To Redeem the Soul of America: The Civil Rights MovementI. The “Fabulous” Fifties? 1) The Civil Rights Movement: The “Second Reconstruction”II. Why the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s?1) World War IIa. Black men not allowed in combat, but they were allowed to go overseas and to see where there had never been segregation2) Cold War3) Expectations in a consumer societya. African American workers have to make their own unions, etc. led to organizing during the civil rights movement4) Many blacks still working low income jobs in the south- sharecropping, maids5) Jim Crow laws still followed in the South6) Mostly high school and college kids7) 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 naïve)1) the NAACP and Brown vs. Board, 1954a. Brown vs. Boardi. Earl Warren delivers the opinion that “separate but equal” schools are unconstitutional and are not equalii. Schools must be desegregated “with all deliberate speed”b. “massive resistance”1i. Everyone actively resisting the court case; George Wallace (governor of AL), Lester Maddox, “school choice,” “segregation academies,” etcii. People open private schools where you can control admissionsiii. Some schools, like Little Rock HS, completely shut down to avoid desegregation2) Little Rock High School desegregated, 1957a. Ordered to desegregateb. Governor of AK had national guard surround the school and prevents 9 black students from enrollingc. Pres. Eisenhower sends in troops to escort them to classIV. The “Civil Disobedience” Approach – 1955-651) Major inspiration: murder of Emmett Till, 1955a. Emmett Till, a 14 year old boy from Chicago, wentto 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 killedb. The men who killed him were put on trial, but found not guilty2) Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955a. Rosa Parks arrested for sitting in the front of a bus, so NAACP members boycott the bus systemb. Debut of MLK and the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conferencei. SCLC- nonviolent civil rights movement group2ii. SNCC- known for sit-ins3) “Sit-Ins” – early 1960s4) “Nonviolence” as official strategya. Birmingham protests, 1963b. Freedom Rides – 1961i. People buy a ticket for a bus to Birmingham, and ride, desegregated, on thebus into the deep south5) Mississippi Freedom Summer – 1964a. Voter registration movement because African Americans often not allowed to voteb. Mainly run by northern college studentsc. 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 1964i. Officially ends segregation in all public placesb. Voting Rights Act, 1965i. Uses police power to make sure the 15thAmendment is fully lived up toc. Success on the ground….but “massive resistance” goes
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