Civil Rights Legislation and Change in the 1960sAPUSH – Spiconardi

Lyndon B. Johnson

We have talked long enough about equal rights in this country. It is now time to write the next chapter and write it in the books of law.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Banned discrimination in employment on the basis of race, religion, national origin, and sex

• Guaranteed equal access to public accommodations and schools

• Authorized the Attorney General to institute lawsuits to protect constitutional rights in public schools and facilities

I think we just delivered the South to the Republican Party

States that ratified amendmentRatified post-enactment: 1977 (VA), 1989 (NC), 2002 (AL), 2009 (TX)Rejected amendmentDidn’t ratify amendment

Twenty-fourth Amendment

Freedom Summer

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not address obstacles to black suffrage

• SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), and the NAACP launched voter registration drives in Mississippi

• Only 1200 voters registered due to violence• 37 black churches bombed or

burned• Three activists were kidnapped

and murdered

Voting Rights Act of 1965

• In January 1965, King launched a voting rights campaign in Selma, AL (355 out of 15,000 blacks allowed to register to vote)

• Gov. Wallace banned a demonstration march

• King lead a march from Selma to Montgomery

• State police assaulted the marchers with cattle prods, whips and tear gas

Voting Rights Act of 1965

• The violence against non-violent demonstrators was again broadcast on television

• Johnson calls on Congress to pass a law securing the right to vote

• Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments• Outlawed literacy tests• Authorized Attorney General to

investigate any county that had less than 50 percent registration

LBJ & MLK shaking hands after the legislation was

signed

The Changing Black Movement

• Many blacks grew frustrated with the slow pace of reform and white resistance

• Others believed it was time to move onto black poverty and economic disadvantages

• Neither new laws nor marches seemed to address these issues

Malcolm X

• Read excerpts from Malcolm X speeches and discuss in groups.

Black Power

• Ideas/Values• Freedom from whites who tried to

dictate the civil rights movement’s goals

• Advocated for the election of more black officials

• Freedom could only be won via a revolutionary struggle for self-determination

• “Black is beautiful”• Abandon the term “negro” for “Afro-

American”

Black Panthers

• Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, CA in 1966

• Advocated for armed self-defense against police brutality

• Demanded release of black prisoners due to racism in the criminal justice system

• Established • a free breakfast program for children• Health clinics to test for sickle-cell

anemia

• Violent clashes with police, FBI investigations, and deadly shootouts led to the decline of the organization

Conclusion

• “There is a different type of Negro emerging. They are not going to wait for the evolutionary process for their rights to be a man.”• Major riots break out in NYC, LA, and Detroit• Whites blame Democratic party

• King admitted he had failed to “take the civil rights movement to the masses”

• King heckler: “We don’t need your dreams; we need jobs!”

• By 1967, escalation in Vietnam halted reforms