CHAPTER 29

The Civil Rights Movement1954-1968

SECTION 1

Leaders and Strategies

I. EXPLAIN HOW THE ACTIVITIES OF EXISTING CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE MOVEMENT OF THE 1960S.

A. Groundwork 1) Grassroots efforts 2) Brown vs. Board of Education (1954)

B. NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored

People 1) Interracial organization – both African American 2) 1920’s and 30’s challenged segregation 3) Worked to secure legal equality 4) W.E.B. Du Bois and Thurgood Marshall

I. EXPLAIN HOW THE ACTIVITIES OF EXISTING CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE MOVEMENT OF THE 1960S.

C. National Urban League 1) Helped newcomers to cities by helping them find

jobs and housing

D. CORE – Congress of Racial Equality 1) Founded by pacifists and directed by James

Farmer 2) Pursued its goals through peaceful confrontation

II. DESCRIBE THE PHILOSOPHY THAT MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BROUGHT TO THE MOVEMENT.

A. Nonviolent protest 1) A peaceful way of protesting against policies 2) Did not resist even when attacked

B. SCLC – Southern Christian Leadership Conference

1) Introduced the concept of nonviolent protest in 1957

2) Organized by African American clergymen 3) Shifted the focus of the civil rights movement

from the North to the South

II. DESCRIBE THE PHILOSOPHY THAT MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BROUGHT TO THE MOVEMENT.

C. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1) Organized SCLC 2) Influenced by Gandhi and nonviolent protest 3) Became leader of civil rights movement 4) Tremendous poise and courage – Nobel Peace Prize 5) Assassinated 1968 – Memphis, TN – James Earl Ray

III. EXPLAIN WHY SOME STUDENTS FORMED THEIR OWN CIVIL RIGHTS COMMITTEE.

A. SNCC – Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

1) Gave young African Americans activists a voice in the civil

rights movement 2) Young student activists made decisions about

priorities and tactics 3) “We Shall Overcome” 4) Robert Moses

SECTION 2

The Struggle Intensifies

I. DESCRIBE THE GOALS OF SIT-INS AND FREEDOM RIDES AND THE REACTIONS THEY PROVOKED.

A. Sit-ins Challenge Segregation 1) Sit-in is a protest technique in which African

Americans occupied a segregated establishment and

demanded service 2) Often led to time spent in jail “Badge of Honor”

I. DESCRIBE THE GOALS OF SIT-INS AND FREEDOM RIDES AND THE REACTIONS THEY PROVOKED.

B. The Freedom Rides 1) Civil rights workers traveling on interstate buses

to protest segregation at terminals 2) Organized to test a Supreme Court decision

(1960) to allow African Americans to exercise rights 3) Violently attacked across South, especially in

Anniston, Alabama – as a result they received federal protection.

4) Supported by Attorney General Robert Kennedy

II. SUMMARIZE CIVIL RIGHTS PROTESTS IN ALBANY, GEORGIA AND AT “OLE MISS”

A. Albany Movement 1) Failed largely because the police chief prevented

the protesters from gaining public sympathy

B. Integration at “Ole Miss” 1) James Meredith advanced the cause of civil rights when he tried to enroll at Ole Miss 2) President Kennedy responded to the riot by sending U.S. Army troops to restore order and protect Meredith

I. EXPLAIN HOW VIOLENCE AGAINST PROTESTERS IN BIRMINGHAM AFFECTED ATTITUDES THROUGHOUT THE NATION.

A. Birmingham, Alabama 1) Civil rights leaders targeted Birmingham in 1963 because the city was highly segregated 2) MLK called it “the most segregated city in the country” 3) Treatment of demonstrators by Birmingham

police angered most Americans – Americans were

appalled by police violence 4) MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” 5) Birmingham police commission “Bull” Connor

SECTION 3

The Political Response

I. ANALYZE HOW PRESIDENT KENNEDY’S POLICIES ON CIVIL RIGHTS CHANGED BETWEEN 1961 AND 1963.

A. Kennedy on Civil Rights 1) Senator Kennedy won the support of the black community 2) As President, Kennedy moved slowly on civil

rights to avoid offending southern Democratic leaders. 3) The Birmingham brutality prompted Kennedy to propose a strong civil rights bill:

a) prohibited segregation in public places

b) advance school desegregationc) Southerners in Congress filibustered

II. DESCRIBE THE POLITICAL IMPACT OF THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON.

A. March on Washington 1) August 1963 – 200,000 joined in D.C. to support

civil rights legislation 2) Participants hoped to convince Congress to pass

civil rights legislation “jobs and freedom” 3) Highlight: MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech

III. SUMMARIZE THE PROGRESS IN CIVIL RIGHTS MADE UNDER LYNDON JOHNSON.

A. Johnson on Civil Rights 1) “Honor Kennedy’s memory - passage of the civil rights bill” 2) To gain passage of his civil rights legislation,

Johnson had to overcome Senate filibuster using the

cloture rule

B. The Civil Rights Act 1964 1) Considered to be landmark in American history 2) Banned discrimination in all public facilities

III. SUMMARIZE THE PROGRESS IN CIVIL RIGHTS MADE UNDER LYNDON JOHNSON.

C. Freedom Summer 1) Voter registration in Mississippi 2) Three workers were murdered 3) Church and house burnings

D. Democratic Convention 1) Mississippi Freedom Democratic party organized and sent delegates to the Democratic National Convention

III. SUMMARIZE THE PROGRESS IN CIVIL RIGHTS MADE UNDER LYNDON JOHNSON.

E. Selma March 1) Goal: to get voting rights legislation passed 2) Selma, Alabama – MLK led a march of 25,000

from Selma to Montgomery (50 miles)

III. SUMMARIZE THE PROGRESS IN CIVIL RIGHTS MADE UNDER LYNDON JOHNSON.

F. Voting Rights Act 1965 1) After Congress passed it, many African

Americans were elected to office at all levels

G. Legal Landmarks 1) Civil Rights Act 1964 2) Voting Rights Act 1965 3) 24th Amendment – barred use of a poll tax in

federal elections

SECTION 4

The Challenge of Black Power

I. COMPARE THE WAYS THAT JAMES BALDWIN, MALCOLM X, AND OTHER AFRICAN AMERICANS EXPRESSED ANGER AT THE PACE OF PROGRESS TOWARD CIVIL RIGHTS.

A. The civil rights movement was divided over the

issues of nonviolence and integration with white

society

B. James Baldwin 1) Wrote about the violent consequences of

segregation 2) Warned Americans that African Americans were angry and tired of promises

I. COMPARE THE WAYS THAT JAMES BALDWIN, MALCOLM X, AND OTHER AFRICAN AMERICANS EXPRESSED ANGER AT THE PACE OF PROGRESS TOWARD CIVIL RIGHTS.

C. Malcolm Little – Malcolm X 1) Father was a Baptist minister but died early in life 2) Malcolm turned to life of crime – jail by age 20 3) More militant movement 4) Nation of Islam – group that believed Allah would

create a “Black Nation” – founded by Elijah Mohammed

5) Black Nationalism – belief in the separate identity and racial unity of the African American community

6) Opposition to Integration – races should be separate

7) Shot to death in 1965

II. EXPLAIN THE PRINCIPLES AND TACTICS USED BY ADVOCATES OF BLACK POWER.

A. Stokely Carmichael – SNCC leader – increased

militant activity 1) Black Power – idea that African Americans should take charge of their communities

B. Black Panthers 1) Wanted African Americans to lead their own communities 2) “Black is Beautiful” racial pride

II. EXPLAIN THE PRINCIPLES AND TACTICS USED BY ADVOCATES OF BLACK POWER.

C. Riots in the Streets 1) de jure segregation – rigid pattern of legal

separation of the races dictated by law 2) de facto segregation – racial separation imposed by poverty and ghetto conditions – facts of life 3) Watts Riots – neighborhood of Los Angles California 4) Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination 1968 5) Kerner Commission 1968 – reported that the nation

was moving toward two separate and unequal societies

III. SUMMARIZE THE LEGACY OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

A. Legacy 1) Thousands of African Americans could vote for

the first time 2) Segregation is made illegal 3) Political process open for participation 4) A new sense of racial/ethnic pride