Segregation Some examples: Separate bathrooms drinking fountains Schools Jails transportation (bus, train, planes) Military separate grave yards sports such as baseball Parks Theaters Housing voting (to be able to vote in Oregon you had to read the Constitution and write your name) de jure (actual laws – “Jim Crow laws”) and de facto (“just the way things are”)

Homer Plessy, an African American, boarded a whites only train in New Orleans. He was arrested and charge with breaking segregation laws The court case went all the way to the Supreme Court and last 7-1. Immediately numerous states began passing segregation laws. As thousands of African Americans moved north, racial conflict continued and segregation laws increased in the North as well as the South. Plessy vs. Ferguson In 1896 the Supreme Court of the U.S. decided that segregation was constitutional (legal)

Brown vs. The Board of Education In the Plessy decision, the Court issued the phrase “separate but equal.” However, things were not equal, blacks had to endure inferior treatment Brown was forced to walk 7 blocks to her bus stop and then travel across town to her all-black school. The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that segregation was harmful and unconstitutional. A 1954 Supreme Court case that reversed Plessy vs Ferguson, ruled that 9 year-old Linda Brown could attend the school closest to her home.

Martin Luther King Jr. "Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

Martin Luther King Jr. In 1959, King visited India and studied the non-violent techniques of Mohandas K. Gandhi, which had a profound impact on King’s understanding and belief in non-violent direct action. Founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) On the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He refused “pacifism,” rather his tactic was to identify unjust laws and then directly, non-violently and collectively break those laws. March on Washington and his famous “I Have a Dream” speech Spoke out against the Vietnam War. Before his death he spoke out against “racism, materialism and militarism” in his Poor People’s Campaign.

Montgomery Bus Boycott On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks (who was intentionally chosen by the NAACP to break this segregation law in anticipation of the boycott), refused to get up from her seat to accommodate a white passenger. The young preacher, Martin Luther King Jr. was chosen as the boycott leader. 75% of Montgomery bus riders were black. To aid in the bus boycott, black taxi drivers charged only 10 cents (which was the cost of a bus fare). Black citizens helped one another by giving each other rides and walking, but never riding the bus system. On December 20th, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was also unconstitutional. African Americans and others refused to ride city transportation for over 382 days, forcing the city of Montgomery, Alabama to integrate the city busses.

Eyes on the Prize: Episode 1 “Awakenings” Part II (25:00 – 54:45) approx. 30 min.

The Little Rock Nine By 1957, the NAACP began to target segregated schools. 9 black students were chosen to integrate Little Rock, Arkansas Central High School. The Arkansas governor deployed national guard troops to keep the black students out of the school. Eventually, President Eisenhower called in the 101st Airborne Division to escort and protect the students throughout the school year. Only 7 of the 9 made it through the school year; they were beaten up, picked on, called names and bullied both physically and verbally. By the end of 1958 however, Little Rock School District was integrated. In 1957 nine black high school students integrated Central HS in Little Rock, Arkansas after facing much violence and threats

Eyes on the Prize: Episode 2 “Fighting Back” Part I (1:20 – 30:00) approx. 30 min.

Sit-in Movement Led by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Focused on lunch counters at drug and department stores. Protestors would take a seat at an all-white lunch counter and refused to move unless: Integration demands were met. Or they were forcibly removed. The protestors wanted to prove to the segregationists that they would not fight back and that they weren’t “scared of their jails. Violence, threats and humiliation was captured by photo and video which helped bring about public sympathy for the movement. In the successful attempt at integrating lunch counters throughout the South, protestors would sit in all-white counters and face threats and arrest.

Eyes on the Prize: Episode 3 “Ain’t Scared of Your Jails” Part I (1:30 – 22:45) approx. 21 min.

Freedom Rides Led by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in May of 1961, they targeted interstate travel (Greyhound buses). On the first “Freedom Ride” 7 blacks and 6 whites “traded” seats on an interstate trip from Washington DC to New Orleans. At each stop the riders faced violence and mob attacks throughout the Deep South. The ride ended in Jackson, Mississippi where they were all arrested and placed in the city jail. Several more “Freedom Rides” occurred resulting in 300 arrests. In November of 1961, the federal government integrated interstate travel. A successful attempt at integrating interstate travel by violating unconstitutional segregation laws in the deep South facing violence and jail time.

Eyes on the Prize: Episode 3 “Ain’t Scared of Your Jails” Part II (27:00 – 55:00) approx. 28 min.

Birmingham (Alabama) Demonstrations Protests focusing on the segregation and racist policies of the city. Pastors from the city wrote an open letter to Martin Luther King Jr. condemning his civil rights methods. MLK wrote a response that has come to be known as “Letters from the Birmingham Jail.” Children’s Campaign To create confusion amongst the fire department and the demonstrations spread out in small groups throughout the city, and even pulled fire alarms. The protests have went down in history because of the tactics of Eugene “Bull” Conner who used fire hoses and police dogs. On May 8th, 1963, after a month of protests, city leaders and business leaders finally agreed to integrate the city. After over a month of protesting (April – May, 1963) and receiving beatings, high pressure fire hoses and police dogs, the city leaders agreed to integrate the city businesses and public facilities.

Eyes on the Prize: Episode 4 “No Easy Walk” (22:00 – 43:00) approx Eyes on the Prize: Episode 4 “No Easy Walk” (22:00 – 43:00) approx. 21 min.

March on Washington Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. The march focused on the economic affects of racism and segregation. Leaders said that the protest won’t stop until “the dogs stop biting us in the South and the rats stop biting us in the North.” Planned by A. Philip Randolph, on August 8th, 1963 over 300,000 marched on Washington DC to protest economic segregation and injustice.

Eyes on the Prize: Episode 4 “No Easy Walk” (43:00 – 54:40) approx Eyes on the Prize: Episode 4 “No Easy Walk” (43:00 – 54:40) approx. 12 min.

Malcolm X Malcolm Little was his given name but he refused to accept it and called it his “slave name.” After becoming a Muslim while in prison, Malcolm joined the Nation of Islam (NOI), an Islamic organization that believed in “Black Nationalism”; the belief that African Americans should unite and connect to their true roots: Africa. Proclaimed that if the government did not protect blacks then they had the right to protect themselves “by any means necessary.” Believed that Christianity was the “white man’s religion.” Strongly disagreed with MLK Jr. that civil rights could be won through nonviolence. Until his pilgrimage to Mecca, where he renounced the NOI, he believed that whites had no place in the civil rights movement. African American leader who believed that violence was an option when seeking justice. His famous quote was “by any means necessary.”

Malcolm X – Who are you? Malcolm X – Explains the concept of “Black Nationalism” Malcolm X – “The Ku Klux Klan are cowards” Malcolm X – “I am not a racist.”

Voter Registration Drives / Freedom Summer Called the Mississippi Summer Project or Freedom Summer. Civil rights workers in the North came to Mississippi during their summer break from college to register as many black voters as possible. “Freedom Schools” were set up as voluntary summer schools for black children. During the summer more than 80 volunteers were beaten and 1,000 arrested. 37 churches were bombed and 30 black homes were bombed or burnt to the ground. 2 Jewish and 1 black civil rights activists were murdered. Although Freedom Summer did very little to register black voters it brought more attention nationwide to the injustices of the Jim Crow South. In 1964, civil rights leaders attempted to register black voters in Mississippi and were met with violence.

Eyes on the Prize: Episode “Mississippi: Is This America Eyes on the Prize: Episode “Mississippi: Is This America?” (2:00-38:00) 36 minutes

Black Panthers / Black Power Founded in Oakland, CA by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. Originally created to “protect black neighborhood from police brutality”. Openly carried loaded shotguns in public to display their defiance and strength. Had a reputation for violence, from 1967 to 1970, nine Oakland police officers were murdered. “The Revolution has begun, it’s time to pick up the guns. Off the pigs!” By the early 1970s the organization had moved towards a socialist revolution. Created a “10 Point Plan” to address the injustices in the black community. Black Panthers / Black Power A militant civil rights organization founded in Oakland, CA in 1966 that advocated the use of violence if necessary to achieve justice for African Americans.

Black Panther Party – Bobby Seale - 10 point plan Huey P. Newton Bobby Seale Black Panther Party – Bobby Seale - 10 point plan

Eyes on the Prize II: Episode 3 “Power. ” (entire episode) approx Eyes on the Prize II: Episode 3 “Power!” (entire episode) approx. 55 min.