The Civil Rights Movement28.3 Voting Rights

Focus Your Thoughts . . . Which constitutional amendment gave

African-Americans the right to vote?

When did this occur?

In what ways did they continue to struggle to exercise this right?

Registered VotersThe nonviolent methods of the civil rights

movement troubled Kennedy, primarily because they provoked such violent reactions

Worried about continued and prolonged violence, they urged African-Americans to switch their focus:

Protests Voter Registration

The Voter Education Project

In 1962, the SNCC (Student Non-violence Coordinating Committee) and CORE founded the Voter Education Project This project sought to allow African-Americans

the right to register to vote in the SouthIt was met with just as much resistance as de-

segregation, and the struggle became very violent

A Problem StateMississippi

VEP workers lived under daily fear and threats

A local farmer helping one voter registration drive was killed

The state legislator who shot him was acquitted, and the lone witness – an African-American – was later found dead as well

Despite This . . . The Voter Education Project was a success!!

In 1962, fewer than 1.4 million of the South’s five million African-American adults were registered to vote . . .

By 1964, 500,000 more were registered, but Mississippi remained a struggle

The 24th Amendment

The twenty-fourth amendment was passed by Congress in 1962 and then turned over to the states to ratify . . .

What do you think it did? How many states do you think had to ratify it?

The Poll Tax

The 24th Amendment banned states and/or the national government from including a poll tax as a condition to take part in elections . . .

36/50 states needed to pass it . . . would they?? In 1964, it became part of the Constitution

The Poll Tax – at least in writing – did not discriminate against any minority group, but how was it used to continue

disenfranchising African-American voters?

Freedom SummerCollege students were asked to spend their

summer in Mississippi registering African-Americans to vote

When school let out for the summer, hundreds of students showed up for training, most of them were white students from the northern states

Freedom SummerIn addition to registering voters, college volunteers also

planned to educate young black children, who were receiving inadequate educations

The state of Mississippi was spending an average of $82 per year on white students and only $22 per year on black students

In addition, Mississippi was forcing black children to forego school and work during the summersThe college volunteers hoped to tutor the children to compensate

for this

How do you think Mississippi will respond?

Crisis in MississippiThe first two hundred volunteers arrived in

Mississippi June 20, 1964

Three young men, one a college volunteer and two CORE workers, were arrested for “speeding” that same night, and were jailed until evening

The boys paid their fine, left the jail, and were never heard from again

Johnson RespondsPresident Johnson ordered a massive hunt for the

three young men; their bodies were discovered in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Mississippi

Two-thirds of the volunteers went home after this, but those who stayed considered “Freedom Summer” a success:The Freedom Schools taught 3,000 students17,000 African-Americans in Mississippi registered

to vote, although the state only accepted about 1,600 of these applications

The Selma CampaignIn January of 1965, MLK Jr. began a campaign to gain

voting rights for African Americans in Selma, Alabama.

By the end of January, more than 2,000 marchers had been arrestedKing refused to give up, he used the same tactic he did in

Birmingham – forcing the police to arrest him and several others

Just as King hoped, his arrest drew national attention and the national media swarmed Selma, releasing pictures of children being sent off to jail

Tensions RiseBy mid-February, police were using force, and

even violence, to try and control the marches

A few days after a marcher had been killed by state troopers, King announced a four-day march from Selma to Montgomery, the capital, to protest police brutality

Governor George Wallace issued an order prohibiting the march“It will not be tolerated,” he warned

The Selma MarchSunday March 7, 1965, six hundred African-

Americans began the fifty-four mile march

Police forces waited, and when they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they began firing tear gas, and attacking people with clubs, chains, and cow prods

TV networks showed footage of the savage violence, and the march continued with federal protection . . . They finally reached Montgomery on March 25th

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed in Congress by large majorities

MLK, Rosa Parks, and many other civil rights leaders were present when Johnsons signed it into law on August 6th

Within three weeks, 27,000 African-Americans in the South had registered to vote, and African-Americans candidates soon began running for and winning local and state elections

“At times history and fate meet to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom. So it was last week in

Selma, Alabama.” - Lyndon Johnson

Analyzing InformationReview your notes of the African-American’s struggle for political equity in this section of the book. Then copy the graphic organizer below and use it to list the events in the

struggle, what injustice each event targeted, and the effects of those actions.

Event Injustice Effects