Triumphs of a Crusade

Emmet Till

Freedom Riders

• A trip of two buses across the south, fighting segregation of public buses – hoping to force the JFK admin. into action.

• Riders on Bus #1 were beaten at the Ala. state line.– Bus #2 continued.

Freedom Riders• Bus companies refused

to travel further into the South

• Riders beaten in Birmingham

• Bobby Kennedy intervened

• After beatings in Montgomery, JFK gave the riders U.S. Marshals for protection.

• Interstate Commerce Commission banned segregation in all interstate travel facilities.

Integrating Ole Miss.

• James Meredith: Air Force vet. who was allowed to enroll in the all-white U. of Miss.

• JFK supplied Fed. Marshals to escort Meredith to classes

Heading into Birmingham• Birmingham: “Most

segregated city in the U.S.”• MLK assigned to

desegregate the city– Arrested / posted bail

• May 2: 1000 A.A. children marched– Police Chief Bull Connor

arrested 959

• May 3: Second children march– Met w/police dogs, fire

hoses, beatings– All on t.v.

• City was desegregated

March to Washington• Aug. 28, 1963: 250,000

marched on D.C.– “I Have a Dream”

• July 2, 1964: Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed– Ended discrimination in

most public accommodations / employment

– Protected voting rights / speed up school desegregation.

Freedom Summer

• Freedom Summer: 1964 project to register A.A. voters in Miss.

• Recruitment of college students

• Racial beatings, burning of homes, business, and churches.

New Political Party• Miss. Freedom

Democratic Party (MFDP): Fannie Lou Hammer would rep. them in the 1964 Dem. Nat. Convention.

• LBJ’s compromise: Give 2 of Miss. 68 Democratic seats to the MFDP and ban discrimination in the ’68 election.– MFDP / SNCC felt

betrayed.

The March from Selma

• 1965: Voting rights campaign in Selma, Ala.– 2000 demonstrators

arrested, one killed

• MLK: 50 mile march from Selma to Montgomery

• March 7, campaign started– Confronted by Selma and

Alabama state police: “Bloody Sunday”

– Beatings shown on t.v.

• 25,000 marched to Mont. on March 21 (protected by the National Guard)– White / Black / Jewish, etc

Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Eliminated:– Literacy tests for

voting– Gave fed. examiners

power to enroll voters

1968 Olympics: Mexico City, 200m Final

• Tommy Smith: 1st Place• John Carlos: 3rd Place• Peter Norman, Australia: 2nd

Place• Smith planned the

demonstration• 1936 Olympics, Berlin

– Jesse Owens• 1972, Munich

– Palestinian terrorists kill 11 Israelis

• 1980, Moscow– U.S. boycotting the games

because of the Soviets invaded Afghanistan

Malcolm X