African-American Civil Rights Movement

Is racism against minorities a serious problem today? Was racism against minorities a serious problem in the 1960’s?

Survey Conducted in 1960’s 66% of whites said blacks were treated the same as whites in their communities (1963). 85% of whites said that black children had the same educational opportunities as white children (1962). 70% of whites said blacks were treated the same as whites in their communities (1968). 17% said blacks were treated “not very well”. 3.5% said blacks were treated poorly.

Survey Conducted in 1960’s 75% of whites said blacks were demanding equality “too fast” (1963). 66% of whites said the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should be gradually enforced, with an emphasis on persuading employers to not discriminate (1964). 44% of whites said blacks had a better chance of getting a good paying job than whites (1969).

“[Southern whites] are not bad people. All they are concerned about is to see that their sweet little girls are not required to sit in school alongside some big overgrown Negroes.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower, circa 1954

“It is difficult through law and force to change a man’s heart.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower

Status of Blacks as of 1950’s How were minorities treated politically in the 1950’s? –Denied voting, underrepresented in government, legally- sanctioned segregation and discrimination How were minorities treated economically in the 1950’s? –Sundown towns rampant, fewer job opportunities, lower pay for jobs, denied home loans How were minorities treated socially in the 1950’s? –Segregation in society, unequal education, socially ostracized, targets of lynching

The state allowed Professor McLaurin to attend the white [graduate] school, but he was forced to sit in a room adjoining the main classroom roped off with a sign that read “colored section.” What effect would this have on one’s ability to learn?

Schools Integrate Integrate = Desegregate Brown v. Board of Education case challenges school segregation. In 1954, Supreme Court decides that “separate but equal” is inherently unequal, and orders schools to integrate. –The “Doll Test” shows the psychological effects of segregation/discrimination.

The Doll Test

Brief Timeline of Desegregation 1954 – Court orders desegregation of schools 1955 – Court adds “with all deliberate speed” – Governor of Arkansas closed all public high schools to avoid integration 1964 – Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans discrimination and segregation 1964 – 1/50 th of southern black children attended integrated schools 1968 – Segregation in housing becomes illegal 1969 – Nixon orders slow down of integration, because it’s happening “too fast”….?! 1970’s – Northern schools begin desegregating

Emmett Till In 1955, a 14-yr-old Black boy from Chicago, Emmett Till, went to visit family in Mississippi. After talking in “too friendly a manner” with a young white woman in a store, he was kidnapped in the night at gunpoint and brutally murdered by two white men. An all-white jury failed to convict the accused murderers, adding a further sense of injustice.

“What else could I do? He thought he was as good as any white man.” –J.W. Milam regarding the murder of Emmett Till

After the Acquittal

Civil Rights Laws in Our History Civil Rights Act of 1866 Reconstruction Act of th Amendment th Amendment 1870 Enforcement Act of 1870 Civil Rights Act of 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 Civil Rights Act of 1875 Brown v Board of Education 1954 Civil Rights Act of 1957 –For voting rights –Strom Thurmond filibuster 24 th Amendment (No poll taxes) 1962 (ratified in 1964) Civil Rights Act of 1964 Voting Rights Act of 1965 Fair Housing Act of 1968

Civil Rights Act of 1964 Proposed by JFK in 1963, signed into law by Johnson in Banned discrimination and segregation. Opponents attempted to talk the bill to death in a filibuster. The filibuster was overcome by Senator Dirksen of Illinois. –Convinced Republicans to support the bill.