Civil Rights 1950s-1970s

1. Civil Rights 1950s-1970s

2. Truman and Civil Rights • Justice department begins to support anti-segregation laws • Color barrier in baseball is broken when Jackie Robinson plays for the Brooklyn Dodgers • 1948 – Truman orders "equality of treatment and opportunity to African-Americans in the armed services

3. Presidents and Civil Rights • Truman made attempts to advance the cause • Eisenhower was a segregationist. Not rabid, but certainly doesn’t take steps to integrate • JFK was a tepid supporter of civil rights, but he finger was always testing the political wind, which drove his decision making • LBJ does more for Civil Rights than any other President – irony…he’s a Southerner

4. Emmett Till - 1955 • An African-American boy (14 yrs) from Chicago • In Mississippi visiting relatives • He apparently whistled at a white store clerk, who informed her husband, Roy Bryant • Bryant and JW Milam killed Till, beating him, gouging out on eye, shooting him and dumping the body in a river. • His mother insisted on an open casket and allowed photos of her mutilated son that were circulated in papers • His murderers admitted to the killing, but were acquitted by a jury of 12 southern white men. • They deliberated for just over an hour • There was moral outrage throughout the US and Europe. This helped to spark the civil rights movement

5. Public School Integration

6. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka - 1954 • Linda Brown – 3rd Grader – had to travel 1 mile to all-black school, passing a white school along the way • NAACP works with Browns challenging school segregation • Supreme Court overturns Plessy v. Ferguson – said that “Separate but equal” denied students rights under Constitution • The first step in eliminating segregation

7. Loophole in Brown v. Board Decision • “with all deliberate speed” • Southern states did not move to quickly to reform • Southern Manifesto – Southern Congressmen sign this document asserting that the Supreme Court’s decision violates states rights • Some Southern states threatened to disband public schools and make all schools private

8. Integration in Schools • Ike did not advance the ball with integration • Did not crack down on states that ignored Brown v. Board • States further North desegregated peacefully, but in the South, African-Americans met more violence and taunts • Little Rock Crisis – 1957 • Central High School , city admitted 9 blacks • Gov. Orval Faubas used National Guard to keep blacks out • Faubas withdraws guardsmen under national pressure • Eisenhower sends in 101st Airborne to keep the peace

9. State Universities • Slow to integrate, particularly in the South • 1956 – University of Alabama admitted Autherine Lucy under court order, but expelled her before she could attend • 1962 – James Meredith attended the University of Mississippi (transfer from Jackson St) • Opposed by Governor Ross Barnett sparking riots • Kennedy sent in the army • Meredith graduated the next year - Political Science • In 1963 – Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, was vocal in his opposition to integration of the University of Alabama • Ran for President in 1968

10. Autherine Lucy & James Meredith

11. Equal Access to Public Facilities

12. Jim Crowism (1877-1960s) • Practiced in most Southern states, 3 of 4 border states, and a few in the west • Separated the races in many public facilities like buses & bus terminals, movie theaters, drinking fountains and restrooms. • Hotels and restaurants may deny African-Americans service

13. Examples of Jim Crow

14. Montgomery Bus Boycott • Dec, 1955 – Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger – she was arrested • Montgomery Bus Boycott - Women’s Political Council (college educated African-American women) started a boycott of the bus company in Montgomery • Martin Luther King took a leadership role in this effort • Lasted several months – received national media attention • Supreme Court ruled almost a year later that bus segregation was unconstitutional • Martin Luther King was made famous

15. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) • Civil rights organization founded in 1957 • Co-founded by Joseph Lowrey and Ella Baker. • It was later headed by MLK. • The organization, sparked by the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, focused on nonviolent civil disobedience through protests and marches to gain civil rights for blacks. • They thrived on media coverage to gain support around the world. • While NAACP focused on court-based reform, SCLC focused on community-based reform

16. Ella Baker • Civil rights activist involved with the NAACP and SCLC. • She formed SNCC and went to work with them forming the plans for sit-ins and freedom rides. • Her ideas on group-centered organizing and direct action influenced the philosophy of participatory democracy put forth by SNCC

17. Ella Baker

18. Lunch Counter Sit-Ins • 1960 – Four African-American college students sat at the lunch counter of a Woolworth’s in Greensboro, NC • Waited for a day without being served • Sparked similar demonstrations throughout the South • Had varying effects • Some lunch counters integrated as a result • Violence by angry whites and arrests happened in other areas

19. Woolworth’s Sit-In - Greensboro

20. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) - 1961 • Founded under the guidance of Ella Baker led by John Lewis • Focused membership on the younger generation • Involved in sit-ins, freedom rides, March on Washington. • Its purpose was to coordinate the use of nonviolent direct action to attack segregation as well as other forms of racism. • Later led by Stokely Carmichael • Began to focus on black power, Vietnam and started to abandon the idea of passive resistance. • One of the first groups to used a decentralized organizational structure

21. John Lewis • Civil rights activist. • Involved in sit-ins and the freedom rides during college. • During the Selma to Montgomery march, police brutally beat him. • At the march on Washington, Lewis, the Pres of SNCC, was critical of the Kennedy administration

22. Freedom Rides - 1961 • Began in May, shortly after the Bay of Pigs. • Black and White students from SNCC boarded busses to travel through the south to test the enforcement oflaws prohibiting segregation. • The riders ran into trouble in Alabama where mobs stopped the buses and beat some of the riders. • They continued the ride • RFK cut a deal with the Governor of Miss to protect the riders in exchange for the justice department not enforcing segregation laws.

23. Freedom Rides

24. Birmingham - 1963 • SCLC concentrated its efforts on the heavily segregated Birmingham, Alabama • Hold sit-ins & protest marches • Commissioner of Public Safety, Bull Connor, turned the fire hoses & dogs on these people • Some were arrested • MLK wrote ”Letter from a Birmingham Jail” • “We have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and non-violent pressure… Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”

25. March on Washington (for Jobs and Freedom)– Aug 1963 • Approx 200-500,000 people attended. • King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. • Kennedy felt that this would undermine pending civil rights legislation and hurt other domestic initiatives. • JFK concerned this would embarrass the United States in the world community • Helped to push through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voters Rights act of 1965

26. Civil Rights Act of 1964 • LBJ has taken over Presidency after JFK’s murder • LBJ is a creative legislator and pushes through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a tribute to the fallen President • Prohibited segregation in public accommodations (hotels, restaurants, gas stations, theaters & parks) • Outlawed employment discrimination on federal projects

27. Equitable Voter Registration

28. Freedom Summer - 1964 • Civil rights organizations like SNCC launched a campaign to register as many black voters as they could in Mississippi counties that had a noticeably low black voter turnout. • Violence hindered the campaign when three students were apprehended by the KKK and murdered. • Their murders sparked an investigation by the FBI and became a symbol of the civil rights movement

29. Freedom Summer

30. Selma to Montgomery March • MLK and SCLC demonstrated in Selma, Alabama for voter rights • Only 2% of eligible blacks were registered in that county • Protestors were arrested • John Lewis organized a group to march from Selma to Montgomery • The protestors were met by state troopers who beat the protestors when they failed to disperse • TV cameras caught the violence

31. Voting Rights Act - 1965 • Signed by Johnson • Outlawed literacy tests • Federal voting registrars would be sent to states with less than 50% of eligible population registered

32. Black Power Attitude in America, urban riots, fueled separatists from the nonviolence camp

33. Nation of Islam • Elijah Muhammad - The leader of the Nation of Islam from the 30s to the 70s. • He was similar to the Pope in that he was the voice of Allah on Earth. • From an early age he developed a deep hatred for white people because of the violence he witnessed • father killed by whites. • He preached that whites were devils and inferior. • He preached complete separation from white community (black separatism) as well as black nationalism. • He believed in rehabilitating blacks who were alcoholics, drug users and criminals – which he had success doing. • Had a profound impact on Malcolm X.

34. Nation of Islam • Malcolm X • Becomes the leading Black Muslim • Break free of white dominance by using any means necessary • Emphasized African cultural heritage & self-help • Pilgrimage to Mecca softened his stance • Assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam

35. Black Panthers - 1966 • Founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton • This was a militant group of civil rights protesters who believed in black nationalism and believed in armed resistance to stop black oppression. • They monitored police to look for abuse. • They are an example of the new wave of civil rights activists, tired of the non-violent approach.