1. Baby Boomers and Civil Rights Movement

2. Baby Boomers
Baby Boom- The sudden increase in births in the United States following World War II
People born between 1946 to 1964 are considered baby boomers
These baby boomers are now between the ages of 64 and 46
The baby boom contributed to the growth of suburbs

3. Definitions
Civil disobedience-Refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means.
Non-violent resistance-Not passive, but behaving in a non-violent manner when approached or provoked
Segregation-to separate people according to race

4. Declaration of Independence
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

5. Frederick Douglas Born a slave-successfully escaped at about age 20
Editor of an abolitionist newspaper

6. On a side note….Are they related??

7. Harriet Tubman
Helped slaves escape through the underground tunnel

8. John Brown He and his sons murdered 5 slave owners in Kansas in 1858
Tried to incite a slave revolt
Was a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad

9. Amendments 13th-Abolished slavery
14th-guarenteed all citizens equal protection under the law
15th-right to vote regardless of race

10. Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson: In June of 1892 Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in the “white” car of the East Louisiana Railroad Company after identifying himself as black, in response to Louisiana passing the Separate Car Act
Plessy’s case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where his lawyer argued that separate cars violated the 13th and 14th amendments
The Plessy v. Ferguson case stated that separate but equal public facilities were constitutional
Jim Crow laws were enforced

14. Dallas Bus Station

16. Sign in a Texas restaurant

17. NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Created by W.E.B. Dubois in 1909
Fights for equality

18. Brown v. Board of Education
Seven year old Linda Brown has to travel thru a train switch yard to get to the bus stop to take her to the “black” school, even though there was a “white” school only a few blocks from her house
With help from the NAACP, Linda’s father fights the system
Landmark case that decided that segregation in public schools is illegal-May 17, 1954

20. Thurgood Marshall Lawyer who fought for Linda Brown
First African American Supreme Court Justice

21. Little Rock Nine
Many states were not following federal laws, so feds were sent in to enforce them
In 1957 nine African American students integrate Central High School in Arkansas
President Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division

24. Rosa Parks
December 1, 1955-Rosa Parks arrested after refusing to relinquish her seat to a white man
On December 5 the Montgomery Bus Boycott begins
Boycott continues into 1956 for more than a year-people carpool and walk regardless of weather
Supreme Court rules that segregation on Montgomery busses is illegal

25. Martin Luther King Jr.
Southern Baptist minister who promoted non-violent methods of protest
Was arrested 38 times in his quest for equality
Constant death threats, as well as bomb threats at his home
Was assassinated at age 38

28. MLKJ
Violence never solves problems. It only creates new and more complicated ones. If we succumb to the temptation of using violence in our struggle for justice, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and our chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.
--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Facing the Challenge of a New Age"

29. Sit-Ins
People wanting a sandwich or a hamburger popped over to the lunch counter of department stores, drugstores and five-and-dime stores to have a bite
Store lunch counters were like fast-food restaurants today
African Americans could spend money in those stores but couldn't eat at the stores' lunch counter
African American college students and a few of their white peers fought against the city's white power structure and its downtown merchants over the right to sit down and eat lunch
A sit-in is a form of civil disobedience in which demonstrators occupy seats and refuse to move

30. How Sit-Ins worked…
The basic plan of the sit-ins was that a group of students would go to a lunch counter and ask to be served
If they were, they'd move on to the next lunch counter
If they were not, they would not move until they had been
If they were arrested or had to leave, a new group would take their place immediately
The students always remained nonviolent and respectful

31. Sit-in movement began in Greensboro, N. C
Sit-in movement began in Greensboro, N.C., with these four gentlemen who went to the lunch counter at Woolworths and were refused service…

32. Sit-In Tactics Dress in your Sunday best.
Be respectful to employees and police.
Do not resist arrest!
Do not fight back!
Remember, journalists are everywhere!

35. In addition to sit-ins…
Swim ins (beaches, pools)
Kneel ins (churches)
Drive ins (at motels)
Study-ins (universities)

37. Marches
People marched in protest over many of the issues faced by African Americans
Police used dogs to quell civil unrest
Fire hoses were turned on young civil rights demonstrators

39. March on Washington 1963
This was a peaceful demonstration to promote Civil Rights and economic equality for African Americans

40. March on Washington 1963
The event was highlighted by King's "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. August 28, 1963

41. Bloody Sunday
March 7, 1965
Six hundred marchers assemble in Selma, Alabama to march in protest over voting rights of African Americans
They were blocked by Alabama State troopers and local police who ordered them to turn around
When the protesters refused, the officers shot teargas and waded into the crowd, beating the nonviolent protesters with billy clubs and ultimately hospitalizing over fifty people
Bloody Sunday was televised across the nation

42. Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River en route to Montgomery

44. Civil Rights Act of 1964
New law that made it illegal for restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and other public places to discriminate against people on the basis of race
Other new laws made it illegal to deny equal housing opportunities, and to charge a poll tax or otherwise keep minorities from voting (24th amendment to the U.S. Constitution)
Pushed through by Lyndon Baines Johnson

45. Voting Rights Act of 1965
Prohibits the states and their political subdivisions from imposing voting qualifications or prerequisites to voting, or standards, practices, or procedures that deny or curtail the right of a U.S. citizen to vote because of race, color, or membership in a language minority group
Texas minorities finally had the power to elect representatives of their choice

46. Civil Rights Leaders from Texas…

47. Dr. Hector P. Garcia
Organized the American GI forum-a civil rights organization devoted to securing equal rights for Hispanic Americans
Pushed for equal medical care for Hispanic Americans

48. James Farmer Founder of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
One of the “Big Four” civil rights leaders in the 1960’s
Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998

49. Henry B. Gonzales
First Mexican-American elected to the Texas Legislature in the 20th century
Eventually elected to the House of Representatives

50. Barbara Jordan First African American state senator
Elected President Pro Tempore of Senate in 1972
Gave keynote address to Democratic convention in 1976 and 1992