Challenging Segregation Chapter 29 Section 2 Part 1

The Sit-in Movement The Sit-in movement brought large numbers of idealistic and energized college students into the civil rights struggle Allowed them a way to take things into their own hands Jesse Jackson b/c a big participant in the sit-in movement

The Sit-in Movement The NAACP was at first worried about the sit-in movement They did not b/l the students had the self discipline to remain nonviolent if they were provoked enough The students proved them wrong Sit-in participants were heckled, punched, kicked, beaten w/ clubs, and burned w/ cigarettes, hot coffee, and acid Most did not fight back, they remained peaceful This heroic behavior grabbed the nation’s attention

SNCC SNCC – Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Mickey Schwerner – Jewish college student who went to Mississippi to help register black voters 1964 – He was killed along with two other SNCC members Andrew Goodman – white James Chaney – black They were killed by KKK members, including the deputy sheriff

Freedom Riders Freedom Riders – teams of blacks and whites that traveled into the South to draw attention to the South’s refusal to integrate bus terminals 1961 – first Freedom Riders arrived in Anniston and Montgomery, AL Angry white mobs attacked them Slit bus tires, threw rocks at the windows, a firebomb was thrown into one bus No one was killed

Freedom Riders Freedom Riders in Birmingham Emerged from the bus to face a gang of young men armed w/ baseball bats, chains, and lead pipes They beat the riders viciously The head of the police in B’ham, “Bull” Connor, said there had been no one at the bus station b/c it was Mother’s Day and he had given many of the officers the day off Evidence later showed that Connor had contacted the local KKK and told them he wanted the Freedom Riders beaten

JFK and Civil Rights Appointed blacks to high prestige and important govt. jobs Created the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (CEEO) To stop the federal bureaucracy from discriminating against blacks when hiring and promoting people JFK’s little brother Robert “Bobby” Kennedy was an avid supporter of civil rights

Violence in Birmingham 1963 – Dr. King decides to b/g demonstrations in Birmingham, AL Dr. King knew it would probably provoke a violent response King b/l that having a crisis (a violent response to protest) was the only way to get JFK to actively support civil rights Tensions b/g to rise in Birmingham Bull Connor was running for mayor The man who arranged for the KKK to attack the Freedom Riders

Violence in Birmingham 8 days after the protests b/g MLK was arrested and held for a time in solitary confinement While in jail MLK b/g to write the “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” One of the most eloquent defenses of nonviolent protest ever written

“Letter From a Birmingham Jail” MLK’s letter explained… Although protesters were breaking the law, they were following a higher moral law based on divine justice King argued that the protests did not create racial tensions, they only brought the hidden tensions that were already alive to the surface He argued that injustice had to be exposed b/f it could be cured

Violence in Birmingham After King was released from jail the protest b/g to grow Bull Connor responded w/ force… He ordered police to use clubs, police dogs, and high-pressure fire hoses on the demonstrators Millions of people across the nation watched the graphic violence on tv JFK ordered his aides to prepare a new civil rights bill

Alabama’s Governor George Wallace – Alabama’s governor – committed to segregation June 11, 1963 – Wallace personally stood in front of the University of Alabama’s admissions office to block the enrollment of two black students He stayed there until federal marshals told him to move President Kennedy seized this dramatic moment to announce his proposal for a civil rights bill (which will b/c a law in 1964)

March on Washington MLK wanted to lobby Congress and build more public support to help JFK get his civil rights bill passed into law August 28, 1963 – more than 200,000 demonstrators of all races flocked to the nation’s capital They gathered peacefully near the Lincoln Memorial Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech Outlined his dream of freedom and equality for all Americans