1. Civil Rights in the 1960s

2. African Americans in the 1950s
Racial Segregation
Plessy v. Ferguson – “Separate but Equal”
Schools, hospitals, restaurants, restrooms, water fountains, etc. were all segregated
Limited voice in government
Post reconstruction laws prevented many African Americans from participating in the Democratic process
Rules for Blacks were made by whites
Exploitation
Performed menial jobs and duties
Employment discrimination
Racial violence against African Americans
African Americans in the 1950s

3. Movement towards equality
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Founded in1909
Lobbying organization that works to improve the lives of African Americans through litigation and education
The Great Migration
Between 1910 and 1970, several million African Americans moved North and west to escape racial inequality
Better housing and jobs
Movement towards equality

4. Rosa Parks Seamstress from Montgomery Alabama
On December 1, 1955, Parks refused to and order to surrender her seat to a white man on a public bus
Plessy v. Ferguson made this the accepted practice
Blacks were required to sit in the back of the bus
Arrested and fired
Sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott
The First Lady of American Civil Rights
Rosa Parks

5. Montgomery Bus Boycott
Protest of the segregation on Public Transportation
In response to Parks’ arrest, African American Activist groups refused to use public transportation on Montgomery
Most of the customers were African Americans
The bus company was financially destroyed
As a result of the protest and the publicity it drew, the segregation laws on public transportation were declared unconstitutional
Montgomery Bus Boycott

6. Pastor Martin Luther King, Jr
Pastor Martin Luther King, Jr., was responsible for organizing the boycotts
The success of the boycotts made King a national figure
Martin Luther King, Jr. would go on to become the face of the civil rights movement, working with spiritual leaders and politicians to improve the lives of African Americans
Dr. Martin Luther King

7. White Supremacist organizations continued to fight to save the “Separate but Equal” doctrine
Intimidated civil rights activists
Court battles
Atrocities
These organizations began to behave more violently as the movement gained ground
White Backlash

8. Savagery Emmitt Till (1941- 1955) Medgar Evers (1925- 1963)
Teenaged boy accused of flirting with a white woman
Beaten to death and thrown into a river by white men
Medgar Evers ( )
Prominent Civil Rights Activist
Shot dead in his driveway by a white supremacist
Savagery
Emmitt Till

9. Lynching of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner
Civil Rights Activists from Chicago travelling through Mississippi
Murdered by local law enforcement and the Ku Klux Klan
Bodies dumped in a landfill
Several similar atrocities to many people, famous and unknown
Atrocities

10. Movement toward integration
Voter Registration Drives
To sign up African Americans to vote
To attempt to eliminate the harassment by white who favored the Jim Crow system
James Meredith
Black student admitted to the University of Mississippi
Entrance blocked by Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett
Admittance was granted after President Kennedy sent in the National Guard
James Meredith being escorted into Ole Miss by Federal Marshalls
Movement toward integration

11. 300,000 people, most African American, converged on Washington to march in support of greater employment opportunities and wages
Led by Dr. Martin Luther King
Delivered his famous “I Have Dream Speech”
A pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement
March on Washington

12. Civil Rights Act of 1964 Signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson
Outlawed most forms of discrimination against blacks and women
Ended racial segregation in schools
Ended unfair voting requirements for African Americans
Began the movement toward the desegregation of the United States
Civil Rights Act of 1964

13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47Y 6VHc3Ms&t=242s

14. Alabama Governor, running for President on a segregationist ticket
Great support in the American South
Intent on returning the southern way of life to it previous state
Caused a division in the Democratic Party
George Wallace

15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQID kRIx_68
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16. Outlawed further discriminatory acts against African Americans attempting to vote
Sweeping voter registration among blacks
Called for federal oversight of elections
Strengthened the Democratic Party
Voting Rights Act of 1965