To Redeem the Soul of America The Civil Rights Movement I The Fabulous Fifties 1 The Civil Rights Movement The Second Reconstruction II Why the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s 1 World War II a Black men not allowed in combat but they were allowed to go overseas and to see where there had never been segregation 2 3 Cold War Expectations in a consumer society a African American workers have to make their own unions etc led to organizing during the civil rights movement 4 Many blacks still working low income jobs in the south sharecropping maids Jim Crow laws still followed in the South 5 6 Mostly high school and college kids 7 Origins black movement for black people and a church movement whites supported the civil rights movement because it was ironic that we were fighting against white supremacy overseas but it still existed on the home front III The Legal Approach early 1950s seemed na ve 1 the NAACP and Brown vs Board 1954 a Brown vs Board i ii Earl Warren delivers the opinion that separate but equal schools are unconstitutional and are not equal Schools must be desegregated with all deliberate speed b massive resistance 1 i Everyone actively resisting the court case George Wallace governor of AL Lester Maddox school choice segregation academies etc People open private schools where you can control admissions Some schools like Little Rock HS completely shut down to avoid desegregation 2 Little Rock High School desegregated 1957 iii ii a Ordered to desegregate b Governor of AK had national guard surround the school and prevents 9 black students from enrolling c Pres Eisenhower sends in troops to escort them to class IV The Civil Disobedience Approach 1955 65 1 Major inspiration murder of Emmett Till 1955 a Emmett Till a 14 year old boy from Chicago went to visit his aunt in Mississippi He didn t understand about segregation or how he should act so he goes into a store on a dare whistles at a white woman and later that night he is kidnapped and killed b The men who killed him were put on trial but found not guilty 2 Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955 a Rosa Parks arrested for sitting in the front of a bus so NAACP members boycott the bus system b Debut of MLK and the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference i SCLC nonviolent civil rights movement group 2 ii SNCC known for sit ins 3 Sit Ins early 1960s 4 Nonviolence as official strategy a Birmingham protests 1963 b Freedom Rides 1961 i People buy a ticket for a bus to Birmingham and ride desegregated on the bus into the deep south 5 Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964 a Voter registration movement because African Americans often not allowed to vote b Mainly run by northern college students c Dangerous because of the KKK and drive bys etc Pressure for JFK when people see picture of the violence from sit ins marches etc V A Successful Legacy a Civil Rights Act of 1964 places b Voting Rights Act 1965 i Officially ends segregation in all public i Uses police power to make sure the 15th Amendment is fully lived up to c Success on the ground but massive resistance goes on 3
View Full Document
Unlocking...