MS Studies
Ch. 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
After the Civil War
• 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments gave
former slaves their freedoms.
– 13th outlawed slavery
– 14th protected ex-slaves from state laws that
were designed to take away their rights
– 15th guaranteed former slaves the right to
vote.
• Between 1875 & 1900 laws were created
to separate blacks and whites
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
2
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
3
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
4
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
5
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
6
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
7
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
8
Segregation
• Segregate – means to separate and hold
apart from the group. In the U.S. it
became known as the legal separation of
blacks and whites.
• Segregation laws were also called Jim
Crow Laws.
• Blacks & Whites mingled less after the
Civil War.
• White Liners – those that wanted complete
separation of blacks and whites by law.
They gained power by the 1880’s.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
9
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
10
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
11
Segregation (Cont.)
• Earliest segregation laws applied to rail
cars, but quickly spread to banning blacks
from white hotels, restaurants, parks,
libraries, waiting rooms, restrooms, water
fountains, and cemeteries.
• 1888 a law passed saying blacks & whites
would travel in “separate but equal rail
cars”
• Jim Crow targeted black voting rights
through intimidation and cheating.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
12
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
13
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
14
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
15
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
16
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
17
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
18
Constitution of 1890
• Focus was to remove black voting rights
• Voters had to:
– Pass a literacy test (read any section of the Const.)
or be able to understand a section read to them (to
allow illiterate whites to vote)
– Pay a $2 poll tax
– Live two years in the state and one year in the voting
district (eliminated sharecroppers that moved
frequently)
• These provisions eliminated black & white voters
• White voting dropped 50% after the Const. of 1890
• Voting laws were challenged in the Supreme Court, but it
ruled that since they applied to whites and blacks they
were constitutional.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
19
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
20
New Albany, Mississippi,
right before a lynching
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
21
Plessy vs Ferguson
• 1896 Supreme Court decision that set the
“separate but equal” precedent.
• Supreme Court said that the 14th
amendment only required equal
protection. Therefore, as long as facilities
were equal, they were constitutional.
• Segregation laws spread all throughout
the South after this ruling, but the equal
portion of “separate but equal” was
generally ignored.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
22
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
23
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
24
Origins of the Civil Rights
Movement
• 1940’s and 1950’s laid the groundwork for
the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s
• WWII helped pull America and MS out of
the Great Depression in the 1940’s
• Black servicemen traveled the Pacific &
Europe and saw that segregation did not
exist in other societies.
• When they returned they would no longer
stand for 2nd class citizenship.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
25
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
26
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
27
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
28
Election of 1948 & the
Dixiecrats
• Since the Civil War, blacks supported the
Republican Party, and b/c of this most southern
whites supported the Democratic party.
• Pres. Roosevelt & his New Deal attracted many
new blacks to the Democratic Party.
• In 1948 Pres. Truman made fair employment for
blacks a part of the Democratic platform
• White southerners were angered and left the
party.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
29
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
30
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
31
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
32
Dixiecrats (Cont.)
• Those that left formed a new political party
called the Dixiecrats.
• Led by Governors Strom Thurmond from
S.C. & Fielding Wright from MS
• Thurmond ran for President & Wright as
Vice President in 1948
• Wanted to show that the Democratic Party
needed Southern support, but they failed,
b/c Pres. Truman was reelected.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
33
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
34
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
35
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
36
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
37
Brown vs Topeka Board of Educ.
• Supreme Court made many decision in the 1940’s
that went against “separate but equal”
• National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) brought most of the
cases.
• This case occurred in Kansas (in conjunction with
cases from S.C., Virginia, and Delaware)
• NAACP challenged that separate schools could not
be equal and violated the 14th amendment.
• May 17, 1954 the court ruled that segregation of
public schools was unconstitutional and violated the
14th amendment, b/c they were not equal.
• However, They did not create a plan to integrate the
schools
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
38
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
39
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
40
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
41
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
42
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
43
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
44
White Reaction
• MS citizens and government defied the Supreme
Court order over school integration
• Citizens Council – formed in 1954 of well off MS
businessmen and upper class individuals. Wanted
to use economic pressure to enforce segregation.
• Legislature created laws to stop integration
• Interposition (placing the state’s rights above those
of the federal government) allowed the state to
refuse to obey unpopular Supreme Court Decisions.
• Sovereignty Commission – created by legislature in
1956 to protect the states rights from encroachment
by the federal government. They promoted
segregation and discouraged integration.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
45
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
46
St. Joseph's church, Marshall County, MS. It was fire-bombed in
retaliation for hosting voter-education meetings
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
47
<- Hattiesburg, MS
Jackson, MS
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi

48
Emmett Till
• In 1955, Emmett Till, a fifteen year old
black man, allegedly made a pass at a
white woman in a general store.
• Two men kidnapped him, beat him and
threw his body in the Tallahatchie River.
• The men were tried and acquitted of the
murder and later confessed to the crime.
• A national magazine ran an article on the
trial and it painted a poor picture of
Mississippi.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
49
Emmett Till
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
50
Winning Civil Rights in MS
• In the 40’s & 50’s Civil Rights was fought in the
courtroom, but new laws were not enforced
• In the 1960’s the battle for Civil Rights went into
the streets.
• Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. introduced
nonviolence as a form of protest.
• Rev. King & his followers purposely refused to
obey segregation laws.
• Nonviolence was put to the test in Montgomery,
AL in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to ride in
the rear of the bus. King & others boycotted the
bus system for 1 year.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
51
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
52
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
53
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
54
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
55
Dr. Martin Luther King is shown
leading a group of black children to
their newly integrated school in
Grenada, Mississippi
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
56
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
57
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
58
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
59
Sit-Ins & Freedom Riders
• Sit-In – group of protesters sit in a public
place and refuse to leave.
• Wade-in occurred on the Biloxi beach.
• 1961 “Freedom Riders” rode through MS
& AL challenging the segregated bus
system. They faced violence and arrests.
• Freedom Schools – schools created to
teach blacks how to pass the voting
requirements in MS.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
60
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
61
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
62
Biloxi “Wade-In”
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
63
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
64
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
65
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
66
James Meredith & Ole Miss Crisis
• James Meredith attempted to enroll at the
University of MS (Ole Miss) in 1961, but was
denied
• Sept. 10, 1962 U.S. Supreme Court ordered that
he be accepted.
• Gov. Barnett fought the decision to allow Meredith
to integrate the school.
• A riot erupted on the day of Meredith’s enrollment.
• Two people died, and many were injured.
• Meredith was enrolled and graduated in 1963.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
67
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
68
Medgar Evers and James
H. Meredith at Press
Conference
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
69
Medgar Evers
• MS’s most popular and well known Civil Rights
leader was Medgar Evers.
• Evers was the field secretary for the NAACP.
• He was shot and killed on June 12, 1963 by
Byron de la Beckwith.
• Beckwith was tried twice and not convicted.
• Beckwith was retried in 1994 and convicted.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
70
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
71
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
72
Freedom Summer 1964
• “Freedom Summer” – Summer of 1964,
many young college students came to MS
from around the country to help blacks.
• They were called “troublemakers” or
“outside agitators” by white Mississippians.
• The long dormant KKK reemerged in 1964
and violence dominated the summer
• Fannie Lou Hamer helped to found the
Freedom Democratic party.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
73
Fannie Lou Hamer
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
Fannie Lou Hamer
74
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
75
Hattiesburg civil rights march
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
76
Student
Nonviolent
Coordinating
Committee
(SNCC)
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
77
Teaching Freedom School
teachers in 1964
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
78
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
79
Chaney, Schwerner, & Goodman
(Freedom Summer 1964)
• Chaney, Schwerner, & Goodman were
civil rights workers in MS during 1964.
• On June 21, 1964, the three of them went
missing in Neshoba County.
• Chaney was a black Mississippian, but
Schwerner & Goodman were white
northerners.
• Drew national attention
• The bodies were discovered in an earthen
dam forty days later.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
80
Chaney
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
Schwerner
Goodman
81
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
82
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
83
MS Freedom Democratic Party
• Party formed in 1964.
• Challenged the all white Democratic Party
of MS as the delegate from MS at the
National Democratic Convention
• The National Convention suggested that
both parties represent MS and share a
vote, but the regular Democratic party
refused and left the Convention.
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
84
Civil Rights Act of 1964 & 1965
• Civil Rights Act of 1964 – outlawed
segregation of public places and put
economic pressure on discriminatory
agencies.
• Voting Rights Act of 1965
– Ended discrimination in voting
– Struck down state voting requirements that
discriminated against blacks
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
85
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
86
Chp 9 Civil Rights in Mississippi
87