1950s & 1960s

1. 1950s & 1960s American History II - Unit 6 Ms. Brown

2. Review • Place the following events in order on the timeline. Include the significance of each event in relation to the struggle for civil rights. • Freedom Summer • Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at the DNC • Children’s Crusade • Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Integration of Ole Miss • March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom • Freedom Riders

3. Review

4. 6.6 – Challenges and Changes in the Movement

5. Divisions in the Movement • By 1965, different leaders emerged in the North, where blacks faced a long history of de facto segregation. • Post WWII “white flight” to suburbs  declining northern urban black communities in the 1960s • Slums • Rent to landlords not complying with city ordinances • Decaying schools • Unemployment • Brutal treatment from white police • 1966 - MLK spearheaded a march on Chicago’s City Hall, however extreme violence led to an early end

6. July 1964 – Harlem Race Riots due to the death of a 15 year old girl by police • August 1964 – race riot in Los Angeles - 34 people killed, hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage • 1966-67 – race riots in over 100 other cities Urban Violence

7. White northerners puzzled why after “winning” battles in the South against segregation, northern fights for civil rights intensified  not enough economic equality (jobs, housing education) • Federal funding that was supposed to go JLB’s War on Poverty (economic opportunities for poor and minorities) to create the Great Society was redirected to the war in Vietnam • “The Great Society has been shot down on the battlefields of Vietnam.” - MLK Urban Violence

8. Background • Malcolm Little went to jail at 20 for burglary • Studied the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam (study of Islamic beliefs to improve black lives)  Malcolm X • Released from prison in 1952 – Islamic minister Malcolm X

9. Encouraged… • Finding pride in black heritage and culture while separating from white culture • Armed self-defense for blacks in the face of white violence • Armed blacks scared whites and moderate blacks  increased resentment and prejudice against the Nation of Islam and Islam itself Malcolm X

10. Broke with the Nation of Islam over disagreements in teachings, formed another Muslim organization • Travelled to Mecca, a trip required of orthodox Muslims • Learned that orthodox Islam preached racial equality • Returned to the US with less radical views about whites and violence • ”Well, if you and I don’t use the ballot, we’re going to be forced to use the bullet. So let us try the ballot.” – Malcolm X • Feb 21, 1965 - assassinated by Nation of Islam members Ballots or Bullets?

11. 1966 – James Meredith set out on a 225-mile “March Against Fear” from Tennessee to Jackson, MS  shot and unable to continue • MLK (SCLC), Floyd McKissick (CORE), and Stokely Carmichael (SNCC) lead their followers to finish Meredith’s walk • Became apparent that CORE and SNCC had become more militant and aggressive than in earlier stages of the mov’t • MLK – “We Shall Overcome” • McKissick and Carmichael – “We Shall Overrun” March Against Fear

12. In Greenwood, MS, Carmichael arrested and badly beaten by racists • Addressed a crowd at a rally with a swollen face… • Black Power – a “call for black people to begin to define their own goals… and to lead their own organizations”  shift in SNCC, no more recruiting whites, focused on black pride Black Power

13. Oct 1966, Oakland, CA – Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the political party the “Black Panthers” to fight police brutality in urban ghettos • Advocated self-sufficiency for black communities, as well as full employment and decent housing – daycares, breakfast programs, medical clinics, assistance to the homeless • Blacks should be exempt from the military draft because an unfair number of black youths had been drafted to serve in Vietnam • Preached self-defense and walked openly with guns • Shoot outs with police, undercover FBI investigations and surveillance Black Panthers

14. 1968 Olympics – Mexico City • Tommie Smith (gold), Peter Norman (AU, silver), John Carlos (bronze) during the US national anthem • Smith and Carlos – shoeless with black socks for poverty, black gloves for black pride • All wore human rights badges • Smith and Carlos expelled from games for political statement • Smith later said…"If I win, I am American, not a black American. But if I did something bad, then they would say I am a Negro. We are black and we are proud of being black. Black America will understand what we did tonight." 1968 Olympics

15. MLK objected to the Black Power and Black Panther mov’ts planned to lead another march on DC to push for economic opportunities for blacks • April 4, 1968 – MLK shot in Memphis, TN by James Earl Ray • Robert Kennedy campaigning for POTUS bid, made a plea for nonviolence and no retaliation, but riots broke out in hundreds of US cities • June 1968 – Robert Kennedy assassinated by a Jordanian immigrant angry over his support of Israel MLK’s Assassination

16. March 1, 1968 – Kerner Commission (organization studying the cause of urban violence) stated, “This is our basic conclusion: Our nation is moving towards two societies, one black, and one white – separate and unequal.” • LBJ recognized the need for new jobs, new housing, and the end of de facto segregation but ignored this due to white opposition and fear of losing more of the Democratic party’s support. Kerner Commission

17. End of de jure segregation by changing laws • Brown v. Board of Education • Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 (banned discrimination in housing) • Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Black pride and self-determination • Black studies programs at universities • More blacks on TV and in film • Political gains • By 1970, 2/3 of blacks registered to vote • Blacks in gov’t – Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm Civil Rights Gains

18. Black militancy scared many whites and moderate blacks  decline in the mov’t • Housing, job discrimination, educational inequality, poverty, racism continued to exist due to LBJ’s inability to compromise further • De facto segregation persisted - difficult to change ingrained attitudes and traditions • The continued “white flight” essentially re-segregated schools • Affirmative action, introduced in the 1960s, designed to make special efforts to hire and enroll groups that have been systematically discriminated against in the past – opposition from those who claim “reverse discrimination” as minorities take jobs from qualified whites Unfinished work

19. Final Thoughts • The 1950s and 1960s brought about many changes in American society, politics, and economy while at the same time, Cold War tensions persisted internationally. • By the late 1960s, the conflict in Vietnam becomes too pressing to ignore, and domestic issues are put on the back burner.