1950s & Civil Rights
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Transcript of 1950s & Civil Rights
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1950s & Civil Rights
• Purpose: to defy Jim Crow laws, desegregating society and provide equal opportunity to African Americans
• Blacks had been disenfranchised since the late 1800s, regardless of a Constitutional Amendment allowing them equal rights
• Abuse of federal and state powers allow the continuation for discrimination against blacks
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Emmett Till Murder case
• 1955, 14 year old Till was murdered for flirting with a white woman
• The men indicted for the crime were acquitted on account the jury consisted of all white males
• Body was found in the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi
• He was kidnapped, shot and tortured
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Efforts to progress
• NAACP was an organization responsible for the legal enforcement of African American rights
• Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing her seat on the bus for a white man
• This event sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott lead by Martin Luther King Jr.
• Civil disobedience became the leading philosophy for black civil rights activists
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Truman, Congress and Eisenhower
• When Truman became aware of the severity of the situation he ended segregation in the military and caused integration within combat units
• Congress stubbornly resisted any civil rights legislations
• Eisenhower did not show any interest in the social issue
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Brown v. Board of Education
• May 1954, overturned the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision “separate but equal” facilities are not unconstitutional
• B v. B of E decision states segregation within schools is unconstitutional
• Deep southern states enforced state laws which allowed them to defy federal law
• Without federal enforcement, segregation would continue
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“Little Rock Nine” integrate at Central High School
• Eisenhower believed Brown v. Board decision disrupted the “customs and convictions of at least two generations of Americans”
• “I do not believe that palpably unjustifiable prejudices will succumb to compulsion”
• September 1957, Governor or Arkansas mobilized the National Guard to prevent 9 black students from integrating Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas
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SCLC & MLK
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference established by MLK in 1957
• Purpose: mobilize black churches to enforce civil rights
• Why churches?• The largest black organizations in the country
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Greensboro “sit-in”
• Feburary 1, 1960 Greensboro North Carolina• Four black college students from NC tech sat
at a counter in Woolworth• Upon being refused for service, they refused
to leave the establishment• They returned the next day with 19 other
classmates• The movement spread throughout the South
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SNCC
• April 1960, southern black students organized the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
• They organized sit-ins and in the future, would be responsible for more radical approaches towards gaining civil rights
• Known for their practice in civil disobedience but will move towards more militant tactics in the future
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Vietnam
• Ho Chi Minh – leader of Communist North Vietnam
• 1954, U.S. taxpayers financed 80% of the French colonial Indochinese war
• Ngo Dinh Diem – leader of pro-western government South Vietnam
• Vietnamese never held promised elections and Vietnam remained divided
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Vietnam
• Eisenhower promised economic and military aid to Diem’s regime if S. Vietnam undertook social reform
• Why did the U.S. support the Vietnam War?• The French were involved in the Indochinese
War. Therefore, the U.S. supported France in order to gain approval to rearm West Germany.
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U.S. & European Affairs
• West Germany joined NATO and brought 500k troops• Warsaw Pact provided a counter military presence in
Europe• Arms-control agreements were signed in May 1955
and Soviets agreed to end the occupation in Austria• U.S. admitted Hungarian refugees after false peace in
Europe sprung violent outbreaks • Hungarians protested for their independence and
the Soviets crushed them with opposition
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Coup to crush Communism
• CIA organized a coup in Iran 1953, which would allow control over oil interests for the Western world
• Installed a young shah as leader of Iran• In future endeavors, U.S. would try to
overthrow his regime• Oil consumption had peaked upon discovery
and the U.S. has yet another issue: oil resources
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Eisenhower Doctrine & Space Race
• U.S. provides military and economic aid to Middle Eastern countries threatened by Communist aggression
• During the Cold War, the U.S. and Soviets had a bitter rivalry with nuclear arms and scientific innovation
• October 4th 1957, Soviets successfully deploy a satellite, “Sputnik” which orbits the moon
• NASA was established and U.S. becomes first country to have someone land on the moon
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U.S. vs. the World
• Environmental issues plague society and the field of science
• May 1960, U2 spy plane shot down in Russia• Fidel Castro started a Cuban revolution in
1959, and U.S. retaliated with an embargo• Cuba becomes a economic and military
satellite to Russia• 1961 U.S. breaks diplomatic ties with Cuba
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Presidential Election
• Richard Nixon – R, Vice President to Dwight Eisenhower
• John F. Kennedy – D, young, attractive and great communication skills
• Kennedy claimed the Soviets had been given the upper had through nuclear threat and the space race
• Nixon said the administration had not fallen, but Kennedy was causing it to with unpatriotic rhetoric
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Presidential Debates on TV
• The invention of the TV, for the first time, allowed the America public to be influenced by image
• Kennedy was young and attractive. He knew how to speak to the American people
• Nixon appeared older and tired. He slipped up during his debates with Kennedy
• Vision greatly influenced the outcome of the debate
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1960s• Represents a sexual revolution, civil rights revolution,
feminist revolution and the emergence of the “youth culture”
• Computers were invented, McDonald’s were established, the credit card was made and Disneyland was built
• Elvis emerges as a rock and sex icon• Marilyn Monroe was popularized through her overt
sexuality• Berlin Wall built in 1961 to divide East Germany and
West Germany• Represented post WWI division of Europe
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U.S. and Foreign Issues
• Kennedy reduces tariffs and tries to expand American Markets in Europe
• President of France shows opposition to American influence in Europe and pushes decolonization of European nations
• Congo gains its independence from Belgium and violence breaks out
• Kennedy improves military tactics through Secretary of Defense McNamara, increases tactful military spending and the Green Berets emerge
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Vietnam War• Original intent: to aid social reform in S. Vietnam• Anti-Diem agitators threatened to overthrow the
pro-American govt. Diem established• November 1963, Kennedy encourages a coup
against Diem• U.S. provided large sums of financing to S.
Vietnam. Kennedy’s decision allowed the disintegration of S. Vietnam. It destroyed the original plan in Vietnam
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Bay of Pigs Invasion
• April 17 1961• CIA-backed scheme to overthrow Castro’s
regime was implemented • 1200 Cuban exiles with weapons supplied by
the U.S. invaded Cuba • The coup failed and the exiles were jailed• The failed attempt to assassinate Castro
pushed him further onto the Soviet’s side
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Cuban Missile Crisis
• October 1962, spy plane aerial photos show presence of Soviet missiles on Cuban airfields
• October 22, 1962 Kennedy orders a naval quarantine of Cuba. Demanded removal of missiles
• U.S. tells Soviets any Cuban aggression would be seen as Soviet retaliation and would result in nuclear retaliation
• Soviets agree to remove missiles and the U.S. would remove missiles from Turkey and end quarantine
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Freedom Riders
• Civil Rights group organize a trip through the segregated South
• Participators would go into segregated bus facilities and defy state segregation laws
• Groups were met by angry mobs• Non violent resistance was used against
violent protest• Many were brutalized and attacked
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Kennedy & Civil Rights
• In the early days of his administration, Kennedy’s concern was on Soviet Russia, and saw Civil Rights as a nuisance
• After violence broke out against protesters in the South, his efforts to relieve racial tension began
• Many did not like Kennedy for his efforts in the Civil Rights Movements
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March on Washington
• MLK lead 200k for the March on Washington in 1963 where he gave his famous “I have a Dream” speech
• Kennedy called racial violence a “moral issue”• Civil Rights activist Medgar Evers murdered in
Mississippi the same night Kennedy gives his Civil Rights speech
• September 1963, Baptist Church bombed killing four black girls
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Assassination of John F. Kennedy