Civil Rights Movement in

America
Segregation in America

● Jim Crow laws-enforced strict separation of the races in the South

–Schools, hospitals, transportation, & restaurants
● De jure segregation-imposed by law
● 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson-”Separate but equal”
● Segregation of beaches, cemeteries, hospitals, restaurants, schools,
transportation, and more
● Disenfranchised – few could vote – grandfather clauses, literacy tests,
poll taxes
Ku Klux Klan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AzDeZ1cFic

The Ku Klux Klan was a

white supremacist terrorist
group that emerged during
Reconstruction. It took
violent steps to undermine the
Republican party, hoping to
maintain black economic
instability and ensure white
racial and economic
superiority in the postwar
South.
Segregation

What point is
President Harry S.
Truman making
regarding America's
position in the world
after the Second
World War?
Organizations

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

The NAACP had been set up in 1909 by a group of leading black intellectuals. Its aim was 'to ensure
the political, educational, social and economic equality of right of all persons and to eliminate racial
hatred and racial discrimination' and it did much to raise awareness of issues. It used legal means to
achieve equality.

CORE

the Congress of Racial Equality

A new organization was established in 1942. CORE () was inspired by the non-violent tactics of
Mahatma Gandhi in India and so ,encouraged tactics such as 'sit-ins' in restaurants.
 Plessy Vs Ferguson 1896
►Facts:

§1896 Homer Plessy took a seat in the “Whites Only” car of a train and refused to move. He
was arrested, tried, and convicted in the District Court of New Orleans for breaking Louisiana’s
segregation law.
►Question:

§Was the Louisiana law separating blacks and whites on railroad cars legal?
►Decision:
§Split decision that “separate but equal” law did not violate the 14th amendment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj54KP16Ilw
Legal Action

1. Brown Vs Board of Education , Topeka

2. Little Rock Nine .
Segregation of Education , 1954
 Brown Vs Board of Education , Topeka
►Facts:
§In 1954 Linda Brown’s parents wanted her to attend the school close to her
home. Kansas law stated she had to attend a segregated school. NAACP and
attorney Thurgood Marshall tested the law.
►Question:
§Can Linda Brown attend an “all white” school?
►Decision:
§“separate educational facilities inherently unequal”
§desegregation required across the nation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX9Dmo24_cc&t=127s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwxprgouAYU
EMMETT TILL

In 1955, Emmette Till was brutally murdered while staying with relatives in
Mississippi. Those believed to be his murderers were acquitted (free from criminal
charge ) by an all-white jury.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYiI7j6GW68
 Little Rock Nine
Central High School, Little Rock, 1957
Little Rock Nine
Tn 1957, Little Rock high school in Arkansas decided to allow nine black students to attend.
However, the nine students who attempted to enrol on 3 September were turned away by
the governor, Orval Faubus.
He ordered State National Guardsmen to block their entry.
Faced with this defiance, Eisenhower was forced to order federal troops to the town to
protect the students.
Press and television coverage of this event across the world was an embarrassment to
America, which prided itself on being a country of freedom and equality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oodolEmUg2g
Civil rights Movements
Direct Actions
Montgomery Bus boycott

On 1 December 1955, Rosa Parks, a black woman travelling on a bus in

Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her seat to a white male and stand at the
back of the bus as was required by law. She was arrested and fined $10.

The Montgomery Improvement Association was set up (MIA) and the bus boycott
continued. Since 75 per cent of the bus company's business was made up of black
passengers, the boycott was very damaging. The black people of Montgomery either
walked or shared lifts through car pools to get to work, with the slogan 'People, don't
ride the bus today. Don't ride it, for freedom'.
Key Leaders

Rosa Parks was an NAACP activist

and it was clear to the NAACP that
Rosa Parks's case could be used to
highlight the unfairness of
discrimination. On the day of her
trial, members of the NAACP
organized a 24-hour bus boycott.
This was so successful that it was
decided to continue this protest.
Key Leaders
A young Baptist preacher called Martin Luther
King was chosen to lead the protest. He was a
brilliant and moving speaker who believed in
non-violent political protest. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott put him in the national spotlight:
'The great glory of American democracy is the
right to protest for right. There will be no crosses
burned at any bus stops in Montgomery. There
will be no white persons pulled out of their homes
and taken out on some distant road and
murdered There will be nobody among us who
will stand up and defy the constitution of the
Nation.
The Results of the Boycott
● The boycott lasted for 381 days.
● Finally, following much national publicity, the Supreme Court ruled that
segregation on buses was unconstitutional; this also implied that all segregation of
public services was illegal.
● Throughout the boycott, the leaders were intimidated and arrested, and churches
and homes were set on fire.
● However, the end result was a great victory for the nonviolence of the civil rights
movement.
● Martin Luther King emerged as a key leader of the civil rights movement.
● He went on to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which
trained civil rights activists in nonviolent tactics.
Sit Ins
63
A sit-in at the Greensboro Woolworth's store lunch counter, 19
Sit ins

During the late 1950s and 1960s, there were several other examples of direct
action. In 1960, four black students asked to be served at a Whites-only counter in
Woolworths in Greensboro. The next day, 23 more students did the same. The
following day there were 66 students - both black and white. Within 18 months,
70000 had taken part in similar sit-ins and 3000 had been arrested. These
demonstrations were supported by a new student organization known as the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). By the end of 1960, lunch
counters had been desegregated in 126 cities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwdNwxGfbEc
 Freedom Rides
● In December 1960, the Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of all bus station facilities.
● To test whether integration was taking place, CORE activists in 1961 started riding interstate
buses in the South in mixed racial groups. They were known as the Freedom Riders.
● They faced some of the worst violence of the civil rights campaign; riders were stoned, or beaten
with baseball bats, and buses were fire-bombed. The police looked the other way.
● Over the summer, more than 400 freedom riders were arrested - many more were beaten up.
● Nightly television pictures angered many.
● It forced the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Justice Department under Attorney
General Robert Kennedy to enforce desegregation on interstate transportation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1smGpGSa14
The Freedom Riders' bus following an attack at Anniston, Alabama, 1961
March of Birmingham
March of Birmingham

● In April 1963, Martin Luther King decided to take on Birmingham, Alabama, which
he called 'the most segregated city in the United States
● Birmingham's Chief Commissioner of Public Safety, Bull Connor, provided the kind
of reaction that King was hoping for: in full flare of the media he used electric cattle
prods, powerful water hoses and vicious dogs to attack the peaceful marchers.
● A thousand marchers, including hundreds of children and Martin Luther King
himself, were arrested.
● The scenes in Birmingham were shown on national television and caused anger at
home and condemnation abroad.
● The government was forced to act; President John F. Kennedy pressured
Governor Wallace to get all prisoners released and the Supreme Court declared
that Birmingham's segregation laws were unconstitutional.
March of Washington
March of Washington

● The most high profile event of this period of civil rights activism was the March
to Washington organized by Martin Luther King.
● About 250000 demonstrators attended and King gave his famous 'I have a
dream' speech.
● The march was a great publicity success and put further pressure on President
Kennedy to push through his civil rights bill, which he had introduced earlier in
the year.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT 1964

● Despite President Kennedy's commitment to the Civil Rights Bill, there was much
opposition to the bill from Republican senators.
● Violence continued against Blacks and then the whole movement faced a blow when,
in November 1963, Kennedy was assassinated.
● However, President Johnson, Kennedy's successor, was able to push through the bill,
partly as a result of his political skills and also because there was a wave of sympathy
for Kennedy's ideas following his assassination.
● The Civil Rights Act banned discrimination in education, housing and work. CORE,
SNCC and NAACP now worked together to organize the Freedom Summer.
● The aim of this was to get black voters to register to vote. This was an issue in the
southern states where Blacks were prevented from voting by various measures
Freedom Summers
Selma March

● To bring more attention to the issue of voting rights, King organized another high
profile march through Selma, Alabama.
● Here, only 383 Blacks out of 15000 had been able to register to vote and the attitude
of the sheriff, Jim Clark, to racial equality was similar to that of Bull Connor in
Birmingham.
● King realized that brutal treatment of the marchers would again be televised and
would again work in favour of the movement.
● On 7 March, on what became known as Bloody Sunday, the marchers were indeed
subjected to clubs and tear gas. As a result of this, President Johnson agreed to
introduce a voting act.
● The march went ahead peacefully in the end, with King leading 25000 people from
Selma to Montgomery.
THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT, 1965

The Voting Rights Act which was

passed in 196,5 ended literacy tests
and ensured that federal agents
could intervene if they felt
discrimination was taking place.

The number of black voters

registered increased dramatically,
along with the number of elected
black representatives.
WHY DID SOME BLACK AMERICANS CRITICIZE
NONVIOLENT PROTEST?

● Not all black Americans supported the civil rights movement and its non-violent
approach to achieving civil rights.
● In the mid-1960s violent riots took place in many cities; large areas of cities such
as Newark and Detroit were looted and burnt.
● In 1967, 83 people were shot dead - most of the casualties were black Americans.
● A government report that investigated the riots concluded that 'White racism'
was chiefly responsible for the explosion of rage.
● Many believed that progress in achieving civil rights was too slow, that
non-violence as a tactic had failed and that violence against Whites was therefore
an acceptable tactic.
● Some groups, such as the Nation of Islam, also believed that Blacks should work
for complete separation from Whites. They argued that discrimination would not
stop w ith the end of segregation.
THE NATION OF ISLAM AND MALCOLM X

● A key figure in the Nation of Islam was Malcolm X.

● The Nation of Islam openly supported separatism and many of its members
rejected their slave surnames and substituted them w ith an X.
● Malcolm X was a brilliant speaker and organizer and helped to raise the profile
of the Nation of Islam and increase its membership.
● However, in 1964, following a visit to Mecca, Malcolm X began to change his
views.
● He believed that W hites could play a role in helping Blacks fight for equality. As
a result, the Nation of Islam split, with Malcolm X leading a breakaway group.
● He was assassinated in 1968 by three black Muslims.
BLACK POWER

The term 'black power' was first used by Stokely Carmichael.

He was leader of the SNCC, which became more radical following his election as
chairman.
The Nation of Islam, as well as CORE and the Black Panthers, all supported the idea
of increasing the power of black people in American life.
This meant black people taking responsibility for their own lives and rejecting w hite
help (SNCC and CORE both expelled w hite members in 1966).
It also involved promoting pride in African heritage, dress and appearance.
Black Panther

● The Black Panthers went even further and were the most violent of these
groups.
● Set up in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the Black Panthers promoted
revolutionary means to achieve their aims of equality.
● They gained much publicity as they wore striking uniforms of black berets,
sunglasses and black leather jackets and were trained to use weapons.
● By the end of 1968, they had 5000 members, but clashes with the police and
internal divisions led to a decline of support and, by 1982, they had disbanded.
 Assasination of Martin Luther King Jr.
The Black Power movement had declined in influence by the end of the 1960s.

However, Martin Luther King continued to campaign on a range of issues, including living conditions, job
opportunities and wages.

He continued with hls ideas of nonviolence and working with all races - poor white Americans and Hispanics as
well as Blacks.

He also opposed the war in Vietnam, focusing on the fact that many more black than white people ended up
fighting and dying for the cause of stopping communism while their own fight for equality was not yet over in
America itself.

He also pointed out the huge sums of money being spent in Vietnam when there was so much poverty in the USA.

Martin Luther King gained many enemies and these increased with his attack on the Vietnam War. He was
assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968 by a white gunman, which resulted in riots breaking out across
America.
Thankyou