Civil Rights in the USA: Introduction

In Brief1) Emancipation but

no freedom: 1863 - 1947

2) The Battles: 1948-1965

3) Winning the War: 1964 & 1965

4) New Battles: Watts and Rodney King

Emancipation but no freedomEmancipation but no freedom

• Lincoln’s Emancipation proclamation 1863 during the Civil War.

• Amendments to slavery, citizenship and discrimination.

• All men are still not equal - especially in the South.

Jim Crow Laws

1876 - 1965 “separate but equal” = the segregation laws:– Public schools– Public spaces (ex. washrooms, fountains,

lunch counters)– Public transportation (ex. buses)

Brown Vs Board of Education of Topeka (Kansas) 1954Civil Rights Act 1964

DesegregationDesegregation• US Military desegregated 1948 under

Truman (Marines, 1954).

• 1954 Supreme Court ruling for deseg. of schools (Brown Vs. Board of Educ Topeka, Kansas)

• Soon other public spaces included: parks, beaches, air/rail terminals, etc

• De Jure and De Facto not the same – much resistance in the SOUTH.

• First KKK started 1865 at end of War in Tennessee - soon every Southern state.

• Social club jokes/hazing turned to Reign of Terror vs Republicans, black and white and their post-war Reconstruction.

• Second KKK started 1915 with remarkable growth (20-40% of adult males in some states).

• Lynching, harassment, intimidation

Ku Klux KlanKu Klux Klan

Leo Frank murdered by vigilante lynch mob, 1915

A Jewish factory owner, convicted of the murder of a Catholic woman, Mary Phagan. When his sentence was commuted to life, a mob stormed the jail and lynched him. This was the start of KKK2.

Of the ≈ 5000 US lynchings in the last century, 75% of the victims were black.

During the 1950s and 60s, the KKK was a key force opposing

desegregation

During the 1950s and 60s, the KKK was a key force opposing

desegregation• The Klan had the tacit (sometimes

direct) approval of police, municipal and state authorities.

• Klan criminals often were not charged, convicted or given firm sentences because their politics were mirrored by those in power.

Minorities on the other hand…

Scottsboro Boys / Scottsboro 9

Minorities on the other hand…

Scottsboro Boys / Scottsboro 9

JFK

• A Catholic president

• Talked the talk, but let down the African American minority in terms of action.

The Great SocietyThe Great Society

Kennedy’s Civil Rights Bill passed by Congress – allows Feds to cut-off funding to those who discriminated.