Civil Rights Movement

The Second Wave

After the success in the 1950s to challenge the status quo

New movements developed to impose lasting change from within the South New leadership – under a young southern

preacher – Martin Luther King Southern Christian Leadership Conference

(SCLC) raised funds for integration campaigns throughout

the South Became the spiritual force behind the non-violent

movement

Lunch Counter Sit-ins: Greensboro, North Carolina 1960 Four Black college students began the lunch

counter sit-ins at a Woolworth’s Store. They were protesting Segregated restaurants.

Lunch Counter Sit-ins: Greensboro, North Carolina 1960 The sit-ins in NC

sparked youth in more than 100 Southern cities to conduct sit-ins.

In addition to segregated restaurants, they protested segregated parks, pools, libraries & theatres.

Freedom Riders: 1961

The purpose of the Freedom Rides was to test a Supreme Court order that outlawed segregation in bus terminals

The 1st bus of Freedom Riders was met by a white mob. They threw a fire bomb through the window. As the freedom riders ran out the bus they were

brutally beaten. Subsequent freedom riders were often beaten with

clubs and given no police protection.

Freedom Riders: 1961

When one of the buses arrived in Montgomery, they were met by a mob of more than 1000 whites. A presidential aide was injured. Robert Kennedy allowed

officials to enforce their segregation laws if they guaranteed to riders safety.

When the riders arrived in Jackson, they were arrested. He thought this was the only way to protect them.

Birmingham

MLK Jr. chose Birmingham to lead anti-segregation boycotts and mass marches because it was the most segregated city in the south and if he could desegregate Birmingham, he could desegregate any other city.

Birmingham

The largest opposition to King was Commissioner Eugene Bull Connor who ordered police to respond with force and use fire hoses, clubs and dogs.

Birmingham

MLK Jr.’s message in his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail

“…was that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be

demanded by the oppressed.”

The Kennedy administration was horrified into action with the jailing of young school children.

A Shared Dream: March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom 1963

In 1963, President Kennedy and his brother drafted a Bill to formally outlaw state segregation laws. He was assassinated before it was passed.

250,000 people marched on Washington to support the Civil Rights Bill King delivered his I Have a Dream speech at

Lincoln’s Memorial; this was significant because it was 100 years after Lincoln emancipated the slaves (1863)

Civil Rights Act

Two events caused increased public support for a comprehensive civil rights law:

- The Birmingham bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that killed 4 Sunday School girls

- The assassination of JFK In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act

that was signed by President Johnson.

“Fighting for the Ballot” The tactics used to prevent Blacks from voting,

included physical (fire bombings, beatings and harassment), legal (poll taxes, literacy tests) and economic (loss of job, food cut-offs in relief programs and rent increases) forms of terrorism.

“Fighting for the Ballot”

Through voting, Blacks could be recognized as citizens and put political pressure on officials

Without the vote, they had no political strength and could not force the local, state, and federal governments to listen to them.

“Fighting for the Ballot”

- The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) helped blacks fill out the complicated voter registration forms. They also helped poor people get government assistance and taught black children how to read and write.

“Fighting for the Ballot” The COFO launched in 1964 the Freedom

Summer campaign to bring attention to the voting abuses. 1000 college students were brought to Mississippi to help blacks register to vote and teach in Freedom Schools.

“Fighting for the Ballot”

It was important that many of the registrars were White because violence against white civil rights workers resulted in immediate national reaction, whereas violence done to blacks was often ignored.

Martin Luther King Jr. issued a nationwide appeal for support.

“Fighting for the Ballot”

In response to the Selma March and the murders of activists Jackson, Reeb & Liuzzo, Congress passed what the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

The bill outlawed obstacles to black voting and authorized federal officials to enforce fair voting practices.

“Days of Rage”

Some of the younger civil rights activists criticize MLK Jr. for devoting resources to mass marches instead of grassroots political organizing.

Some questioned the doctrine of non-violence and others did not want whites to have a role and they wanted to build their own independent political structures.

“Days of Rage”

As a result, an alternative youth organization was formed. They asked whites to leave their organization.

Black Power was their slogan with Malcolm X as their spokesperson.

“Days of Rage”

Some of the urban youth were influenced by the message of black militancy because they were not affected by the successes of the civil rights movement.

They lived in the midst of crime and poverty, they attended inadequate schools and dropped out early.

“Days of Rage”

They had little to no chance of finding a good job.

Many youth dealt with their frustrations by inciting riots.

MLK planned for 1968 “A Poor People’s March in Memphis”. He hoped to bring together all poor people- black and white.

MLK in was shot in 1968 while standing on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray.

Similar Fate

By 1964, Malcolm X had broken with the Nation of Islam and they were threatening him publically.

While preparing to give a speech in 1965 in New York he was killed by three members of the Nation of Islam. The extent to which the

government / FBI knew of the assassination plot before hand has remained a controversy.