CHAPTER 18 1945-1975 This chapter will identify the causes, main events, and effects of the civil...
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CHAPTER 18 194 5-19 75
CHAPTER 18 1945-1975 This chapter will identify the causes, main events, and effects of the civil rights movement. It examines the movement after World
This chapter will identify the causes, main events, and effects
of the civil rights movement. It examines the movement after World
War II and the events that energized civil rights activists in the
1950s and 1960s. Chapter Introduction Section 1: Early Demands for
Equality Section 2: The Movement Gains Ground Section 3: New
Successes and Challenges
Slide 4
Describe efforts to end segregation in the 1940s and 1950s.
Explain the importance of Brown v. Board of Education. Describe the
controversy over school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Discuss the Montgomery bus boycott and its impact. Objectives
Slide 5
African Americans were still treated as second- class citizens
after World War II. Their heroic effort to attain racial equality
is known as the civil rights movement. They took their battle to
the street, in the form of peaceful protests, held boycotts, and
turned to the courts for a legal guarantee of basic rights. How did
African Americans challenge segregation after World War II?
Slide 6
DID YOU KNOW? Long before being arrested for refusing to give
up her seat on a bus to a white man, Rosa Parks had protested
segregation through her daily activities. She refused to drink out
of the drinking fountains labeled "Colored Only." When possible,
she refused to ride in segregated elevators and walked up the
stairs instead.
Slide 7
In 1896 the Supreme Court had declared segregation legal in
Plessy v. Ferguson. This ruling had established a
separate-but-equal doctrine, making laws segregating African
Americans legal as long as equal facilities were provided.
Slide 8
"Jim Crow" laws segregating African Americans and whites were
common in the South after the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.
Slide 9
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) had supported court cases trying to overturn segregation
since 1909. It provided financial support and lawyers to African
Americans. African Americans gained political power as they
migrated to Northern cities where they could vote. African
Americans voted for politicians who listened to their concerns on
civil rights issues, resulting in a strong Democratic Party.
Slide 10
Despite their service in World War II, segregation at home was
still the rule for African Americans. de jure segregationde facto
segregation in the South separate but equal segregation in schools,
hospitals, transportation, restaurants, cemeteries, and beaches in
the North discrimination in housing discrimination in employment
only low-paying jobs were available
Slide 11
Discrimination in the defense industries was banned in 1941.
Truman desegregated the military in 1948. Jackie Robinson became
the first African American to play major league baseball. CORE was
created to end racial injustice. World War II set the stage for the
rise of the modern civil rights movement.
Slide 12
Slide 13
African American veterans were unwilling to accept
discrimination at home after risking their lives overseas.
Slide 14
In 1954, many of the nations school systems were segregated.
The NAACP decided to challenge school segregation in the federal
courts. African American attorney Thurgood Marshall led the NAACP
legal team in Brown v. Board of Education.
Slide 15
African American attorney and chief counsel for the NAACP
Thurgood Marshall worked to end segregation in public schools. In
1954 several Supreme Court cases regarding segregationincluding the
case of Linda Brown were combined in one ruling. The girl had been
denied admission to her neighborhood school in Topeka, Kansas,
because she was African American. In the Supreme Court case Brown
v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Court ruled that
segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and violated the
equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Slide 16
Written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Brown v. Board of
Education decision said: Segregated public education violated the
Fourteenth Amendment. Separate but equal had no place in public
education.
Slide 17
The Brown v. Board of Education ruling was significant and
controversial. About 100 white Southern members of Congress opposed
the decision; in 1956 they endorsed The Southern Manifesto to
lawfully oppose Brown. In a second decision, Brown II, the courts
urged implementation of the decision with all deliberate speed
across the nation.
Slide 18
IN LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, WHEN NINE AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS
TRIED TO ENTER CENTRAL HIGH, THE GOVERNOR HAD THE NATIONAL GUARD
STOP THEM. PRESIDENT EISENHOWER HAD TO SEND IN TROOPS TO ENFORCE
THE BROWN DECISION. The Brown decision also met resistance on the
local and state level. Elizabeth Eckford tries to enter Central
High.
Slide 19
Brown v. Board of Education convinced African Americans to
challenge all forms of segregation, but it also angered many white
Southerners who supported segregation.
Slide 20
How did the NAACP and CORE challenge the Supreme Court's
decision in Plessy v. Ferguson? (The NAACP supported court cases
intended to overturn segregation. It provided lawyers to African
Americans and helped cover the costs of their cases. CORE used
sit-ins as a form of protest against segregation and
discrimination. In 1943 CORE used sit-ins to protest segregation in
restaurants. These sit-ins resulted in the integration of many
restaurants, theaters, and other public facilities in Chicago,
Detroit, Denver, and Syracuse.)
Slide 21
When African Americans returned from World War II, they had
hoped for equality. When this did not occur, the civil rights
movement began as African Americans planned protests and marches to
end prejudice.
Slide 22
Some civil rights activists took direct action. In Montgomery,
Alabama, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus
seat to a white person. This sparked a boycott to integrate public
transportation. The black community walked or carpooled to work
rather than take public transportation. The Montgomery bus boycott
launched the modern civil rights movement.
Slide 23
Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that
segregated busing was unconstitutional and the boycott ended.
Martin Luther King, Jr.s inspiring speech at a boycott meeting
propelled him into the leadership of the nonviolent civil rights
movement. The black community continued its bus boycott for more
than a year despite threats and violence.
Slide 24
SECTION 2 Describe the sit-ins, freedom rides, and the actions
of James Meredith in the early 1960s. Explain how the protests at
Birmingham and the March on Washington were linked to the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. Summarize the provisions of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964. Objectives
Slide 25
Did You Know? In 1964 Martin Luther King, Jr., at the age of
35, was the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize
for his work toward civil rights.
Slide 26
Through victories in the courts and the success of sit-ins and
other nonviolent protests, African Americans slowly began to win
their battle for civil rights. But it was the landmark Civil Rights
Act of 1964 that signaled a dramatic change in race relations by
outlawing discrimination based on race, religion, or national
origin. How did the civil rights movement gain ground in the
1960s?
Slide 27
In 1960 four African Americans staged a sit-in at a Woolworth's
whites-only lunch counter. This led to a mass movement for civil
rights. Soon sit-ins were occurring across the nation. Students
like Jesse Jackson from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical
College felt that sit-ins gave them the power to change
things.
Slide 28
As sit-ins became more popular, it was necessary to choose a
leader to coordinate the effort. Ella Baker, executive director of
the SCLC, urged students to create their own organization. The
students formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC). Early leaders were Marion Barry and John Lewis. Robert
Moses, an SNCC volunteer from New York, pointed out that most of
the civil rights movement was focused on urban areas, and rural
African Americans needed help as well.
Slide 29
Student activists engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience to
create change. Students staged sit-ins. Students formed their own
organization, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC),
to continue to work for equal rights.
Slide 30
Why did the sit-in movement gain attention of Americans across
the nation? (Even after the demonstrators of the sit-ins were
verbally and physically abused, they remained peaceful.)
Slide 31
Students also organized freedom rides to protest segregation on
the interstate transportation system. Freedom riders tested the
federal governments willingness to enforce the law. Some of the
buses and riders were attacked by angry prosegregationsists.
President Kennedy intervened, ordering police and state troopers to
protect the riders and mandating the desegregation of the
interstate system. The Supreme Court had already ruled that
segregation on interstate buses and waiting rooms was illegal.
Slide 32
IN SEPTEMBER 1962, AIR FORCE VETERAN JAMES MEREDITH TRIED TO
ENROLL AT THE ALL-WHITE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI. The federal
courts ordered the school to desegregate in 1962. Mississippis
governor resisted, creating a stand-off between the federal
government and the state government. When Meredith arrived on
campus, a riot ensued; two men were killed in the fighting.
Slide 33
Meredith was met with the governor blocking his path. President
Kennedy ordered 500 federal marshals to escort Meredith to the
campus. A full- scale riot broke out with 160 marshals being
wounded. The army sent in thousands of troops. For the remainder of
the year, Meredith attended classes under federal guard until he
graduated the following August.
Slide 34
Meredith graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1963.
He later obtained a law degree from Columbia University.
Tragically, civil rights activist Medgar Evers, who was
instrumental in helping Meredith gain admittance to Ole Miss, was
murdered in June 1963.
Slide 35
President Kennedy had his brother, Robert F. Kennedy of the
Justice Department, actively support the civil rights movement.
Robert Kennedy helped African Americans register to vote by having
lawsuits filed throughout the South.
Slide 36
In the spring of 1963, civil rights leaders focused their
efforts on the Souths most segregated city Birmingham, Alabama.
Initially, the protests were nonviolent, but they were still
prohibited by the city. City officials used police dogs and fire
hoses against the protestors. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., himself
was arrested for violating the prohibition.
Slide 37
When violence broke out in Montgomery Alabama, the Kennedy
brothers urged the Freedom Riders to stop for a "cooling off "
period. A deal was struck between Kennedy and Senator James
Eastland of Mississippi. The senator stopped the violence, and
Kennedy agreed not to object if the Mississippi police arrested the
Freedom Riders.
Slide 38
Martin Luther King, Jr., was frustrated with the civil rights
movement. As the Cuban missile crisis escalated, foreign policy
became the main priority at the White House. King agreed to hold
demonstrations in Alabama, knowing they might end in violence but
feeling that they were the only way to get the president's
attention. King was jailed, and after his release the protests
began again. The televised events were seen by the nation. Kennedy
ordered his aides to prepare a civil rights bill.
Slide 39
Why did President Kennedy not take immediate action when
violence erupted against the Freedom Riders? (Kennedy was meeting
with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, and he did not want the
violence in the South to make the United States seem weak and
divided.)
Slide 40
Reaction to the Birmingham protests was overwhelming. Calling
it a moral issue, Kennedy proposed sweeping civil rights
legislation. Civil rights leaders held a March on Washington to
pressure the government to pass the Presidents bill. Shocked
Americans demanded that President Kennedy take action to end the
violence.
Slide 41
After Alabama Governor George Wallace blocked the way for two
African Americans to register for college, President Kennedy
appeared on national television to announce his civil rights bill.
Martin Luther King, Jr., wanted to pressure Congress to get
Kennedy's civil rights bill through. On August 28, 1963, he led
200,000 demonstrators of all races to the nation's capital and
staged a peaceful rally.
Slide 42
On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people from all
around the country gathered in Washington, D.C., to demonstrate. As
millions more watched on television, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
stood before the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his unforgettable I
Have a Dream speech.
Slide 43
Opponents of the civil rights bill did whatever they could to
slow the procedure to pass it. The bill could easily pass in the
House of Representatives, but it faced difficulty in the Senate.
Senators could speak for as long as they wanted while debating a
bill. A filibuster occurs when a small group of senators take turns
speaking and refuse to stop the debate to allow the bill to be
voted on.
Slide 44
Today a filibuster can be stopped if at least three-fifths of
the Senate (60 senators) vote for cloture, a motion which cuts off
debate and forces a vote. In 1960 a cloture had to be two-thirds,
or 67 senators. The minority of senators opposed to the bill could
easily prevent it from passing into law.
Slide 45
In September 1963, less than three weeks after the march, a
bomb exploded in the church that headquartered the SCLC in
Birmingham. Four young African American girls were killed.
Slide 46
On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated. Vice
President Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the presidency. Johnson
continued to work for passage of Kennedys civil rights
legislation.
Slide 47
Supporters put together enough votes to end the filibuster. The
legislation passed in the House of Representatives, but faced even
more opposition in the Senate. A group of Southern Senators blocked
it for 80 days using a filibuster. The measure finally passed in
the Senate.
Slide 48
In July, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law.
Banned segregation in public accommodations. Gave government the
power to desegregate schools. Outlawed discrimination in
employment. Established the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission.
Slide 49
SECTION 3 Explain the significance of Freedom Summer, the march
on Selma, and why violence erupted in some American cities in the
1960s. Compare the goals and methods of African American leaders.
Describe the social and economic situation of African Americans by
1975. Objectives
Slide 50
Even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed, conditions did
not improve drastically for most African Americans. Impatience with
the slow pace of change led to radical behavior. Riots occurred in
many cities. After Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination, more
civil rights legislation was passed, but new challenges also arose.
What successes and challenges faced the civil rights movement after
1964?
Slide 51
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did little to guarantee the right
to vote. Many African American voters were attacked, beaten, and
killed. Bombs exploded in many African American businesses and
churches. Martin Luther King, Jr., decided it was time for another
protest to protect African American voting rights.
Slide 52
In 1964, many African Americans were still denied the right to
vote. Southern states used literacy tests, poll taxes, and
intimidation to prevent African Americans from voting. The major
civil rights groups decided to end this injustice.
Slide 53
Three campaign volunteers were murdered, but other volunteers
were not deterred. From this effort, the Mississippi Freedom
Democratic party (MFDC) was formed as an alternative to the
all-white state Democratic party. In the summer of 1964, the SNCC
enlisted 1,000 volunteers to help African Americans in the South
register to vote. The campaign was known as Freedom Summer.
Slide 54
A MFDP delegation traveled to the Democratic Convention in 1964
hoping to be recognized as Mississippis only Democratic party.
Neither the MFDP nor Mississippis regular Democratic delegation
would accept the compromise. MFDP member Fannie Lou Hamer testified
on how she lost her home for daring to register to vote. Party
officials refused to seat the MFDP, but offered a compromise: two
MFDP members could be at-large delegates.
Slide 55
In March 1965, Rev. King organized a march on Selma, Alabama,
to pressure Congress to pass voting rights laws. Once again, the
nonviolent marchers were met with a violent response. And once
again, Americans were outraged by what they saw on national
television. President Johnson himself went on television and called
for a strong voting rights law.
Slide 56
Sheriff Jim Clark ordered 200 state troopers and deputized
citizens to rush the peaceful demonstrators. The brutal attack
became known as Bloody Sunday, and the nation saw the images on
television.
Slide 57
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. Banned literacy tests
Empowered the federal government to oversee voter registration and
elections in states that discriminated against minorities Extended
to include Hispanic voters in 1975
Slide 58
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave the attorney general the
right to send federal examiners to register qualified voters,
bypassing the local officials who often refused to register African
Americans. This resulted in 250,000 new African American voters and
an increase in African American elected officials in the
South.
Slide 59
How did the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 mark a
turning point in the civil rights movement? Two goals were now
achieved: to outlaw segregation and to pass federal laws to stop
discrimination and protect voting rights.
Slide 60
President Johnson also called for a federal voting rights law.
The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which banned the
poll tax, was ratified. At the same time, Supreme Court decisions
were handed down that limited racial gerrymandering and established
the legal principle of one man, one vote.
Slide 61
The Voting Rights Act stirred growing African American
participation in politics. Yet life for African Americans remained
difficult. Discrimination and poverty continued to plague Northern
urban centers. Simmering anger exploded into violence in the summer
of 1967. Watts in Los Angeles; Newark, New Jersey; and Detroit,
Michigan, were the scene of violent riots.
Slide 62
The race riot in Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, lasted
six days. The worst of the riots occurred in Detroit when the
United States Army was forced to send in tanks and soldiers with
machine guns to gain control.
Slide 63
Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission to determine the cause
of the riots. The Commission found that long-term racial
discrimination was the single most important cause of violence. The
commissions findings were controversial. Because of American
involvement in the Vietnam War, there was little money to spend on
the commissions proposed programs.
Slide 64
What was the difference between African American workers and
white workers by 1965? (African American workers found themselves
in low-paying jobs with little chance of advancement. Some African
Americans were able to get work in blue-collar factory jobs, but
few advanced this far compared to whites. In 1965 only 15 percent
of African Americans held professional, managerial, or clerical
jobs, compared to 44 percent for whites.)
Slide 65
By the mid-1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was criticized
for his nonviolent strategy because it had failed to improve the
economic condition of African Americans. As a result, he began
focusing on economic issues affecting African Americans.
Slide 66
The Chicago Movement was an effort to call attention to the
deplorable housing conditions that many African Americans faced.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his wife moved into a slum
apartment in an African American neighborhood in Chicago.
Slide 67
Dr. King led a march through the white suburb of Marquette Park
to demonstrate the need for open housing. Mayor Richard Daley had
police protect the marchers, and Daley met with King to propose a
new program to clean up slums.
Slide 68
What was the result of the meeting between Mayor Richard Daley
and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? (Daley proposed a plan to clean up
the slums. Associations of realtors and bankers agreed to promote
open housing. The plan was not effective.)
Slide 69
After 1965 many African Americans began to turn away from the
nonviolent teachings of Dr. King. They sought new strategies, which
included self-defense and the idea that African Americans should
live free from the presence of whites.
Slide 70
Young African Americans called for black power, a term that had
many different meanings. To some it meant physical self- defense
and violence. For others, including SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael,
it meant they should control the social, political, and economic
direction of their struggle for equality.
Slide 71
Black power stressed pride in the African American culture and
opposed cultural assimilation, or the philosophy of incorporating
different racial or cultural groups into the dominant society.
These ideas were popular in poor urban neighborhoods, although Dr.
King and many African American leaders were critical of black
power.
Slide 72
One was Malcolm X, a minister in the Nation of Islam, which
called for African Americans to break away from white society. In
the mid-1960s, new African Americans leaders emerged who were less
interested in nonviolent protests.
Slide 73
Malcolm X later broke from the Nation of Islam and began to
believe an integrated society was possible. In 1965 three members
of the Nation of Islam shot and killed Malcolm X. He would be
remembered for his view that although African Americans had been
victims in the past, they did not have to allow racism to victimize
them now.
Slide 74
Several SNCC leaders urged African Americans to use their black
power to gain equality. The Black Panthers was a militant group
organized to protect blacks from police abuse. became the symbol of
young militant African Americans. created antipoverty programs.
protested attempts to restrict their right to bear arms. The Black
Panthers
Slide 75
The formation of the Black Panthers was the result of a new
generation of militant African American leaders preaching black
power, black nationalism, and economic self- sufficiency. The group
believed that a revolution was necessary to gain equal rights.
Slide 76
Why did the black power movement replace the nonviolent civil
rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? (Dr. King's
nonviolent civil rights movement failed to change the poor economic
conditions that many African Americans faced in the 1960s. Some
African American leaders called for more aggressive forms of
protest. They placed less emphasis on interracial cooperation with
sympathetic whites. Many young African Americans called for black
power-controlling the social, political, and economic direction of
their struggle for equality. It stressed pride in the African
American cultural group. It emphasized racial
distinctiveness.)
Slide 77
Although he understood their anger, King continued to advocate
nonviolence. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated on April 3,
1968, in Memphis. He created a Poor Peoples Campaign to persuade
the nation to do more to help the poor. He traveled to Memphis,
Tennessee, in 1968 to promote his cause and to lend support to
striking sanitation workers.
Slide 78
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated by a sniper on
April 4, 1968, creating national mourning as well as riots in more
than 100 cities.
Slide 79
By the late 1960s, the civil rights movement had made many
gains. eliminated legal segregation knocked down voting and
political barriers integrated many schools and colleges increased
economic opportunities for African Americans an African American
man was appointed to the Supreme Court The work continued into
later decades. banned housing discrimination
Slide 80
In the aftermath of King's death, Congress passed the Civil
Rights Act of 1968, which contained a fair housing provision. By
the late 1960s, the civil rights movement had fragmented into many
competing organizations. The result was no further legislation to
help African Americans.
Slide 81
What happened to the civil rights movement after Dr. King's
assassination? (Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which
contained a fair housing provision, outlawed discrimination in the
sale and rental of housing, and gave the Justice Department
authority to bring suits against discrimination. The civil rights
movement, however, lacked the unity of purpose and vision that Dr.
King had given it.)