SSUSH22-SSUSH24 (#’s 221 –

252)

• Legislation passed by Congress in 1965

which authorized the president to suspend

literacy tests for voter registration and to

send federal officials to register voters in

the event that county officials failed to do

so.

• This new law led to huge increase in

African American voter registration, as well

as an increase in the number of African

American candidates elected to public

office.

• Supporter of civil rights.

• In 1948, President Truman signed

legislation integrating the U.S. military.

• His support of such actions split the

Democratic Party over the issue of

integration in 1948.

• An act passed by Congress which

prohibited segregation in public

accommodations – hotels, restaurants,

theaters – and discrimination in education

and employment.

• The acknowledged leader of the Civil Rights

Movement, who was an extremely gifted man

who believed in nonviolent protest.

• He led the Montgomery bus boycott, was

president of the SCLC, wrote the famed “Letter

from Birmingham Jail”, delivered the famous “I

Have a Dream” speech at the March on

Washington for Jobs and Equality, won the

Nobel Peace Prize.

• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in

April 1968.

• “March on Washington for Jobs and

Equality” – civil rights march held in 1963

that consisted of 200,000 civil rights

activists demanding equality for all citizens.

• It culminated in Dr. King’s famous “I Have

A Dream” speech on the steps of the

Lincoln Memorial.

• Famous letter written by Dr. King from the jail in

Birmingham, Alabama, where he had been

arrested following a peaceful civil rights protest.

• His letter was a response to several white

ministers who wrote a statement arguing that the

battle for civil rights should be waged in the

courts rather than by protests.

• King’s public response eloquently expressed the

reasons he disagreed and proclaimed that civil

disobedience was a necessary and acceptable

method for achieving equality.

• Became famous as the first African

American during the modern era to play

baseball in the Major Leagues.

• Supreme Court decision in which the Court

ruled that segregation in public schools is

unconstitutional because conditions in

segregated schools are not equal.

• It reversed the decision made years before

in Plessy v. Ferguson that established the

“separate but equal” doctrine.

• Despite the Court’s decision, many southern leaders were determined to maintain segregation as long as possible.

• In Little Rock, Arkansas, the governor refused to obey a federal court order to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957. He called the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering the school.

• Resistance also occurred at the college level when governor of Mississippi defied the Supreme Court and attempted to prevent an African American James Meredith from enrolling at Univ. of Mississippi

• Similarly, Alabama’s governor, George Wallace, tried to prevent the integration of the University of Alabama by physically blocking the entrance in protest.

• In Little Rock, Arkansas, the governor refused to obey a

federal court order to integrate Little Rock Central High

School in 1957. He called the Arkansas National Guard

to prevent nine black students from entering the school.

• President Eisenhower nationalized the Guard and sent

them home.

• Eisenhower then mobilized elements of the 101st

Airborne to enforce the court’s ruling and make sure that

the African American students (“the Little Rock Nine”)

safely gained admittance to the school.

• Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Earl

Warren in the 1950s and 1960s which was

noted for using its authority to bring about

social change in the United States.

• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) – the Court struck down school segregation.

• Mapp v. Ohio (1961) – the Court ruled that evidence seized during a criminal investigation from a person’s residence without a search warrant constitutes an “illegal search” and cannot be used at trial.

• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) – the Court established that states are required under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to provide attorneys for criminal defendants who cannot afford them.

• Miranda v. Arizona (1966) – this case established the Miranda Rule, which states that law enforcement agencies must inform anyone they arrest that they have protection against “self-incrimination” (5th) and the right to counsel (an attorney) (6th).

• The Warren Court handed down one of its biggest rulings in

Miranda v. Arizona (1966).

• A Mexican immigrant named Ernesto Miranda was arrested

and interrogated by police without the presence of a lawyer.

During the interrogation, he confessed to the crimes of

kidnapping and rape.

• After his conviction, the case was appealed all the way to the

Supreme Court and it ruled that both Miranda’s 5th Amendment

protection against “self-incrimination” and his 6th Amendment

right to counsel had been violated.

• This case established the Miranda Rule, which states that law

enforcement agencies must inform anyone they arrest that

they have protection against “self-incrimination” (5th) and the

right to counsel (an attorney) (6th). “You have the right to

remain silent…you have the right to an attorney…”

• Younger brother of President John F.

Kennedy.

• 1968, as the Democratic presidential

hopeful, he was assassinated after winning

the California primary.

• Because of his open support for civil rights,

many citizens had considered Kennedy to

be their greatest hope for steering the

nation in a positive direction.

• On November 22, 1963, an assassin by

the name of Lee Harvey Oswald shot and

killed President Kennedy in Dallas as he

rode in an open car with the first lady and

the governor of Texas.

• The death of the young president left the

nation stunned and in mourning.

• Lyndon B. Johnson

• Became president following the

assassination of President Kennedy in

1963.

• Johnson pushed through civil rights

legislation proposed by Kennedy, proposed

domestic programs designed to end

poverty known as the “Great Society”, and

supported affirmative action.

• Legislation that consisted of various proposed social programs

and centered greatly around Johnson’s declared “War on

Poverty”.

• The Economic Opportunity Act combatted poverty and set

aside money to establish VISTA – Volunteers in Service to

America which mobilized volunteers to work in poorer

communities.

• It established Job Corps for the purpose of educating and

training inner-city youth for gainful employment.

• Head Start – helped ensure better education for low-income

families.

• National Endowment for the Humanities – fund art and

scholarships

• Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) –

oversees housing needs, rehabilitates urban communities, and

• The Economic Opportunity Act combatted poverty and set aside money to establish VISTA – Volunteers in Service to America which mobilized volunteers to work in poorer communities.

• It established Job Corps for the purpose of educating and training inner-city youth for gainful employment.

• Head Start – helped ensure better education for low-income families.

• National Endowment for the Humanities – fund art and scholarships

• Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) –oversees housing needs, rehabilitates urban communities, and provides rent assistance to those living in low-income housing

• Medicare and Medicaid

• It left others to carry the banner for civil

rights in his place.

• In the midst of all the chaos and violence

of 1968, the nation moved ahead with

concern and a sense of uncertainty.

• The year 1968 saw social and political revolutions take

place around the world.

• In the US, the antiwar movement featured students and

other activists calling for the US to withdraw its troops,

accusing the president of heartlessly sending young US

men to dies in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

• Assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther

King Jr.

• Part of Johnson’s “Great Society”.

• Medicare is a program funded by the

federal government and is meant to

provide medical coverage for the elderly.

• Part of Johnson’s “Great Society”.

• Medicaid is health care partially funded by

the federal government and partially

funded by the states.

• Its purpose is to ensure medical care for

lower-income families.

• Political convention where the Democratic Party

nominated its candidates for president and vice president

for the 1968 election.

• Large numbers of radicals and protesters descended on

the city where the convention was held and, eventually,

massive demonstrations got out of hand after convention

delegates voted against a Vietnam peace resolution and

it became clear that Johnson’s vice president, Hubert

Humphrey, would be nominated for president.

• Police began clubbing those involved in the rally, while

television cameras caught most of the violence.

• It was a student organization which devoted itself to the

use of non-violent protests to demand civil rights for

African Americans.

• Tactics:

• Freedom rides – integrated bus trips in which civil rights

advocates, both black and white, traveled south on buses

to test Supreme Court rulings requiring the integration of

buses. One famous ride turned violent in Alabama.

These rides helped draw national attention to civil rights

and created additional support for the movement.

• Sit-ins – non-violent protests in which blacks sat in

segregated places until they were served or arrested.

• An organization that sought to unite leaders from the

black community during the civil rights movement.

• Early on, the SCLC tended to rely on voter registration

and education within the black community as its major

method for pursuing civil rights.

• The SCLS believed that if it could educate average

African America citizens and get the right candidates

elected to public office, it could successfully bring about

the end of segregation and inequality.

• However, following the participation in the Albany

movement, a number of SCLC leaders began to

appreciate the value of mass demonstrations and public

protests as well.

• Organization founded by Betty

Friedan which was devoted to political

activism and feminist causes.

• 1963, Betty Friedan wrote a book called “The Feminine

Mystique”, talking about her own experience in giving up

a career to be a homemaker. She suggested that the

idea of women being nothing but happy and fulfilled at

home was a myth.

• Friedan’s views helped launch the “Women’s Liberation”

or “Women’s Lib” movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

• This movement rejected traditional gender roles and

advocated equality between men and women.

• Advocates of such positions were labeled “feminists”.

• Founded by Friedan, NOW devoted itself to political

activism and promoting feminist causes.

• Social and political movement of the

1960s and early 1970s that consisted

of largely college students and was

aimed at ending the war in Vietnam.

• Founder of the United Farm Workers

(UFW) and an advocate for Hispanic

migrant workers.

• He imitated many of the methods of Dr.

King and went to great lengths to improve

the conditions under which migrant

workers toiled, including personally

conducting hunger strikes.

• Scientist and writer whose book

“Silent Spring” helped inspire the

modern environmentalist movement.

• “Silent Spring”

• It helped inspire the modern environmentalist movement

that is concerned with preserving the earth’s resources

and species of life. It often focuses on combating ways in

which human beings “negatively affect” the environment.

• Inspired the creation of the EPA – Environmental

Protection Agency – for the purpose of enforcing laws

aimed at maintaining a safe and clean environment.

• While the decades following World War II were undoubtedly a time of change, not everyone embraced the new spirit of protest and government intervention.

• Some groups grew concerned at the increasing role of the Federal government and as a result, a number of people in places like Orange County, CA and the Deep South embraced conservatism – the belief that government should not try to regulate too much.

• Conservatives resented higher taxes believing their “hard earned money” was going to support those whom they saw as lazy and unwilling to work for a living.

• Such concerns combined with a distrust of the various social movements of the day led to a rise in conservatism that eventually transformed US politics.