IV. Demand for Civil Rights
A.
•
•
The Struggle for Equality
After WWII the campaign for civil rights began to
accelerate
Truman’s Actions
Truman publically supported civil rights for many
years, despite being raised in the South
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
• Sept. 1946: Truman tried to persuade Congress to
abolish the poll tax, pass an anti-lynching law, and to
establish a board to prevent discriminatory practices
in hiring
-Congress refused to address any of these issues
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
• July 1948: Truman banned discrimination in the
hiring of federal employees and ordered the
integration of the armed forces
-change came slowly however – the armed forces
weren’t integrated until 1950
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
Jackie Robinson
• For many years, major league baseball had refused to
allow African Americans to participate, forcing them
to play in the separate Negro Leagues
• 1945: Brooklyn Dodger general manager Branch
Richey decided to challenge the ban
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
• Richey chose Jackie Robinson to break the color
barrier
-He had earned letters in football, basketball,
baseball, and track while attending UCLA
• Before signing him up, Richey attempted to
discourage Robinson though insults and threatening
violence when he called Robinson into his office
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
-Robinson replied, “Mr. Richey, do you want a
ballplayer who’s afraid to fight back?”
-Richey answered, “I want a player with guts enough
not to fight back.”
• 1947: Robinson joined the Dodgers, becoming the
first African American to play in the major leagues
• Despite threats and racial slurs, Robinson acted with
dignity and even won the Rookie of the Year award
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
• Robinson paved the way for other African Americans
to play professionally in other sports
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
B. Brown vs. Board of Education
• Probably the greatest civil rights victory in the early
postwar period took place in the courts
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) held that segregation of
the races was constitutional as long as facilities
were equal – “separate but equal”
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
• 1951: Oliver Brown sued the Topeka, Kansas, Board
of Education to allow his 8-year-old daughter Linda
to attend a school that only white children were
allowed to attend
-She passed the school on her way to the bus that
took her to a distant school for African Americans
• After appeals, the case reached the US Supreme
Court where lawyer Thurgood Marshall argued on
behalf of Brown and against segregation in American
schools
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
• May 17, 1954: The Supreme Court issued its historic
ruling by declaring that “separate facilities are
inherently unequal”
• President Eisenhower, who privately disagreed with
the ruling, said “the Supreme Court has spoken and I
am sworn to uphold the constitutional processes in
this country; I will obey.”
• 1955: The Court ruled that local school boards
should move to desegregate “with all deliberate
speed”
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
C. The Montgomery Bus Boycott
• 1955: The nation’s attention shifted from the
courts to the streets of Montgomery, AL
• Dec. 1955: Rosa Parks took a seat in the middle
section of a bus, where both African Americans and
whites were usually allowed to sit
• When a white man got on the bus and had no
where to sit, the driver order Parks to give up her
seat
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
• She refused and was arrested at the next stop
• Civil rights leaders in Montgomery quickly met and
decided to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott
-Called for African Americans to refuse to use the
entire bus system until the company agreed to
change its segregation policy
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
• Martin Luther King, Jr., the 26-year-old minister at
the church where the initial meeting took place,
became the spokesperson for the protest
-“There comes a time when people get tired…tired of
being segregated and humiliated, tired of being
kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression. We
have no alternative but to protest.”
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
• Over the next year, 50,000 African Americans in
Montgomery walked, rode bicycles, or joined car
pools to avoid the city buses
• Despite losing money, the company refused to
change its policies
• The Supreme Court finally ruled that bus segregation,
like school segregation, was unconstitutional
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
• The bus boycott produced a new generation of
leaders in the African American community,
particularly King
• It also introduced non-violent protest as a means of
achieving equality
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
D. Resistance in Little Rock
• The Brown decision and the Montgomery protest
caused many white southerners to react with fear
and angry resistance
• The worst confrontation came at Central High
School in Little Rock, Arkansas
• 1957: Governor Orval Faubus declared that he
could not keep order if he had to enforce
integration, or the bringing together of different
races
IV. Demand for Civil Rights
• Faubus posted National Guard troops at the school
who turned away nine African American students
-His actions was a direct challenge to the
Constitution and the ruling of the courts
• Eisenhower acted by placing the National Guard
under federal command to protect the nine students
• Military presence continued during the whole school
year
I. Life in the 1960s:
• Civil Rights Movement (1945-1970) – Major Events:
-1955 – Emmett Till Case
-1955-1956 – Montgomery Bus Boycott
-1957 – Little Rock public schools
I. Life in the 1960s:
• 1960 – Sit-in Movement begins – Feb. 1, 1960, 4
college students from Greensboro, NC went into a
Woolworth’s store and sat down at the “whites only”
lunch counter and ordered coffee – the waitress
refused to serve them – the students stayed seated
in silent protest until the store closed – the next day
several more students joined them – even more
came the following day – the movement spread
throughout the South
I. Life in the 1960s:
• 1961 - Freedom Rides begin – boarded buses that
would take them across the South - the freedom
riders wanted to end segregation on buses and trains
– many were beaten and some even killed by angry
whites – in Sept. 1961 the Interstate Commerce
Commission (ICC) outlawed segregation in interstate
travel
I. Life in the 1960s:
• 1963 – Violence in Mississippi - Medgar Evers, a civil
rights leader who helped integrate the University of
Mississippi (James Meredith was the first AfricanAm. to be admitted), was shot and killed in his
driveway
• 1963 – Struggle in Birmingham, Alabama – one of
the most segregated cities in America – Alabama
Governor George Wallace said, “I say segregation
now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” –
police used fire hoses, dogs, and electric cattle prods
to break up the demonstrations
I. Life in the 1960s:
• 1963 – March on Washington – JFK had proposed a
strong civil rights bill – 250,000 gathered in Wash.
D.C. to rally support for the bill – Martin Luther King,
Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech
• 1965 – Selma March – voting rights were being
denied in Selma, AL – a 30 mile march was held from
Selma to the state capital of Montgomery in protest
– Alabama State Police met the marchers at the edge
of town and fired tear gas into the crowd
I. Life in the 1960s:
• 1965 – Watts Riot – a ghetto in LA – riot started
when a white police officer arrested an AfricanAmerican driver on charges of reckless driving – led
to 5 days of violence – 34 people died
I. Life in the 1960s:
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
-born and raised in Atlanta, GA
-from a middle class family – his father was also a
preacher
-entered college at the age of 15
-based his non-violent method of protest on the
teachings of Mohandas Ghandi (leader of India’s
revolt against England)
-this strategy was designed to provoke violent
responses from racist whites that would be covered
by the media -…
I. Life in the 1960s:
…hoped the media images would bring outraged
responses from all Americans – in turn, this would
put pressure on the federal gov’t to intervene and
protect the civil rights of African-American citizens
-assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, TN (1968)
– riots erupted in 60 cities across the country – 37
died
I. Life in the 1960s:
• Malcolm X
-born Malcolm Little in Omaha, NE
-father was killed by whites when he was a child
-ran away to Harlem and was arrested for burglary
-while in jail he learned of the Black Muslim movement and
its leader Elijah Muhammad
-joined the Black Muslims after his release from jail and
soon became their spokesperson
-believed that African-Americans should separate
themselves from whites – opposed integration
I. Life in the 1960s: