18.2Challenging Segregation

Lesson Objectives

1. The students will be able to explain the effect of the Sit-In Movement.

2. The students will be able to discuss the effect of the Birmingham protests.

3. The students will be able to explain what the CRA of 1964 did for

African Americans.

A. The Sit-In Movement

1. Started by four African American teenage boys.

a. Refused to move from the counter until they

were served.2. More than 100 cities had

sit-ins.3. Largely put together by

college students.

4. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

(SNCC)i. Students from the

South were the majority of members.

-Also had white members

ii.**Sent volunteers to the Deep South, rural areas, to help voter registration.

5. Voter Education Projecta. **Push focus to the

rural areas of the Deep South.

b. Dangerous to travel to the South.

i. 3 SNCC workers murdered in 1964.

**6. Main Goal of CRM: Integrate public

places and the right to vote

B. The Freedom Riders

1.**Protested bus terminal segregation.2. May 1961, first FR

group went down South

i. Met by angry white mobs; bombed buses

3. Violence against the FRs shocked

Americans and JFK

C. Kennedy and Civil Rights1. Promised to support

CR during campaign.2. Cautious in office,

need support from Southern senators.

3. Created the Committee on Equal

Employment Opportunity (CEEO). i. Stop discrimination in hiring and promotions in the

Fed. Gov.

4. Justice Departmenta. Run by Robert F.

Kennedy i. **Filed lawsuits across

the South against those that stopped voter registration.

b. JFK forced Interstate Commerce Commission to integrate bus

terminals.

5. James Meredith

a. Air Force veteranb. Wanted to register at

the University of Mississippi. i. Denied entrance by

Gov. Ross Barnett c. 500 federal marshals

and several thousand troops sent by JFK.

D. Violence in Birmingham

1. Demonstration lead by Dr. King.

2. Dr. King arrested after 8 days of protesting.

a. “Letter from Birmingham Jail”3. After Dr. King's release, the protest

grew even more.

E. Civil Rights Act of 1964

1. Alabama Gov. George Wallacea. Denied AA students

entrance to U of Alabama.

2. Murder of civil rights worker brought JFK to announce the bill.

3. March on Washington

a. August 28th, 1963.b. Created to help

support bill.c. MLK Jr. delivered his

“I Have a Dream” speech.i. March and speech

built momentum for the bill.

4. Bill becomes a Law

a. Problems in the Senatei. Filibuster from

Southern Dems.b. President Johnson

used background as Senator to pressure Congress.

c. Bill signed on July 2nd, 1964.

**d. Most Comprehensive Civil Rights Law

i. Fed. Gov could prevent discrimination in many areas.

ii. Segregation illegal in most public places.

iii. End school segregation and discrimination in the workplace.

iv. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)-Monitored ban on job discrimination

F. Voting Rights1. 24th Amendment

eliminated the poll tax.

2. The Selma Marcha. March 7th, 1965b. Selma to

Montgomeryc. 500 protesters

3. Protesters beat by police in front of t.v. cameras.

4. Voting Rights Act of 1965

a. Passed August 3rd, 1965.i. Federal examiners

sent to register voters

ii. Literacy tests gone b. Dramatic Results

i. 250,000 registeredc. Movement shifted

focus to social/economic issues.