Civil Rights

Movement
Paper 1: Source-Based
 The Civil Rights Movement:
How this topic will be tested

Non-Violent
The Little Protest
Protest &
Rock Nine Action
MLK
Important Definitions
• Segregation: the racial separation of public amenities/ the
separation of different races in society
• Integration/Desegregation: When previously segregated
institutions no longer separate people according to their race.
• Supreme Court: the highest court in the US ; its function is to
make sure that all state and federal laws are in line with the
principles set out in the Constitution
• Federal government: the central national government in
Washington DC
• Civil disobedience: Peaceful protest in which people violate
laws they think are unfair or unconstitutional.
• Sheriffs: government officials acting on behalf of the courts to
make sure that federal laws are met in every state
 Origins of the Civil
Rights Movement
• During the American Civil War, African-
Americans slaves were released. New laws
gave them their voting rights
• Whites in the southern states still
made sure the rights of African-
Americans were deprived.
• Legislation took away African-Americans'
voting rights, or used literacy tests only
required for black people.
• Strict segregation laws were
promulgated. These were called
Jim Crow laws.
• The Ku Klux Klan (a secret white
association) used violence and fear to
enforce the segregation laws.
 Example of
a Literacy Test
designed for
African
Americans
 Aims: The Civil Rights Movement
• Civil Rights = Rights of the citizen of a
country
• CRM was a ‘reformist’ movement. It
wanted black people to be
treated equally, to have full
citizenship rights and be
integrated into the power
structures of US society.
• CRM claimed moral authority from the
Declaration of Independence ‘All man are
created equal…’ and the American
Constitution ‘We the people…’
 The NAACP
• The NAACP (the National Association for
the Advancement of Coloured People)
was established in 1909
• They fought against segregation and
discrimination.
• During World War II, many African-
Americans worked in war industries and
more than 1 million African-Americans
fought in the U.S. military
• After the war, African-Americans
were determined to put an end to
segregation
Role of Martin Luther King Junior
• Martin Luther King was a member of the NAACP.
• He founded the SCLC (Southern Christian
Leadership Conference) and the SNCC
(Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee)
• Goal: To train civil rights activists to
deal with police and media
• Philosophy: Civil disobedience (non-
violent protest)
• Brilliant public speaker whose speeches focused on
impunity, prejudice and protest.
• Believed that black people and white
people could live together in equality
and friendship. He was arrested during his
campaigns on numerous occasions.
• Received Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Ghandi’s influence on MLK
• Martin Luther King's policy of non-
violent resistance was influenced by
the philosophy of Mahatma Ghandi.
• Ghandi stayed in South Africa for 20 years.
• He led non-violent protests against
the discrimination of the Indian
community.
• After his return to India, he used non-
violent resistance against the British rule
too.
• Ghandi's tactics: strikes, marches and
refusal to obey unfair laws.
Brown vs Board of Education
• In 1950, the NAACP challenged the
public education sector in a court case
called Brown vs Board of Education. A
local school in Topeka refused to allow
a black learner from enrolling in the
white primary school
• The NCAAP referred the case to the
Supreme Court.
• 1954 Verdict: Segregation in
the public education system is
illegal
• In terms of the ruling, most schools
and public amenities remained
segregated.
 The Little Rock Nine
• This was a struggle against segregation
in US public schools.
• Little Rock Arkansas was the first state
school to start integration.
• In 1957, the Little Rock Board of
Education admitted nine
African American students to Little
Rock Central High School.
• Governor Faubus defied the
Supreme Court’s decision and
responded with a segregationist
decision and stopped entry of
the “Little Rock Nine” students
into the school.
The Little Rock Nine
• There was an attempt by a mob of
white parents and students to
attack the African American
students who narrowly escaped
physical harm.
• President Eisenhower called federal
troops to ensure the safety of students
and compliance with the federal ruling on
the desegregation of public schools.
• Once enrolled, the students were
kicked, tripped, and name-called by
their peers. Objects were thrown at
them. They were threatened with
violence and they received hate
mail and threats.
Montgomery Bus Boycott SUCCESS!
The Supreme Court rules
• 1 Dec 1955: Rosa Parks refused to give her that segregation on
buses was against the
seat to a white man. This was an open Constitution of the US.
challenge to the segregation laws, and she was Rosa Parks had inspired
arrested for violating a segregation law. a movement that was
• The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) not slowing down!
was formed in response.
• Martin Luther King, a minister in Montgomery, was
the first president of MIA. The MIA decided to
launch a large-scale boycott of the bus
services. The boycott lasted a year. The
bus companies lost 65% of their revenue.
• White racists set churches on fire in black
communities in response to the boycotts.
 Greensboro Sit-Ins
• By the end of the 1950s, African Americans were
frustrated by the lack of equality.
• 1960: SNCC students held a sit-in at
Woolworths Greensboro at a dinner
counter in the department store. Four
students refused to move until they
were served as black student was not
allowed to use the restaurant facilities.
• Sit-ins spread further to other states. Non-violent
action resulted in insults and attacks from police
and white racists.
• 70,000 students joined protest action with
"kneel -ins, read- ins", and “wade-ins” at public
pools". Public support for desegregation
increased as a result of the increased awareness.
Freedom Riders
• The Freedom Riders were civil rights
activists who traveled by bus through
the segregated South in 1961. Their
goal was to end segregation in
interstate transportation.
• The Freedom Riders were members of the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). They left
Washington, D.C. in May 1961 on Greyhound and
Trailways buses. They traveled to the Deep South,
including Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.
• They faced threats, violence, and mob
attacks. Many Freedom Riders were
jailed or seriously injured. Martin Luther
King urged them to call off their protest several
times.
 March on Washington
• August 28, 1963: March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. African Americans were
less likely to get jobs, especially high-paying
jobs, as these were kept for white people.
• Over 250,000 people attended –
white people and black people, and
it was entirely NON-VIOLENT. [Link]
=162s&ab_channel=RAREFACTS
• Martin Luther King gave his ‘I have a Dream’
Speech:
‘…I have a dream that my four little children
will one day live in a nation where they will
not be judged by the color of their skin but
by the content of their character…’
Birmingham Campaign
• The campaign began on May 2, 1963. It used sit-
ins, boycotts, and marches to protest
segregation in hiring practices and at lunch
counters. The campaign gained national attention
when police used fire hoses and dogs on
demonstrators.
• The campaign brought national attention to the
efforts of African Americans to integrate in
Birmingham and the South. It convinced
President John F. Kennedy to support
federal civil rights legislation. It helped
lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. was jailed along with many of
his supporters, including hundreds of schoolchildren.
Freedom Summer of ‘64
• June 1964: A coalition (SCLC, NAACP, SNCC and
CORE) launch the Mississippi Freedom Summer.
Southern activists were joined by black and white
volunteers from the north. This was a
registration drive aimed at increasing
the number of registered Black voters
in Mississippi. Over 700 mostly white
volunteers joined African Americans in
Mississippi to fight against voter intimidation and
discrimination at the polls.
• Tactic: Mass voter education and
registration + ‘Freedom Schools’ to
teach black history.
• June 21: Three volunteers disappeared and were
found murdered for the role they played. There
was huge media coverage. (Movie for
Enrichment: Mississippi Burning)
Selma-Montgomery Marches
• In March 1965, ten years after the bus boycott,
King lead a multi-racial demonstration
into Montgomery, Alabama.
• The first attempt to complete this march ended in
an event called ‘Bloody Sunday’. State
troopers attacked the peaceful
demonstrators with whips and batons
and let off canisters of teargas.
• Footage of the attacks was broadcast across
America
• Over the next two days there were demonstrations
in over eighty cities.
• Accompanied by Federal troops to
guarantee their protection, the march
was the end point of a 70 km march from
Selma to demand that black people be
allowed to register to vote.
 Rebellions and Riots of the 1960s
1964: Riots in Harlem, Bedford-Styvesant
1965: Riots in Watts, L.A.
Malcolm X assassinated in NYC
1967: Riots in Newark and Detroit
1968: MLK assassinated.
Countrywide riots erupted

President Johnson ordered a commission to

investigate the cause of this violence. Its key
finding was that the country was divided, along
racial and socio-economic lines, into two societies:
NB: 40% blacks lived below the poverty
line.
‘Chronic poverty is the breeder of chronic chaos’
Gains of the Civil Rights Movement
• 1964: Civil Rights Act
- banned segregation and discrimination in all
workplaces and public facilities on the basis of
race (or gender).

• 1965: Voting Rights Act

- no one could be prevented from voting
because of the colour of their skin or use
literacy tests before voting.

BUT legal and legislative victories

did not immediately translate into
social and economic transformation
(i.e. The majority of black people remained
poorly educated and in low paying jobs).
 From Civil Rights to Black Power
‘’This is the twenty-seventh time I have been arrested – and I ain’t
going to jail no more! The only way we gonna stop them white men
from whuppin’ us it to take over. We been saying freedom for six years
and we ain’t got nothin’. What we gonna start saying now is
BLACK POWER!’
– Stokley Carmichael, Student
Non-violent Coordinating Committee