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More Successes and Challenges

More Successes and Challenges. US History 14-3 Mrs. Huston. Voting Rights. Literacy Tests —make people prove they can read Blacks were required to read very difficult material—law books, etc. Poll Taxes —make people pay a fee to be able to vote

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More Successes and Challenges

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  1. More Successes and Challenges US History 14-3 Mrs. Huston

  2. Voting Rights • Literacy Tests—make people prove they can read • Blacks were required to read very difficult material—law books, etc. • Poll Taxes—make people pay a fee to be able to vote • Blacks were often required to pay more than they could afford

  3. Results • Together with intimidation, Literacy tests and Poll Taxes kept many blacks from voting • In Mississippi in 1964 NO African Americans were registered to vote

  4. Freedom Summer • Plan to register blacks to vote • 1,000 volunteers • Formed a new political party—Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

  5. Disappearances • Three civil rights workers vanished almost immediately • SNCC claimed they’d been murdered, but the state denied it • President Johnson ordered an investigation • Bodies were found buried in an earthen dam • All had been shot

  6. Political Party • The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party sent a delegation to the Democratic Convention in 1964 • Fannie Lou Hamer gave a moving speech about the beatings, etc. they’d suffered to be able to vote • The Democratic Party would only give them two “at-large” seats at the convention

  7. Convention, cont. • The MFDP refused the compromise offer • The regular Mississippi delegation walked out because the MFDP had been offered the two seats

  8. Selma March 1965 • Organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the SCLC • Confrontations on Pettus Bridge • “Bloody Sunday” • Marchers attacked by state troopers and others • Nation reacted in anger

  9. President steps in • President Johnson called for new federal voting rights law • He said it was wrong to deny any of our fellow citizens the right to vote

  10. Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Banned literacy tests • Gave the federal government the power to oversee voting registration and elections • 1975—Hispanics in the Southwest were added to the coverage

  11. 24th Amendment • Ratified in 1964 • Banned poll tax • Supreme Court also gave several important decisions • Baker v. Carr • Reynolds v. Simms • To limit racial gerrymandering (altering district boundaries to weaken minority power)

  12. Impact • African American political participation grew enormously • Example: in Mississippi the percentage of African American’s registered to vote went from 7% to nearly 70% over the next 20 years • The number of elected African American officials also grew

  13. Violence • Many African Americans were still frustrated by the lack of progress • Racially based riots occurred in many large cities • Watts riot in Los Angeles • Looting • Arson • Newark, New Jersey • Detroit, Michigan

  14. Kerner Commission • Research the reason behind the riots • Cause found to be the long term racial discrimination • Recommended programs aimed at overcoming the problems of urban ghettos • President Johnson distracted by the Vietnam War and didn’t address the issue

  15. New Leaders Emerged • Many young, urban blacks looked for new leadership • They wanted a new approach • New methods

  16. Individuals and Groups • Malcom X • Adopted the X to represent his lost African name • Converted to the Nation of Islam • Later broke from that group and formed his own • Shot and killed in 1965

  17. More • Stokely Carmichael • SNCC leader • First to use the term “black power” • Black Panthers • Huey Newton • Bobby Seale • Militant group • Organized armed patrols in neighborhoods for protection from police

  18. National Attention • Marched on California state capitol • Preferred the term “black” to Negro or colored • Often in violent confrontations with police

  19. Assassination • MLK disagreed with the call for black power • Supported non-violence • Helping sanitation workers striking for better wages in Memphis, Tennessee • Killed on the balcony of his motel April 4, 1968 • James Earl Ray was charged with his murder

  20. Another Death • While campaigning for President, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles two months later

  21. Civil Rights Gains • Eliminated laws promoting segregation • Knocked down barriers to voting rights • African American poverty rates fell • Average income and high school graduation rates rose

  22. More Gains • Thurgood Marshall became the first African American Supreme Court Justice in 1967 • Fair Housing Act passed • Banned discrimination in housing

  23. Controversies • In order to integrate schools, federal government had to order busing of students • Affirmative action laws passed • Increased African American representation in schools, businesses, etc. • The debate continued

  24. The End

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