1. A look into Birmingham in the 1950s… http://www. c-spanclassroom

2. Civil Rights Movement Surges Forward…
Chapter 16 Sect. 2

6. Nonviolent Protests Sit - Ins
Demonstrations in which the protestors sit down at a location and refuse to leave
The first sit-in of the 1960s Civil Rights movement took place at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, NC.

7. Lunch counter from the Greensboro Sit-Ins

8. Sit ins inspired other protests:
“Wade-ins” at public beaches
“Read-ins” at public libraries
Protestors used many different nonviolent methods to make it clear that they were determined to expand political rights and economic opportunities.

9. Young Activists established a new civil rights org.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) – Its goal was to create a grass-roots movement that involved all classes of African Americans to obtain equality.
What does “Grass-roots” mean?
Ordinary people regarded as the main body of an organization's membership.

10. Summer of 1961 – Washington D.C. to New Orleans
Freedom Rides – Civil Rights demonstration which protestors rode buses throughout the south to protest segregation laws on interstate buses
Summer of 1961 – Washington D.C. to New Orleans
CORE – (Congress of Racial Equality) organized the Freedom Rides

12. Violence against the Freedom Riders
Mostly in Alabama
Birmingham, Ala. – considered the most segregated city in the south
Eugene “Bull” Connor- Birmingham Police Commissioner and a believer in segregation
Freedom Riders were attacked with baseball bats, bike chains, and lead pipes.
The Police would often allow the beatings to occur

16. Freedom Riders video

17. Letters from a Birmingham Jail
April 3, 1963
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists are thrown in jail.
April 12, an article in the local newspaper called “A call for unity” was written by 8 white clergymen
They claimed that the Civil Rights movement should be played out in the court systems, not in the streets.

18. Letters from a Birmingham Jail
The letter written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that defended the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism.
It says that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws, and to take direct action rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to come through the courts. Responding to being referred to as an "outsider", he wrote that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere“.

19. Alabama continues to resist…
George Wallace:
Governor of Alabama who believed in segregation
Physically blocked the doorway of the University of Alabama’s admissions office so 2 African American students couldn’t register for class

20. March on Washington… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vDWWy4CMhE
Summer , – President Kennedy announces a new civil rights bill to end racial discrimination
To show support, African American leaders held a nationwide demonstration in Washington D.C.
Aug. 28, 1963 – Dr. King gives his “I have a Dream” Speech.

21. Civil Rights Act of 1964
Banned segregation in public places and prohibited employers, unions, or schools from discriminating based on race, sex, religion, and national origin

22. Thinking slide:
If Dr. King were alive today, would he be satisfied with the progress made today?