Civil Rights Movement

Black Power Salute: Tommie Smith and John Carlos at Mexico City Olympics, 1968

The Civil Rights Movement was the rise of nonviolent, direct-action protest, and the national effort to overcome Jim Crow in the South. Civil Disobedience means to willfully not follow unjust laws or practices. In addition, to not respond with violence when treated violently. Civil Rights participants received training in non violent techniques including how to fall under the blows of an attacker and protect yourself.

It is important to remember, the Civil Rights Movement was forged by ordinary people, deliberately standing up against the injustice that had become an American way of life. Many Civil Rights activists were murdered for trying to make a change in the inequitable structure of the United States.

Montgomery Bus boycott 1955-1956: boycott means to protest by not buying or using a product.

Why do you think the Montgomery Bus boycott was successful? How do we know it was successful?

Little Rock Nine: Nine African American students were selected to be the first students to integrate Little Rock High School after the Brown v.

Board of Education Supreme Court case declared segregation of schools illegal.

What is happening in the pictures?Why is there a crowd gathered outside the school?

How do we know the Brown v. Board of Education decision was successful?

Sit-in at North Carolina lunch counter

College students sat at the counters for hours and refused to leave even though they were not served.

Lunch counter sit-insWhat is happening in this picture? Why is it happening?

How do we know the sit ins were successful?

Freedom riders were black and white students who set out to test the Supreme Court order outlawing segregation in bus terminals by traveling into the deep South. They were met by violent white mobs and attacked at every stop.

Freedom Riders:What is happening in this picture?Why is it happening?How do we know the Freedom Riders were finally successful?

Birmingham, Alabama was known as the South’s most segregated city. Martin Luther King, Jr. (not in the photograph) came to Birmingham to lead

anti-segregation boycotts and mass marches. Police officials responded with force.

Birmingham, Alabama march:What is happening in the picture?Why is it happening?

How do we know the protest was successful?

Martin Luther King Jr. The March on

Washington helped to attract national support for the proposed Civil Rights bill. 250, 000 people gathered to hear King deliver a speech at the Lincoln Memorial and show their support for the proposed bill. Here, King addresses the crowd and delivers his most famous speech, “I have a dream.”

The following summer, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The new law outlawed segregation in public places, therefore, the freedom riders and sit-in students were successful. Birmingham style segregation had to end, but the new law did not address the problem of voting rights.

Signing the Civil Rights act 1964

The people in Selma, Alabama were marching because they were repeatedly denied the right to register to vote. People from across the nation participated in the event.

Selma, Alabama march:What is happening in the picture?Why is it happening?How do we know the Selma march was successful?

After the Selma march and the murder of several Civil Rights workers, Congress passed two laws to support fair voting practices in the United States.

Voting Rights Act of 1965: outlawed literacy tests and unfair laws blocking the right to vote

24th Amendment: outlawed the poll tax

Why are these laws necessary for the United States?

Conclusion: Evaluate which forms of protest in the Civil Rights Movement would be protected under the First Amendment?

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