I.
Chapter 24 The Civil Rights Movement(1954-1968)
Chapter 24 Section 1------The Movement Begins
The Origins of the Movement (pp. 746-748)
A. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)—“Separate-but-Equal— Made Laws
segregating Blacks legal as long as equal facilities were provided
1. “Jim Crow” laws segregating Blacks and whites were common
in the South
2. de facto segregation(North) ---segregation by custom & tradition
B. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
1. provided financial support & lawyers to Blacks in cases
challenging segregation
C. Blacks gained political power as they migrated to Northern cities where
they could vote
1. Tendency to support the Democratic Party
D. Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)—1942
1. Used sit-ins as a form of protest against segregation &
discrimination
2. Ex: used in protesting against restaurants
II.
The Civil Rights Movement Begins (pp. 748-750)
A. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)
1. Thurgood Marshall—chief counsel for the NAACP
2. ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional &
violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment
3. Reversed Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
B. 1955—Rosa Parks refused to give up seat on the bus
1. Led to a boycott of the Montgomery bus system for over a year
2. Led by Dr. Martin Luther King, jr.—used a nonviolent passive
resistant approach to end segregation & racism
3. Dec. 1956—U.S. Supreme Court declared Alabama’s law
unconstitutional
III.
African American Churches (pp. 750-751)
A. Key role in the Bus Boycott—planned meetings, organized volunteers,
etc
B. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)—Dr. King –Leader
1. challenged the segregation of public transportation, housing, at
the voting booths, & in public accommodations
IV.
Eisenhower and Civil Rights (pp. 751-752)
A. Little Rock Crisis (1957)
1. Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard
to prevent Black students from entering Little Rock High School
2. President Eisenhower sent in federal troops to protect the Black
students for the entire year
B. Civil Rights Act of 1957
1. created to protect the right of African Americans to vote
2. marked an important 1st step in bringing the federal government
into the civil rights debate
I.
Chapter 24 Section 2----Challenging Segregation
The Sit-In Movement (pp. 753-754)
A. 1959 Woolworth’s Lunch counter Sit-in—Greensboro, N.C.
1. Led to a mass movement for civil rights
2. Jesse Jackson—sit-ins gave them power to change things
II.
SNCC (page 754)
A. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)—
1. led student sit-ins to desegregate public facilities in Southern
communities
2. went to rural areas of the Deep South to register Blacks to vote
III.
The Freedom Riders (pp. 754-755)
A. 1961—Teams of Blacks & Whites sent into the South to integrate bus
terminals
1. Violence erupted in Birmingham & Montgomery, Alabama
IV.
John F. Kennedy and Civil Rights (pp. 755-757)
A. Attorney General Robert Kennedy helped Blacks register to vote by
having lawsuits filed throughout the South
B. 1962—James Meredith—1st Black to attend at the University of
Mississippi
C. 1963—President Kennedy ordered his aides to prepare a civil rights bill
V.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (pp. 757-759)
A. August 28, 1963—Martin Luther king, jr. led 200,000 demonstrators to
Washington, DC & staged a peaceful rally
B. Opponents used the filibuster to try to prevent the bill from passing
C. Passed after President Kennedy’s assassination
D. Major components of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964:
1. gave the federal government broad power to stop racial
discrimination in the segregation in public places
2. to bring lawsuits to end school segregation
3. to require employers to end discrimination in the workplace
VI.
The Struggle for Voting Rights (759-760)
A. Selma, Alabama---“Bloody Sunday”
1. 50 mile march from Selma to Montgomery for Voting Rights
2. Protestors attacked by 200 state troopers & deputized citizens
3. Nation was shocked by what they saw on TV
B. Voting Rights act of 1965:
1. Gave the Attorney General the right to send federal examiners
to register qualified voters bypassing the local officials who often
refused to register Blacks
2. banned literacy tests
I.
II.
Chapter 24 Section 3---New Issues
Problems Facing Urban African Americans (pp. 761-763)
A. Racism was still common in the U.S.
B. Blacks faced many economic & social problems
1. poverty
2. inner city was overcrowded
C. 1965-1968—Race riots
1. Watts (LA)—lasted for 6 days
2. Detroit—worst riot—U.S. Army sent in to gain control
D. Kerner Commission
1. created to make recommendations that would prevent further
urban riots
2. Conclusion: Problem was white society & white racism
3. President Johnson did not endorse the recommendation because
of the war in Vietnam
The Shift to Economic Rights (page 763)
A. Mid-1960s Dr. King was criticized for his nonviolent strategy because it
failed to improve economic condition of Black Americans
B. Chicago Movement—effort to call attention to deplorable housing
conditions that Black Americans faced
1. Dr. King & his wife moved into a slum apartment in Chicago
2. Marched into a white suburb to demonstrate the need for open
housing
3. Met with Mayor Daley to propose a new plan to clean up slums
III.
Black Power (pp. 764-765)
A. Black Power (Variety of Meanings)
1. Physical self-defense & violence
2. Stokely Carmichael (SNCC)—should control the social, political,
& economic direction of their struggle for equality
3. stressed pride in the Black culture & opposed cultural
assimilation (Popular in poor urban neighborhoods)
B. Black Muslims
1. Leader—Malcolm X
2. believed that Blacks should separate themselves from whites and
form their own self-governing communities
3. Malcolm X later broke from the Muslims & began to believe an
integrated society was possible
4. 1965—Malcolm X assassinated by 3 members of the Black
Muslims
C. Black Panthers
1. Leader—Eldridge Cleaver
2. Preached Black power, Black nationalism, & economic selfsufficiency
3. Revolution necessary to gain equal rights (Arm themselves &
confront white society)
IV.
The Assassination of Martin Luther King, jr.
A. April 4, 1968 Dr. King assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis,
Tennessee
1. Result: national mourning & riots in over 100 cities
2. Civil Rights Act of 1968 passed
a. contained a fair housing provision
b. outlawed discrimination in the sale & rental of housing
c. gave the Justice Department authority to bring suits against
discrimination
***Civil Rights Movement lacked the unity of purpose & vision that Dr. King had
given it***