1950’s- 1960’s Civil Rights Movement Chapter 37: The Eisenhower Era Chapter 38:The Stormy Sixties.

1950’s- 1960’s Civil Rights Movement

Chapter 37: The Eisenhower EraChapter 38:The Stormy Sixties

Paradox; Freedom for whom? Equality for whom?

Segregation in the South Jim Crow Laws

(1881) Segregated public

facilities “separate but equal” Adopted across the

South SEGREGATION

Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 Man 7/8th’s white &

1/8th African American tried to sit in “whites only” railway car

Was Arrested He sued

Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 Supreme Court Ruled: that “separate but

equal” laws did not violate 14th amendment”

Supreme Court Ruling gave South permission to discriminate!

Roberto Alvarez vs. Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District San Diego, California 1931 School

Principal refused to allow Mexican students to his school

Separate School for 74 Mexican students was built

Court Ruled: “Racial Segregation illegal”

Mendez v. Westminster School District 1946, Orange

County California Parents fought to

“Desegregate” schools

Racial discrimination Court ruling:

“segregation based solely on national origin unconstitutional”

Earl Warren Appointed Chief

Justice of the Supreme Court

Early 1950’s “Warren Court”

one of the most liberal in history

Brown vs. Board of Education (1954)

Linda Brown- 1st grader

had to travel an hour ½ to attend African American School

a white school was located less than one mile away form her home

Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) NAACP (The National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People) encouraged Brown Family to sue the

Topeka, Kansas school board Argument: Linda’s equal rights had been

violated

Thurgood Marshall Represented Brown

family Later became 1st

African American to serve on Supreme Court

Argued 14th amendment guarantees ALL citizens equal protection under law

“equal opportunity”

Supreme Court Ruled:

“ separate facilities are inherently unequal”

Ruling Overturned 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson Decision

Supreme Court Ordered The desegregation of all public school facilities Not well received by Southerners

Little Rock, Arkansas 1957

Governor of Arkansas Orval Faubus

Ordered National Guard to bar the entrance

Of 9 African American students to an all white High School

“Little Rock 9” - 1957 9 African American

Students allowed entrance by federal court ruling

Violent protests erupted

President Eisenhower ordered federal troops to the city

To escort students to school !

In Response, Orval Faubus

Shut down all public schools

In order to rebel against integration/ desegregation

Rosa Parks Montgomery,

Alabama, 1955 Refused to give

up her seat to a white

patron on a city bus

Arrested & fined

Dr. Martin Luther King Organized bus

boycott Until buses were

desegregated African Americans

made up 95% of Montgomery’s bus riders

Dr. Martin Luther King & the Southern

Christian Leadership Conference

Challenged Jim Crow Laws in South

Believed in peaceful protest

“Non-violent resistance”

“Sit- Ins” 1960, Greensboro

North Carolina Local High School &

College students Sat at a

Woolworth’s white’s only lunch counter and

Refused to leave until they were served

“sit –Ins” -Non-violent Protest

“Sit – in” Lasted 6 months Students took

turn rotating seats Formed the

Student non-violent Coordinating Committee

“Freedom Summer” 1961 – a group of

mostly college students formed

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

Boarded busses in North and traveled South to protest against segregation

Freedom Riders

Showed support for

Desegregation of public transportation In Alabama

Faced firebombs Several “riders”

were severely beat

Attorney General Robert Kennedy Sent federal

marshals to protect freedom riders

Signaled a victory for CORE

Birmingham, Alabama 1963

City closed all public facilities as a protest against integration

Dr. King Staged a march- 1963

Was arrested & Jailed

“letter from Birmingham jail”

Peaceful Protest in Birmingham

Turned violent when

Police Commissioner ordered the use of dogs, fire hoses against

non-violent protesters

John F. Kennedy

Actively began to seek legislation to protect civil rights

JFK’s “New Frontier” addressed :

poverty unemployment racism

August 28, 1963 Dr. King organized

most successful march in U.S. history

Washington, D.C. To show support of

civil rights legislation

“I Have a Dream” speech

I Have a Dream… “I have a dream that one day this nation

will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal’…”

November 22, 1963

John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Texas

Lee Harvey Oswald lone gunman

Lyndon B. Johnson became President

1964-1968 “Long hot

summers” Race riots erupted

in Los Angeles (Watts), Chicago, Atlanta

Lyndon B. Johnson concluded that…

Poverty & lack of opportunity prompted riots

1. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, 1964

outlawed segregation of public accommodations

Est. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Made illegal discrimination based on race, gender, religion, ethnic origin

2. VOTING RIGHTS ACT, 1965 Outlawed literacy tests for voters Nationalized voter registration system

Lyndon B. Johnson

Formally Elected President, 1964

Platform: “Great Society”

To expand civil rights

cut income taxes rid society of

poverty

LBJ’s Great Society Programs 1. Economic Opportunity Act 1964: Job Corps, Head Start, Upward Bound Programs

2. Medical Care Act 1965 : Medicare, Medicaid

3. Housing and Urban Development Act: 1966

To improve housing for poor & urban families

4. Immigration Act of 1965 - repealed “quotas” benefit to millions of immigrants from Latin America & Asia

LBJ’s Great Society Programs 5. Higher Education ACT –1965

Scholarships & low interest loans to needy students

6. National Endowments for the Arts & Humanities 1965 – promotes artistic & cultural activities

7. Truth in Packaging Act 1966- to protect consumers from misleading claims

Native Americans, 1964

Hundreds Lobbied in Washington

For the inclusion of Native Americans in President Johnson’s “war on poverty”

Native American Rights

Suffered worst poverty

Inadequate housing

Highest disease & death rates

Life expectancy of 44

President Johnson Responded by establishing 1. National Council on Indian Opportunity 2. Appointed 1st Native American to head

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Militant Native American Groups

“Native American” became preferred term

Mocked Columbus Day

Stages sit- ins at museums which housed Native American remains

American Indian Movement (AIM)

Founded in 1968 Promoted

traditional ways of Native American life

Wanted to prevent police brutality and harassment of Native Americans

Wanted Textbooks to include Native American experience/history

American Indian Movement (AIM)

November 1969 Occupied Alcatraz

Island Lived in island for

19 months as protest

Alcatraz

A symbol of conditions on reservations:

No running water, inadequate sanitation facilities, no unemployment, no health care , soil unproductive

AIM Inspired Native American to be proud of their

heritage 1970 census: 800,000 people identified

themselves as Native Americans Many for the first time

Chicano Movement

MECHA- Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan

Led Chicano high school students in boycott of classes in East Los Angeles

“blowouts” 1968

Chicanos Protested Poor educational

conditions in their schools

Demanded bilingual education

Demanded Chicano Studies classes in colleges/Universities

Cesar Chavez

Non violent resistance

To fight for social change mid 60’s

United Farm Workers

Organized consumer boycotts of table grapes

Dr. King was Assassinated

April, 1968 In Memphis,

Tennessee

Robert Kennedy

Was Assassinated in Los Angeles

June, 1968