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The 1960’s in America. Protest and Revolution. Main Causes of the Civil Rights Movement. 1. destabilization of the racial system during WW2 2. mass migration of blacks out of the segregated South 3. Increased black voting 4. Cold War shone a light on American hypocrisy on the race issue.
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The 1960’s in America Protest and Revolution
Main Causes of the Civil Rights Movement • 1. destabilization of the racial system during WW2 • 2. mass migration of blacks out of the segregated South • 3. Increased black voting • 4. Cold War shone a light on American hypocrisy on the race issue
Civil Rights • The Civil Rights Movement emerged from southern black churches. • Emphasis on non-violence. • Main issue was segregation.
African Americans in 1950 • Lived in a segregated society • Were the first to lose jobs during a recession • Barred from many schools and neighborhoods • 17 states had laws mandating segregation of schools (40% of the nations 28 million school children studied in segregated schools) • THIS WAS ONLY 60 YEARS AGO…
Apathy • Some Americans were not empathetic to the plight of African Americans because they were unaffected by it. • “Segregation didn’t restrict me in any way, so it was easy to accept things the way they were, to take my freedom for granted and not worry about anyone else’s.” • Author John Egerton
Remember How Segregation Began • Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896- separate but equal is constutional. • African Americans continuously challenged this ruling in the courts. • The main area that they challenged discrimination was in public schools.
The Brown Case • Oliver Brown went to court because his daughter, a third grader, had to walk across dangerous train tracks each morning rather than being allowed to attend the nearby school, which was for whites only. • This lawsuit became Brown vs. Board of Education
Brown vs. Board of Education • 1954- Supreme Court ruling that ended legal segregation in American public schools.
Rosa Parks • December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus for a white passenger. • Rosa Parks was arrested for this.
Montgomery Bus Boycott • Parks’ arrest led to a boycott of the Montgomery busses by blacks in the city. • For 381 days despite harassment and violence, African Americans walked to their destinations. • In November of 1956, the Supreme Court ruled segregation in public transportation unconstitutional.
Martin Luther King Jr. • The greatest leader of the Civil Rights Movement. • King studied Gandhi’s movement of non-violence in India and applied it in America.
King’s Philosophy • MLK Jr. outlined a philosophy of: • Evil must be met with good • Hate with Christian love • Violence with peace
MLK Jr. • MLK Jr. constantly referenced the Bible in his demands for peace.
Genesis of the Civil Rights Movement • 1954- Brown vs. Board of Education • Supreme Court determined that the policy of “separate but equal” was unconstitutional. • Brown vs. BoE overturned the Plessy vs. Ferguson case of 1896.
Impact of Brown vs. BoE • Only desegregated public schools. • Did not address discrimination in other institutions. • Did nothing to overturn ban on interracial marriages.
Impact of Brown vs. BoE • While this decision did not end segregation across the board, it provided the spark to ignite an incredibly powerful civil rights movement.
The Sit-Ins of 1960 • First large scale sit-ins occurred in Greensborough, North Carolina.
Sit-Ins Lead to Change • By the end of 1960, 70,000 people had participated in sit-ins across the South. • Movement led to the de-segregation of • Pools • Bowling alleys • Restaurants • Parks
The Civil Rights Movement • The 1960’s saw the CRM grow to new heights. • “All I wanted to do was to live in a free country. You had to fight for every inch of it. Nobody gave you anything. Nothing.”
CRM Institutions • SNCC- Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee • CORE- Congress of Racial Equality • SCLC- Southern Christian Leadership Council
MLK Jr. in Birmingham • Spring of 1963: MLK Jr. is arrested for violating a ban on public protest in Birmingham, Alabama. • While in jail, King wrote one of his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Letter from Birmingham Jail • Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. • Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly… Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider. • Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963
Birmingham Protests- 1963 • May, 1963: King sends black schoolchildren into the streets of Birmingham to protest segregation. • Images of police brutality that followed gained King the support of more Americans.
Consequences of Birmingham Protests • “Events in Birmingham forced white Americans to decide whether they had more in common with fellow citizens demanding their basic rights or violent segregationists.” • Eric Foner
Consequences of Birmingham Protests • The world was repulsed by what it saw in the American South. • Created sympathy for the plight of African Americans. • Led President Kennedy to endorse the CRM. • More town stores were de-segregated.
More Violence Toward Blacks • June, 1963: a sniper kills Medgar Evers, a secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi. • September, 1963: a bomb explodes in a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls. (not until 2002 was the last of those who committed this act of terrorism tried and convicted)
Fannie Lou Hamer • Who was she? • A black woman from Mississippi, a sharecropper, a voting rights activist, and a civil rights activist. • She housed Freedom Riders. • She came from humble beginnings, but through her courage and conviction, she eventually gave an important speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1968 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Fannie Lou Hamer • I have sent all of you a link to Ms. Hamer’s speech at that convention. Using your iPads and headphones, I want you to listen to it now. Answer these questions as you listen… • 1. Why was it so brave for Ms. Hamer to say exactly where she lived? • 2. What does Ms. Hamer say that she and her fellow black citizens encountered when they went to Indianola to vote? • 3. When Hamer was arrested after attempting to vote, describe her experience in that jail.
Fannie Lou Hamer • Is this America?
Birmingham Protests- 1963 • May, 1963: King sends black schoolchildren into the streets of Birmingham to protest segregation. • Images of police brutality that followed gained King the support of more Americans.
March on Washington • August 28, 1963, (2 weeks before the church bombing), 250,000 black and white Americans marched on America’s capital. • Largest public demonstration in American history to that time.
