The Civil Rights Era Chapter 29

1. The Civil Rights EraChapter 29 1954-1973

2. Section 1 The Civil Rights Movement

3. Equality In Education - African Americans had suffered from racism and discrimination in the U.S. since colonial times. - African Americans began to believe that now was the time for them to enjoy an equal place in American Life. They fought for equal opportunities in jobs, housing and education They also fought against segregation-the separation of people of different races. -The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)had worked on behalf of African Americans since its founding in 1909.

4. In the 1950s NAACP lawyers searched for cases that they could use to challenge the laws allowing segregation in public education. In 1896 the Plessey v. Ferguson case, the court ruled that “separate but equal” public facilities were legal. Thurgood Marshall, the chief lawyer for the NAACP, decided to challenge the idea of “separate but equal”. The family of Linda Brown sued the school system of Topeka Kansas for not allowing their daughter to attend school because she was an African American. The Court decided in the favor of the School. However Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP appealed the case all the way to the Supreme court.

5. The case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas reached the Supreme court in December 1952. • Marshall argued that segregated schools were not and could not be equal to white schools and that segregated schools violated the 14th amendment. • On May 17, 1954 the court unanimously ruled that it was unconstitutional to separate school children by race. • This decision reversed the court’s previous decision in the Plessey v. Ferguson case • This decision also called on school authorities to make plans for integrating-bring races together-public schools with deliberate speed.

6. In 1957 a federal judge ordered Central High School, an all white school in Little Rock, Arkansas, to admit African American students. • Orval Faubus, the governor of Arkansas, opposed integration. • He called out the state’s National Guard to prevent the African American Students’ from entering his school. • This was the first time since the Civil War that a southern state had defied the authority of the Federal government. • The President warned Faubus that if he did not admit the students then the federal government would act upon the matter.

7. When a federal judge ruled that the governor had violated federal law, Faubus removed the National Guard. • Eisenhower then sent hundreds of soldiers to Little rock to patrol the school grounds and protect the students. • With this support, the nine African American students-The Little Rock Nine- entered the school.

9. The Civil Rights EraChapter 29 1954-1973

10. Section 1 The Civil Rights Movement

11. Gains on Other Fronts • As school segregation continued African Americans made other advances in securing their rights. • On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a bus in Montgomery Alabama. • She sat in a section that was reserved for white people. • When a white passenger entered the bus Mrs. Parks was told that she had to get up and give her seat to the white man. • She refused and was then arrested for breaking the law and fined $10.

12. Mrs. Parks arrest led African Americans in Montgomery to organize a boycott-a refusal to use-of the city’s buses. • Almost 75% of the bus company’s riders were African American. • At a boycott meeting, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a young Baptist minister, came forward to speak. • His speech captivated the crowd and also persuaded them to join in on the bus boycott. • African Americans in Montgomery began to pull together to make this boycott work.

13. Students began to hitchhike to school and people rode bikes or walked to work. • Dr. King also organized a massive carpool system to get people from place to place. • The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted for a year. • Dr. King and other African American leaders were arrested at different times during the boycott. • The bus company lost thousands of dollars and many downtown businesses lost customers as a result of the boycott. • In December 1956 the boycott ended as a result of the Supreme Court ruling that the Montgomery bus segregation law was unconstitutional.

14. With the victory in Montgomery, King became the spokesman of the Civil Rights Movement. • Dr. King followed the tactics of A. Phillip Randolph, the nations most prominent African American labor leader. • Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was also greatly influenced by the teachings of Mohandas Gandhi. • Gandhi had used nonviolent protest to help India gain independence from Great Britain. • Gandhi also used protest methods based on civil disobedience, or the refusal to obey laws that are considered unjust.

15. In January 1957, King and other ministers started the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). • SCLC leaders emphasized nonviolent protest. • They showed Civil Rights workers how to protect themselves from violent attacks • The SCLC basically prepared African Americans for the struggle for equal rights

17. The Civil Rights EraChapter 29 1954-1973

18. Section 2 Kennedy and Johnson

19. By 1960 the Civil Rights Movement had become a national movement. • At the same time the nation was also preparing for a presidential election. • The Republican Candidate was Richard M. Nixon • He pledged to continue the policies of Eisenhower • The Democratic Candidate was John F. Kennedy • He promised new programs to “get the country moving again”. • Nixon led the polls for much of the campaign. • One reason for this was that Kennedy was Roman Catholic and Americans feared that if he won then he would show more loyalty to his church that to his country. • Kennedy responded to this by stressing his belief in the separation of Church and state.

20. Kennedy came from one of the countries wealthiest and most powerful families. • He joined the Navy during WWII and was assigned to active duty in the Pacific. • His political career began in 1946 when he won a seat in Congress from Massachusetts. • In 1952 he was elected to the U.S. Senate. • After his reelection to the Senate in 1958, Kennedy began campaigning for the presidency.

21. The turning point of the 1960 election came when the candidates took part in the first televised presidential debate. • Kennedy appeared handsome and youthful. • Nixon looked tired and sick. • Many viewers thought that Kennedy made a better impression. • Nearly 70 million voters turned out to the polls on election day. • The results were very close • Kennedy won the popular vote with 49.7% • Kennedy also won the electoral vote 303-219. • Kennedy became the President of the United States.

22. The New Frontier • On January 20, 1961 thousands of people came to the capitol to see John F. Kennedy become the 35th president of the United States. • He promised to face the nations challenges with determination • Shortly after entering office, Kennedy drew up his plans for the New Frontier- a group of proposals involving social programs. • One bill called for more federal funds for education. • Another aimed to help poor people get jobs. • Another area of concern for Kennedy was civil rights.

23. Kennedy began to worry that if he moved to quick, in regard to civil rights, that he might anger the Southern Democrats in Congress. • In 1963 Kennedy decided to ask Congress to pass a bill guaranteeing civil rights. • The House of Representatives approved it, but it was stalled in the Senate. • Right after he petitioned Congress he left for a campaign trip to Dallas, Texas. • On November 22, 1963 Kennedy arrived in Dallas with his wife Jacqueline • As the president and first lady rode through the streets in a convertible several shots were fired

24. Kennedy had been shot. • He was taken to a nearby hospital but, but he was already dead by the time he arrived. • The assassination stunned the nation. • Dallas Police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald and charged him with killing the President. • 2 days later, as police were moving Oswald from one jail to another, Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald. • Shortly afterward the President was pronounced dead, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office while aboard Air Force 1.

25. President Johnson appointed Earl Warren, chief justice of the United States, to head a commission to investigate the Kennedy shooting. • After months of investigation the Warren Commission issued its report. • It said that Oswald had acted on his own • However, the report did not satisfy everyone • Many people felt ,and still feel today, that the assassination was a conspiracy or a secret plot.

26. The Great Society • Soon after becoming President, Lyndon B. Johnson outlined a set of programs even more ambitious than Kennedy’s New Frontier. • He called his proposals the “Great Society.” • In January 1964, President Johnson declared “an unconditional war on poverty in America.” • The first part of his plan for a Great Society consisted of programs to help Americans who lived below the poverty line-the minimum income needed to survive. Other Great Society programs included: • A program called Head Start provided preschool education for the children of poorer families.

27. Upward Bound helped poor students attend college. • The Job Corps offered training to young people who wanted to work. • Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) was a kind of domestic peace corps of citizens working in poor neighborhoods. • Two of the most important laws passed under Johnson were those that established Medicare and Medicaid. • Medicare helped, and still helps, pay for medical care for senior citizens. • Medicaid helped, and still helps, poor people pay their hospital bills.

28. In 1966 President Johnson established the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). • This program helped fund public housing projects. • Another program, Model Cities, provided money to help rebuild cities. • Schools also received a boost from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. • This greatly increased spending for education. • Johnson also focused a great deal of attention on the Civil Rights Movement • Although raised in the South, Johnson was not a segregationist.

29. When Johnson took office he vowed to turn the Civil Rights bill Kennedy had proposed into law. • In July 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. • This act prohibited discrimination against African Americans in employment, voting, and public accommodations. • It banned discrimination not only by race and color, but also by sex, religion, or national origin.

31. The Civil Rights EraChapter 29 1954-1973

32. Section 3 The Struggle Continues

33. The Movement Grows • A new wave of civil rights activity swept across the nation in the 1960s. • African Americans expanded their goal to fighting discrimination and racism in the North as well as the South. • High school and college students staged sit-ins in nearly 80 cities. • A sit-in is the act of protesting by sitting down. • Sit-ins were staged throughout the nation against stores that practiced segregation. • Gradually many stores agreed to desegregate, but not without resistance.

34. The sit-ins also helped launch a new Civil Rights Group. • The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). • Ella Baker, civil rights activist who had played important roles in both the NAACP and the SCLC, was one of the founding members of SNCC. • In 1960 the Supreme Court had ruled, in the Boynton v. Virginia case, that segregated bus facilities were unconstitutional. • The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was determined to test this decision

35. On May 4, 1961 a group of African American and white CORE members left Washington D.C., on two buses bound for New Orleans. • These were called Freedom Rides and the riders were the Freedom Riders. • At first the trip was smooth for the riders but soon it would turn violent. • When the buses reached Alabama angry mobs stoned and beat the Freedom Riders • One of the buses was even bombed in Anniston, Alabama. • Television and newspapers broadcast reports of the beatings

36. As a result of what was happening, Attorney General, Robert Kennedy asked CORE to stop the Freedom Rides immediately. • He wanted there to be a “cooling off period” • However, James Farmer, the leader of CORE, responded, “ We have been cooling off for 350 years. If we cool off anymore we will be in a deep freeze.” • The freedom Riders pressed on only to meet more violence in Birmingham and Montgomery. • When they finally arrived in Jackson, Mississippi police officers and the National Guard were waiting for them. • When they stepped off the bus they were arrested for trespassing and thrown in jail.

37. Despite the violence and the jail time Freedom Rides continued all summer long. • Soon the Interstate Commerce Commission to steps to enforce the Supreme Court ruling. • They issued new regulations that banned segregation on interstate buses and in bus stations. • African Americans continued to apply pressure to secure their civil rights. • The urged President Kennedy to take a more active role in the civil rights struggle. • In 1962 a federal court ordered the University of Mississippi to enroll James Meredith, its first African American student.

38. Still, Mississippi Governor, Ross Barnett prevented, with them aid of police officers prevented Meredith from registering. • President Kennedy then sent federal marshals to intervene on the situation. • When this occurred riots erupted • Meredith finally succeeded in registering, but two people had been killed. • Federal troops were stationed at the school to protect him until he graduated in 1963.

39. Another confrontation between state and federal powers took place in June 1963 at the University of Alabama. • Governor George Wallace vowed that he would “stand in the schoolhouse door” to block the integration of the University of Alabama. • President Kennedy again had to intervene • He sent the Alabama National Guard to ensure the entry of African Americans to the University of Alabama • Wallace backed down from that challenge

40. In the spring of 1963 Dr. martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC targeted Birmingham, Alabama for a desegregation protest. • They felt that Birmingham was the most racist city in the United States • During these demonstrations, police arrested hundreds of people, including King. • King spent two weeks in jail. • During these two week she wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” • In it he basically said that the wait was over; African Americans must act now. • It was also during this time that children began to be used in the protests.

41. National television carried vivid pictures of police using attack dogs and high pressure water hoses on the protestors • This also included children. • President Kennedy sent 3,000 troops to restore peace in Birmingham. • At the height of the events in Birmingham, Medger Evers, a state field secretary for the NAACP, was murdered in Jackson Mississippi on June 11, 1963. • His murder combined with the events in Birmingham forced Kennedy to make a decision. • The president introduced new legislation giving all Americans the right to be served in public places and barring discrimination in employment.

43. The Civil Rights EraChapter 29 1954-1973

44. Section 3 The Struggle Continues

45. The Movement Grows • To rally support for the civil rights bill, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the SCLC organized a massive march in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. • 200,000 people of all colors and from all over the country came to take part in the March • Remarkable there was no violence during this event. • It was at this March on Washington that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. • Unfortunately Congress did not pass Kennedy’s civil rights bill until after his death. • Lyndon B. Johnson finally persuaded Congress to pass the bill.

46. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination in hiring and ended segregation in stores, restaurants, theaters, and hotels. • However, in many states African Americans still could not vote. • Poll taxes, literacy tests, and other discriminatory laws prevented them from exercising this right. • During the Summer of 1964, thousands of civil rights workers spread throughout the south to help African Americans register to vote. • They called this campaign Freedom Summer. • However it was anything but because of all the strong and sometimes violent opposition they faced

47. The next year SNCC organized a major demonstration in Selma, Alabama to protest the continued denial of African Americans’ right to vote. • Police attacked the civil rights demonstrators and they marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. • This became known as “Bloody Sunday”. • The attacks got so bad that President Johnson had to step in. • On March 15, 1965, in a televised speech, President Johnson urged the passage of a voting rights bill. • In August, Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.

48. This Act gave the federal government the power to force local officials to allow African Americans to register to vote. • This act led to major changes in political life in the South. • In 1966 about 100 African Americans held elective office in the South. • By 1972 that number had increased 10 times

50. The Civil Rights EraChapter 29 1954-1973