The Civil Rights Movement in the USA

1. The Civil Rights Movement in the USA

2. WHY HAS IT PROVED SO DIFFICULT TO ACHIEVE RACIAL EQUALITY IN THE USA? • HUMANITIES GCSE OVERVIEW CONTENT. • The Civil Rights Movement: • Aims of the Civil Rights Movement • Nature of the Civil Rights Movement • Martin Luther King, peaceful methods and actions • Successes by 1964? • Black Power Movement, violent methods and leaders • Reactions of the Government? • Extent of popular support? • Reactions of Whites in the Deep South? • Civil Rights Legislation

3. SITUATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY? THE JIM CROW LAWS IN THE SOUTH: THE KU KLUX KLAN ECONOMIC DEPRIVATION? LYNCHINGS

4. EARLY CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT: MARGUS GARVEY • The founding of the NAACP • At the turn of the century, Booker T. Washington was regarded as the foremost spokesman for African-Americans. He urged blacks to concentrate on improving their economic position rather than demanding social equality until they had proved that they "deserved" it. Privately helped to fund court cases challenging the laws. • W.E.B. DuBois and others in the black community rejected Washington's apology for segregation and set up the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. In its early years, the NAACP concentrated on using the courts to attack Jim Crow laws. (1915). Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association encouraged economic independence within the system of racial segregation with an African Orthodox Church with a black Jesus and black Virgin Mother. He urged African Americans to "return to Africa", if not physically, at least in spirit. Garvey attracted thousands of supporters. The movement collapsed when Garvey was convicted of mail fraud in 1922.

5. THE SITUATION BY THE 1950 AND 60S • The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s: Key Aims • By 1950, Black Americans were still segregated in the South, many across America were poorly educated and could only get menial low paid jobs. • In the South, Blacks were kept in Economic near-slavery by the Whites, in a form of farming called ‘Share-cropping’, in which rents were paid through crops grown. Whites made sure Blacks did not make a profit. • No Votes/Civil Rights in South • ‘Free’ black men are working on farms where they owe so much debt to the white owner that they can never leave. • This was called ‘Share-Cropping’ • In the North: Ghettos where Black Americans are looking for work – urban areas of great poverty, where Black Americans live apart from Whites. (The Great Migration, 1910-30)

6. Civil Rights Movement • Challenging racial prejudice in the United States in the 1950s was dangerous. The legislative changes that did eventually occur came about from the campaigns of many people who took risks, highlighted injustice, and pressed the cause for change. • It is easy to forget today but tens of thousands of people of all races risked not just their standing in the community, but also their lives, in the hope of racial equality. • The Movement was peopled not only by courageous African-Americans, but also by college students and religious leaders of many races. These activists employed the tactics of legal challenges, civil protests (including sit-ins, marches, and freedom rides), and other initiatives in their efforts to see that African-Americans received equal opportunity and protection in the United States.

7. MARTIN LUTHER KING AND THE NON- VIOLENT MOVEMENT • The primary advocate for non-violent action was Dr. Martin Luther King. He believed that if enough people openly disobeyed unjust laws, those laws would fall. • The non-violent action included: • the contesting of Segregation Laws in the south (Brown v State of Topeka contested ‘separate but equal’ education provisions in the Supreme Court 1954) • mass peaceful marches (e.g. March on Washington 1963) • refusal to give up seats on buses (bus boycott 1955 and Rosa Parks) to the freedom Riders (riding on ‘white only’ buses ignored) • Most importantly, despite all the violence and aggression they faced, they never retaliated which affected the public reaction world wide.

9. SUCCESSES OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT • Eventually after the Assassination of JFK in 1963 (who advocated Civil Rights’ Legislation) and despite the Assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968 some Civil Rights Legislation was granted. • 1964 – Civil Rights Act (outlawed racial discrimination and set up the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) • 1965 - Voting Rights Act • 1967 – Laws forbidding Inter-racial marriages were made illegal • 1968 – Civil Rights Act (fair housing) • However despite all these laws, violence and riots continued and Black Americans still didn’t have the same opportunities as Whites.

10. CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT – • THE VIOLENT CAMPAIGN • However, when legislation was not forthcoming, other groups advocated violent action. • The Nation of Islam - founded by Elijah Muhammad, rejected Christianity as a white man's religion and urged black Americans to follow Islam. The most well-known of the black Muslims was Malcolm X. His name symbolised the complete rejection of white society. He argued that as a descendent of slaves captured in Africa, his surname was given to him by the slave owners. As a symbol of his protest, Malcolm refused to use or recognise his 'slave name' and called himself X instead. Malcolm wanted to create a separate Black State in the USA – by force, if necessary. • The Black Panthers were a militant organisation which totally rejected King's non-violent ideals. They argued that black Americans continued to face potential and actual violence at the hands of whites. In their view, the police were racist and hostile. Black Americans needed to protect themselves, by using violence if necessary. They clashed with the Police many times, killing nine policemen in the late ‘60s. In return, the FBI came down heavily on them.

11. Linked to this was the idea of ‘Black Power’ – a term invented by a man named Stokely Carmichael. Black Power is a political slogan and a name for several similar movements. Popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the movement stressed racial pride and the creation of black institutions to promote black interests – basically, to separate Black from White, in order to advance the interests of Black Americans. Black Americans should therefore create their own self-sufficient economy (separatism) This was not a separate Black State, as suggested by Malcolm X, but a proposal to create a society within a society. The movement had little real success in achieving these goals – indeed, the years 1965-1967 saw poor relations between urban Black Americans and the police, and many major Race-Riots – such as in Los Angeles (Watt Riots) in 1965, Detroit in 1967. It has been argued, though, that there were some long-term successes: Black Power really inspired a lot of Black Americans, and raised many questions about exactly who people were and their identities – this ‘pride’ can be seen as a real long-term benefit or impact of Black Power & Malcolm X.

13. And Finally………………. Isn’t it amazing that a boy born in 1961, before the Civil Right’s Acts to a white mother and an African-American father could finally be voted in as the 44th American President in 2009.