Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Movement Chapter 29

The Montgomery Bus Boycott • Started December 1, 1955 • Montgomery, Alabama • They would boycott the city buses until they could sit anywhere they wanted

Rosa Parks • Thursday, December 1, 1955 • Sat in fifth row • She was arrested • E.D. Nixon, Lawyer

Jo Ann Robinson • Put plans for a one-day boycott into action • Mimeographed handouts urging blacks to stay off the city buses on Monday • Group of ministers and civil rights leaders held a meeting

Martin Luther King, Jr • Bus after empty bus rolled past his house • Group met again and called themselves the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) • Should we extend the boycott

MIA • The boycott would continue • Day four MIA leaders met with bus company and city officials • Bus company refused the compromise • City officials came back with

Boycott • MIA worked out a “private taxi” plan • Whites tried to end the boycott in every way possible. • One technique – divide the black community • Effort to break up the boycott failed

Boycott • Whites then turned to violence • Bombed King’s home on January 30 and Nixon’s home on February 1 • Whites turned to the law • Whites tried to break down the “private taxi” system

Boycott • Despite all the pressures to end the boycott, blacks continued to stay off the buses. • It was costing the business community thousands of dollars

Boycott • Blacks would only accept full integration • Help from Brown v Board of Education which said that “separate but equal” doctrine had no place in public education

Boycott • Common sense the court would rule the same for public facilities • Plus these battles are being fought in Federal court not local courts • November 13, 1956 – Supreme Court upheld the federal court’s ruling

Boycott • S.C. declared segregation on buses unconstitutional • Montgomery Bus Boycott was officially over • But they still faced challenges – getting shot at, houses being bombed, ect.

Sit-Ins • First one – February 1, 1960 at a F.W. Woolworth Company store in Greensboro, North Carolina • 4 black college students sat at a whites only lunch counter

Sit-Ins • A larger group of students returned the next day • Wire services had picked up the story • Civil rights organizations began to spread the word

Sit-Ins • Basic Plan – a group of students would go to a lunch counter and ask to be served • If served they would move on to the next • If not – would not move until they had been • If arrested – a new group would take over

Sit-Ins • “Do’s” and “Don’t” • Show yourself friendly at all times • Sit straight and always face the counter • Don’t strike back, or curse or laugh out • Don’t hold conversations • Don’t block entrances

Sit-Ins • Were dressed in their best Sunday clothing • Northern students heard of the movement and decided to help and picketed local branches of chain stores

Sit-Ins • February 27, in Nashville were attacked • Police arrived and let the white teens go while arresting the protesters for “disorderly conduct” • Lawyer Z. Alexander Looby – he began his arguments the judge turned his back

Sit-Ins • Protesters were found guilty and fined $150 plus court costs • April 19 – Looby’s home was blown up • Because he was so well respected by everybody so everybody was enraged • May 10 – 6 Nachville lunch counters began serving blacks

Sit-Ins • By August 1961, they had attracted over 70,000 participants and generated over 3,000 arrests • Sit-Ins

The Freedom Riders • Strategy – an interracial group would board buses destined for the south • Whites in the back and blacks in the front • At rest stops – whites would go into blacks-only areas and vice versa

The Freedom Riders • Left Washington DC on May 4,1961 • Was to arrive in New Orleans on May 17 • But on Mother’s Day, May 14 the Freedom Riders split up into two groups to travel through Alabama

The Freedom Riders • The first group was met by a mob of about 200 angry people in Anniston. • They stoned the bus and slashed the tires • Bus managed to get away and stopped 6 miles out of town to change the tires

Freedom Riders • There it was firebombed • The second bus ran into a mob in Birmingham • Riders were severely beaten • They were determined to continue

Freedom Riders • The bus company did not want to continue • 2 days they negotiated • Freedom Riders flew to New Orleans

Freedom Riders • Sit-In students in Nashville decided to go to Birmingham • Attorney General Kennedy leaned on the bus company and the police • May 17 the police arrested the Nashville Freedom Riders and placed them in protective custody

Freedom Riders • Police took the students to the state line • Students went right back to Birmingham • Meeting – Governor, Justice Department aide, head of the state highway patrol, and Attorney General

Freedom Riders • Results – Police will protect the Freedom Riders • Greyhound Busses would carry the Riders – from Birmingham to Montgomery

Freedom Riders • Entered Montgomery city limits the police disappeared • Bus terminal – many whites showed up • Jim Zwerg, a white rider, got off the bus first • The crowd started beating him

Freedom Riders • As other riders got off they started to get beat • Some there watching tried to stop the beatings but they would get pounced on

Freedom Riders • King flew to Montgomery and held a mass meeting in a church • A mob surrounds the church • King called Kennedy and they all were able to leave safely

Freedom Riders • Kennedy then asks for a cooling-off period • Freedom Riders said no • Continued on to Mississippi • At Jackson – no violence but were arrested

Freedom Riders • Kennedy and Mississippi Governor reached an agreement • May 25 the Freedom Riders are tried • Sentenced to 60 days in the state penitentiary

Freedom Riders • More Riders arrived to continue • They were arrested • More arrived – more arrested • By the end of the summer more than 300 had been arrested

Freedom Riders • Never made it to New Orleans • But they forced the Kennedy Administration to take a stand on civil rights • Freedom Riders

Birmingham • Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth of Birmingham invited King to come visit • Birmingham was called “Bombingham” because there were 18 unsolved bombings in black neighborhoods over a six-year span

Birmingham • 18 unsolved bombings in black neighborhoods over a six-year span • April 6 police arrested 45 protesters • Next day – Palm Sunday – more protesters are arrested

Birmingham • Judge issued an order preventing organized demonstrations • Everyone knew that Martin Luther King, Jr. was to be arrested next

Birmingham • King ended up getting arrested and was put into solitary confinement for 8 days • Civil rights leaders then organized the children • May 2, 50 teenagers started marching towards downtown

Birmingham • Were arrested and placed in police vans • Another group left the church and they were put in vans

Birmingham • And then another group until they had to start loading school busses because all the vans were full • Three hours later 959 children were in jail

Birmingham • The next day over a thousand more children stayed out of school and went to march • Since there was no more room in the jails firefighters were called and ordered to turn hoses on the children

Birmingham • Some refused to budge so they turned even more powerful hoses on them • So strong was the stream that it broke bones and rolled protesters down the street

Birmingham • The nation was shocked when they saw the pictures • The Birmingham business community agreed to integrate lunch counters • Civil Rights movement in Birmingham

March on Washington • After Birmingham, President Kennedy proposed a new civil rights bill • To show that the bill had widespread support the civil rights groups organized a march

March on Washington • Organizers hoped to draw a crowd of 100,000 • Instead over 250,000 people from around the nation • Arrived in more than 30 special trains • 2,000 chartered buses

March on Washington • Descended on Washington, DC on August 28, 1963 • Famous “I Have a Dream” speech

Mississippi and Freedom Summer • In the 60’s Mississippi was the poorest state in the nation • Had a terrible voting rights violations • Mississippi was 45% black • But only 5% of voting age blacks were registered

Mississippi and Freedom Summer • NAACP went to Mississippi to try and register more blacks • Marion Barry started workshops to teach young blacks nonviolent protest methods • Young black people volunteered to help

Mississippi and Freedom Summer • Began by holding sit-ins – arrested and expelled from school • Met with violence – sprayed with paint and had pepper thrown in their eyes • Medgar Evers’ home was bombed • Students who protested this were beaten

Civil Rights Movement