III. The Struggle for Equal Rights

1. III. The Struggle for Equal Rights • Many struggles for minority groups in 1960’s to gain equal rights: A. Civil rights for African Americans B. Equal rights for Hispanic Americans C. American Indian Movement C. Women’s Liberation Movement

2. A. Black Civil RightsMovement 1. JFK’s Civil Rights Record • Kennedy’s hand forced by civil rights groups • 1961: JFK sendsfederaltroops to the southafter white mobs savagelyattack CORE freedomriders in Alabama (defyingunconstitutionalsegregation of interstate buses)

3. JFK hesitated to support civil rightsfully : afraid of splitting up the Democratic Party & setting of filibusters in the Senate and losing the re-election • AppointedmanyAfricanAmericans to federal offices, but alsoplaced white segregationists to many positions • Took 2 years to fulfillhiscampaign promise of signing an executiveorder to end segregation in federallyfundedhousing

4. 1962 JFK sendstroops to Univ. Mississippi to protect James Meredith (1st black studentenrolled)

5. Black Civil RightsMovement 2. SNCC: Student Nonviolent Coordinating CommitteeOrganized in the fall of 1960 by MLK joined forces with CORE Mississippi Freedom Summer Project (volunteer college students to run freedom schools (literacy skills to blacks) used sit-ins, etc to challenge the status quo in MI & GA to encourage Blacks to resist segregation and to register to vote. Video: SNCC Brown University video

6. Black Civil RightsMovement • 1963 to expose the viciousness of black racists in the south and to compel JFK to act, • MLK Jr led marches, sit-ins, and pray-ins in Birmingham, Alabama

7. Birmingham Police Chief Bull Conner sent his police in front of cameras withelectriccattleprods, pressure water hoses and attackdogsagainst the peacefuldemonstrators • Televisedbrutalityarousedintl indignation

8. Allowed Kennedy to convince Alabama leaders to desegregate stores and upgrade African American employees • Concessions won encourage Freedom NOW protest in hundreds of othercities • Kennedy began to realizethat if the federalgovtdidn’t commit the nation to peaceful and constructive reform of racial relations, AfricanAmericansmightbegin to follow leaders whopreached the need for violence

9. JFK forcedsegregationistgoverner George Wallace (Alabama) to desegregateUniv. Of Alabama (Wallace attempted to block entry to 2 black students) • June, 1963 JFK proposed a broad civil rights bill

10. March on Washington, August 28, 1963 MLK delivers “I have a Dream” speech Video: I have a dream Speech

11. MLK Unable to convince congress to pass the civil rights bill • Southern white terrorism against African Americans continues: • Medgar Evers, head of MI chapter NAACP assassinated by KKK in June 1963 • Church bombing in Birmingham, killing 6 children in September 1963

12. Civil RightsMovement Under JFK • Mood of black movement insistent but goals still moderate • Directed against segregation and inequality, not against white America • By far mostpopular leader MLK • 90% of black population supported JFK Goal of the revolution = integration “wanted not to get out of white society but to get deeper into it.”

13. Civil rights Movement under LBJ • LBJ urges Congress to pass Civil Rights Bill and proposed Tax cut as a memorial to JFK • Johnson’s speech at Gettysburg: “we do not answer those who lie beneath this soil – when we reply to the Negro by asking, ‘Patience’.” • MLK :“I am happy to know that a fellow Southerner is in the White House who is concerned about civil rights.”

14. A Time of Revolution • Summer of 1963 ‘vast majority’ of blacks now demanded an immediate end to all forms of discrimination. ‘We have woke up,” one Alabama woman said. Black leaders were all more or less militant, ‘partly by choice-and partly because they have no choice.’ Their followers wanted ‘complete equality, nothing less.’ They wanted it right away. And three out of four of them would not be deterred if that meant bloodshed. ‘Fights, shooting’, said an unemployed black man in Miami, shrugging, ‘it takes that to make the world better.’

15. Building Tensions • Nations’ resources deflected by Vietnam • Liberals and blacks frustrated by limits of Great society • Race riots in hundreds of U.S. cities in 1964=alienating white middle class from movement

16. Race Riots 1965-1968

17. The Long, Hot Summers • (1965-1968) • Race riots in cities around the country • $5 M in property damage, 7,000 injured; 200 casualties

18. Johnson’s Response • Johnson’s investigation found causes: persisting white racism which subjected black Americans to poverty, slum housing, poor education, police brutality • Report recommended more Federal aid to poor urban African Americans • Johnson did not act

19. Black power • Initially influenced by teachings of the Nation of Islam under Elijah Mohammed then Malcom X • Race pride, self determination • Rejected MLK’s non-violence

20. Black Power • Questioned value of integration • After 1966, SNCC and CORE switch from interracial, integrationists to all black militant separatists willing to engage in violent confrontations • Black panthers: same violent message

21. Video: Malcom X and MLK Debate What are the main differences between their approaches concerning the following: • Non-violent resistance • whites • desegregation • riots

22. B. American Indian Movement

23. Inspired by Civil Rights Movement for African-Americans • Sense of pride and redress of grievances • 1961 many tribes gathered to denounce Termination policy

25. Demands to include Indians in War on Poverty program • Johnson responded by ending Indian Termination Policy and endorsing Indian self-determination • Created National Council on Indian Opportunity: directed more Federal funding into improving conditions on Indian reservations

26. 1968 because of persistent poverty, militant young native Americans organize AIM • Call for Red Power • Occupied Alcatraz Island offshore from San Francisco for 1 ½ years

27. Wounded Knee 1973 – symbolic place of suffering • Hostages, starved out by federal troops • No major gains

28. C. Struggle for Equal Rights: Hispanics

29. Cesar Chavez and Dolores Juarez found United Farm Workers Union • organize mostly Mexican agricultural laborers in California and southwest • Promoting consumer boycotts of grapes, strikes

30. Aligned themselves with the civil rights movements • Appealing to Hispanic identity and pride • Young Hispanics begin referring to themselves as Chicanos & demonstrating for Hispanic studies programs and bilingual education in schools

31. Colorado: Rodolfo Gonzalez founds Crusade for Justice • Texas: Latinos launch a political party – advocating separatism • Puerto Ricans in New York establish the Young Lords

32. D. Women’s Liberation Movement

33. Betty Friedan: Feminine Mystique bestseller in 1963 • 2nd wave of Feminism • Women needed protection at the job level • Demanded Anti-discrimination laws • Equal pay for equal work/job opportunities

34. NOW: National Organization of Women • Gloria Steinem: founded Ms. Magazine • After Black Power, Women’s Liberation • Supported abortion rights • Equal Rights Amendment • Bra burning

35. Reading Assignments • Unfinished Nation, Chapter 31: The ordeal of Liberalism pp. 834-839 • Racial Equality; MLK Jr. • Assassinations • Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, Chapter 17: Or Does it Explode? • Civil Rights Movement • Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, Chapter 19: Surprises • Women’s Movement and Native American Movement