Civil Rights!

What are Civil Rights?

Civil Rights refers to the positive acts governments take to protect against discriminatory treatment by government or individuals.

The Beginnings: Litigating for Equality

• Organizations Form to Push for Equality- the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

• The NAACP set up a legal defense fund (LDF) to pursue equality in the nation’s courts, for instance…

Brown vs. Board of Education64 years after the Plessy decision the

Court the struck down the "separate but equal" doctrine in the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) decision.

Remember

from notes la

st

week?

So… the court case said to stop segregation- now it actually had to happen in society! It’s going to be a

struggle!

Important Events and People in the Movement

Just a few…

Non-Violent Protests• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

advocated a nonviolent approach to forcing social change. King modeled his philosophy on that of Gandhi, who successfully employed the nonviolent approach in a revolt against the British in India shortly after World War II.

Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC)

• Dr. King founded the SCLC in 1957 This group used non-violent means such as:

– Freedom-rides– sit-ins and– boycotts

** used to open segregated lunch counters, waiting rooms, public swimming pools, and other public places

• Often local police attacked the peaceful protestors or chose not to defend them from attacking segregationists

Congress of Racial Equality

• Created in 1942• Many African

Americans fought in WWII and still faced discrimination at home

• Peaceful group to address civil rights issues

Student Non-ViolentCoordinating Committee

• Founded in 1960 by black college students

• Gave African Americans a stronger voice in civil rights movement

• Will become a group associated with black power and separatism in 1966

Ella Baker, talking about SNCC

“The younger generation is

challenging you and me (adults!). They are asking us to forget our laziness and doubt and

fear, and follow our dedication to the truth

to the bitter end.”

Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-inMay 28, 1963

What are these

protestors tr

ying

to accomplish?

• Freedom Ride- D.C. to New Orleans to test southern compliance with desegregation laws

• This bus was firebombed by white men and fleeing activists were beaten. Local hospitals refused to treat the wounded riders.

What are the

goals of th

ese

Freedom riders?

The March on Washington

• In August 1963, more than 250,000 people marched peacefully on Washington to show support for President Kennedy’s request that Congress ban discrimination in public accommodation

MLK’s I Have a Dream

Selma March

• March 1965• Protestors marching from Selma to Montgomery

to raise awareness about voting rights• BLOODY SUNDAY: On first attempt, local and

state troopers attacked the protestors with bull whips, cattle prods and tear gas; 17 marchers are hospitalized

• Eventually marchers reach Montgomery (50 miles!) and LBJ says: “ Their cause must be our cause, too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.”

BLOODY SUNDAYBLOODY SUNDAY

“Their cause must be our cause, too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.”That’s right!

You tell ‘em

Lyndon!

So are all of these actions, groups, people having an impact?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964• Outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter registration• Barred discrimination in public accommodation• Authorized the US Justice Department to initiate

lawsuits to desegregate schools and public facilities• Allowed the federal government to withhold funds from

discriminatory state and local programs• Prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color,

religion, national origin or sex• Created the Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission (EEOC) to monitor and enforce bans on employment discrimination

The Impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Southerners argued that the Act violated the Constitution and was an unwarranted use of federal power.

• BUT a full decade after Brown, less than 1% of African American children in the South attended integrated schools

• So- the Court ruled that state law imposed (de jure) segregation must be eliminated at once!

Voting Rights Act 1965

• Federal government could oversee voter registrations and elections

• Banned discriminatory literacy tests

• Expanded voting rights for non-English speaking Americans

This is fo

llowing

the Selma M

arch!

Way to go

protestors!

24th Amendment

• Outlawed the poll tax

Progress!

• Segregation is illegal

• African Americans can exercise their right to vote

• More and more African Americans elected to offices- mayors, congress and state legislatures