The Civil Rights Movement

Signs of Change1947 MLB desegregated 1948 Armed forces integratedBut still segregated in southern facilities (Plessey)

and by de facto in northern citiesBlacks had become political force in northern dem party

BackgroundBlacks historically denied rightsProsperity of the 1950’s passed them byBetween 1947-70 brings dramatic changeCold War ideological battle fuels debate Truman’s initiatives blocked

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Brown v Board of Education

Preceded by decision affecting higher ed1954 S.C. decision - segregation in schools is unconstitutional (14th Amendment)Reversed Plessey v Ferguson (1896)Thurgood Marshall – Attorney for NAACPWarren: “separate schools are inherently unequal” & schools must desegregate with “all deliberate speed”

Implementing Desegregation

Southern states close schools, “Little Rock Nine” Orville Faubus Arkansas Nat Guard

Confrontation (1957) – Ike sends fed soldiers to escort black students into white high school in Arkansas

Federal Troops Enforcing Desegregation

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)

Rosa Parks violates Alabama segregation law by sitting in white section of bus & is arrestedAfrican Americans boycott buses citywide in protestBaptist minister Martin Luther King becomes spokesman for boycott’56 – SC rules segregation of transportation unconstitutional

Martin Luther KingSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)nonviolent protest civil disobedienceOratory

March on Washington ‘63MLK leads march“I Have a Dream”Turning point in civil rights movementCivil Right Act passed next year

Student Non-Violent Coordinating CommitteeSNCC National Organization of Black College Students who Organized Sit-ins @ lunch-counters, pools, libraries, hotels Greensboro, NC Woolworths ‘60

Freedom Rides1961Black and White members of CORE organized a integrated bus ride through the south to test the Supreme Court ruling outlawing segregation on public transportation. Met with violence in Alabama

Malcolm XPetty CriminalConverts to Islam in prisonMilitant Civil Rights LeaderNation of IslamElijah Muhammad

>> Org of Afro-American UnityBlack NationalismAssassinated in ‘65

Kennedy on Civil RightsCall to King’s WifeThe New Frontier – Included rebuilding blighted inner-cities (failed in Congress)Consolidates support of African American electorateCivil Rights Bill

Lyndon Johnson on Civil Rights

Civil Rights Act of 1964 -Outlawed Discrimination Voting Rights Act of 1965 – outlawed literacy tests

James Meredith 1962

Resistance to ChangeKKKKing & X both assassinatedBirmingham Church Bombing4 girls killed

Medgar Evers 1963

Stokely Carmichael

Selma March 1965

George WallaceIndependence PartyPro-Segregation Platform