America’s History Seventh Edition CHAPTER 27 Walking Into Freedom Land: The Civil Rights Movement, 1941-1973 Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s James.

America’s HistorySeventh Edition

CHAPTER 27Walking Into Freedom Land:

The Civil Rights Movement, 1941-1973

Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

James A. HenrettaRebecca Edwards

Robert O. Self

I. The Emerging Civil Rights Struggle, 1941-1957A. Life under Jim Crow

1. South• some southern states (SC, MS) had populations of 30-50% African

Americans• 10% of U.S. population• southern states were deeply divided by race through legalized segregation• African Americans generally had no chance of working for state or city

governments in the South• most employment was cleaning, cooking, warehouses, loading,

sharecropping• fewer than 20% could vote (poll taxes, literacy tests, other discriminatory

means)• despite the large percentage of black men and women in the South, they

had no political power.

2. North

I. The Emerging Civil Rights Struggle, 1941-1957A. Life under Jim Crow

2. North• greater freedom in North and West, but not total freedom• northern whites kept communities segregated through housing

ordinances, mortgage discrimination, police harassment, mob violence.

1. These two images depict the complex social challenges faced by African Americans in the 1940s. Compare. What emotions does each image evoke?

2. How did the war-time work of African Americans impact Jim Crow laws in the post-war period?

I. The Emerging Civil Rights Struggle, 1941-1957

B. Origins of the Civil Rights Movement1. World War II

• Second World War had major influence on civil rights movement• early in the Cold War Truman said: “More and more we are learning

how closely our democracy is under observation”• concerns grew that Communist nations would use race problem in

propaganda against the West.

2. Urban Middle Class

I. The Emerging Civil Rights Struggle, 1941-1957

B. Origins of the Civil Rights Movement2. Urban Middle Class

• increase in black middle class after World War II: ministers, teachers, trade union leaders, attorneys

• increase in the number of African American college students

• television helped show the public the violence of racism/discrimination in a way they had not experienced before (ex: 1957 Little Rock High School).

I. The Emerging Civil Rights Struggle, 1941-1957C. World War II: The Movement Begins

1. Executive Order 8802• A. Philip Randolph led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters,

largest black trade union• called for a March on Washington (1941) for equal opportunity

in war-time industries• FDR issued EO to prohibit discrimination in defense industry• Randolph canceled march• Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) created: weak

but important precedent for federal action on race issues.

2. The Double V Campaign

I. The Emerging Civil Rights Struggle, 1941-1957C. World War II: The Movement Begins

2. The Double V Campaign• letter to Pittsburgh Courier called for a “double V for a

double victory” over fascism overseas, racism at home• black leaders encouraged men and women to support

the war effort abroad, while calling for peaceful change at home; bus boycotts in Harlem (1941)

• founding of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1943 by members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) to encouraged nonviolent disobedience.

I. The Emerging Civil Rights Struggle, 1941-1957D. Cold War Civil Rights

1. Civil Rights and the New Deal Coalition• Truman supported civil rights on moral grounds, sometimes spoke in racist

language• recognized the importance of black vote in the North (NY, MI, IL)• appointed Presidential Committee on Civil Rights (1946), which released

To Secure These Rights (1947)• 1948 desegregated the Armed Forces and employment in federal agencies• viewed as most aggressive president on civil rights since Reconstruction,

led to southern Democrats forming the “Dixiecrats” or States’ Rights Democratic Party (Strom Thurmond, Gov. of SC).

2. Race and Anti-Communism

I. The Emerging Civil Rights Struggle, 1941-1957D. Cold War Civil Rights

2. Race and Anti-Communism• Truman feared racism in the U.S. would discredit the U.S.

overseas• McCarthyism hurt the movement as opponents of civil

rights claimed that integration was “communistic”• NAACP viewed by many in the South as “anti-American.”

I. The Emerging Civil Rights Struggle, 1941-1957E. Mexican and Japanese Americans Organize

1. Mexican Americans• Texas poll taxes disenfranchised Mexican Americans• discriminatory practices in agriculture, manufacturing, low wages• barrios: neighborhoods of Mexican Americans separated from whites with substandard

living conditions (lack of water, electricity, sidewalks)• Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) helped to organize workers to demand better

conditions; 400,000 served in WWII

2. Japanese AmericansF. The Legal Strategy and Brown v. Board of Education

1. Thurgood Marshall2. Brown v. Board of Education

I. The Emerging Civil Rights Struggle, 1941-1957E. Mexican and Japanese Americans Organize

1. Mexican Americans• TX, CA had new civil rights organizations postwar; Community Services Organization (CSO,

1948) in CA and American GI Forum (1948) in TX• five Mexican American fathers sued a school district in CA for separating their children into

“Mexican” schools (Mendez v. Westminster School District) , 9th Circuit Court of CA ruled unconstitutional.2. Japanese Americans

• late 1940s Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) sued to regain property lost during WWII• challenged California Alien Land Law.

F. The Legal Strategy and Brown v. Board of Education1. Thurgood Marshall2. Brown v. Board of Education

I. The Emerging Civil Rights Struggle, 1941-1957F. The Legal Strategy and Brown v. Board of Education

1. Thurgood Marshall•after being denied admission to the Univ. of Maryland Law School, attended Howard University•1936 successfully challenged UMD Law School’s admission policy•1944 successfully challenged all-white primaries•1950 successfully argued to the Supreme Court that universities could not segregate black students from others on college campuses.

2. Brown v. Board of Education


2. Brown v. Board of Education•Linda Brown (student in Topeka, KS) was forced to attend a segregated school further from her home instead of the all-white elementary school nearby•Marshall successfully argued that Brown was denied “equal protection of the laws”•May 17, 1954, Court ruled that separate educational facilities were “inherently unequal”•southerners immediately began to resist•“Southern Manifesto” (1956) signed by 101 members of Congress denounced the Court’s decision•KKK membership grew•President Eisenhower accepted the law, but did not want to enforce it•September 1957 Eisenhower forced to act during the integration of Little Rock Central High School where nine black students sought to enroll•Eisenhower had no choice but to send federal troops and the Arkansas National Guard to Little Rock to protect the students.


2. Brown v. Board of Education•President Eisenhower accepted the law, but did not want to enforce it•September 1957 Eisenhower forced to act during the integration of Little Rock Central High School where nine black students sought to enroll•Eisenhower had no choice but to send federal troops and the Arkansas National Guard to Little Rock to protect the students.

II. Forging a Protest Movement, 1955-1966A. Nonviolent Civil Disobedience

1. Montgomery Bus Boycott• Dec. 1, 1955• seamstress Rosa Parks (member of NAACP) refused to

give up seat on bus• Martin Luther King Jr. new pastor at the Dexter Street

Baptist Church• King led the community in a boycott following Parks’s

arrest, lasted 381 days• downtown lost business, bus company nearly went

bankrupt


1. Montgomery Bus Boycott• Nov. 1956 Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses

was unconstitutional• 1957 King co-founded Southern Christian Leadership

Conference (SCLC) with Rev. Ralph Abernathy to provide moral leadership for civil rights activists.


2. Greensboro Sit-Ins• Feb. 1, 1960• four black college students began a sit-in at the whites-only lunch

counter at Woolworth’s demanding service• sit-in lasted three weeks with students taking turns and being

arrested, harassed• Woolworth’s desegregated counter and movement spread.

4. Freedom Rides


3. Ella Baker and SNCC• Baker worked for the SCLC, helped organize students into

the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)• group led sit-ins throughout the upper South (NC, VA, MD,

TN) with more than 50,000 participants• northern students supported SNCC through fund-raising

efforts at their colleges.


4. Freedom Rides• CORE organized 1961 effort to desegregate interstate

travel through the South• buses were attacked in Alabama, students beaten by

members of the KKK• one bus fire-bombed near Anniston, AL• President Kennedy proceeded cautiously, discouraged the

rides• Attorney General Robert Kennedy forced to send federal

marshals because of the violence shown on television.

II. Forging a Protest Movement, 1955-1966B. Legislating Civil Rights

1. The Battle for Birmingham• “the most segregated city in the United States”

(King)• May 1963 picketing of the city’s department stores• police troops were ordered against the people

(dogs, cattle prods, fire hoses), violence televised• King wrote “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” as he

served a sentence for leading the protestors• June 11, 1963, President Kennedy announced plans

for a new civil rights bill


1. The Battle for Birmingham• Medgar Evers (president of MS NAACP chapter)

murdered in his driveway.


2. March on Washington and the Civil Rights Act• massive demonstration to support the planned bill• Aug. 28, 1963, King addressed 250,000+ people

from the Lincoln Memorial, “I Have a Dream” speech

• within the movement disagreement over the tactics to be taken (John Lewis of SNCC wanted a more radical, provocative tone)

• southern politicians worked against Kennedy’s plans


2. March on Washington and the Civil Rights Act• southern politicians worked against Kennedy’s plans• assassination in November 1963 led to President Johnson

making the bill a priority• signed in June 1964; Title VII outlawed employment

discrimination• bill provided opportunity for the federal government to

intervene in civil rights cases.

3. Freedom Summer4. Selma and the Voting Rights Act


3. Freedom Summer• effort by civil rights organizations to register voters in the South• thousands of volunteers came from across the country, approx. 1,000 white college

students from the North• established freedom schools, voter registration drives• 4 civil rights workers murdered, 37 churches bombed or burned• Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) founded in response to blacks being banned

from the state’s Democratic Party; wanted to represent the state at the Democratic Convention; were not seated as requested but gained public attention (ex: Fannie Lou Hamer).

2. Selma and the Voting Rights Act – SCLC called for a march from Selma, AL, to Montgomery to protest the murder of an activist; marchers attacked by state troopers with tear gas and clubs, “Bloody Sunday” shown on national TV; Johnson went to Congress with the Voting Rights Act (passed Aug. 6, 1965): outlawed literacy tests and other mechanism that kept blacks from voting; provided new avenues for the Justice Department to investigate registration; percentages of blacks voting grew: 1960: 20%, 1971: 62%.

4. Selma and the Voting Rights Act


3. Freedom Summer• Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) founded in response to blacks being

banned from the state’s Democratic Party• wanted to represent the state at the Democratic Convention• were not seated as requested but gained public attention (ex: Fannie Lou Hamer).

2. Selma and the Voting Rights Act – SCLC called for a march from Selma, AL, to Montgomery to protest the murder of an activist; marchers attacked by state troopers with tear gas and clubs, “Bloody Sunday” shown on national TV; Johnson went to Congress with the Voting Rights Act (passed Aug. 6, 1965): outlawed literacy tests and other mechanism that kept blacks from voting; provided new avenues for the Justice Department to investigate registration; percentages of blacks voting grew: 1960: 20%, 1971: 62%.

4. Selma and the Voting Rights Act


4. Selma and the Voting Rights Act • SCLC called for a march from Selma, AL, to Montgomery

to protest the murder of an activist• marchers attacked by state troopers with tear gas and

clubs, “Bloody Sunday” shown on national TV• Johnson went to Congress with the Voting Rights Act

(passed Aug. 6, 1965): outlawed literacy tests and other mechanism that kept blacks from voting

• provided new avenues for the Justice Department to investigate registration

• percentages of blacks voting grew: 1960: 20%, 1971: 62%.


4. Selma and the Voting Rights Act • percentages of blacks voting grew: 1960: 20%,

1971: 62%.

III. Beyond Civil Rights, 1966-1973A. Black Nationalism

1. Malcolm X• Black • militant separatism and violence for self-defense• advocated a program of strengthening the black community rather than

seeking to change the minds of white Americans• 1964 broke with the Nation of Islam, views became more moderate,

traveled to the Middle East, formed the Organization of Afro-American Unity• assassinated by three Black Muslims on February 21, 1965.

2. Black Power3. Black Panther Party4. Young Lords5. The New Urban Politics


2. Black Power• CORE and SNCC activists, led by Stokely Carmichael, called for “black

self-reliance”• advocated black-owned/operated institutions, businesses, increased

political and economic power• a focus on poverty and social justice issues in urban areas, police

harassment• rejections of white society in favor of African clothing and hairstyles.

3. Black Panther Party4. Young Lords5. The New Urban Politics


3. Black Panther Party (Oakland, CA 1966• founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale• militant, self-defense organization, worked to protect blacks from police

violence• opposed the Vietnam War, supported Third World revolutionary

movements• spread from California to other urban areas• community projects were overshadowed by their support of armed self-

defense• FBI used counter-intelligence against the Party.

4. Young Lords5. The New Urban Politics


4. Young Lords• Puerto Ricans in NYC• self-determination for Puerto Ricans in the U.S. and in

Caribbean• desired to improve neighborhood conditions• advocated improved health care.

5. The New Urban Politics• many blacks were inspired by black power to work within

the political system• elections in 1967 of black mayors in Cleveland, OH, and

Gary, IN

III. Beyond Civil Rights, 1966-1973A. Black Nationalism• 1972 National Black Political Convention called in Gary to

discuss the formation of a third political party rather than continued support for the Democratic Party

• instead created the National Black Political Agenda: advocated national health insurance, control of schools in black neighborhoods, elimination of death penalty.

1. What is the central action of these two images from the 1960s?

2. What form of political agitation is being employed by the African Americans in both images?

3. In your opinion, how might the general public have reacted to these two images in the 1960s?

III. Beyond Civil Rights, 1966-1973B. Poverty and Urban Violence

1. Urban Violence• politics of black liberation was mixed with violence in mid-1960s• July 1964 rioting and looting followed the shooting of a black suspect in Harlem• August 1965 arrest of a black motorist led to rioting in Watts (Los Angeles)• summer 1967 numerous riots in 22 cities including Detroit.

2. Kerner Commission ReportC. Rise of the Chicano Movement

1. Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta2. Chicano

D. The American Indian Movement1. National Indian Youth Council2. IAT and AIM

III. Beyond Civil Rights, 1966-1973B. Poverty and Urban Violence

2. Kerner Commission Report• presidential commission led by Illinois Gov. Otto Kerne• released 1968: “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white –

separate and unequal”• highlighted the poverty and frustration of African Americans in urban areas• King began to confront problems in northern areas populated by African Americans

as well as the Vietnam War• assassination April 4, 1968, in Memphis while working with sanitation workers on

strike.

C. Rise of the Chicano Movement1. Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta2. Chicano


III. Beyond Civil Rights, 1966-1973C. Rise of the Chicano Movement

1. Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta• both activists worked for the Community Service Organization (CSO) in California on civil

rights for Mexican Americans• together organized the United Farm Workers (UFW) for migrant workers in 1962; 1968

hunger strike• 1970 CA grape growers signed contracts to recognize the UFW.

2. Chicanoconcern over the use of Spanish language in schools and immigration policy; formation in Los

Angeles of the Brown Berets (modeled after Black Panthers); politically active use proclaimed Chicano to replace Mexican American; formed La Raza Unida (The United Race); feminist organization Las Hijas (daughters).


III. Beyond Civil Rights, 1966-1973C. Rise of the Chicano Movement

2. Chicano• concern over the use of Spanish language in schools and immigration

policy• formation in Los Angeles of the Brown Berets (modeled after Black

Panthers)• politically active use proclaimed Chicano to replace Mexican American• formed La Raza Unida (The United Race)• feminist organization Las Hijas (daughters).


III. Beyond Civil Rights, 1966-1973D. The American Indian Movement

1. National Indian Youth Council•approximately 800,000 Native Americans in the 1960s•unemployment among Native Americans 10 times the national average•NIYC slogan: “For a Greater Indian America” encouraged native peoples to view themselves as part of a single ethnic group.

2. IAT and AIM•Indians of All Tribes (IAT) and American Indian Movement (AIM) – embraced “Red Power”•IAT occupied Alcatraz, demanding to purchase the abandoned prison for $24 in glass beads and red cloth, citing agreements reached centuries before between white men and native tribes•siege at Wounded Knee, SD, February 1973: AIM activists occupied buildings, gun battles killed two•attracted attention to tribal issues.

III. Beyond Civil Rights, 1966-1973D. The American Indian Movement

2. IAT and AIM•Indians of All Tribes (IAT) and American Indian Movement (AIM) – embraced “Red Power”•IAT occupied Alcatraz, demanding to purchase the abandoned prison for $24 in glass beads and red cloth, citing agreements reached centuries before between white men and native tribes•siege at Wounded Knee, SD, February 1973: AIM activists occupied buildings, gun battles killed two•attracted attention to tribal issues.

America’s History Seventh Edition CHAPTER 27 Walking Into Freedom Land: The Civil Rights Movement, 1941-1973 Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s James.

Documents

civil rights movement

emerging civil rights

world war

north slide

war effort

self slide

double v campaign slide

urban middle class slide