Chapter 21sections 4 and 5

MLK

• Fourth generation Minister

• Rose to prominence during the Montgomery Bus Boycott

• The most important Civil Rights Movement leader

• Sought to awaken moderate Americans

• Lived with constant death threats and physical intimidation

Kennedy and Civil Rights

• Actively courted black votes

• Proposed Civil Rights legislation, but was blocked by Southern Congressmen

• Was accused to have moved slowing on Civil Rights issues– Kennedy did not want

to lose Congressional Support.

March on Washington - 1963

• “March for Jobs and Freedom”• Opposed by Kennedy, who didn’t want to

alienate southern congressmen

• Scorned by many Black Nationalist Groups

• Became a very powerful symbol

“I Have a Dream” speech

Johnson and Civil rights• Picked up where Kennedy

left off• Johnson did MUCH further

than Kennedy did on Civil Rights legislation

• CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964– Banned different

voting standards– Banned

discriminations in public places

– Banned discrimination on the base of race, sex, age, religion or nation of origin

“We have lost the south for a generation”. - LBJ

Freedom Summer - 1964

• Mostly college students (white and black)• Sought to register voters

• Subject to extreme violence

• Churches and houses were burned and bombed

• James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerman were murdered

Selma• Protest led by MLK• Violence against protestors• LBJ supports with federal troops

• Led to important legislation:• Voting Rights Act of 1965

– Federal officials could register voters

• 24th Amendment– Banned Poll taxes

The Rise of Black Nationalism

The Rise of Black Nationalism• Many

disavowed non-violence, felt it did not work, or took too long.

• “We shall overcome” became “We shall overrun”

• Sought to build up black pride and black communities

• Members were almost exclusively black

Black Panthers

• Most influential Black Nationalist group– Originally created to

monitor police in California

• Members sought to– Rebuild communities– Set up “Survival

Programs”

• Clashed with police, violence was not uncommon

Malcolm X

• Born to activist parents

• Outstanding student in Junior High, dropped out

• Turned to a life of “hustling”

• Joins Nation of Islam in Prison

• Emerges from prison with a purpose

• Very critical of MLK and non-violence, very distrusting of white society.

• "At one time the whites in the United States called him a racialist, and extremist, and a Communist. Then the Black Muslims came along and the whites thanked the Lord for Martin Luther King."

• Prominent leader of Nation of Islam, then splits from group

• Goes on Hajj (pilgrimage)

• Returns a different man– More inclusive to whites,

and other groups– Blacks still have the right

to defend themselves

• 1965 – Allegedly Assassinated by the Nation of Islam

1968• Assassinations of MLK leads to widespread

rioting and disillusionment. • The Civil Rights movement is robbed of its most

prominent leaders

• LBJ does not run for re-election• RFK assassinated

• Tensions run high throughout the country; minor incidents set off riots that last for days, and destroy black neighborhoods.

• Stalls after 1968

• Black officials up 90%

• Black Mayors in many cities

• Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman elected to Congress

Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement

• Barbara Jordan (Texas) 1st Black Senator in Texas since Reconstruction, later US Congresswoman

• Thurgood Marshall – 1st Black Supreme Court Justice