The African-American Odyssey, 6eDarlene Clark Hine, William C. Hine, Stanley C. Harrold

Unit 5

Rise!

1940-1968

The Black Culture Industry and

American Racism

• Black artists confront discrimination

Black Americans insist art, music, literature

- Serve political function and aesthetic purpose

White Americans’ involvement created

tensions

- Appropriated for their own profit

- Produced and marketed black culture

- Black artists had to be made “acceptable”

The Black Chicago Renaissance (cont'd)

• Chicago Renaissance

Flourishing of the arts that made Chicago the

center of black culture in the 1940s.

• Jazz in Chicago

South Side Jazz, distinct jazz culture

- Louis Armstrong

- Duke Ellington

- Joe Williams

Aspiring jazz musicians proved their mettle

Black Literature

• Depicted struggles for

freedom,1930s and 1940s writers

• Described urban life of

impoverished

Richard Wright

- Native Son, 1940

- At center of the drama is Wright’s

exploration of how Bigger comes to

terms with murder of Mary and Bessie

Black Literature (cont'd)

• Described urban life of impoverished

Ralph Ellison

- Invisible Man, 1952, partially autobiographical

- it traces the life of a young black man from south

to NY City

African Americans in Sports (cont’d)

• Breaking the Color Barrier in Baseball

• Pre-WWII segregation of major leagues

• Jackie Robinson breaks segregation,

joins Brooklyn Dodgers, 1947

• Larry Doby

First black player in American League

Negro leagues lose popularity with

integration of majors

On the Eve of War, 1936–1941 (cont’d)

• Executive Order 8802

• Presidential order

End discrimination in the defense

industry

- Nothing about segregation in the

military

- Nothing about unions

Effects = white resistance &

limited effectiveness since unions

& military were not included.

Race and the U.S. Armed Forces

• Blacks assigned to segregated battalions

• Non-combat positions

• Kept out of more prestigious branches

Obstacles to appointment as officers

Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)

• Institutional Racism in the American

Military

• American War College study, 1925

states

African Americans physically unqualified

for combat duty

- Naturally subservient and mentally inferior

- No self-control in the face of danger

- Less initiative and resourcefulness than white

people

Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)

• Institutional Racism in the

American Military (cont’d)

• War Department policies,

1941

Segregate black soldiers

Serve in non-combat units

Ignored African Americans’

experience in previous wars

Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)

• The Costs of Military Discrimination

• Nothing equal

Inferior resources

Denied in officers clubs, base stores

German prisoners of war received better

treatment

• One million black soldiers

Transportation and engineering

Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)

• Soldiers and Civilians

Protest Military

Discrimination

• Black leaders mobilized

groups to resist inequality

Dialogue with U.S.

government

• NAACP Letter writing

campaign to President

Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)

• Black Women in the Struggle to

Desegregate the Military

• Women’s struggle often overlooked

Long history of working with men

National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses

Black nurses refused admittance in Army and

Navy

Sick and injured black soldiers were treated in

segregated wards in military hospitals and black

physicians could treat only black military

personnel.

Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)

• The Beginning of Military

Desegregation

• Breaking the hold of segregation

Persistent protest

Military labor demands

Navy

- The Marine Corps

- Army and Navy Nurse Corps, 1945

The Tuskegee Airmen

• Most visible blacks in Army Air Force

• Pursuit Squadron

All-black men

Distinguished service record

The Tuskegee Airmen (cont’d)

• Technology: The Tuskegee Planes

• Had to master technology of complex

flight

• Airmen recognized for exceptional

mechanical ability

The Tuskegee Airmen (cont’d)

• The Transformation of Black

Soldiers

• Exposed to a world outside the

South

Raised questions about racial

system

Some brought “radical” ideas

• Soldiers a sense of themselves

Self-worth and dignity

Black People on the Home Front

• A dual war: Axis and discrimination

War created new conflicts

• Black workers: From Farm to Factory

Accelerated migration of African Americans

- Pressure from the government

- Promise of higher wages

• Union membership became more open

Six-fold increase during war years

- Growth did not end racism

Before World War II, few white women and still fewer black women worked in heavy industries, but with so many men in the armed forces, women were recruited for jobs in shipyards and airplane factories, like this aircraft worker. Between 1940 and 1944, the percentage of black women in the industrial workforce increased from 6.8 percent to 18 percent.

Black People on the Home Front (cont’d)

• The GI Bill of Rights and

Black Veterans

• Servicemen’s Readjustment

Act

College tuition and stipends

for books

Guaranteed loans, up to

$2000

- Purchase home or small

businesses

- Increase upward mobility

Black People on the Home Front (cont’d)

• The GI Bill of Rights and

Black Veterans (cont'd)

• Black Veterans

Experienced racial prejudice

- Did not receive proportional share

of GI money

- Did not experience the upward

mobility of White GI’s

Black People on the Home Front (cont’d)

• Old and New Protest Groups on the Home Front

• NAACP

Membership increases nine fold

• Southern Regional Council, 1944

Interracial coalition

• Congress of Racial Equality, 1942

Interracial group of Christian pacifists

• Women’s political councils

• Black college students

Black People on the Home Front (cont’d)

• The Transition to Peace

• The end of WWII

Many of the gains made by black men and

women were wiped away

Armed forces demobilized

Factories returned to discriminatory hiring

• African-American community

Ready, willing, and able to demand

fairness

The Cold War and

International Politics (cont’d)

• African Americans and World Affairs:

W.E.B. Du Bois and Ralph Bunche

• Cold War made racism & segregation less

acceptable as U.S. struggled for influence

among Third World nations.

A new importance to African Americans

• W.E.B. Du Bois

Critical of American policy

- Considered the father of pan-Africanism

- Linked the fate of African Americans with Africans

The Cold War and

International Politics (cont’d)

• African Americans and World Affairs:

W.E.B. Du Bois and Ralph Bunche (cont'd)

• Ralph Bunche

Scholar

- Expert on Africa

- Advisor to delegation that drafted UN Charter

First African-American recipient, Nobel

Peace Prize

The Cold War and

International Politics (cont’d)

• Anticommunism at Home

• Attacks on all who wanted change

Communist, union members, liberals, civil rights

leaders

- HUAC

Joseph McCarthy

- Red-baiting hysteria

W.E.B. Du Bois indicted, 1951

- Federal judge dismissed all charges

- Few African-American leaders defend

The Cold War and

International Politics (cont’d)

• Paul Robeson

• Attacked racial

discrimination

Segregation

White supremacy

• Defender of Soviet

communism

Never a party member

The Cold War and

International Politics (cont’d)

• Henry Wallace and the 1948

Presidential Election

• Harry S. Truman

Moderate on civil rights

Henry Wallace

- Liberals, leftists, and civil rights advocates

Fear of losing black voters

- Truman endorsed civil rights legislation

The Cold War and

International Politics (cont’d)

• Henry Wallace and the

1948 Presidential Election (cont'd)

• Strom Thurmond bolts party

to run as a “Dixiecrat”

Truman wins without hard-line

racists

- Turning point in American

politics

The Cold War and

International Politics (cont’d)

• Desegregating the Armed Forces

• Executive Order #9981, July 26th, 1948

• Contributing factors

Czechoslovakia

Rising fears of war with Soviet Union

Threat of black men and women refusing

to serve

• Korean War: first with desegregated

units

The Cold War and

International Politics

• Communist containment

NATO

Increase in military and federal government

Foreign aid

- Diplomacy and propaganda

- Cold War external pressures

Conclusion

• Dynamic period of black activism, 1940-

1954

Quest for racial justice in military and home

FDR and Executive Order #8802

A. Philip Randolph

• WWII transformed black servicemen and

women

Exit Ticket

How did World War II change the status of African Americans? What were some of the consequences of black servicemen fighting in Europe against fascism and Nazism?

The 1950s: Prosperity and Prejudice

• White Americans fled to the suburbs

More than half owned their homes, 1960

- Backyard barbecues and hula hoops

• Black Americans

Rigid segregation

Left behind in economic boom

Higher unemployment rate

The Road to Brown

• NAACP Legal Program leads the way

Legal Defense and Educational Fund, 1940

- Fought segregation and discrimination

- Education, housing, employment, and politics

The Road to Brown (cont’d)

• Brown and the Coming Revolution

• Black lawyers in the South often assaulted

• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

Thurgood Marshall

Earl Warren

Led to dismantling of Jim Crow laws

Separate educations for blacks & whites were not

equal.

Plessy case overturned.

Brown II

• Practical process of

desegregation

• Ordered prompt compliance

“All deliberate speed”

Eisenhower displeased with ruling

Did not push for enforcement

- Six states proceed

- Moderate politicians urged calm

- Hoped to avoid full-scale conflict

Brown II (cont’d)

• Massive White Resistance

• White supremacy advocated in South

Rev. Jerry Falwell’s views of Bible and law

Politicians: Mississippi’s James Eastland,

S. Carolina’s Strom Thurmond, and others

White Citizens’ Councils formed in cities

- To preserve southern way of life

- Used economic and political power

Brown II (cont’d)

• Massive White Resistance (cont'd)

• “The Southern Manifesto”

Signed in 1956 by nearly one hundred

Congressmen

Protested Brown decision and Supreme

Court

Vowed to preserve segregation

Southern states “outlawed” NAACP

Some states made membership illegal

Brown II (cont’d)

• The Lynching of Emmett Till

• Fourteen-year-old Chicago boy visiting

Money, Mississippi

Allegedly violated racial etiquette

• Till was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered

All-white jury acquitted two white men

Perpetrators gloated about their acquittal

Till’s mother publicized crime and white racism

Brown II (cont’d)

• The Lynching of Emmett Till (cont'd)

• Till’s death shocked entire generation of

African Americans

• Funeral included open casket to

publicize the torture her son endured

• Caused many to fight its ever

happening again.

In August 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, when he transgressed the line of racial etiquette by speaking to a white woman in a country store. He paid the ultimate price. The lynching of Emmett Till and the subsequent acquittal of his murderers reflected the low regard in which black life was held in the Jim Crow South and the extent to which whites were determined to maintain the racial status quo.

New Forms of Protest:

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Local communities at core of civil rights

movement

• Montgomery, Alabama’s capital, home to

45,000 black residents

• Brave, committed individuals led

grassroots protest

New Forms of Protest:

The Montgomery Bus Boycott (cont’d)

• Rosa Parks

• 1955 heading home on bus

• arrested

• Committed member of

NAACP

• Boycott began

Flyers, word-of-mouth

To black businesses and

churches

Rosa Parks is venerated as the mother of the civil rights movement and has remained an important symbol of hope and courage.

New Forms of Protest:

The Montgomery Bus Boycott (cont'd)

• Montgomery Improvement Association

• Blacks boycotted buses on December 5th,

1955

• E. D. Nixon joined with others

Formed Montgomery Improvement Association

• Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., asked to lead

King stressed themes of history, civil rights,

religion

New Forms of Protest:

The Montgomery Bus Boycott (cont'd)

• Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Young, unknown pastor

• From prominent Atlanta family, stressed

education, civil rights

Father was pastor of Ebenezer Baptist

Church

King earned Ph.D. in theology from Boston

University

New Forms of Protest:

The Montgomery Bus Boycott (cont'd)

• Martin Luther King, Jr. (cont'd)

• Superb orator who knew of non-violent

protest

Pastor of Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue

Baptist Church

Preached nonviolence in response to

hatred and repression

Segregationists bomb King and other

ministers’ homes

New Forms of Protest:

The Montgomery Bus Boycott (cont'd)

• Walking for Freedom

• Women key to boycott that

lasted 318 days

• Some women received

support from white female

employers

• Women funded & organized

boycott.

New Forms of Protest:

The Montgomery Bus Boycott (cont'd)

• Friends in the North

• Funds came from white and black allies

• FBI under J. Edgar Hoover

Continued racist practices, harassment of

King and others

King was perceived as a communist and

FBI stopped warning him about threats to

his life.

New Forms of Protest:

The Montgomery Bus Boycott (cont'd)

• Victory

• Local all-white government had not backed

down

Even after a year-long boycott

• Federal courts provided victory

Supreme Court ruled on September 13th, 1956

Bus segregation was illegal in Montgomery

Gayle v. Browder overturned Plessy v. Ferguson

New Forms of Protest:

The Montgomery Bus Boycott (cont'd)

• Victory (cont'd)

• Black riders boarded buses

on December 21st, 1956

• Southern white violence

revealed southern racism

to the larger public,

extending the Civil Rights

movement.

No Easy Road to Freedom:

1957–1960

• Montgomery Bus Boycott set

example

• Capable, committed leaders

• National media paid attention

to civil rights struggle

Federal courts provided support

But white resistance intensified

in South

No Easy Road to Freedom:

1957–1960 (cont’d)

• Martin Luther King and the SCLC

• King became moral leader of national

stature

• Created Southern Christian Leadership

Council (SCLC)

Federation of civil rights groups,

community organizations, churches

Early focus on voting rights

Vote seen as central to other goals

No Easy Road to Freedom:

1957–1960 (cont’d)

• Martin Luther King and the SCLC (cont’d)

• SCLC, NAACP shared goals

But faced tensions over protest tactics

NAACP resented having to divert

resources to defend protestors

NAACP membership plunges due to

repression by authorities

No Easy Road to Freedom:

1957–1960 (cont’d)

• Civil Rights Act of 1957

• First such legislation since

Reconstruction

Bill became law despite

southern filibuster

Commission created to monitor

violations of civil rights

And propose remedies for

voting problems

No Easy Road to Freedom:

1957–1960 (cont’d)

• Civil Rights Act of 1957 (cont’d)

• Stronger Civil Rights Section in

Department of Justice

• Blacks disappointed by weak law

Limited support by Eisenhower

administration

No Easy Road to Freedom:

1957–1960 (cont’d)

• Little Rock, Arkansas

• President Eisenhower not eager to enforce

civil rights

• Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus

Sought to keep nine black students from Little

Rock Central High School

Federal court ordered integration

• Eisenhower sent troops

Defend black students and authority of federal

courts

Black Youth Stand Up by Sitting Down

• Led by black college students

Sit-ins emerged as potent form of protest

• Students accelerated pace of social

change

• CORE had used sit-ins in the 1940s

Black Youth Stand Up by Sitting Down(cont’d)

• Sit-Ins: Greensboro, Nashville,

Atlanta

• Greensboro, North Carolina

Four students sit at lunch counter

All members of NAACP, had

support of community

By the fifth day, hundreds of

students were protesting,

demanding their rights

Black Youth Stand Up by Sitting Down(cont’d)

• Wanted to desegregate lunch counters

• Sit-ins direct opposite of boycotts, reflecting

changes in tactics towards a more

confrontational style in civil rights fight.

• Young men invented this new strategy.

• Idea of sit-ins spread throughout the South and

also led to the Freedom Rides.

• Involvement of local black people helped

increase the base of organized civil rights

workers in early 1960s.

Black Youth Stand Up by Sitting Down(cont’d)

• The Student Nonviolent Coordinating

Committee

• Formed by students to continue

activism

• SCLC’s Ella Baker organized

conference, drew 150 students

• Baker favored decentralized leadership,

participatory democracy

Black Youth Stand Up by Sitting Down(cont’d)

• The Student Nonviolent Coordinating

Committee (cont'd)

• Delegates from thirteen states

Met April 15th-17th, 1960

Established Student Nonviolent

Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Possibility of increased militancy and

confrontation

Black Youth Stand Up by Sitting Down (cont'd)

• Freedom Rides• Sit-in movement paved way for 1961 “Freedom

Rides”

CORE’s James Farmer and Bayard Rustin

Arrested in North Carolina after meeting violence

• Freedom Rides showed whites’ brutal resistance to

integration

• Interracial rides by students on public transportation

in the South.

Black Youth Stand Up by Sitting Down (cont'd)

• Freedom Rides (cont'd)

• Whites reacted violently, bombing the

busses and beating the riders.

• SNCC picked up challenge

Media coverage strengthened movement

Federal marshals provided

SCLC did not like SNCC tactics; felt they

were too radical & disrupted race relations

On May 14, in Anniston, Alabama, a white mob firebombed this Freedom Riders’ bus and attacked passengers as they escaped the flames.

A Sight to Be Seen: The Movement at

High Tide

• Between 1960 and 1963 civil rights

movement crested

Techniques and tactics were perfected

Organizations and leaders proved effective

• Americans faced conflict between

democratic ideals and racism

• President, Congress takes action against

Southern white resistance

A Sight to Be Seen: The Movement at

High Tide (cont’d)

• The Election of 1960

• White southerners worried about blacks’

political influence

Jackie Robinson supported Republican

nominee Richard Nixon

Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy

- Not known for sympathy to civil rights

- Kennedy called King after the latter’s arrest

A Sight to Be Seen: The Movement at

High Tide (cont’d)

• The Election of 1960 (cont'd)

• Black votes provided margin for

Kennedy, Illinois Democrats

A Sight to Be Seen: The Movement at

High Tide (cont’d)

• The Kennedy Administration and the Civil

Rights Movement

• President Kennedy concerned with Southern

civil rights violence

Executive Order #11063

Discontinued discriminatory housing practices

• Committee on Equal Employment

Opportunity

Headed by Vice President Lyndon Johnson

Nominated blacks for judicial positions

A Sight to Be Seen: The Movement at

High Tide (cont’d)

• The Kennedy Administration

and the Civil Rights Movement(cont'd)

• Kennedy sent federal marshals

To uphold integration of University

of Mississippi

Admission of James Meredith in

1962

A Sight to Be Seen: The Movement at

High Tide (cont’d)

• Voter Registration Projects

• Attorney General Robert Kennedy

encouraged voter registration drives

By October 1961, SNCC joined forces with

NAACP

Also with SCLC, CORE in voter education

projects

• “Graduates” of voter registration schools

Met with violence and murder

A Sight to Be Seen: The Movement at

High Tide (cont’d)

• The Birmingham Confrontation

• Civil rights movement appeared stalled,1963

Southern whites remained entrenched

National leaders reluctant to act

• Centennial celebration of Emancipation

Proclamation in 1963

Segregated, industrialized Birmingham, Alabama,

Chosen by SCLC for campaign

Police brutality and KKK terrorized blacks

A Sight to Be Seen: The Movement at

High Tide (cont’d)

• The Birmingham Confrontation (cont'd)

• Centennial celebration of Emancipation

Proclamation in 1963

Public Safety Commissioner Eugene “Bull”

Connor promised retaliation

- King arrested

- Wrote widely-publicized “Letter from a

Birmingham Jail”

• Birmingham turning point in civil rights

movement

A Hard Victory

• Summer 1963 witnessed upsurge in

protests throughout South

Eight hundred marches, demonstrations, sit-

ins

Ten protesters killed, twenty thousand

arrested

- NAACP’s Medgar Evers murdered

• Congress soon debated legislation for a

“Second Reconstruction

A Hard Victory (cont’d)

• The March on Washington

• President Kennedy made national

address on June 11th, 1963

Faced opposition in Congress and own

party

• Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963

250,000 marchers gathered

Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke of his

“dream”

A Hard Victory (cont’d)

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Endorsed by President Lyndon B.

Johnson

Offered as memorial for slain Kennedy

Passed despite marathon filibuster

• Act banned discrimination in:

Public accommodations

Schools, parks, playgrounds,

Banned discrimination in employment

A Hard Victory (cont’d)

• The Civil Rights Act of

1964 (cont'd)

• Established new powers

for Attorney General

New powers for new

Equal Employment

Opportunity Commission

A Hard Victory (cont’d)

• Mississippi Freedom Summer

• Voter registration drives led by

CORE, SNCC

Focused on Mississippi, the

“toughest nut to crack”

- Robert Moses mobilized the Council

of Federated Organizations (COFO)

- Mock Freedom Election held with

80,000 black voters

- Three volunteer Northern white

students murdered

A Hard Victory (cont’d)

• Mississippi Freedom Summer (cont'd)

• Blacks mobilized throughout state

• During the summer, 30 homes, 37

churches were bombed, 35 civil rights

workers were shot at, 80 people were

beaten, six were murdered, and more

than 1,000 were arrested

A Hard Victory (cont’d)

• Selma and Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Massive marches planned from Selma to

Montgomery, Alabama

SCLC organized events for March 1965

Televisions captured police brutality

President Johnson promised new legislation

• Voting Rights Act

Signed on August 6th, 1965,

Giving power to U.S. Attorney General

Conclusion

• The two Brown decisions ended legal

foundation for segregation

• White resistance challenged

Well-organized protests and courageous

leaders

• Federal government forced to intercede

through all branches

Key victories seen in 1964 and 1965

Exit Ticket

What were the factors that contributed to the success of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s? Who was responsible?

The Rise of Black Nationalism

• White Backlash increasing white

resistance to civil rights

California: bill, repeal all laws prohibiting

housing discrimination

George Wallace

- Favorable support in northern primaries against

Johnson

The Rise of Black Nationalism (cont’d)

• Malcolm X (Malcolm Little)

• Violence marred his childhood

Ten-year prison sentence

- Embraced the teaching of Muhammad

- Converted to Nation of Islam

• Attracted attention

Did not believe in nonviolence nor

advocated integration

- Rejected integration with whites in any fashion

Malcolm X (1925–1965) was eloquent, passionate, a courageously outspoken champion of black people, and a critic of American racism. Today he is an iconic figure memorialized in poems, song, films, books, and operas.

The Rise of Black Nationalism (cont’d)

• Malcolm X’s New Departure

• Popularity and growing tensions

Malcolm X leaves Nation of Islam,

1964

Visits Mecca

Charted new direction

- Repudiated the Nation of Islam

doctrine that “All white people are

evil”

- Connected civil rights struggle with

that Africa’s effort to end colonialism

- Assassinated February 14th, 1965

The Rise of Black Nationalism (cont’d)

• Stokely Carmichael and Black Power

• James Meredith embarks on dangerous

one-man march through Mississippi

• Shot by white man, SNCC, others

complete march

• Carmichael, as chair of SNCC, 1966

Ends goal of interracial collaboration

SNCC fires white staff members

- CORE ejected white members, 1968

Stokely Carmichael (1941–1998) changed his name to Kwame Turé, a combination of the names of two major African leaders, Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sekou Toure. After he settled in Guinea in 1969, he founded the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party.

The Rise of Black Nationalism (cont’d)

• Stokely Carmichael and Black Power(cont’d)

• “Black Power”

Promoted black political, economic

strength

- Psychological assertiveness, cultural pride

- Critics charged reverse racism

King supported positive aspects

Denounced negative taunts against white

people

The Rise of Black Nationalism (cont’d)

• Stokely Carmichael and Black Power (cont’d)

• H. “Rap” Brown, Chairman of SNCC,

1967

Militant black power

- Called white people “honkies”

- Police were “pigs”

“Violence” was “as American as apple pie”

Arrested in Cambridge, Maryland

The Rise of Black Nationalism (cont’d)

• The Black Panther Party

• Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, 1966

• Black nationalist ideology

Advocated self-defence & frequently patrolled

black neighbourhoods with guns.

• Eldridge Cleaver

Soul on Ice, 1968

- Black people were victims of colonization

- Needed to be liberated, not integrated

- Arrested after Oakland police shootout, 1968

The Inner-City Rebellions

• Anger in America’s inner cities, 1965

Jobs moved to suburbs

Growing alienation

High levels of poverty, substandard housing

Hight unemployment-double rate of whites

• High school dropout rates increased

• Crime and drug use increased

• Economically, most blacks were far worse

off than white Americans.

The Inner-City Rebellions (cont’d)

• Watts

• Overcrowded and poor: August 11th,

1965

98% percent black community

30% of black men unemployed

• Los Angeles police brutality

• Riot begins with drunk driving stop

• 34 people killed, 900 + injured, 4,000

arrested

The Inner-City Rebellions (cont’d)

• Newark

• Newark, NJ, majority black city

• July 12th, 1967, black cab driver

beaten in police custody

• Riot ensues, 27 killed in 4 days

• Highest unemployment rate among

black men in nation

The Inner-City Rebellions (cont’d)

• Detroit

• July 23rd, 1967: incite by

police raid

• Deadliest of fifty-nine urban

rebellions in 1967

• Forty-three blacks killed,

mostly by National Guard

sent in by George Romney,

Republican governor

The Inner-City Rebellions (cont’d)

• Kerner Commission

• Johnson appoints commission on civil

disorders

• White racism underlying cause of riots

• “Negroes firmly believe that police brutality and

harassment occur repeatedly in Negro

neighborhoods”

The Inner-City Rebellions (cont’d)

• Difficulties in Creating the Great Society

• President Johnson’s “War on Poverty”

Poor blacks aid in design and implementation

Community action programs

Local politicians

- Felt threatened by empowerment

- Critical of handouts for lawlessness and laziness

- Raised expectations of black people

• Black’s feelings of betrayal

Frustrated by white backlash

Johnson and the War in Vietnam (cont’d)

• Black Americans and the Vietnam

War

• Ten percent of armed forces in mid-

1960s

• Increased during Vietnam

(Twenty-five percent during Persian Gulf

War, 1991)

Blacks entered the military because of

- Draft

- Patriotism

- Educational and vocational opportunities

Johnson and the War in Vietnam (cont’d)

• Johnson: Vietnam Destroys the Great

Society

• War escalation

Many questioned if it was a worthy cause

“Credibility gap”

Great Society programs met increasing resistance

• Johnson believed the nation’s honor at stake

• Tet Offensive by Vietnamese communists

Psychological blow for the American public

Johnson and the War in Vietnam (cont’d)

• King: Searching for a New

Strategy

• Martin Luther King, Jr.

White people thought him a

dangerous radical

Black militants thought him an

ineffectual moderate

King moved campaign to Chicago

- Hatred and hostility surpassed

Birmingham, Alabama

- Racial discrimination tied to economic

structure

Johnson and the War in Vietnam (cont’d)

• King: Searching for a New

Strategy (cont'd)

• Poor People’s Campaign

Tens of thousands of poor

descend on Washington

• Critical of war in Vietnam

Alienated Johnson and some of

President’s black supporters

Johnson and the War in Vietnam (cont’d)

• King on the Vietnam

War

• Attacked war in

Vietnam

Government sent

blacks and whites to

Vietnam to slaughter

Government failed to

protect black civil rights

protestors

Johnson and the War in Vietnam (cont’d)

• King’s Murder

• Memphis, 1968, King

wanted recognition for

union workers

• James Earl Ray murdered

King in April, 1968

• Within days, Congress

passed Civil Rights Act of

1968

Exit Ticket

How did the visions and ideals, successes and failures of Martin Luther King Jr. compare with those of Lyndon Johnson? Why were these men at odds with each other?