america’s struggle for civil rights
DESCRIPTION
America’s Struggle for Civil Rights. 1954-1965. 1954. Brown vs. Board of the Education Ends constitutionality of “separate but equal” in education. 1955: Emmett Till. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
1954-1965
America’s Struggle for Civil Rights
1954
Brown vs. Board of the Education Ends constitutionality of “separate but equal” in
education
1955: Emmett Till
The brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955 galvanized the fledging civil rights movement like no other killing of a black by white racists before it. After an all-white, all-male jury acquitted Till's two killers, the case festered for 49 years until the U.S. Justice Department reopened it in 2004. In late February of 2007, a Lefore County, Miss. grand jury declined to issue any new indictments, effectively bringing the case to an abrupt and ignoble end.
1955
Rosa Parks arrested for failing to give up her seat to a white man
Bus Boycott 40,o00 black riders
participate 382 days
MLK Jr. made president of the Montgomery Improvement Association
1956 - 1957
Federal Courts and Supreme Court rule that bus segregation, separate but equal intrastate transportation, is unconstitutional
Boycott ends…whites respond with violence______________________Greensborough, NC Woolworth’s: Whites only75000 college kids across the South stage sit-ins in Woolworths and other white-only establishments1961: Restaurant segregation largely ended
1961
1960: Supreme Court rules that segregation of interstate travel is unconstitutional (Boynton v. VA)
Freedom Riders integrate to enforce the ruling
Inspired by Kennedy’s words (1961): “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. ”
April 1963
King organizes “Project C” marches/boycotts in Birmingham, Alabama 6000 kids join Fire hoses and dogs used against them
May 1963
Birmingham agrees to integrate and hire African Americans
KKK responds with rally; law enforcement joins them
Kennedy sends in federal troops
June 1963
Kennedy proposes Civil Rights Bill Desegregate interstate commerce Denies federal funding to organizations that segregate Makes 6th grade education acceptable for voter
registration Kennedy addresses the nation on television
King and Randolph announce March on Washington
August 28,1963
The March on Washington Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial 250,000 marchers (more than double expected) Speakers, musicians John Lewis speech (revised) Martin Luther King Jr.: “I have a dream” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqS88XWt0hE
Autumn 1963
September 15, 1963: 16th Street Baptist
Church, Birmingham exploded by KKK members; four teen-
aged girls killedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m66xzIG2q9w
November 22, 1963: Kennedy assassinated
Impact on Civil Rights?
Johnson’s Great Society
Johnson: Greatest legislator in American history? Wanted to end segregation, poverty, lack of health care Head Start Job Corps and Vista Appalachian Regional Development Act Elementary and Secondary Education Act Medicare Consumer Protections Environmental Protections Department of Housing and Urban Development
Civil Rights Act of 1964 Believed integration was morally correct and socially necessary Outlawed public racial discrimination Ended Jim Crow laws Banned discrimination in employment and union membership
Voting Registration
Selma, Alabama: 50%+ African American Population 1% African American Registered
VotersMarch in Selma (to demonstrate violence): March 1965
MLK arrestedJohnson sends Voting Rights Bill to Congress
Results in violenceSelma-Montgomery March
Marchers meet violent resistance from local law enforcement Americans across the country watch in horror MLK Jr. organizes corresponding Ministers’ March LBJ sends National Guard, FBI, and federal troops to protect marchers 25,000 marchers reach Montgomery
Voting Rights Act of 1965: August
Resistance to Civil Rights George Wallace
Southern Democrat 45th Governor of Alabama,
served 4 terms “stand in the schoolhouse door”
Blocked entry to Univ. of Alabama Blocked entry to elementary schools
Ordered state troops to Birmingham during the 1963 march
Lost the Presidency 4 times 1965:Primary vs. Kennedy 1969:Ran as independent 1973:Democratic primary
Survived assassination attempt 1977 : Democratic primary
Infamous Quotes:
“In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” (1963 inauguration)
"The President wants us to surrender this state to Martin Luther King and his group of pro-Communists who have instituted these demonstrations."
Differing Views of How to Achieve Civil Rightshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4PqLKWuwyU
Necessary Violence:
e.g. Robert Williams “The Southern brute
respects only force.” “Non-violence is no
repellent for a sadist.” Petitioning has not led to
results; violence has History shows that
patience does not yield results like violence
Black Power:
e.g. Malcolm X Separate, rather than
integrate Blacks have a right to
retaliate against whites with aggression
Militant civil rights policies
(Malcolm X later changed his views and sought to work with whites; he was assassinated)
Non-Violence
Inspired by:
Jesus “turn the other cheek”
Henry David Thoreau: Civil Disobedience
(1849): People should not allow a government to override their moral consciousness
Mahatma Gandhi defied British tyranny
through non-violent civil disobedience
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Baptist preacher Civil Rights Worker
1955: Bus Boycott 1957: Southern Christian
Leadership Conference 1963: March on
Washington (“I have a dream”)
Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1964)
Advocated end to poverty and war in Vietnam
Assassinated April 4, 1968
Martin Luther King, Junior: In Memoriam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w61QB8_KOuc&feature=player_embedded