The African American Civil Rights Movement

Chapters 37-39
Lingering Jim Crow Era
Prosperity of post WWI America helped revive the question of racial equality
Congressional Committee on Civil Rights
Integration of US Armed Forces (1948)

Jackie Robinson and MLB Color Barrier (1947)

Brown v Board of Education (1954) (Emmett Till murdered 1955)

US Supreme Court overturned Plessy v Ferguson
Rules Separate is inherently unequal
Orders all public areas to be integrated

Rosa Parks and Montgomery Bus Boycotts (1955-56)

MLK Jr. enters the national stage with strategy of nonviolent protest
Asks everyone to boycott the buses (not just African Americans)
Urges people to be nonviolent (to not prove violent stereotypes of black people)
Bus system makes huge profit
Important because press is watching MLK Jr.

Integration of Public Schools

The Little Rock 9 (1957)
Arkansas school tries to integrate
Town all shows up to the school angry first day, only 1 of the 9 students tries to
go. She goes home when she realises the others arent coming
National guard called in to get them into the school safely, but dont do anything
when they go inside
Each of the kids gets 2 guards next day to protect them
Many people in south oppose this because they see it as the federal gov. getting
out of control
Many states changed their flags to include confederate battle flag as a form of protest

The Sit-Ins of 1960

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

The Freedom Rides (1961)

Interracial bus trip through the South to protest segregated busing
 Met with violence and police refusal to help
US Justice Department sends federal lawyers into South
JFK sends in US Marshals and orders desegregation of busing and stations
MLK Jr, disagreed with this and thought it was a bad idea
Bus was blown up, killed several freedom riders, and movement was called off after this

Integration of Ol Miss (1962)

James Meredith to enroll but blocked by Mississippi Governor
White, violent backlash and JFK sends in federal troops (2 killed, over 100 injured)
Supreme Court order
2 killed and over 100 injured

The Birmingham Protest and Riot (1963)

Police Commissioner Eugene Bull Connor's tactics (spray firehoses,
All of this is caught on television
JFK joins with MLK to ask Congress for civil rights legislation

Bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church (1963)

4 girls, ages 11-14, killed by KKK planted bomb in church
Girls were taking part in church services on the Sunday morning when bomb exploded

The March on Washington (1963)

250,000 marchers
Impact of tv
MLK I Have a Dream Speech
Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1964
Bans all discrimination based on race, sex, religion, national origin

Arrival of Malcolm X
Public disagreement with MLKs nonviolent protest
By any means necessary
Polar opposite of MLK
Calls for a segregated America at first
Later apologizes for his statements about the police and his idea of a segregated
America

The Black Panthers (1966-1982)

Advocate for racial segregation in urban areas and reject non violence tactics of MLK
Stokely Carmichael

Watts Riot (1965)

6 day riot in LA started by abuse of drunk driver
 Cars, stores, property destroyed
Stores booted
34 dead and over 1,000 injured
Finally ended by National Guard

Murder of MLK (1968)

Murder of MLK in Memphis fractures both the Civil Rights Movement Leadership and
Americas resolve
Killed by KKK member James Earl Ray
Also in 1968
Vietnam coming to a head
Bobby Kennedy assassinated
Democratic national party

1968 Summer Olympics

Lingering issue of racial equality

Swann v Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education

Supreme Court rules that de facto segregation should be undermined through public
school busing
Minority to majority busing
$$ or racial equality

Violent, Urban Public Backlash

Milliken v Bradley (1974)
No school desegregation plans could force students to cross district lines
Essentially ended Minority - Majority Busing

Birth of Affirmative Action

Various courts ruled that race can be one of the factors considered in school admittance

The Beating of Rodney King

March 3, 1991

Los Angeles Riots

April 29-May 4, 1992, 55 dead and $1 billion
National Guard called in to wrap it up

The Civil Rights Movement Continues?

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton
Hurricane Katrina - New Orleans, August 29, 2005
1,800 dead
$108 billion in damage