Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
Survey
Contextualising the Civil Rights Movement
13th Amendment
- Abolishment of slavery of african americans
- Introduced by abraham lincoln
- Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a come in
congress
- Passed in 1864
- Before the amendment there were many southern slaves → south was pro slavery
- House of representatves had opposition of democrats who felt that the abolishment of
slavery by the federal government would amount to a violation of rights
Emancipation Declaration
- On september 22nd 1862 president lincoln issues this declaration but on the 1st of Jan
1863, lincoln signed it → took 3 months
- Impact → it had a big impact on slavery - it destoyed it in the union army - impacted civil
war as it was no longer about preserving the union it was about freeing slaves
- Application - didnt actually abolish slavery or free slaves within the union states
- Impact on civil rights - didnt actually free any of the approx 4 million men, women and
children held in slavery in the US
- By 1872, 1510 african americans held office - shows their involvement
- In the south 8 black men served together in congress in 1875 - the number would not be
matched until 1969
- Proclamation also allowed african americans to fight in the civil war and fight for the
north and 200,000 african americans became soldiers
The impact of WW2 on the circumstances of African Americans in the United States.
❖ War signs
- Peace sign: V for victory
“The Double V Campaign” - Segregation and discrimination had reached a point that
was no longer tolerable, and according to the Pittsburgh Courier, it was time for a
campaign.
- The “Double V Campaign,” as it was called, stood for two victories for black Americans: a
victory at home and a victory abroad. → less segregation when under fire
❖ Consensus culture - brought from the cold war
❖ Up until the 1990s 90% of suburban communities were all white and had a non-whte population
of less than 1%
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
DOT POINT OF
SYLLABUS
formation and role of
groups supporting civil
rights and their ideas for
change
NOTES
Groups:
❖ The Congress for Racial Equality (CORE)
- Founded in 1942, became one of the leading activist organizations
in the early years of the American civil rights movement. In the
early 1960s, CORE, working with other civil rights groups, launched
a series of initiatives: the Freedom Rides, aimed at desegregating
public facilities, the Freedom Summer voter registration project
and the historic 1963 March on Washington.
- CORE initially embraced a pacifist, non-violent approach to
fighting racial segregation, but by the late 1960s the group’s
leadership had shifted its focus towards the political ideology of
black nationalism and separatism.
❖ The Civil Rights Congress (CRC)
- The CRC used a two-pronged strategy of litigation and
demonstrations, with extensive public communications, to call
attention to racial injustice in the United States.
- A major tactic was publicizing cases, especially in the South, such
as those of Rosa Lee Ingram and her two sons in Georgia, the
Martinsville Seven in Virginia, and Willie McGee in Mississippi, in
which Black people had been sentenced to death; in the last two
cases as a result of questionable rape charges.
- Raised international awareness about these cases, which
sometimes generated protests to the president and Congress.
- They also represented defendants in legal appeals to overturn
convictions or gain lesser sentences
- The group conducted high-profile protests in Washington, D.C.,
and at the United Nations. It brought world attention to racism in
the United States by presenting the U.N. with a petition titled "​ We
Charge Genocide," detailing the abuses of African Americans in
the US, including continuing lynchings in the 1940s.
❖ National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
- Established in 1909 - 2000 branches, half million members
- The NAACP played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement of
the 1950s and 1960s. One of the organization’s key victories was
the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in​ ​Brown v. Board of
Education that outlawed segregation in public schools.
- helped organize the ​1963 March on Washington, o
​ ne of the
biggest civil rights rallies in U.S. history, and had a hand in running
1964’s Mississippi Freedom Summer, an initiative to register
black Mississippians to vote.
- successfully lobbied for the passage of landmark legislation
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - prohibiting discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and the Voting
Rights Act of 1965, barring racial discrimination in voting.
❖ Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
- The organization operated primarily in the South and some border
states, conducting leadership-training programs, citizen-education
projects, and voter-registration drives.
- Established by Martin Luther King - christian pacifist
- The SCLC played a major part in the civil rights march on
Washington, D.C., in 1963 and in notable antidiscrimination and
voter-registration efforts in Albany, Georgia, and Birmingham and
Selma, Alabama, in the early 1960s—campaigns that spurred
passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting
Rights Act of 1965. After King was assassinated in April 1968, his
place as president was taken by the Reverend Ralph David
Abernathy. The SCLC maintained its philosophy of nonviolent
social change, but, having lost its founder, it soon ceased to mount
giant demonstrations and confined itself to smaller campaigns,
predominantly in the South
❖ Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
- founded in early 1960 in Raleigh, North Carolina, to capitalize on
the success of a surge of ​sit-ins​ in ​Southern college towns, where
black students refused to leave restaurants​ in which they were
denied service based on their race.
efforts of Martin Luther King
to achieve change for
African Americans
-
This form of nonviolent protest brought SNCC to national attention,
throwing a harsh public light on white racism in the South.
-
strengthened its efforts in community organization and supported
Freedom Rides in 1961, along with the March on Washington in
1963, and agitated for the Civil Rights Act (1964).
-
SNCC migrated from a philosophy of nonviolence to one of greater
militancy after the mid-1960s, as an advocate of the burgeoning
“black power” movement
Beliefs and aims
- Wanted to empower African-Americans through non-violent, peaceful
methods.
M
​ LK: ‘Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.’
MLK: ‘We must love our white brothers no matter what they do to us.’
- Triple evils (racism, poverty, militarism) could only be beaten by the
principles of non-violence (e.g. non-violence is courageous, chooses lover
over hate, etc.) and the steps of non-violent social change.
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
-
Towards the late 60s, he wanted to expand the civil rights movement to
broader social and economic issues, and other marginalised groups such
as Hispanics (this caused controversy).
Methods: Non-violent protest and mass action
● Speeches— ‘I have a dream’, 1963 = spread ideology of non-violence and
inspired people
● Boycotts—Role in Montgomery Bus Boycott
● Marches = huge publicity = change
- Birmingham marches—1963
- Detroit Walk to Freedom—1963, 130,000 people
- March from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights—1965, state
troopers attacked marchers in ‘bloody Sunday’. Sympathy marches
followed, spurred passing of 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Criticisms
● Non-violence brought change too slowly (divided cause as they
disagreed on strategy)
● Claimed prominence where he was unimportant
● Intolerant of views of others (e.g. Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael), an
ineffective ‘Uncle Tom’ (subservient to whites).
V Sanders: ‘[MLK] always gained national attention... his ability to inspire was
peerless... made a massive contribution to the black cause...’
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
the methods employed by
civil rights movements in
the United States across
the period: local and
national boycotts, direct
action and political agitation
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
Martin Luther King and
Malcom X: beliefs, aims and
methods
MARTIN LUTHER KING
Beliefs
● Nonviolence - based on principles of Gandhi
● Peaceful means to counter social evils
● Religious affiliation → all men created equal through God
Aims
● At first, protested unfair treatment based on race
● Ensure black community were enrolled as voters and could play their part
in the democratic process
● Intended to bring matters to a head and oblige those in power to take
action to redress historic injustices
● End segregation of african american and gain equality under the rights to
them in the constitution
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
Methods
● Faced with violence but stood with non-violent protests
● Passive resistance
● Civil disobedience - Boycotts, sit-ins, peaceful demonstrations
- Montgomery Bus Boycott 1956
MALCOLM X
Beliefs
● Followed the teachings of Elijah Mohammad and Islam
● ‘Black Power’
● ‘Black supremacy’ and segregation between whites and blacks
● Equality was impossible because whites had no moral conscious and
would not genuinely work to achieve equal rights for African Americans
Aims
● Exhorted blacks to cast off the shacks of racism ‘by any means
necessary’, including violence
● To ;promote black nationalism and seperatism
● Hostile to white population
Methods
● Militant proposals
● Orator - spread the message of the civil rights movement outside of the
US
● Organiser - great organisation skills and strategist which gave him great
prominence in the movement
the opposition to civil rights:
the Ku Klux Klan, the White
Citizens’ Council
Ku Klux Klan
● mainstream third political party in the early 20th century
● keep blacks in a state of technically not being slaves but unable to vote,
hold office, have economic power, have equal legal rights and have no
legal recourse to do anything about it
● South the restoration of white supremacy
● Falsely accused black people of crimes
● bombings, beatings and shootings of black and white activists
● targeted black freedom and their allies, sought to restore white
supremacy by threats and violence including beatings, lynching and
murder
White Citizens’ Council
● associated network of white supremacist, extreme right organizations in
the United States, concentrated in the South
● obstruct the implementation of the 1954 decision by the U.S. Supreme
Court to end school desegregation - Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka
● attempted to win support for their views by describing the horrors that
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
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●
●
integrated education would supposedly bring.
pace of desegregation in southern schools accelerated, the councils
grew steadily weaker. By the 1970s they were only of marginal
importance
resorted to various forms of economic pressure against local advocates of
desegregation
violence and intimidation to counter civil rights goals, they sought to
economically and socially oppress blacks
Other opposition
● Humiliation of blacks—verbally and physically (e.g. throwing food in
sit-ins)
● Preventing blacks from accessing schools (e.g. in Little Rock High)
● Political opposition by Southern politicians (e.g. Southern Manifesto
against integration)
Alabama Governor, George Wallace: ‘I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow,
segregation forever.’
● Violence, beatings, murders (e.g. Bull Connor attacking protesters with
dogs and water hoses in Montgomery, Emmett Till)
Montgomery Bus Boycott
and the role of Rosa Parks
●
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In Dec 1955, Rosa Parks (highly respected church member and activist)
was arrested for refusing to give her seat to a white person.
Civil rights activists called for a boycott of the bus system
The Montgomery bus system was boycotted by about 40,000
African-Americans (about three-quarters of the city’s bus riders).
Black people walked, rode taxis, carpooled, etc.
- R Lewis, carpool director: ‘The success of the carpool is at the
heart of the movement.’
The Montgomery Improvement Association was formed to support the
boycott, with MLK as its leader.
MLK: ‘[the boycotters] gave new meaning and dignity to civilisation.’
● Parks was fired from her job, boycotters were arrested for
conspiracy/speeding, black churches and activist leader’s houses were
bombed (such as MLK’s, shattering his windows)
● The boycott was extremely effective and lasted 381 days—bus fares were
raised 50%.
● Ended when bus segregation was banned in the Supreme Court in June
1956.
● Violence (shooting/bombing buses) followed.
● Significance: Gained national/international attention, moral boost, justified
NAACP courts strategy, justified non-violence and organisation, brought
MLK to prominence, boosted northern support (e.g. financial support from
A. Phillip Randolph)
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
the desegregation of Little
Rock High School
●
●
Resistance to integration after Brown v. Education:
- Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas—‘Arkansas is not ready for a
complete mixing of the races.’
- Southern Manifesto
Daisy Bates (journalist and activist) has 9 students undergo counselling to
prepare them to enrol in LRHS.
●
When the 9 arrived in Sep 1957, they were blocked by the National Guard
and harassed by crowds, e.g. Melba Pattillo was grabbed at, a tree limb
was swung at her, a brick was thrown at her car.
●
On Sep 20, the 9 entered the school, and the mob went wild. Reporters
were attacked, a 100 car convoy full of weapons was found, blacks were
pulled out of their cars and beaten.
●
President Eisenhower removed the National Guard and sent 1000 soldiers
from the 101st Airborne Division who protected and escorted the students.
●
The 9 faced violence, prejudice and exclusion, with one having had acid
thrown into her face, and another being pushed down the stairs.
●
They found strength in the fact that​ ‘...what we were doing was not for
ourselves.’ (Elizabeth Eckford)
Ernst Green, the senior of the 9, graduated in 1958.
●
●
Faubus closed all of Little Rock’s highschools for a year to prevent black
attendance, but the rest of the 9 completed their education elsewhere,
and Little Rock High was eventually integrated.
Significance:​Publicised extent of racism and violence in the South, gained the
civil rights cause international and federal support.
Freedom Rides
-
Directed by James farmer
About 1000 student activists underwent bus trips through the Deep South
to protest and highlight segregation, especially in transport
Was thought that they wouldn’t make it through Alabama
May 14th 1961 - greyhound bus was forced off-road by a white mob and
set alight
Several beaten by KKK
As attacks continued, the national guard was sent out
If riders refused to leave they were arrested and charged with the
breaking of peace
Civil rights leader appealed to Washington to end the violence
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
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The key method was to deliberately get arrested → creates a burden on
the prison system
Significance:​Drew international attention and hundreds of new supporters,
forced government to act -> anti-segregation regulations issued in 1961.
March on Washington
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Philip Randolph (elder civil rights statesman) and the SCLC merged their
protest ideas into one mass protest to highlight the need for legislation
banning segregation.
JFK warned them about the risk of violence but reluctantly endorsed it
and ensured security precautions.
On 28 August (Emmett Till’s death), about 250,000 people gathered at the
Lincoln Memorial, covered by over 3000 members of the press.
There were musical performances by Bob Dylan, Mahalia Jackson, etc.
Speeches were given by Philip Randolph, Daisy Bates, MLK, NAACP and
SNCC leaders, etc.
MLK spoke last and departed from his prepared notes and gave his
famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, which went for 16 minutes instead of the
planned 4.
MLK: ‘I have a dream.... even the state of Mississippi... will be transformed into an
oasis of freedom and justice... that little children... will not be judged by the color
of their skin... With this faith we will be able to transform... our nation into a
beautiful symphony of brotherhood.’
●
Separatist groups e.g. the Nation of Islam were critical of the march.
Malcolm X called it ‘the Farce on Washington’
Significance:​United civil rights groups, brought huge publicity and attention,
gained respect through organisation/unity, arguably helped pass 1964 Civil
Rights Bill.
However, a black church was bombed only a week later, and KKK membership
and violence increased.
‘Mississippi Freedom
Summer’ of 1964
●
●
Aimed to increase black voter registration (7% of blacks at start of 1964)
and set up freedom schools.
Run by COFO (Council of Federated Organisations) under Bob Moses,
who wanted to include white students to increase attention and reduce
violence
D Dennis (CORE organiser): ‘The death of a white college student would bring on
more attention... than a black student getting it.’
●
State laws banned leafleting/picketing, KKK and police numbers were
increased
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
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When 3 activists went missing, the police, FBI and Justice Department
didn’t initially take action. FBI eventually investigated and found the
activists beaten and killed.
50 Freedom Schools were established for community organising but only
1600 African-Americans were registered.
Violence: Over 1000 arrested, six murdered, dozens of black churches
and homes destroyed.
White Citizen’s Councils foreclosed mortgages, fired blacks, stepped up
segregation
The Democratic National Convention refused seats to representatives
elected through COFO
Significance:​Raised awareness/national attention, pushed many towards
radical/Black Power movements
the assassination of Martin
Luther King
-
Shot on April 4, 1968
Lorraine Motel, Tennessee
Murdered by James Earl Grey.
Context: MLK was in Memphis to support 1300 striking black sanitation workers
following the death of 2 garbage workers. He joined a protest march, but it
became violent and he despaired.
Significance:
● Shocked the world, riots/vandalism/fire-bombing broke out in over 100
cities and over 35 were killed. Morale in the movement took a hard blow.
● Rioting led to a ‘white flight’ from inner cities -> reduced tax base and
quality of life.
● Criticism of MLK—communist, pushing too hard and fast, not his place to
talk about Vietnam War (called America the ‘greatest purveyor of
violence’, 72% of whites and 55% of blacks disagreed.’
● Appraisal of MLK of a saint/martyr.
the nature of social and
political change
Social change
The US was a conservative, conformist, racist (Jim Crow laws, miscegenation)
society, but many movements/cultural changes developed, particularly in the
60s.
● Brown v. Education and grassroots support
- Created social change
- ‘Busing’: students travel by bus = greater racial mix and inter-racial
friendships.
● Civil rights and black power -> black pride.
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
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Soul music: mix of gospel and R and B, combined protest and
hope. Became an anthem to civil rights, e.g. James Brown ‘Say it
Loud’ (“I’m black and I’m proud.’), Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield.
- Slogan ‘black is beautiful’
- Less imitating white styles, women wore their hair naturally.
- Black fashion linked to heritage as African-style clothes (e.g. the
buba and the dashiki) were worn.
- By 1968, courses in Black History/African American studies began
to appear.
Other movements: Women’s movement, environmental, gay rights,
anti-Vietnam War, counterculture (alternative dress, music, hair, drugs,
hippie life, pre-marital sex, listening to black music, rock ‘n’ roll)
T Gitlin (critic): ‘...that decade’s movement forced upon us central issues for
Western civilisation... questions of value... divides of culture... debates about the
nature of the good life.’
R Dallek (professor): ‘The sixties decade... was a huge jumping off point for the
country.’
Political change
● JFK, Robert Kennedy, Freedom Democratic Party -> changed political
landscape.
● Freedom Democratic Party (formed after Freedom Summer) challenged
Mississippi Democratic Party’s right to sit at the Democratic National
Convention because they excluded blacks -> drew attention to
segregationist policies of Democrats.
● Divides in America and its politics were deepened.
● Since 1964, more Southerners voted Republican.
the significance of
legislative change, the Civil
Rights Act (1964) and the
attitudes of US presidents
Harry S Truman (1945-53)
Truman, 1948: ​‘[the aim of the country should be] to secure fully the essential
human rights of our citizens.’
●
●
Ended discrimination in armed forces, put a black judge on the federal
court, set up a Committee on Government Contract Compliance
(government contracts weren’t to go to discriminatory companies)
Somewhat far-sighted and liberal. Measures took a long time to appear,
due to heavy opposition and the fact that he needed congress support in
the Korean War. Somewhat significant, progressive for the time.
Dwight D Eisenhower (1953-60)
●
●
Little interest in civil rights, a typical Southerner, didn’t want to lose Congress
support or get the government involved.
Remained silent on Emmett Till murder and Montgomery Bus Boycott, didn’t
support Brown v. Education, sent troops to Little Rock to assert federal
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
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power, passed 1957 and 1960 Civil Rights Acts.
He lacked interest, motivation and empathy, and his Civil Rights Acts did little
to nothing. Not very significant.
John F Kennedy (1961-63)
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●
Had little interest in civil rights, opposed direct and violent tactics and
preferring a quiet, legal approach. Didn’t want to lose Congress support, only
pushed to action by black activists.
Appointed blacks to federal posts, made symbolic gestures for equality,
created ​Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity,​ send federal forces
into Ole Miss Riots and Birmingham protests, stated civil rights was a ‘moral
issue’, introduced a Civil Rights bill.
He was sympathetic, but Kennedy Administration only acted in response to
actions of activists and racists who were disappointed by the lack of
progress. He was greatly slowed down by Southern politicians. Somewhat
significant, made some change.
Lyndon B Johnson (1963-68)
●
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the influence of the US civil
rights movement beyond
the USA
Fought for civil rights out of sense of duty to Kennedy, genuine commitment
and southern economic need. More serious and committed to civil rights than
Kennedy.
Supported Brown v. Education, chaired Committee on Equal Employment
Opportunity, signed Kennedy’s Civil Rights Act into law in 1964, passed the
Higher Education Act, introduced health insurance for black minorities,
passed Voting Rights Act, passed Fair Housing Act.
Slowed down by black rioting, deep-seated racism, white opposition and the
Vietnam War. However, passed many helpful acts and was very significant.
Nelson Mandela
1948 SANP (South African National Party) came into power
→ imposed the idea of Apartheid (“seperate development”) to seperate white
and coloured communities
Controversial developments included introduction of Bantustans and Pass laws
which restricted movement + freedom of coloured south africans
The 1960s was period of radical political chase as countries gained
independence from their european colonial rulers.
In SA apartheid laws became more oppressive after the dancing of the Pan
africanist congress…..
Legislation
-
-
The group areas act of 1950 established residential and business sections
in urban areas for each race, and members of other races were barred
from living, operating business or owning land in them.
In practice this act and two others became known as the ‘Land Acts;
adopted in 1913 and 1936
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
-
To help enforce the segregation of the races and prevent blacks from
encroaching on white areas, the gov strengthen the existing “pass” laws
Other laws forbade most social contacts betweens te races, authorized
segregated public facilities, established separate educational standards,
restricted each race to certain areas
Bantustans
-
-
Under the Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 the government re established
tribal organisations for black africans and the Promotion of Bantu
self-government Act of 1959 created 10 african homelands (bantustans)
Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act of 1970 made every black south african,
irrespective of actual residence, a citizen of one of the Bantustans.
1960 Sharpeville Massacre
-
-
March 21, 1960
In black township (sharpeville)
Police fired on a crowd of black people, killing or wounding some 250 of
them. It was one of the first and most violent demonstrations against
apartheid.
The PAC organised a countrywide demonstration of march 21 for the
abolition of SA pass laws.
Participants invited arrest
Shows a peaceful demonstration
50 women + children were among victims
1976 Soweto Uprising
-
The uprising took place in 1976
Protest, mostly students uprise against the government's insistence that
Afrikna language → that mostly white people spoke only
Significant Personalities
Desmond Tutu - says he and many other SA took heart from the struggles and
achievements of African Americans
Nelson Mandela - but as early as 1964, Mandela delivered his “I am prepared to
die” speech, which resonated even with king, who wrote shortly after that he
realized non-violent resistance of the sort practiced in the United States was not
really possible in South Africa
STeven Biko - Anti-apartheid activist → developed black consciousness
movement directly out of Black Power. “It is better to die for an idea that will live,
than to live for an idea that will die”
Modern History: USA Civil Rights 1945 – 1968
Pan Africanism
Pan africanism was the attempt to create a sense of brotherhood and
collaboration among all people of African descent whether they lived inside or
outside of Africa