SPI’s

• Determine the effects of the Supreme Court's decisions on Civil Rights

• Identify significant events in the struggle for Civil Rights

• Match leading figures of the Civil Rights era with their respective groups and goals

The Civil Rights Movement

There were two phases to the Civil Rights movement: one phase between 1945-1965 and the other after 1965.

I. Why Did the Civil Rights Movement Take Off After 1945?• Black equality became a significant political issue

for the Democratic Party• WWII had been fought against racism abroad—

hard to keep harboring it at home• Black veterans came home dedicated to change• Increasing number of White Americans

condemned segregation• Discrimination in the United States hurt our

propaganda battle against the Communists

II. The Truman Years

• Truman’s 1948 election year agenda

• No significant Civil Rights congressional legislation

• Truman moves on his own to do what he can for Civil Rights--Desegregation of the military (1948)

• Jackie Robinson’s breakthrough (1947)

Determine the effects of the Supreme Court's decisions on Civil Rights

III. The Battle in the Courts• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

– “separate but equal” facilities = legal

• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)– school segregation a violation of Equal protection Clause

• Miranda v. Arizona– All citizens have certain rights once arrested

• Right to a lawyer• Right to remain silent

• Gideon v. Wainwright- – Courts must provide a lawyer if you cannot afford one

III. Battle in the Courts (cont.)

• Eisenhower disapproves of Brown decision

• Desegregation “with all deliberate speed”

• Popular opposition to the Brown decision

• No real progress on desegregation at first

Identify significant events in the struggle for Civil Rights

IV. Tennessee Schools and Desegregation

• Clinton School System– Clinton High School

• 1st TN school forced to integrate– Clinton 12

• 12 black students who attended Clinton High School

– Governor Clement’s actions• order state troopers and National Guard

members to uphold Brown V. B of Ed ruling

National Desegregation

• Little Rock Central High– Denied entrance to 9 black students in defiance

of Brown v. B of Ed– National Guard sent in to enforce Brown vs

Board of education

Jackson Schools

• Schools desegregated in 1962

• Jackson High (White) + Merry High (Black)= Jackson Central Merry

V. Out of the Schools and Into the Buses

• The arrest of Rosa Parks (December, 1955)– For refusing to sit on the back of the bus

• The Montgomery, Ala. Bus Boycott– Designed to force equality on the busing system– Bus company forced to integrate by federal court– The leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr.

• The “Montgomery” model for Civil Rights activism: boycott, publicity, courts

• SCLC formed (1957)

VI. A Mass Movement Takes Shape

• Nashville lunch counters

– nonviolent campaign to end segregation at lunch counters- mostly African American college students from TSU and Fisk

VI. A Mass Movement Takes Shape (cont.)

• Demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama (April, 1963)

--Eugene “Bull” Connor

• “Letter from Birmingham City Jail”

• Governor George Wallace tries to block integration of the University of Alabama (Fall, 1963)

VI. A Mass Movement Takes Shape (cont.)

• JFK finally begins to campaign for Civil Rights legislation

• Martin Luther King, Jr. and the March on Washington (August, 1963)

-- “I Have a Dream”

Southern Resistance

• Birmingham bombings

– KKK bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church killing 4 little girls to intimidate African Americans to stop protesting

VII. The Kennedy and Johnson Years

• JFK’s initial reluctance to push for Civil Rights laws

• The integration of Ole’ Miss (1962)

--James Meredith

• JFK finally decides to push past better enforcement to new congressional Civil Rights legislation

VII. The Johnson Years (cont.)

• Civil Rights Act of 1964

– Forced Integration of Schools and other government agencies

• Anti-poll tax Amendment (24th—1964)

• Voting Rights Act (1965)

Civil Rights Act of 1968

• Civil Rights Act 1968– Prohibited discrimination concerning the sale,

rental or financing of housing based on race, religion and national origin

The Great Society

• The Great Society– social reforms created by Johnson to end

poverty and racial injustice • Welfare

• Medicare

• Medicaid

A. New Problems

• Residential Discrimination

-- “Red Lining”• The Challenges of School integration in the

North• The historical, traditional segregation of

northern cities• The resurrection of the KKK once again• More effective White opponents in the North

B. Race Riots

• Watts Riots in Los Angeles (Summer, 1965)

• Riots each summer from 1965-1969--Chicago and Cleveland (1966)--Newark and Detroit (1967)--Washington, D.C. (1968)--Lane College

(1969)

B. Race Riots (cont.)

• Riots as an expression of grievance against the White American consumer society

• Riots shocked the White American public

• Frustration and self-destruction expressed in these riots

• Unlike earlier race riots, these riots were not started by White mobs

Match leading figures of the Civil Rights era with their

respective groups and goals

Notable Figures in Civil Rights Movement

• Martin Luther King Jr– Leader who emphasized equally through

nonviolent protest – Focus on Christianity

• Malcolm X– Leader who believed that violence/resistance

was the answer to African American oppression– Nation of Islam

• Difference in Malcolm X and MLK

Notable Figures in Civil Rights Movement

• Stokely Carmichael– Leader of the Black Panthers– Often violent group of African Americans

pushing for Civil Rights

Notable Figures in Civil Rights Movement

• Strom Thurmond– spoke for 24 hours in attempt to stop the

passage of Civil Rights Act of 1957, against segregation

• Eugene “Bull” Connor– Police Commissioner of Birmingham;

authorized use of fire hoses and attack dogs on peaceful protestors

Notable Figures in Civil Rights Movement

• George Wallace– Alabama governor, stood in front of door of

building on University of Alabama to prevent African American students from entering; wanted to stop integration

Notable Figures in Civil Rights Movement

• Diana Nash– leader of students in the Nashville Lunch

counter sit-ins

• Betty Friedan– writer, activist, feminist, founder of the

National Organization of Women (NOW)

Notable Figures in Civil Rights Movement

• Albert Gore Sr– Tennessee Senator

who supported Civil Rights movement