The Ongoing Struggle for Black Civil Rights 1840’s – 1940’s
Pre Civil War (1840s-1850s)
Abolition movement was sparked by 2nd Great
Awakening sparks push for black civil rights
Reconstruction Era (1865-1877)
• 13th, 14th & 15th Amendments passed
following Civil War ending slavery and
granting citizenship & voting rights
• Federal Gov’t soon stops enforcement during
laissez-faire “Gilded Age”
• Jim Crow segregation become entrenched in
South justified by “States Rights” arguments
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) decision supports
“separate but equal” – diminishes in reality the
earlier Constitutional breakthroughs
Progressive Era (1890s - 1910s)
Black Civil Rights Activists Work for Change by Differ in Goals & Tactics
WEB DuBois
Booker T. Washington
“Talented Tenth”
NAACP
Niagara Movement
Atlanta Compromise
Tuskegee Institute
Lunch with TR
1920’s & 1930’s
Post WWI
“Great Migration”
Shifts Rights
Struggle North
Harlem
Renaissance
“New Negro”
Marcus Garvey
&
UNIA
1940s: “Double V” campaign & arguments against
fascist racism promotes integration during/immediately after WWII
Still, “Jim Crow” (aka du jour segregation) laws in South &
de facto segregation in North/West strong into the mid 20th Century
West
South
North
Chapter 27
Walking Into Freedom Land: The Civil Rights Movement (1941-1973)
HW – Prep for Civil Rights Discussions
on Block Day (3/22 or 3/23)
Prepare “Talking Point Notes” on relevant details
from assigned text reading and/or on-line research for
details relating to either Topic #1 or Topic #2 as
described in forthcoming slides.
-
Notes need to clearly include two sections:
- FACTS (summery of key details)
-
COMMENTARY (opinions of relevance of
facts to your assigned discussion questions)
VIDEO REVIEW
Crash Course US History – Civil Rights in the 1950s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S64zRnnn4Po&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s&index=42
Crash Course US History – Civil Rights in the 1960s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkXFb1sMa38&index=41&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s
Discussion Topic #1
Growth of the Civil Rights Movement 1955-1965 (pp. 859-870)
DISCUSSION PROMPTS
1) What factors explain the rise of the civil rights protest movement? Why was
nonviolent civil disobedience the chosen tactic?
2) In what ways did white resistance hinder the movement? In what ways did it help?
Consider the relevance of the following events, organizations and people in addressing questions above:
Brown v. Board Case, Orval Faubus, Emmett Till Trial, Montgomery Bus Boycotts,
Lunch Counter Sit-Ins, Freedom Rides, MLK’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail,
March on Washington, Freedom Summer, Selma March
Little Rock Nine (1957)
confrontation results from
Brown v. Board (1954)
“Dixiecrats” like
Arkansas Governor
Orval Faubus issue
“states rights”
“Southern Manifesto”
and refuse to follow
Supreme Court…Federal
Gov’t forced to act
Emmett Till Murder Trial (1955)
Montgomery
Bus Boycotts
(1955)
Lunch Counter Sit-Ins (1960)
Organized by “grassroots” SNCC…media
attention garners some northern white
support and pushed federal actions
Freedom
Rides (1961) organized
by grassroots CORE
organization. Violence
forced federal
intervention
“Battle for Birmingham” (1963)
Boycotts/Marches & Reactions
“High Tide” of
Non-Violent Black
Civil Rights Movement
March on Washington
&
“I Have a Dream” Speech
(1963)
Landmark Legislation:
Civil Rights Act (1964)
Voting Rights Act (1965)
24th Amendment (1965)
Freedom Summer
&
Civil Rights
Workers
Murdered
Prompting
Federal
Intervention
(1964)
“Bloody Sunday” Selma March (1965)
Discussion Topic #2
Beyond Civil Rights 1966-1973 (pp. 871-880)
DISCUSSION PROMPTS
1) What factors accounted for a growing popularity of militant civil
rights actions staring in the mid 1960s?
2) Many groups called for greater racial or ethnic pride and
independence from white America by the end of the 1960s. What were
the advantages and disadvantages of these developments?
Consider the relevance of the following events,
organizations & people in addressing questions
above:
Black Nationalism/Militancy, Malcom X,
Nation of Islam, Stokely Carmichael &
Black Power Movement, Black Panther
Party, Young Lords, Watts Riots, Kerner
Commission, MLK Assassination, Cesar
Chavez, Chicano Movement, La Raza Unida,
American Indian Movement, Alcatraz
Occupation, Wounded Knee Confrontation
Increasing
Popularity
Of Militancy
&
Black Nationalism
Frightens Many Whites
Malcolm X
Nationalist
& Militant
“By any
Means
Necessary”
Eventually
breaks with
“Black Muslims” and begins
to promotes cooperation
with “regular”
civil rights movement…
assassinated
by Nation of Islam members
Former SNCC Member turned militant, Stokely
Carmichael promotes “Black Power” and inspires militancy
The Black
Panther Party
Founded in
Oakland, CA
in 1966
by
Huey Newton
&
Bobby Seale
After Watts Riots in August 1965, federal government sponsors comprehensive investigation
of causes called Kerner Commission. Results indicate that growing violence was a reaction to
on going “de facto” segregation. And that the end of “de jure” segregation did not change the
day to day life of most urban blacks causing growing frustration. Violence explodes again after
1968 MLK assassination.
Cesar Chavez
&
La Raza Unida
AIM
Wounded Knee
&
Alcatraz