1. The Civil Rights Movement
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2. Civil Rights Movement Foundations
By interpreting its powers broadly, the Supreme Court can reshape American society.
African Americans, working through the court system and mass protest, reshaped public opinion and secured the passage of civil rights.
Spurred by the Double V Campaign
African American GIs sought freedoms now at home after WWII
Desegregation of the Military in 1947

3. Condition of the South post WWII
Jim Crow was the rule of the land
Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)
Segregated conditions in public facilities (schools, trains, movie theaters, etc.)
Individual acts of resistance begin as well as coordinated efforts

4. Individual Events Rosa Parks (1955): bus seat in Montgomery Alabama
Montgomery Bus Boycott ( )
Emmitt Till Lynching (1955)
Greensboro, NC Lunch Counter Sit-in (1960)

5. NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Organized legal challenges of segregation through course cases in several states hoping for a single chance to argue in front of SCOTUS
Started by W.E.B Dubois at the Niagara Movement in 1909

6. Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme Court decision that segregated schools are unequal and must desegregate
“With all deliberate speed”
1954
Included Virginia case “Davis vs. Prince Edward County School Board”
5 Total combined cases
Only case to be initiated by “Student Protest” over school conditions

7. Key People in Brown vs. Board
Thurgood Marshall:
NAACP Legal Defense Team
Oliver Hill:
NAACP Legal Defense Team in Virginia

8. Virginia Response: 1956
“Massive Resistance:” Governor endorsed program
Closing some schools
Establishment of private academies
White flight from urban school systems

9. Responses in Other States
Arkansas (1957)
The “Little Rock Nine”
Little Rock Public Schools
National Guard sent in by President Eisenhower
Mississippi (1962)
University of Mississippi
President Kennedy used US Marshals to enroll James Meredith, first Black Student to the university

10. Responses in Other States
Alabama (1963)
Governor George Wallace “blocked” door
Did not want two Black students to register at the University of Alabama
“Stand in the Schoolhouse Door”
Symbolic attempt to keep his promise of "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever"

11. Civil Rights Movement Changes
Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam
Malcolm X was a member of the Nation of Islam
Advocated “armed self-defense” instead of non- violence
Suggested that blacks should remove themselves from white society
After a pilgrimage to Mecca, he changed his violent views and began to work for voting rights (“ballots or bullets”)
February 21, 1965: Malcolm X was assassinated by other Black Muslims

12. Divided Leadership of Movement
Malcolm X’s
only meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
March 26, 1964
Dr. Martin Luther King, JR
Malcolm X
Promoted more peaceful means of protest
Emulated Gandhi in approaches of protest
Assassinated in 1968
Promoted more violent means of protest
Broke with Nation of Islam in 1964
Assassinated by 3 members of the Nation of Islam in 1965

13. 1963 March on Washington March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
August 28, 1963
Over 250, 000 people attended
Participants were inspired by the “I Have a Dream” speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The march helped influence public opinion to support civil rights legislation
The march demonstrated the power of nonviolent, mass protest

14. 1963 March on Washington

15. 1963 March on Washington

16. Civil Rights Act of 1964
Following his speech at the Lincoln Memorial Dr. King met with President Kennedy
Started the legal push for a Civil Rights Act
The act prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, or national origin.
Desegregated public accommodations ONLY
President Lyndon B. Johnson played an important role in the passage of the act
Lost the Democratic South
“Southern Strategy” of Richard Nixon in 1968

17. Voting Rights Act of 1965
Voting protests continued in the South AFTER the Civil Rights Act was passed!
Congress went further to guarantee rights
The act outlawed literacy tests
Federal registrars registered Southern voters
Resulted in increase in African American voter participation

18. The Civil Rights Movement Changes
Black Power
Stokely Carmichael (from SNCC) called for “black people to begin to define their own goals”
Black Panther party — formed to fight police brutality in the ghetto; preached armed revolt
Watts Riots
August , 1965: 34 people are killed in riots in the Watts section of Los Angeles after a young black man was arrested for drunk driving
April 4, 1968: MLK is shot on a hotel balcony in Memphis, TN

19. Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement
Ended de jure segregation
Passed the most important legislation since reconstruction:
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Voting Rights Act
The 24th Amendment
The Civil Rights Act of (ended discrimination in housing)
Many AAs went to high school and finished college.
Gave AAs greater pride in their racial identity.
Increase of black studies programs
AAs began appearing more frequently in movies and television.
More AAs were registered to vote.
A dramatic increase in the number of AAs holding public office.