1. The Civil Rights Movement

2. Background History Civil Rights Act of 1875 banned segregation
- declared unconstitutional
in 1883
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) declared “separate but
equal” does not violate 14th Amendment
- Jim Crow Laws enforce separation of races in South

3. Civil Rights Movement Grows
World War II set the stage for the start of the civil
rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s
- Roosevelt banned discrimination in war industries at home
African Americans who fought for the U.S. during the war
return home unwilling to accept segregation in the U.S.

4. Civil Rights Organizations
1. NAACP
- founded in 1909
- civil rights organization
aimed at ending segregation
and gaining full racial equality
2. Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
- founded in 1942
- civil rights organization whose
goal was racial equality

5. Civil Rights Organizations
3. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
- founded in 1957 by Martin
Luther King Jr.
- goal to gain full civil rights
through the use of nonviolent
methods
4. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
- founded in 1960 by students at
Shaw University. N.C.
- a national protest group whose
goal to give young blacks a role in
the civil rights movement

6. Challenging Segregation in Court
The NAACP Challenges Segregation
- Thurgood Marshall  African
American lawyer who led the legal
challenges to fight discrimination
Major Supreme Court Cases:
1. Morgan v. Virginia (1946) = mandated segregated seating on interstate buses is unconstitutional
2. Sweatt v. Painter (1950) = state “law schools” must admit blacks even if separate black schools exist

7. 3. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
- father of 8-yr old African-American girl sue
based on denial of admission to white school
Outcome:
- Supreme Court rules
segregation in schools is
unconstitutional based on
14th Amendment
Brown II:
Supreme Court orders
immediate desegregation

8. Little Rock Crisis Little Rock Nine: Gov. Orval Faubus:
9 black students volunteer to
desegregate Little Rock’s
Central High School
Gov. Orval Faubus:
orders National Guard to deny
them entrance & turn them
away

9. Little Rock Crisis
Federal judge orders Faubus allow the “Little Rock Nine” into school
President Eisenhower sends in troops to ensure them entrance & offer protection

10. Civil Rights Act of 1957:
(First Civil Rights Act since Reconstruction)
established the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, (has
the power to investigate violations of civil rights)
gave the Attorney General power to protect the
voting rights of African Americans

11. Montgomery Bus Boycott:
Rosa Parks:
seamstress & NAACP officer
sits in front of bus in “whites
only” section, refuses to
move, & is arrested
Outcome:
Montgomery Improvement Association led by
Martin Luther King Jr. call for a “bus boycott”
for 381 days blacks do not ride public buses
file lawsuits in court

12. Montgomery Bus Boycott:
Outcomes:
1956 Supreme Court outlaws segregation on buses
Showed power of African-Americans if they join together
Proved MLK’s ideas of “nonviolence” & “civil disobedience”

13. Racial Violence Emmett Till: 14 yr old black boy who is
murdered for “flirting” with
a white woman in 1955
Bob Dylan “Emmett Till Song”
KKK carry out threats, beatings, and shootings
against civil rights workers
Police & Local Govt. do nothing to stop the violence

14. Sit-Ins & Civil Disobedience
Greensboro Four:
4 college students and SNCC members who sit at Woolworth’s lunch counter, denied service, & remain at counter till closing time
Outcomes:
Inspire more “sit-ins” & “pickets”
Inspire “Wade-ins” on beaches and “Read-ins” in libraries

15. Civil Rights Activism Freedom Riders: Outcomes:
PlanCORE & white civil rights
activists ride interstate buses
Goal was to test desegregation
ruling & provoke violence to
gain federal attention
Outcomes:
Freedom Riders were met with violence (one bus was
firebombed & the other was attacked by a white mob)
Kennedy Administration steps in & sends U.S. marshals
Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation on all
interstate transportation and travel facilities

16. Protests & Confrontations
James Meredith:
African-American Air Force veteran
Sues for the right to enroll at the
all-white University of Mississippi
Outcome he wins!
Results:
Federal marshals were assigned for protection
Riots occur w/ white students & federal marshals
Meredith does enroll, attend classes, & graduate

17. Protests & Confrontations
Birmingham, Alabama
MLK and SCLC targeted Birmingham because it was
considered the most segregated city in the South
Plan was nonviolent with marches and sit-ins
Result:
Birmingham used police dogs and fire hoses on protesters
MLK is arrested along with 959 more protestors
MLK writes “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” to white
religious leaders

18. Outcome:
Birmingham used police dogs and fire hoses on protesters
Americans shocked by photographs & t.v. news coverage
Letters sent to the White House asking for action
JFK calls for a new civil rights act to end racial violence

19. Civil Rights Rally March on Washington:
August 28, 1963, black & white demonstrators
rally for immediate passage of JFK’s Civil Right Bill
MLK Jr. delivers his “I have a dream” speech

20. Passage of the Civil Rights Act
Civil Rights Act of 1964:
prohibited discrimination because of race, religion, national
origin, or gender
banned segregation in public accommodations
gave the federal govt. ability to compel state and local
school boards to desegregate
allowed Justice Dept. to prosecute individuals who
violated people’s civil rights
outlawed discrimination in employment

21. Demand for Voting Rights
Problem:
right to vote for many African-
Americans was still not available
Solution:
Freedom Summer: SNCC campaign to register blacks to vote in Mississippi & draw attention to the need for a voting rights act
Result:
Racial beatings, murders, & burning of churches, businesses & homes

22. Demand for Voting Rights
March on Selma:
MLK & SCLC organized voting
rights campaign in Selma, AL
Goal: pressure federal govt.
to enact voting rights act
Outcome:
state troopers & other authorities attacked the
marchers as they tried to cross into Selma
Television shows the violence
LBJ calls for states to allow all persons the right to vote

23. Demand for Voting Rights
Voting Rights Act of 1965:
banned literacy tests to vote
gave federal govt. power to oversee
voting registration & elections in
states that had discriminated
against minorities
24th Amendment:
banned the poll tax to vote

24. New Voices in Civil Rights
Malcolm X:
Radical speaker & thinker
Advocates fro blacks to separate from
white society
Advocated for armed self-defense
Nation of Islam:
political movement which promotes
Islam & black separatism

25. New Voices in Civil Rights
Assassination of Malcolm X:
Broke from the Nation of Islam
Supported “ballots or bullets” idea
Assassinated by 3 members of the
Nation of Islam February 1965

26. New Voices in Civil Rights
Black Power Movement:
1960’s movement that urged African Americans to use their
collective political and economic power to gain quality

27. New Voices in Civil Rights
Black Panthers:
young militant African Americans
Advocated for self-sufficiency of black communities and
antipoverty programs
Organized armed patrols of urban areas to protect people
from police abuse

28. Tragedy Strikes the Movement
MLK Jr was objected to the Black Power Movement:
believed violence would only
end in grief
Assassination of MLK Jr.:
April 3, 1968 in Memphis giving speech
April 4, 1968 shot & killed while standing
on his hotel balcony by James Earl Ray

29. Legacy of the Movement Civil Rights Act of 1968: Affirmative Action:
banned discrimination in housing
Affirmative Action:
Goal: to correct discrimination of the past
policy to ensure equal opportunity for
African-Americans
Opponents label“Reverse Discrimination”

30. Legacy of the Movement Civil Rights Are Advanced Segregation banned
Discrimination banned
Voting Rights protected
More African Americans went to
high school and college
Political gains (elected officials)
Thurgood Marshall became the first African American Supreme Court justice in 1967