The Civil Rights Movement 1950s & 1960s

What Civil Rights advances happened under Eisenhower?

What Civil Rights advances happened under Eisenhower?

• Montgomery bus boycott• Civil rights act of 1957• Brown vs. Topeka overturns

Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)• Arkansas resists desegregation,

Ike sends in troops

What role did Kennedy play in the Civil Rights movement?

What role did Kennedy play in the Civil Rights movement?

• JFK wanted to concentrate on foreign affairs not civil rights

• Year of election coincided with sit in movement

• Summer of 61 “freedom rides” to test desegregation of buses

• James Meredith registers at U of Miss in 1962, ends up being escorted by Fed. Troops

• April 1963, King arrested, protesters beaten in Alabama, TV crews catch it all

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the

true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that

all men are created equal .”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• August 1963, march on Washington, Martin Luther King’s dream speech

• June 1963, new Civil Rights Bill intended to end discrimination by Federal Law, blocked by Congress

What groups were “spin offs” of the African American Civil

Rights movement?

Modern Feminist MovementGoals included…• equal pay for equal work• full job opportunities• ERA• Question dominance of men in

society