WILHITE
U. S. History
The Civil Rights Movement
Background
I.
Segregation






14th Amendment granted citizenship to blacks for the first time and guaranteed "equal protection"
under the law and "due process" of law
 in U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876), the Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment covered only
violations of civil rights by states and not violations by private individuals
15th Amendment guaranteed blacks the right to vote, but was circumvented by Southern states prior
to the 1960s
many southern communities were concerned that blacks would gain too much political power by
being allowed to vote
in the 1890s, states used several tactics to circumvent the 15th Amendment and deny blacks the
right to vote
 some states required voters to own property and pay a poll tax (a fee voters were required to
pay when they went to the polls) were used to exclude many blacks from voting because they
could not pay the fee
 literacy test ( a test given to determine if voters could read the ballot) excluded many blacks who
were unable to read
 grandfather clauses (exempted from poll tax or literacy test anyone whose grandfather had been
a registered voter before January 1, 1867) excluded remaining blacks
in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
 Herman Plessy argued his right to equal protection of the laws was violated by a Louisiana law
segregating railroad cars
 the Court said that the Fourteenth Amendment was "not intended to give Negroes social equality
but only political and civil equality
 established the “separate but equal” doctrine
 "separate but equal" means that state and local governments may legally separate or
segregate different races as long as the separate facilities are equal in quality
segregation became the norm in the South
 segregation laws were known as "Jim Crow" laws
 de jurie segregation - by law, legally mandated separation of races
 de facto segregation - by fact or circumstance, occurs on its own
II. The Erosion of Segregation



in the early 1900s, Booker T. Washington urged blacks to temporarily put aside their desire for
political equality and focus instead on economic security
 Washington outlined his ideas at the Atlanta Exposition in 1905
 became known as the Atlanta Compromise
W.E.B. Du Bois rejected Washington's ideas
 believed blacks must work for social and political equality
 in 1905, helped organize conference in Niagara Falls, Ontario to discuss racial progress
 this began the Niagara Movement
 called for:
 full civil liberties
 and end to racial discrimination
 recognition of human brotherhood
some black leaders, frustrated by violence and discrimination, urged blacks to emigrate to Africa
 Marcus Garvey organized the Universal Negro Improvement Association to foster black pride
and economic power
 Garvey also organized a "Back To Africa" movement
 encouraged blacks to emigrate to Africa to establish a country and government on their own
1












1909, Mary White Ovington, a white social worker, helped organize a nation conference on the
"Negro Question"
 from this conference the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
originated
 by 1914, the NAACP had 50 branches and 6,000 me
the Ku Klux Klan was reborn in 1915
 first reorganized by William J. Simmons
 Ku Klux Klan targeted Catholics, Jews, blacks, and immigrants
 Indiana had largest Klan membership
 by 1927, Klan activity had diminished
during the Depression, during World War II, and immediately after World War II, hundreds of
thousands of blacks left the South and migrated to northern cities
 during the 1940s, more than 2 million blacks migrated from the South to cities in the North to
seek better jobs
the North had fewer laws enforcing segregation, but blacks in the North faced discrimination in
employment, education, and housing
 segregation severely limited the houses and apartments where blacks could live
 many ended up living in urban ghettos
1942, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was founded in Chicago
 believed in using non-violent techniques to end racism
June 1943, riots in Detroit killed 34 people and did millions of dollars worth of damage
 later the same summer, race riots broke out in New York City
in the military white and black troops were segregated
 German POWs in the US could eat where black GIs could not
The Pittsburgh Courier, a black newspaper, started a Double V campaign
 the first "V" was for victory against the Axis powers
 the second was for victory in winning equality at home
after World War II blacks began to seek more legal rights, greater equality, and an end to
segregation
 black soldiers returning from the war saw a hypocrisy in fighting for freedom in Europe when
they did not have freedom in the U.S.
 black soldiers had also experienced European culture which, in most cases, was not segregated
and was more accepting of racial differences
 race relations became a national issue and no longer exclusively a southern issue
1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major league baseball
July 26, 1948 President Harry S Truman signed Executive Order 9981 establishing the President’s
Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services and ordering the
desegregation of the military
 it was accompanied by Executive Order 9980
 created a Fair Employment Board to eliminate racial discrimination in federal employment
 the Secretary of Defense announced on September 30, 1954 that the last all-black unit had been
abolished
 the president’s directive put the armed forces at the forefront of the growing civil rights
movement
in the 1948 election, many southern democrats withdrew from the Democratic Party in protest of
Truman’s civil rights policies
 formed The States’ Rights Party or “Dixiecrats”
 met in Birmingham, AL and nominated Gov. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president
 Thurmond received 39 electoral votes with 1,169,032 popular votes
III. The End of Segregation

May 17, 1954 Supreme Court overturned the decision of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) in the case of
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS (1954)
 Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the unanimous decision
 said that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal
 followed up with a second ruling in 1955 that said that the South must use “all deliberate speed”
to obey the Brown decision
2





1954, 101 southern congressmen signed the Southern Manifesto denouncing the court’s
“unwarranted decision” in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) as a “clear abuse of judicial power”
that “substituted the Justices’ personal political and social ideas for the established law of the land”
 manifesto vowed to use “all lawful means to bring about a reversal of this decision which is
contrary to the Constitution”
 Texas senator Lyndon Johnson and two Tennessee senators - Al Gore, Sr. and Estes Kefauver refused to sign it
1956, Autherine Lucy became first black student admitted to the University of Alabama
 she was expelled three days later "for her own safety" in response to threats from a mob
 crowds chanted , "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Autherine's got to go!"
1956, the national headquarters of the NAACP asked the U.S. district court to force immediate and
complete desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas
September 1957, the Little Rock, Ark. School Board decided to let nine black students enroll at
Central High School
 Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus refused to let the students in
 September 3, Arkansas Governor Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent
desegregation of Central High School
 ordered to remove National Guard, by the Federal Government
 President Eisenhower met with Faubus
 the students were left to the mercy of the angry mob outside the school
 police escorted “the Little Rock Nine” out of the school
 September 24, Eisenhower federalized the National Guard and called in 101st Airborne
 guard remained at the school for the rest of the school year
 1958-1959- Little Rock public schools were closed for the year under Governor Faubus' orders
 reopened integrated in 1959
December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a Montgomery seamstress, was arrested for refusing her seat to a
white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama
 Martin Luther King, Jr. - a 27-year old Montgomery minister - helped organize a boycott of
Montgomery city buses
 the city’s bus system was severely affected
 80% of bus riders were black (40,000 out of 52,000)
 black community leaders help organize alternative transportation
 black cab drivers would charge bus fare to black customers
 carpools
 walking
 many whites were angered by the boycott
 the White Citizens Council worked against the boycott
 members included the mayor, city council members, businessmen
 January 30, 1956 King’s house was bombed
 88 black leaders were arrested
 November 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on Montgomery buses was
unconstitutional
 the 361 day boycott ended soon after
 the segregationists give up on December 20, 1956
 the boycott marked the beginning of the organized civil rights movement and the emergence of
Martin Luther King, Jr. to national prominence as a civil-rights leader
The Movement Begins
I. Southern Christian Leadership Conference


January 1957, Martin Luther King, Jr. called for a meeting to discuss nonviolent integration
 60 southern ministers met at an Atlanta conference
 among the attendees were Northern activists Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, and Stanley Levison,
and Southern civil rights veterans Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Shuttlesworth, Ralph Abernathy,
C. K. Steele, Joseph Lowery, and William Holmes Borders
shortly after this meeting, the group established a permanent organization, the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC)
3




elected King as president
the goal was to "to redeem the soul of America" through nonviolent resistance based on the
teachings of Mohandas Gandhi
 Gandhi was an Indian nationalist and spiritual leader who worked to gain Indian
independence from Great Britain
used sit-ins, boycotts, picket lines
drew its strength from the black churches of the South, whose ministers were said to mirror the
spirit of the community
II. The Election of 1960







the Democratic Party nominated John F. Kennedy
the Republican Party nominated Richard Nixon
neither candidate took a strong stance on civil rights at first
 wanted to please both sides for votes
 Kennedy chose Lyndon B. Johnson (a southerner) as the vice-presidential candidate to appeal
to southern voters
 Kennedy decided to make an all-out effort for the northern black vote
October l9, l960 Martin Luther King is arrested at a sit-in at a lunch counter in Atlanta
 police claimed he was violating probation which he was on for driving without a license a year
earlier
 Kennedy called King’s wife to express sympathy
 Robert Kennedy (an attorney) talked to a judge and King was released
 Nixon did nothing
won a very narrow victory
 won 70% of the black vote
 carried 7 of the 11 deep south states
after he took office, Kennedy did not fully follow through on his campaign promises to fight
segregation
 appointed some blacks to his administration
 did little for voting rights yet only 5% of blacks were registered in the Deep South
 as Attorney General, Robert Kennedy filed 50 voting rights cases
in the area of civil rights, Kennedy generally acted only after events forced him to
III. Sit-ins


the very first sit-ins occurred in the late 1940s, but were largely unsuccessful
the first successful sit-in of the civil rights movement was in Greensboro, NC in 1960
 February 1, 1960, a group of black college students from North Carolina A&T University were
denied service at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina
baa. refused to leave
 sparked a wave of other sit-ins in college towns across the South
 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) [pronounced "snick"], was created on
the campus of Shaw University in Raleigh in April 1960 to coordinate sit-ins, support their
leaders, and publicize their activities
 practiced civil disobedience - intentionally violating laws they felt were immoral
 slogan was “jail not bail”
 jail got press coverage and inconvenienced the local officials
 Stokely Carmichael was a SNCC leader (later became involved in black power)
 both black and white students were involved in SNCC
 they ordered food or coffee and stayed until they were served, removed or attacked
 started with a few people but grew to 300 working in shifts
 the idea spread to other places besides drug stores
 swim-ins, pray-ins, theaters, parks
 by the end of 1960, 50,000 young people were involved in sit-ins
The Movement Gains Momentum
4
I. Freedom Riders



the Supreme Court declared segregation on interstate buses is unconstitutional
 the ruling was largely ignored in the South
 segregated buses and terminals existed
 1960, a second ruling reinforced the previous one
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
 civil-rights organization founded (1942) in Chicago by James Farmer
 decided to test the Supreme Court’s 1946 decision in the Irene Morgan case, which declared
segregated seating of interstate passengers unconstitutional, by starting the Freedom Rides
Freedom Rides
 a group of black and white CORE members would ride interstate buses and would intentionally
violate the “for colored” and “for whites” signs on the buses and in the terminals
 chose a route form Washington DC to New Orleans
 left Washington DC on May 4, 1961
 scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17, the seventh anniversary of the Brown
decision
 met little resistance in the upper South
 in NC and VA, the signs were taken down
 put back once the Freedom Riders left
 May 14 [Mother's Day], the Freedom Riders split up into two groups to travel through Alabama
 first group was met by a mob of about 200 angry people in Anniston
 the mob stoned the bus and slashed the tires
 the bus managed to get away, but when it stopped about six miles out of town to change the
tires, it was firebombed
 the second bus was attacked in Birmingham by an angry mob
 Riders were severely beaten
 the bus company did not want to risk losing another bus to a bombing, and its drivers, who were
all white, did not want to risk their lives
 after two days of unsuccessful negotiations, the Freedom Riders, fearing for their safety, flew
to New Orleans
 a group of Nashville sit-in students decided to go to Birmingham and continue the Freedom Ride
 the Nashville students traveled to Birmingham and asked the bus company to let them use
their buses
 Attorney General Robert Kennedy put pressure on the bus company and the Birmingham
police to allow the Freedom Rides to continue
 May 17, the Birmingham police arrested the Nashville Freedom Riders and placed them in
protective custody
 in the middle of the night, the police drove the Riders back to Tennessee and dumped them
by the side of the highway at the state line
 the Freedom Riders went right back to Birmingham.
 the Nashville Freedom Riders left Birmingham on Saturday, May 20
 the Nashville Freedom Riders were beaten in Montgomery
 Justice Department official John Seigenthaler was beaten unconscious and left in the
street for nearly a half an hour after he stopped to help two Freedom Riders
 Robert Kennedy decided to send federal marshals to the city
 Martin Luther King, Jr., flew to Montgomery and held a mass meeting, surrounded by federal
marshals, in support of the Freedom Riders
 a mob of several thousand whites surrounded the church
 at 3 AM, King called Robert Kennedy and Kennedy called Alabama Governor John
Patterson
 Patterson declared martial law and sent in state police and the National Guard
 Robert Kennedy asked for a cooling-off period
 Freedom Riders, however, decided to continue on to Mississippi
 were given good protection as they entered the state, and no mob greeted them at the
Jackson bus terminal
 Robert Kennedy and Mississippi Senator James O. Eastland had reached a compromise
 Kennedy promised not to use federal troops if there was no mob violence
5





the Nashville Freedom Riders were arrested by local police
May 25, they were tried
 as their attorney defended them, the judge turned his back
 Freedom Riders never made it to New Orleans
forced the Kennedy administration to take a stand on civil rights
September 22, 1961 - the Interstate Commerce Commission made a ruling against segregated
facilities
 the ICC is in the executive branch, so it has the power to enforce its rulings
 the Supreme Court is Judicial and can’t enforce rulings
after the Freedom Rides, Robert Kennedy focused on black voter registration
 he hoped it would be less violent
 SNCC workers were trained to help blacks register
 whites respond violently (including the murder of 3 voting rights workers in MS)
II. University of Mississippi






January 1961, James Meredith applied for admission to the University of Mississippi
 officials at the school returned his application
Meredith took his case to court
 September 10, 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he had the right to attend the University
of Mississippi
 the Governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett, personally blocked Meredith from registering at the
University
Kennedy sent in Federal Marshals
 September 30, 1962, a Sunday, Meredith was escorted onto the campus by federal marshals
and Civil Rights Division lawyers
 stationed on or near the campus to protect him were 123 deputy federal marshals, 316 US
Border Patrolmen, and 97 federal prison guards
federal forces were attacked by a mob that would grow to number 2,000 and who fought them with
guns, bricks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails
 2 people were dead, 28 marshals had been shot, 160 people were injured
Kennedy sent 16,000 federal troops to the campus
when it was over, James Meredith became the first black student to attend the University of
Mississippi
III. Birmingham 1963






Birmingham was known nationally for racism and violence
 closed public parks, pools, playgrounds rather than integrating
 department stores practiced discrimination
the city government was in a state of turmoil
 the three-man city commission system was voted out by the voters in the spring of 1963
 the vote was mostly to force Bull Connor, commissioner of public safety and the man largely
responsible for the attack on the Freedom Riders, out of office
 Connor ran for mayor but the voters elected the more moderate Albert Boutwell
 it was replaced with a mayor and city council system
 the old mayor and commissioners refused to leave office so two city governments were
operating at the same time until the courts decided which was the legitimate one
Martin Luther king decided to stage a march in Birmingham after a march he led in Albany, GA failed
to bring change
 Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth of Birmingham invited King and the SCLC to Birmingham
 King knew the whites would react in Birmingham
 King knew the press would cover it
SCLC launched "Project C" (for Confrontation)
April 3, 1963, SCLC staged sit-ins and released a "Birmingham Manifesto"
April 6, police arrested 45 protesters marching from Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to city hall
 April 7, Palm Sunday, more people were arrested
 two police dogs attacked nineteen-year-old protester Leroy Allen as a large crowd looked on
6








Judge W.A. Jenkins, Jr., issued an order preventing 133 of the city's civil rights leaders, including
King, fellow SCLC leader Ralph Abernathy, and Shuttlesworth from organizing demonstrations
April 12, 1963,- King was arrested for violating the court's order
local white church leaders wrote a letter to the paper saying King was just stirring up trouble and if he
would be patient, change would come
 King responded with Letter From A Birmingham Jail
1. written on scraps of paper
2. said that we can’t wait for change because wait has always meant never
 King was released on April 20
SCLC organizers started to plan "D Day"
 unlike the other demonstrations, all of the D Day demonstrators would be children
 decided to use children in the march so that adults would not lose their jobs
May 2, children, ranging in age from six to eighteen, gathered in Kelly Ingram Park, across the street
from Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
 demonstrators left Kelly Ingram Park in waves and were arrested and placed in police vans
May 3, over a thousand more children stayed out of school and went to Kelly Ingram Park
 Bull Connor was determined not to let them get downtown, but he had no space left in his jails
 ordered the police and firemen to use attack dogs and fire hoses on the marchers
 pictures of these attacks were shown all over the world
fearing damage to downtown stores, the Birmingham business community agreed to integrate lunch
counters and hire more blacks
 Bull Connor urged whites to boycott the cooperating stores
 some whites reacted by bombing King’s motel and his brother’s house
 because it was the site of eighteen unsolved bombings in black neighborhoods over a sixyear span and of the vicious mob attack on the Freedom Riders on Mother's Day 1961
Birmingham earned the nickname "Bombingham"
riots ensued and JFK sent in the National Guard to make peace
IV. University of Alabama, 1963




Alabama Governor George Wallace made a campaign promise in 1962 to stand in the schoolhouse
door to block integration
 in his inaugural address, Wallace promised, "segregation today, segregation tomorrow,
segregation forever"
June 11, 1963 - Wallace stood at the door of the registration building at the University of Alabama
and gave a speech in protest of two black students attending the school
 he said that integration is a state’s rights issue, not a federal issue
 the “stand” was symbolic because President Kennedy had federalized National Guard
 they were there to make sure the students were allowed to enter
after the speech, Wallace stepped aside and Vivian Malone and James Hood entered the building
 the first sustained enrollment of black students at UA
May 30, 1965, Vivian became the first black student to graduate from the University of Alabama
 James Hood returned to campus in 1995 and received a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies in
1997
V. Medgar Evers




President Kennedy went on TV the night of June 11, 1963
 called segregation a “moral crisis”
 asked Congress to pass the Civil Rights bill
Medgar Evers was a leader in the Mississippi NAACP
 organized economic boycotts, meetings, marches, prayer vigils, and picket lines
he was shot and killed in his driveway by Byron de la Beckwith late on the night of June 11/12 while
getting out of his car
Byron De La Beckwith, stood trial twice in the 1960s
 in both cases the all-white juries could not reach a verdict
 in a third trial in 1994 Beckwith was convicted and sentenced to life in prison
7
VI. 1963 - Epilogue



August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. led a march of 250,000 in Washington D.C.
 marching to support the passage of the Civil Rights bill
 Martin Luther King gave the “I Have a Dream” speech
September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed
 four young girls are killed, 14 teenagers injured
 a Klansman was convicted of the bombing in 1976
November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas
 Lyndon B. Johnson became the President (Johnson was a Southerner, but he supported Civil
Rights)
The Movement Continues
I. Civil Rights Act of 1964






J. Kennedy had called for civil rights legislation in June, 1963
Johnson wanted Congress to pass Kennedy’s Civil Rights bill without changing it
 it passes in the House in February 1964
the Senate tried to filibuster
 it takes a 2/3 vote to end a filibuster
 the Republicans and Northern Democrats allied and ended the filibuster
July 2, 1964 the Civil Rights Act became law
 prohibited segregation in all public places
 prohibited discrimination in employment
 authorized the attorney general to bring suit to desegregate the public schools
 did not include provisions to strengthen the right to vote
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S. (1964)
Katzenbach v. McClung (1964)
 Ollie's Barbeque, in Birmingham, Alabama refused to serve blacks in its dining accommodations
 this was a violation of Civil Rights Act of 1964
 Ollie McClung, the owner, sued claiming that since it did not engage in interstate commerce,
Congress had no jurisdiction
 Supreme Court disagreed and ordered Ollie's to desegregate its dining facility
II. Voting Rights Act of 1965




after the Freedom Rides, Robert Kennedy focused on black voter registration
 he hoped it would be less violent
protection of the right to vote was regarded as a means whereby other basic rights could be secured
1964, the 24th Amendment banned the use of poll taxes in federal elections
 by 1964, voter registration drives in southern states had become the major thrust of young black
activists
Summer of 1964 became known as “Freedom Summer” because of an all out effort to register black
voters and increase black voting in Mississippi
 SNCC sent volunteers into Mississippi during the summer of 1964, a presidential election year,
for a voter registration drive
 SNCC had been trying to register black voters in Mississippi since 1960
 Bob Moses outlined the goals of Freedom Summer to prospective volunteers at Stanford
University:
1. to expand black voter registration in the state
2. to organize a legally constituted "Freedom Democratic Party" that would challenge the whitesonly Mississippi Democratic party
3. to establish "freedom schools" to teach reading and math to black children
4. to open community centers where indigent blacks could obtain legal and medical assistance
 June 1964, 800 students gathered for a week-long orientation session at Western College for
Women in Oxford, Ohio
8







they were mostly white and young (average age of 21) and from well-to-do families
the volunteers had to bring $500 for bail as well as money for living expenses, medical bills,
and transportation home
 SNCC's James Forman told them to be prepared for death, "I may be killed. You may be
killed. The whole staff may go."
 he also told them to go quietly to jail if arrested, because "Mississippi is not the place to start
conducting constitutional law classes for the policemen
 June 21, 1964, the day after the first 200 recruits left for Mississippi from Ohio, three workers,
including one volunteer, disappeared
 Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney had been taken to jail for
speeding charges but were later released
 the men failed to perform a required check-in with Freedom Summer headquarters
 during the search for the missing workers, the FBI uncovered the bodies of three lynched
blacks who had been missing for some time
 August 4, the bodies of the three civil rights workers were found in a dam on a farm near
Philadelphia, Mississippi
 had all been shot and the one black, James Chaney, had been brutally beaten
Martin Luther King, Jr. chose Selma, Alabama as the site of a voting rights march in March 1965
 decided that demonstrators should march 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery
 Gov. George Wallace tried to ban the march
March 7, 1965 as the demonstrators crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge leading out of Selma, they
were ordered to disperse by the State Troopers
 King was not there
 the troopers then attacked marchers with clubs and tear gas, injuring almost one hundred
 this event became known as Bloody Sunday
King led Second march later
 the marchers got to the bridge, saw the Troopers, and king turned the march around
 LBJ had asked him to try to avoid another confrontation
a third march took place without incident
 LBJ federalized the National Guard and had them protect the marchers
 they marched to Montgomery
the events in Selma pushed Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965
 banned literacy tests
 authorized the President to send in federal troops if blacks were not allowed to register
III. Black Power





tension was growing among many young blacks
 they were tired of the slow pace of the nonviolent movement
 they were tired of being beaten and not being able to fight back
 they were tired of people dying for the cause and change not coming
 some in SNCC felt that the white members were getting all the credit
June 1966 - James Meredith led a march through Mississippi for voting rights
 he was shot in the leg and unable to finish at that time (later does finish)
 others continued the march in his place
Martin Luther King and Stokeley Carmichael marched together but preached the opposite message
Carmichael (SNCC) was arrested in Greenwood, MS
 he came out of jail angry and said we need "black power"
 while on the Selma to Montgomery march, Carmichael had helped to found a black political
group in Lowndes County, AL (the Lowndes County Freedom Organization)
 the organizations symbol was a black panther
 its goal was to get blacks to vote whites out of office
 was not very successful, but did inspire other groups
black power:
1. believed in economic and political equality
2. believed that violence for self-defense was acceptable
3. many believed in separatism, not integration
4. believed in a pride in one’s African heritage
9
IV. Black Pride






most followers of Black Power believed in Black Pride, but not all people who believed in Black Pride
supported the violence of the Black Power movement
black pride was a movement to take pride in one’s African heritage
its followers did not want to blend in with whites
Afros became popular
African clothing (like dashikis) and customs (like Kwanzaa) became popular
supporters of black pride did not want to be called colored or Negro - black was the accepted term
V. Black Separatism



black separatism is also known as black nationalism
some blacks wanted to separate themselves from white society
 did not believe blacks could ever have equality and fair treatment in the United States
 wanted a separate black nation
this view was promoted by the Black Muslims (a.k.a. The Nation of Islam)
 Nation of Islam was founded by Fard Muhammad in Detroit in 1930
 Fard Muhammad preached that blacks must prepare for an inevitable race war and that
Christianity was the religion of slave owners
 he gave his followers Arabic names to replace those that had originated in slavery
 Members of the movement believe Fard to be the incarnation of Allah
 he disappeared in 1934
 1934, Elijah Muhammad became the leader of the the Nation of Islam
 Muhammad taught that white society actively worked to keep African-Americans from
empowering themselves and achieving political, economic and social success
 among other goals, the Nation of Islam fought for a state of their own, separate from one
inhabited by white people
VI. Malcolm X







Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska
he arrested and convicted on burglary charges in 1946
while in prison, he studied the teachings of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad
he considered "Little" a slave name and chose the "X" to signify his lost tribal name
March 1964 he terminated his relationship with the Nation of Islam and founded the Muslim Mosque,
Inc.
1964, he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia
 he changed his views about separatism and violence
he was murdered by three members of the Nation of Islam at the Audubon Ballroom on February 21,
1965
 he was shot 15 times at close range
VII. Long Hot Summers








major riots occurred during the summers of 1965-68
riots occurred mostly in cities outside the South
the South had practiced de jure discrimination
northern cities had de facto, which is more difficult to prove and fight
1965Watts Riot - on the surface, Watts appeared to be better off with regard to race than other
places, had black leaders, not a ghetto, no one expected a riot
 however, lots of job competition related tensions
 34 died, 1000 wounded
Newark, NJ - riots 26 killed, 1200 wounded
Detroit, MI - 43 killed, 2000 wounded
spring of 1968, riots occurred nationwide after Martin Luther Kings assassination
 King was assassinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis, TN
10


King was in Memphis to help with sanitation workers strike
shot by James Earl Ray outside Lorraine Motel
VIII. The Black Panthers




1967, H. Rap Brown took over SNCC
 he advocated a shift from non-violence to violence as a means to achieve civil rights objectives
 he changed the focus to separatism
 SNCC broke into several factions
 some of the former SNCC members joined a group called the Black Panthers
Black Panthers started by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California as a black selfdefense group
 adopted the name and symbol of the black panther after the Lowndes County Freedom
Organization
 they were militant heavily armed
 opposed police brutality
Newton was arrested for killing a police officer
 his followers felt it was self-defense and he was a victim of police discrimination
 he was found guilty
Seale was involved in the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention and was tried for his role in the riots
IX. The Kerner Commission



1967, Lyndon Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission to study race relations
commission reported that the United States was moving towards two separate and unequal societies
recommendations of the Kerner Commission led to the development of Affirmative Action programs
 set quotas for women, minorities
 upheld by Supreme Court in the 1970s
 the Supreme Court has upheld some reverse discrimination cases in the1990s
X. Nixon and Civil Rights







few blacks supported Nixon in 1960 or in 1968
Nixon wanted the support of white, conservative, Southerners in Congress
 adopted what became known as the “Southern Strategy”
tried to cut funding for the enforcement of fair housing laws
his Attorney General tried to stop an extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act
 Congress extended the Act
Federal courts ordered busing in several cities to force integration
 this got violent, especially in the North
 Nixon openly opposed busing
he allowed the Departments of Health, Education and Welfare to restore funding to schools that were
still segregated
1970-75 the number of African American elected officials rose by 88%
 cities like Atlanta, Detroit, Birmingham, etc. elected black mayors in the mid to late 70s
 blacks were also elected to Congress
11