.

The Sit-In Movement
1960- The Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-IN- 4
African-American students from NC A&T sat at the white
lunch counter of Woolworth’s.
 Next day- 29 more students appeared at the lunch counter
 End of the week- 300 students
 End of the Month- the movement spread to 54 cities (9
states).
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
formed April 1960; attracted young people.
 Marion Barry-John Lewis 1st leaders
 1960-1965- played a role in desegregation of public
facilities
 Sent young volunteers into the Deep South to register
African-Americans to Vote.

*The Voter Education
Project
SNCC- sponsored to
register African-Americans
in the South to vote.
 1964- local officials in
Mississippi murdered
3 SNCC workers

“African Americans have
had 350 years of cooling
off and if they cooled off
anymore they would be
in a deep freeze”
CORE- sponsored
 *Freedom Riders

◦ Integrated bus ride from NC to Mississippi
◦ 1962-Kennedy ended bus segregation federally

*George Wallace
◦ 1963-Governor of Alabama
◦ Blocked African Americans
from entering the
University of Alabama
◦ Federal officials forced him
to move

James Meredith
◦ Wanted to attend the
University of Mississippi
◦ 1962-JFK sent 500 federal
marshals to escort him
Birmingham Protests (1963)
Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to push for a Civil Rights Law
to be passed
 Chose Birmingham- violent place
 Bull Conner- former head of Police running for Mayor
 King arrested
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
 King wrote to white leaders
 Explained why his use of non-violent protests

After MLK’s release- Bull Conner & Police used dogs, fire
hoses, & clubs on protestors while Americans watched on
TV.
** Kennedy ordered a new Civil Rights bill be written
up Southern Senators threatened to filibuster.


August 28, 1963

Purpose- urge
Congress to pass a
Civil Rights law

200,000
demonstrators
march on
Washington
Dr. King’s “I have a
dream” speech

March on Washington


**Civil Rights Act of 1964
Filibustered for 87 days in the Senate &
finally passed
◦ Prevention of racial discrimination
◦ Segregation is illegal
◦ Required businesses to end discrimination in
the workplace

*24th Amendment
◦ Outlawed poll taxes in federal elections
1965-Demonstrations
to register to vote
 2,000 arrested
 March from Selma to
Montgomery (50
miles)
 Bloody Sunday

◦ Marchers beaten by
state troopers as they
crossed the bridge out
of Selma
"I was hit in the head
by a state trooper
with a nightstick... I
thought I saw death."
—John Lewis, SNCC
The Voting Rights Act (1965)
Federal examiners sent to register
African-Americans & oversee elections
 Suspended literacy tests
 Result- more than 250,000 AfricanAmericans registered to vote.

Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace
Prize (1965)








Racism & poverty still persistent
Los Angeles- 1965
Due to police brutality
34 killed, 900 injured
$30 million property damage
Race riots erupted all over the country
Urban blacks saw the changes for Southern
blacks – they wanted the same
*Kerner Commission
◦ Detailed study of urban riots
◦ Blamed white society & racism for problems in
inner cities
Dr. King & wife moved into apartment in
Chicago.
 Draw attention to need for improvement
of slum neighborhoods in big cities
 Not very successful

Chicago Movement
Black Power
Founder-Stokely
Carmichael
 Attracted young AfricanAmericans
 African Americans
should control the social,
political & economic
aspects of their culture
 Emphasized black power
& self-discipline rather
than assimilation



Symbol of the Black Power
movement
Nation of Islam
◦ Aka Black Muslims
◦ Malcolm X was a spokesperson
◦ Separation from whites & govern
themselves

Killed by member of the
Nation of Islam
The Black Panthers



Founded in 1966 by Huey Newton, Bobby Seale,
Eldridge Cleaver in Oakland, California
Emphasized economic self-sufficiency, black
nationalism, self-defense
Believed violent Revolution was necessary to get
political & economic equality.
The Assassination of
Martin Luther King

Memphis, TN

April 4, 1968 – King was
assassinated on his hotel
balcony by a sniper

Assassin – James Earl
Ray

Significance- Civil Rights
lost its most eloquent
leader.