Civil Rights Movement

I. Origins

A. Truman Years 1945-1953

1. 1947 Jackie Robinson is first African-American to cross color-line

2. 1948 Truman desegregates the armed forces

B. Brown v. Board of Educaiton 1954

1. Plesssy v. Ferguson 1896

a. Separate but euql is allowed

2. Chief Justice Earl Warren

a. Unanimous decision

b. Segregation in public education not allowed

c. Desegregation must take place ASAP

d. Enforcment up to lower federal courts

II. Major Events and People

A. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

1. Baptist minister

2. non-violence

3. civil disobedience

a. boycotts,

b. picketing

c. sit-ins

d. demonstrations

4. letter from Birmingham Jail (1963)

a. arrested after march in Birmingham, Alabama

b. wrote letter from jail

c. explained why African Americans could no longer wait paitiently for rights

B. Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56)

1. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on Montgomery, Alabama bus to white passenger

2. 13month boycott of city’s public buses

3. successful and busses desegregated

C. Little Rock, Arkansas (1957)

1. Nine black students sent to all white high school

2. Governor refused to offer them special protection from angry mobs

3. President Eisenhower sent federal troops to protect them

4. Governor closed down the school following year and asked for delay in segregation.

5. US SC ruled against delay

D. Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960

1. created Civil Rights Division of US Justice Department

2. gave federal courts power to register African-American voters in South

E. Sit-ins and Freedom Rides (1960-1961)

1. 1960 African American students held sit-in at Whites Only lunch counter in NC

2. Freedom Riders sent into the south to create confrontations for federal governemtn to intervene

F. March on Washington (1963)

1. in support of Civil Rights bill in Congress

2. 250,000 people marched on Washington

3. MLK gives “I have a Dream” speech

G. Civil Rights Act of 1964

1. pushed through congress by Johnson

2. ended discrimination based on race, color, religion, or ethinic origin in hotels, restaurants and in places of employment where interstate commerce happens

3. cut off federal aid to segregated schools.

4. federal government given power to register voters

5. Established Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce act

H. 24^th Amendment (1964)

1. eliminated poll taxes in federal elections

I. Voting Rights Act of 1965

1. ends poll taxes

2. suspended literacy tests

3. led to increase in African American voters

J. Affirmative Action (1965)
1. Johnson’s executive order

2. requires employers with federal contracts to raise number of minorities and females hired

3. done to correct past imbalances

J. Malcolm X

1. questioned MLK’s non-violence message

2. meet violence with violence

3. part of Black Muslim movment

4. assassinated in 1965 by rival black muslims

III. African-American and Native American Militancy

A. Ghettos Erupt (1965-1968)

1. many African Americans confined to inner cities

2. April 4, 1968 MLK assassinated

3. riots broke out in both north and south

4. Kerner Commission states lack of jobs, poverty, and racisms caused riots

B. Black Power Movement

1. African Americans should use votet to get what they wanted

2. control own communities

3. New Groups emerge

a. SNCC (student Non-Violent Coordinatin Committee ( no whites allowed)

b. Black Muslims (believed Islam should be religion of African Americas and should form own state)

c. Black Panthers ( demanded reparations to black communities for centuries of oppression)

C. American Indian Movement (AIM)

1. “red power” slogan

2. mobilize for favorable public opinion

3. greater pride and respect for heritage

4. “Native American” term introduced

5. occupied government monuments like Alcatraz Island and Wounded Knee