Chapter 22

The Struggle Continues,1965-1980

I. The Fading Dream of Racial Integration

White Backlash– Increasing white resistance to civil rights

• California: bill to repeal all laws prohibiting discrimination in sale or renting of houses

• George Wallace– Favorable support in northern primaries against

Johnson

Black Nationalism

Disillusioned by the slow pace – Floyd McKissick, CORE– Stokely Carmichael, LCFO– Black theology

• Critiques racism within white religious groups• Black Christian nationalism

– Black feminist theology• Critiques of sexism within the black church

Malcolm X

Malcolm Little– Violence marred his childhood– Ten-year prison sentence

• Embraced the teaching of Muhammad

– Attracted attention• Did not believe in nonviolence nor advocated

integration• “Revolutions are based on bloodshed.”

Malcolm X’s New Departure

Popularity and growing tensions– Malcolm X leaves Nation of Islam, 1964– Suspended by Elijah Muhammad for comments about JFK– Made pilgrimage to Mecca (changed ideology)

– Muslim Mosque, Inc.– Organization for Afro-American Unity– Repudiated the Nation of Islam doctrine

• “All white people are evil.”• Assassinated February 14th, 1965

Stokely Carmichael and Black Power– Carmichael, chairman of SNCC, 1966

• Ends goal of interracial collaboration • SNCC fires white staff members

– CORE ejected white members, 1968

– “Black Power”• Promoted black political, economic strength• Psychological assertiveness, cultural pride

– Critics charged reverse racism

– King supported positive aspects• Denounced negative taunts against white

people

Hubert G. Brown,

H. “Rap” Brown, Chairman of SNCC, 1966– Militant black power

• Called white people “honkies”• Police were “pigs”• “Violence” was “as American as apple pie.”

– Arrested in Cambridge, Maryland

The National Council of Churches Religious leaders changed by black

power– Federal Council of Churches, 1946– National Council of Churches, 1963-1965– Benjamin Payton

• Economic development

– Black caucuses within white churches– James Forman, 1969

• White churches pay $500 million in reparations– Started the withdrawal of white religious groups

II. The Black Panther Party

Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, 1966 Black nationalist ideology

– Marxist-Leninist doctrines• Overthrowing capitalist society and ending police

brutality

Eldridge Cleaver– Soul on Ice, 1968

• Black people were victims of colonization– Needed to be liberated, not integrated– Oakland police shootout, 1968

• See VOICES

Police Repression and theFBI’s COINTELPRO Violence dwarfed community projects

– Free breakfast and health care programs– Some of the earliest drug education programs

FBI Counterintelligence (COINTELPRO)– Destroy black nationalist groups

• Ridicule, discredit leaders, worked with local officials• Undercover agents infiltrated the Panthers• Provoked violence and criminal acts

Prisoners’ Rights

Black prisoners out of proportion to population– Unfair sentences and deplorable conditions

Angela Davis– Soledad Brothers– George Jackson

Attica– Prison riot, September 9th, 1971

III. The Inner-City Rebellions Anger in America’s inner cities, 1965 29% of black households below poverty line,

compared to 8% of white households 50% of non-white families lived in

substandard conditions, compared to 18% of white families

Black unemployment rate twice that of whites Jobs moved to suburbs High school dropout rates increased Crime and drug use increased

Inner-City Violence Watts, August 11th, 1965

– 98% percent black community– 30% of black men unemployed– Los Angeles police brutality

Newark, New Jersey, July 12th, 1967– Highest unemployment rate among black men in the

nation

Detroit, July 23rd, 1967– Deadliest riot of fifty-nine urban rebellions in 1967

• Forty-three black people killed, mostly by National Guard

Kerner Commission– White racism underlying cause of riots

IV. Difficulties in Creating the Great Society War on poverty

– Poor blacks aid in design and implementation

• Community action programs• Local politicians

– Felt threatened by empowerment – Critical of handouts and rewards for lawlessness

and laziness

– Raised expectations of black people• Feelings of betrayal• Frustrated by white backlash

V. Johnson and the War in Vietnam Government spending

– Domestic programs $44 billion– War on Poverty $10 billion– Vietnam $144 billion

Gulf of Tonkin Resolutions, 1964 Escalation

– 385,000 troops, 1966– 500,000 troops, 1968

Black Americans

Ten percent of armed forces in mid-1960s Increased during Vietnam

– (Twenty-five percent during Persian Gulf War, 1991)

– Blacks entered the military because of• Draft• Patriotism• Educational and vocational opportunities• “Project 100,000”

VI. Johnson: Vietnam Destroy the Great Society War escalation

– Many questioned if it was a worthy cause– “ Credibility gap”

• Great Society programs met increasing resistance

Johnson believed the nation’s honor at stake

Tet Offensive– Psychological blow for the American

public

VII. King: Searching for a New Strategy Martin Luther King, Jr.

– White people thought him a dangerous radical– Black militants thought him an ineffectual moderate– King moved campaign to Chicago

• Hatred and hostility surpassed Birmingham, Alabama

• Racial discrimination tied to economic structure– Poor People’s Campaign

» Tens of thousands of poor would descend on Washington

» Among other things, a federally-guaranteed income policy

VII. King: Searching for a New Strategy ( cont.)

– Critical of war in Vietnam– Alienated Johnson and some of President’s black

supporters

King War and Murder

Memphis sanitation workers’ strike, February 1968 King murdered by James Earl Ray Civic rage in black communities

– 125 cities

– 46 people dead

– 35,000 injured

Civil Rights Act, 1968– Outlawed discrimination in the sale and rental of

housing; redlining illegal

IX. The Second Phase of the Black Student Movement

Militant assertiveness, after 1968– Occurred among black college students

The Orangeburg Massacre, February 8th, 1968– South Carolina State College

• Marks the beginning of second phase Black Studies

– A collective, interdisciplinary scholarly approach– Black students at white campuses demanded courses – Federal legislation banned discrimination

• Financial aid programs

X. The Election of 1968

Hubert Humphrey– Democratic

Richard Nixon– Republican

George Wallace– American Party

XI. The Nixon Presidency

Progressive presidency– EPA– Endorsed equal rights amendment– Signed regulatory legislation– “Southern Strategy”

• Weakened New Deal coalition

The “Moynihan Report”

The negro family– Breakdown of lower-class black family leads to

• Higher crime and poverty, increased drug use

– Matriarchal structure and weak family structure• “Retards the progress of the group”• Principal cause for anti-social behavior• Black scholars condemned report

– Matriarchy was a functional adaptation in a hostile world– Diverted attention from positive thrust– Family assistance plan

Busing, War, and Downfall Major 1970s court cases dealt with federal court’s

willingness to bus students across district lines White people demonstrated Nixon and the Vietnam War

– Cambodia• Between 1969-1971 dropped more bombs than it had on all

Asia• Kent State

Nixon’s downfall– Campaigned to restore law and order

• Expanded power to use wiretaps and enter without advance warning

– Watergate

XII. The Rise of Black Elected Officials

Black power and the Voting Rights Act, 1965– Encouraged political involvement– Carl Stokes– Richard G. Hatch

Gary Convention and Black Political Agenda– 8,000 people gathered to develop an agenda– Shift from demonstrations to electoral gains

Black people gain local offices– 2,427 black elected officials, 1972– 8,106 black elected officials, 1993

XIII. Economic Downturn

Recession during the 1970s– Poor black people were loosing ground– But black middle-class grew

XIV. Black Americans and the Carter Presidency Ninety percent of black voters favored Carter

– Without them Carter would not have won

Black appointees– Appointed to highly visible posts

• Patricia Harris, Andrew Young, Ernest Green

Domestic problems– Unsatisfactory overall record– Iran hostage crisis

XV. Conclusion Civil rights victories changed lives and culture Black power and black arts pushed civil rights into

northern and western venues The black political movement led to rise in black elected

officials Black studies as a new academic field Black arts and black consciousness opened new

avenues of expression Johnson, Nixon, and Carter sought ways to alleviate

hardships among poor within the context of their political ideologies