Civil Rights in Utah

CIVIL RIGHTS IN UTAH

CIVIL RIGHTS SUMMARY

• http://www.history.com/videos/civil-rights-act-of-1964#civil-rights-act-of-1964

• Brown v. Board of Education

• Rosa Parks and Bus Rides

• Sit Ins

• King’s March on Washington

• Integration

• Civil Rights Act of 1964

THE DARK SIDE – EARLY 1900’S

• Housing Segregation (simulate Realtor)

• No formal segregation laws in UT

• BUT informal practices kept Blacks and Whites separate

• Realtors only show certain houses

• Blacks could only get certain jobs => less pay => poorer neighborhood

Chicago

• White = Caucasian

• Blue = African

• Orange = Hispanic

• Green = Asian

THE MAJORITY OF UTAH'S AFRICAN AMERICAN PEOPLE LIVED IN CENTRAL SALT LAKE CITY WEST OF SECOND WEST,

AND IN OGDEN WEST OF WASHINGTON BOULEVARD AND SOUTH OF TWENTY-FIFTH STREET

THE DARK SIDE -1939

• Sheldon Brewster (realtor and Democratic speaker of the UT House of Representatives)

• Tried to section off part of the city as an African American ghetto.

• City commission refused

• He tried to convince Blacks to voluntarily agree move into his ghetto

• Civil Rights Activists marched on the state capitol in protest

• Many real estate companies still tried to insert "whites only" rules in contracts

THE DARK SIDE 1900-1940’S

• African American entertainers and celebrities couldn’t stay in hotels• Singer Lillian Yavanti

• Metropolitan Opera contralto Marian Anderson

• Singer and Actor Harry Belafonte

• Vibraharpist Lionel Hampton

• Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald

• African Americans in audience had to sit in balcony.

THE DARK SIDE – 1900’S - 1945• Off Limits to African Americans - Public and private swimming

pools, including Ogden's Lorin Farr Park and Farmington's Lagoon until 1945

• Native Americans couldn’t vote until (UT was last state!) 1956

THE LIGHT SIDE – 1896 – 1970’S

• Women in UT could vote!

• But job discrimination existed in UT (women paid less, etc)

• 1970’s saw women activists rally for a change

THE LIGHT SIDE – LATE 1940’S

• Businessmen Robert E. Freed opened Lagoon's swimming pool and ballroom to African Americans

• Integrated Salt Lake City's Rainbow Rendezvous ballroom.

• Following Freed's lead, most businesses dropped their discriminatory practices and cities integrated their municipal swimming pools

THE LIGHT SIDE – EARLY 1950’S

• The mostly white students at Ogden High elected African Americans Shirley and Carl Kinsey to student-body offices

THE LIGHT SIDE – 1960’S

• Utah legislators passed laws prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations, and employment

THE LIGHT SIDE – JAN 1961

• Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at University of Utah

• http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/utah_today/thecivilrightsmovementinutah.html