The Civil Rights Movement Continues

Objectives 1. Explore Martin Luther King’s use of nonviolence protest to gain equal rights. 2. Find out how new federal legislation helped protect civil rights. 3. Understand why the civil rights movement broke up into several groups. 4. Analyze the achievements and failures of the civil rights movement.

Key Terms and People Civil Disobedience Sit-in James Meredith Malcolm X Stokely Carmichael Ghetto Affirmative Action

Section Focus Question How did the civil rights movement gain momentum?

A. King’s Strategy of Nonviolence Civil Disobedience – the peaceful refusal to obey unjust laws. 1. Sources of King’s Ideas a. Like Jesus, King told his followers that they should always meet hate with love. b. Studied the ideas of India’s Mohandas Gandhi, who led a nonviolent resistance to win India’s freedom from British colonial rule. c. Also studied A. Philip Randolph, an African American labor leader who led a nonviolent mass protest.

2. SCLC a. Southern Christian Leadership Conference: goal was full equality for African Americans. b. In the 1960s the Under King’s leadership, the SCLC was behind many civil rights protests.

Questions What was the SCLC and what was the effect of its founding? Identify three sources of King’s philosophy of nonviolent An organization formed to fight segregation; it helped shift the base of the civil rights movement from being dominated by northerners to African- American churches in the South. Jesus, Henry David Thoreau, Mohandas Gandhi, and A. Philip

B. Nonviolent Protest Spreads Sit-in – a form of protest in which people sit and refuse to leave. James Meredith, an African American student who the federal court ordered admittance into the University of Mississippi.

1. Protests in Birmingham a. SCLC organized peaceful protests against discrimination in Alabama. b. Police used dogs, fire hoses, and electric cattle prods against the marchers. c. In response, public facilities were desegregated and more African Americans were hired for jobs.

2. March on Washington a. President Kennedy sent Congress the strongest civil rights bill in the nation’s history. b. To bring attention to the bill, civil rights leaders marched on the nation’s capital. c. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I have a Dream” speech.

Questions What effect did the events in Birmingham have on national opinions about segregation? How did Freedom Riders protest segregation? The protests instigated new civil rights legislation and the March on Washington that drew a quarter of a million people. Freedom Riders rode on buses to integrate bus stops in the South

C. Civil Rights Legislation 1. Civil Rights Act of 1964 a. Banned discrimination in public facilities. b. Outlawed discrimination in employment. c. Provided for faster school desegregation and protected voting rights.

2. Battle for Voting Rights a. 3 voting law protesters were found murdered, along with many other beatings, shootings, and church bombings. b. In 1965, King staged a mass voting protest in Alabama. c. State troopers once again used tear gas, clubs, and whips on protestors.

3. Voting Rights Act a. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, banning literacy tests and other barriers to African American voting. b. This also allowed federal officials to register voters directly in states. c. More than 150,000 African Americans registered in the South.

Questions What were the goals of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? The goal of the Act was to extend civil rights to everyone by banning discrimination in public facilities and employment. It also extended voting rights and accelerated school desegregation.

D. The Movement Splinters 1. Malcolm X a. Rejected the goal of integration altogether. b. Embraced the Nation of Islam. c. Called on African Americans to separate completely from white society. d. Was shot to death by three Black Muslims.

2. Black Power Movement a. Stokely Carmichael called on African Americans to fight back if attacked. b. Developed the “Black Power” movement. c. Urged African Americans to achieve economic independence by starting and supporting their own businesses.

3. Protests Turn Violent a. Ghettos – poor run- down neighborhoods. b. Residents of Watts burned cars and looted stores. c. More than 1,000 people were killed or injured.

4. King is Killed a. Assassinated by a white segregationist. b. Riots broke out in cities across the nation. c. With his death, a major era of the civil rights movement came to an end.

D. Summing Up the Civil Rights Era Although it did not end all inequality, it did end legal segregation and it opened education and voting rights to all. 1. A Larger Role in Government a. African Americans were elected in both local and federal government positions. b. Thurgood Marshall was appointed to the Supreme Court.

2. Affirmative Action a. Affirmative Action – businesses and schools were encouraged to give preference to members of groups that had been discriminated against in the past. b. Many Americans saw this as a form of “reverse discrimination” because it unfairly favored one group of people over another.

Homework 1AB, 2AB, 4, 5, 6