Civil Rights Movement1960s

Discrimination

•Making a distinction. Usually not based on merit, but rather race, religion, etc.

•Blacks were prohibited from using various forms of public transportation (taxis, busses, trains)

•As well as public facilities (restaurants, schools, theaters, houses)

•The South’s discrimination was much worse

•If you spoke out against it, you were often beaten

Separate but “Equal”

•14th Amendment: All citizens have “equal protection of the laws”

•1896, Supreme Court ruled facilities for blacks could be separate if “equal” in Plessy v. Ferguson

Problem was facilities were anything but equal in the South. Especially schools.

•If any blacks were able to make it into college, they were often separated from their peers and even attend classes in a separate room

Brown v. Board

•NAACP leading the way to integrate schools

•In Topeka, KS a Reverend sued the school board to send his Af-Am daughter to a white school

•Thurgood Marshall argued that the fact schools were separated made them unequal

•Court ruled unanimously to end school segregation “with all deliberate speed”

Did not put a set date, so some places were slower to integrate than others

Montgomery Bus Boycott

•Blacks were forced to ride in the back of the busses to give their seats to whites

•Rosa Parks refused to move on her way home from work in Dec. 1955 and was arrested

•Boycott of busses was organized, with 17,000 people finding other ways to work

•Boycott ended when busses allowed people to sit “first come, first serve” and hire black drivers

•Marked the beginning of Civil Rights Movement

Little Rock Nine

•9 Af. Am students set to attend a white school in Little Rock AR

•Arkansas governor called in the national guard to block them

•Students were yelled at and spat on

•President Eisenhower eventually ordered that the troops desist

Birmingham• Sit-ins were working, but the police chief was

making it tough to end segregation▫SNCC- Student Non-Violent Coordinating

Committee• Dr. King was thrown in jail with many other

blacks• He wrote a manifesto on a piece of toilet paper

to discuss the goals of the Civil Rights movement• Marches in streets continued and violence was

used to end it• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joc3CRL6x4E

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.• A young minster from Atlanta• Believed in non-violent protest

▫Sit-ins were organized Worked once businesses

were losing money▫SCLC- Southern Christian

Leadership Conference• His home was bombed after the

Birmingham marches of 1963• Gunned down in 1968 in Memphis as

he continued to fight for equal rights• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s

mEqnnklfYs

National struggle

•Segregation was becoming a black eye and Congress was urged to make a Civil Rights Bill

•250,000 people marched on D.C. to protest Civil Rights▫Lincoln Memorial the place for King to give “I

Have a Dream” speech• JFK was killed a few months later, but Lyndon

B. Johnson pushed for the bill and in 1964 the Civil Rights Act outlawed segregation in facilities and discrimination in employment

•Voting Rights Act was set up in 1965 to stop voting discrimination

Changing Goals

•Since laws had been changed to end segregation, movement shifted to economic and social barriers▫Black unemployment was 2x higher than

whites▫Poverty much more common in black

community

Black Power and Malcolm X•Many felt that Civil Rights movement was

failing because it wasn’t strong enough.•Movement of Black Pride began, with a

young Malcolm X, a Muslim, leading it•X later backed off showing that it wasn’t

right for blacks to accuse whites based on race either

•Black Power continued and black culture grew and was celebrated

Afros, music, businesses grew Was a focus on growing the black community,

not on revolting against white community

Counterculture• Baby boomers from post

WWII were hitting adulthood for the changes of the 1960s

• They challenged society for its injustices and violence

• Hippies emerged to stop chasing materialistic possessions and power (COUNTERCULTURE)

• Were about peace, love and freedom

1960s taught us that it’s okay to be different,the US population was becoming more andmore diverse

Vietnam Protests• Because of TV, Vietnam was a war “in your

living room” You got to see footage from it everyday on the news

• This brought the reality of war to many homes• Because this was a “rich man’s” war and 18

year olds couldn’t vote, and they didn’t want to be drafted▫Mohammad Ali was arrested for not serving after

being drafted.• College campuses went crazy with protests

▫Kent St. (OH) had 4 students shot in protest

Protests of Vietnam in MusicBlack Sabbath- War Pigs Fortunate Son- Credence Clearwater Revival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ScisGFllPY

Buffalo Springfield http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVgoOVl6cb4

Ohio http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwZNLdi-L8w Kent State shooting

Born in USA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhwROO2M6lw

What’s Going On http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6jKE6YIxmc

Women’s Movement•Book called The Feminine Mystique sparked

the movement criticizing women for accepting a housewives role and being obedient to their husbnads

•Women working for equality called feminists•National Organization for Women (NOW)

fought for equality

The Great Society•After JFK was shot, L. Johnson wanted to

build a “Great Society”•He started a “war on poverty”, Medicare

and Medicaid for the sick and elderly, fought racism, protected the environment, supported immigration and education

MLK and LBJ