Civil Rights Movements
1619 The first cargo of slaves arrive in Jamestown, Virginia
1808 The importation of slaves is illegal
1865 Slavery is abolished by the 13th Amendment
1865 – 1877 Reconstruction
1890 Jim Crow Laws establish segregation
1909 NAACP begin to attack discrimination
1920’s 1st migration to the North
1940’s 2nd migration to the North
1950’s Civil Rights Movements jumpstarted by Brown v. Bd of Ed case (1954)
1960’s Civil Rights Movements splinter
I. Civil Rights Actions under Presidents
Truman
1. Desegregation of the Troops: Executive Order #9981, “Equality of treatment and
opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion,
or national origin”.
2. Proposed Civil Rights Acts to Congress but it did not pass
Eisenhower
1. Brown v. Board of Education Decision
2. Sent Federal troops to enforce desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas
3. Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 (weak)
Kennedy
1. Used ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) to desegregate interstate busing.
2. Protected African-American students who enrolled in universities
Johnson
1. Civil Rights Act of 1964 = no discrimination in private facilities opened to the
public
2. 24th Amendment – No poll tax
3. Voting Rights Act of 1965 – No literacy tests
4. Affirmative Action by Executive Order for federal contracts (1965)
II. Splintering of the Civil Rights Movements
Pre
EVENTS
Post
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Focus: DeJure
Watts/Summer Riots
DeFacto
Non-violent
Chicago Mvmnt (1966)
Violent
Deep South
Kerner Commission (1967)
Northern/Western Cities
Martin Luther King MLK assassinaton (1968)
Malcolm X
Aim: Integration and
Segregation and
Political Empowerment
Economic. Advancement
Effects: By 1972: 1. African Americans were being elected to political positions
2. ½ Afr-Am children integrated in schools.
3. 1/3rd Afr-Am rose to the middle class
III. (3) Major Events in 1950’s that paved the way for CRM’s in 1960’s
1. Brown v. Board of Education in Topeka Kansas 1954
2. A successful bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama
3. Eisenhower sending federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce integration.
CRM 1950’s
Methods
CRM 1960’s
DeJure
DeFacto
Lunch Counter Sit-ins
Watts Riots (1965)
Freedom Riders
Chicago Movement (1966)
Bus Boycott
Black Power Movement
March on Washington
** 2nd March on Washington (1968)
*Kerner Commission (1967) LBJ est. to investigate causes of the ’65-’67 summer
riots in 167 cities. Final report= U.S. is becoming two “separate and unequal
societies” .
Recommendations: a. create an economic program to relieve urban poor.
b. increase job opportunities for African-Americans.
Effects
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1968
th
24 Amendment
LBJ’s “Great Society”
Voting Rights Act of 1965
1978 Bakke Case
2003 Grutter v. University of Michigan
2003 Bollinger v. Univ. of Michigan
nd
** 2 March on Washington (1968) – MLK saw a fragmented civil rights movement
with groups condoning violence, which would make additional Congressional Act
unlikely. He planned the, “Poor’s People Campaign” to force the President and
Congress to devote billions of $ to end poverty and unemployment. But, at a
sanitation strike in Memphis, Tenn. he was assassinated.
Effects: 1. Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which outlaws discrimination
in housings and rentals.
2. LBJ’s “Great Society” declares war on poverty
3. The Vietnam War will distract attention and resources from social programs.
4. The Civil Rights movement splinters and one part becomes violent.
The Black Panthers
Organized in the 1960’s to empower African-American.
Established a 10 Point Platform to address the long standing grievances of AA.
Led by Bobby Seale, designated chairman of the Party, marched into the California
legislature, in May 1967, fully armed. “The enemy is the government.”
The Party began to develop a series of social programs to provide needed services to
black and poor people such as Free Breakfast for Children Program
Oct 1967 (Oakland, CA) Huey Newton convicted of killing one police officer and
injuring another during a traffic stop. This inspired many groups including white
Anti-Vietnam protestor to join the “Free Huey” movement. Newton was eventually
released and fled in exile to Cuba and later returned only to be killed in a street
altercation.
1968 Eldridge Cleaver, author of “Soul on Ice”, shoots 2 police officers in and
ambush in Oakland, Ca.
1967 – 1970 Nine police officers killed, 56 wounded, 10 Panther’s killed
in confrontations. 348 Panthers arrested on various crimes.
The Black Panther Party splits between reformists and revolutionaries.
Cleaver leads a paramilitary wing of the Party called The Black Liberation Army.
Stanford University study by Parry and Farmer stated that 86% of Americans felt
the Panther’s had a negative effect on America. 14% said it was positive. (of the 14%
75% were African-American). View of the Party was split on racial lines.
2009 Herman Bell (Panther /BLA member) pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter of
Sgt. Young’s 1971 murder.
The Black Liberation Army
A paramilitary Marxist group, composed mostly of Black Panther’s, existed between
1970 and 1981. There were 60 incidents of violence from 1970 to 1976, which
included 13 murders of police officers.
Joanne Chesimard aka Asata Shakur was tried and convicted of killing a New Jersey
State trooper during a car stop. In 1979 she escaped from prison and fled to Cuba.
IV. Effects of the Civil Rights Movements
1950’s
1. Civil Right Act of 1964
a. service industry, hotels, and restaurants
NO DISCRIMINATION
b. work place (unions, 100 or more employees—
Later reduced to 25 workers).
c. Govt. Facilities (pools and parks)
2. 24th Amendment (1964)
a. only fed. elections, but States soon followed
NO POLL TAX
3. Voting Rights Act of 1965
a. authorized registration campaigns
NO LITERACY TEST
b. Afr-Am registration grew by 50%
4. Civil Rights Act of 1968
NO DISCRIMINATION
1960’s
a. Housing and rentals
1970’s
5. 1978 Bakke Case (University of California v. Bakke)
Allan Bakke, white male, was rejected from admittance into medical school and sued
for “reverse discrimination”. 116 spaces reserved for minorities established a quota
which violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Constitution. (No discrimination
=”the act of denying an individual equal opportunity b/c of some factor other than
ability…a factor such as race, ethnicity, gender, religion…”.
Supreme Court Decision = NO QUOTAS (Bakke must be admitted, however; SC
upheld the consideration of race as one factor in deciding admission.)
6. Grutter v. Bollinger 2003
Barbara Grutter, white female, was rejected from the University of Michigan’s Law
School by the schools president Bollinger. Grutter sued b/c discrimination protected
by the 14th Amendment and Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). She claimed that the
Law School used race as the “predominant” factor for admission.
Supreme Court Decision: Race cannot be the only factor. No Quotas.
SC Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote that it is ok to use race as a factor among
others for admission, which is the mission of Affirmative Action to diversify,
however; 25 years from now Affirmative Action may not be relevant and a more
“color blind” policy should be used.
This upheld the Bakke decision because it allows race to be considered as one
consideration but not as a quota.
7. Gratz v. Bollinger 2003
The University of Michigan undergraduate admission used a point system which
allowed race to admit students.
Supreme Court Decision: Race cannot be used as a quota.
The university’s policy was too rigid and essentially deemed a quota system. It was
found to be Unconstitutional