www.buschistory.netTopic 23

The Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement1945-1966

Why now?• Booming wartime economy draws

almost 1 million black Southerners to Northern cities and leads to African Americans gaining influence in local political machines

• Nearly 1 million Blacks serve in armed forces and 2 million worked in defense plants

• Now that the war was over, we could focus more on domestic issues and civil rights became a huge national issue, especially among democrats

• Looking ahead to the election of 1948,Truman (Democrat) passed a series of acts to gain some popularity among the A.A. community, this included civil rights committees and divisions.

• Morgan v. Virginia (1946)- Supreme Court declares that segregation on interstate buses was a burden

Separate but equal• Bebop music becomes extremely

popular as a way for African Americans to create an individual musical culture

• In the South, Blacks and Whites had separate schools, restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, waiting rooms, libraries, restrooms, hospitals and even cemeteries

• African Americans who insisted on voting faced the physical consequences such as beatings, shootings and lynchings

• Survival was based primarily on patience

• The Black facilities were most often extremely inferior to the white facilities

• African Americans did not have the protection of the police nor the court system and therefore, were under the discretion of their white neighbors

• In the late 1940’s, only 10% of eligible Blacks voted, this was due to poll –taxes and other discriminatory registration procedures

Brown v. Board of Ed. 1954 1951 the NAACP and Thurgood Marshall determined to overturn Plessy v.

Ferguson He argued that separate was not equal He used psychologist Kenneth B. Clark who illustrated that black children in

segregated schools development a low self-esteem of themselves May 17, 1954 the Supreme Court overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson

decision stating “separate but equal has no place” In 1955 Brown II ordered integration to begin “with deliberate speed” but

held no time limit In 1956 10 former confederate states signed the Southern Manifesto

refusing to desegregate In 1957 a federal court ordered the integration of schools

The Little Rock 9

Little Rock 9- Arkansas 1957 Nine blacks students ,trying to

integrate, Central HS State vs. Federal National guard, sent by Governor Orval

Faubus to try and stop integration President Eisenhower Federalized the

National guard to escort them into Central High School

Governor Orval closed the school from 58-57 claiming he wanted to prevent “violent disorder”

Struggle for justice

•Major sit-ins at Greensboro, Nashville and Atlanta

•These sit-ins led to civil rights supporters peacefully protesting businesses, hurting the economy and forcing action to be taken•New styles of civil rights protest become effective and valid plans for action

Greensboro sit-in Feb. 1, 1960

Major Activists/Committees• Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.- led

Montgomery Bus Boycott, president of SCLC, led non-violent protests and the extremely passionate voice of the A.A. community

• Thurgood Marshall- Leader Attorney for NAACP, Brown V. Board

• James Farmer- organized Freedom Rides

• John Lewis- Head of SNCC

• Malcolm X- spoke for the NOI and supported breaking free “by any means necessary

• Bob Moses and Dave Dennis- planned Freedom Summer

• Rosa Parks- refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus, this parked the Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955

• Rev. James Lawson- led workshops on nonviolent protest and led students at sit-ins in Nashville

•NAACP- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

•CORE- Congress of Racial Equality, devoted to interracial, nonviolent direct action

•SCLC- founded by MLK, taught that nonviolent protest was not cowardly and that weakness turns to strength

•SNCC-Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Mass action and civil disobedience led mostly by college students

Election of 1960 and Civil Rights

• JFK defeats Richard Nixon in a very close race

• The 70% of African Americans that voted for JFK helped secure his win

• During his campaign when MLK was jailed for leading a protest in Atlanta, JFK called Coretta Scott King to express his personal support

• Robert Kennedy called the judge and warned him that he was violating MLK’s rights and King was released shortly afterwards

• After his victory, JFK appointed 40 African Americans to high federal positions.

Freedom Rides• In order to test compliance with court

orders to desegregate interstate buses, James Farmer organized the Freedom Rides

• Blacks and whites rode 2 buses through the South on May 14th, 1961

• In Anniston, Alabama the buses were attacked, set on fire and the riders beaten nearly to death

• Although the FBI and Justice Dept. knew about the rides, it was members of the SCLC that had to rescue the riders from white mobs

• National press attention forced the Kennedy Administration to act

• While laying in a pool of blood, activist John Lewis was handed an injunction by a police officer who stood by to watch rather than help

Major Civil Rights events• Integration of Central

High School- Little Rock, 1957

• 4 girls killed in bombing of A.A. church- Birmingham, 1963

• Montgomery Bus Boycott- 1955-1956

• First sit-ins- Greensboro, 1960

• DR. MLK’s “I have a dream” speech- Washington D.C., 1963

• Assassination of MLK- Memphis, 1968

• Freedom Summer- get blacks educated and voting- Mississippi, 1964

Acts, Cases and Exec. Orders• 1939- Missouri v. Ex.rel. Gaines-

required University of Missouri Law School to desegregate or build another fully equal facility

• 1941- Exec. Order 8802 (Roosevelt)- bans racial discrimination in defense industry and establishes Fair Employment Practices Committee

• 1946- Morgan v. Virginia- interstate bus segregation created an “undue burden”

• 1950- McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents- ruled that segregation was unconstitutional because it created a “badge of inferiority”

• 1954- Brown v. Board of Ed. 1- separate but equal is not equal

• 1955- Brown v. Board of Ed. 2- orders desegregation to begin

• 1957-Civil Rights Act- creates Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department

• 1964- Civil Rights Act- prohibited public discrimination on basis of race, color, sex, religion or national origin and created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

• 1965-Voting Rights Act- Authorized federal supervision of voter registration where less that half the people of age were registered to vote and outlawed discriminatory test

• Loving V. Virginia 1967 – Mildred and Richard Loving violated the state's anti- miscegenation statute. Supreme Court declared it Unconstitutional

Forgotten Minorities- Puerto Ricans

- From 1945-1964 the number of Puerto Ricans jumps from 100,000 to 1 million- LULAC- League of United Latin American Citizens, sought to secure equal rights and opportunity for their community

- Indian Peoples- Many Indian tribes receive money from the division of tribal assets, spend it quickly and are then forced to work unskilled jobs for little money- Many Indian peoples become dependent on state services and slip into alcoholism-NCAI (national congress of American Indians) and NIYC ( national Indian youth council) set up to help

- Asian Americans- JACL (Japanese American Citizens League) remind people of Japanese contributions in war- 1965- Immigration and Nationality Act, admits 20,000 people per country annually to the U.S.- From 1965-1985 the number of Asian Americans rises from 1 million to 5 million

- Mexican Americans- 1947- Mendez c. Westminster and 1948- the Delgado Case, segregation of Mexican Americans is declared unconstitutional- Operation Wetback set up to send illegal aliens back to Mexico, but officer didn’t care who they sent back as long as they were Mexican