APUSH Civil Rights Research Assignment
Africans first came to what would
become the United States…
 Mostly as slaves.
 But some came as free people.
 Or they bought their freedom, as did Anthony and
Mary Johnson in 1620s Virginia. They went on to own
their own land and their own slaves as slavery was not
yet based on race in the British colonies.
 However, by 1700, as the supply of indentured servants
from England declined, landowners increasingly used
slave labor. Virginia passed the first matrilineal slave
law in 1662.
When the US became a
country…
 The Declaration of Independence declared ALL MEN
to be equal. Really?
 The Constitution allowed the importation of foreign
born slaves for another 20 years. The northern states
made importation illegal but generally blacks were
second class citizens, while Southern states enacted
codes and laws that keep those of African heritage
enslaved.
The Civil War…
 Led to freedom (13th Amendment)
 Citizenship (14th Amendment)
 and Voting Rights (15th Amendment)
 HOWEVER, Freedmen’s Bureau and attempts at
federal Civil Rights laws were resisted by the South and
soon…
Jim Crow & Segregation
 Took hold
 Plessy v. Ferguson legitimized it in 1896
 and it continued nearly unchallenged at the federal level




until
1941 when FDR set up the FEPC (Fair Employment
Practices Commission) to end discrimination in hiring
defense industry workers
Truman desegregated the US military in 1948
Brown v. Board of Education desegregated America’s
schools in 1954
and Rosa Parks and the ACLU desegregated public
transportation in Montgomery, Alabama
Civil Rights Research
Assignment
 Due by the beginning of class on Tuesday, March 24th
to my S://In-box (there will be a CIVIL RIGHTS
file for your class period)—or you can bring it via USB
or email me…
 You will research—then report back to the class—
about a Civil Rights activist, organization, law or
Executive Order in the 1940s, 50s or 60s.
 You need to create ONE PowerPoint slide which
includes a picture and which answers the following
questions:
Research Qs for People/Organizations:
1. What did this person/org. do to advance the rights of
African Americans? In other words, why is this person/org
significant to the CR movement? Include dates.
2. What methods did this person/org use to advance African
American civil rights? Give at least one specific example.
3. What and when was this person/org’s biggest success?
Research Qs for Events/Laws/Executive Orders:
1. What did this event/law/EO do to advance the rights of
African Americans? In other words, why is this
event/law/EO significant to the CR movement. Include
dates.
2. What methods did this event/law/EO use to advance
African American civil rights? Give at least one specific
example.
3. What is this event/law/EO’s biggest legacy? Explain.
1.
2.
Actions:
• He was the founder/president of the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (1925),
co-founder of Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights (1950), and a founder/leader of
the March on Washington (1963)
Methods:
•
•
•
3.
Example: A.
Phillip
Randolph
1889-1979
The BSCP was the 1st serious effort to form a
union for employees of the Pullman Company (a
major employer of blacks).
LCCR has been a major civil rights coalition. It
coordinated a national legislative campaign on
behalf of every major civil rights law since 1957.
The March on Washington put national pressure
on the government to end discrimination.
Successes?
•
•
The BSCP gained concessions from Pullman in
1934—gaining $2,000,000 in pay increases, a
shorter workweek, and overtime pay.
The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is
often attributed to the March on Washington
Photo taken in 1963
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
1946 Executive Order #9808
1947 Jackie Robinson
1948 Dixiecrat Party & Strom
Thurmond
1948 Executive Order #9981
1950 Sweatt v. Painter
1955 Emmett Till
1957 Civil Rights Commission/Act
1960 Greensboro, NC Sit-ins
1960 Civil Rights Act
1961 Freedom Rides
1961 Albany Movement
1962 Ole Miss/James Meredith
1962 Executive Order #11063
1962 Medgar Evers
1963 March on WA for Jobs &
Freedom (no MLK focus)
1963 Eugene “Bull” Connor
1963 16th Street Baptist Church
1964 MS Freedom Summer & MS
Freedom Democratic party
19. 1965 Bloody Sunday
20. 1966 March Against Fear
21. 1967 Thurgood Marshall
22. 1968 Civil Rights Act
23. 1968 George Wallace- AL Governor &
American Independent Party
Candidate
24. 1969 Kerner Commission
25. Congress of Racial Equality & James
Farmer
26. Black Panthers & Huey Newton
27. NAACP & Roy Wilkins
28. Nation of Islam & Malcolm X
29. Student Non-violent Coordinating
Committee & John Lewis & Stokely
Carmichael
30. Southern Christian Leadership
Conference & MLK & Ralph
Abernathy
31. Race Riots (all during 1960s)