2-5 Notes 2:Causes and Effects in the Civil

Rights Movement

Modern U.S. History

Unit 2-5: Civil Rights

June 3, 2010

Instructions for 2-5 Notes 2• These notes will help you understand the

Causes and Effects of laws passed during the Civil Rights movement.– Each page has a law in the middle. This is

surrounded by actions taken to help pass the law.

• Next to each action, make sure you put a “V” for violent or a “NV” for nonviolent to help you keep them apart.– Remember that violent or nonviolent applies to

the path the people fighting for civil rights took, not what was done to them by others.

NAACP

• The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) worked through legal strategy to overcome the inequity in education between blacks and whites. With a legal team headed by Thurgood Marshall (who would later become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice) The NAACP won cases outlawing school segregation including the important Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954). In this case the Supreme Court said that separate but equal in education is a violation of the 14th Amendment.

Emmett Till• 14 year old Emmett Till visited his

great uncle in Mississippi. He reportedly whistled at a white woman while in a shop. Two days later he was removed from his home, beaten, shot, and drowned by two white men. The white men were acquitted by an all white, male jury. Till’s mother insisted on an open casket so that the world could see what had happened to her son. The white men admitted their guilt and sold their story for money, but were never punished by the law.

Rosa Parks• On December 1, 1955, Rosa

Parks sat in the front row of the black section of the bus. As the bus filled, the white driver told her to move back. Parks refused and was arrested. Parks was a well respected member of the African-American community in Montgomery, Alabama and was an officer of the NAACP. Parks had planned this action because, as she recalled, “it was time for someone to stand up—or in my case, sit down, I refused to move.”

Montgomery Bus Boycott

• In response to Parks’ arrest, leaders of the Montgomery African American community chose 26-year-old Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to lead the boycott. On December 5, 1955, Dr. King spoke to a crowd of thousands and began the bus boycott. For 381 days 90% of Montgomery’s African American community boycotted the buses. They walked or organized car pools and taxis. Finally, in 1956, the Supreme Court outlawed bus segregation.

Civil Rights Act of 1957

• Established federal Commission on Civil Rights

• Established a Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department to enforce civil rights laws

• Enlarged federal power to protect voting rights

Little Rock Nine• In September 1957, 9 African American

students were the first to integrate Little Rock, Arkansas' Central High School. The governor ordered the Arkansas National Guard to turn the students away and the students faced harassment during their attempt to enter the school. Eisenhower ordered federal troops to escort the students to and from school and protect them during their day. At the end of the year the governor closed the school rather than have it integrated.

Lunch Counter Sit-Ins

• In February of 1960, students participating in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organized sit-ins at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, NC. TV crews covered the event as whites beat, jeered at, and poured food over the students who refused to fight back. This coverage sparked other sit-ins across the South. By late 1960, students had desegregated lunch counters in 48 cities across 11 states.

Freedom Riders• On May 4, 1961 two busses of African

American and white activists left Washington D.C. to travel to New Orleans. Their travel through the South was to protest segregation on interstate bus lines, something that had been deemed illegal. The groups were consistently met with extreme violence and a second group had to arrive to continue the ride when those of the first group were too injured to go on. They never made it to New Orleans, but did get as far as Jackson, Mississippi where they were arrested.

March on Birmingham

• In April of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. flew to Birmingham Alabama to assist the local SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) in desegregating Birmingham, “the most segregated city in America” according to MLK. Demonstrations were held and King was arrested. During this time he wrote his letter from a Birmingham Jail.

March on Birmingham• On May 2, 1953, more

than 1000 African American children marched on Birmingham. Most were arrested. On May 3, a 2nd children’s march came under attack from police including fire hoses and attack dogs. The nation watched as Birmingham police brutally attacked these children.

March on Washington D.C.

• On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people (including about 75,000 whites) gathered at the Washington Monument and marched to the Lincoln Memorial. There speakers, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to demand the immediate passage of the Civil Rights Bill. Dr. King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech at this event.

Birmingham Church Bombing

• On September 15, 1963, the KKK threw a bomb into the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four young girls, one 11 –year-old and three 14-year-olds, were killed. No one was punished for the crime until May 2001 when one of the Klansmen that bombed the church was found guilty and sentenced to life in jail.

JFK’s Assasination• In November

1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Vice President Johnson vowed to continue his work in Civil Rights.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Banned most discrimination in employment and in public accommodations

• Enlarged federal power to protect voting rights and speed up school desegregation

• Established Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to ensure fair treatment in employment

Freedom Summer

In Mississippi, during the summer of 1963, civil rights activists began registering as many African Americans as they could to vote. Most of the volunteers for this project were northern college students. Many were white and 1/3 were women. These activists faced many problems while trying to register voters. 3 of the Freedom Summer workers were murdered (see next page for more info).

Fannie Lou Hamer at the 1964 Democratic National Convention

SNCC organized the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to gain seats for African Americans in Mississippi’s all white Democratic Party. At the Democratic National Convention, Fannie Lou Hamer described conditions in Mississippi including how she was jailed for registering to vote in 1962 and how she was beaten in jail

The Selma Campaign

In 1965, the SCLC and SNCC organized a voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama. By the end of 1965, more than 2,000 African Americans had been arrested in demonstrations. During police violence at one demonstration at a church, Jimmy Lee Jackson was shot and killed.

The Selma to Montgomery March

To protest Jackson’s murder and to take the demonstration to the state capital of Montgomery, Martin Luther King announced a 50-mile protest march from Selma to Montgomery. On March 7, 1965, approximately 600 protesters left for Montgomery. TV cameras captured the scene as police beat and gassed protesters that night.

The Selma to Montgomery March

• Ten days later, President Johnson presented Congress with a new voting rights act and asked for its quick passage. On March 21, 1965, 3,000 marchers set out again for Montgomery with federal protection. The number of marchers grew to 25,000.

24th Amendment• Passed January 24, 1964

• Outlawed poll taxes

Voting Rights Act of 1965• Eliminated Voter Literacy Test

• Enabled federal examiners to register voters.

Freedom Summer—1964

• During the voter registration drive in Mississippi, 3 Freedom Summer workers, 2 white men from the North and 1 black man from Mississippi, were murdered. They were arrested by the sheriff and then released after he notified the KKK of their whereabouts. The activists were removed from their car, tortured, shot, and buried. Only after weeks of searching were their bodies found. Mississippi refused to prosecute the sheriff and others.

1968 AssassinationsOn April 4, 1968,

Martin Luther King was killed on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. His death devastated the nation and 100 cities exploded in violent race riots.

Dr. and Mrs. King

1968 Assassinations

• On June 6, 1968, Robert Kennedy was assassinated while giving a speech in L.A. Kennedy was running for President. The deaths of both of these men were great blows to the non-violent Civil Rights movement.

The Kerner Commission Report

On March 1, 1968, the Kerner Commission released its report. President Johnson had appointed this group to study the causes of urban violence. The report said that the one main cause of urban violence was white racism. The report called for social programs to provide jobs and housing for African Americans and the end to de facto segregation.

Urban Riots

In the mid-1960’s clashes between white authority and black civilians were rampant. In New York City during July 1964, a 15-year-old student was killed in an encounter with police. This sparked a riot in Harlem. On August 11, 1965, the worst race riots in America’s history happened in Watts, a predominantly African American community in L.A. 34 people were killed in Watts. 1966 and 1967 saw more violence with a riot in Detroit in 1967 that killed 43 people.

Malcolm X

After victories over de jure segregation, how to battle de facto segregation became a large problem. New leaders arose with new methods that empowered many civil rights activists. Malcolm X became a leader in the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims). He urged a message of separation from whites for blacks because he felt that whites were the cause of poor conditions for blacks.

Malcolm X• His call to self-defense for blacks appealed to an

increasing sense of racial pride. Malcolm X also believed that blacks should work to improve their own communities rather than working for complete integration. After embarking on a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964, Malcolm X broke with the teachings of the Nation of Islam and proposed a new idea called “ballots or bullets”. His idea was that if blacks don’t use the ballot they would have to use bullets so they should try the ballot.

Malcolm X

• While giving a speech in Harlem on February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was shot 16 times and killed. Many suspect that it was because of his separation with the Nation of Islam.

Black PowerThe idea of Black Power was

popularized through a SNCC worker named Stokely Carmichael in 1966. Carmichael embodied a number of African Americans who were frustrated with the violence against them. His idea of Black Power was a, “call for black people to begin to define their own goals . . . [and] to lead their own organizations.” Black Power also meant focusing on African pride rather than trying to join with the whites.

The Black Panther PartyIn October of 1966, the Black Panther Party was

formed in Oakland, California. This party advocated self defense against police brutality and self sufficiency for African American communities. Similar to the Black Power movement, the Black Panthers worked to improve the situations of Blacks themselves, such as establishing daycare centers, meal programs, medical clinics, and assistance to the homeless. Several shootouts occurred between the Panthers and the police which caused many FBI investigations of the BPP.

Civil Rights Act of 1968

• Prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of most housing

• Strengthened anti-lynching laws

• Made it a crime to harm civil rights workers

Violent vs. Nonviolent• Things to keep in mind:

– While both the nonviolent and violent civil rights movement existed at the same time, the nonviolent movement was most popular during the 1950’s and 1960’s while fighting de jure segregation – segregation that comes from the law (Brown v. Board of Education, Voting Rights Act, etc.)

– The “violent” side of the movement gained popularity in reaction to de facto segregation – segregation that exists within people and prevents minorities from getting good jobs, housing, education, etc. This focus was more in the late 1960’s and 1970’s

Malcolm X Movie• You are about to watch clips from Spike Lee’s

movie about Malcolm X. – The clips start with the intro to the movie which is a

famous speech given by Malcolm X– Next you will see a selection of speeches given by

Malcolm X while he was working for the Nation of Islam– Malcolm then returns on a plane from a pilgrimage to

Mecca after he left the Nation of Islam. You will also see the problems he encountered with having his life threatened.

– Then you will see Malcolm preparing for the speech at the Audobon Ballroom (where he was killed) and finally Ossie Davis reading the eulogy he delivered at Malcolm X’s funeral

– If you are interested in this movie, please watch the entire thing for extra credit (you can find it at any movie store)