CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Unit 10
“That all men are created equal…”
REBELLION & REFORM IN THE 1960S
The Civil Rights Movement aka “The Mother” Movement
NAACP (W.E.B. DuBois, 1910)
A. Phillip Randolph & “The Double V Campaign”
Brown v. Board of Education 1954
SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership
Conference)
& Martin Luther King, 1957
Rosa Parks &Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)
SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee (1960)
Woolworth Sit-Ins (1960)
March on Washington (1963)
Freedom Summer (1964)
Goodman, Schwerner & Chaney
Civil Rights Act (1964)
Voting Rights Act (1965)
AIM – American Indian Movement
(1968)
Standoff at Wounded Knee (1973)
STUDENT POWER
Free Speech Movement, Berkeley (1964)
SDS Students for a Democratic Society
Port Huron Statement
BLACK POWER
Stokley Carmichael & Black Panthers
Black Nationalism
Malcolm X
THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT
Betty Freidan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963)
JFK’s Commission on the Status of Women
(1961)
NOW (National Organization for Women) (1966)
ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT
Mobilization to End the War
500,000 in DC (1969)
Title 7 of Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination
based on race and sex
Chicano Movements
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC)
La Raza Unida (Mexican-Americans United)
Radical Feminism
THE PRESIDENCY OF LBJ
 Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency
after the death of President Kennedy and
continued Kennedy’s reforms which
included improving the nations goods,
tax cuts, civil rights legislation and a
‘war on poverty’.
 LBJ’s “Great Society” propelled to
victory in the 1964 election and gave
birth to the Job Corps and the Head Start
Preschool program which are both active
today.
 By 1966 the country’s attention had
shifted to the war in Vietnam and LBJ’s
important domestic work would be
overshadowed by the Vietnam War.
Tinker v. Des
Moines
Story: High School students wore black
armbands to protest fighting in Vietnam
War
Today: Protests are a right of under the
1st amendment. However, if it’s causing
harm to others, you can’t just say and do
whatever you want…
FIGHTS AGAINST SCHOOL SEGREGATION
 Review: In Plessy v Ferguson, the Supreme Court upheld
the legality of Jim Crow laws and other forms of racial
discrimination
 Ground Breaking: Sweatt v. Painter (1946): Heman
Sweatt (a black man) applied for admission to the Texas
Law School but, rejected because of his race (separate but
equal), but the school they would create for blacks was
found to “unequal”
 Mendez v. Westminster (1946) ruled that the segregation of
Mexican and Mexican Americans into special schools only
for Hispanic children was unconstitutional.
 In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka the Supreme
court ruled that segregated schools (separate, but equal)
were illegal. Note: This case overturned Plessy v.
Ferguson.
 Thurgood Marshall was the lawyer for both court cases
and represented the NAACP
RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN 1964
 In 1964, Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, entered the
presidential primary
 He would run four dif ferent times, he was a fierce pro segregationist
 He symbolically blocked the University of Alabama doors
during the desegregation of the University ( 1963)
JOHNSON RE-ELECTED
Johnson won the election of 1964 in a
landslide taking 61% of the popular vote.
Johnson quickly began to make reforms in
health care, education and urban renewal.
Head start and upward bound fosters improved
development of young children from low income
families
The Federal Housing Authority improved housing
standards and conditions; insurance of mortgages
SUPREME COURT UNDER
WARREN
The Supreme court of the 1960’s followed
LBJ’s reforms and became known as the
Warren Court after Chief Justice Earl Warren
In Reynolds v. Sims the Court declared that
voting districts must be drawn in such a way
that each vote counts equally.
In Gideon v. Wainwright , all accused people
had the right to a lawyer and in Miranda v.
Arizona accused had to be read their rights.
HISPANIC RIGHTS AND THE SUPREME COURT
Delgado v. Bastrop (1948) made it illegal to separate
Hispanic children within schools because of their
ethnicity, but it did allow for separate classes based
on language deficiency which schools often used to
continue segregation
Hernandez v. Texas (1954) ruled that the 14 th
Amendment should apply to Mexican Americans and
all ethnic groups and juries should represent various
These court cases were the foundation for
ethnicities and genders.
Brown v Board of Education and desegregation
in general
Mexican school class photograph, Cotulla, Texas,
1928. The young teacher in the center is future
U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
NOTES #2
 Explain the significance of the Martin Luther King Jr.’s
assassination (US2D)
 Describe the roles of political organizations that promoted
civil rights (US9B)
 Identify the roles of significant leaders who supported various
rights movements (US9C)
 Describe the role of individuals such as governors George
Wallace, Orval Faubus, and Lester Maddox (US9G)
 Describe how litigation such as the landmark cases play a role
in protecting the rights of minorities during the civil rights
movement (US9G)
 Identify and analyze methods of expanding the right to
participate in the democratic process (US23A)
DECLINE OF THE GREAT SOCIET Y
Congress passed 181 out of 200 bills that LBJ
proposed, but some saw his programs as
wasteful and unnecessary.
In 1966 Republicans increased their numbers
in Congress and it soon became more difficult
for Johnson to pass new legislation.
By 1966 the country’s attention had shifted to
a new war in Vietnam, and the government
began to focus money and attention on
foreign policy more than domestic problems.
RACISM IN THE SOUTH
 Orval Faubus, Governor of Arkansas,
(1955-1967) best known for his
stand in the desegregation of Little
Rock High School
 He ordered Arkansas National
Guardsman to stop African American
students from entering the school.
 This would force President
Eisenhower to sent the U.S. Army to
escort the students to school.
 Little Rock Nine: September 4, 1957
– nine African American students
tried to enter Little Rock Central high
school, but were turned away by
Arkansas National Guardsman
NON-VIOLENT RESISTANCE TO
RACISM
In 1957, a group of African American leaders met
in Atlanta, Georgia to discuss strategies to help
end discrimination.
Led by Martin Luther King Jr. the group named
themselves the (SCLC) Southern Christian
Leadership Conference and pledged to use only
nonviolent resistance in its protests.
By April of 1960 over 50,000 students (African
American and white) had participated in
nonviolent sit-ins to protest segregation.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• In 1963 Dr. King was drew national attention by
attempting to end segregation in Birmingham, Alabama.
• Protesters were attacked by police using dogs, fire hoses
and nightsticks and public outrage over the attacks
increased support for the Civil Rights movement.
• On August 28, 1963 200,000 people gathered at the
Lincoln Memorial to bring awareness to the Civil Rights
movement. Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech was the
central moment of the March on Washington.
• Dr. King’s most celebrated literary work also came in
1963 while spending 8 days in jail in Birmingham, AL
after being arrested for leading an illegal march.
• “Letter from Birmingham Jail” defended the breaking of
unjust laws and was widely published throughout the US.
VIOLENCE AND MLK’S ASSASSINATION
Martin Luther King Jr. was the leader of the Civil
Rights Movement and preached a nonviolent
approach and demanded equal rights
Martin Luther King disagreed with the tactics of
Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, but King
embraced the need for economic power.
Riots in Watts and Detroit killed nearly 100 people
and the nation seemed to be on the brink of
becoming two societies; one black, one white.
On April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King was killed by
a sniper (James Earl Ray) on the second floor of
his motel in Memphis, TN.
James Earl Ray
Exactly what led James Earl Ray to
kill Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
continues to be a source of debate, as
does his role in the murder. Evidence
does suggest that Ray had little
stomach for the integration policies
that were sweeping the country. In
addition to his segregationist beliefs,
he also saw a big payday, some
historians have said, in killing black
leaders like H. Rap Brown, Stokely
Carmichael and, of course, King.
ROSA PARKS AND THE BUS BOYCOTT
In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up
her seat on a Montgomery, AL bus to a white man.
Civil rights leaders lead by Martin Luther King Jr.
organized a boycott of city busses and the NAACP
appealed Park’s conviction.
After nearly a year of boycotting city busses, the
city of Montgomery desegregated (integrated) its
public transportation system.
This type of non-violent protest along with sit-ins
and marches were essential to the Civil Rights
movement.
THE FREEDOM RIDERS
Following the success of student sit-ins, a
northern based civil rights group called the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) planned to
send an integrated bus into the south.
The Freedom Riders were met with intense
violence. In Alabama one of their busses was
bombed and a CORE member was beaten so
badly that he suffered permanent brain damage
Eventually, President Kennedy was forced to
send Federal marshals to protect the bus riders.
NOTES #3
 Explain actions taken by people to expand economic
opportunities and political rights (US26A)
 Identify the roles of significant leaders who supported various
rights movements (US9C)
 Describe presidential actions and congressional votes to
address minority right sin the United States, including
desegregation of the armed forces, the Civil Rights Acts of
1957 and 1964, and the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 (US9F)
 Describe how litigation such landmark cases play a role in
protecting the rights of minorities during the civil rights
movement (U9I)
FREEDOM SUMMER
In the summer of 1964, the SNCC (Student
Nonviolence Coordinating Committee) implemented a
new plan to increase black voting called Freedom
Summer.
Volunteers were trained and accompanied to the
South by lawyers and health-care workers.
On June 20 th , two white CORE workers were
murdered in Mississippi.
The murders intimidated African Americans and by
the end of the summer only 1,600 new voters had
been added to the voting rolls .
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964
In May of 1963 protesters in Birmingham,
Alabama were attacked by police using dogs, fire
hoses and nightsticks.
Public outrage over the attacks increased support
for the Civil Rights movement.
On August 28, 1963 200,000 people gathered at
the Lincoln Memorial to bring awareness to the
Civil Rights movement.
On July 2, 1964 the Civil Rights Act of 1964
banned discrimination on the basis of race, color,
religion or sex and created the EOC (Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission).
REGISTERING BLACK VOTERS
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 allowed for equal
voting rights and removed registration restrictions
designed to keep blacks from voting
In Mississippi, African Americans made up 40% of
the population ,but only 5% of registered voters were
black.
Civil rights leaders tried to encourage southern
African Americans to register to vote, but many
feared lynching or beating if they attempted to vote.
Leaders were widely unsuccessful in registering large
numbers of black voters in the early 60’s.
REFORMS IN VOTING RIGHTS
In January of 1964 the 24 th Amendment to the
Constitution banned poll taxes as a condition
for voting.
On March 7, 1965 six hundred people marched
through Selma, Alabama to protest unfair
voting policies in the southern city. This day
became known as ‘Bloody Sunday’
Police officers attack the marchers with clubs,
ropes and whips. Outraged Americans poured
into Alabama to show support for the march
Congress passed the Voting Rights Act putting
all voter registration under federal control.
AFRICAN AMERICAN VOTING
REGISTRATIONS
State
1960
1966
Percent Increase
Alabama
66,000
250,000
387.79%
Arkansas
73,000
115,000
157.53%
Florida
183,000
303,000
165.57%
Georgia
180,000
300,000
166.67%
Louisiana
159,000
243,000
152.83%
Mississippi
22,000
175,000
795.45%
North Carolina
210,000
282,000
134.29%
South Carolina
58,000
191,000
329.31%
Tennessee
185,000
225,000
121.62%
Texas
227,000
400,000
176.21%
Virginia
100,000
205,000
205.00%
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/civil-rights-movement/resources/civil-rights-revolution-interpreting-statistics
QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT
What difference did the Voting
Rights Act make on voter
registration?
In which states was the impact the
greatest?
Red = African
American
Blue = All
Americans
QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT
Compare black and white
income distributions and
educational attainment over
time.
BLACK MUSLIMS
In Detroit, Michigan, in 1930 Wallace Fard started
a group known as the Black Muslims
By the time Elijah Muhammad became its leader,
the Nation of Islam had 8,000 members and
preached the supremacy of the black race
Muhammad urged followers to create their own
republic within the US. They also rejected their
last names as slave names and used the last name
X.
They stressed self discipline and did not smoke,
drink, or accept assistance.
MALCOLM X
Malcolm Little (later to become Malcolm X) was
born in 1925. His father was killed in a racially
motivated murder.
Malcolm was a good student, but dropped out of
school after being discriminated against by a
teacher.
Malcolm eventually spent ten years in prison
where he studied the work of Elijah Muhammad.
In the 1950’s Malcolm X became a leading
minister in the Nation of Islam and called for
separatism and violent revolution if necessary.
By the 1960’s, Malcolm softened his separatist
views and broke from the Black Muslims
BLACK POWER AND THE BLACK
PANTHERS
Tired of being beaten and intimidated, some
Southern blacks began a movement for black
separatism called the Black Power movement.
Black antipoverty workers, Bobby Seale and
Huey Newton, created a political organization
known as the Black Panther Party.
The Black Panthers declared that black people
must be free to determine their own destiny, and
the party set up armed defense groups who often
battled with Police.
NOTES #4
 Describe the roles of political organizations that promoted
civil rights, including ones from African American, Chicano,
American Indian, women’s and other civil rights movements
(US9B)
 Identify roles of significant leaders who supported various
rights movements (US9C)
 Evaluate changes and events in the US that have resulted
from the civil rights movement including increased
participation of minorities sin the political process (US9H)
 Identify the political, social, and economic contributions of
women to American society (US26D)
BACKLASH OF DESEGREGATION
 White and black Americans had come to disagree with
some desegregation policies.
 When schools were ordered to desegregate, many black
students had to be bussed to white neighborhoods to fill
school quotas.
 Many white people also began to feel they were suffering
reverse discrimination, especially in the area of
affirmative action which gave preference to minorities
and women in admissions to universities and jobs.
 In Supreme Court case, Regents of the Univ. of
California v Bakke, the court upheld the right of a school
to adopt an admission plan that included race or ethnicity
as an element.
CIVIL RIGHTS FOR NATIVE
AMERICANS
Native Americans were uniformly granted American
citizenship along with their tribal citizenship in 1924.
The Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 attempted to
require tribal law to follow the basic individual rights
and freedoms guaranteed in the US Bill of Rights.
In 1968 the American Indian Movement (AIM) was
founded to address the problems of poverty, housing,
treaty issues, and police harassment.
In 1969 the National Indian Education Association
(NIEA) was formed to fight for Native American
rights in public and higher education.
Hispanic Civil Rights and Culture
 In 1962 Cesar Chavez, a former field laborer and activist
for workers rights, co-founded the National Farm
Workers Association along with Dolores Huerta.
 Doctor Hector P. Garcia was a Hispanic surgeon and an
advocate for Mexican American rights. Garcia was
appointed to the US Commission on Civil Rights in
1968
 Founded in 1929 the League of United Latin American
Citizens (LULAC) was and is the most widely respected
Hispanic Civil Rights organization in the United States.
 In the 1960’s the Chicano Mural Movement used the
walls of buildings to depict Mexican-American culture.
 Chicano Mural Movement – beginning in the 1960s,
artists using the walls of city buildings, housing
projects, schools, and churches to depict Mexican
American culture
WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE
The number of women working rose from 25% in
1940 to 35% in 1960. By 1960, women’s wages
were 40% lower than men’s wages.
 In June 1963 President Kennedy signed the Equal
Pay Act for women requiring employers to pay
men and women equal for equal work. Not
included were women in agricultural, professional
or service industries.(about 2/3 of all women
workers).
Women also received assistance from the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the act outlawed
sexual discrimination in the workplace.
INCREASED ACTIVISM
In June of 1966 Betty Friedan—author of
the Feminine Mystic—co-founded the
National Organization for Women (NOW ).
In 1971 Gloria Steinem founded the
National Women’s Political Caucus to
encourage women to run for political office.
In 1972, Congress passed the Education
Amendments Act which outlawed sexual
discrimination in higher education.
In 1973 the case of Roe v. Wade gave
women the right to an abortion in their first
trimester.
The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many
years in the minds of American women. It
was a strange stirring, a sense of
dissatisfaction, a yearning that women
suffered in the middle of the twentieth
century in the United States. Each suburban
wife struggled with it alone. As she made the
beds, shopped for groceries, matched
slipcover material, ate peanut butter
sandwiches with her children, chauffeured
Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her
husband at night — she was afraid to ask
even of herself the silent question — "Is this
all?"
The Feminine Mystique
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN
(NOW)
 Activism Today:
 “It’s unconscionable that a woman who stands her ground against an
abusive ex-husband could get 20 years in prison – never mind 60!
Marissa Alexander was given a 20 year sentence for firing a non lethal warning shot at her ex-husband, moments after he choked her
and just days after giving birth. State Attorney Angela Corey
prosecuted her anyways. The appeals court has overturned
Alexander’s conviction — and now Corey wants a 60 year sentence
against her. This isn’t the first time State Attorney Angela Corey has
misused her power. She needs to go.”
 One hundred entities have filed lawsuits against the contraception
mandate in the Affordable Care Act. Stand with NOW and tell them
it is not acceptable for employers to impose their personal beliefs on
their employees.
CIVIL RIGHTS TODAY…
In the 21 st century, we have the election of the
first African American president, Barrack Obama
The appointment of the first Hispanic woman to
the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor
Oprah Winfrey, one of the most influential African
Americans of the time period
Edgewood ISD v Kirby (1993): the “Robin Hood”
plan – redistributed property taxes from wealthy
to poor school districts
Legislative Reforms of the 70’s
 Title IX (9) of the Education Amendments of 1972 stated that no
person should be denied participation in any educational program
on the basis of sex.
 Title IX is most known for it’s impact on high school and college
athletics.
 In the case of Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) the Supreme court ruled
that the Yoder family could remove their children from public
schools after the 8th grade based on their religious freedom.
(Amish)
 In White v. Regester (1973) the Supreme Court ruled that
legislative districts may not be drawn in such a way as to exclude
or minimize the representation of specific ethnic groups.
 American culture includes traditions, ideals, customs,
beliefs, values, and arts, developed both domestically
and imported from various countries around the world
 America was founded as a country of immigrants and
each cultural group has contributed to shaping the
“American culture”