reading #3 challenging jim crow the 1963 march on washington d.c
TRANSCRIPT
Reading #3Challenging Jim Crow
The 1963 March on Washington D.C.
Objective…Evaluate how the Kennedy Administration responded to the challenges of the Civil Rights Movement.
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
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
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
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?
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
Freedom Rides…• WHEN?... 1961-1962
• WHO?... CORE
• WHAT?... Interracial groups ride the interstate bus system
• WHERE?... The deep South (ALA & MISS)
Freedom Rides• WHY?...
- Morgan v. Virginia…
- Goal: Provoke southern authorities to arrest riders & force the Justice Dept. to enforce law… Fight Jim Crow
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.
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
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
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,"
A police officer arrests MLK…
Dr. King’s Letter From the Birmingham Jail
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.
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
The Bombing of the
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-MuWDsv5pg&feature=related
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
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.
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
“I have a dream...”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUP_ISA030c&NR=1