Civil Rights “Through Pictures”
Vocabulary
14th Amendment (to the Constitution): – says that former slaves now have
the right to be citizens (1868).
15th Amendment (to the Constitution) – says that African-American men
have the right to vote (1870).
Boycott: A form of protest in which a group refuses to buy goods or services
in order to force a company to change things they disagree with.
Discrimination: Treating people differently because of their gender, race, or
religion.
“Equal, but Separate” – started with Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896
(railroad cars) which will also stretches to include buses, restaurants,
bathrooms, hotels. As long as a separate “area” is provided for people of
“color,” this is following the 14th amendment.
Freedom Rides: groups of people that will ride across the country standing
up for the rights of all people. Most will take place during the 1960’s.
Integrate: Allow Blacks and Whites to live, work, go to school, eat, ride the
bus, and use facilities together as equals.
Jim Crow Laws: Laws that kept black people from being treated as equals
to Whites. Used primarily through the Southern part of the United States.
NAACP: (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) A
group that works to end discrimination against Blacks and other minority
groups.
Prejudice: Hatred of a particular group, race, or religion.
Segregate: Separate people because of differences of religion, race,
gender, culture, or wealth.
Sit-in: A form of protest in which groups of people enter and remain seated
for a long period of time in a public place.. (i.e.Woolworth's Dept. Store in
Greensboro, NC)
Unconstitutional: Illegal according to the Constitution
http://www.barefootsworld.net/images/billofrt.jpg
14th Amendment to the Constitution – says “No state can deny any person of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Q: What economic group of people wrote the Constitution? What group of
people were the “writers” talking about in this document?
In 1890, the state of Louisiana passed what was called the Separate
Car Act, which said that “all railway companies carrying passengers in
their coaches in this state, (LA) shall provide equal but separate
accommodations for the white, and colored races.” In 1892, Homer
Plessy (7/8 Caucasian, 1/8 African American) went by train from New
Orleans to Covington, LA and wanted to sit in the “white only” section.
He was arrested. His case (Plessy v. Ferguson) would go to the
Supreme Court in 1896. The court would rule that “equal, but separate”
was provided and did not break the 13th or 14th Amendments to the
Constitution.
Q: Are there any examples of how the “equal, but separate”
shows up today?
http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/early-civilrights/brown.html
“Brown v. Board of Education” (1954) – 3rd grader Linda Brown (African
American) lived 2 blocks from the closest school in Topeka, Kansas. Her
father wanted her to be able to attend this school instead of having to walk 1
mile to the segregated school. Her father tried to enroll her, but was turned
down. He would go to the Topeka NAACP and ask for their help. After 3
years of struggling, the US Supreme Court decided that segregation in public
schools needed to stop. This became known as “Brown vs. Board of
Education” No “time table” was put on the idea of “desegregating” the
schools though.
Q: How would you feel sitting in this classroom? Explain.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://disarminginjustice.file
December 1, 1955 - Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a
Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white passenger. Mrs. Parks was
found guilty of "disorderly conduct" and fined $14. A boycott of the
Montgomery, Alabama Bus System would go on for 381 days
before the law was changed and African-American would ride the
buses again.
Q: What do you think is going through Mrs. Parks mind when this
picture was taken?
http://www.presidentialtimeline.org/html/images/objects/0688_lg.jpg
September, 1957 – 9 African-American students in Little Rock,
Arkansas, coming to attend Central High School that had been
segregated until this point. The Governor of Arkansas, Orval
Faubus, refuses to let the students in the building. President
Dwight Eisenhower sends soldiers to help the students pass
through the crowds. The nine students will later become known as
the “Little Rock 9.”
Q: What do you think Governor Faubus was thinking when he
refused to let the students into the school?
http://www.terrain.org/essays/22/images/holt_family.jpg
In the late 1950s, on the heels of the Brown vs. Board of Education
ruling on desegregation, the Holt family attempted to enroll their
son, Joe, first into Daniel's Junior High and then Broughton High
School, both all-white institutions, in Raleigh, N.C. Joe Holt was
denied admission, but he and his family's struggles inspired many.
Q: If you could ask Mr. Holt a question, what would it be?
.http://americanhistory.si.edu/Brown/history/6-legacy/images/sit-in.jpg
On February 1, 1960, four African American college students sat down at a
lunch counter at Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina, and politely
asked for service. Their request was refused. When asked to leave, they
remained in their seats. Their passive resistance and peaceful sit-down
demand helped ignite a youth-led movement to challenge racial inequality
throughout the South. In Greensboro, hundreds of students, civil rights
organizations, churches, and members of the community joined in a
six-month-long protest. Their commitment ultimately led to the
desegregation of the F. W. Woolworth lunch counter on July 25, 1960
Q: Do you think you would have the courage to join these students?
http://www.projectsarn.org/images/snccmarker.gif
Organized in 1960 at Shaw University, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee stood at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement. SNCC
participated in the Freedom Rides, Freedom Summer and the March on
Montgomery and included former members John Lewis and Julian Bond.
Q: Shaw University is in downtown Raleigh. What kind of a role do
you think Raleigh, N.C. played during the Civil Rights Movement?
http://amhist.ist.unomaha.edu/module_files/Freedom%20Rides%20Map.jpg
“Freedom Rides” – in 1947, a law was passed that said “segregated seating
of interstate (state to state) passengers was unconstitutional.” Well, in 1961,
a group of both Caucasians and colored people boarded buses (starting in
Washington, D.C.) and then travelled through the “South,” on their way to
New Orleans, LA. They planned for the Caucasians to ride in the back and
the coloreds to ride in the front. At rest stops, the colored would go into “white
only” bathrooms and vice versa. This group of “freedom riders” expected
some people in the South to “make trouble.” Slashed tires and firebombs
were some of the “troubles” they encountered.
Q: Looking at this map, what can you figure out about Civil Rights and
the “South”? The first Freedom Ride took place on May 4, 1961 when seven blacks and six whites
left Washington, D.C., on two public buses bound for the Deep South. They intended to test the
Supreme Court's ruling in Boyntonfrom the sheriff's office. With the intervention of the U.S. Justice
Department, most of CORE's Freedom Riders
Dr. King, Jr. and the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)
came to Birmingham, Alabama, on April 3, 1963, to practice
“non-violent direct action”. The group planned sit-ins, demonstrations
and marches around the city with the goal of mass arrests. Dr. King was
arrested on April 12th (Good Friday) and placed in solitary confinement,
where he had no mattress or linen and slept on a metal slat frame bed.
As the demonstrations continued, “Project C” would grow to include
thousands of college, high school, and even elementary children in
Birmingham. More than 600 students were arrested (the youngest
being 8 years old) and taken to the jail in town.
Q: Do you think it was wise to ask children to demonstrate?
http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/marchonwashington/a/marchonwash196
3.htm
Dr. King, Jr. at “March on Washington, D.C.” August, 1963. The march was
organized to stress to the politicians that more jobs and laws were needed to
help the African-American community. After, Dr. King met with President
John Kennedy and President Kennedy assured Dr. King that laws would be
put in place shortly. It was July 2, 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was signed
into law.
Q: Do you think that Dr. King, Jr. would be happy to see how things
have turned out now for people of color? Explain.
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/
http://cmacivor.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/lyndon-johnson-with-civil-rights-leaders.jpg
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed by President Lyndon Johnson makes it...
“unlawful for an employer to "fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or
otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms,
conditions or privileges or employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion,
gender, or national origin."
Q: Do you think that there are still people that did not agree with the
Civil Rights Act of 1964?
Other Important people of Civil Rights Movement
Ida Wells – born a slave in Mississippi, she will
go on to become a founder of the NAACP (National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People) to help African Americans gain freedoms.
Reverend William Barber – current leader of the NAACP in North Carolina.
He is very active in fighting for equality for all, especially with the issue of
providing all students in Wake County schools with adequate resources and
opportunities for success.
Thurgood Marshall – born in Maryland, he
will go on to help with the case of “Brown v. the Board of Education” (1954),
which calls for integration of all people in public education. Will become the
1st African American Supreme Court Justice.
Medgar Evers – born in Mississippi, will go on
to work closely with the NAACP to fight for the rights of African Americans.
After being killed in his front yard, President Kennedy was so inspired by his
courage that he pushed Congress to start writing the Civil Rights Act.
Jesse Jackson – born in South Carolina, ran
for President twice (1984 and 1988). Stood with Dr. King for many protests,
including the sanitation workers strike in Memphis, TN, where Dr. King was
killed on April 4, 1968. Is still very involved with fighting for the rights of all
people.
Manassa Thomas Pope – born in NorthHampton County (NC). Attends
Shaw University (downtown Raleigh) and becomes a doctor (first
African-American doctor in NC). Will run for Mayor of Raleigh in 1919 to fight
for equal rights for women and to stop violence against minority groups.
James Farmer (“Freedom Riders”) – CORE (Congress of Racial Equality)
leader who organizes the “Freedom Rides” during the summer of 1961. A
group of college students ride through the Deep South to bring attention to
the fact that Segregation and Jim Crow Laws need to be stopped. President
JFK will be forced to get involved after their bus is firebombed while travelling
through Alabama.