America’s Struggle for Civil Rights

1. America’s Struggle for Civil Rights 1954-1965

2. 1954 • Brown vs. Board of the Education • Ends constitutionality of “separate but equal” in education

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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 only 75000 college kids across the South stage sit-ins in Woolworths and other white-only establishments 1961: Restaurant segregation largely ended

6. 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. ”

7. April 1963 • King organizes “Project C” marches/boycotts in Birmingham, Alabama • 6000 kids join • Fire hoses and dogs used against them

8. May 1963 Birmingham agrees to integrate and hire African Americans KKK responds with rally; law enforcement joins them Kennedy sends in federal troops

9. 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

10. 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

11. Autumn 1963 • September 15, 1963: 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham exploded by KKK members; four teen- aged girls killed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m66xzIG2q9w • November 22, 1963: Kennedy assassinated • Impact on Civil Rights?

12. 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

13. Voting Registration • Selma, Alabama: 50%+ African American Population 1% African American Registered Voters • March in Selma (to demonstrate violence): March 1965 • MLK arrested • Johnson sends Voting Rights Bill to Congress • Results in violence • Selma-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

14. 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."

15. 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)

16. 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

17. Martin Luther King, Junior: In Memoriam • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w61QB8_KOuc&feature=player_embedded