CIVIL RIGHTS

The Civil Rights Movement which developed between 1954 and 1968 did not spring out of thin air. The battle for civil rights goes all the way back to the earliest slave revolts during the late colonial period. The particular conditions which developed in the post World War II era were developed over a long period of time. From a white perspective, blacks sought to achieve long overdue social (the right to live where they chose, attend the schools of there choice, and the right to equal access to public facilities), economic (equal employment opportunities) and political (vote and hold office) rights. In addition to these goals, which were clear to the white community, blacks themselves also sought to meet psychological needs...the need to define themselves...the need to define what it meant to be black in America.

1960'S REFORM MOVEMENTS

#1 - 1979

• "During the Twentieth century, American 'progressives' or 'liberals' at some times advocated a strong presidency and expanded executive power, while 'conservatives' opposed the expansion of these powers. At other times the 'liberal' and 'conservative' positions were reversed."

Assess the validity of this statement with reference to the periods 1900-1940 and 1965-1974.

#2 - 1987

• "Social dislocations resulting from wartime conditions frequently bring lasting change within a society."

Evaluate the relevance of this generalization to American society in the twentieth century in view of the experiences of Blacks AND Women.

#3 - 1993

• Describe THREE of the following and analyze the ways in which each of the three has affected the status of women in American society since 1940.

Changing economic conditions

The rebirth of an organized women's movement

Advances in reproductive technology

The persistence of traditional definitions of women's roles

#4 - 1994

• To what extent did the decade of the 1950's deserve its reputation as an age of political, social, and cultural conformity?

#5 - 1985

• What accounted for the growth between 1940 and 1965 of popular and governmental concern for the position of Blacks in American society?

#6 - 1991

• Although the 1960's are usually considered the decade of greatest achievement for Black civil rights, the 1940's and 1950's were periods of equally important gains. Assess the validity of this statement.

#7 - 1994 - DBQ

• Analyze the changes that occurred during the 1960's in the goals, strategies, and support of the movement for African American civil rights.

#8 - 1986

• "Reform movements of the twentieth century have shown continuity in their goals and strategies." Evaluate this statement in reference to one of the following:

Progressivism and the New Deal

Woman's suffrage and post-Second World War feminism

The New Deal and the Great Society

#9 - 1992

• In what ways did the Great Society resemble the New Deal in its origins, goals, and social and political legacy? Cite specific programs and policies in support of your arguments.

#10 - 1990

• "Foreign affairs rather than domestic issues shaped presidential politics in the election year 1968." Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to foreign and domestic issues.

A. Slavery from the earliest times was a problem

• 1. slavery was gradually phased out in the north
• 2. southerners were willing to consider the same at first

B. Eli Whitney - 1793

• 1. invented the cotton gin
• 2. made cotton very profitable with slaves
• 3. southern plantations grew in size and number
• 4. the south became more dependent on cotton

C. States Rights issue

• 1. South argued that that the federal Union was created by the States
• 2. If this was true than the states had the right to secede
• 3. The North argued that the Union was created by the people
• 4. Lincoln latter argued that the Civil War was fought over this issue

D. Abolitionist arguments

• 1. morally wrong (Bible)
• 2. degrades slave owners
• 3. cruel and inhuman
• 4. violates democracy

E. Proslavery arguments

• 1. old custom - strong US and south
• 2. Bible
• 3. Slaves better off than back in Africa or in northern factories
• 4. mentally inferior and dangerous

A. Slaves (3.5 million) could not read and write

B. Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction 1863-1865

• 1865 - "With malice toward none, with charity for all"

C. Radical Republicans - 1863-1865

• Goals
• 1. educate blacks for equality - political, economic, social
• 2. land redistribution
• 3. they did not guarantee black suffrage or land redistribution

D. Wade-Davis Bill - July 1864

• 1. insure black rights (state constitution required to abolish slavery)
• 2. 12/65 - 13th Amendment

E. Andrew Johnson - Personality

• 1. His goal was to destroy the planters not aid blacks.
• 2. Restrictions on blacks under Johnson - 2nd class citizens
  • a. The South went along with this very slowly, but refused to give blacks the right
  • to vote even if they were educated or had served in the military
• 3. He opposed black equality
  • a. blocked government aid to help the freed slaves
  • b. Freedman's Bureau - passed over veto - 1865
    • 1. 1st government support of the needy - relief
    • 2. raised false hope - 40 acres and a mule - controlled 100,000's acres of land
    • 3. encouraged racial friction
    • 4. provided education to poor blacks and whites
• 4. Johnson believed that the states should make most of their own laws - States' Rights
  • Black Codes were passed by Southern states to keep ex-slaves in a position of economic, social, and economic inferiority.
    • blacks could not hold skilled jobs without a permit (or even choose jobs)
    • they were basically limited to farming yet land ownership was limited
    • unemployed blacks could be arrested, fined, and hired out to white employers to pay the fine
    • separate legal systems were created - blacks not allowed to testify
    • forbidden to assemble or travel without white permits
    • forbidden to hold office or vote in some states
    • could not bear arms
• 5. His failure to support govt aid to protect the blacks led to further problems with Congress

F. Radical Reconstruction - Dec 1865 - 1870

• 1. Civil Rights Act of 1866 (3/66)
  • a. Passed to weaken black codes over Johnson's veto
  • b. Gave blacks equal rights to whites - difficult to enforce
• 2. First Reconstruction Act - 1867
  • Assumed that once blacks had the vote they could take care of themselves
• 3. Fourteenth Amendment 1868
  • 1. made blacks citizens - defined citizenship
  • 2. guaranteed life, liberty, property - due process
• 4. 15th Amendment - 1870
  • 1. Right to vote guaranteed - race, color, creed
  • 2. Tx. last to give in
• 5. Amnesty Act of 1972
  • 1. restored right to vote to all whites
  • 2. Radicals showed signs of weakening
• 6. Compromise of 1877
  • 1. Rutherford B. Hayes v. S.J. Tilden
  • 2. Compromise abandoned blacks ending Reconstruction

G. Political Results

• Northern goal - protecting blacks and securing rights while maintaining their own power
• 1. Failure to Train Blacks for Politics
• 2. Disenfranchisement (700,000 out of 4 million voted in 1868)
  • a. KKK - violence and repression (1866 - Nathan Forrest in Pulaski, Tenn.)
  • b. New State governments - 1868 used systematic terrorism to keep blacks from the polls
    • 1. White Supremacy established in most states by 1870
    • 2. Northerners lost idealism
  • c. Poll Tax - 1877 - keep the poor from voting
  • d. Literacy Test - 1890
    • 1. Read and interpret the Constitution
    • 2. White registration officials determined qualifications
  • e. Supreme Ct. upheld these laws - Williams v. Miss.
• 3. Solid South - Conservative - avoid change
  • a. Democratic Party Primaries allowed only whites to vote - considered it a private club
  • b. South voted Democrat at the local, state and national level till 1970s
• 4. single party with only one choice - a white man

H. Social Results

• Goal - protect black rights so that they get equal treatment
• 1. Bitterness between North and South / Black and White remained
  • Whites refused to cooperate - how do you force people to like each other?
• 2. North eventually gave up - driven out by the hatred
• 3. Black Codes designed to keep blacks as second class citizens
  • a. temporary till better system developed
  • b. north eliminated most of these codes
  • c. they were replaced by Jim Crow laws
• 4. Jim Crow Laws 1865+
  • a. segregation laws that forced the blacks into separate facilities
  • 1. schools - supported by blacks
  • 2. Churches - supported by blacks
  • 3. restaurants, hotels, rr, etc.
  • 5. Plessy V. Ferguson - 1896
    • a. Separate but Equal upheld 7-1 (the one was a former slaveowner)
  • 6. KKK terrorism kept blacks in line

I. Economic Results

• Goal - rebuild the south to reduce economic sectionalism and give blacks economic opportunity
• 1. Sharecropper System - 1870+

Time Line of African American History, 1852-1880

1852	Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, published on March 20, focused national attention on the cruelties of slavery.
1854	Lincoln University chartered. Initially known as Ashmun Institute, Lincoln University was chartered in Oxford, Pennsylvania, on January 1. It was one of America's earliest Negro colleges.
1856	Booker Taliaferro Washington born. Born in Franklin County, Virginia, on April 5, Washington was the first principal of Tuskegee Institute (1881), and was the individual most responsible for its early development. Washington was considered the leading African-American spokesman of his day.
1857	Supreme Court rules on the Dred Scott case. On March 6, the Supreme Court decided that an African-American could not be a citizen of the U.S., and thus had no rights of citizenship. The decision sharpened the national debate over slavery.
1859	John Brown's raid. On October 16-17, John Brown raided the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (today located in West Virginia). Brown's unsuccessful mission to obtain arms for a slave insurrection stirred and divided the nation. Brown was hanged for treason on December 2. The last slave ship arrives. During this year, the last ship to bring slaves to the United States, the Clothilde, arrived in Mobile Bay, Alabama.
1863	The Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation took effect January 1, legally freeing slaves in areas of the South in rebellion. New York City draft riots. Anti-conscription riots started on July 13 and lasted four days, during which hundreds of black Americans were killed or wounded. The Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteers. On July 18, the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteers --the all-black unit of the Union army portrayed in the 1989 Tri-Star Pictures film Glory -- charged Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. Sergeant William H. Carney becomes the first African-American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery under fire.
1864	Equal pay. On June 15, Congress passed a bill authorizing equal pay, equipment, arms, and health care for African-American Union troops. The New Orleans Tribune. On October 4, the New Orleans Tribune began publication. The Tribune was one of the first daily newspapers produced by blacks.
1865	Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment. Slavery would be outlawed in the United States by the Thirteenth Amendment, which Congress approved and sent on to the states for ratification on January 31. The Freedmen's Bureau. On March 3, Congress established the Freedmen's Bureau to provide health care, education, and technical assistance to emancipated slaves. Death of Lincoln. On April 15, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated; Vice President Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat, succeeded him as president. Ratification of Thirteenth Amendment. The Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery, was ratified on December 18.
1866	Presidential meeting for black suffrage. On February 2, a black delegation led by Frederick Douglass met with President Andrew Johnson at the White House to advocate black suffrage. The president expressed his opposition, and the meeting ended in controversy. Civil Rights Act. Congress overrode President Johnson's veto on April 9 and passed the Civil Rights Act, conferring citizenship upon black Americans and guaranteeing equal rights with whites. Memphis massacre. On May 1-3, white civilians and police killed forty-six African-Americans and injured many more, burning ninety houses, twelve schools, and four churches in Memphis, Tennessee. The Fourteenth Amendment. On June 13, Congress approved the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing due process and equal protection under the law to all citizens. The amendment would also grant citizenship to blacks. Police massacre. Police in New Orleans stormed a Republican meeting of blacks and whites on July 30, killing more than 40 and wounding more than 150. Founding of the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan, an organization formed to intimidate blacks and other ethnic and religious minorities, first met in Maxwell House, Memphis. The Klan was the first of many secret terrorist organizations organized in the South for the purpose of reestablishing white authority.

1867

Black suffrage. On January 8, overriding President Johnson's veto, Congress granted the black citizens of

the District of Columbia the right to vote.

Reconstruction begins. Reconstruction Acts were passed by Congress on March 2. These acts called for

the enfranchisement of former slaves in the South.

1868

Fourteenth Amendment ratified. On July 21, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified,

granting citizenship to any person born or naturalized in the United States.

Thaddeus Stevens dies. Thaddeus Stevens, Radical Republican leader in Congress and father of

Reconstruction, died on August 11.

Massacre in Louisiana. The Opelousas Massacre occurred in Louisiana on September 28, in which an

estimated 200 to 300 black Americans were killed.

Ulysses S. Grant becomes president. Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant (Republican) was elected

president on November 3.

1869

Fifteenth Amendment approved. On February 26, Congress sent the Fifteenth Amendment to the

Constitution to the states for approval. The amendment would guarantee black Americans the right to vote.

First black diplomat. On April 6, Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett was appointed minister to Haiti -- the first

black American diplomat and the first black American presidential appointment. For many years thereafter, both

Democratic and Republican administrations appointed black Americans as ministers to Haiti and Liberia.

1870

Census of 1870.

U.S. population: 39,818,449

Black population: 4,880,009 (12.7%)

The first African-American senator. Hiram R. Revels (Republican) of Mississippi took his seat

February 25. He was the first black United States senator, though he served only one year.

Fifteenth Amendment ratified. The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on March 30.

1871

The Fisk University Jubilee Singers tour. On October 6, Fisk University's Jubilee Singers began their

first national tour. The Jubilee Singers became world-famous singers of black spirituals. The money they

earned built Fisk University.

1875

Civil Rights Act of 1875. Congress approved the Civil Rights Act on March 1, guaranteeing equal rights

to black Americans in public accommodations and jury duty. The legislation was invalidated by the Supreme

Court in 1883.

The first African-American to serve a full term as senator. Blanche Kelso Bruce (Republican) of

Mississippi took his seat in the United States Senate on March 3. He would become the first African-American

to serve a full six-year term. Not until 1969 did another black American begin a Senate term.

Birth of Mary McLeod Bethune. Mary McLeod Bethune, educator, government official, and

African-American leader, was born on July 10 in Mayesville, North Carolina.

Clinton Massacre. On September 4-6, more than 20 black Americans were killed in a massacre in Clinton,

Mississippi.

Birth of Carter Godwin Woodson. Carter G. Woodson, who earned a doctorate in history from Harvard

and was known as "The Father of Black History," was born on December 19, 1875, in New Canton, Virginia.

1876

Race riots and terrorism. A summer of race riots and terrorism directed at blacks occurred in South

Carolina. President Grant sent federal troops to restore order.

A close presidential election. In the presidential election of 1876, the outcome in the Electoral College

appeared too close to be conclusive in the campaign of Samuel Tilden (Democrat) versus Rutherford B. Hayes

(Republican).

1877

The end of Reconstruction. A deal with Southern Democratic leaders made Rutherford B. Hayes

(Republican) president, in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and the end of federal

efforts to protect the civil rights of African-Americans.

The first African-American to graduate from West Point. On June 15, Henry O. Flipper became the

first black American to graduate from West Point.

1880

Census of 1880.

U.S. population: 50,155,783

Black population: 6,580,793 (13.1%)

James Garfield elected president. On November 2, James A. Garfield, Republican, was elected

president.

The following works were valuable sources in the compilation of this Time Line: Lerone Bennett's Before the Mayflower (Chicago: Johnson Publishing Co., 1982), W. Augustus Low and Virgil A. Clift's Encyclopedia of Black America (New York: Da Capo Press, 1984), and Harry A. Ploski and Warren Marr's The Negro Almanac (New York: Bellwether Co.,1976).

Timeline - 1881 - 1900

1881

President Garfield assassinated. President Garfield was shot on July 2; he died on September 19. Vice

President Chester A. Arthur (Republican) succeeded Garfield as president.

Tuskegee Institute founded. Booker T. Washington became the first principal of Tuskegee Institute in

Tuskegee, Alabama, on July 4. Tuskegee became the leading vocational training institution for African-Americans.

Segregation of public transportation. Tennessee segregated railroad cars, followed by Florida (1887),

Mississippi (1888), Texas (1889), Louisiana (1990), Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Georgia (1891), South

Carolina (1898), North Carolina (1899), Virginia (1900), Maryland (1904), and Oklahoma (1907).

1882

Lynchings. Forty-nine black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1882.

1883

Civil Rights Act overturned. On October 15, the Supreme Court declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875

unconstitutional. The Court declared that the Fourteenth Amendment forbids states, but not citizens, from

discriminating.

Sojourner Truth dies. Sojourner Truth, a courageous and ardent abolitionist and a brilliant speaker, died on

November 26.

A political coup and a race riot. On November 3, white conservatives in Danville, Virginia, seized control

of the local government, racially integrated and popularly elected, killing four African-Americans in the process.

Lynchings. Fifty-three black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1883.

1884

Cleveland elected president. Grover Cleveland (Democrat) was elected president on November 4.

Lynchings. Fifty-one black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1884.

1885

A black Episcopal bishop. On June 25, African-American Samuel David Ferguson was ordained a bishop of

the Episcopal church.

Lynchings. Seventy-four black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1885.

1886

The Carrollton Massacre. On March 17, 20 black Americans were massacred at Carrollton, Mississippi.

Labor organizes. The American Federation of Labor was organized on December 8, signaling the rise of the

labor movement. All major unions of the day excluded black Americans.

Lynchings. Seventy-four black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1886.

1887

Lynchings. Seventy black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1887.

1888

Two of the first African-American banks. Two of America's first black-owned banks -- the Savings Bank

of the Grand Fountain United Order of the Reformers, in Richmond Virginia, and Capital Savings Bank of

Washington, DC, opened their doors.

Harrison elected president. Benjamin Harrison (Republican) was elected president on November 6.

Lynchings. Sixty-nine black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1888.

1889

Lynchings. Ninety-four black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1889.

1890

Census of 1890.

U.S. population: 62,947,714

Black population: 7,488,676 (11.9%)

The Afro-American League. On January 25, under the leadership of Timothy Thomas Fortune, the militant

National Afro-American League was founded in Chicago.

African-Americans are disenfranchised. The Mississippi Plan, approved on November 1, used literacy and

"understanding" tests to disenfranchise black American citizens. Similar statutes were adopted by South Carolina

(1895), Louisiana (1898), North Carolina (1900), Alabama (1901), Virginia (1901), Georgia (1908), and

Oklahoma (1910).

A white supremacist is elected. Populist "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman was elected governor of South Carolina.

He called his election "a triumph of ... white supremacy."

Lynchings. Eighty-five black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1890.

1891

Lynchings. One hundred and thirteen black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1891.

1892

Grover Cleveland elected president. Grover Cleveland (Democrat) was elected president on November 8.

Lynchings. One hundred and sixty-one black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1892.

1893

Lynchings. One hundred and eighteen black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1893.

1894

The Pullman strike. The Pullman Company strike caused a national transportation crisis. On May 11,

African-Americans were hired by the company as strike-breakers.

Lynchings. One hundred and thirty-four black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1894.

1895

Douglass dies. African-American leader and statesman Frederick Douglass died on February 20.

A race riot. Whites attacked black workers in New Orleans on March 11-12. Six blacks were killed.

The Atlanta Compromise. Booker T. Washington delivered his famous "Atlanta Compromise" address on

September 18 at the Atlanta Cotton States Exposition. He said the "Negro problem" would be solved by a policy

of gradualism and accommodation.

The National Baptist Convention. Several Baptist organizations combined to form the National Baptist

Convention of the U.S.A.; the Baptist church is the largest black religious denomination in the United States.

Lynchings. One hundred and thirteen black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1895.

1896

Plessy v. Ferguson. The Supreme Court decided on May 18 in Plessy v. Ferguson that "separate but equal"

facilities satisfy Fourteenth Amendment guarantees, thus giving legal sanction to Jim Crow segregation laws.

Black women organize. The National Association of Colored Women was formed on July 21; Mary Church

Terrell was chosen president.

McKinley elected president. On November 3, William McKinley (Republican) was elected president.

George Washington Carver. George Washington Carver was appointed director of agricultural research at

Tuskegee Institute. His work advanced peanut, sweet potato, and soybean farming.

Lynchings. Seventy-eight black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1896.

1897

American Negro Academy. The American Negro Academy was established on March 5 to encourage

African-American participation in art, literature and philosophy.

Lynchings. One hundred and twenty-three black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1897.

1898

The Spanish-American War. The Spanish-American War began on April 21. Sixteen regiments of black

volunteers were recruited; four saw combat. Five black Americans won Congressional Medals of Honor.

The National Afro-American Council. Founded on September 15, the National Afro-American Council

elected Bishop Alexander Walters its first president.

A race riot. On November 10, in Wilmington, North Carolina, eight black Americans were killed during white

rioting.

Black-owned insurance companies. The North Carolina Mutual and Provident Insurance Company and the

National Benefit Life Insurance Company of Washington, DC were established. Both companies were

black-owned.

Lynchings. One hundred and one black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1898.

1899

A lynching protest. The Afro-American Council designated June 4 as a national day of fasting to protest

lynchings and massacres.

Lynchings. Eighty-five black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1899.

1900

Census of 1900.

U.S. population: 75,994,575

Black population: 8,833,994 (11.6%)

Lynchings. One hundred and six black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1900.

A World's Fair. The Paris Exposition was held, and the United States pavilion housed an exhibition on black

Americans. The "Exposition des Negres d'Amerique" won several awards for excellence. Daniel A. P. Murray's

collection of works by and about black Americans was developed for this exhibition.

 

Time Line of African American History, 1901-1925

 

The following works were valuable sources in the compilation of this Time Line: Lerone Bennett's Before the

Mayflower (Chicago: Johnson Publishing Co., 1982), W. Augustus Low and Virgil A. Clift's Encyclopedia of Black

America (New York: Da Capo Press, 1984), and Harry A. Ploski and Warren Marr's The Negro Almanac (New York:

Bellwether Co., 1976).

 

Timeline: 1852-1880

Timeline: 1881-1900

 

 

1901

 

The last African-American congressman for 28 years. George H. White gave up his seat on March

4. No African-American would serve in Congress for the next 28 years.

 

President McKinley assassinated. President McKinley died of an assassin's bullet on September 14, a

week after being shot in Buffalo, New York. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him as president.

 

Washington dines at the White House. On October 16, after an afternoon meeting at the White House

with Booker T. Washington, President Theodore Roosevelt informally invited Washington to remain and eat

dinner with him, making Washington the first black American to dine at the White House with the president. A

furor arose over the social implications of Roosevelt's casual act.

 

Lynchings. One hundred and five black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1901.

 

1902

 

Lynchings. Eighty-five black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1902.

 

1903

 

The Souls of Black Folk. W. E. B. Du Bois's celebrated book, The Souls of Black Folk, was published

on April 27. In it, Du Bois rejected the gradualism of Booker T. Washington, calling for agitation on behalf of

African-American rights.

 

Lynchings.Eighty-four black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1903.

 

1904

 

Lynchings. Seventy-six black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1904.

 

1905

 

The Niagara Movement. On July 11-13, African-American intellectuals and activists, led by W. E. B. Du

Bois and William Monroe Trotter, began the Niagara Movement.

 

Lynchings. Fifty-seven black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1905.

 

1906

 

Soldiers riot. In Brownsville, Texas on Augu st 13, black troops rioted against segregation. On November

6, President Theodore Roosevelt discharged three companies of black soldiers involved in the riot.

 

A race riot. On September 22-24, in a race riot in Atlanta, ten blacks and two whites were killed.

 

Lynchings. Sixty-two black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1906.

 

1908

 

Thurgood Marshall born. Born in Baltimore on July 2, Thurgood Marshall, was the attorney for the

NAACP in the famous case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), in which the Supreme Court found

segregated schools to be inherently unequal. He later became the first African-American appointed to the

Supreme Court.

 

A race riot. Many were killed and wounded in a race riot on August 14-19, in Abraham Lincoln's home

town of Springfield, Illinois.

 

Taft elected president. On November 3, William Howard Taft (Republican) was elected president.

 

Lynchings. Eighty-nine black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1908.

 

1909

 

The NAACP is formed. On February 12 -- the centennial of the birth of Lincoln -- a national appeal led to

the establishment of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, an organization formed

to promote use of the courts to restore the legal rights of black Americans.

 

The North Pole is reached. On April 6, Admiral Peary and African-American Matthew Henson,

accompanied by four Eskimos, became the first men known to have reached the North Pole.

 

Lynchings. Sixty-nine black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1909.

 

1910

 

Census of 1910.

 

U.S. population: 93,402,151

Black population: 9,827,763 (10.7%)

 

Crisis debuts. The first issue of Crisis, a publication sponsored by the NAACP and edited by W. E.B. Du

Bois, appeared on November 1.

 

Segregated neighborhoods. On December 19, the City Council of Baltimore approved the first city

ordinance designating the boundaries of black and white neighborhoods. This ordinance was followed by

similar ones in Dallas, Texas, Greensboro, North Carolina, Louisville, Kentucky, Norfolk, Virginia,

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Richmond, Virginia, Roanoke, Virginia, and St. Louis, Missouri. The Supreme

Court declared the Louisville ordinance to be unconstitutional in 1917.

 

Lynchings. Sixty-seven black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1910.

 

1911

 

The National Urban League begins. In October, the National Urban League was organized to help

African-Americans secure equal employment. Professor Kelly Miller was a founding member.

 

Lynchings. Sixty black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1911.

 

1912

 

Wilson elected president. Woodrow Wilson (Democrat) was elected president on November 5.

 

Lynchings. Sixty-one black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1912.

 

1913

 

Jubilee year. The fiftieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation was celebrated throughout the year.

 

Harriet Tubman dies. Harriet Tubman -- former slave, abolitionist, and freedom fighter -- died on March

10.

 

Federal segregation. On April 11, the Wilson administration began government-wide segregation of work

places, rest rooms and lunch rooms.

 

Lynchings. Fifty-one black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1913.

 

1914

 

Lynchings. Fifty-one black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1914.

 

World War I. World War I began in Europe.

 

1915

 

Booker T. Washington dies. Renowned African-American spokesman Booker T. Washington died on

November 14.

 

Lynchings. Fifty-six black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1915.

 

1916

 

Lynchings. Fifty black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1916.

 

1917

 

World War I. America entered World War I on April 6. 370,000 African-Americans were in military service

-- more than half in the French war zone.

 

A race riot. One of the bloodiest race riots in the nation's history took place in East St. Louis, Illinois, on

July 1-3. A Congressional committee reported that 40 to 200 people were killed, hundreds more injured, and

6,000 driven from their homes.

 

NAACP protest. Thousands of African-Americans marched down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue on July 28,

protesting lynchings, race riots, and the denial of rights.

 

A race riot. On August 23, a riot erupted in Houston between black soldiers and white citizens; 2 blacks and

11 whites were killed. 18 black soldiers were hanged for participation in the riot.

 

The Supreme Court acts. On November 5, the Supreme Court struck down the Louisville, Kentucky

ordinance mandating segregated neighborhoods.

 

Lynchings. Thirty-six black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1917.

 

1918

 

A race riot. On July 25-28, a race riot occurred in Chester, Pennsylvania. 3 blacks and 2 whites were killed.

 

A race riot. On July 26-29, a race riot occurred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 3 blacks and 1 white were

killed.

 

World War I ends. The Armistice took effect on November 11, ending World War I. The northern

migration of African-Americans began in earnest during the war. By 1930 there were 1,035,000 more black

Americans in the North, and 1,143,000 fewer black Americans in the South than in 1910.

 

Lynchings. Sixty black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1918.

 

1919

 

"Red Summer." This was the year of the "Red Summer," with 26 race riots between the months of April and

October. These included disturbances in the following areas:

 

May 10 Charleston, South Carolina.

July 13 Gregg and Longview counties, Texas.

July 19-23 Washington, D. C.

July 27 Chicago.

October 1-3 Elaine and Phillips counties, Alabama.

 

Lynchings. Seventy-six black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1919.

 

1920

 

Census of 1920.

 

U.S. population: 105,710,620

Black population: 10,463,131 (9.9%)

 

The Harlem Renaissance. The decade of the Twenties witnessed the Harlem Renaissance, a remarkable

period of creativity for black writers, poets, and artists, including these authors:

 

Claude McKay, Harlem Shadows, 1922

Jean Toomer, Cane, 1923

Alaine Locke, The New Negro, 1925

Countee Cullen, Color, 1925

 

The rise of Marcus Garvey. On August 1, Marcus Garvey's Universal Improvement Association held its

national convention in Harlem, the traditionally black neighborhood in New York City. Garvey's African

nationalist movement was the first black American mass movement, and at its height it claimed hundreds of

thousands of supporters.

 

Harding elected president. On November 3, Warren G. Harding (Republican) was elected president.

 

Lynchings. Fifty-three black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1920.

 

1921

 

A race riot. On June 1, in a race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 21 whites and 60 blacks were killed.

 

Lynchings. Fifty-nine black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1921.

 

1922

 

An anti-lynching effort. On January 26, a federal anti-lynching bill was killed by a filibuster in the United

States Senate.

 

Lynchings. Fifty-one black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1922.

 

1923

 

President Harding dies. President Warren Harding died on August 3; Vice President Calvin Coolidge

succeeded him as president.

 

Lynchings. Twenty-nine black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1923.

 

1924

 

Lynchings. Sixteen black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1924.

 

1925

 

Malcolm X born. On May 19, in Omaha, Nebraska, civil rights leader Malcolm X was born.

 

Sleeping car porters organize. On August 2, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was organized. A.

Philip Randolph was chosen president.

 

Lynchings. Seventeen black Americans are known to have been lynched in 1925.

 

Daniel A. P. Murray dies. Assistant Librarian of Congress and African-American historian Daniel A. P.

Murray died in Washington, DC, on March 31.

• Credit Line: Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Daniel A.P. Murray Pamphlets

  Collection.

After Reconstruction there was a battle within the black community which surrounded the goals and tactics that should be used to improve conditions for blacks in America. That battle included a struggle for control of leadership.

A. Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

• 1. Wrote Up From Slavery - 1901
  • Stressed the need to focus on practical problems
  • Founded Tuskegee Institute
  • Stressed vocational education for blacks (especially agriculture)
  • Stressed earning respect - patience
  • Stressed ignoring segregation - changes would come when earned
• 2. Policy of Gradualism
• 3. Atlanta Compromise - 1895
  • "the wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremist of folly, and that progress of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing."
• Washington was the leader of the black community until his death in 1915 and was popular with many whites as well as blacks

B. Ray Stannard Baker - muckraker

• 1. Following the Color Line
• 2. focused on making whites aware of the problems blacks faced living in a segregated America
• 3. Accomplishment - built white support for ending segregation through NAACP

C. W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963)

• 1. The Souls of Black Folk - 1903
  • opposed Washington's approach as too passive
• 2. Founded the Niagara Movement
  • a. Talented Tenth - educated elite (law schools) to fight segregation through the system
  • b. stressed black pride
  • "Persistent agitation is the way to liberty"
• 4. Accomplishment - helped to found the NAACP (1909-1910)
  • seek legislative and judicial remedies
  • 1st ct. victory - 1915
  • their battle to bring down separate but equal was interrupted by the Depression and WWII

D. Blacks IN WWI

• 1. 400,00 drafted - not allowed to serve in combat except in segregated units - 40,000
• 2. soldiers became black leaders
• 3. movement from southern farms to factory jobs in northern cities - 500,000
  • work in defense plants created many new opportunities
• 4. rising expectations disappointed
  • Return to Normalcy
  • Red Summer - race riots - 1919

E. KKK - 1915 - William Simmons - preacher revived the Klan

• 1. white supremacy
• 2. repression of blacks
• 3. D.W. Griffith - film - Birth of a Nation - glorified old KKK
• 4. KKK - 4.5 million members - 1924 / 10,000 - 1930

F. Heightened Racial Tensions

• 1. War did not create equality as hoped
• 2. Opportunities did increase
  • a. civil service
  • b. steel/auto factories
  • c. high school/college education
• 3. Riots occurred between 1917-1920
  • a. solved nothing
  • b. blacks became more militant

G. Marcus Garvey

• 1. Universal Negro Improvement Association
  • believed that there was no hope for blacks in America
• 2. Black Separatism - blacks and whites could not live together
• 3. Black Nationalism - stressed black pride - soul pride
• 4. proposed a return to Africa
• 5. popular in northern cities - especially among low income blacks
• 6. deported to Jamaica - movement collapsed without a leader
  • Ideas survived in the foundation of the Black Muslim organization

H. Harlem Renaissance

• 1. black pride and the art
• 2. jazz - spread from New Orleans up the Miss. River to Chicago and eventually to NYC
• 3. jazz and blues were the one area in which whites mixed with blacks
• 4. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington
• 5. Cotton Club, Savoy
• 6. Langston Hughes
• 7. Alaine Locke - The New Negro
  • called for "a renewed race-spirit that sets itself apart"

I. Minorities in the New Deal benefited - Eleanor Roosevelt

• 1. Blacks = Republicans till FDR - hard hit by Depression
  • a. Strength - FDR made sure that blacks were part of his relief and recovery programs
    • black Americans made some gains during the 1930s
    • Mary McLeod Bethune - 1st black head of government agency - NYA
    • Charles Houston - Howard University Law Professor
      • Trained Thurgood Marshall
      • Collected evidence to prove that separate schools were unequal
        • For every $1 spent on blacks $5 was spent on white students
    • by 1976 = 75% Democrat
  • b. Weakness
    • civil rights were not strongly supported by FDR
    • feared loss of white support for programs

J. BLACKS in WWII

• 1. Similar to WWI, except this time black leaders vowed to avoid the mistakes of WWI
• 2. 1 million served mostly in the army (in combat)
  • Units were segregated except in emergencies
• 3. 2 million in industry were able to pressure the federal government to end their discrimination
  • A. Philip Randolph
  • Threatened march on Washington
  • led to Executive Order 8802
  • led to the creation of the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC)
• 4. Efforts against discrimination outside the govt. increased
  • NAACP increased from 50,000 to 450,000
• 5. Had been treated better by the Europeans and expected the same at home
• 6. After the war the army was desegregated

K. TRUMAN and CIVIL RIGHTS

• 1. Truman knew that the 3rd World was watching - Cold War image was at stake
  • After WWII there was increased world pressure for colonial independence
  • African Independence - a matter of time - how would they view us?
    • These independence movements would also inspire American blacks
• 2. Postwar consumer economy created dependence of black consumers
  • fear of returning to Depression
  • increased black economic power
• 3. Appointed Civil Rights Commission 10/47 - 2/48 Truman called for a ten-point program
  • a. Civil Rights Commission - permanent
    • concluded that blacks were still treated as second-class citizens
  • b. Federal Fair Employment Practices Act
  • c. Legislation to protect the right to vote, do away with poll taxes, and prevent lynching
  • d. Housing issue would help blacks
  • e. eliminate aid to segregation
• 4. Republicans sided with Southern Democrats to block reforms
• 5. Blacks given government positions - U.N. Ralph Bunche - Nobel Prize
• 6. Ordered no federal government discrimination
• 7. Desegregated the army - 1948 - Executive Order 9981
• 8. Result - Blacks supported Truman and Southern Democrats abandoned him
• 9. Supreme Court acted at the same time - Thurgood Marshall led the battle for the NAACP
  • a. 1944 - political parties are not a club and therefore blacks can vote in a primary
  • b. 1947 - segregation on interstate transport unconstitutional
  • c. 1948 - real estate discrimination illegal
  • d. 1950 - Sweatt v. Painter - segregated schools for graduate schools unconstitutional
    • U. of Texas law school better than any black law school therefore not equal
    • Texas tried to build a separate black law school for one student
• Ralph Ellison - The Invisible Man
  • By the early 1950s Black Americans were still far from the mainstream

Lecture - COMPARE AND CONTRAST

IKE LAID BACK STYLE VS. JFK-LBJ EMPHASIS ON ACTION

I. Introductory Paragraph - Background

• SETTING - time and place
• TOPIC - Problems still in existence in 1954
  • Social Problem
    • Jim Crow Laws - Segregation - Plessy v. Ferguson - 1896 - separate but equal
    • Southern white resistance to change
      • 1. KKK - intimidation used on anyone who got out of line
  • Political Problem
    • Voting restrictions - Disenfranchisement
      • 1. Poll taxes
      • 2. Literacy test - ballot difficult to read
      • 3. Registration made difficult
        • a. location
        • b. hours
        • c. forms for 1st time voters
      • 4. KKK voter intimidation
  • Economic Problem
    • Economic poverty
      • 1. Sharecropper/ Tenant farmer system
      • 2. Job discrimination
        • a. pay
        • b. type of jobs, etc.
  • Patience worn thin - Booker T. Washington
    • Gradualism still dominated
    • focused on economics
    • prove yourself worthy then other rights will follow
    • Caution led the majority of black to take a passive approach - inaction
    •  
• CATEGORIES - TWO METHODS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS
  • 1. NON-VIOLENT
    • NAACP - 1909 - W.E.B. DuBois - focused on political and social change through the system
    • SCLC - 1957 - Martin Luther King Jr. - non- violent civil disobedience
    • SNCC - 1960 - offshoot of SCLC
    • CORE (1942) and Urban League (1910) also did same - cooperating with whites
  • 2. MILITANT / VIOLENT
    • Black Muslims
    • SNCC - after 1965
    • Black Panthers
• THESIS - Which tactic do YOU think was most effective? WHY?
• BODY paragraphs should be organized by organization and tactic. Each should be evaluated as you go along. I usually cover the material in chronological order...however I lay it out on the board in a chart...one column for each organization, so that my students can see how their essays would be laid out.

A. Type

• 1. Southern black middle class movement - focus - segregation/voting rights ignored economics
• 2. Non-violent - religious
• 3. Methods/Tactics - sit-ins, boycotts, marches
• 4. Whites joined in - biracial

B. Issues

• 1. Segregation
• 2. Voting

C. Video - Eyes on the Prize

IV. IKE - Civil Rights - place emphasis on organizations

A. Plessy v. Ferguson - 1896 - "separate but equal" is constitutional

B. Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka - 5/17/1954

• ORGANIZATION - NAACP
• 1. TACTIC - lawsuit
  • During the 1950s 10,000 blacks graduated from college every year
    • created leadership (talented tenth)
  • (Key Goal - Desegregation of Schools)
• 2. Public school segregation was the most obvious form of discrimination and the most important
  • a. De Jure Segregation - segregation required by law
    • 1. 17 states and Washington DC were segregated by law (De Jure)
    • 2. 4 others permitted segregation
  • b. Tactic - solid test case - problem slow culmination of 30 yrs.- still had to be enforced
• 3. Linda Brown - 8 yrs. old
  • bused 21 blocks to an all black school even though she lived 5 blocks from a white school
  • father was a reverend
  • case started through the courts in 1951
• 4. Thurgood Marshall NAACP (leader Roy Wilkins) lawyer argued for Brown
  • (1977 Benjamin Hooks replaced Wilkins)
  • a. Facilities and faculty not equal
  • b. Separation created feelings of inequality even if equal in other ways
  • c. 5 - 10 X spent on white education
  • d. social and psychological evidence used
• 5. Chief Justice Fred Vinson replaced by Earl Warren
• 6. Ike thought Warren was a conservative he was wrong
  • a. Warren had been involved in the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII
  • b. Ike was upset that Warren rocked the boat
    • Ike - "I don't believe you can change the hearts of men with laws"
    • MLK - "Laws and decisions that are properly enforced change behavior, and a change of heart might follow."
  • c. Without executive leadership for the Court's decision
    • the public was not persuaded to accept desegregation
    • Ike - "The Constitution is as the SC interprets it: and I must conform to that and do my very best to see that it is carried out"
• 7. 9-0 decision based on the 14th Amendment
  • equal protection under the law
• 8. Integration ordered "with all deliberate speed" - 1955
• 9. Expected gradual, but persistent desegregation
  • border states mostly complied

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (lawsuit)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind.

C. Massive Resistance in the Old South

• 1. Southern Manifesto - 1956 - interposition or obstruction
  • 101 of 128 Southern Congressmen sought to block all legislative aid to the blacks
  • emphasized States Rights
  • referred to the Brown decision as "a clear abuse of judicial power"
• 2. White Citizens' Councils - evasion
  • a. white "private" schools - received tax money from state governments
  • b. one year later no southern schools had been desegregated
• 3. States passed laws to prevent integration (471 by 1964)
  • a. Virginia and Georgia school districts abolished public schools
  • b. Georgia made it a felony to spend tax dollars on schools where the races mixed
  • c. Schools segregated by "academic ability" or for "health reasons"
    • excuses to keep the races separate
  • d. Clinton, Tennessee - mob descended on school when board tried to comply with the SC's ruling (50 students led by the football captain talked parents into letting them try it)
  • e. Autherine Lucy - 1st black to register at U. of Alabama chased away by mobs - 1956
• 4. Police attacks on blacks occurred
  • a rise in the KKK occurred
  • police stood by while whites were violent against blacks
• 5. Employers threatened black employees with reprisals
• 5. Ike did not pressure the South to follow the law (had not said what he thought of the decision)
  • a. born in a segregated state
  • b. served in a segregated army
  • c. desired calm - saw Court decision as a threat to this
  • d. worked quietly to desegregate within his jurisdiction
    • believed that education was a power of the states - Federalism
  • e. Ike - "set back progress in the South at least fifteen years"
  • f. Only 49 school districts had begun desegregation during his Presidency
• 6. Embarrassing for US foreign policy (Africa)
• 7. Our allies in Europe noticed the similarity to Hitler

D. Lynching of Emmett Till - summer of 1955

• 14 year old from Chicago
• lynched in Money, Mississippi for speaking to a white woman
• said he had a white girl friend in Chicago
• pictures of the dead body were published in Jet Magazine
• NAACP worked to collect evidence
  • Medgar Evers was one of those who worked on the case
• killers were found not guilty by an all white jury
• national coverage - heightened public awareness
• killers then confessed they had done it

E. Montgomery Bus Boycott - Dec. 1955

• ORGANIZATION - MONTGOMERY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION (SCLC) and NAACP
• 1. TACTIC - boycott
  • (Key Goal - end to segregation)
• 2. Rosa Parks
  • a 42 yr. old black seamstress
  • refused to give up her seat on a crowded bus to a white person as required by old Jim Crow laws
    • later said that she had not planned to act
    • she was tired and her feet hurt
  • (play Neville Brothers song)
• 3. She was arrested and fined $10 + $4 court costs
  • (she had been active in the NAACP before the crisis)
  • instead of accepting it black leaders decided to force a change
  • formed the Montgomery Improvement Association and chose a leader
• 4. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (26 yrs. old).
  • called for blacks to boycott (tactic) the public transportation system
  • which depended on them - 50,000 did
  • it lasted 381 days
  • 95% effective
  • walked, car pooled, etc.
• 5. Bus system went bankrupt
  • King and other leaders were arrested - his home bombed
    • violation of Alabama's boycott law
  • whites shot at buses, bombed black churches
• 6. Supreme Court eventually ruled the segregation law unconstitutional - NAACP lawsuit
  • ruled that separate but equal could no longer be followed
  • Nov. 13, 1956
• 7. 1957 - He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
  • a. Martin Luther King becomes leader of the desegregation movement
  • b. He will work with all of the peaceful protests
  • c. Other groups will follow his leadership and example - movement gained momentum
  • d. Religion played a key role in recruiting support for the movement
  • e. demonstrated that blacks were willing to sacrifice
• 8. Used Nonviolent Civil Disobedience
  • moral duty to disobey unjust laws in ways that were not violent
  • an individual should remain true to his conscience
  • however, he should show respect for the law by accepting penalties
    • including imprisonment!
  • It does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent
  • directed against "forces of evil" rather than against "persons" who happen to be doing evil
  • "If you protest courageously and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in future generations, the historians will have to say, there lived a great people, a black people, who injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization."
  • Sources of the philosophy
    • a. Bible
    • b. Thoreau
    • c. Gandhi

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (Civil Disobedience - boycott)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How does it compare to other tactics so far? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind.

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (lawsuit)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind. How do you decide how much credit to give to the NAACP and how much to give to the MIA and Dr. King?

F. Central High, Little Rock - Sept. 1957

• ORGANIZATION - NAACP
• 1. TACTIC - lawsuit
• 2. NAACP attempts to force the national government to enforce Brown v. Board
  • a. chose students to act as a test case in numerous areas
  • b. Federal court ordered school to desegregate and it agreed
  • c. 9 students chosen in Little Rock (Blossum Plan)
• 3. Governor Orvil Faubus
  • called out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent integration (270 troops)
  • which might cause violence - statewide radio address - self fulfilling prophesy
  • really gearing up for a tough reelection campaign
• 4. A federal judge then ordered them to be allowed into school
  • First (9) blacks were met by a mob throwing rocks
• 5. Ike tried to talk Faubus out of the situation - failed
  • a. Ike - did as little as possible
  • b. still accused of being a military dictator
• 6. Ike countermanded the governor's orders
• 7. Faubus used state and local police
• 8. Ike sent in the 101st airborne division to protect the students (1000 troops back from Korea)
• 9. They had to stay till the segregationists lost interest at the end of the year
• 10. Southern leaders accused Ike of stirring up racial hatred and ignoring States' Rights
• 11. Most people outside the South agreed with Ike
• 12. Sept. 1958 school closed for 2 years when it reopened there were only 3 blacks
• 13. Today Central High School is mostly black...white flight
• Video - "Crisis at Central High School"
• 14. In 1987, the Little Rock Nine had a reunion at CHS
  • all had gone to college
  • all were leading productive lives (teachers to government officials)

Evaluation - Add this evidence to Brown v. Board - To this point how effective was this tactic? What were its strengths and weaknesses? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind.

G. Voting Rights Act, 1957

• 1. First civil rights act since Reconstruction
• 2. Poll tax still in effect
• 3. Voter registration extremely complicated
• 4. LBJ responsible for pushing it through Congress (D) Senator Tx.
• 5. Allowed Justice Dept. to take legal action to protect black right to vote
  • including the use of injunctions if interference is proved
• 6. Weakened by amendments
• 7. Created a permanent Civil Rights Commission
• 8. Organization - result of increased interest created by NAACP and SCLC?

H. Voting Rights Act - 1960

• 1. Allowed Justice Dept. to search county records looking for patterns of discrimination
• 2. Allowed federal judges to supervise voting registrars to aid blacks
  • send federal marshals
  • made interference with voting and school desegregation a federal crime
• 3. Plugged loopholes in 1957 Act
• 4.Passed after a 125 hr. filibuster (pushed through by LBJ)

Evaluation - Which organizations should get credit for the passage of these acts (G/H)? How effective were they? Does this strengthen or weaken the image of these organizations and their tactics (passage of legislation)? More evidence to follow.

I. Sit-ins - 2/60

• ORGANIZATION - STUDENT NON-VIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE (SNCC)
• TACTIC - Sit - In
  • (Key Goal - Desegregation)
• 1. started by 4 black freshmen college students
• 2. Greensboro, N.C. to draw attention of the press - TV
  • 2/1/60
  • day before one student had met a friend at the bus station, tried to order lunch, refused service, decided on what to do about it.
  • from North Carolina A&T
  • the four sat at a white only lunch counter - Woolworth's
    • stayed all day
    • next day they had 23 friends
    • then 100 then a 1000
  • Created a two month boycott
  • 45 arrested
• 3. Woolworth's, a national chain, gave in.
• 4. Led to the formation of SNCC - Raleigh - 6/60
• (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee)
  • a. Founded by Stokely Carmichael and Julian Bond among others
  • b. Spread the sit-in tactic throughout the south
    • (along with wade-ins, kneel-ins, sleep-ins, etc.)
    • within two months demonstrations in 54 cities
    • by years end 50,000 students participated
      • 3,600 arrested
    • biggest success came in Nashville - mayor West
      • James Lawson - provided training in non-violent tactics
      • Diane Nash - organized a march in support of the movement
      • John Lewis - SNCC chairman from 1963 to 1966 was also there in the
      • beginning
  • c. 1961 - voter registration campaign in South
  • d. Worked with SCLC focusing public attention
  • e. 20% white by 1964
  • f. Problem - working with SCLC cost them an identity of their own
  • g. More militant - confrontational direct action

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (Civil Disobedience - Sit-In)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How does this tactic compare to other tactics you have studied so far? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind.

J. Other Problems in 1960 - De facto segregation in the north

• 1. white flight
• 2. blacks concentrated in certain areas - housing segregation
• 3. neighborhood schools were then segregated by default
• 4. Harlem = hopelessness
• 5. Congress on Racial Equality (CORE - 1942) fought this
  • If anyone has something they could email me to put here I would appreciate it!

K. Gains made between 1945 and 1960

• 1. Black enrollment in colleges increased 2500%
• 2. Gwendolyn Brooks - Academy Award
• 3. Benjamin Davis, Jr. - Air Force's 1st black general
• 4. Jackie Robinson - 1st black major league baseball player
• 5. Vast majority still lived in poverty
• 6. Voting and education corrections would not come until later
• 7. 1955 - Montgomery Bus Boycott - Montgomery, Alabama
  • a. Rosa Parks
  • b. Martin Luther King Jr.
  • c. increase coverage of white violence - draw public sympathy
  • d. draws both black and white participants - unity could provide success
  • e. problem - buildup of support takes time

Evaluation - How would you evaluate Eisenhower at this point? How does he compare to FDR on this issue? How does he compare to Truman? What effect do you think it would have had if he had been more active? Would Congress have supported such action? Look to see whether JFK or LBJ did any better.

Background

• Kennedy was slow to practice what he preached as he attempted to champion integration
• Hoped to gain public support
  • Used executive action
  • Appointed blacks to high govt. office - Robert Weaver - HUD
  • Appointed Thurgood Marshall to Court of Appeals
    • Appointed to Supreme Court by LBJ
  • Pledged jobs and votes
  • Kennedy became a more active supporter of civil rights, but slowly
    • JFK had used his influence to get MLK out of jail
      • where he faced 4 months on a chain gang
      • publicized his support to get votes
    • he won 70% of the black vote in 1960 - they expected more active support in return
      • was criticized by the black community for his caution
      • they stepped up protests to force action
• Five sources of a Mass Movement
  • a. Black Urbanization
  • b. Religious Faith
  • c. Constitutional Rights
  • d. Media Coverage
  • e. African Independence

A. 5/61 - Freedom Rides (Tactic)

• 1. Congress on Racial Equality (1942) - James Farmer
• 2. Groups of 6 blacks and 6 whites toured the Deep South to test desegregation enforcement
  • started with 13 grew to over a 1000
  • traveled from DC to New Orleans
    • stopped at bus terminals all along the way
    • whites sat in the back of the buses
  • Boynton v. Commonwealth of Virginia
• 3. violent mobs met them in Alabama and Mississippi
• 4. 200+ arrested or fined, detained, beaten, cursed, spit upon
• 5. Bus burned in Anniston, Alabama - replaced
• 6. Attorney General - Bobby Kennedy - sent in 600 federal marshals to protect them
  • what will this do to national television coverage over time?
• 7. Result - Interstate Commerce Commission enforced desegregation laws in the South
• 8. More confrontational yet peaceful - white violence increases as does public awareness

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (Civil Disobedience - freedom rides)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How does it compare to other tactics so far?

B. 1961 - Attorney General Bobby Kennedy enforced laws in existence

• 1. 183 school districts integrated in 2 1/2 yrs.
  • by 1964 - 7% of black children attended segregated schools in the Deep South
• 2. 37 civil rights suits were filed
• 3. NAACP still trying to get Brown v. Board enforced (tactic - still the lawsuit)
  • note that if a student were to start in a integrated school as a first grader in 1960 it would
  • be 1972 before they graduated with an equal education
• 4. HISD did not integrate until 1969
  • thus the first students to get an equal education would have graduated in 1981
  • this equality will be further delayed by white flight and the decline of inner city schools

C. Sept.1962 - James Meredith

• 1. NAACP test case - lawyer who got him into school - Medgar Evers
  • Meredith - air force veteran enrolled at the University of Mississippi - Oxford
    • sued to get into school - won
    • graduated in 1963
    • GI Bill
• 2. Governor Ross Barnett - represented the old ideas of the Confederacy
  • encouraged violence - 2 killed, 375 wounded in mob violence
  • "The Negro is different because God made him different to punish him."
• 3. RFK sent in marshals and 30,000 troops to protect Meredith and stop the violence

D. Sept 1963 - George Wallace - Governor of Alabama

• stood in the doorway and blocked the entrance to U. of Alabama - two blacks
• 1. "Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever"
• 2. JFK sent marshals - it was peaceful
• 3. NAACP

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (lawsuit)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How does it compare to other tactics so far? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind. By now you should be forming a clear picture of the NAACP and lawsuits

E. 11/62 JFK orders federal housing projects desegregated

F. Birmingham Campaign - April 1963

• ORGANIZATION - SCLC, SNCC, NAACP
• TACTIC - Civil Disobedience - March and boycott
  • 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation
• Most segregated city in South - 20 bombs in 6 years
• 1. King protest against segregation and voting registration problems in Birmingham
  • protests filled up the jails - 2000 arrested
    • white opponents had learned self-restraint while tv cameras were rolling
    • participants would lose income while in jail - how long could they continue?
  • MLK gets himself arrested along with 325 others to try and shake things up
    • violations of marching without a permit
    • criticized by some in the black community who call for him to back off
    • he writes - Letters From A Birmingham Jail
      • a defense of non-violence and passive resistance
    • lawyers provided by NAACP - lawsuit filed
• 2. Children's Crusade
  • began using kids as young as 6
  • over a 1000 participated
  • they could be arrested without the family losing income
• 3. Bull Connor - police dogs, tear gas, cattle prods, fire hoses
  • direct challenge to Connor - he lost his temper
  • public horrified by images of police brutality against children
• 4. militants begin to question non-violence - losing patience
  • SNCC also involved
  • why should they continue to be arrested and beaten - they have done nothing wrong!
• 5. Birmingham gave in on segregation
  • TV focused national public attention on Birmingham
    • JFK pressured National Retail Merchants Association to pressure their Southern outlets to desegregate
    • JFK ordered end to segregation in federal housing projects
      • MLK accuses President of tokenism and calls for him to do more
• 6. series of bombings targeting black leaders led to riots by blacks targeting whites
  • MLK's hotel room was bombed
  • the home of MLK's brother was bombed
  • blacks responded by burning white owned businesses in black areas
    • This marked the beginning of what became more and more common
    • blacks responding to white violence with their own
  • federal troops sent to restore order
• 7. RFK/JFK decide to support civil rights bill
  • "If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public schools available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who represent him, if , in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place?"
  • "The time has come for this nation to fulfill its promise"...that all men are created equal!
  • Medgar Evers killed the same night that JFK announces the civil rights bill

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (Civil Disobedience - march and boycott)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How does it compare to other tactics so far? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind. Notice that multiple organizations are working together...who should get the most credit? Why? How much credit should the other groups receive?

F. June 1963 - Medgar Evers - head of NAACP assassinated - Jackson, Mississippi

• involved in Meredith case
• 1. All-white jury declared two separate mistrials for the murderer of Medgar Evers
  • (Byron de la Beckwith - from Greenwood)
  • blacks are furious
  • will be convicted in the 1990s
• 2. RFK/JFK decide to support civil rights bill spurred the murder
  • a. southerners against him anyway
  • b. 80% blacks voted Democrat - key to northern cities JFK must win
  • c. violence is denounced in a speech by JFK on the night after Evers is killed
• 3. JFK announces a civil rights bill which he is proposing
• 4. Southern congressmen threaten to slow it in committee

G. August 1963 - March on Washington D.C.

• ORGANIZATION - NAACP, SNCC, SCLC, CORE
• TACTIC - March
• 1. Planned to drum up support for the new civil rights bill
  • Organized by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin
• 2. JFK feared violence called for patience and no march - ignored - he supported the march
• 3. protest to show strength of support for bill - 250,000 show including around 60,000 whites
  • Ralph Bunche
  • James Baldwin
  • Sammy Davis Jr.
  • Harry Belafonte
  • Jackie Robinson
  • Lena Horne
  • Joan Baez
  • Bob Dylan
  • Peter, Paul, and Mary
• 4. "I Have A Dream" speech - MLK (play tape of the speech)
• 5. peaceful nature recruited more followers
  • it was the highwater mark of the non-violent movement
• 6. MLK accused of being an "Uncle Tom" in the north by Malcolm X who stressed separatism
  • SNCC speech by John Lewis hinted at impatience
• 7. 1964 - received the Nobel Peace Prize
• 8. Focused public attention on the law public support applied against legislators yet bill unpassed
  • segregationists stepped up their opposition in Birmingham and the South
    • four girls ages 11-14 were killed in a bombing of their church on a Sunday
      • two weeks after the March on Washington
      • nation horrified by the deaths of innocent children

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (Civil Disobedience - march)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How does it compare to other tactics so far? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind. Which organization gets the most credit for this march? Why? How much should other organizations get? Why?

I. Nov. 22, 1963 - JFK assassinated in Dallas, Tx. - the South is guilty

LBJ becomes President

Evaluation - How did JFK stack up to earlier Presidents? Why do you think so? Look to compare them to LBJ...where did he rank?

A. 24th Amendment - 1/23/64

• 1. prohibited poll tax in federal elections
• 2. affected 5 southern states

B. June, 1964 - Freedom Summer - Tactic

ORGANIZATIONS - SNCC, CORE, SCLC, NAACP

• 1. Conditions in Mississippi
  • 45% black
  • only 5% of those were registered to vote
  • poorest state in the nation
  • mass exodus by both blacks and whites between 1950 and 1960
    • 75% of states college graduates left - including my father
    • we moved in 1960 from Mississippi to Texas
• 2. Background to freedom summer
  • 1962 - COFO - Council of Federated Organizations in 1962
    • SNCC, CORE, NAACP, SCLC
  • 1962 - voter education project
    • Robert Moses - SNCC
    • Medgar Evers - NAACP
  • 1963 - Freedom Vote
    • mock election to show that blacks were interested and potentially powerful
    • 93,000 voted
• 3. GOALS - Freedom Summer - 1964
  • voter registration drive - inspired in part, by a suggestion from JFK
    • educate and register blacks to vote for the 1964 elections
  • organize a Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
    • challenge all-white Democratic Party
    • 80,000 joined
  • create Freedom schools
  • provide legal and medical assistance
• 4. 6/20/64 - invited 800 college students (75% of them white) from around the nation to participate

  • some SNCC leaders objected arguing that it would undermine local black leadership

• 5. First day - 3 civil rights workers including 2 whites disappeared
  • after being arrested in - Philadelphia, Mississippi
    • Cheaney (black) - CORE
    • Schwerner (white) - CORE
    • Goodman (white) - volunteer
  • LBJ sent sailors and FBI to search for the bodies
    • found several bodies
  • National Attention focused on Mississippi (video - "Mississippi Burning")
    • helped in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
    • Republicans who had voted with Southern Democrats were appalled by the violence
  • bodies found under earthen dam
    • a. 20 KKK members were arrested for the murder
    • b. 3 yrs. later jury found 6 guilty of federal civil rights violations - not murder
    • c. 1st time an all white jury found whites guilty in any case concerning blacks in the
      • deep south
• 6. Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
  • At the National Democratic Convention the MFDP failed to get seated
  • The compromise to seat 3 at-large delegates led many in SNCC to question the whole concept of working with whites who might not be really committed to change

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (Civil Disobedience - voter registration)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How does it compare to other tactics so far? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind.

C. Civil Rights Act of 1964 - 7/2/64

• Passed within weeks of the disappearances in Mississippi
  • Senate invoked cloture to end a filibuster
  • placed federal government squarely on the side of civil rights
• 1. Voting
  • a. required that the same standards be applied to blacks and whites
  • b. established 6th grade level for literacy
• 2. Public Accommodations and Public Facilities
  • a. outlawed discrimination where it could - could not touch private clubs
    • ended need for sit-ins etc.
    • Justice Dept. could now prosecute directly
      • saved civil rights organizations time and money
  • b. withheld Federal funds from state and local governments that continued segregation
  • c. eliminated de jure segregation in the South
• 3. Economics
  • a. created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
    • enforcement agency
  • b. prohibited discrimination in hiring on the basis of race, religion, sex, or national origin

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (Legislation)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How does it compare to other tactics so far? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind. Which organization should get the most credit for the passage of this act? Why? What actions were necessary to force the Congress to pass this act?

J. Black Muslims - Nation of Islam

• Founded in the 1931 (inspired by Marcus Garvey)
• Emphasis on self- discipline and self respect
• Glorified blackness - "black is beautiful"
• rejected Christianity, Anglo surnames (Cassius Clay, Lew Alcindor)
• Practiced austerity
• No drinking, no drugs, no gambling, no promiscuity, no smoking
• Many wanted a separate nation for blacks
•  
• Elijah Muhammad (Elijah Poole) - founder
  • adultery charges
• Malcolm X
  • called for black control of of political and economic institutions in black communities
  • "by any means necessary"
  • jeered at King's nonviolence and sit-ins
  • advocated violence in self-defense
  • if you use ballots or bullets, aim well
  • know the white man's language: if he knows the shotgun, you must know it also
  • powerful and provacative speaker
  • formed Black National Party
  • travelled to Mecca, 1964 and converted to Islam
    • saw all men as brothers
    • began to moderate his views
    • believed that blacks and whites could coexist
    • Autobiography - 1965 influenced millions
    • powerful account of the black experience in US
    • Assassinated in Feb 1965 by Muslims
    • became a "symbol" (many never knew he had grown more moderate
• Black Separatism
• Black Nationalism
• 7. Violence occurred throughout the South
  • a. 1,000+ workers were arrested
  • b. 80 beaten, 35 shot
  • c. 37 black churches burned
• June, 1964 - rioting in Philadelphia and Chicago - 1st black violence
  • Jacksonville - bomb threat at a black school brought police
    • students stoned policemen and firemen - led to rioting
    • used molotov cocktails to set fires
  • Cleveland - white minister was killed in an accident
    • when police showed and tried to clear the black crowd violence erupted
    • led to rioting
• July, 1964
  • NYC - students arguing with a white landlord brought police - violence erupted
    • police killed a boy - led to rioting
    • crowd smashed store windows
    • CORE protest march focusing on the 3 deaths in Miss.
      • clashed with police - led to rioting
      • 1 killed 31 wounded
  • Harlem
    • violence seemed to spread from NYC
    • conflicts with police and firemen
    • widespread looting
  • Rochester
    • riot broke out when police tried to arrest an intoxicated black youth at a dance
  • a. James Baldwin - The Fire Next Time
  • b. patience gone - black militants take over
  • c. black discontent over other issues that were ignored
  • d. blacks blamed all of their problems on white society
• 4. Increased violence on both sides reduced NAACP's and SCLC's effectiveness
  • since - court cases now involved all tactics - confused casual supporters
• 5. The Wretched of the Earth - 1961
  • Frantz Fanon justified violence to get colonial independence...or civil rights
• 6. Mississippi Freedom Party
  • 80,000 black members
  • tried to replace white delegation at the 1964 Democratic Convention
  • only offered two at-large seats created further frustration

A. Conditions

• 1. South
  • a. strong arm tactics by police
    • 1. clubbings
    • 2. fire hoses
    • 3. mass arrests
    • 4. dogs and officers on horseback
  • b. KKK - threats of violence
    • 1. black houses and churches bombed
    • 2. civil rights workers beaten and killed
    • 3. state courts do nothing
• 2. North - problems ignored by the non-violent movement
  • a. heckling, fights
  • b. demonstrations, counterdemonstrations
  • c. Urban League (1910)
    • peaceful organization working on these issues was seen as ineffective
    • leader since 1981 - John Jacob
    • I could use more information here...email me.

B. Militant - violent changes in the movement

• 1. Violence by blacks begins to take place mostly in the north due to impatience over the economic problem
• 2. militants slowly take over the movement
• 3. whites excluded - lower class urban blacks became the main players
• 4. Issues shift slowly
  • a. jobs
  • b. housing
  • c. hiring practices
•  

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (Civil Disobedience - Constitutional Amendment)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How does it compare to other tactics so far? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind. Which organization should get credit? Why? That is hard to decide when I don't give you the info isn't it? Who do you think was responsible? What makes you think so?

F. War on Poverty

• inspired by 1962 Michael Harrington book The Other America
  • 40 million in poverty out of 179 million
• 1. Office of Economic Opportunity - 1964 - Sargent Shriver - in charge of the war
• 2. Medicare - 1965 - provided medical care for aged under Social Security
• 3. Medicaid - 1965 - medical benefits to the blind, disabled, or the very poor
• 4. Elementary and Secondary Education Act - $1.3 billion - 1st large scale aid
  • a. money distribute directly to the states
  • b. materials for parochial and public school students
• 5. Higher Education Act - 1965 - college scholarships
• 6. VISTA - Volunteers In Service to America - domestic Peace Corps
  • volunteers working in urban and rural poverty areas
• 7. Head Start Program - preschool for disadvantaged children
  • Upward Bound - High School level - Scholarships to disadvantaged students for college
• 8. Job Corps - camps to train/retrain city youths
• 9. Community Action programs to improve neighborhoods
• 10. Department of Housing and Urban Development - Robert Weaver - black 1st secretary
• 11. Dept. of Transportation - Mass Transit - $375 million
• 12. Minimum Wage increased

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (Legislation)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How does it compare to other tactics so far? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind.

G. Selma Campaign - March, 1965

• MLK - SCLC organized a march from Selma to Montgomery held to draw national attention
• 1. discrimination continued - Selma, Alabama became the battleground
• 2. 335 out of 15,000 eligible to vote were registered
• 3. Black Sunday - 3 white civil rights protesters were beaten to death in the streets
  • troopers on horseback attacked marchers crossing a bridge
  • violence shown on national television
• 4. Another march was held to protest the murders
• 5. Trial found all murders innocent
• 6. Violence inspired change - LBJ proposed voting rights act

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (Civil Disobedience - march)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How does it compare to other tactics so far? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind.

H. Voting Rights Act - 8/6/65

• 1. Literacy tests suspended
• 2. only requirements to vote - age and residency
• 3. Federal registrars sent to register voters where <50% of voting population voted
• 4. Effects
  • a. 1957 - 25% of blacks in South registered
  • b. 1972 - 65%

Evaluation - To this point how effective was this tactic (Legislation)? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How does it compare to other tactics so far? More evidence is presented later...see if it changes your mind. Which organization should get credit for the passage of this act? Why?

I. Watts Riot

• worst race riot since WW II
• 5 days after the Voting Rights Act was signed
• started with a traffic violation - white cop - black motorist
• six days of violence
• 34 died
• $40 million damage
• National Guard called in to stop the violence
• Whites were shocked
  • assumed racial conflict was a southern problem
  • assumed that changing the laws had solved the problem
  • de facto segregation not addressed by civil rights acts
• Frustration, anger - nothing had changed in northern cities
  • see James Baldwin
  • felt non violent civil disobedience was useless

Evaluation - If at this point you believed that the civil rights movement was making progress then why did this happen? Who was responsible? What could be done to prevent it from happening again?

K. SNCC abandons civil disobedience

• Stokely Carmichael
• Black Power
• H. Rap Brown

I do actually have lecture notes that go here, however I do not feel that they are adequate. Have a better source? Send me email.

L. Black Panther Party (for Self-Defense)

• Founded in Oakland, California - 1966
• Leaders
  • Huey Newton (24) - Minister of Defense
    • "Every time you go execute a white racist Gestapo cop, you are defending yourself."
    • "It won't be a couple of cops, when the time comes, it will be part of a whole national coordinated effort."
  • Bobby Seale (29) - Chairman
    • "Black people can't just mass on the streets and riot. They'll shoot us down. Instead it is necessary to organized into small groups to take care of business."
    • He called for the us of molotov cocktails against white industry if they didn't get what they wanted.
  • Eldridge Cleaver (who kicked out Stokley Carmichael - accusing him of being a CIA spy)
• Membership - 75 - 200 in August, 1967
• Party Platform
  • 1. We want freedom. We want the power to determne the destiny of our Black Community
  • 2. We want full employment for our people.
  • 3. We want an end to the robbery by the capitalists of our Black Community.
  • 4. We want decent housting, fit for shelter of human beings.
  • 5. We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American
    • society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in present day society.
  • 6. We want all black men to be exempt from military service.
  • 7. We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of black people.
  • 8. We want freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county, and city prisons and
    • jails.
    • Cited 2nd amendment right to bear arms and called on all black people to arm themselves for self-defense.
    • No party member was alled to use, point, or fire a weapon of any kind unnecessarily.
  • 9. We want all black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer
    • group or people from their black communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States.
  • 10.We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace. And as our
    • major political objective, a United Nations - supervised plebiscite to be held throughout the black colony in which only black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate, for the purpose of determining the will of black people as to their national identity. (Include the Declaration of Independence - word for word)
• Anti-poverty programs
  • Black Panthers work to create new anti-poverty programs in their own neighborhoods
    • were often overlooked
  • They had collected signitures to try and create a citizen's review board to oversee police
    • the all-white city council had ignored their requests
  • They protested rent evictions
  • counselled welfare recipients on their rights
  • taught black history courses
• Marxist-oriented revolutionary movement - viewed America as the center of world imperialism
  • introduced to the standard works of militant black revolution
    • Franz Fanon - Wretched of the Earth
    • Malcolm X - both Seale and Newton mentioned his primary influence
      • They based their program on the Black Muslim movement
      • minus the religion
    • W.E.B. DuBois
    • Marcus Garvey
  • Also introduced to Mao's Little Red Book
  • Expected race war - identified with African nationalist movements
  • called for black control of inner cities - black separatism and black nationalism
  • paramilitary (armed for self defense), preached revolution
    • recruited gangs
    • defense patrols
      • Four Panthers armed with shotguns followed police through the ghetto
      • They also carried law books and tape recorders
      • They observed arrests and raised bail for those arrested
  • famous for shootouts with police who were viewed as a foreign occupying army
  • Huey Newton was jailed after a shootout in which he killed two white police in a black ghetto - he claimed self-defense - 1967
    • According to the Black Panthers he was a "child of Malcolm X"
    • determined to get black freedom "by any means necessary"
    • felt that they had been hounded by the state
  • took headlines from other aspects of the movement
    • helped to create white backlash

K. Kerner Commission Report - 1968

• "Our nations is moving toward two societies, one black, one white - separate and unequal."

Evaluation - So how did LBJ do compared to the previous Presidents we have looked at? Why did you rank him where you did? Check to see how Nixon did. The notes from here to the end are fragmentary...I have work in progress to improve that, however it will be some time before you see it.

A. Southern Strategy - Nixon

• must win southern votes to stay President cater to Southern interests without losing Northern vote
  • 1. Agnew role in the Southern Strategy was to attack
    • liberals
    • commies
    • hippies
    • while defending traditional American values
  • 2. Nixon focus on civil rights and crime as areas to criticize liberals
    • especially the Supreme Court, while doing little himself

B. Civil Rights - goal - win Southern support through benign neglect

• accused Supreme Court of being too liberal and overreacting to segregation
• 1. HEW - Robert Finch - was withholding funds when token integration existed as in Mississippi
  • 1969 - Nixon refused to withhold funds in an attempt to win white southern support - sued
• 2. 10/69 Alexander v. Holmes - forced Miss. to integrate - Nixon lost
• 3. 1970 - Voting Rights Act of 1965 - renewal vetoed / overridden
  • said problem no longer existed
• 4. 1970 - US Commission on Civil Rights reports major breakdown in enforcement
• 5. US Sup Ct. - Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg - 1971 - forced busing - Nixon opposed lost
  • a. North and South protested
  • b. busing required - if necessary for integration
    • Nixon defined "if" as "never"
  • c. Nixon blocked enforcement handed the problem to Congress
    • who delayed till after election - hot
  • d. Congress agreed with Nixon
    • liberal filibuster killed law to block busing
  • e. thus leaving it to the Courts who have no ability to enforce their decisions
  • f. 9/74 - violence in Boston
  • g. Miligan v. Bradley - busing inner city to suburbs not mandatory
    • partial victory for Nixon
• 6. federal employment of blacks increased
• 7. construction jobs to minorities increased

C. Law and Order and Crime

• 1. Nixon declared war on the supreme court for being soft on criminals
  • a. Furman v. Georgia - 1972 - death penalty
    • 600- prisoners overturned
    • cruel and unusual punishment as applied (unevenly) was unconstitutional
    • this decision came even after Nixon changes court
• 2. Omnibus Crime Bill - 1970
  • a. $1 billion to fight crime
  • b. fastest growing part of govt.
  • c. new laws - drugs, anti-organized crime, preventive detention
    • increase in wiretaps non-search warrant situations
  • d. Result - failure - crime rate increased
• 3. two cases showed conservative influence of Nixon on court
  • a. 1972 sup ct unanimous decision only req. in fed cases except death penalty
  • b. Gregg v. Georgia - 1976
    • stated that death penalty itself was acceptable
    • two stage (conviction / punishment) trial approved bringing back the death penalty

D. Supreme Court

• 1. Criticized the Warren Ct. as too liberal towards criminals and in civil rights
• 2. 1969 appointed Warren Burger as chief justice - attempted to make the court conservative
• 3. goal - strict interpretation of the Constitution
  • a. Haynesworth and Carswell rejected as too racist among other issues
    • Nixon looked good to southerners
  • b. Blackmun, Powell, and William Rehnquist also appointed
• 4. Succeeded in making the court more conservative while winning Southern support
• 5. Allan Bakke Case - began in 1973
  • reverse discrimination
  • white backlash
  • Bakke v. U.California at Davis - 1978
    • mixed decision
    • affirmative action - constitutional
    • firm racial quotas - unconstitutional

E. Jimmy Carter

• Andrew Young
• 12% black appointees

Gains

• By 1982 black elected officials had grown in number
  • 21 in Congress
  • over 6,000 state and local black elected officials
• Douglas Wilder (D) - first African American governor ever
  • 1989
  • Virginia
• Jesse Jackson - serious candidate for President
  • 1984 and 1988
  • received 7 million votes in 1988

F. Ronald Reagan and George Bush - continue the Southern Strategy

• opposed busing
• dismantled some affirmative-action programs
• opposed renewal of the Voting Rights Act - 1965 originally
• gave economic support to all-white private schools
  • overturned by the Supreme Court - 1983
• weakened the civil rights commission
  • benign neglect
• appointed judges that were anti-civil rights
  • Freeman v. Pitts - 1992
    • Atlanta suburban schools not segregated due to white flight
    • granted local school districts relief
    • allowed them to remain segregated
• Clarence Thomas appointed to the Supreme Court - 1992
  • replacing Thurgood Marshall
  • only black on the court

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