1. The Civil Rights Movement Begins
Chapter 29 Section 1
Part 2

2. Montgomery Bus Boycott
1955 – Montgomery, AL
Rosa Parks refuses to give her seat up for a white man
She was arrested
Black people decide to boycott Montgomery’s buses on the day Rosa Parks appeared in Court
The boycott was a dramatic success
That afternoon they formed the Montgomery Improvement Association

3. Bus Boycott The Montgomery Improvement Association
Goal – to run the boycott and negotiate w/ city leaders for an end to segregation
They elected a 26 year old pastor to head the organization  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
He encourage the black population to continue the boycott
He said that all protests must be peaceful

4. Bus Boycott The boycott continued for over a year
King urged his followers to…
Disobey unjust laws
Don’t allow themselves to be intimidated
Avoid violence
December 1956 – the Supreme Court declared Alabama’s laws requiring segregation on buses to be unconstitutional

5. Eisenhower and Civil Rights
Ike personally disagreed w/ segregation
He ordered navy shipyards and veterans’ hospitals to be desegregated
Ike b/c the first president since Reconstruction to send federal troops into the South to protect the constitutional rights of blacks there

6. Crisis in Little Rock
Sept – the school board in Little Rock, Arkansas won a court order to admit 9 black students to Central High
Little Rock was a racially moderate city as was much of the state of Arkansas
Several other Arkansas communities had already b/g desegregation w/i their schools
Orval Faubus – Arkansas governor
B/g to campaign as a defender of white supremacy as a way to win re-election

7. Little Rock
Faubus ordered troops from the Arkansas National Guard to prevent 9 black students from entering the school
By doing this Faubus had used the armed forces of the state to oppose the authority of the federal govt.
1st challenge to the Constitution since the Civil War
Ike refused to allow Faubus to defy the federal govt.

8. Little Rock The district court ordered Faubus to remove the troops
He complied and left the school to the white, angry mob that surrounded it
The angry whites b/g to beat black reporters and destroy the school
Officers had to take the terrified 9 black students away

9. Ike Reacts Federal authority had to be upheld so Ike…
Ordered the US Army to send troops to Little Rock and federalized the Arkansas National Guard
The soldiers surrounded the school w/ their bayonets ready
The 9 black students were finally able to enter the school
Troops remained there for the rest of the school year

10. New Legislation Civil Rights Act of 1957
Goal – to protect the right of black people to vote
First civil rights law passed since Reconstruction

11. Civil Rights Act of 1957
Created a civil rights division w/i the Dept. of Justice
To seek court injunctions against anyone interfering w/ the right to vote
Created the US Commission on Civil Rights
To investigate allegations of denial of voting rights
The SCLC then announced a campaign to register 2 million new black voters
SCLC – Southern Christian Leadership Conference