The Civil Rights Movement PART 3 OF 3 1945—1975 Chapters 31-33— The Civil Rights Movement PART 3 OF 3 1945—1975

Freedom Summer SNCC had spent several years organizing voter education projects in Mississippi, but called for a major campaign for the 1964 Presidential Election year known as Freedom Summer. About 1,000 volunteers (mostly Black and White students) went to Mississippi to register voters.

Freedom Summer As Freedom Summer was organizing, three civil rights activists disappeared. The bodies of the three workers (Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman) later were found and had died from gunshot wounds.

“The Civil Rights Movement” (p. 1) 2. How did the Civil Rights Movement gain ground in the 1960s? Sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and other non-violent protests received press attention, which caused Americans to begin favoring the movement. MLK led the movement in a non-violent strategy that showed the morality of its position and pressured civil rights legislation. The March on Washington was a turning point.

March on Selma In 1965, MLK and the SCLC organized a major campaign in Selma, Alabama, to put pressure on the federal government to enact voting rights legislation known as the March on Selma. On “Bloody Sunday” (March 7, 1965), heavily armed state troopers attacked marchers as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

LBJ Signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Voting Rights Act of 1965— The act banned literacy tests and empowered the federal government to oversee voting registration and elections in states that had discriminated (primarily aimed at Southern states). LBJ Signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Amending the Constitution Twenty-Fourth Amendment— The change in the United States Constitution banned the poll tax which was used to keep Blacks from voting.

Kerner Commission Kerner Commission— Established by LBJ to determine the causes of riots and violence. Also known as the National Advisory on Civil Disorders.

New Voices for Civil Rights Malcolm X— A radical Black leader who grew up Malcolm Little, but changed his name. In prison, he converted to the Nation of Islam (a religious sect headed by Elijah Muhammad which prescribed to strict rules and demanded separation of Blacks and Whites). He was eventually assassinated in 1965 by members of the Nation of Islam.

New Voices for Civil Rights “Black Power”— A term first used by civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael questioned “integration” and believed that Blacks should use their political and economic means to gain equality.

New Voices for Civil Rights Black Panthers— Also known as the Black Panther Party which was organized by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966. Patrols were organized in cities to protect citizens against police brutality and created antipoverty programs. Some violence occurred between both police and Panther groups.

MLK Assassination On April 4, 1968, while standing on his hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, MLK was shot by James Earl Ray. MLK’s leadership did pave the way for gains in the civil rights movement.

MLK Assassination

“The Civil Rights Movement” (p. 2) 3. What successes and challenges faced the Civil Rights Movement after 1964? Legislation continued to be passed, but violence against civil rights workers in the South led to some to believe that non-violence was not working. Riots took place in many cities, and the Black Panthers, Malcolm X, and Nation of Islam advocated violent tactics. When MLK was assassinated, the movement lost some momentum.

“The Civil Rights Movement” (p. 1) 5. What role did television play in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s? Do you think television played a role in the changes toward civil rights? Explain. Television showed the brutality of the racist attacks on young, peaceful protesters. Many came to believe that the protesters had a right to protest and that their racist attackers were wrong. Television brought live the issue of racism in the United States throughout the 1950s and 1960s.