The Civil Rights Revolution 1941 1965 Victory at home victory abroad o March on Washington Movement 1941 Roosevelt stops this march and sets up a committee that investigates discrimination in employment not very effective Victory over fascism abroad and victory over racism at home o Double V Campaign Pot war initiatives o CORE 1942 Black and whites nonviolent direct action against discrimination o Smith v Allwright 1944 o Increased unionization All union members must be treated fairly o Increased voter registration Northern phenomenon The Democrats Tiptoeing toward Civil Rights o 1948 convention plank favoring civil rights o Truman executive orders Desegregates the military Desegregate government employment Brown v Board o Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal 1954 o Overturns Plessy v Ferguson separate but equal o All deliberate speed 1955 Some use this to justify desegregating schools very slowly o Eisenhower refused to speak positively about this decision he didn t make desegregation a crucial moral issue o Eisenhower had to act on the incident in Little Rock when parents blocked entry to the high school to the 9 black students that were supposed to enter The National Guard is sent in by the governor to prevent the desegregation so Eisenhower deploys paratroopers and escort the black students to their classes for the rest of the school year Jim Crow still hadn t ended in the South NAACP wanted direct action but no violence o Most famous example Rosa Parks and the bus situation Martin Luther King Junior came in and helped bring about desegregation of buses Martin Luther King also reminds us of the religious aspect of the Civil Rights movement Younger blacks want faster action o 4 students from North Carolina go to a diner and want to eat which doesn t serve blacks the beginning of sit ins Sometimes violence occurs even though it is non violent Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee SNCC o Founded April 1960 o Formed in response to the sit in movement o Direct non violent confrontation o Reflects generational divide as to tactics o Less centralized less focus on individual personality JFK becomes president earns over 60 of the black vote Freedom Rides 1961 o Organized by CORE and SNCC o Black and white activists o Seek to integrate southern bus depots o Attacked in the Deep South o In Alabama their bus gets attacked and set on fire Democracy Mississippi style o SNCC begins registration in rural south 1961 1962 o Council of Federated Organizations COFO o Freedom Vote 1963 o Freedom Summer 1964 o Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party 1964 Alabama 1963 o Riots and violence are televised this gets the attention of Northern Whites o The violence in Birmingham convinced JFK that this area was no longer safe o At the University of Alabama there are black students that must be accepted but the governor blocks the door so they can t register for classes That night JFK went on TV and addressed the US public saying the US Kennedy is now fighting for a Civil Rights Bill is not free until all of its citizens are free o Keeps getting shot down and is never passed in his lifetime March on Washington 1963 o Involves all of the organizations and many unions funded this o This is where the national movement really takes off
View Full Document
Unlocking...