23.3 – THE OTHER SIDE OF AMERICAN LIFE

1. 23.3 – THE OTHER SIDE OF AMERICAN LIFE • 1950s saw a growth in the middle class • But…about 20% of Americans still lived below the poverty line • Chronicled by Michael Harrington in his book The Other America • Who were the poor?

2. 23.3 – DECLINE OF THE INNER CITY • Poverty was best seen in the city • Many middle class residents moved out the city • What economic problems does this cause for the city? • Urban renewal projects like high-rise developments did not help

3. HOW MANY PEOPLE IN THE U.S. ARE…. • White • African-American • Hispanic • Native-American • Asian-American Poverty line depends on the size of the family (levels?) (poverty by groups)

4. 2010 DATA

5. 22.3 – AFRICAN-AMERICANS By 1960 more than 3 million African Americans had migrated from the South to Northern cities in search of economic opportunity and to escape violence and racial intimidation. Long-standing patterns of discrimination in all areas of society kept many inner-city African Americans poor. In 1958 African American salaries were only 51% of what whites earned. Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun chronicled the story of a working class African American family struggling against poverty and racism.

6. 22.3 – HISPANICS • During the 1950s and 1960s the Bracero Program brought about 5 million Mexican workers to the United States to work on farms and ranches in the Southwest. As a result of this program about 350,000 workers stayed in the U.S. permanently. These workers lived in extreme poverty; working long hours for little pay. Many Mexican families lived in small shacks, some with no roof over their head. The country paid little attention to their plight until they started organizing for greater rights.

7. 22.3 – NATIVE AMERICANS • By the mid 1900s Native Americans made up less than 1% of the population and were the poorest ethnic group in America. The U.S. launched a plan, post World War II, to bring Native Americans into the mainstream. The program became known as the “termination policy” and Native Americans were no longer classified as a separate legal group. The government also encouraged Native Americans to blend in with the larger society by helping them move off reservations and into cities. This plan did not work for most Native Americans, and actually made things worse in some cases. Life expectance for Native Americans in Minneapolis was only 37, compared to 68 for all other residents of the city.

8. 22.3 – APPALACHIA Appalachia stretches from New York to Georgia and unemployment soared as the economy moved away from coal, which was the backbone of many communities in this region. 1.5 million people left this region in search of work. The standard of living was very low, for example, the region has fewer doctors per 1,000 people than anywhere else in the country. Schooling was worse that in the inner-city and there were high rates of infant mortality and nutritional deficiency.

9. 22.3 – APPALACHIA

10. 22.3 – JUVENILE DELINQUENCY(read on your own)

11. 25.1 – THE MOVEMENT BEGINS • After WWII many people started challenging segregation • Jackie Robinsons of the world could only have so much impact • Federal gov’t started to take a stronger stand

12. 25.1 – ROSA PARKS • 1955 – Arrested for refusing to move on a segregated bus in Montgomery, AL • NAACP took up her cause • Boycott of the bus system • Fighting the battle against Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), Jim Crow Laws, and “de facto” segregation

13. 25.1 – SIGNIFICANT COURT CASES(read on your own) • Norris v. Alabama (1935) • Juries • Morgan v. Virginia (1946) • Interstate buses • Sweatt v. Painter (1950) • State law schools

14. 25.1 – ORGANIZATION & TACTICS • Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) • Founded in 1942 by James Farmer and George Houser • Used sit-ins - Targeted restaurants

15. WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WOULD REALLY LIKE TO CHANGE IN AMERICA? (THINK LAW, RIGHTS….)

16. HOW WOULD YOU BRING ATTENTION TO THAT CAUSE?

17. 25.2 – CHALLENGING SEGREGATION • Sit-in Movement • African-Americans asked to be served at segregated restaurants • 1960 Woolworth’s in Greensboro, N.C. • By 1961 sit-ins had spread to over 100 cities • Heavy student involvement • Students eventually formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); alternative to the NAACP and/or SCLC Ella Baker

18. 25.2 – CHALLENGING SEGREGATION • Freedom Riders • Groups of people encouraged to travel in the South to bring attention to segregated buses/bus terminals • Angry mobs often attacked the buses/passengers • Horrific violence in Alabama in 1961 • The movement (3) • The tactic (1) • The strategy (2) • The governor “Bull” Connor

19. 25.2 – THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 • 1963 – JFK calls for change/Civil Rights Bill after the speech by Wallace and the murder of Medgar Evers • August 28, 1963 – over 200,000 march on Washington, D.C. to push for a Civil Rights bill • MLK gives his “I Have a Dream” speech

20. 25.2 – THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 • Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) became president after JFK was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963 • Under LBJ’s leadership the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed

21. 25.2 – THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 • Gave the federal gov’t broad powers to prevent racial discrimination • Made segregation illegal in most places of public gathering/accommodation • Gave citizens of all races and nationalities equal access to public facilities • Gave the U.S. Attorney General more power to bring about lawsuits to force school desegregation • Required private employers to end discrimination in the workplace • Established the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)

22. 25.2 – THE STRUGGLE FOR VOTING RIGHTS • 24h Amendment • Passed in 1964; did away with poll taxes in federal (not state) elections • AAs were still fighting a major battle to gain full voting rights • MLK organized a march in Selma, Alabama to bring attention to the issue (1965); leads to “Bloody Sunday” • LBJ was outraged, started pushing for new voting rights

23. 25.2 – VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 WHAT IT DID RESULTS By the end of 1965 almost 250,000 new AAs had been registered # of elected AA officials in the South increased • Federal examiners could be sent to register voters • Suspended discriminatory devices (literacy tests) in counties where less than half of all adults had been registered to vote Now the 2 major goals of the CRM (outlawing of segregation and laws to prevent voting rights) had been legislated. The movement now started to shift towards acquiring full social and economic equality; focus on poverty and cities

24. 25.3 – NEW CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUES • Increased focus on fighting poverty and social inequality • Inner cities • Most AAs were in low paying, low status jobs and poor, inner-city neighborhoods

25. 25.3 – RIOTS • Watts - neighborhood in Los Angeles • 6 day riot; massive damage both economically and physically • Dozens of riots in the late 1960s • Tanks/troops sent into Detroit in 1967 • Kerner Commission – established by LBJ to study urban riots; concluded that racism was the cause for most of the problems

26. 25.3 – ECONOMIC FOCUS • By the mid-1960s the movement began to focus on economic change • MLK moved into a slum in Chicago (why?) • Chicago Movement

27. 25.3 – BLACK POWER • In the late 1960s many AA’s, especially young, urban AAs, doubted MLKs methods • Some called for “stronger” action: • Armed self-defense • Separate states for AAs • Expulsion of whites from leadership positions (CORE, SNCC) • Calls for Black Power

28. 25.3 – BLACK POWER • Black power: • Stressed pride in AA culture • Emphasized racial distinctiveness rather than assimilation • Centered on controlling the direction of the social/political/economic struggles of AAs • Led to new hair styles, new names, calls for new courses in school • MLK criticized it but it was very popular, especially in poorer neighborhoods Stokely Carmichael – leader of the SNCC in 1966

29. 25.3 – MALCOLM X • Symbol/leader of the Black Power movement • Real name was Malcolm Little • Tough childhood in Nebraska • Transformed in prison • Joined the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims) • Nation of Islam believed/taught: • Black Nationalism – AAs should separate from whites and form their own self-governing communities Malcolm X

30. 25.3 – MALCOLM X cont. • Changes his name to “X”, which symbolized the family name of his enslaved ancestors • He broke with the Nation of Islam and changed some of his views after his pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca) • Now believed that an integrated society was possible • Assassinated in 1965 by members of the Nation of Islam (why?) • He influenced AAs for years to come • Black Panthers – formed in 1966; much more “radical” • Believed in revolution, urged AAs to arm themselves, wanted more rapid change