Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

22
Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Transcript of Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Page 1: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Reading #3Challenging Jim Crow

The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Page 2: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Objective…Evaluate how the Kennedy Administration responded to the challenges of the Civil Rights Movement.

Page 3: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

1960 Civil Rights Report: Discrimination affected AAs…• 57% of housing unacceptable• Life expect. 7 yrs < whites• Infant mortality 2 X whites• Impossible to get mortgages• Property values drop when black family

moved into a neighborhood

Page 4: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

The 1960 Election & CRsKennedy (Dem.) v. Nixon (Rep.)

• Dr. King is arrested during a protest against segregation… Ike is idle, Nixon is silent …JFK reaches out to Mrs. King and RFK persuades the judge to allow bail.

• Nixon said little about CR• JFK promised discrimination would be

eliminated “with a stroke of a pen.”• JFK wins 70% of the black vote in 1960

Page 5: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Kennedy & CRs…• JFK promises CR leaders… “minimum legislation, maximum executive actions”

• Two years into his presidency CR groups mail JFK pens in protest

• Is MLK a communist?• JFK & RFK help MLK when arrested in Atlanta• JFK appoints 5 AA federal judges …Including

Thurgood Marshall

First African American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall

Page 6: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Kennedy & CRs…

JFK: Actions taken...•Pressures federal government to employ AAs •Forced Redskins to sign an AA player… Withholds use of the stadium•The Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity fights discrimination in civil service & in corporations with government contracts•Invigorates CR division of Dept. of Justice

Why was JFK delayed in responding to the demand for civil rights?

Page 7: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

1961: The Albany Movement• Mass non-violent protests to end segregation in

Albany, GA• Organizers… SNCC, NAACP & SCLC• Mobilized thousands, but was a FAILURE.• The Albany police, avoided violent incidents that would

attract national publicity…. They met non violence with non-violence

• Prisoners were sent to jails all over southwest GA

Page 8: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Freedom Rides…• WHEN?... 1961-1962

• WHO?... CORE

• WHAT?... Interracial groups ride the interstate bus system

• WHERE?... The deep South (ALA & MISS)

Page 9: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Freedom Rides• WHY?...

- Morgan v. Virginia…

- Goal: Provoke southern authorities to arrest riders & force the Justice Dept. to enforce law… Fight Jim Crow

Page 10: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Results of the Freedom Rides…• Extreme violence… White mobs attack & beat riders • Reveals the unwillingness of federal government to

enforce laws• Personal representative of RFK almost beaten to death• Forces JFK/ RFK to act… The ICC bans segregation in all

interstate travel• National exposure of southern racism.

Page 11: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Integrating Ole Miss Sept. 1962

• Air Force vet James Meredith wins his case to enroll• Governor Ross Barnett denies registration of Meredith• RFK sends federal marshals • Gov. Barnett encouraged resistance• Riots: 2 killed, 169 marshals injured• JFK sends 5K troops…Meredith went to school

James Meredith

by Federal Marshals James Meredith - Shot during a voting rights march in

June, 1966

Page 12: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Birmingham, Alabama…• The most segregated city in the South• 40% black• 80K voters… 10K black voters• KKK stronghold... A.K.A. “Bombing-ham”• MLK’s demands Birmingham desegregate…

- Protesters & fill the city jails

- Boycott stores & business

- Engage Eugene Connor

Page 13: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Birmingham becomes a national media event…

• Mass protests... Nationally seen on TV• Police reaction… Arrests, dogs, fire hoses & beatings• The arrest of MLK – Letter From Birmingham Jail• Children’s Crusade• Black youth becomes violent

Eugene “Bull” Connor -"I want them to see the dogs work,"

Page 15: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

A police officer arrests MLK…

Dr. King’s Letter From the Birmingham Jail

Page 16: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Birmingham Children's Crusade May, 1963

• Children march & are arrested• 900 students arrested in a makeshift stadium/ jail• Bull Connor orders the use of fire hoses & dogs• Malcolm X is critical… "Real men don't put their

children on the firing line.”• Helps gain support for the 1964 Civil Right Act.

Page 17: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

Birmingham – May, 1963• Justice Dept negotiates a settlement • MLK declares victory• Connor & Gov. Wallace denounce the

settlement• A KKK rally & several bombings force JFK

to send 3,000 troops• The 16th Street Church is bombed…• Eventually the negotiated settlement is

followed

Page 18: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

The Bombing of the

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-MuWDsv5pg&feature=related

Page 19: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

The significance of Birmingham…

• The nation is in shock ...White support for the movement is evolving

• The CR movement is inspired

• The CR movement joins the working poor with the students, professional & religious groups – “FREEDOM NOW!”

• JFK endorses CR

Page 20: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

The murder of Medgar Evers…The defining moment for JFK

• Vocal member of the NAACP

• JFK announces his CR bill... “a moral issue”

• That evening Evers is murdered ....shot in the back at his home.

Page 21: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

The March on Washington

• WHAT?... A non-violent march supporting of JFK’s proposed CR bill

• WHO?... SCLC, NAACP, SNCC, CORE – 250,000 people

• WHERE? Washington DC• WHEN? August, 1963

*JFK is assassinated Nov. 22, 1963

Page 22: Reading #3 Challenging Jim Crow The 1963 March on Washington D.C.

“I have a dream...”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUP_ISA030c&NR=1