Chapter 29:

1. Chapter 29: The Civil Rights Movement

2. What did Plessy v. Ferguson decide? • In 1896, the Supreme Court stated that ‘separate but equal’ accommodations were constitutional. • This legitimize segregated facilities throughout the ‘Jim Crow’ South.

3. What Supreme Court case challenged Plessy? • Brown v. the Board of Education ended segregation in schools in 1954. • It was won by Thurgood Marshall under Chief Justice Earl Warren. • It was resisted by some states, such as MS & GA. However, President Eisenhower had to send in federal troops to secure the right of the Little Rock Nine to attend Central High School, Arkansas. • Brown II forced schools to integrate ‘with all deliberate speed,’ while the Civil Rights Act of 1957 gave the Attorney General more power over school desegregation.

4. Who started the Montgomery Bus Boycott? • When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man, she launched a movement to end bus segregation. • The NAACP chose MLK, Jr to lead the 381-day boycott, until the Supreme Court ended bus segregation.

5. What was MLK, Jr.’s organization called? • He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or the SCLC. • He advocated soul force, which was a combination of the teachings of Jesus, Thoreau, and Gandhi. He focused on nonviolent, civil disobedience against unjust laws.

6. What other organizations focused on civil rights? • Ella Baker led the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC. • Along with the Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE, they staged sit-ins, which targeted segregated lunch counters. • By 1960, the protesters had succeeded in desegregating lunch counters in 48 cities and 11 states.

7. How did protesters desegrate travel facilities? • In 1961, protesters James Peck, CORE, and James Farmer of SNCC helped challenge segregated seating on buses and at travel facilities by organizing the ‘Freedom Rides’ throughout the South. • They endured angry mobs, beatings with chains, brass knuckles, bats, and lead pipes (sometimes by local police), and fire bombs until AG RFK and JFK responded and 400 US Marshalls were sent to protect the riders. • The AG and the ICCommission banned segregation on bus routes and at all travel facilities.

8. What happened at Ole Miss? • In 1962, US Air Force veteran James Meredith won a federal case to allow him to enroll at all-white U. of Miss. • However, Governor Ross Barnett refused to let him register. He issued a radio address, which turned out thousands of white racists after JFK ordered Marshalls to help JM register. • It took thousands of soldiers, 200 arrests, 15 hours, and 2 deaths before the rioting stopped. For the following months, Marshalls had to escort JM to class and protect his parents’ home from drive-bys.

9. What happened in Birmingham? • In order to desegregate the ‘most segregated city in America,’ MLK, Jr and the SCLC organzied nonviolent protests. • During one, MLK was arrested and jailed. There, he wrote ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail.’ • Once he posted bail, he planend children’s crusades, which turned out police, whom arrested, clubbed, fire hosed, and turned attack dogs on the demonstrating children. • The negative press, continued protests, and an economic boycott convinced city officials to desegregate. It was a stunning victory for the CRM and for nonviolence. • JFK demanded that UofA desegregate also and that Congress pass a CR bill.

10. What major events led up to the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? • The assassination of CR activist Medgar Evers prompted the CR Movement to become more urgent and militant. They began demanding ‘Freedom Now!’ • Thus, A. Philip Randolph and the SCLC organized the March on Washington to encourage Congress to pass a CR bill. • There, in 1963, MLK gave his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. • Two months later, JFK was killed. LBJ promied to continue JFK’s civil rights work and urged Congress to pass CR legislation. • Despite a 73-day long conservative filibuster, the CR Act of 1964 became law and banned discrimination based on race, religion, nationality, and gender. This began the political re-alignment of our nation.

11. What was Freedom Summer? • In 1964, CORE and SNCC began registering as many AAs as possible to vote. • After three CR workers were killed, Fannie Lou Hamer organized the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to gain greater representation in the government. • After protestor Jimmy Lee Jackson was killed, MLK organized a march from Selma to Montgomery, AL. As racists and the police swung whips and clubs at the marchers and released tear gas on them, LBJ demanded that Congress pass a voting rights bill. • The Voting Rights Act of 1965 eliminated literacy tests, and allowed federal officials to register voters. The % of AAs registered to vote in the South tripled, with the vast majority now voting Democratic.

12. What is de facto segregation? • Although de jure segregation had largely been erased due to the major pieces of CR legislation that had just been passed, de facto segregation, or segregation that persists based on custom, remained. • This would prove much harder to combat because it involves changing people’s attitudes and beliefs instead of just changing laws. • White flight had left urban centers poverty-striken. After MLK staged demonstrations in major cities, such as Chicago and LA, urban violence erupted. • Thus, LBJ instituted the War on Poverty to help provide much-needed jobs, housing, and educational opportunities to impoverished Americans. Although the WoP would have some initial success, the funds would be redirected to fund the war in Vietnam.

13. Who were some other major leaders in the Civil Rights Movement? • Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam and began preaching armed self-defense for AAs and to separate from white society. After a pilgrimage to Mecca, he realized that Islam promoted racial equality. When he returned to the US, he began preaching nonviolence. Because he split with the Black Muslims, they shot him in 1965. • Some CORE & SNCC members became increasingly militant and broke with MLK the SCLC. As such, Stokely Carmichael of SNCC initiated the slogan ‘Black Power’ to emphasize AA pride. • In 1966, Bobby Seale and Huey Newton began the Black Panthers to fight police brutality in the ghettos. They focused on self reliance and self defense for AAs and worked to estabslish day care centers, medical clinics, and breakfast programs to helf their communities.

14. Why was 1968 such an important year concerning the Civil Rights Movement? • MLK was shot and killed by James Earl Ray in Memphis. • RFK, who was campaigning for president, urged nonviolence. However, MLK’s death sparked the worst urban rioting in US history. RFK would be assassinated shortly after by Sirhan Sirhan over Israel. • The Kerner Commission determined that urban rioting was due to white racism. Their recommendations were largely never enforced due to white opposition. • However, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 outlawed discrimination in housing.

15. In sum: • The Civil Rights Movement did end de jure discrimination with the passage of • The Civil Rights Act of 1957; • The Civil Rights Act of 1964; • The Voting Rights Act of 1965; and • The Civil Rights Act of 1968. • It also gave AA a sense of pride and launched the women’s and other minority groups’ struggles for equality. • However, de facto discrimination still exists. White flight created ‘de facto’ segregated schools. Affirmative action programs to increase equal opportunities would be instituted 1960s, but greatly challenged by conservatives in the 1980s.