The Civil Rights Movement

May 1, 2009

Civil War (1861-1865)

Was not fought to free the slaves Made no plans to incorporate blacks

into society

Reconstruction (1865-1877)

Federal troops occupied the South Civil War Amendments were passed

13th freed the slaves 14th made blacks citizens & extended the

due process clause to the states 15th gave black males the right to vote

KKK – Ku Klux Klan Kuklos

End of Reconstruction until Civil Rights Movement (1877 – 1954)

Dispute over the election of 1876 ended in a compromise – Hayes would win the presidency if he agreed to end Reconstruction

Federal troops withdrew (1877) Civil War amendments were

virtually ignored afterward

End of Reconstruction until Civil Rights Movement (1877 – 1954)

KKK disbanded Sharecropping – became new

slavery rent for land was paid with crops kept blacks poor, and in-debt tied blacks to the land and

landowners The following is a contract from North

Carolina, 1882:

Sharecropper’s Contract

To everyone applying to rent land upon shares, the following conditions must be read, and agreed to…

The sale of every cropper’s part of the cotton to be made by me when and where I choose to sell, and after deducting all they owe me and all sums that I may be responsible for on their accounts, to pay them their half of the net proceeds

Literacy Tests

Given to blacks and later immigrants to prevent them from voting

Law that required literacy tests had a ‘grandfather clause’ If your grandfather voted, you didn’t

have to take the test

End of Reconstruction until Civil Rights Movement (1877 – 1954)

Jim Crow laws de jure segregation Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Separate but equal is legal de facto segregation

End of Reconstruction until Civil Rights Movement (1877 – 1954)

World War I Great Trek North – last hired, 1st

fired KKK returned

Depression high unemployment social problems rose lynching was a regular occurrence

End of Reconstruction until Civil Rights Movement (1877 – 1954)

World War II. Armed services segregated Many African-Americans served

with distinction Many African-Americans gained a

world view and less patience with segregation

Civil Rights Movement

Non-Violent modeled after non-violent

protests of Thoreau and Ghandi resistance that was peaceful

but not always lawful depended on media coverage

and public support often resulted in violence

against the movement

Emmitt Till

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

started as several cases involving segregation in public schools

consolidated as one case, and Linda Brown was 1st plaintiff alphabetically

argued by Thurgood Marshall in front of the Supreme Court

decision unanimous that separate was not equal and schools must be desegregated

applied to all aspects of segregation

Montgomery Bus Strike Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat

on the bus (Dec. 1, 1955) Led by MLK, blacks boycotted the

buses for 13 months Nov. 1956 the Supreme Court struck

down Alabama’s segregation laws The bus company was nearly bankrupt

before they complied in 1957.

Little Rock 9 (Sept. 1957) 9 black students were to start school in all

white Central High white students and parents protested Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas

National Guard to prevent the students from entering the school

President Eisenhower ordered 1000 federal troops to Little Rock to restore order and escort the students to school

In 1958-59, Governor Faubus tried to close the school and send the white students to private schools. He was prevented by court order and eventually the schools were desegregated.

Of the “Little Rock 9”, 1 was expelled, the others graduated

Freedom Riders C.O.R.E. organized bus rides in 1961 States were ignoring recent court rulings

that demanded all interstate bussing be integrated

One bus was fire-bombed in Anistan, Alabama

People were hauled off the bus and beaten in Montgomery, Al

In spite of that, continued rides until Jackson, Miss, where they were all arrested

1962

James Meredith is enrolled as the first black at the University of Mississippi.

Two killed, many injured in riots Federal troops sent in to help him

register

March on Washington

1963 250,000 people “I Have a Dream” Helped bring about the Civil Rights

Act of 1964 *delayed in 1963 due to Kennedy’s

assasination

Civil Rights Act of 1964 is signed by President Johnson

**************************Outlaws separate standards for blacks & whites for votingWithholds federal funds for discrimination of facilitiesOutlaws discrimination in public facilities

Freedom Summer

1964 Northerner college students went

south to help AA to register to vote Many beaten and scared away 3 disappeared between Meridian &

Philadelphia, Miss Bodies found in earthen dam several

weeks later

Freedom Summer

Local police refuse to investigate or prosecute offenders

Later proven that police were directly involved in the killings

Initially only charges were federal, for Civil Rights violations (7 convicted; max. time served was 6 years)

Freedom Summer

Edgar Ray Killen 1967 jury deadlocked on Civil Rights

charges 2005 tried in MI on murder and

manslaughter charges Convicted of manslaughter at age 80 Given bail while appealing; bail revoked

after his family threatened the judge Feb. 25, 2010, filed suit against FBI for

violating his Civil Rights

March, 1965March From Selma to Montgomery Jimmy Lee Jackson killed by police

‘deputies’ in peaceful meeting at a local church

MLK called for march from Selma to Montgomery (Capital of Alabama) in protest

600 peaceful demonstrators beaten, whipped & bitten by police dogs All on TV

March, 1965March From Selma to Montgomery

President Johnson called for an immediate passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

March continued 10 days later with 25,000 people protected by press and US Marshals

Voting Rights Act of 1965 is signed by President Johnson

**************************

Among other things, outlaws literacy tests and has provisions for

enforcement

End of “Civil Rights Movement”

Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Non-violent approach is replaced by

more violent separatists movements Urban riots become common &

deadly Bussing becomes the issue in early

1970’s

Affirmative Action – outlaws quotas but race & ethnicity can be a factor

1992 – Race riots in LA 1st in years, motivated by Rodney King beating

“Hate Laws” increase the penalties if racially motivated

The End!