Civil Rights
1896-1960
Unit 12
Standard 22
Essay Question
What strategies should Civil
Rights participants use to
achieve a more just, equal
society in 1968?
Legal System
Supreme Court will have dramatic
impact on civil rights in America.
Plessey v. Ferguson(1896)


Legalized “separate but equal”
accomodations for black and white.
Many Southern states began passing Jim
Crow laws.
Brown v. BOE of Topeka (1954)



Thurgood Marshall, lead
attorney.
Combines 4 cases dealing with
segregated schools.
9-0 Supreme Court said, “In the
field of public education, the
doctrine of separate but equal
has no place.”
President Truman

Truman desegregates all military branches to
help fighting in Korea.
Little Rock, AR (1957)

Nine black children registered for school at
Central High School.
Little Rock, AR (1957)

AR Governor Faubus sends National Guard
to prevent them from entering.
Little Rock, AR (1957)


President Eisenhower federalizes troops and
sends Army to protect children.
School closed next year.
Civil Rights Act of 1957

Give black people a better opportunity to vote
without facing discrimination.
Non-Violent/
Direct Action
Limited support of federal government.
Beginnings of large-scale peaceful
protests.
W.E.B. DuBois


Helped organize NAACP.
Philosophy: Races should be treated as
equals in all aspects.
Booker T. Washington



Founded Tuskegee Institute.
Knew segregation &
discrimination would not end
immediately.
Philosophy: Encouraged
blacks to find a way to
become productive in society.
Montgomery, AL (1955)

Rosa Parks arrested for breaking segregation
laws (Not first woman arrested for not giving
up her seat).
Montgomery, AL (1955)


Community organized boycott of bus system
until segregated seating outlawed.
Lasted 381 days.
Montgomery, AL (1955)

Resulted in segregated seating in
Montgomery being outlawed.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Philosophy: Non-violent resistance (soul force)




Jesus: Love your enemy.
Henry David Thoreau: Civil disobedience, refusal to
obey unjust law.
A. Philip Randolph: Organized massive
demonstrations.
Mohandas Gandhi: Resist oppression without
violence.
Non-Violent Organizations

NAACP: National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People

SCLC: Southern Christian Leadership
Conference

SNCC: Student Non-violent Coordinating
Committee
Greensboro, NC (1960)


Four African American college students sat at
Woolworth’s white lunch counter.
Would not leave until they got served.
Greensboro, NC (1960)


Encouraged students across country to start
own protests.
Faced violence from white mobs.
Black Power
Small movements that are mostly in
northern states.
Marcus Garvey (1910s)



UNIA promoted black
pride.
Back to Africa movement to
form a strong black nation.
Support declined by mid
1920s when Garvey jailed.
Nation of Islam


Elijah Poole (Muhammed)
Blacks should




Take responsibility for own lives.
Be disciplined.
Live by strict code of behavior.
Reject dependence on whites.
Malcolm Little (X)


Joined Nation of Islam while
in jail.
Became one of movements
most influential speakers.
Malcolm X on Plymouth Rock
Malcolm Little (X)

Whites are cause of black
condition, therefore blacks
should separate from
white society.
Civil Rights 1896-1960

Success

Failures/Setbacks
1.
Brown v. Board
Civil Rights Act of
1957
Integrated
transportation
Limited end to
discrimination in public
facilities
1.
Increased violence of
KKK and White Citizens
Councils
State/Local law
enforcements continue to
prevent protests in
southern cities.
2.
3.
4.
2.
Civil Rights
1961-1965
Legal System
School integration focuses on
colleges/universities. Major
federal legislation will be
passed.
James Meredith (1962)

Air Force Veteran
who won case
allowing him to
enroll in Ole Miss.
James Meredith (1962)

MS Governor Ross
Barnett refused to let
him register.

“I call on every
Mississippian to keep his
faith and courage. We will
never surrender.”
James Meredith (1962)

President Kennedy sent
federal marshals to
protect Meredith.
Vivian Malone & James Hood

Enrolled in University of Alabama.
Vivian Malone & James Hood

AL Governor George Wallace stood in doorway
to block entrance.
Vivian Malone & James Hood

President Kennedy federalized AL National
Guard and they escorted Malone and Hood
into registration.
Freedom Summer 1964

SNCC in MS to register voters.
Freedom Summer 1964

Black Mississippians formed MFDP because
Democratic Party did not allow black voters.
Freedom Summer 1964

MFDP demanded seats at DNC in Atlantic City,
NJ.
Freedom Summer 1964

Compromise not
accepted by all in
MFDP. Increased
problems between
SCLC and SNCC.
Civil Rights Act 1964


President Johnson signed into law.
Prohibited discrimination based on race,
religion, national origin, or gender.
Non-Violent/
Direct Action
Protests increase and lead to
large scale violence by
state/local authorities
x
Freedom Rides 1961


Purpose: Test
desegregation laws
for interstate travel.
Black and White
members of CORE
ride busses from
D.C. to New
Orleans.
Freedom Rides 1961

Beaten by white mobs at

Anniston, AL
Freedom Rides 1961

Beaten by white mobs at

Birmingham, AL
Freedom Rides 1961

Beaten by white mobs at

Montgomery, AL
Freedom Rides 1961

Arrested in Mississippi, never finished ride.
Albany, GA 1963


Purpose: Desegregate public facilities.
Chief of Police: Laurie Pritchett did not allow
beatings or violence.
Albany, GA 1963

Movement got little
media coverage
and Albany stayed
segregated.
Birmingham, AL 1963



Project “C” (Confrontation)
Birmingham most
segregated city in America.
(Bombingham)
Sheriff: Eugene “Bull”
Conner
Birmingham, AL 1963





Protest until change happens or police use
violence.
School children used when adults don’t show
up.
Police use dogs and clubs.
Firemen use water hoses.
Stop song
Birmingham, AL 1963

King arrested in Birmingham and writes Letter
from a Birmingham Jail.
March on Washington 1963


Support passage of Civil Rights Act.
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech appealed for
peace and racial harmony.
I Have a Dream
SNCC in Mississippi 1964


Registering black
voters.
Three SNCC
members murdered
by police and white
radicals.
SNCC in Mississippi 1964

NAACP leader, Medgar Evers, assassinated
outside home.
Black Power/
Use of Force
Beginning to gain more
support from the younger
protestors.
Malcolm X 1965


Advocates armed selfdefense
Broke with Nation of
Islam over beliefs.
Swinging not Singing
Malcolm X 1965

Assassinated in February 1965
SNCC


Beginning to move
toward more militant
stance.
Stokley Carmichael
becomes head of
SNCC.
Harlem Riots 1965


15 year old black student killed by white police.
Rioting starts in Central Harlem
Civil Rights 1961-1965
Successes
1. School integration
continues
2. Civil Rights Act of
1964
3. Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party gets
vote at Democratic
convention in 1964

Failures
1. Albany Movement
2. Freedom Summer
3. Murders of SNCC
members/leaders
4. Malcolm X murdered

Civil Rights
1965-1968
Legal System
Push for voting rights and
continued desegregation in
southern states
Voting Rights Act of 1965


Eliminated literacy test.
Federal examiners could enroll voters
denied right by local officials.
th
24

Amendment 1964
Poll tax abolished
Lowndes County, AL 1966



Too expensive for blacks to run as AL
Democrat.
Lowndes County Freedom Organization
formed (LCFO).
Symbol of party was black panther.

“A panther won’t bother anybody, but push it into
a corner, and it will do whatever it takes.”
Lowndes County, AL
1966

Places black
candidates on ballot.
Lee v. Macon 1967


Court case ordering AL schools to
desegregate.
Still being enforced today.
Non-Violent/
Direct Action
Marches focus on voting
rights
Selma, AL 1965

SNCC in Selma working on voting rights.
Selma, AL 1965


To protest death of black demonstrator and
denial of voting rights, march to Montgomery
organized.
Bloody Sunday


March 7, 1965
AL troopers beat marchers after crossing
Edmund Pettis Bridge.
Selma, AL 1965


Two weeks later they march again, this time
with protection of federal government.
Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed.
Poor People’s Campaign 1968



Gaining equality means getting employment
and getting out of poverty.
King organizes campaign around economic
issues.
Marches begin moving northward, Chicago.
MLK, Jr. Assassination 1968


MLK in Memphis, TN supporting garbage
workers strike.
April 3 speech

“I may not get there with you but . . . We as a
people will get to the Promised Land.”
MLK, Jr. Assassination 1968

April 4: James Earl Ray shot and killed MLK
Jr.
Black Power/
Use of Force
Becomes more common than ever in the
United States. Once peaceful groups
become more violent.
Riots

Urban riots break out in




Los Angeles, CA
Newark, NJ
Chicago, IL
Detroit, MI
Black Panthers


As movement in
South growing longer
and more violent,
philosophy changes.
SNCC & CORE
endorse “Black
Power” and begin
excluding whites.
Black Panthers

Black Panther Party
formed in Oakland, CA.
Civil Rights 1965-1968

1.
2.
3.
Successes
Voting Rights Act
Continued school
desegregation
Commission on Civil
disorders

1.
2.
Failures
Increased violence
throughout the nation
resulting in numerous
deaths.
Open-end to
complete civil rights
for all people.
Where do we go from here?

Which form of protest has worked the best?



Legal Action
Non-violent/Direct Action
Use of Force
YOU DECIDE!