1. Civil Rights: Why It Matters Now
QUIT
Civil Rights: Why It Matters Now
CHAPTER OBJECTIVE
INTERACT WITH HISTORY
TIME LINE
Part 1
Taking on Segregation
MAP
Part 2
The Triumphs of a Crusade
Part 3
Challenges and Changes in the Movement
GRAPH
VISUAL SUMMARY

2. Civil Rights: Why It Matters Now
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Civil Rights: Why It Matters Now
OBJECTIVE
To understand the African-American struggle for civil rights during the 1950s and 1960s and why it matters today.

3. HOME
I N T E R A C T
W I T H H I S T O R Y
The year is 1960, and segregation divides the nation’s people. African Americans are denied access to jobs and housing and are refused service at restaurants and stores. But the voices of the oppressed rise up in the churches and in the streets, demanding civil rights for all Americans.

4. The United States The World continued . . . HOME TIME LINE
C H A P T E R
TIME LINE
The United States
The World
1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision orders the desegregation of public schools.
1955 Montgomery bus boycott begins.
1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower is reelected.
1956 Suez Canal crisis occurs in Egypt.
1957 School desegregation crisis occurs in Little Rock, Arkansas.
1957 African nation of Ghana wins independence.
1959 Fidel Castro assumes power in Cuba.
1960 John F. Kennedy is elected president.
1962 South African civil rights leader Nelson Mandela is imprisoned.
1963 Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president upon John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
continued . . .

5. The United States The World HOME TIME LINE
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson is elected president. Congress passes the Civil Rights Act.
The World
1967 Race riots occur in major U.S. cities.
1968 Richard M. Nixon is elected president. Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated.
1968 Tet offensive begins in Vietnam.
1966 Cultural Revolution begins in China.
1969 U.S. astronauts walk on the moon.
1970 President Nasser of Egypt dies.

6. HOME
MAIN IDEA
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
Activism and a series of Supreme Court decisions advanced equal rights for African Americans in the 1950s and 1960s.
Landmark Supreme Court decisions beginning in 1954 have guaranteed civil rights for Americans today.

7. Challenging Segregation
HOME
Examples of tactics, organizations, leaders, and Supreme Court decisions of the civil rights movement up to 1960.
NAACP
SCLC
SNCC
CORE
Morgan v. Virginia
Sweatt v. Painter
Brown v. Board of Education
Court Decisions
Supreme
Organizations
Challenging Segregation
Thurgood Marshall
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ella Baker
Jo Ann Gibson Robinson
nonviolent resistance
legal action
Tactics
Leaders
continued . . .

8. Sit-in at a lunch counter
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Nonviolent protests, such as the Montgomery bus boycott and sit-ins, alerted people to the problem of racism while capturing their sympathy; television coverage depicted the extent of the problem.
Sit-in at a lunch counter
continued . . .

9. HOME
The students confronted businesses that had segregationist policies instead of boycotting them.
continued . . .

10. HOME
After the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling, what do you think was the most significant event of the civil rights movement prior to 1960?
POSSIBLE RESPONSES:
the crisis at Little Rock, because it forced the government to act
the Montgomery bus boycott, which brought Martin Luther King, Jr., into a leadership role

11. HOME
KEY IDEA
Civil rights activists break down numerous racial barriers through continued social protest and prompting of landmark legislation.

12. HOME
MAIN IDEA
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
Civil rights activists break down numerous racial barriers through continued social protest and prompting of landmark legislation.
Activism pushed the federal government to end segregation and ensure voting rights for African Americans.

13. HOME
Steps that African Americans took to desegregate buses and schools from 1962 to 1965.
1965
Voting Rights Act passed.
1964
Johnson signs Civil Rights Act.
1963
Protests, boycotts, and media coverage force Birmingham to end segregation.
Kennedy orders troops to desegregate the University of Alabama.
March on Washington takes place.
1962
A federal court case allows James Meredith to enroll in the University of Mississippi.
continued . . .

14. HOME
Just after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, white Alabama governor George Wallace said,
“ It is ironical that this event occurs as we approach the celebration of Independence Day. On that day we won our freedom. On this day we have largely lost it.”

15. HOME
The civil rights movement turns north, new leaders emerge, and the movement becomes more militant, thus leaving behind a mixed legacy.
Black Panthers

16. Challenges and Changes in the Movement
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Challenges and Changes in the Movement
MAIN IDEA
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
Disagreements among civil rights groups and the rise of black nationalism created a violent period in the fight for civil rights.
From the fight for equality came a resurgence of racial pride for African Americans, a legacy that influences today’s generations.
Ali and X
Malcolm X

17. Challenges and Changes in the Movement
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Challenges and Changes in the Movement
Five key events of the civil rights movement.
Feb. 1965
Oct. 1966
Malcolm X assassinated
Black Panthers founded
July 1964
Aug. 1965
April 1968
Harlem riots
Watts riots in Los Angeles
Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated

18. Challenges and Changes in the Movement
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Challenges and Changes in the Movement
Malcolm X, Black Panthers, and others’ philosophy of violent protests; African Americans’ reaction to the assassination of civil rights leaders; backlash against white racist acts; poor living and working conditions, especially in urban areas; difficulty in eradicating de facto segregation in the North

19. HOME
Compare and contrast the civil rights strategies of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Whose strategies do you think were more effective?
Both wanted civil rights and greater opportunities. King preached racial equality. Malcolm X preached black separatism and armed self-defense.
Effectiveness: King, because his demonstrations caused civil rights legislation to be passed; Malcolm X, because he urged African Americans to fight back.

20. Why It Matters Today
Landmark Supreme Court decisions beginning in 1954 have guaranteed civil rights for Americans today.
African Americans now compete in professions not open to them in 1960’s.