Civil Rights
The Fight for Equality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URxwe6LPvkM
Existing Amendments
• 1860’s:
– 13th – outlawed
slavery
– 14th – gave former
slaves citizens
– 15th – allowed all
MEN the right to
vote
Early Civil Rights Leaders
1890’s – 1920’s
• Booker T. Washington
– head of Tuskegee Institute (college for blacks)
– “Atlanta Exposition” – give blacks a chance to work, live
separately & they won’t ask for the right to vote
• W.E.B. Dubois
– NAACP
• Marcus Garvey
– Back-to-Africa Movement – redeem Africa for blacks & kick out
the Europeans
– Father of “Pan-Africanism” (across the globe unity of all
Africans)
Joe Louis vs. the German
1936
BRAVE Jesse Owens at
Munich Olympics 1936
Jim Crow Laws
• laws that enforced segregation
• 14th amendment applied ONLY to
government,
not private individuals & businesses
• stay in different hotels, sit in
separate
theater
sections, ride in separate railcars
• de facto segregation – practice of segregation
supported by custom & usage
Brown vs. Board of
Education
• U.S. Supreme Court Case
– NAACP (North Association for the Advancement
of Colored People) vs. Board of Education of
Topeka, KS
– Thurgood Marshall (NAACP Attorney) defended
Linda Brown & family
• Linda Brown bussed to “colored” school even though she
lived next to an all white school
– U.S. Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Earl
Warren, ruled that segregation in public schools
was illegal & overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson
– No longer SEPARATE but Equal
Little Rock
• the school board in Little Rock, AK
decided to integrate one high school &
select 9 outstanding black students,
Little Rock Nine
• many white residents tried to stop the
integration plan, supported by AK
Governor, Orval Faubus
– he called on the National Guard to prevent
Little Rock Nine from entering
• President Eisenhower sent federal troops
to enforce desegregation
• this was the beginning of desegregation
in ALL schools
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONJ9CUj6h-w
Montgomery Bus Boycott
• NAACP worked to desegregate public transportation in
Montgomery, AL
• whites sat in front, blacks sat in back or stood
• Campaign to get blacks to boycott city bus system
• Rosa Parks
– refused to give up her seat to a white person; she was arrested
• Martin Luther King – leader of campaign; this started
his popularity
the Montgomery Bus Boycott
(contd.)
• 70% of bus passengers, black 
city losing $$$
• carpool system to replace buses
• boycott lasted for months
• Supreme Court ruled segregated
busses illegal
• MLK was now an important
new leader to the black
community
Sit-ins
• demonstration in which protesters sit down in a location &
refuse to leave
• non-violent resistance
• Woolworth’s – a dept. store with a segregated lunch counter
- black students sat down at the “whites only” section
- waitress refused to serve them; sat there all day;
- next day more black students came
• soon because of media coverage, Woolworth integrated
lunch counter
• new type of protest spread
• SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) created
to organize these types of student events
the Freedom Rides
• Bus stations, outside of Alabama, still segregated
facilities (bathrooms, etc.)
• CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) organized
this to pressure the Supreme Court
• black & white students went to the opposite
facilities to protest
• white mobs attacked the busses (fire bombs,
clubs, etc.)
• CORE called off protest, SNCC picked it up
• Robert Kennedy (attorney general) eventually
sent in fed. marshals to protect the riders
• Kennedy fearing people’s deaths, banned
segregation in interstate bus terminals
Martin Luther King Jr.
• most famous leader of Civil
Rights & a Baptist minister who
practiced nonviolence
• most famous speech – “I Have a
Dream” Speech
– spoke of MLK’s desire for a future
where blacks & whites could
coexist harmoniously as equals
– speech given during the March on
Washington
• assassinated in 1968
“Violence… seeks to annihilate rather than convert…
nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon… which cuts
without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.”
Malcolm X
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO6Co8v2XjY
• a leader in the Nation of Islam
• argued that blacks should work for
social & economic independence rather
than integration = black separatism
• his thinking: blacks had the right to
protect themselves (“You hit me, I’ll hit
you back”)
• left Nation of Islam after visiting Mecca,
3 members then killed him
• inspired the Black Power movement
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6nVedUs4vs
Malcolm X
Martin Luther King Jr.
Protest Movement
• African Americans, Native Americans,
women, farm workers, Hispanic Americans
• resist by marches, sit-ins, picketing, etc.
Hispanic Americans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awP3yXv-4ng
• people from: Mexico, Puerto Rico,
Cuba, countries from Latin America,
& Caribbean islands
• encouraged by black civil rights
movement, started their own
• most famous leader – Cesar Chavez,
believed in nonviolence
• fought to improve economic
opportunities for Hispanics & migrant
farm workers
• inspired the Chicano movement
Women’s Movement
• focused on work place inequality (ex. salary &
fewer job opportunities)
• in response, Equal Pay Act – required employers
to pay the same for the same job
• the Feminine Mystique – by Betty Friedan,
attacked notion of women having to be
domesticated  helped launch the idea of the
modern women
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYQhRCs9IHM
American Indians
• sought to control their
original homelands &
their right to self-govern
• the “Red Power”
movement fought for
rights & properties back
from the U.S. govt.
Disabled People
• fought for the right of access – buildings &
opportunities
• drew public attention to problems facing
people with disabilities
• Success!
– outlawed discrimination
– required public schools to provide a quality
education to children with disabilities
Civil Rights Laws… SUCCESS!
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
– banning segregation in public facilities
– prohibited discrimination b y employers,
unions, or universities on the basis of
color, sex, religion, & national origin
• 24th Amendment
– prohibits use of poll tax (paying to vote)
for federal elections
Civil Rights Laws (contd.)
• Voting Act of 1965
– gave fed. govt. the power to inspect voter
registration procedures to protect black’s
rights
• Equal Rights Amendments
– makes it unlawful for employers to
discriminated between men & women in terms
of their pay & conditions where they are
doing the same or similar work
Results of Civil Rights
• busing – transporting
student to schools
outside their
neighborhoods to
achieve racial balance
• affirmative action –
practice of giving
special consideration
to non-whites or
women to make up
for past
discrimination
• Is this fair???
Assassinations during
Civil Rights
• John F. Kennedy – President; 1963; Dallas, TX;
shot in a motorcade; by Lee Harvey Oswald???
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icHXZg4QQ3Y
• Robert Kennedy – Presidential Candidate;
1968; L.A, CA.; shot during convention; by
Sirhan Sirhan
• MLK – Civil Rights activist; 1968; Memphis,
TN; shot outside his hotel; by James Earl Ray
• Malcolm X – Civil Rights activist; 1965; NY,
NY; shot after speech; by Nation of Islam
members
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE48ocSZEgY
SUMMARY
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL-4I18JFFU
• QUIZ TIME
• 1. What southern “laws” exemplified the
ruling of Plessy vs. Ferguson (separate
but equal)?
• 2. What Supreme Court case
overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson?
• 3. Which Civil Rights leader came on
the world stage during the Montgomery
Bus Boycott and demonstrated nonviolent protest for change?
• 4. Which Civil Rights leader also used
non-violence but was more focused on
wage rights for farm workers?
• 5. What law made it unlawful for
employers to discriminate based on
gender?