civil rights—1950s & 60s. civil rights—early years considered eisenhower’s greatest...
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Civil Rights—1950s & 60s
Civil Rights—Early Years
• Considered Eisenhower’s greatest failure as president o Mild advances, general
avoidance o Preferred state/local action
—”you can’t change minds with laws”
o Warren appointment—”biggest damn fool mistake I ever made” • 1953-1969 “Warren
Court”• Catalyst for social change
Brown v. Board of Education
• NAACP—Thurgood Marshall—”legal lever”
• Eisenhower asked Warren to side w/ segregationist or deal w/ it latero Warren responded—”you mind your
business and I’ll mind mine”
• 1954—unanimous decision• “all deliberate speed”• Eisenhower did not endorse the
decision• Alabama ‘nullified’ the SC’s
decision • Citizen’s Councils (KKK)• Economic attack• Byrd called for “massive
resistance & “Southern Manifesto”• 1956—not a single black child
attended school with white children in 6 Southern states
Little Rock—1957• Arkansas Gov.—Orval
Faubus called national guard to prevent 9 black students from attending Little Rock HSo Order were “no niggers in the
building”o Elizabeth Eckford, 15, met with
chants of “lynch her”
• Eisenhower reluctantly dispatched 1,000 paratroopers o “hardest decision since D-Day”o Rational was to maintain law and
order not to enforce civil rightso First time since 1870 troops were
sent to protect black Americans
Little Rock• Faubus closed Little
Rock High Schools in 1959o Served 6 terms as governor
• Courts in various states struck down legislation that cut funding to integrated schools
• “massive resistance” was contained to the deep south
Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Rosa Parks—1955o Refused to give seat to a white mano “niggers move back”o Arrested o Response= boycott of city busing
systemo 381 days—car pooling, arrests, church
burning, harassment o Separate but equal does not apply to
buses
• MJK Jr.o 26, son of a minister, grandson of a
slave, doctorate from Boston U, preacher in Montgomery
o Studied Thoreau & Gandhio Arrested twice during boycott and
gained national attention
• SCLC—Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• “militant non-violence”
Movement Expansion• Kennedy was also timid• Greensboro & ‘sit-
ins’(‘kneel-ins’, ‘wade-ins’)
• 3,600 black and white activists spent time in jail
• SNCC—Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committeeo Teaching non-violence and
toleration of abuse
Movement Expansion • Freedom riders • Robert F. Kennedy is
Attorney General o Asked Freedom riders to stop
• Challenge segregation on buses and trains
• Bus exploded, riders escaped to be beaten w/ pipes, bats, chains, buses
• Pressured federal action—ICC ordered waiting areas to integrated
Federal Intervention • James Meredith—
1962o Registered at U. of
Mississippio Gov. Barnett ignored court
order to allow him to register
o Robert Kennedy dispatched federal marshals
o They were assaulted by a mob, and federal troops intervened
o Riots occurred, 2 deaths and dozens of injuries
o James Meredith registered
Birmingham • Alabama Governor—
George Wallace o “segregation now, segregatio
n tomorrow, segregation forever!”
• Eugene “Bull” Connor—police commissioner o Sitting duck for civil
disobedience o Very dangerous o Used police dogs, tear gas,
electric cattle prods, and fire hoses while millions of Americans watched on television
Changes…• “Letter from
Birmingham City Jail” • J. Edgar Hoover (FBI)
o “the most dangerous negro…in this nation”
o Hatred border lined obsession o Attorney General Kennedy
gave permission to monitor private phone conversations, plant listening devices in hotel rooms, and circulate rumors
• Nobel Peace Prize—1964
Changes…• “this is a very serious
fight. We’re in this up to the neck. The worst trouble would be to lose the fight in Congress…A good many programs I care about may go down the drain as a result of this [bill]—we may all go down the drain…so we are putting a lot on the line”
• Wallace personally barred the door to University of Alabama
• Kennedy identifies the ‘moral ‘ issue for the first time—1963
• March on Washingtono 1963o “We Shall Overcome” o “I have a Dream”
• Birmingham Church bombing o 4 black girls die
LBJ Takes Office—1963
• “magnificent, inspiring”
• “insufferable bastard” • “I’m going to be the
best friend the Negro ever had”
• Emphasis on domestic policy
“Great Society”• “War on Poverty”• Harrington published The
Other America• Contrast to 1950s American
Dreamo Prolonged poverty o Unlikely escape o ‘modern poor’
• Programs unparalleled since New Deal o Job Corpso Head Start Programo Community Action Programo Medicare (elderly over 65)o Medicaid (economic hardship)o Federal aid for public schools o Public housing o 435 bills through Congress
Assessing the Great Society
• Criticisms o Medicare removed
incentive for hospitals to control costs so healthcare costs skyrocketed
o Federal welfare payments that reduced poverty were not sustainable
o Welfare fraud o Fueled a Republican
backlash—Nixon
• Successes?o Civil rights and voting
rights remain protected o Medicare and Medicaid
are two of the most appreciated government programs
o Highway Safety & Motor Vehicle Safety Act
o Higher Education Act = scholarships
Civil Rights Act--1964o Executive Order 8802
• FDR & New Deal Legislation
o Executive Order 9981• Truman & Armed Forces
o Civil Rights Act 1957—created Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department
o Civil Rights Act 1964• S. Democrat (Byrd)
filibustered (14 hr 13 min)• “we have just delivered
the South to the Republicans for a long time to come” –LBJ
Freedom Summer—1964
• 6.7% of eligible black voters were registered in Mississippio Poll taxes, literacy tests,
• Robert “Bob” Moses (SNCC)
• Refocus on political rights
• Brutal retaliation • Fairly successful
Selma • 1965• March from Selma to
Montgomeryo 25,000o Dispersed by 500 state trooperso “Bloody Sunday”
• Johnson provided troops for protection
• Voting Rights Acto Federal supervision of registration
in states and counties where fewer than half were registered
o Outlawed literacy and discriminatory tests
o Huge gains in voter registration
•
Another shift…• Fragmentation of movement • Shift from southern politics
to urban economics • Riots
o L.A.—1965 (Watts—black ghetto)• 34 dead, 4,000 jailed, 35 million
in damageo Chicago and Cleveland +40 other
cities (summer 1966) o Detroit 1967
• National guard and federal troops and tanks
• 43 dead, 1000 + injured
• Stokely Carmichael—head of SNCC—1966o Black Power o Ousted whites from SNCCo Black Panthers—armed “kill whitey”
black supremacy
Malcolm X• Why X?• Lansing, MI• Home was burned parents
supported Marcus Garvey’s black nationalism
• Abusive father, extreme poverty, crime, dropped out, jailed, etc…
• Joined NOIo Chicago-based o Cult-likeo “white devils” o Malcolm X increased membership
from a few hundred to tens of thousands by 1960
Malcom X• Dismissed MLK Jr. • “We Shall Overrunn” • Toured Africa & Middle East
asking for international support in the UN
• Assassinated in 1965 at age 39
• Black power only attracted about 15% of black Americans
• Positive? –influential in establishing black pride and forced MLK Jr’s attention on urban poverty
Feminism • Betty Freidan—The
Feminine Mystique o “comfortable concentration camps” o Empowerment
• NOW • Redstockings, WITCH
o Bra burning, burning Playboy, picketing Miss America, etc…
• Title IX (1972) • Roe v. Wade (1973)• ERA • “She Decade” 70s • Sexual Revolution
o Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
Gay Rights • Stonewall Inn—1969
o Greenwich Village o Police raid of popular gay baro Gay Liberation Front o Encouraged “coming out”
• AIDS• Setbacks
o Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) o Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (1993) o DOMA (1996)
Immigration Act• Immigration and Nationality
Services Act 1965• “redress the wrong done to
those from southern and eastern Europe and the developing continents of Africa, Asia, and Latin America”
• Abolished discriminatory quotas in place since the 1920s
• “hemispheric visas”o 170,000 outside western hemisphereo 120,000 from withino No more than 20,000 from one countryo Allowed entry of immediate family
members w/out limit
Hispanic Civil Rights • WWII causation?• Hernadez v. Texas (1954)• 1960—median income was 62%
of general population • Unique dilemma? • Chicano Movement--La Raza
Unida--1970• Bracero Program
o Ended 1964o Trucked in day laborers from Mexico during
harvest o Hispanic leaders instrumental in ending
program
• Cesar Chavez & UFWo United Farm Workers o 1965 strike against corporate grape growers
in CA = media = grape boycott
• Success = population growth o 1960=3 milliono 1970=9 milliono 2012=52 million o Synthesis?
Native American Civil Rights
• Label shift…and back again…
• Conditions: white guilt, desperate economic situations (connect to War on Poverty) • Over half dependent on welfare,
alcoholism, 80% drop out rates • Termination bills contributed
• AIM (1963) American Indian Movement—”Red Power” o Occupation of Alcatraz o “Trail of Broken Treaties” o Sit in at BIA o (1973) 200 Sioux marched to occupy
Wounded Kneeo 10 week stand off
• Judicial Power o “The Longest Walk”
Compare and Contrast LEQ
• Prompt: Compare and contrast the goals of the various civil rights movements in the 1960s and 70s.