The Civil Rights Movement
There were two phases to the Civil
Rights movement: one phase between
1945-1965 and the other after 1965.
Why Did the Civil Rights Movement Take Off
After 1945?
• Black equality became a significant political issue for
the Democratic Party
• WWII had been fought against racism abroad—hard
to keep harboring it at home
• Black veterans came home dedicated to change
• Increasing number of White Americans condemned
segregation
• Discrimination in the United States hurt our
propaganda battle against the Communists
Early Attempts at Equality
Abolitionist Movement - Frederick
Douglas was the editor of an
abolitionist newspaper.
Harriet Tubman - Helped slaves escape via the
Underground Railroad.
John Brown - He and his sons brutally murdered
5 slave masters in Kansas. (1858)
Tried to incite a slave revolt
Reconstruction 1865-77
After the Civil War 1861-1865, the
federal government made strides
toward equality.
Blacks voted, held many political
offices.
The Freedmen’s Bureau was a
government program to help Blacks
transition into freedom, it also
established schools and colleges.
Civil War Amendments
13th – abolished slavery
14th – granted citizenship
to freed blacks
15th – granted right to
vote to freed blacks
The Truman Years
• Truman’s 1948 election year
agenda
• No significant Civil Rights
congressional legislation
• Truman moves on his own to do
what he can for Civil Rights
--Desegregation of the military
(1948)
• Jackie Robinson’s breakthrough
(1947)
1948 July 26
President Truman signs
Executive Order 9981, which
states, "It is hereby declared to
be the policy of the President
that there shall be equality of
treatment and opportunity for
all persons in the armed
services without regard to race,
color, religion, or national
origin."
However. . .
• The Supreme Court decided in Plessy vs. Ferguson that separate
institutions are okay if they are equal.
• Jim Crow laws required that Blacks have separate facilities.
NAACP – National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People
• Founded in 1909 by W.E.B. Dubois
• Fought for equality
• The NAACP was formed partly in response
to the continuing horrific practice of lynching.
NAACP's stated goal was to secure for all people the rights
guaranteed in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the
United States Constitution, which promised an end to slavery,
the equal protection of the law, and universal adult male
suffrage, respectively.
1954 May 17
The Supreme Court rules on the landmark
case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,
Kans., unanimously agreeing that segregation
in public schools is unconstitutional. The
ruling paves the way for large-scale
desegregation. The decision overturns the
1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that
sanctioned "separate but equal" segregation
of the races, ruling that "separate
educational facilities are inherently unequal."
It is a victory for NAACP attorney Thurgood
Marshall, who will later return to the
Supreme Court as the nation's first black
justice.
1954 Aug.
Fourteen-year-old Chicagoan
Emmett Till is visiting family in
Mississippi when he is kidnapped,
brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in
the Tallahatchie River for allegedly
whistling at a white woman. Two
white men, J. W. Milam and Roy
Bryant, are arrested for the murder
and acquitted by an all-white jury.
They later boast about committing
the murder in a Look magazine
interview. The case becomes a cause
célèbre of the civil rights movement.
Emmitt Till
Till in his casket at his funeral
1954 Dec. 1
Montgomery, Ala.) NAACP member
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat
at the front of the "colored section"
of a bus to a white passenger, defying
a southern custom of the time. In
response to her arrest the
Montgomery black community
launches a bus boycott, which will last
for more than a year, until the buses
are desegregated Dec. 21, 1956. As
newly elected president of the
Montgomery Improvement
Association (MIA), Reverend Martin
Luther King, Jr., is instrumental in
leading the boycott.
Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955
• For over a year, Blacks
boycotted the buses.
• They carpooled and walked
through all weather conditions
• Many were arrested for an
“illegal boycott” including
their leader. . .
• While the NAACP fought in the
courts, MLK’s organization led
the boycott.
1957 Jan.–Feb.
Martin Luther King, Charles K.
Steele, and Fred L. Shuttlesworth
establish the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, of which
King is made the first president. The
SCLC becomes a major force in
organizing the civil rights movement
and bases its principles on
nonviolence and civil disobedience.
According to King, it is essential that
the civil rights movement not sink to
the level of the racists and
hatemongers who oppose them:
"We must forever conduct our
struggle on the high plane of dignity
and discipline," he urges.
“Violence never solves problems. It
only creates new and more
complicated ones. If we succumb
to the temptation of using violence
in our struggle for justice, unborn
generations will be the recipients
of a long and desolate night of
bitterness, and our chief legacy to
the future will be an endless reign
of meaningless chaos”.
--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Facing the
Challenge of a New Age"
1957 Sept.
(Little Rock, Ark.) Formerly all-white Central High School learns that
integration is easier said than done. Nine black students are blocked
from entering the school on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus.
President Eisenhower sends federal troops and the National Guard to
intervene on behalf of the students, who become known as the "Little
Rock Nine."
1960 Feb. 1
(Greensboro, N.C.) Four black students from North Carolina
Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated
Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service,
they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers
many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South. Six
months later the original four protesters are served lunch at
the same Woolworth's counter. Student sit-ins would be
effective throughout the Deep South in integrating parks,
swimming pools, theaters, libraries, and other public facilities.
1960 April
(Raleigh, N.C.) The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC) is founded at Shaw University, providing young blacks
with a place in the civil rights movement. The SNCC later grows
into a more radical organization, especially under the
leadership of Stokely Carmichael (1966–1967).