1. The Modern Civil Rights Movement

2. I. The Litigation Phase

3. The great civil rights struggles taking place in courtrooms
The NAACP – est. 1909
Dozens of lawsuits to end legal discrimination – Jim Crow
Chipping away at legal discrimination and “separate but equal.”

4. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
17 May, 1954 – unanimous ruling
Separate but equal” facilities were inherently unequal
Overturns “separate but equal”
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Thurgood Marshall
Chief Justice Earl Warren

5. II. The Mass Movement Phase

6. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things
Little Rock Central High School, 1957 University of Mississippi, 1962 James Meredith Confronted by angry white mobs

7. Rosa Parks
1 December 1955

8. The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Dec. 5, thru Dec. 20, 1956
Martin Luther King, Jr.
26-year-old pastor
Dexter Ave. Baptist Church
Non-violent civil disobedience

9. Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Clergy-led organization Martin Luther King, Jr. Consolidate resources Coordinate protests Non-violent civil disobedience

10. February 1, 1960
Four black students stage sit in Lunch counter in North Carolina Inspired protests across the South “kneel-ins” at churches “wade-ins” at public pools Peaceful, non-violent civil disobedience

11. Other organizations use non violence
Congress of Racial Equality est Freedom Rides, 1961 Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee SNCC – “Snick” est. 1960

12. Protestors often met with violence
Birmingham, Alabama, 1963 Images broadcast on television Northern newspapers offer daily coverage A “southern” problem becomes a “national” issue.

13. I Have A Dream
28 August 1963 Washington DC King is now in international figure Nobel Peace Prize, 1964

14. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson
A federal law that prohibited discrimination in employment, education, public facilities and public accommodations
July 2, 1964
The crowning legislative achievements of the Civil Rights movement
It triggered a major realignment of America's two major political parties.

15. Voter registration drives
An effort of empower African Americans Many whites resisted their efforts Selma, Alabama, March 1965 Planned march to Montgomery Marchers arrested President sends military escort State vs. federal power

16. Congress reforms voting laws
24th Amendment, 1964 ◆ Outlawed poll taxes Voting Rights Act of 1965

17. III. Black Power Phase

18. The Selma to Montgomery march was the last major civil rights protest to receive substantial white support
For many whites, the Civil Rights movement was becoming too militant.

19. “Black Power”
1966 Stokely Carmichael Black pride and self reliance

20. The Black Panther Party
Oakland California – 1966
Bobby Seale (L) and Huey Newton (R)
Urban revolutionary movement
Socialist
Goal: Self defense
Goal: Revolutionary change in America
A reputation for violence
Terrified the (white) majority
Attracted a small minority of Blacks

21. Advocates stressed economic reforms
Civil rights laws didn’t address the economic problems Economic frustrations trigger urban riots 11 August 1965 – Watts district of Los Angeles

22. Decline in Civil Rights protests
Success
Loss of leaders
Whites alienated
riots
black power rhetoric
affirmative action
black separatism
calls for reparations