14-2 The Movement Gains
Ground
Student Activists Make a Difference
•
•
•
Change was slow
Young African Americans became more determined.
Sit-ins challenged segregation
a form of protest where participants sit and refuse to move
4 African American college students ordered doughnuts and coffee at a
Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960 and were
refused.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbbcjn4d1cE
Sit-ins occur across the nation
Rather
than
serve
African
Americans, this Walgreen's lunchcounter closes "in the interests of
public safety." Other cafes and
lunch- counters call the cops to
arrest Blacks for the crime of
ordering a cup of coffee in defiance
of the segregation laws.
In Harlem and many other
northern communities,
Movement supporters picket
Woolworths and other chain
stores to support the
southern sit-ins.
Other forms of protest
Wade-ins at public beaches
Read-ins at libraries
Activists carried picket signs
Wrote letters to newspapers
Wrote letters to government officials
SNCC PROMOTES NON VIOLENT PROTEST
Ella Baker forms the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Goal: create a new movement that involved all classes of African Americans to
defeat racism.
Freedom Ride
• What do you think it means?
• Predict how freedom rides might
encourage the federal government to
address the Civil Rights issues?
Riding for Freedom
Interstate = between states
Travel between the states regulated by THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!
Activists are testing the fed’s willingness to enforce the law
Previously - Boynton v. Virgina (Supreme Court rules segregation on interstate
buses illegal)
CORE stages a “freedom ride” through the south.
2 separate buses from Washington D.C. to New Orleans.
En route they defied segregation codes
http://www.pbs.org/w
gbh/americanexperie
nce/freedomriders/
Why do you think they picked this route?
Freedom Riders Face Angry Mobs
• Pro-segregationists firebombed
one bus.
• When the second bus arrives a
white mob attacked the riders.
President Kennedy Takes Action to
stop the violence
• Police & state troopers agree to protect the
riders.
• Federal Transportation Commission
mandates desegregation of interstate
transportation. *goal
• No intervention when Mississippi arrests
the riders for disturbing the peace.
Checkpoint
•
What did the freedom rides accomplish?
-Desegregation of interstate transportation
-Showed intimidation would not stop
activists
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyeson
theprize/resources/vid/05_video_riders
_ra.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyeso
ntheprize/story/05_riders.html
Protest & Confrontations Intensify
•
Protesters put pressure on the federal
government to end legal segregation. (de jure)
•
NAACP supports James Meredith in enrolling in
University of Mississippi. Ole Miss ordered by
federal government to desegregate with the help
of Medgar Evans
•
Stand off between governor and the federal
government.
•
A riot erupts – federal marshals battle white
protestors
•
160 injured and 2 dead
Kennedy Addresses the Nation
American’s are free . . . To disagree with the law but
not to disobey it. For any government of laws . . . ,
no man, however prominent & powerful . . . Is
entitled to defy a court of law.”
King Campaigns in Birmingham
•
•
•
•
Birmingham = most segregated city in the south
King is jailed and then released
Demonstrations increase
Children join “freedom marches”
Video – Children’s March
•
Americans are shocked and call on President to react.
Kennedy Back Civil Rights
• Declared that the nation had an obligation to
“fulfill its promise” of giving all Americans “equal
rights and equal opportunities.”
• Sends to Congress a proposal for Civil Rights
legislation
The Century – Poisoned Dreams
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBa26peu
g8I 1 of 3
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4l9RDib3
IE&feature=watch_response 2 of 3
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNvjbVP3
1D0 3 of 3
Checkpoint
How did Meredith & King prompt Kennedy to
promote civil rights?
Kennedy saw the violence after Meredith and insist
laws be obeyed.
King’s letter from jail persuaded Kennedy to send
legislation to Congress
14-2 March on
Washington
•
Pressure on Congress to pass civil rights bills.
•
NAACP, SCLC, SNCC, labor unions, and
religious groups.
•
250,000 demonstrators
•
VERY PEACEFUL
•
Largest demonstration in D.C. ever
•
TV Coverage
Who?
The "Big Six" organizers were
James Farmer, of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
Martin Luther King, Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC)
John Lewis, of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
A. Philip Randolph, of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters;
Roy Wilkins, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP)
Whitney Young, Jr., of the National Urban League.
What?
• The stated demands of the march were
– the passage of meaningful civil rights legislation
– the elimination of racial segregation in public schools
– protection for demonstrators against police brutality
– a major public-works program to provide jobs
– the passage of a law prohibiting racial discrimination in public and
private hiring
– $2 an hour minimum wage
– self-government for the District of Columbia, which had a black
majority.
1. Rally at the Washington
Monument
2. Marched along the mile-long
area of the National Mall
towards the Lincoln Memorial.
3. Three-hour program -National
Anthem; remarks from A. Philip Randolph,
Mrs. Medgar Evers, Rabbi Uri Miller, and
Roy Wilkins, speech by Martin Luther King
Jr.
4. Following the march and program, the
day’s scheduled activities ended in a
meeting between the leaders of the
march and President Kennedy at the
White House
Calling for a peaceful, selfdisciplined gathering, the organizers
asked participants “to resist
provocations to disorder and
violence” so that “no one in our
own ranks, however, enthusiastic,
shall be the spark for disorder.” The
back of the program also included a
listing of the demands being sought
as a result of the demonstration.
King delivers speech
“I Have a Dream”
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3992238n
Check Point
Why was the March on Washington a good place to demonstrate?
Washington is the site of the US government which has the
power to pass new laws to protect the rights of African
Americans
What is considered the highlight of the march?
The “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr.
Exit Out - WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE? What are the pros
and cons of each?
Picketing
Marches
Peaceful
Protest
Sit-ins
Letters to
government
Read-ins
Letters to
newspaper