The Civil Rights Movement
There were two phases to the Civil
Rights movement: one phase between
1945-1965 and the other after 1965.
I. Why Did the Civil Rights
Movement Take Off After 1945?
• Black equality became a significant political issue
for the Democratic Party
• WWII had been fought against racism abroad—
hard to keep harboring it at home
• Black veterans came home dedicated to change
• Increasing number of White Americans
condemned segregation
• Discrimination in the United States hurt our
propaganda battle against the Communists
II. The Truman Years
• No significant Civil
Rights congressional
legislation
• Truman moves on his own
to do what he can for Civil
Rights
--Desegregation of the
military (1948)
• Jackie Robinson’s
breakthrough (1947)
Plessy vs. Ferguson 1896
• Louisiana Separate Car Act
• Supreme court voted 8-1 in support of the
Louisiana law.
• Weren’t convinced it violated the 13th or
14th amendment.
– 13th – Political equality vs. Social equality
– 14th – law doesn’t treat African-Americans
differently because whites can’t ride on nonwhite cars.
• Becomes law of the land until 1954.
III. The Battle in the Courts
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
-- “separate but equal”
facilities = legal
• Smith v. Allwright (1944)
• First attack = “separate is
not equal”
• Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka,
Kansas (1954)
-- Chief Justice Earl
Warren
III. Battle in the Courts (cont.)
• Eisenhower disapproves
of Brown decision
• Desegregation “with all
deliberate speed”
• Other Warren Court Civil
Rights decisions
• Popular opposition to the
Brown decision
• No real progress on
desegregation at first
IV. The Eisenhower Years
• Eisenhower’s philosophy
related to Civil Rights
laws – Hard to change
people.
• First Civil Rights Acts
passed since the Civil War
(1957 (Vote) and 1960)
• Opposition to the
integration of Little Rock
Central High School
(1957) National guard
--Governor Orville Faubus
States rights
V. Out of the Schools and Into
the Buses
• The arrest of Rosa Parks
(December, 1955)
• The Montgomery, Ala.
Bus Boycott
• The leadership of Martin
Luther King, Jr.
• The “Montgomery” model
for Civil Rights activism:
boycott, publicity, courts
• SCLC formed (1957)
VI. A Mass Movement Takes
Shape
• Lunch counter “sit-ins”
begin: Greensboro, NC
(February, 1960)
• SNCC created (April,
1960, John Lewis)
• CORE “Freedom Ride”
(May, 1961)
• Non-violence(Gandhi)
• Direct Action
VI. A Mass Movement Takes
Shape (cont.)
• Demonstrations in
Birmingham, Alabama
(April, 1963)
--Eugene “Bull” Connor
• “Letter from Birmingham
City Jail”
• Governor George Wallace
tries to block integration
of the University of
Alabama (Fall, 1963)
VI. A Mass Movement Takes
Shape (cont.)
• JFK finally begins to
campaign for Civil Rights
legislation
• Continued violence even
in the face of some
progress
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
and the March on
Washington (August,
1963)
-- “I Have a Dream”
VI. A Mass Movement Takes
Shape (cont.)
• Mississippi Freedom
Summer Project (1964)
• MFDP Protests at the
1964 Democratic
convention
• Voter registration in
Selma, Alabama (1965)
--Sheriff Jim Clark
• By the mid-1960’s,
substantial success in the
South had been achieved
VII. The Kennedy and Johnson
Years
• JFK’s initial reluctance to
push for Civil Rights laws
• The integration of Ole’
Miss (1962)
--James Meredith
• JFK finally decides to
push past better
enforcement to new
congressional Civil Rights
legislation
VII. The Johnson Years (cont.)
• The role of Kennedy’s
assassination in the Civil
Rights movement
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Anti-poll tax Amendment
(24th—1964)
• Voting Rights Act (1965)
• Impact of the Voting
Rights Act
VII. The Johnson Years (cont.)
• The tone of public
political discourse
changed after 1965
• Johnson appoints first
Black cabinet secretary:
Robert Weaver of HUD
(1966)
• Much more needed to be
done for Civil Rights
outside of the South, so
2nd phase began
VIII. The Era of
Disillusionment: 1965 On
• Early to mid-1960’s
were a hopeful time
for Civil Rights
advocates
• Goal of Assimilation
• A “Spoiled Utopia”
after 1965—things
would not be that
simple
A. New Problems
• Residential Discrimination
-- “Red Lining”
• The Challenges of School
integration in the North
• The historical, traditional
segregation of northern
cities
• The resurrection of the
KKK once again
• More effective White
opponents in the North
B. Race Riots
• Watts Riots in Los
Angeles (Summer, 1965)
• Riots each summer from
1965-1969
--Chicago and Cleveland
(1966)
--Newark and Detroit
(1967)
--Washington, D.C.
(1968)
B. Race Riots (cont.)
• Riots as an expression of
grievance against the
White American consumer
society
• Riots shocked the White
American public
• Frustration and selfdestruction expressed in
these riots
• Unlike earlier race riots,
these riots were not started
by White mobs
C. “Black Power”
• Growing tension
between SNCC and
Martin Luther King,
Jr.
--Stokely Carmichael
• “Black Power”
• Carmichael succeeded
by H. Rap Brown as
head of SNCC (1967)
C. “Black Power” (cont.)
• The formation of the
Black Panther Party in
Oakland, CA (1966)
--Huey Newton
--Eldridge Cleaver
C. “Black Power” (cont.)
• The leadership of
Malcolm X
--Black Muslims
--Assassinated in 1965
• Cultural expressions of
“Black Power”:
--Afro Hairstyles
--Black-studies programs
-- “Negro” no longer used
--1968 Olympics
D. Decline of the Civil Rights
Movement
• Economic contraction
works against Civil Rights
concessions
• Northern phase not as
successful
• Resistance from White
Unions
• Vietnam replaces Civil
Rights as the liberal
crusade
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
loses influence with LBJ