Civil Rights (Unit 18 a)
I. What freedoms did African Americans have after the Civil War?
A. The limitations of the Civil War Amendments
* the 13th
* the 14th
* the 15th
B. The limitations of the Freedmen’s Bureau
C. The rulings of the Supreme Court
D. The impact of the KKK
II. What attempts were made to help African Americans experience freedom in America near
the turn of the 20th Century (1900’s) and going forward?
A. The Progressives (lacking)
B. B.T. Washington
C. W.E.B. DuBois
D. Marcus Garvey
E. World War I
F. Harlem Renaissance
G. Eleanor Roosevelt
III. What events and leaders help to initiate discussion about Civil Rights for African Americans
in the 1930’s and 1940’s?
A. Phillip Randolph = He was the leader of the Railroad Porters Union. He marched on
D.C. and was editor of the Messenger magazine to bring about Civil Rights in 1930’s
and 1940’s.
B. Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) = An inter-racial organization established in 1942
to bring about Civil Rights for African Americans. Leaders like James Farmer and James
McKissick and many college students and professors called for radical changes.
C. Gunnar Myrdal’s book, the American Dilemma = He concluded that not all people in
America are equal. African Americans are not treated equally and as a result have a
lower self-esteem that has caused conflicts in America between black and white.
D. Race Riots = Riots broke out in major northern cities like Detroit in 1943 as blacks
began to migrate to find work in northern factories during WWII. They competed for jobs with whites and began to settle in white areas.
E. Jackie Robinson = He was the first African America to play professionally in Major
League Baseball. He started to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and had a stellar hall of fame career. Branch Rickey, the owner of the Dodgers, was widely criticized for signing Jackie to play for the Dodgers. He and Jackie were threatened at times. Others black players followed and were no longer compelled to play in the black only baseball league.
F. President Truman’s report titled To Secure These Rights in 1948 called for the
desegregation of the United States Military. His report came not long after some black WWII veterans were murdered. This report created a great deal of backlash and criticism of Truman. The Dixiecrat Party emerged promoting segregation in the military and throughout society. Southern Democrats left the Democrat Party led by Truman and supported their own Dixiecrat nominee for the presidency in 1948 named Strom Thurmond.
IV. What major leaders and events in the 1950’s helped to bring about further discussion for
Civil Rights in the 1950’s? (Civil Rights became a national movement in the 1950’s)
A. Emmitt Tillman, a fourteen year old African American, was lynched for leering
(looking) at a white woman. A comment was made by a African American pastor not long after Emmitt’s slaying, “Everywhere the black man goes in the south he has to choose between his hide or his soul.” Those arrested for the Emmitt’s murder were acquitted.
B. Thurgood Marshall, a NAACP lawyer, initiated case after case to get equality for
blacks. He constantly challenged Supreme Court rulings like Plessy v. Ferguson, Slaughterhouse cases, Cruikshank, Reese, Williams v. Mississippi, and others. He wanted the 14th and 15th Amendments to be followed and enforced at the Federal, State, and local levels of government. Marshall with Civil Rights Organization funds and Supreme Chief Justice Warren rulings helped get reversals. Marshall would eventually become the 1st African American appointed to the Supreme Court.
* Brown v. Board of Education Topeka 1954 reversed Plessy v. Ferguson and
separate but equal ruling was deemed un-constitutional.
* Sweatt v. Painter ruled that separate schools for African Americans failed to
meet the equality test and separate schools were no longer constitutional.
* the southern backlash (resistance) to these reversals was real. The KKK re-
emerged, the Dixiecrat Political Party continued, magazines like the Southern Manifest denounced the rulings, and the South continued to segregate schools despite the rulings as only 2% of schools in the deep south were de-segregated by 1964.
C. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person which was the
law at the time. She was arrested and put in jail for breaking this Jim Crow law in Montgomery, Alabama in December 1955.
D. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was begun after Rosa Park’s refusal and lasted for 13
months. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) emerged as the leader of the Civil Rights Movement as a result of the Bus Boycott. He and his wife Coretta were put in jail for disobeying the Jim Crow bus law. The boycott ended after the court ruled segregation of buses was illegal.
E. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) emerged in 1957 with MLK
becoming the most prominent leader. He and others advocated (supported) non-violent peaceful protests to end segregation and discrimination. MLK was following the example of past peaceful protestors like Henry David Thoreau and Gandhi, the leader of India. The SCLC sought to mobilize African American churches on behalf of Civil Rights.
F. Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas erupted into conflict in 1957. The conflict
followed a court order mandating integration of 9 black students into Central High. The Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, ordered the National Guard to prevent the 9 black students from entering Central High. For 3 weeks the black students were stopped from attending Central High. Finally President Eisenhower sent in the Army to escort the 9 black students into the Central High. 8 of the 9 graduated from Central High.
G. Civil Rights Act of 1957 established a permanent commission on Civil Rights with
extensive investigatory powers. It was the first Civil Rights Act since the Reconstruction (1865-1877) The Commission focused largely on violations of voting rights. In the late 1950’s only 20% of eligible African Americans were registered to vote.
V. What major leaders and events in the 1960’s helped to bring about further discussion for
Civil Rights in the 1960’s? (Civil Rights continued to grow as a national movement in the 1960’s)
A. Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC or SNICK) was established in
1960 and leaders like Stokeley Carmichael, Julian Bond, John Lewis, and others coordinated peaceful non-violent protests for Civil Rights similar to that of MLK.
B. Specific non-violent actions were taken by Civil Rights advocates. All types of peaceful
“ins” were done. For example, Civil Rights supporters would “sit in” restaurants where only white people could sit according to the Jim Crow law. Conflicts erupted and police were brought in to stop violence. Other “ins’ included wade ins, pray ins, lie ins, etc… all done to get equality in society (restaurants, transportation, employment, housing, voting….). At a lunch counter in a Woolworth’s Store a sit in occurred with a 4 college students. The next day 19 participated, the following day 85, and by the end of the week close to a 1000 participated in the sit in.
C. Other specific non-violent actions were taken by Civil Rights supporters. Freedom
Riders would purposely ride on buses in specifically labeled white sections breaking a
Jim Crow law. The goal was to end segregation at bus stations throughout the South.
Violence followed as KKK members used poison and guns to stop the Freedom Riders.
US Marshalls were sent in by the Federal Government to protect the Riders. An entire
bus was burned in Anniston, Alabama in 1961. 3 young Civil Rights advocates (2 white
and 1 black) were murdered for being Freedom Riders.
D. Civil Rights Act of 1960 gave the Federal Government the ability to register African
Americans to vote rather than the individual states.
E. James Meredith became the first black man to attend the University of Mississippi in
1962. Meredith was a member of SNCC (SNICK). US Army was sent in to protect him as violence erupted at the University. Meredith was eventually gunned down by segregationists. Stokeley Carmichael, a friend and fellow member of SNCC, soon turned SNCC into a group that was now in support of violence. Another leader of SNCC named H. Rap Brown supported the exclusion and killing of white people.
F. Medger Evers, the NAACP leader of Mississippi, was shot by a KKK member in front of
his home in June 1963 while President JFK was giving a speech to address the unrest in the South and the equality that should be given to all people black and white.
G. 4 young African American girls were killed in an explosion at a Baptist Church in
Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. The girls had just finished a lesson called, the love that forgives.
H. MLK in a march on Washington D.C. with approx.. 200,000 gave his inspiring speech, I
have a DREAM. MLK and the peaceful protesters demanded that Congress create Civil
Rights laws.
I. President JFK after all the violence in Mississippi, Alabama, and throughout the South
attempted to get Congress to pass Civil Right laws but his attempts failed. Many in Congress specifically Southern Democrats did not support the laws. JFK would be assassinated later in 1963 and his Vice President, LBJ, would have much more success in getting the laws passed.
J. Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed the Poll Tax which later became the 24th
Amendment. The Act also gave the Federal Government more power to remove the segregation of schools in the South. It also prevented discrimination in public places.
K. Voting Rights Act of 1965 removed the literacy test giving African Americans more
access to voting.
L. Voter Registration Drive in Selma, Alabama in 1965 led to violence. Only 2% of eligible
blacks actually voted in Selma so MLK and thousands marched to Selma to register voters. They were attacked and prevented from marching by local police. Police protection was eventually given and they resumed their march.
M. The Black Power Movement emerged in the latter 1960’s. The movement advocated
separatism where blacks could establish and develop their own identity away from whites. The goal was to elevate black self-respect and self-worth. Athletes like NFL running back Jim Brown and the 1968 gold metal Olympic sprinters supported the movement. The 1968 gold medalists put their heads down and their fists up as the American National Anthem was played. Their medals were taken away for their actions.
N. The Black Panthers were created also in the latter 1960’s. The Panthers were led by
Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldrige Cleaver. They supported violence and used their group to protect blacks and stop police brutality and discrimination.
O. The Black Muslim Movement also became prominent in the 1960’s. The Black
Muslims also supported black separatism and rejected anything associated with white culture. It was founded by Elijah Poole (Mohammed) in 1931. They rejected Christianity and changed their American names. Malcolm X became the most prominent spokesman of the Black Muslim Movement until his assassination in 1968. He was assassinated after a trip to Mecca where he began to change his beliefs away from violence and separatism to inclusion, peace, and compromise. The famous heavy weight boxer Cassius Clay became a member and changed his name to Mohammed Ali. Ali also refused to serve in the Vietnam War and was banned from boxing for numerous years.
P. Texas Western played Kentucky in the NCAA basketball championship in 1965. The
game caught the attention of America as the five starting Texas Western players were all black and the five starting Kentucky players were all white. Texas Western won in a close game 63 to 59. The game marked a shift and many more black players were integrated into collegiate sports and given scholarships.
Q. Race riots broke out in cities across America as the Civil Rights Movement continued.
Detroit, Chicago, New York, Newark were some of the major cities experiencing riots. The worst riot occurred in Los Angeles in the area known as Watts. A Congressional Commission called the Kerner Commission investigated the riots and put the cause to discrimination and poverty.
R. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 prohibited discrimination in the renting or selling of
housing.
S. MLK after giving a speech called, I have been to the mountain top, was killed by a
gunman named James Earl Ray in April 1968. Riots erupted in approx. 168 American cities as the nation mourned.
VI. The Civil Rights Movement successfully addressed the failures of Reconstruction. ATVOTS.
VII. What other movements were parts of the Civil Rights Movement?
* Indians
* Women
* Homesexuals
* Hispanic
Civil Rights study questions
Chapter 18
1. Ralph Wilson accurately captured in his book, The Invisible Man, that to most white
Americans, blacks did not exist. ATVOTS. 661-63
2. Identify a few examples of segregation in the 1950’s. 661
3. Northern leftist whites were equally as dangerous and discriminatory to blacks as southern
whites. ATVOTS. 661-62
4. Evaluate Hollywood’s handling of African Americans. 662
5. Summarize Eisenhower’s handling of the Civil Rights movement (662) and summarize and
then appraise his opinion of the courts ruling on segregation. (663)