From Slavery to Freedom

10th ed.

Chapter 20
We Shall Overcome
 March on
Washington
for Jobs
and
Freedom,
August 28,
1963
 We Shall Overcome
• We Shall Overcome
– Civil rights movement protracted struggle with five
identifiable, overlapping segments
• Labor activism
• Legal activism
• Nonviolent mass direct action
• Scholar activism
• Assertions of black self-determination

3
 Introducing
Nonviolent Direct Action
• CORE Activism
– Core activists influenced by A. J. Muste, who
championed Gandhi’s civil disobedience model
– Organized an integrated group on a “journey of
reconciliation”
• Protesting southern bus companies’ refusal to allow
integrated seating required by the Supreme Court’s
Morgan decision
• Goal to educate black communities along route about
decision

4
Irene
Morgan
 • Irene Morgan Kirkaldy, a black woman
whose refusal to give up her bus seat
to white passengers led to a landmark
U.S. Supreme Court decision more
than a decade before Rosa Parks
Irene gained recognition for doing the same,
has died at 90.
Morgan • Kirkaldy, born Irene Morgan in
Baltimore in 1917, was arrested in
1944 for refusing to give up her seat on
a Greyhound bus heading from
Gloucester to Baltimore, and for
resisting arrest
Irene Morgan
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
 Introducing
Nonviolent Direct Action
• The journey of reconciliation.
• Eight black men and eight white men
volunteered for trip; practiced nonviolence.
• Black volunteers instructed to take front seats;
white volunteers back.
– 12 arrested.
• Demonstrated lack of knowledge of Supreme
Court decision.
– Covered extensively by black papers and hardly at
all by white papers.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
 Anatomy of the
Montgomery Movement
• The Arrest of Rosa Parks
– Arrested on December 1, 1955 for refusing to
give up her seat to a white man
• In months before arrest, four other black women had
been arrested for similar offenses on city’s bus system
– Parks had two decades of civil rights credentials;
her arrest united Montgomery’s black
community
– Idea of boycott quickly translated into action
• 30,000 leaflets printed announcing rally and boycott

11
Rosa Parks being fingerprinted after her arrest for refusing
to give up her seat on a segregated bus, December 1955
12
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
 Anatomy of the
Montgomery Movement
• Victory
– Four others who had defied segregated seating brought class-action lawsuit
challenging constitutionality of city and state segregation ordinances
– Actions of the four black women helped to bring the boycott to victorious end:
Aurelia Browder;
– Claudette Colvin,
– Mary Louis Smith
– Susie Macdonald.
– Parks was not a plaintiff in the lawsuit
– Four women lawsuit challenged the legality of Jim Crow and questioned
constitutionality of state and local segregated ordinances
– The boycott tested the will of white official s to continued segregated busing.
• Federal court declared such laws unconstitutional; Supreme Court upheld the
judgment
– Supreme Court ruling ended 381-day boycott by requiring immediate end to city’s
segregated bus system

. 15
 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Rosa Parks and

• Women Bus riders
Claudette Colvin
Aurelia
Browder
: Aurelia Browder, Claudette Colvin,
Mary Louise Smith, and Sue McDonald. 
Claudette Colvin
• Woman carried to police patrol wagon
during demonstration in Brooklyn,
New York, 1963

21
 Anatomy of the Montgomery
Movement
• The role of the boycott.
• Montgomery boycott first successful example
of mass nonviolent resistance.
• Boycott symbolized a community-wide,
disciplined disruption of the status quo.
• Boycott served to affirm Rosa Parks’ act of
breaking the law.
 Anatomy of the
Montgomery Movement
• The Leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr.
– King selected to lead the boycott efforts coordinated
by the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)
– MIA adopted tactic of nonviolent resistance
• Rustin became King advisor
– Made three conservative demands that were
rejected by the city
– Boycott continued; highly planned and strategized
• Eventually drew national and international attention

23
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., speaks at the Holt Street
Baptist Church during the
29 Montgomery bus boycott
 Movement Milestones
• New Leaders: James M. Lawson
– Montgomery bus boycott inspired new civil rights
activism
– James Lawson settled in Nashville, TN, and began
teaching philosophy of nonviolence
– With help of Nashville Christian Leadership
Conference, Lawson taught nonviolent direct action
protest strategies
• Would practice how to deal with arrest; violence
– Made plans for a lunch counter sit-in

30
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
JAMES LAWSON –NON-VIOLENCE
APPROACH TO PROTEST

This Photo by Unknown Author

is licensed under CC BY-SA
Lunch
counter
Protests

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

 Sit-in Participants
• Segregation protesters
Endure Harassment Professor John R.
Salter, Joan
Trumpauer, and Annie
Moody remain at a sit-
in at a lunch counter in
Jackson, Mississippi.
• In Jackson, Mississippi,
whites poured sugar,
mustard, and ketchup
on the heads of sit-in
participants seeking to
desegregate a lunch
counter.
Sit-in
participants
endure
harassment

36
 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND
 Movement Milestones
– March 1960 protest movement of students from
five historically black colleges
• Julian Bond
• “Appeal for Human Rights”
– Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC) – new national, student-led civil rights
group

39
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
 Movement Milestones
• The Lunch Counter Sit-In
– February 1, 1960, “Greensboro Four” staged first
successful sit-in at “white only” lunch counter
• Sparked similar protests by blacks throughout South
– Two weeks later, Lawson’s Nashville students staged
rotating sit-in
– Protesters usually arrested for trespassing, disorderly
conduct, and disobeying police
– Fervor of sit-ins captured by press and popular culture
• Max Roach album cover

41
Album cover from Max Roach’s
Freedom Now Suite

42
 Album cover for
Max Roach’s
Freedom Now Suite
• The cover shows a sit-in and reflects
the wide support for the civil rights
movement.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
 Movement Milestones 3

• March 1960 protest movement of students

from five historically black colleges and
seminaries.
– Julian Bond.
– “Appeal for Human Rights.”

• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

(SNCC) – new national, student-led civil rights
group.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
Southern
Christian
Leadership
Conference
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under
CC BY-SA-NC
 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Dr. Joseph Lowery

 Rev. Joseph E. Lowery
• As recently as August 2013, the Rev. Joseph E.
Lowery, announced to state lawmakers in Atlanta
that they had formed an alliance to combat
restrictive voting laws,
• Lowery, was a veteran civil rights leader who
helped the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. found
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
and fought against racial discrimination, died
Friday, March 27, 2020, a family statement said.
He was 98. 
• AP Photo/David Goldman
Fight against Modern Voters
Suppression –NYT
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 • The Albany Movement
Movement – Protests by black community of Albany,
Georgia, under leadership of SNCC,
SNLC, and NAACP
Milestones • First use of freedom songs;
community singing
– Albany movement failed
• Police chief determined to
undermine movement; learned
from protests in other cities,
King’s book
• James A. Gray, segregationist,
chairman of Georgia Democratic
Party and friend of President
Kennedy
• Fracture among civil rights groups

55
 Movement Milestones
– Lessons from Albany
• Importance of “freedom songs”
• Campaign on all fronts not as effective as targeting
specific discriminatory practices one at a time
• Confirmation of the influential role of the press
• Birmingham, 1963
– Meticulously planned nonviolent assault on
Birmingham’s white economic power structure
• Rev. Fred L Shuttleworth and the ACHR with help of
SCLC, MLK

56
 Bernice
Reagon-
Sweet honey
and the rock

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

 Movement Milestones
– Boycott and mass demonstration began April 3,
1963 during busy Easter season
– Segregationist police chief Eugene “Bull” Connor,
taking cue from Albany, urged police restraint
– Lost patience; on April 7 protesters attacked with
clubs and police dogs
– On April 10, Birmingham got injunction to end all
activities until the “right to demonstrate” was
argued in court

58
 Movement Milestones
– Two days later, blacks disobeyed court order
• Letter from Birmingham Jail
– MLK’s defense of his involvement in the
movement; response to open letter of white
clergymen
• Asked white clergy to take a moral stand
– Children took active role in Birmingham campaign

. 59
 Movement Milestones
• Victory
– Frustrated, Bull Connor unleashed full force on
demonstrators
– Press coverage garnered national sympathy
• Monetary donations poured in
– May 10, 1963 formal agreement between city
businesses and SCLC
– Agreement did little to change violent opposition
– Kennedy administration forced to act; sent federal
troops to positions near Birmingham
60
 Movement Milestones
• Freedom Summer 1964
– Bring northern white students into South in
campaign to register Mississippi’s black voters
• Bob Moses
• More than 700 white volunteers
– Hoped to attract national media attention; promote
grassroots movement of blacks
– Blacks fearful of backlash from interracial
fraternization; murder of civil rights workers
– Registered more than 80,000 by summer’s end
61
 Movement Milestones
– Ultimately failed to unseat racist state party; but
Freedom Summer still a success
• Cultivation of civil rights leaders
• Freedom schools
• Brought out-of-state groups of doctors and lawyers to
Mississippi

62
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
 Movement Milestones
• Tragedy and Triumph
– “Bloody Sunday” – Selma to Montgomery march
to protest death of SNCC worker Jimmie Lee Jackson
– Protesters violently attacked by police; “possemen”
• Press coverage shocked the world
– On March 21, demonstrators finally successful
• President Johnson called Alabama National Guard into
federal service
• 50,000 demonstrators on final day

64
 The Selma March

65
 Movement Milestones
• The Importance of Press Coverage
– Press coverage key factor in gaining support and
sympathy
• Images of violence against peaceful protesters
• Made it painful to accept lives cut short: Emmet Till;
Medgar Evers; Mississippi civil rights workers; four little
girls in Birmingham; MLK; numerous others
– The “race beat” provided measure of protection
for civil rights protestors
• Officials didn’t want cities to look bad

66
 Movement Women
• Movement Women
– Women civil rights activists came from varying
backgrounds, vast age ranges
• Daisy Bates
• Many women student contributors to SNCC
– School desegregation and Constance Baker Motley
– Girls initiators of many school desegregation
cases: Arthurine Lucy; Charlayne Hunter
– Motley won 9 of 10 cases she brought before
Supreme Court
67
 Movement Women
• Voting Rights Campaigns
– Mississippi voting rights campaign and its advocacy
of grassroots participation encouraged local women
• Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer
– Ella Baker
• Favored democratic exchange, loosely structured
leadership, commitment to grassroots movement
– Fannie Lou Hamer
• Mobilized registration drives despite violence; never lost
local focus

68
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
 Movement Women
• Septima Clark
– Questioned disparities between black and white
schools; black and white teacher salaries
– Developed citizenship schools in the South
• Strength through Religious Faith
– Many women derived strength from religious faith
– “Bridge leaders” – link between local community
and external organizations
• Fostered relationships in churches and daily community
service
70
 The Northern Side
of the Movement
• Electoral Power
– Northern black voters’ growing political efficacy
• Often held balance of power in tight elections
• Influenced fair employment laws in many states
• Black congressional members; state and local leadership
posts
• Battling Discrimination
– Northern blacks faced lack of job opportunity and de
facto segregation in school and elsewhere
• School demonstrations in Chicago and Boston
• “Walk to Freedom” in Detroit

73
 The Landmarks and Limitations of
Government
• Congress Drags Its Feet
– Congress most resistant branch of government
– “Southern Manifesto” signed by more than 90
southern members of Congress protested Brown’s
usurpation of state power
– Civil Rights Act of 1957 passed
• Primarily safeguarded black voting rights; created
United States Commission on Civil Rights
• Inadequate enforcement
 The Landmarks and Limitations of
Government
• The Role of Civil Rights Advocates
– Interaction between government and civil rights
advocates brought change to nation’s legal system
– Civil rights strategies created climate that made
passage of civil rights legislation possible
• Smith v. Allwright; Brown
• Voter registration drives
• Citizenship schools
• Protest demonstrations
The Landmarks and Limitations of
Government
• The Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960
– International pressure on federal government;
Ghana joined United Nations
– Work of NAACP lobbyist Clarence Mitchell, Jr.
– 1957 Act limited and modest
• Department of Justice forced to institute suits on
case-by-case basis
– Civil Rights Act of 1960 passed to strengthen 1957
Act
• Not adequately enforced; but signaled greater federal
involvement in civil rights
 The Landmarks and Limitations of
Government
• The Kennedy Administration
– Emergence of nonviolent protests and rising number
of black voters made civil rights burning political issue
• Racial equality part of both political platforms in 1960
– Kennedy slow to tackle issues; had to deal with
southern Democratic congressional chairmen
• Did immediately appoint blacks to high-profile federal
positions
– Became increasingly influenced by civil rights agenda;
submitted civil rights legislation
 The Landmarks and Limitations of
Government
• The Freedom Rides, May 1961
– Set out to challenge segregation laws and practices in
bus terminals
• Met violence; intervention of Justice Department
– Interstate Commerce Commission ruling
• Non-segregated seating and terminals
• Freedom to the Free, 1963
– 1963 centennial of Emancipation Proclamation
– U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report finding gap
between aspirations and actual practices
Montgomery Branch NAACP Meeting, ca. 1947.
 The Landmarks and Limitations of
Government
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964
– Comprehensive civil rights bill submitted by
Kennedy to Congress
– Legislation stalled during summer of 1963
• “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” –
250,000 marchers gathered at Lincoln Memorial
• Bright spot – ratification of Twenty-fourth Amendment
outlawing poll tax in federal elections
“King’s- I have a Dream Speech”
The Landmarks and Limitations of
Government
– Civil Rights Act of 1964 finally passed
• Gave attorney general power to protect against
discrimination
• Required elimination of discrimination in federally
assisted programs
• Created EEOC; Community Relations Service; extended
life of the Commission on Civil Rights
• Required DOE to assist in school desegregation
– Strong resistance to enforcement
– Supreme Court upheld constitutionality
• Heart of Atlanta Hotel v. U.S.; Katzenbach v. McClung
 The Landmarks and Limitations of
Government
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965
– Johnson recognized weakness in new Act’s voting
provision; sent proposal to Congress
– Congress swiftly passed Voting Rights Act
• Authorized federal examiners to register black voters
• Suspended all literacy tests and other devices
• Political Revolution in the South
– Southern blacks became political contenders and
officeholders
The Landmarks and Limitations of
Government
– Public schools slowly began to desegregate
• U.S. v. Jefferson County – “the only school
desegregation plan that meets constitutional standards
is one that works”
– The Second Reconstruction
– Riots of 1964–1967 demonstrated that legislation
failed to solve deeper, structural problems of racial
inequality
Stacie Abrams
 Fair Fight org
https://allongeorgia.com/georgia-state-politics/abrams-fair-fight-group-has-
11-1-million-on-hand-for-2020-election/