STAAR Review 12
1963, Bombingham
Civil War Amendments
• During the early years of our nation, slavery was
permitted in many areas.
• But after the Civil War things began to change,
these changes became law with constitutional
amendments.
– 13th Amendment – (1865) abolished slavery
– 14th Amendment – (1868) provided for equal protection
under the law and gave those born here citizenship.
– 15th Amendment – (1870) gave former male slaves
suffrage or the right to vote.
These amendments to the Constitution were the
foundation of the Civil Rights Movement of the
Twentieth Century.
Brown v. Board of Education, 1954
• After the end of the Civil War,
Southern states passed laws
requiring segregation of races in
public places, including schools.
• As a group these types of laws
were called ‘Jim Crow’ laws or
‘Black Codes’, they all had the
purpose of limiting civil rights.
• Civil Rights were won in large
part through litigation – resolving
disputes in court.
• Many of these cases were
decided by the Supreme Court.
Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
• The 1896 Supreme Court decision of
‘Plessy v. Ferguson’ upheld the
constitutionality of segregation laws.
• Homer Plessy was 7/8th white and 1/8th
black, but by the Jim Crow laws of
Louisiana he was considered black and
had to ride in a separate train car.
• Homer was arrested for violating this law and his
case went before the Supreme Court.
• The Court ruled ‘separate but equal’ was
constitutional and states could legally provide
segregated facilities to different races, so long as
they were equal in quality.
• For 50+ years this is how America handled race.
The Truman Years, 1945-1953
• In 1947, Jackie Robinson, the
grandson of a slave, became the
first African American to play
Professional Baseball.
• “42” opened the door for many
African Americans and other
minorities in different fields of sports,
entertainment, and business.
• The following year Pres. Truman
issued an executive order that
desegregated the military and
ended discrimination in hiring
practices by federal government.
Sweatt v. Painter, 1950
• Sweatt v. Painter was a case
won by the NAACP involving the
right of Herman Sweatt, an
African American, to attend Law
School at the University of Texas.
• UT had even created a separate
law school for African Americans,
just to keep Sweatt out.
• The Supreme Court ruled this
separate school failed to qualify
as “separate but equal”, since it
isolated its students.
‘Separate but Equal’ ?
NAACP Challenges ‘Separate But Equal’
• In 1953, the NAACP challenged a
Kansas court ruling that African
American students were denied
admission to an all-white school.
• The NAACP alleged that
segregated schools denied African
American children the ‘equal
protection’ of the law due them
under the 14th Amendment.
• Segregated schools were
inherently inferior since it sent the
message they were not good
enough to be educated with others.
The Brown Decision
• 1954, Thurgood Marshall argued the
case for the NAACP that Linda
Brown, an African American girl,
should be allowed to attend a white
school closer to her home.
• Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the
unanimous decision for the Supreme
Court.
• The Brown v. Board of Education
decision overturned the 1896 ruling of
Plessy v. Ferguson and ended legal
segregation in public schools!
Linda Brown
Thurood Marshall
became first
African American
on Supreme
Court
The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-56
• 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up
her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama
bus to a white passenger.
• Alabama’s ‘Jim Crow’ laws made this
illegal and she was arrested.
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a
nonviolent boycott of the bus line that
lasted for 13 months.
• The non-violent boycott worked and a
court ruled that the bus line had
violated the ‘equal protection’ clause
of the 14th Amendment.
Civil Rights Act, 1957
• 1957, Pres. Eisenhower passed the Civil
Rights Act to increase African American
voter participation in the South.
• Various ‘Jim Crow’ laws had limited the
ability of blacks to vote without paying a
poll tax or passing a literacy test.
• Act created a Civil Rights Commission
giving federal courts the power to register
African American voters.
• Registration procedures were so complex
that the act proved to be ineffective, but it
helped set the pattern for later civil rights
legislation.
The Little Rock Nine
• Southern states delayed putting the
‘Brown’ decision into action.
• Arkansas Governor Orval Fabus
ordered the Arkansas National
Guard to surround Little Rock’s
‘Central High’ to prevent 9 African
American students from enrolling.
• Pres. Eisenhower ordered federal
troops to Little Rock to ensure the
Little Rock Nine could safely
attend school.
• Gov. Fabus closed the school until
the courts forced its reopening.
Southerners Resist Integration
• Southern Democrats in Congress
banded together to use their powers
to stop passage of Civil Rights laws.
• 1963, Alabama Gov. George Wallace
stood in the doorway of University of
Alabama to prevent blacks from enrolling.
• 1964, Lester Maddox, a white restaurant
owner wielded an axe at African
Americans wanting to enter his whitesonly restaurant, Maddox was later elected
the governor of Georgia.
Sit-ins and Freedom Rides, 1960-61
• 1960, four African American
students, the Greensboro Four,
held a sit-in at a “Whites-Only”
lunch counter in North Carolina.
• The non-violent sit-ins spread!
• 1961, interracial groups rode
buses in Freedom Rides in the
South to stop segregation.
• As a result of these non-violent
protests lunch counters were
desegregated and the federal
government was forced to help.
MLK’s ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail
• MLK was emerging as the leader of
the Civil Rights Movement with
non-violence to resist unjust laws.
• King’s followed in Gandhi’s steps in
practicing civil disobedience saying
‘everyone has a moral responsibility
to disobey unjust laws’.
• When MLK led a march in
Birmingham, Alabama he was
arrested and jailed.
• In a “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
MLK explained why blacks could no
longer wait patiently for their rights.
The March on Washington, 1963
• 1963, to gain support for a Civil
Rights bill that was before Congress
MLK led a ‘March on Washington’.
• It would be the largest demonstration
of human rights in history.
• It was here that King gave his
famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
• King would later meet with JFK.
• A few months later JFK was killed,
but there was a new willingness in
Congress to pass legislation for Civil
Rights.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
• 1963, JFK is assassinated and LBJ
becomes the president.
• As President, LBJ pushed through
new legislation on civil rights.
• 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964
is signed into law by LBJ.
• The law would –
prohibit discrimination based on race,
color, religion, or ethnic background in
hotels, restaurants, and all places of
employment doing business with the
federal government.
The Struggle for Voting Rights
• 1964, Twenty-Fourth Amendment eliminated poll taxes in federal
elections. (Can’t charge to vote)
• 1965, Selma Marches – MLK led
marches in Selma, Alabama to
demand voting rights for African
Americans, but demonstrators were
attacked by the police.
• 1965, Voting Rights Act of 1965 LBJ signed bill into law that ended
poll taxes and led to an increase in
number of black voters.
Increasing African American Militancy
• The demand for change was very
strong among young African
Americans.
• The Civil Rights Movement had ended
public segregation in schools
By any
means
(Brown V. Board of Education) and
necessary
discrimination in voting, but it had not
provided for equal opportunities.
• Many young African Americans did not
believe that MLK’s non-violent methods
were powerful enough.
• The new militants believed in Black
Power to free themselves.
The Black Power Movement
• In the 1960s many African
Americans began to search for the
‘roots’ of their culture.
• “Black is Beautiful” became the
slogan as they grew Afro hair styles
and wore fashions based on African
cultures.
• New groups emerged to provide
leadership of traditional non-violent
methods (MLK) as well as more
radical violent groups (Malcolm X,
Black Panthers).
The Black Power Movement
Non-Violent Organizations
• MLK preached non-violence.
• NAACP Civil Rights organization.
• Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC)
Radical Organizations
• Malcolm X ‘by any means necessary’
• Black Muslims said Islam should be the
religion of all African Americans.
• Black Panthers demanded right to
determine their own destiny.
The Ghettos Erupt, 1968
• In northern cities African Americans
faced segregation in housing, whites
often refused to sell a home to them.
• Blacks were forced to live in inner
city slums called ghettos.
• 1968, MLK is assassinated by a
white supremacist in Memphis.
• Anger and grief sparked riots across
the nations that took dozens of lives.
• A lack of jobs, urban poverty, and
white racism were the main causes
behind the riots.
The Chicano Movement
• Mexican Americans, aka Chicanos,
faced discrimination, racism, and
exploitation in 1960s America.
• A Chicano Movement emerged with
its focus on rights for farm workers,
as well as voting and political rights.
• Hector P. Garcia, a WW II veteran,
became a Civil Rights leader when he
noticed that Mexican Americans were
often barred from restaurants, voting,
hospitals, swimming pools, and had
limited employment opportunities.
Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta
• Cesar Chavez organized migrant farm
workers in California.
• Chavez supported farm worker rights and
demanded increased wages and better
working conditions.
• Chavez led migrant workers in a nonviolent boycott by refusing to pick grapes.
• Dolores Huerta joined with Chavez to form
the United Farm Workers (UFW) to gain
increased rights.
• Huerta later worked for women’s rights,
immigration reform, and the environment.
The Chicano Mural
Movement
• Mexican Americans expressed
themselves through their art.
• Using Mexican artist Diego Rivera
as a model, they began painting
murals in barrios throughout the
Southwest U.S..
• The Chicano Mural Movement
became an important way to
support identity and justice in
Mexican American communities.
• Murals provided a visual for those
who often lacked representation.
The American Indian Movement - AIM
• Native Americans have been exploited
since the beginning of America.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibited
discrimination against Native
Americans, but many still felt they
were being mistreated by the
government.
• Using the slogan of “Red Power”, the
American Indian Movement was
founded to gain respect for their
heritage and their civil rights.
• AIM temporarily occupied monuments
at Wounded Knee, SD and Alcatraz.
Affirmative Action, 1965
• 1965, LBJ signs Executive Order
requiring employers with the federal
government to take positive steps to
increase minority employees, later
women were added.
• Affirmative Action programs increased
number of minorities in colleges and
businesses, but some said this was a
form of reverse discrimination.
• In “Regents of U. of California v. Bakke”,
the Supreme Court upheld affirmative
action, but not use of racial quotas.
Billy Graham
• One outspoken supporter of civil
rights was Billy Graham.
• Billy Graham a Christian preacher
and spiritual advisor to several
presidents.
• Graham became an opponent of
segregation and had even paid to get
MLK out of jail.
• Graham advised Eisenhower to send
troops to protect the Little Rock Nine.
STAAR Review Question
Which event should be included on timeline?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Rosenberg's Executed for Spying
JFK Elected as President
Vietnam War Ends
March on Washington
Click mouse
For answer
STAAR Review Question
Which event should be included on timeline?
A.
B.
C.
D.
March on Washington
Civil Rights Act passed
24th Amendment passed
Brown v. Board of Education
Click mouse
For answer
STAAR Review Question
This newspaper headline was a direct result
from which of the following events?
A. MLK organizes a March on Washington.
B. Jackie Robinson becomes 1st African American to play
professional baseball.
C. Supreme Court hands down Brown v. Board of Education.
D. Little Rock Nine banned from Arkansas high school.
Supreme Court bans idea
of ‘separate but equal’
Click mouse for answer
STAAR Practice
Which event on the timeline does not deal with the
Civil Rights Movement?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Freedom rides.
March on Washington.
Cuban Missile Crisis.
Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Answer: 3
Click mouse
for answer
STAAR Review Question
From what Supreme Court decision was
the quote taken from ?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Plessy v. Ferguson
Roe v. Wade
Delgado v. Bastrop ISD
Brown v. Board of Education
Banned segregated public schools
“We conclude that in
the field of public
education the doctrine
of ‘separate but equal’
has no place”.
--Warren Court
Decision
1954
Click mouse
for answer
STAAR Practice
The map shows that African American voter
registration increased dramatically from 1961 to 1966.
What was a primary reason for this increase?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Title IX
Immigration Act of 1965
Brown v. Board of
Education
Answer: 1
Click mouse
for answer
• Voting Rights Act of 1964 ended poll taxes,
literacy tests and other methods used to stop
African Americans from voting.
STAAR Practice
Which Supreme Court decision attempted to end
the issue show on the graphic.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Roe v. Wade
Title IX
Plessy v. Ferguson
Brown v. Board of
Education
Answer: 4
Click mouse
for answer
• Delgado v. Bastrop ISD made it illegal to
segregate Mexican American children.