Chapter 28

1947 Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play in Major League Baseball

What team? This paved the way for others to follow

in his footsteps

After WW II US citizens started to recognize that there needed to be a push for civil rights

Things that led to this: African American Migration- after Civil War to

the North= prominent jobs, influence The New Deal- enough said WW II- African Americans started to work and

therefore voted and more than that the Holocaust opened our eyes

Rise of NAACP- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, worked hard to challenge segregation laws

Specifically Plessy vs. Ferguson, which stated that it was lawful to have separate but equal public facilities

Thurgood Marshall led the NAACP and lawyer Oliver Hill were able to get $50 million in higher pay and better education

Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas historic Supreme Court case

Result: Unanimous decision that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional and could not be applied to education and a movement to desegregate began

Mixed reaction African Americans rejoiced, white

Americans even if they did not agree accepted the ruling

President Eisenhower who privately disagreed, “The Supreme Court has spoken and I am sworn to uphold the constitutional process in this country, and I am trying.” “I will obey.”

Not everyone did obey! Southern whites, especially in the deep

south reacted with resistance Georgia governor, Talmadge made it

clear that he would not tolerate the mixing of races in public schools

KKK becomes more active threatening those that accepted the court ruling

Was this the first time for the KKK?

90 Congressmen came together to express their opposition for the court

Southern Manifesto stated that the Supreme Court overstepped their boundaries

Violated states rights Refused to desegregate because of

chaos and violence

Rosa Parks sat in the colored section of the bus in Alabama

What’s the problem? African Americans were “expected” to

give up their seats if whites did not have one

She refused to get up and at the next stop was arrested!

The plan called for all African Americans to boycott public transportation until the bus company changed their policy

Martin Luther King, Baptist minister only 26, became the spokesperson for the movement “there comes a time when people get

tired….tired of being segregated and humiliated, tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression. We have no alternative but to protest.”

“I HAVE A DREAM”

First day rush hour the streets were packed with people walking to and from work!

Some walked as much as 12 miles “Determination of individuals willing to

suffer and sacrifice fro their freedom and dignity”

Over the next year 50,000 African Americans boycotted the bus and yet

Supreme Court in 1956 ruled that segregation on bus, like school segregation was unconstitutional

Gave hope to African Americans and other minorities

Governor Faubus of Arkansas said he could not keep order if he allowed integration(1957)

Defied the Supreme Court ruling and sent the National Guard at Central High School in Little Rock

Angry mobs of people also grouped and prevented the entry of blacks

15 year old Elizabeth Eckford remembered the day:“The Arkansas National Guard glared at me with a mean look and I was very frightened and I don’t know what to do. I turned around and the crowd came toward me yelling. They moved closer and closer. Somebody started yelling, “Lynch her! Lynch her!” I tried to see a friendly face in the mob-someone who maybe would help. I looked into the face of an old women and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat at me.”

Even though Eisenhower didn’t agree with Civil Rights he put the National Guard under his order to protect the nine black students at the school

Paved the way for other minorities such as Latin Americans, Mexican Americans and Native Americans

Section 2

The Civil Rights movement began with ordinary citizens in the 50’s and 60’s

Paved the way for new organizations: 1. NAACP, W.E.B. Du Bois was the founder,

and first African American received a doctoral

2. National Urban League, dealt with helping people who moved from the South to have fair treatment, housing and jobs

3. CORE, Congress of Racial Equality, wanted change but peacefully and without violence

4. SCLC, Southern Christian Leadership Conference advocated for nonviolent protests

Martin Luther followed the ideas of Gandhi, which pushed for passivism, the idea that the oppressed should never fight back with force

SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (snick), shifted church leaders to young activists, sought for immediate change Robert Moses was the most influential leader of

the SNCC, he was humble, quiet and ordinary, very unlike Martin Luther King

Section 3

Implemented sit-ins, many organizations like CORE went to segregated places and just sat down (Jack Spratt Coffee House)

Many were beaten or arrested (cigarettes down shirt)

Arrest was considered a badge of honor by Martin Luther

Freedom Rides- wanted to test whether the south would obey the Supreme Court ruling

First one left Washington and started to the South

Only a few encounters at first but when they got to Alabama they slashed their tires. Followed them and threw a fire bomb into the bus

http://www.crmvet.org/images/imgcoll.htm

People were astonished by how sane and relatively sensible people were reacting to where people sat on the bus

The first freedom ride died out in Mississippi

Kennedy steps into office with all this

James Meredith wants to go to “Ole Miss” an all white college

He is rejected and he goes to the Supreme Court and they uphold his claim

Governor said he could not enroll even thought the Supreme Court said yes

He physically stands in front of the admissions building

Kennedy send in federal marshals to escort him into the school

Violence erupted, people destroyed cars etc.

Tear gas was used and people died Meredith reports it wasn’t all bad, “I

was here for education, not for trouble”

Reverend Shuttlesworth asked Martin Luther to come and help desegregate

Martin Luther King was arrested for “parading” without a permit

Young people joined the march They were stopped with fire hoses that

could wash the bark off a tree and their legs were attacked by dogs, when they fell they were beaten by police

Photographers videotaped and allowed the nation to watch the violence

Ultimately they will win Birmingham and desegregate the state

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web14/segment6.html

Section 4

Months before the election Kennedy gets bonus points and gains respect Martin Luther King had been jailed in Georgia

and forced in a hard labor camp Family feared for his life Kennedy pulled some strings and got him out Many African Americans will switch their vote

from Nixon to Kennedy Crucial in Kennedy’s slim margin victory!

When Kennedy gets in office he tries to stand a middle ground

He appoints African Americans to positions (Thurgood Marshal) but also segregationists

Tried to keep people (democratic southern senators) from getting angry

While speaking with Nikita Khrushchev he realizes that around the world people are watching the brutality in the south!!

His speech: “We preach freedom around the world, and we

mean it, and we cherish our freedom, here at home, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is the land of the free except for Negroes?.... The time has come for this nation to fulfill its promise!”

Hours later Medgar Evers from the NAACP was gunned down in front of his home

His gunman was set free Kennedy will try to pass a much stronger

bill for desegregation, public education, federal funding etc.

Southern congressmen will try to keep it off the floor

200,000 people will come from all over to call for “jobs and freedom” led by A. Philip Randolph

Celebrities like, Jackie Robinson, Bon Dylan, Sammy Davis Junior, James Baldwin will give their support

http://blip.tv/file/4545/

The march was peaceful and this is where Martin Luther will give his famous speech

Even with this impressive speech the bill still remained stalled

http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/marchonwashington/ig/March-on-Washington-Photos/Aerial-View-of-Crowd.htm

Three months after the march Kennedy was assassinated and his civil rights bill was not much closer to passage

Lyndon Johnson will become the new president and pass the bill along

As a Congressman he voted against Civil Rights but as president was dedicated to uphold the wishes of Kennedy

Johnson fulfilled the promise to push for civil rights and aggressively

Opponents of the bill started a filibuster, a debate that goes on day and night to prevent votes and an ultimate decision

Utilized cloture, a three fifths vote to limit debate and get a vote

Impacted many areas such as jobs, school, and voting

Gave the government the power to act more vigorously

Title I banned the use of different voter registration standards

Title II prohibited discrimination in ALL public accommodations

Title VI withheld public funding from organizations that practiced discrimination

Title VII banned discrimination based on sex, race, religion, or national origin by employers Created the EEOC, Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission to investigate