United States History

1. United States History Chapter 31: The Civil Rights Movement

2. Nonviolent Protest and Action • With the help of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was formed to end discrimination through nonviolent means • Members of the SCLC took it one step further by organizing sit-ins • Sit-ins involved sitting down in places and refusing to move • Many organizers of sit-ins formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) • Protesters were met with violence and were not protected by local police • In fact, many protesters were arrested for their sit-ins • As a result of the work of the SCLC and SNCC, many restaurants across the South integrated

3. Nonviolent Protest and Action • Freedom riders • Organized people to ride busses across the South to show the discrimination still taking place • One of two busses were firebombed just across the state line in Alabama • The other bus met violence in Birmingham and Montgomery • President Kennedy was reluctant to help at first, but eventually sent federal marshals to protect the riders • University of Mississippi • James Meredith, a black college student, was granted a court order to enroll in Sept. 1962 • The governor personally prevented Meredith from registering, with riots breaking out on campus • Eventually, Meredith registered and graduated from Ole Miss in 1963

4. Nonviolent Protest and Action • Birmingham, AL • Site of brutal squelching of protests in May 1963 • Hundreds were arrested for peaceful protest • The city’s police turned dogs, nightsticks, and fire hoses on the protesters • Newspapers and television captured the violence, horrifying the entire nation • The event finally convinced JFK to enact legislation, but he was assassinated before he could act • The March on Washington • August 28, 1963 • 200,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in DC • Site of MLK’s famous “I have a dream…” speech

6. Civil Rights Act of 1964 • While many protests were gaining momentum for the cause, any passage of a civil rights law in 1963 looked grim • Four young black girls were killed in a church bombing in Birmingham in Sept. 1963 • JFK was assassinated in Nov. 1963 • However, LBJ strongly supported passage of a law • Southern representatives and senators tried hard to block the bill • The Civil Rights Act of 1964 went into effect on July 2, 1964 • Banned discrimination in employment and public places • Opened up school integration and enforcement and some voting restrictions

7. Voting Rights • Voting rights were another sticking point in the movement • Mississippi was especially terrible at denying voting rights • Blacks were denied the right to vote through literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, etc. • Robert Moses of the SNCC went to MS in 1961 to register blacks to vote, however was met with violence and arrests • Twenty Fourth Amendment • Passed in 1964 • Outlawed the poll tax as a requirement of voting registration

8. Freedom Summer • After the passing of the 24th Amendment, the SNCC, with the help of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) organized voter registration drives throughout the South • Violence met the volunteers • Three workers, Andrew Goodman, a black man, and two white men, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, disappeared on June 21, 1964 • Their bodies were found 6 weeks later in a shallow grave • This discouraged many from registering • Selma, AL • In 1965, MLK organized a march from Selma to Montgomery in protest to voting rights violations • Police beat many of the marchers • Shocked Americans flooded Montgomery and LBJ called for a voting rights law

9. Voting Rights Act of 1965 • After the violence of Selma and countless other acts in the South, Congress set out to protect voting rights • In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed • All voting registration was placed under federal control • Federal observers moved into the South to oversee registration of black voters • Black registration skyrocketed • Alabama: 57% by 1968 • Mississippi: 59% by 1968, up from 7% in 1964

10. Challenges to the Movement • Not all protest and organization was peaceful • Some organizations preached violence “by any means necessary” and black supremacy • The most notorious of organizations was the Nation of Islam • Called for a separate black nation within America • Malcolm X was its most well known member • Born Malcolm Little in 1925 • Became a member of the Nation of Islam while in prison, released in 1952 • Criticized the nonviolent means of MLK and other leaders • However, began to change his views after a trip to Mecca in 1964 • Assassinated in Feb. 1965 by disgruntled black Muslims

11. Malcolm X

12. Black Power & the Black Panthers • Many began to question the nonviolent nature of the movement overall • Some called for a separate black society, rather than integration • Known as Black Power • Instilled a sense of pride in being black, as well as separation • The Black Panthers were created based on the idea of Black Power • Political party movement for blacks • Provide subsistence for the black community • Create self defense organizations against racist police oppression

13. The Struggle Continues… • MLK continued to urge nonviolent protest • He took the fight to the North, particularly Chicago • Violence broke out in Chicago and the suburbs in response to marches • In August 1965, in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, riots broke out, killing dozens and injuring thousands • Detroit was the worst in 1967, with 43 dead and millions in damage • King organized a Poor Man’s Campaign to march on Washington in protest to social program money being diverted to Vietnam • Tragically, on April 4, 1968, MLK was gunned down by a sniper • James Earl Ray was found guilty of the murder • Riots erupted in cities across the country after the assassination

14. The Struggle Continues… • White opposition continued to plague the movement • Busing: Several cities ordered desegregation by busing students to other neighborhoods • Protests erupted in many cities, especially Boston • The Supreme Court struck down the required busing in 1974 • Affirmative action: act of giving preference to women and minorities in hiring and schooling to make up for past discrimination • Many argued that it was “reverse discrimination” • Quotas were used often to fill positions • In 1978, Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke ended quotas after Alan Bakke argued that he was unfairly denied admission to medical school • However, the movement had many great successes • Blacks became more politically active, winning elections and voting more • More blacks began to own businesses and attend college • Salaries increased for black workers