Chapter 21
Civil Rights
Reconstruction
• Reconstruction- Rebuilding the South after
the Civil War
–13th Amendment (1865) Abolished Slavery
–14th Amendment (1868) All persons born in
United States are Citizens, provides equal
protection and rights under the law
– 15th Amendment (1870) Gave African
Americans the Right to Vote
– Can’t discriminate based on race, color, or if a
previous slave
Voting
• Southern states imposed restrictions on
African Americans.
• Poll tax: A tax was to be paid before a person
could vote.
• A.A. could not afford to pay the taxes
(usually).
Literacy tests
• A.A. were given literacy tests at the poll.
• Tests were usually in a foreign language.
• If you could not pass the test, then you could
not vote.
• This kept a lot of A.A. from voting.
Grandfather Clause
• If a person could not pay the tax or pass the
literacy test, then the grandfather clause
would apply.
• “If your grandfather voted before January 1,
1867, then you could vote.”
• This kept A.A. from voting because they were
not allowed to vote yet in 1867.
Segregation
• Separated black and white people in
public places.
• Jim Crow laws: Laws which allowed
segregation in public places. (South)
• Term Jim Crow originated from a
minstrel show called “Jump Jim Crow”
(1830s and 1840s)
• Show was performed by a white
performer Thomas “Daddy” Rice
• Rice blackened his face with charcoal
and ridiculed black people
Segregation
• De facto segregation: exists by practice &
custom (choice)
• De jure segregation: segregation by law.
(difficult to fight this!)
Racism
• A.A. were not allowed to walk on the
sidewalks.
• A.A. were lynched if they did not follow laws
made only for them.
• A.A. moved to the North, but found
discrimination there too.
• Segregated neighborhoods and discrimination
at work in the North.
Discrimination out West
• Mexican workers were hired as cheap labor
for the R.R.
• Debt peonage: Mexican workers were forced
into a system that bound them as slaves in
order to work off debts to their bosses.
• Chinese were forced into segregated schools
and neighborhoods.
Segregation
• Jim Crow laws existed in the South since the 1800s.
• Black and white people didn’t shake hands
• Black people weren’t supposed look directly into the
eyes of white people
• Black people had to stare at the ground when speaking
with white people
• Black men removed hats in presence of white people.
White men never did this
• Black men weren’t supposed to look at or smile at
white women (Lynched if did)
• White customers were always served first even if a
black person was there first
• Black people has to use titles of respect (Sir, Mister,
Miss) when addressing white people
Segregation
• Jim Crow laws allowed
segregation in public
and private facilities. • Plessy v. Ferguson was
one of the first cases to
reach the Supreme
• Hospitals, schools,
Court about
parks, swimming pools, segregation.
houses, restaurants,
and transportation
• Homer A. Plessy was
systems were all
challenging
the
laws
in
segregated
his home state of
Louisiana.
Plessy v. Ferguson
• Plessy v. Ferguson: Supreme Court case which
made segregated, but equal facilities legal
(1896).
• Facilities in the South were not equal, but they
were separate.
Court Case
• He challenged the law
that requires races to
have separate cars.
• Homer Plessy was 1/8
African American.
• Louisiana argued that
the separate facilities
• In Louisiana, he was
were equal.
considered a black man.
• He was denied the right
to sit in the white
• The Supreme Court
passenger car section
agreed with Louisiana
on a train.
Case Con’t
• The Court said that
“separate but equal”
facilities were legal.
• Did not violate 14th
Amendment.
(Equal Protection under the
law)
• States were to maintain
separate but equal facilities.
• This decision allowed
segregation for over 60
years.
• The “separate” part was
enforced.
• The “equal” part was
not.
Ida B. Wells
• Ida B. Wells was forced onto
an all African American
railroad car.
• She refused and took the
company to court.
• She won, but lost when the
court was appealed.
• She was going to go to a
higher court, but the Plessy
case occurred, setting
precedence.
Section 1: Taking on Segregation
Early Cases
• Jim Crow laws existed in the South since the
1800s.
• Plessy v. Ferguson: Supreme Court case which
made segregated, but equal facilities legal
(1896).
• Facilities in the South were not equal, but they
were separate.
Start of Civil Rights Movement
• 1. WWII helped by letting African Americans
work in the factories when there were job
shortages.
• 2. 1 million African American men served
during WWII.
• 3. Roosevelt passed a law prohibiting racial
discrimination for those involved with the war.
Thurgood Marshall
• Lawyer who argued
cases before the
Supreme Court with the
NAACP.
• Was the first African
American Supreme
Court justice in 1967.
• Lawyer for the Brown v.
Board of Education of
Topeka court case.
• This case stated
segregation in schools
were unconstitutional.
Reaction to Case
• KKK showed up to protest.
• Little Rock, Arkansas: Protests
to African American students
attending Central High School.
• 9 African American students
volunteered to integrate the
school.
• Gov. Orval Faubus ordered the
National Guard to keep the 9
students out.
Little Rock (con’t)
• Federal judge ordered the
governor to let the
students in.
• NAACP members called 8
of the 9 students and
arranged rides to school.
• One student, Elizabeth
Eckford, did not have a
phone.
• She had to face an angry
mob outside of the school
• Seamstress and an NAACP
officer.
• Sat on the front of the bus
and refused to give up her
seat for a white man.
• Parks was arrested.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. was
asked to lead the bus
boycott in Montgomery.
• 1956: Supreme Court
outlawed bus segregation.
Rosa Parks
• Used nonviolent resistance.
• He used teachings from
Jesus, writer Thoreau, A.
Philip Randolph, and Gandhi.
• In 1957, he helped found the
Southern Christian
Leadership Conference
(SCLC).
• Group carried out nonviolent
crusades against segregation.
• Peaceful marches and
protests.
Martin Luther King
Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC)
• Ella Baker helped students at
universities start SNCC.
• A national protest group who
also protested peacefully.
• SNCC used the CORE as an
example.
• They staged sit-ins at diners
at the white only counters.
• Most would have food
poured over them, but would
not react- stayed
peaceful!!!!!
Emmett Till
(August 28, 1955)
• 14-year-old boy visited
his uncle.
• Mississippi
• Woman accused him of
flirting with her.
• 2 white men beat him
& shot him
• Mom had open casket
funeral.
Freedom Riders
• Activists who rode buses through the South to
challenge segregation.
• Buses were normally attacked by angry white
mobs.
• Members of SNCC rode buses, one of their
buses were firebombed.
• Kennedy made Federal Marshals protect the
Freedom Riders.
Freedom Riders’ Photo
Integrating “Ole Miss”
• JAMES MEREDITH: African
American Air Force
veteran who won a court
case to attend University
of Mississippi
• Gov. Ross Barnett refused
to let him in
• Kennedy sent federal
marshals to escort
Meredith into the college.
“Ole Miss” (con’t)
• Thousands of white
demonstrators showed
up.
• Riots broke out on
campus: 2 dead
• Thousands of soldiers
were sent to stop the
riot.
• Federal officers took
Meredith to classes &
protected his family.
Birmingham
• MLK, Jr. went to Birmingham to help
integrate the city.
• Known as the “most segregated city in
U.S.”
• King & others were arrested on Good
Friday (1963).
• Police commissioner “Bull” Connor
arrested 959 of King’s demonstrators.
Birmingham
• May 3, a children’s crusade began.
• Police put high-pressured fire hoses &
attack dogs on them.
• Clubbed those who fell to the ground.
• TV cameras showed the children
screaming to millions of viewers.
• Kennedy wanted to pass a civil rights act.
Photos at Birmingham
Kennedy
• Sent troops to force
Gov. Wallace to
desegregate the
University of Alabama.
• After Kennedy made a
speech, that night
Medgar Evers was killed
by a sniper in his own
driveway
March on Washington
• King marched on
Washington, D.C. with
250,000 people. Gave
his “I HAVE A DREAM”
speech.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
• 4 girls were killed when a bomb blew up
their church.
• Two months after Kennedy was
assassinated, Johnson signed the Civil
Rights Act of 1964.
• Could not discriminate b/c of race,
religion, national origin, & gender.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Law that made it easier for African
Americans to register to vote by
eliminating literacy tests & having federal
examiners to enroll voters denied at the
local level.
Urban Violence
• New York City riots: July 1964.
• Riots in L.A.: August 1965
• 34 people died
• 1967: 100 riots took place in U.S.
Malcolm X
May 19, 1925 Malcolm Little is born in
Omaha, NE.
1946 Malcolm is sentenced to 8-10
years for armed robbery; serves 6 ½
years at Charlestown, MA State
Prison.
1948-49 Converts to the Nation of
Islam while in prison.
1953 Changes name from Malcolm
Little to Malcolm X and becomes
Assistant Minister of Nation of
Islam's Detroit Temple.
1954 Promoted to Minister of Nation of
Islam's New York Temple.
"I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don't believe in brotherhood with anybody
who doesn't want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I'm not going to
waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn't know how to return the treatment."
-- Speech, Dec. 12 1964, New York City
• Islamic minister who
thought that blacks
should separate.
• NATION OF ISLAM:
Black Muslims
• African Americans
should arm & defend
themselves.
Ballots or Bullets
• Malcolm X traveled to
Mecca.
• He said that people
should use ballots, not
bullets to voice
opinions.
• Malcolm thought he
was in danger
• Assassinated on
February 21, 1965.
• Shot & killed (N.Y.)
• Stokely Carmichael:
leader of SNCC, became
militant.
• Sang “We shall overrun.”
• BLACK POWER: slogan for
African Americans to
show their pride for their
race.
Black Power!
Black Panthers
• Political Party
• Fight police brutality
in ghetto
• Wanted full
employment &
decent housing.
• Black youths should
not serve in
Vietnam.
Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali
• "No, I am not going 10,000 miles
to help murder kill and burn other
people to simply help continue the
domination of white slavemasters
over dark people the world over.
This is the day and age when such
evil injustice must come to an
end."
—Muhammad Ali
• Source: "Muhammad Ali — The
Measure of a Man." (Spring 1967).
Freedomways, 7(2), 101-102.
King’s Assassination
• King sensed that he was
going to die
• King was assassinated on
April 4, 1968 in Memphis,
TN.
• Riots happened in African
American communities.
• Robert Kennedy pleaded
for people not to riot,
would not be what King
would want.
• KERNER COMMISSION:
Johnson wanted people
to study urban violence.
Main cause: white
racism
• CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF
1968: ended
discrimination in
housing.
• Strengthened Antilynching laws
Legacy
Robert Kennedy
• Assassinated on June 5,
1968
• Potential Democratic
Candidate for President
• Favored Civil Rights
Affirmative Action
• A policy that seeks to
correct the effects of
past discrimination
by favoring the
groups who were
previously
disadvantaged