“Our lives begin to end the day we become MLK

“Our lives begin to end the day we become
silent about things that matter.”
MLK
A New Museum in Louisiana
• http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/magazi
ne/building-the-first-slave-museum-inamerica.html?_r=0#
The façade at Canterbury Cathedral:
Dedicated to those who died for their faith
Civil Rights
1954-1965
Worksheet on Events prior to 1950
Time Magazine on Brown Decision
Power point as overview with notes
Handout of terms and names to know
Film Clips: Eyes on the Prize and others
Significant legislation and court cases
Documents: Photos and Cartoons
STAAR: What you need to know
“Shallow understanding from
people of good will is more
frustrating than absolute
misunderstanding from people of ill
will.”
MLK
Can one person make a difference?
FDR’s Four Freedoms Speech-- January 6, 1941
‘‘We look forward to a world
founded upon four essential
freedoms.
The first is freedom
of speech and expression…
The second is freedom of a person
to worship God in his own way…
The third is freedom from want…
The fourth is freedom from fear…’’
Civil Rights Ideas
• Will of the individual vs. the collective will of the state
• Can laws change attitudes?
• Can morality be legislated?
• Is it the job of the federal government to force change
upon a collective culture?
• How can we enforce a “new morality”?
• States rights vs. the strong federal government (Civil War
and Civil Rights—1860 vs. 1960)
Read about Civil Rights Before 1950
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
I. Introduction to Civil Rights: WWII
•
African Americans served as officers in the segregated
military
•
The defense industry was
de-segregated by executive order
(inspired by A. Philip Randolph)
•
The G.I. Bill helped returning
soldiers enter the middle class
•
The Nuremberg Laws were too
similar to Jim Crow Laws of segregation
II. Voting Rights were curbed since
Reconstruction, 1877-1965 (called
disenfranchisement):
• Poll Tax
• Grandfather Clause
• Intimidation by KKK
• Literacy Tests (you try it!)
• Gerrymandering (re-drawing Congressional
districts)
III. Segregation was still enforced by
Jim Crow Laws regarding:
• Schools (supported by Plessy case of 1896 and
overturned by Brown case of 1954)
• Public transportation
• Restaurants (‘‘lunch counters’’)
• Shopping facilities
• Entertainment
• Hotels
• Water fountains and restrooms
• Neighborhoods
• Intermarriage laws
Two kinds of segregation
• De jure—segregation by law (South)
• De facto—segregation by practice or custom
(North)
IV. Some Civil Rights successes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Great migration and rise of black middle class
Black universities
NAACP
Harlem Renaissance
New Deal programs
Music industry
Jesse Owen—Olympian
Jackie Robinson--Baseball
And…
• Truman’s Executive Order 9981 desegregating
the army and federal government--1947
(Response of the ‘Dixiecrats’ split the
Democratic Party in the Election of 1948Truman still won)
V. How to fight segregation?
• Thoreau’s ideas of Civil Disobedience (passive
resistance and strategy of non-violence)
(Thoreau—American transcendentalist of 1800s)
• Used by Gandhi for independence of India against
Great Britain after WWII
(Gandhi—political and religious revolutionary of
1900s)
• Used by King and others…
Litigation (Lawsuits)
• In 1951, the NAACP took the case representing twenty
school children suing the district of Topeka, Kansas
calling for desegregation of schools
• The Supreme Court in 1954 Brown v. Board of
Education called for an end to segregation of American
public schools
• It took ten years to enforce it
• In Denton, it was fourteen years before the first
integrated graduating class at Denton High School
Note:
Civil Rights issues addressed by the three
branches of government
• Executive—the enforcement and executive
orders (Presidents)
• Legislative—new laws (Congress)
• Judicial—interpretation of the Constitution
and lower laws (Supreme Court)
Civil Rights patterns…
• One step backward
and
• Two steps forward…
Selma—Fifty Years Later
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=lL-4I18JFFU
“Change Gonna Come”
VI. Organizations
• NAACP—Litigation (court cases—they sue people)
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)—
boycotts—led by MLK
• Students Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC)—sit-ins—lunch counters
• Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)—Freedom Rides-buses
• National Urban League—focused on issues in cities
• Nation of Islam—led by Malcolm X
• Black Panthers—militant group founded by Bobby
Seale in California, 1967
Locations—see Atlas p. 107
Eyes on the Prize—Film Events (1954-65)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Emmitt Till (Mississippi)
Montgomery Bus Boycott (Alabama)
Little Rock Nine and Central High School (Arkansas)
Nashville Sit-ins (North Carolina and Tennessee)
Freedom Riders/Albany Demonstrations (arrest of King—Georgia)
Birmingham Demonstrations (arrest of King—Alabama)
JFK’s Civil Rights Act proposed
March on Washington, August 1963
Voting Registration Efforts
Malcolm X and Northern Efforts
Assassination of Medgar Evers (Mississippi)
Mississippi Summer Project
Freedom Summer and the Murder of Three Students (Mississippi)
Mississippi Freedom Party and The 1964 Democratic Convention
Selma Voting Registration and Boycotts (Alabama)
March from Selma to Montgomery (Alabama)
Film Clips
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEcpJQxtswA
&list=PLLhY3eIpgOKQ8gYBzABUJaLz6sB5M6JqH
• 1950s: Happy Days Part 2—Montgomery, Little
Rock
• 1960s: Poisoned Dream Part 1—Sit-ins
• Poisoned Dream Part 2—3:18
Civil Rights, Freedom Riders, Birmingham,
March on Washington
VII. White Resistance
• Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina (filibusterer and
Dixiecrat)
• Southern Democrats in Congress (tried to defeat Civil Rights
legislation)
• Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas (blocked the Little Rock Nine)
• Governor George Wallace of Alabama (Birmingham, Selma, and
“stood at the school house door” at the Univ. of Alabama to keep
students from enrolling)
• Police Chief Bull Connor (sent dogs and used fire hoses on students
in Birmingham)
• Businessman Lester Maddox wielded an axe handle at activists
trying to enter his “whites only” restaurant—he sold his restaurants
when ordered to integrate and won election for Governor of
Georgia
Legislation: Civil Rights Act of 1957
• Effort to increase African-American voter participation
and integration of public schools
• Filibuster in Senate led by Strom Thurmond of SC
slowed its passage
• Changes to the bill watered down its intentions and
effectiveness
• Created Civil Rights Commission with authority to
investigate and report on cases involving discrimination
VIII. Significant
Legislation
• Civil Rights Act of 1964—made
segregation illegal
• Voting Rights Act of 1965—made literacy
tests and grandfather clause illegal
• 24th Amendment—eliminated poll tax
• 26th amendment—gave 18-year olds the vote
• Practice of Affirmative Action in work place, college
admissions, etc.
Review of Amendments
(on STAAR)
• 13th—ended slavery
• 14th—citizenship for former slaves
• 15th—suffrage for former slaves
(Remember: “Free citizens vote.”)
• 19th—women’s suffrage
• 24th—ended poll tax
• 26th —suffrage for 18 year olds
Court Cases dealing with Civil Rights
Three years ago, March 27, 2013:
United States v. Windsor
(focuses on The Defense of Marriage Act, DOMA
and 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause)
Summer 2015—legalization of gay marriage
The Mendez Case
(Mendez v. Westminster)
• 1944—Orange County, California
• Hispanic families sued for students to attend local
schools
• Courts heard testimony regarding culture and language
• Ruled to de-segregate California schools. This applied
to Asian Americans and African Americans also
• The Anderson Law passed and was signed by Governor
Earl Warren
• Warren was later named as the chief justice of the
Supreme Court and wrote the ruling for Brown v. The
Board of Education
• The Warren Court is famous for “liberal” decisions
(Miranda rights, etc.)
IX. Civil Rights Court Cases
• A.Dred Scott v. Sanford—1857—ruled for
slavery everywhere in the U.S.—overturned
in 1865 by the 13th & 14th amendments
• B.Plessy v. Ferguson—1896—ruled for
segregation—“separate but equal”—
overturned by Brown decision
• C.Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka
1954—ruled to desegregate schools—
referred to 14th
amendment
• D. Heart of Atlanta Motel v.
U.S.—1964
Referred to commerce
clause of Civil Rights Act of
1964—ruled against any
segregation in commercial
areas
• E. Loving v. Virginia—
1967—ruled against
miscegenation laws—cited
14th amendment
“One Man, One Vote”
F. Reynolds v. Sims—1964—Congressional
reapportionment based on most recent census
date—each legislative district should be
approximately equal in population.
• G. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenberg Board of
Education—1971
Upheld integration of schools to be achieved by busing
if necessary
• H. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke—
1978
Upheld affirmative action but ruled against rigid use of
racial quotas
• I. Shaw v. Reno—1993
Ruled that racial gerrymandering was illegal—upheld
Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment
Texas Civil Rights Cases
• Mendez v. Westminster ISD—1944, Calif.—ended school segregation in
California for all groups (set precedent for Brown case and Texas cases)
• Delgado v. Bastrop ISD—1948, TX—ended school segregation in TX for
Mexican Americans
• Sweatt v. Painter—1950—led to University of Texas allowing a black
student to attend law school
• Hernandez v. Texas—1954, TX—equal protection of the 14th Amendment
for Mexican Americans
• White v. Regester—1973, TX—TX re-districting was discriminating against
minorities
• Edgewood ISD v. Kirby—1993, TX—school districts treated equally
regardless of tax base (“Robin Hood”)
Tinker v. Des Moines, 1969
• 1st amendment rights applied to students
Wisconsin v. Yoder, 1972
• Amish families sued saying their children
should not have compulsory education past
8th grade
• Upheld 1st amendment rights
How have things changed?
Matching
• Thurgood Marshall
• Martin Luther King
• John Lewis
• Shirley Chisholm
• Malcolm X
• SNCC sit-ins, current
Congressman from Georgia
• Congresswoman from NY who
ran for President in 1968
• Leader of Nation of Islam
• Leader of SCLC—led
Montgomery Bus Boycott
• NAACP lawyer who won case
of Brown v. Board of
Education—later justice of
Supreme Court
Favorite Civil Rights Books
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
To Kill a Mockingbird
Warriors Don’t Cry
The Help
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Invisible Man
A Lesson Before Dying
The Wedding
Quakertown
White Lilacs
Secret Life of Bees
Roots
The Autobiography of Miss Jean Pittmann
The Warmth of Other Suns
Between the World and Me
Favorite Civil Rights Films
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mississippi Burning
Ghosts of Mississippi
In the Heat of the Night
Remember the Titans
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Great Debate
Glory Road
The Defiant Ones
Raisin in the Sun
Driving Miss Daisy
Hairspray
Roots
The Autobiography of Miss Jean Pittmann
The Help
42
Lee Daniels’ The Butler
Selma
Long Walk Home
Race (new in 2016)
States rights vs. Federal Government
•
•
•
•
•
What does this mean?
How did the Civil War resolve it or did it?
How was this an issue in the 1950s and 1960s?
How is this an issue today?
View the next slide: Which side does Wallace
represent?
• Which side does the Deputy Attorney General
represent?
• Which side does the trooper represent?
Governor George Wallace “standing at the school house door”
blocking Deputy Attorney General Katzenbach—defying
integration efforts. What moral compromises would a trooper
have to make if any?
King in the Birmingham Jail, 1963
• Is it always wrong to
defy the law?
• When, if ever, is it right
to defy a society’s laws?
• Who are models of Civil
Disobedience?
Read the Letter from Birmingham Jail
1.
List everything you think is an
injustice.
2.
List everything you think is illegal
today.
3.
What types of actions are
regulated by laws?
4. Some people say you can’t
change behavior by passing laws,
but that is what laws do. Which
actions would be the most
difficult to change?
5. How have conditions described in
King’s letter changed today?
Malcolm or Martin?
Pair and Share
• Whose philosophy made the most sense for
America in the 1960’s, Martin’s or
Malcolm’s?
Explain and back up your argument with
details from the documents provided.
AP Supplement—see Atlas p. 107, AP
Guide, Ch. 23 p. 153-161
• Map of Freedom Ride, Movement Incidents, Civil
Rights Act vote in Congress
• Slaughterhouse Cases and 1883 Civil rights Cases
• Film: Birth of a Nation, 1915
• Marcus Garvey
• FDR’s Fair Employment Practices Commission (and A.
Philip Randolph)
Leadership and Methods
• King—SCLC—method?
• Roy Wilkins—NAACP—method?
• Stokely Carmichael and Bob Moses—SNCC—
method?
• Huey Newton—Black Panthers—method?
• Malcolm X—Black Muslims—method?
• Note: Ida Wells-Barnett, Ella Baker, Diane Nash,
Shirley Chisholm