civil rights movement 1950s and 1960s. brown v board of education supreme court decision that...
TRANSCRIPT
Civil Rights Movement
1950s and 1960s
Brown v Board of Education
• Supreme Court decision that segregated schools are unequal and schools must desegregate
• Supreme Court can reshape American society
• Virginia Case: Dorothy Davis v School Board of Prince Edward
• Separate but equal was actually NOT Equal
FARMVILLE, VA
• Brown v. the Board of Education Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (had said separate but equal was okay)
National & Virginia Response
• Massive Resistance – closing some schools, riots, etc. (in VA it was led by Senator Harry Byrd)
• Many school districts in VA and other states closed schools instead of desegregate
• Establishment of private academies
• “White flight” from urban school systems
KEY PEOPLE
• Thurgood Marshall – NAACP Legal Defense Team (would later become the first African-American Chief Justice of the Supreme Court)
Key People continued…
• Oliver Hill – NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Legal Defense Team in Virginia
NAACP
• African Americans, working through the court system and mass protest, reshaped public opinion and secured the passage of civil rights legislation
• 1963 March on Washington – inspired by the “I have a dream” speech given by Martin Luther King
• Influenced public opinion to support civil rights legislation
• Demonstrated the power of non-violent, mass protest (PASSIVE RESISTANCE)
MLK Jr.
What event does this picture show?
What legislation does this event support?
Civil Rights Act of 1964
• The act prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and gender
• Desegregated public accommodations
• President Lyndon B. Johnson played an important role in the passage of the act
Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Act outlawed literacy tests (previously required for voters)
• Federal registrars were sent to the South to register voters – many faced violence and discrimination
• Act resulted in an increase in African American voters
• Pres. Lyndon Johnson played an important role in the passage of this also
Riots, protests, violence
• Freedom Riders – two buses of Af-Amer on a ride to challenge segregation across South – brutally attacked in Alabama
• Rosa Parks – sparked a bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama (381 days)
• Sit ins – lunch counter protests
Riots, protests, violence cont…
• SNCC-student non-violent coordinating committee
• Organized protests & sit ins around country – endured humiliation, beatings, arrests, tear gas, fire hoses
• Birmingham, AL – 1000 Af-Amer children march- faced with helmeted police, fire hoses, attack dogs – broadcast on TV
Rise of Black Power
• Malcolm X – controversial leader that initially encouraged black separation from white society but changed to a “ballots or bullets” mentality (head of Nation of Islam or Black Muslims)-assassinated after split with Black Muslims
• Black Panthers – political party organized to fight police brutality
Malcolm X
MLK Jr. dies
• Shot while standing on hotel balcony on April 4, 1968
• Led to worst urban rioting in US history
• 100 cities exploded in flames
• MLK Jr. “I have a dream” speechhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk
Civil Rights Montagehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=gBPeCQzHu5wJFK assassination videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=B4F5yfgZGdo