The Civil Rights Movement: 1953 - 1969

Pre-Movement Conditions in the South

Watch: “Never Lose Sight of Freedom”

“Rights Denied,” “A Change is Gonna Come”

The Beginnings of the Movement

Why a Civil Rights Movement now?

Brown v. Board of Education, 1954

1955-1965

The Early Movement

The Role of Birmingham, Alabama

The Role of Churches Community Worship Support Black Businesses Meeting place for movement business

Leadership Fred Shuttlesworth – “we cannot brag for our success

because we are simply doing God’s will” James Abernathy

Montgomery Bus Boycott -1955

Rosa Parks refuses to leave her seat

Boycott begins

Carpool System

Emmett Till Case, 1955

Emergence of Martin Luther King

“Soul Force”

1957: Founds SCLC

Forms a partnership with Alabama leaders

September, 1957 – The Little Rock Nine

1960 – Sit Ins Begin

February: North Carolina

April: Formation of SNCC

1961: Freedom Rides

CORE formed

October 1961

James Meredith breaks the color barrier at Universities

1963: Birmingham

Demonstrations in Birmingham Begin

King in Jail

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

May 1963

Children’s Crusade in Birmingham

The Role of the Radio

The role of the church

June 11, 1963

Wallace at the University of Alabama

“I say segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation Forever!” ~ Alabama governor George Wallace, 1963

August 28, 1963: I Have a Dream!

September 15, 1963 Church Bombings

Freedom Summer - 1964

Intent was to help blacks register without fear of intimidation or unfair tests

Death of Civil Rights Workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi

Voter Registration as a Result of the Freedom Summer

1964: Bullets or Ballots?

Rise of Malcolm X

1965 – The March from Selma to Montgomery

February 1, 1965

March 7, 1965: Bloody Sunday

The Later Movement

1966: the fight for defacto segregation

1966: The Black Panther Movement Begins

Mexico City, 1968

Race Riots emerge in inner cities

1966: Black Power Emerges

1967: Thurgood Marshall

Legal cases pre-Supreme Court

Major Supreme Court decisions

1968: The Death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

March 1, 1968: Kerner Commission

Results of the Civil Rights Movement

See pg. 920 in text

Controversies over Civil Rights

Segregation was still the rule until the 1970s

Affirmative Action

Justice is Served

2001: Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombers Rearrested and tried