QUIT
Civil Rights: Why It Matters Now
CHAPTER OBJECTIVE
INTERACT WITH HISTORY
TIME LINE
Part
1 Taking on Segregation
MAP
Part
2 The Triumphs of a Crusade
GRAPH
Part
3 Challenges and Changes in the Movement
VISUAL SUMMARY
Civil Rights: Why It Matters Now
OBJECTIVE
To understand the African-American struggle for
civil rights during the 1950s and 1960s and why it
matters today.
HOME
INTERACT
HOME
WITH HISTORY
The year is 1960, and segregation divides the nation’s people.
African Americans are denied access to jobs and housing and
are refused service at restaurants and stores. But the voices of
the oppressed rise up in the churches and in the streets,
demanding civil rights for all Americans.
HOME
TIME LINE
The United States
The World
1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision
orders the desegregation of public schools.
1955 Montgomery bus boycott begins.
1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower is reelected.
1956 Suez Canal crisis occurs in Egypt.
1957 School desegregation crisis occurs in Little
Rock, Arkansas.
1957 African nation of Ghana wins
independence.
1959 Fidel Castro assumes power in Cuba.
1960 John F. Kennedy is elected president.
1962 South African civil rights leader Nelson
Mandela is imprisoned.
1963 Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president
upon John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
continued . . .
HOME
TIME LINE
The United States
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson is elected president.
Congress passes the Civil Rights Act.
The World
1967 Race riots occur in major U.S. cities.
1968 Richard M. Nixon is elected president.
Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated.
1969 U.S. astronauts walk on the moon.
1968 Tet offensive begins in Vietnam.
1966 Cultural Revolution begins in China.
1970 President Nasser of Egypt dies.
HOME
MAIN IDEA
Activism and a series of Supreme
Court decisions advanced equal
rights for African Americans in the
1950s and 1960s.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
Landmark Supreme Court
decisions beginning in 1954
have guaranteed civil rights for
Americans today.
HOME
Examples of tactics, organizations,
leaders, and Supreme Court decisions of
the civil rights movement up to 1960.
NAACP
SCLC
Morgan v. Virginia
Sweatt v. Painter
SNCC
CORE
Brown v. Board of Education
Challenging Segregation
nonviolent resistance
Thurgood Marshall
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
legal action
Ella Baker
Jo Ann Gibson Robinson
continued . . .
HOME
Nonviolent protests, such as the Montgomery bus boycott
and sit-ins, alerted people to the problem of racism while
capturing their sympathy; television coverage depicted the
extent of the problem.
Sit-in at a lunch counter
continued . . .
HOME
The students confronted businesses that had segregationist
policies instead of boycotting them.
continued . . .
After the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling,
what do you think was the most significant
event of the civil rights movement prior to 1960?
HOME
POSSIBLE RESPONSES:
• the crisis at Little Rock, because it forced the government to act
• the Montgomery bus boycott, which brought Martin Luther King, Jr., into a
leadership role
KEY IDEA
HOME
Civil rights activists break down numerous racial
barriers through continued social protest and
prompting of landmark legislation.
HOME
MAIN IDEA
Civil rights activists break down
numerous racial barriers through
continued social protest and
prompting of landmark legislation.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
Activism pushed the federal
government to end segregation
and ensure voting rights for
African Americans.
HOME
Steps that African Americans took to desegregate
buses and schools from 1962 to 1965.
1965
1964
1963
1962
Voting Rights Act passed.
Johnson signs Civil Rights Act.
• Protests, boycotts, and media coverage force Birmingham to
end segregation.
• Kennedy orders troops to desegregate the University of Alabama.
• March on Washington takes place.
A federal court case allows James Meredith to enroll in the
University of Mississippi.
continued . . .
HOME
Just after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, white
Alabama governor George Wallace said,
“ It is ironical that this event occurs as we approach the
celebration of Independence Day. On that day we won our
freedom. On this day we have largely lost it.”
HOME
The civil rights movement turns north, new leaders emerge, and
the movement becomes more militant, thus leaving behind a
mixed legacy.
Black Panthers
HOME
Challenges and Changes in the Movement
MAIN IDEA
Disagreements among civil rights
groups and the rise of black
nationalism created a violent period
in the fight for civil rights.
Ali and X
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
From the fight for equality came a
resurgence of racial pride for
African Americans, a legacy that
influences today’s generations.
Malcolm X
HOME
Challenges and Changes in the Movement
Five key events of the civil rights movement.
Feb. 1965
Oct. 1966
Malcolm X
assassinated
Black Panthers
founded
July 1964
Aug. 1965
April 1968
Harlem riots
Watts riots in
Los Angeles
Martin Luther
King, Jr.,
assassinated
HOME
Challenges and Changes in the Movement
Malcolm X, Black Panthers, and others’ philosophy of violent
protests; African Americans’ reaction to the assassination of
civil rights leaders; backlash against white racist acts; poor
living and working conditions, especially in urban areas;
difficulty in eradicating de facto segregation in the North
HOME
Compare and contrast the civil rights strategies of Malcolm X
and Martin Luther King, Jr. Whose strategies do you think
were more effective?
Both wanted civil rights and greater opportunities. King
preached racial equality. Malcolm X preached black
separatism and armed self-defense.
Effectiveness: King, because his demonstrations caused civil
rights legislation to be passed; Malcolm X, because he urged
African Americans to fight back.
Why It Matters Today

Landmark Supreme Court decisions
beginning in 1954 have guaranteed civil
rights for Americans today.
African Americans now compete in professions not open to them in 1960’s.