The Achievements of the Civil Rights

Movement

The Goals of the Civil Rights Movement

The Reconstruction Amendments13th Amendment: bans slavery

Fulfilled (more or less)

14th Amendment: citizens get • “equal protection of the

laws” • “due process of law”

Unfulfilled• Segregation• Lynching• Unequal schools• Job discrimination

15th Amendment: voting rights for male citizens

Unfulfilled• Poll taxes• Literacy tests• Grandfather clauses

Three big aims

•Civil rights• Desegregation• Equal treatment•Voting rights•Economic equality

The importance of the federal government

• Southern state governments resisted integration• Massive resistance to school desegregation• George Wallace (Alabama):

“Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”• Federal intervention could help protect African Americans’

rights• Eisenhower calling in troops to protect Little Rock Nine• JFK called in federal marshals to protect Freedom Riders

• But activists wanted a bigger federal law

•Why might the Kennedy administration be reluctant to pass a civil rights law?

Sources of federal reluctance• Divided Democratic party• Northern Democrats like JFK were sympathetic

to civil rights• Southern Democrats (“Dixiecrats”) like George

Wallace supported segregation• The filibuster• Senate rule that requires a 2/3 vote to end

debate on a bill• Southern Senators successfully filibustered

previous civil rights bills• JFK wanted to achieve equality by

compromise, not by force

Why did the federal government act?

Civil rights activism

•Montgomery bus boycott – 1955-56• Sit-ins – 1960• Freedom Rides –

1961•March on

Washington – 1963

Violence by white segregationists

1960-61: Protesters at sit-ins and Freedom Rides attacked

Violence by white segregationistsMay 1963: Bull

Connor unleashes dogs and fire hoses on protesters in Birmingham, AL

Violence by white segregationists

June 1963: Medgar Evers

assassinated

Violence by white segregationists

September 1963: Segregationists bomb

a church in Birmingham, killing

four girls

Lyndon Baines Johnson• November 22, 1963: JFK

assassinated in Dallas• Vice-President Lyndon Baines

Johnson sworn in as President• Democrat from Texas• Former Senate majority leader• Better at getting members of

Congress to vote his way

Legislative Achievements

The Civil Rights Act of 1964• Bans segregation on the grounds of

race at any “public accommodation”• Hotels, parks, pools, restaurants,

theaters, etc.• Includes privately owned property

catering to “the public”• Bans employers and labor unions

from discriminating by race, gender, religion, or nationality• Bans use of federal funds for

discriminatory programs• Provides for federal enforcement of

the law

The Voting Rights Act of 1965• Bans literacy tests• Gives the federal government

power to oversee voter registration in areas with a history of discrimination• Authorizes investigations of

poll taxes• Result: despite state

resistance, massive increase in African American voting among the South

Mission accomplished?13th Amendment: bans slavery

Fulfilled (more or less)

14th Amendment: citizens get • “equal protection of the

laws” • “due process of law”

Better protected by Civil Rights Act

15th Amendment: voting rights for male citizens

Better protected by Voting Rights Act

But there’s still massive economic inequality between whites and blacks