Chapter 28 – The Civil Rights Era
(1954 – 1974)
Section One – The Civil Rights Movement
Equality in Education
 African Americans had suffered racial discrimination
since colonial times
 By the mid 1900s, Blacks began to push for racial
equality in housing, jobs, and education and to end
segregation
 Segregation – separation of people of different races
Push for Equal Rights
 Black soldiers returned home from war having fought
the Nazis who taught discrimination was the way to go
 Hoped the citizens of the US would appreciate loyalty
and sacrifice
 Change comes slower than many blacks had hoped for
 Marches, discussions and public protests begin to
raise the issues of the civil rights movement
 NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of
Colored Peoples) – founded in 1909, this group
searched for cases in the 1950s they could use to
challenge segregation in public schools
Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
 Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) – ruled “separate but equal”
facilities were legal
 Thurgood Marshall – Chief lawyer of the NAACP who
seeks to challenge Plessy v. Ferguson in court
 Linda Brown – 7 year old African American girl forced
to walk a long and dangerous route to school rather
than go to a “white” school a couple blocks from her
house
 The Brown family had sued and lost. NAACP appeals the
case to the Supreme Court
 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (May 17,
1954) – Supreme Court rules unanimously that
segregation in public schools unconstitutional,
reversing the Plessy v. Ferguson case.
Integrating the Schools
 Decision only applied to public schools, but people
began to ask, “Why stop there?”


Brown v. Board angered white Southerners, who began to
more aggressively defend segregation
Integration of schools was to occur in schools “with
all deliberate speed” – this created a problem because
of no set time
Confrontation in Little Rock
 Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas was to be
integrated in 1957.
 Governor Orval Faubus opposed integration and called
the National Guard to stop blacks from entering the
school.
 Little Rock Nine – nine black students registered to
attend in September, but met strong white resistance
 States Rights – for the first time since the Civil
War, a state defied the federal government – cannot do
this.
 Eisenhower sends hundreds of troops to protect the
Little Rock Nine
Montgomery Bus Boycott
 Rosa Parks – a member of the NAACP, Parks refused to
give up a seat on a bus on December 1, 1955 and fined
$10.
 Boycott – refusal to buy or use a product or service
 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King – an unknown, Baptist
preacher, King calls for blacks to boycott the buses.
 Very effective and lasts over a year until Supreme
Court bans segregated busing.
Nonviolent Protest
 Civil disobedience – refusal to obey unfair laws.
Taught by Gandhi in its fight against Great Britain
for Indian freedom
 Dr. King and others urged members of the Civil Rights
Movement to refuse violence no matter what happened to
them.
 Very effective as people watch white attack protesters
on television who are doing nothing.
Section Two – Kennedy and Johnson
A New President
 Election of 1960 –Dem. John F. Kennedy defeats Rep.
candidate Richard Nixon


Televised debates probably gave JFK the win as he
looked young and healthy (make-up) vs. Nixon
(recovering from illness and sweaty under lights)
Kennedy’s Inaugural – “Ask not what your country can
do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
Kennedy’s Domestic Policies
 New Frontier – more federal aid for education and the
poor
 Supported Civil Rights but didn’t get anything passed
(inexperienced leader)
Kennedy Assassinated
 November 22, 1963 – JFK in a parade with wife,
Jacqueline when shots rang out.
 JFK was killed and Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson
became president
 Lee Harvey Oswald accused of the murder, but shot
before a trial could be held.
The Great Society
 Lyndon B. Johnson wanted to do several things
o Reduce poverty
o Promote equality
o Rebuild decaying cities
 LBJ was an excellent politician who was in Congress
for 22 years and knew how to get things passed in
Congress – quietly and behind-the-scenes
 Medicare (1965) – established a health insurance
program for the elderly paid for through Social
Security
 Medicaid (1965) – provides health and medical
assistance to low income families
 Johnson was a southerner but supported civil rights
for all Americans
 Civil Rights Act of 1964 –
o Banned discrimination in employment, voting, and
public places
o Not only banned racial discrimination, but
gender, religious, and national origin
Section Three – The Struggle Continues
The Movement Grows


Sit-ins – the act of protesting by sitting down. Sitins were used across the country to protest
restaurants and other places that required segregation
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) –
students who took part in many protests including sitins. One of its leaders was John Lewis, now a
Congressman from Georgia.
Freedom Rides
 Black and white students decided to ride two buses in
the south to see if bus desegregation was being
enforced in 1961.
 Freedom Riders met violence in Alabama as they
challenged local Jim Crow laws.
 Television and newspapers showed violence against them
and many people in the US were sickened to see young
people being attacked
 Interstate Commerce Commission begins to enforce the
Supreme Court’s bans on segregated interstate buses
and bus stations
Integrating Universities
 James Meredith – Black student who wanted to enroll in
the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss).
 Governor of Mississippi Ross Barnett keeps Meredith
out
 President Kennedy sends federal marshals to help
Meredith and violence breaks out – two killed
 Meredith registers and graduates in 1963 (troops
remained with him for protection)
Birmingham
 Spring of 1963 – Dr. Martin Luther King targets
Birmingham, Alabama for desegregation protest.
 Civil disobedience - Hundreds, including King and many
children, arrested. Those arrested took this as a
sense of pride – not willing to follow unfair laws.
 King writes “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” while in
prison for two weeks
 Police use fire hoses and attack dogs to stop
demonstrations
 Television captures the images of children being
attacked by police and angry mobs and creates sympathy
for protesters
 Kennedy sends 3000 troops to restore peace

Medgar Evers – an NAACP official, he was murdered on
June 11, 1963.
March on Washington
 August 28, 1963 – 200,000 people meet at the Lincoln
Memorial to hear speeches by King and others
 People of all colors from all over the country come
 No trouble and very peaceful, joyous crowd
 People carried signs, sung songs, and pushed the idea
o peace and equality
 “We Shall Overcome” – the anthem of the Civil Rights
Movement
 King delivers the “I Have a Dream Speech”
Freedom Summer (1964)
 President Lyndon B. Johnson passes the Civil Rights
Act of 1964
 Civil Rights Act of 1964
o Outlaws discrimination in hiring
o Ended segregation in stores, restaurants,
theaters, and hotels
 Civil rights workers spread through the south to help
blacks register to vote
 Many states still have poll taxes and other ways to
stop blacks from voting
The Right to Vote
 In 1965, SNCC organizes a demonstration in Selma,
Alabama to protest denial of blacks’ right to vote
 John Lewis and about 60 others decide to march from
Selma to Montgomery, AL to protest
 Bloody Sunday (March 9, 1965) - After crossing the
Edmund Pettis Bridge, the group was met the Alabama
State Police who chased them back using tear gas and
nightsticks
 President Johnson steps in and in a televised speech,
told America “We shall overcome,” and urged the
Congress to pass a voting rights bill
 Voting Rights Act of 1965 – Federal government can
force local officials to allow African Americans the
right to vote. Leads to great changes.
 1966 – 100 blacks hold elected offices in Southern
states
 By 1972, there were 1000 blacks in elected offices
Other Voices
 Malcom X – sought separation an independence for
blacks at first. By 1965, however, he began to see
that integration could work and was killed by his
former followers
 Black Power – philosophy of racial pride that said
blacks should create own culture and political
institutions. Very radical and popular among poor
urban neighborhoods but rejected by larger groups such
as the NAACP. Stokley Carmichael was main advocate.
 Black Panthers – Young radicals led by Eldrige Cleaver
who demanded reforms and armed themselves. Had
several violent clashes with police.
Violence Erupts
 Watts Riot – Summer, 1965 – In Los Angeles, 34 killed
in one week of rioting
 Several others follow in 1965 – 1967.
Dr. King Assassinated
 April 4, 1968 – Martin Luther King shot and killed in
Memphis, Tennessee
 Sets off riots in 100 cities
Section 4 – Other Groups Seek Rights
Women’s Rights
 National Organization for Women (NOW) – started in
1966, NOW fought for equal rights for women in jobs,
education, and marriage
 Title IX (1971) – says that schools must provide an
equal number of sports and activities for women and
men. Dramatically increases the number of women
participating in sports and breaks down traditional
female roles.
 Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) – the proposed amendment
stated that men and women would be equal in all
aspects of life. Not enough states ratified it
 The ERA push allowed for more job opportunities, and
promotions for women
 Sandra Day O’Connor – first female Justice to Supreme
Court when nominated by Ronald Reagan in 1981
Farmworkers Organize




By 2005, 21 million Mexican Americans were living in
the US.
Migrant farmers, many of whom are Mexican Americans,
had few rights and little money. They traveled from
job to job working long hours
Cesar Chavez – head of the United Farm Workers (UFW)
union in the early 1960s
The UFW used strikes and boycotts to increase wages
and gain shorter working hours
Native Americans
 Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 – protects the
constitutional rights of Native Americans and allows
Native Americans to make own laws on reservations
Americans with Disabilities
 Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975) –
children with disabilities have the right to an equal
education. Schools must provide special services to
meet needs. Allows handicapped to be educated and
pursue better lives than would have otherwise been
possible