THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

 

NB : THIS SITE IS CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN AND SO THE INFORMATION ON HERE IS A SERIES OF HANDOUTS GIVEN TO MY GROUP THIS YEAR. DETAILED FOCUSED NOTES WILL APPEAR HERE SHORTLY.

 

1. THE TREATMENT OF BLACKS BEFORE CIVIL RIGHTS

 

TREATMENT OF BLACKS IN THE USA BEFORE THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

SOURCE A

 

SOURCE B

 

 

SOURCE C

In his book, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, Martin Luther King described how racial segregation was organised on buses in Alabama.

Frequently Negroes paid their fare at the front door, and then were forced to get off and reboard at the rear. An even more humiliating practice was the custom of forcing Negroes to stand over empty seats reserved for "whites only". Even if the bus had no white passengers, and Negroes were packed throughout, they were prohibited from sitting in the front four seats (which held ten persons). But the practice went further. If white persons were already occupying all of their reserved seats and additional white people boarded the bus. Negroes sitting in the unreserved section immediately behind the whites were asked to stand so that the whites could be seated. If the Negroes refused to stand and move back, they were arrested.

 

SOURCE D

Ida Wells (1862-1931), an African American journalist, was one of the leaders of the fight against Jim Crow laws.

In the ten years succeeded the Civil War thousands of Negroes were murdered for the crime of casting a ballot. As a consequence their vote is entirely nullified throughout the entire South. The laws of the Southern states make it a crime for whites and Negroes to inter-marry or even ride in the same railway carriage. Both crimes are punishable by fine and imprisonment. The doors of churches, hotels, concert halls and reading rooms are alike closed against the Negro as a man, but every place is open to him as a servant.

 

SOURCE E

“JIM CROW” LAWS FROM VARIOUS AMERICAN STATES

Nurses No person or corporation shall require any white female nurse to nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which negro men are placed. Alabama

Buses All passenger stations in this state operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races. Alabama

Railroads The conductor of each passenger train is authorized and required to assign each passenger to the car or the division of the car, when it is divided by a partition, designated for the race to which such passenger belongs. Alabama

Restaurants It shall be unlawful to conduct a restaurant or other place for the serving of food in the city, at which white and colored people are served in the same room, unless such white and colored persons are effectually separated by a solid partition extending from the floor upward to a distance of seven feet or higher, and unless a separate entrance from the street is provided for each compartment. Alabama

Pool and Billiard Rooms It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other at any game of pool or billiards. Alabama

Toilet Facilities, Male Every employer of white or negro males shall provide for such white or negro males reasonably accessible and separate toilet facilities. Alabama

Intermarriage The marriage of a person of Caucasian blood with a Negro, Mongolian, Malay, or Hindu shall be null and void. Arizona

Intermarriage All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the fourth generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited. Florida

Cohabitation Any negro man and white woman, or any white man and negro woman, who are not married to each other, who shall habitually live in and occupy in the nighttime the same room shall each be punished by imprisonment not exceeding twelve (12) months, or by fine not exceeding five hundred ($500.00) dollars. Florida

Education The schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately. Florida

Juvenile Delinquents There shall be separate buildings, not nearer than one fourth mile to each other, one for white boys and one for negro boys. White boys and negro boys shall not, in any manner, be associated together or worked together. Florida

Mental Hospitals The Board of Control shall see that proper and distinct apartments are arranged for said patients, so that in no case shall Negroes and white persons be together. Georgia

Intermarriage It shall be unlawful for a white person to marry anyone except a white person. Any marriage in violation of this section shall be void. Georgia

Barbers No colored barber shall serve as a barber [to] white women or girls. Georgia

Burial The officer in charge shall not bury, or allow to be buried, any colored persons upon ground set apart or used for the burial of white persons. Georgia

Restaurants All persons licensed to conduct a restaurant, shall serve either white people exclusively or colored people exclusively and shall not sell to the two races within the same room or serve the two races anywhere under the same license. Georgia

Amateur Baseball It shall be unlawful for any amateur white baseball team to play baseball on any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of a playground devoted to the Negro race, and it shall be unlawful for any amateur colored baseball team to play baseball in any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of any playground devoted to the white race. Georgia

Parks It shall be unlawful for colored people to frequent any park owned or maintained by the city for the benefit, use and enjoyment of white persons...and unlawful for any white person to frequent any park owned or maintained by the city for the use and benefit of colored persons. Georgia

Wine and Beer All persons licensed to conduct the business of selling beer or wine...shall serve either white people exclusively or colored people exclusively and shall not sell to the two races within the same room at any time. Georgia

Reform Schools The children of white and colored races committed to the houses of reform shall be kept entirely separate from each other. Kentucky

Circus Tickets All circuses, shows, and tent exhibitions, to which the attendance of...more than one race is invited or expected to attend shall provide for the convenience of its patrons not less than two ticket offices with individual ticket sellers, and not less than two entrances to the said performance, with individual ticket takers and receivers, and in the case of outside or tent performances, the said ticket offices shall not be less than twenty-five (25) feet apart. Louisiana

Housing Any person...who shall rent any part of any such building to a negro person or a negro family when such building is already in whole or in part in occupancy by a white person or white family, or vice versa when the building is in occupancy by a negro person or negro family, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five ($25.00) nor more than one hundred ($100.00) dollars or be imprisoned not less than 10, or more than 60 days, or both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. Louisiana

The Blind The board of trustees shall...maintain a separate building...on separate ground for the admission, care, instruction, and support of all blind persons of the colored or black race. Louisiana

Intermarriage All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, or between a white person and a member of the Malay race; or between the negro a nd a member of the Malay race; or between a person of Negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, and a member of the Malay race, are forever prohibited, and shall be void. Maryland

Railroads All railroad companies and corporations, and all persons running or operating cars or coaches by steam on any railroad line or track in the State of Maryland, for the transportation of passengers, are hereby required to provide separate cars or coaches for the travel and transportation of the white and colored passengers. Maryland

Education Separate schools shall be maintained for the children of the white and colored races. Mississippi

Promotion of Equality Any person...who shall be guilty of printing, publishing or circulating printed, typewritten or written matter urging or presenting for public acceptance or general information, arguments or suggestions in favor of social equality or of intermarriage between whites and negroes, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to fine or not exceeding five hundred (500.00) dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six (6) months or both. Mississippi

Intermarriage The marriage of a white person with a negro or mulatto or person who shall have one-eighth or more of negro blood, shall be unlawful and void. Mississippi

Hospital Entrances There shall be maintained by the governing authorities of every hospital maintained by the state for treatment of white and colored patients separate entrances for white and colored patients and visitors, and such entrances shall be used by the race only for which they are prepared. Mississippi

Prisons The warden shall see that the white convicts shall have separate apartments for both eating and sleeping from the negro convicts. Mississippi

Education Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school. Missouri

Intermarriage All marriages between...white persons and negroes or white persons and Mongolians...are prohibited and declared absolutely void...No person having one-eighth part or more of negro blood shall be permitted to marry any white person, nor shall any white person be permitted to marry any negro or person having one-eighth part or more of negro blood. Missouri

Education Separate rooms [shall] be provided for the teaching of pupils of African descent, and [when] said rooms are so provided, such pupils may not be admitted to the school rooms occupied and used by pupils of Caucasian or other descent. New Mexico

Textbooks Books shall not be interchangeable between the white and colored schools, but shall continue to be used by the race first using them. North Carolina

Libraries The state librarian is directed to fit up and maintain a separate place for the use of the colored people who may come to the library for the purpose of reading books or periodicals. North Carolina

Militia The white and colored militia shall be separately enrolled, and shall never be compelled to serve in the same organization.No organization of colored troops shall be permitted where white troops are available, and while white permitted to be organized, colored troops shall be under the command of white officers. North Carolina

Transportation The...Utilities Commission...is empowered and directed to require the establishment of separate waiting rooms at all stations for the white and colored races. North Carolina

Teaching Any instructor who shall teach in any school, college or institution where members of the white and colored race are received and enrolled as pupils for instruction shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00) for each offense. Oklahoma

Fishing, Boating, and Bathing The [Conservation] Commission shall have the right to make segregation of the white and colored races as to the exercise of rights of fishing, boating and bathing. Oklahoma

Mining The baths and lockers for the negroes shall be separate from the white race, but may be in the same building. Oklahoma

Telephone Booths The Corporation Commission is hereby vested with power and authority to require telephone companies...to maintain separate booths for white and colored patrons when there is a demand for such separate booths. That the Corporation Commission shall determine the necessity for said separate booths only upon complaint of the people in the town and vicinity to be served after due hearing as now provided by law in other complaints filed with the Corporation Commission. Oklahoma

Lunch Counters No persons, firms, or corporations, who or which furnish meals to passengers at station restaurants or station eating houses, in times limited by common carriers of said passengers, shall furnish said meals to white and colored passengers in the same room, or at the same table, or at the same counter. South Carolina

Child Custody It shall be unlawful for any parent, relative, or other white person in this State, having the control or custody of any white child, by right of guardianship, natural or acquired, or otherwise, to dispose of, give or surrender such white child permanently into the custody, control, maintenance, or support, of a negro. South Carolina

Libraries Any white person of such county may use the county free library under the rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioners court and may be entitled to all the privileges thereof. Said court shall make proper provision for the negroes of said county to be served through a separate branch or branches of the county free library, which shall be administered by [a] custodian of the negro race under the supervision of the county librarian. Texas

Education [The County Board of Education] shall provide schools of two kinds; those for white children and those for colored children. Texas

Theaters Every person...operating...any public hall, theatre, opera house, motion picture show or any place of public entertainment or public assemblage which is attended by both white and colored persons, shall separate the white race and the colored race and shall set apart and designate...certain seats therein to be occupied by white persons and a portion thereof , or certain seats therein, to be occupied by colored persons. Virginia

Railroads The conductors or managers on all such railroads shall have power, and are hereby required, to assign to each white or colored passenger his or her respective car, coach or compartment. If the passenger fails to disclose his race, the conductor and managers, acting in good faith, shall be the sole judges of his race. Virginia

Intermarriage All marriages of white persons with Negroes, Mulattos, Mongolians, or Malaya hereafter contracted in the State of Wyoming are and shall be illegal and void. Wyoming

 

SOURCE F

 



Lynching of Rubin Stacy at Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1935.

 

SOURCE G – An account of lynching by Ho Chi Minh

"Imagine a furious horde. Fists clenched, eyes bloodshot, mouths foaming, yells, insults, curses ... This horde is transported with the wild delight of a crime to be committed without risk. They are armed with sticks, torches, revolvers, ropes, knives, scissors, daggers, in a word with all that can be used to kill or wound ... In a wave of hatred and bestiality, the lynchers drag the black to a wood or a public place. They tie him to a tree, pour keresene over him ... 'Light up', shouts someone ... The black is roasted, browned, burnt. But he deserves to die twice instead of once. He is therefore hanged, or more exactly, what is left of the corpse is hanged. And all those who were not able to help with the cooking applaud. When everybody has had enough, the corpse is brought down. The rope is cut into small pieces which will be sold for three or five dollars each. Souvenirs and lucky charms quarrelled over by ladies ... From 1889 to 1919, 2600 blacks were lynched, including 51 women and girls and ten former Great War soldiers ... Among the charges brought against the victims of 1919, we note : one of having distributed revolutionary publications; one of expressing his opinion on lynchings too frequently; one of having been known as a leader of the cause of the blacks; one for not getting out of the way and thus frightening a white child who was in a motor car ... In 30 years, 708 whites, including 11 women, have been lynched. Some for having organised strikes, others for having espoused the cause of the blacks."

SOURCE H   Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968)

I was now working for one of the meanest white women in town, and a week before school started Emmett Till was killed.

Up until his death, I had heard of Negroes found floating in a river or dead somewhere with their bodies riddled with bullets. But I didn't know the mystery behind these killings then.

When they had finished dinner and gone into the living room as usual to watch TV, Mrs. Burke called me to eat. I took a clean plate out of the cabinet and sat down. Just as I was putting the first forkful of food in my mouth, Mrs. Burke entered the kitchen.

"Essie, did you hear about that fourteen-year-old boy who was killed in Greenwood?" she asked me, sitting down in one of the chairs opposite me.

"No, I didn't hear that," I answered, almost choking on the food.

"Do you know why he was killed?" she asked and I didn't answer.

"He was killed because he got out of his place with a white woman. A boy from Mississippi would have known better than that. This boy was from Chicago. Negroes up North have no respect for people. They think they can get away with anything. He just came to Mississippi and put a whole lot of notions in the boys' heads here and stirred up a lot of trouble," she said passionately.

"How old are you, Essie?" she asked me after a pause.

"Fourteen, I will soon be fifteen though," I said.

"See, that boy was just fourteen too. It's a shame he had to die so soon." She was red in the face, she looked as if she was on fire.

When she left the kitchen I sat there with my mouth open and my food untouched. I couldn't have eaten now if I were starving. "Just do your work like you don't know nothing" ran through my mind again and I began washing the dishes.

I went home shaking like a leaf on a tree. For the first time out of all her trying, Mrs. Burke had made me feel like rotten garbage. Many times she had tried to instill fear within me and subdue me and had given up. But when she talked about Emmett Till there was something in her voice that sent chills and fear all over me.

Before Emmett Till's murder, I had known the fear of hunger, hell, and the Devil. But now there was a new fear known to me - the fear of being killed just because I was black. This was the worst of my fears. I knew once I got food, the fear of starving to death would leave. I also was told that if I were a good girl, I wouldn't have to fear the Devil or hell. But I didn't know what one had to do or not do as a Negro not to be killed. Probably just being a Negro period was enough, I thought.

I was fifteen years old when I began to hate people. I hated the white men who murdered Emmett Till and I hated all the other whites who were responsible for the countless murders Mrs. Rice (my teacher) had told me about and those I vaguely remembered from childhood. But I also hated Negroes. I hated them for not standing up and doing something about the murders. In fact, I think I had a stronger resentment toward Negroes for letting the whites kill them than toward the whites.

 

SOURCE I

Seated in Rear No Dogs, Negros, Mexicans 

 

 

 

 

 

The following Jim Crow etiquette norms show how inclusive and pervasive these norms were:

  1. A Black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a White male because it implied being socially equal. Obviously, a Black male could not offer his hand or any other part of his body to a White woman, because he risked being accused of rape.
  2. Blacks and Whites were not supposed to eat together. If they did eat together, Whites were to be served first, and some sort of partition was to be placed between them.
  3. Under no circumstance was a Black male to offer to light the cigarette of a White female -- that gesture implied intimacy.
  4. Blacks were not allowed to show public affection toward one another in public, especially kissing, because it offended Whites.
  5. Jim Crow etiquette prescribed that Blacks were introduced to Whites, never Whites to Blacks. For example: "Mr. Peters (the White person), this is Charlie (the Black person), that I spoke to you about."
  6. Whites did not use courtesy titles of respect when referring to Blacks, for example, Mr., Mrs., Miss., Sir, or Ma'am. Instead, Blacks were called by their first names. Blacks had to use courtesy titles when referring to Whites, and were not allowed to call them by their first names.
  7. If a Black person rode in a car driven by a White person, the Black person sat in the back seat, or the back of a truck.
  8. White motorists had the right-of-way at all intersections.

Stetson Kennedy, the author of Jim Crow Guide, offered these simple rules that Blacks were supposed to observe in conversing with Whites:

  1. Never assert or even intimate that a White person is lying.
  2. Never impute dishonorable intentions to a White person.
  3. Never suggest that a White person is from an inferior class.
  4. Never lay claim to, or overly demonstrate, superior knowledge or intelligence.
  5. Never curse a White person.
  6. Never laugh derisively at a White person.
  7. Never comment upon the appearance of a White female.1

 

 

2. WHY THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT TOOK OFF AFTER THE WAR

WHY CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT TOOK OFF

(i) ECONOMIC PROSPERITY

WW2 MADE USA INTO WEALTHIEST NATION – EVEN THOUGH BLACKS STILL POORER THAN WHITES, THEIR ECONOMIC POSITION WAS STILL BETTER THAN BEFORE THE WAR – BLACKS STARTED TO USE THEIR WEALTH AS A WEAPON, ECONOMIC BOYCOTTS OF PLACES THAT DISCRIMINATED AGAINST THEM, EG WOOLWORTHS, BUS COMPANIES

(ii) LIBERAL PRESIDENTS

BEFORE WW2 SOME PRESIDENTS HAD WANTED TO HELP, BUT HAD FEARED A WHITE BACKLASH. AFTER THE WAR MORE LIBERAL PRESIDENTS LIKE KENNEDY AND JOHNSON EMERGED, WHO WERE SYMPATHETIC TO BLACKS AND WHO WERE DETERMINED TO TAKE ACTION

(iii) COLD WAR

AFTER WW2 THERE WERE TWO SUPERPOWERS : USA AND USSR. BOTH FEARED ONE ANOTHER. USA CLAIMED THAT USSR WAS RULED BY A TYRANT AND THAT THE PEOPLE WERE REPRESSED. USSR RESPONDED BY SHOWING EXAMPLES OF BLACKS BEING TREATED BADLY IN USA. THIS WAS EMBARRASSING FOR USA AND DENTED THEIR IMAGE AS COUNTRY OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY. PRESIDENTS FELT NEED TO TAKE ACTION.

(iv) END OF EMPIRE

AFTER WW2 THE OLD IMPERIAL POWERS, LIKE FRANCE AND UK, BEGAN TO GIVE THEIR EMPIRES AWAY. COUNTRIES IN AFRICA BECAME INDEPENDENT UNDER BLACK RULE. BOTH USA AND USSR WANTED THESE COUNTRIES TO SUPPORT THEM AGAINST THE OTHER. IMAGE OF MISTREATMENT OF BLACKS IN USA WAS DAMAGING USA’S EFFORTS TO WIN THESE COUNTRIES OVER. PRESIDENTS FELT NEED TO TAKE ACTION.

(v) MEDIA

BY THE 1950S MOST AMERICANS HAD TVs. FOR THE FIRST TIME THEY COULD ACTUALLY SEE INCIDENTS INVOLVING TREATMENT OF BLACKS. THEY COULD SEE GRAPHIC PICTURES OF BLACKS BEING LYNCHED, BURNT AND BEATEN UP. MOST AMERICANS WERE APPALLED BY THESE IMAGES AND IT LED TO GROWING DEMANDS FOR ACTION TO STOP SUCH EVENTS. AT SAME TIME MOST AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS WERE LIBERAL AND SIDED WITH BLACKS. BLACK GROUPS AND LEADERS, LIKE MARTIN LUTHER KING, DELIBERATELY SET OUT TO EXPLOIT MEDIA BY STAGING INCIDENTS GUARANTEED TO GENERATE WHITE VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACKS.

(vi) BLACK COURAGE

AFTER WW2 MANY BLACKS WERE MORE PREPARED TO FACE UP TO HOSTILITY. A GROUP OF STUDENTS FACED CONTINUED HOSTILITY IN 1957 IN ORDER TO ENTER LITTLE ROCK HIGH SCHOOL. THEIR COURAGE INSPIRED OTHER BLACKS INTO ACTION.

(vii) SUPREME COURT

THE SUPREME COURT WAS APPOINTED BY THE PRESIDENT AND AS PRESIDENTS BECAME MORE LIBERAL, SO DID THE SUPREME COURT. THEY BEGAN TO MAKE DECISIONS FAVOURING BLACKS AND STATING IT WAS ILLEGAL TO SEGREGEATE SCHOOLS OR TRANSPORT ETC

(viii) BLACK LEADERS

BEFORE WW2 BLACK LEADERS HAD FAILED TO MAKE A REAL IMPACT. NOW THEY HAD LEADERS LIKE MARTIN LUTHER KING. HE WAS EDUCATED AND AN ACCOMPLISHED SPEAKER. HE INTERVIEWED WELL AND DEVELOPED A POLICY OF PASSIVE RESISTANCE TO ADVANCE THE BLACK CAUSE. THE IMAGE OF PEACEFUL BLACK PEOPLE BEING BEATEN BY WHITES HELPED HIS MOVEMENT.

 

 

3. HOW BLACK AMERICANS FOUGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

There were a number of methods that black Americans used after the Second World War to campaign for Civil Rights:

(a)    The use of the Constitution and the legal system

(b)   The use of their economic power to organise boycotts

(c)    Their courage in defying the white protestors

(d)   The use of the media to highlight their treatment

(e)    The power of their leaders and the use of oratory

 

AREA ONE : The use of the Constitution and the Legal System

In the USA the Supreme Court is the highest federal court. It consists of 9 judges, chosen by the president. These judges have to be approved by Congress and then remain on the Supreme Court until they decide to retire. So they tend to be judges of the highest qualifications and calibre, and they are free to say and think what they want. Their job is to uphold the Constitution and to be the final authority on the law.

After the Second World War, more liberal judges began to be appointed by the Presidents. They were, therefore, more likely to be in favour of equality.

Pro-black organisations, like the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) decided to try to use the Supreme Court to force an end to segregation.

They started by claiming that as blacks were treated worse under the segregation laws, that this was in breach of the Constitution that claimed all citizens were equal. The Supreme Court said that it was acceptable to segregate as long as both groups received equal treatment.

The NAACP set out to prove that this was NOT the case. They assembled evidence to show that blacks received a second class health and education system.

It was not too difficult for the N.A.A.C.P. to provide information to show that black and white schools in the South were not equal. Throughout the twentieth century southern states had spent far more on white schools. One study in 1937 for example revealed that spending on white pupils in the South was $37.87 compared to the $13.08 spent on black children. In 1946, President Truman established a committee on civil rights. The committee's report, published in 1947, revealed differences between black and white schools in the South. The committee pointed out that black schools had an average class size of 34 compared to 28 students per class in white schools. There was also a difference in the average wages for teachers in black and white schools, eg in Alabama, white teachers were paid $1158, whilst black teachers were paid $661.

This allowed the NAACP to mount their first legal challenge, although it was not in the South, but in the mid-West state of Kansas. The case is known as BROWN v TOPEKA (1954). You will need to know about this event. You will need to be able to do the following:

(a)    Explain what happened during the Brown v Topeka case in 1954.

(b)   What decision was reached by the Supreme Court?

(c)    Why did this judgement not force states to de-segregate?

(d)   What evidence is there that many whites were determined to ignore this judgement and maintain segregation in education both within schools and at university?

AREA TWO : USE OF ECONOMIC POWER TO ADVANCE BLACK CIVIL RIGHTS

 

 

"Frequently Negroes paid their fare at the front door, and then were forced to get off and reboard at the rear ... An even more humiliating practice was the custom of forcing Negroes to stand over empty seats reserved for "whites only". Even if the bus had no white passengers, and Negroes were packed throughout, they were prohibited from sitting in the front four seats (which held ten persons). But the practice went further. If white persons were already occupying all of their reserved seats and additional white people boarded the bus, Negroes sitting in the unreserved section immediately behind the whites were asked to stand so that the whites could be seated. If the Negroes refused to stand and move back, they were arrested."

 

 

That particular day that I decided was not the first time I had trouble with that particular driver. He evicted me before, because I would not go around to the back door after I was already onto the bus. The evening that I boarded the bus, and noticed that he was the same driver, I decided to get on anyway. I did not sit at the very front of the bus; I took a seat with a man who was next to the window -- the first seat that was allowed for "coloured" people to sit in. We were not disturbed until we reached the third stop after I boarded the bus. At this point a few white people boarded the bus, and one white man was left standing. When the driver noticed him standing, he spoke to us (the man and two women across the aisle) and told us to let the man have the seat. The other three all stood up. But the driver saw me still sitting there. He said would I stand up, and I said, "No, I will not." Then he said, "I'll have you arrested." And I told him he could do that. So he didn't move the bus any further. Several black people left the bus.

Two policemen got on the bus in a couple of minutes. The driver told the police that I would not stand up. The policeman walked down and asked me why I didn't stand up, and I said I didn't think I should stand up. "Why do you push us around?" I asked him. And he said, "I don't know. But the law is the law and you are under arrest." As soon as he said that I stood up, the three of us left the bus together.

One of them picked up my purse, the other picked up my shopping bag. And we left the bus together. It was the first time I'd had that particular thing happen. I was determined that I let it be known that I did not want to be treated in this manner. The policemen had their squad car waiting, they gave me my purse and bag, and they opened the back door of the police car for me to enter.

·        Rosa Parks was taken to the police station and fingerprinted.

·        Upon hearing of Rosa Parks' arrest, Mr. E.D. Nixon, a friend and long-time civil rights leader, posts her bail. Nixon believes that the Montgomery African-American community must respond. Although Rosa Parks is not the first African American to be treated unfairly, he is determined to try and make her the last.

·        The next day, Friday, December 2, E.D. Nixon calls a meeting of black leaders to discuss how to fight bus segregation.

·        Knowing that the city bus system depends heavily on the African-American community, the black leaders agree to call a boycott of all city buses on Monday, December 5. A new and popular minister in Montgomery by the name of Martin Luther King, Jr. was chosen to lead the boycott. By Friday evening the news of the upcoming boycott has spread throughout the city.

·        King championed the tactic of passive resistance. He had seen how Gandhi in India had managed to secure independence from Britain by similar tactics. He knew that blacks made up only 10% of the population and so could not use force as they would be crushed by the police and army. He had to use the legal methods available to blacks to exert pressure. Economic boycotts seemed a good idea as they would hurt the companies and cause few problems for the blacks.

·        On Monday morning, December 5, King and the other leaders waited nervously at a bus stop to see whether their plan would work. To their relief and surprise, bus after bus rolled by with no African Americans aboard. United in protest, boycotters chose instead to walk, take carpools, pedal bicycles, and even ride mules to get to work instead of boarding the buses.

·        That same day Rosa Parks went to court with her lawyer. The judge found her guilty of breaking a city segregation law and fined her $14. Declaring that the law is unjust, Rosa Parks' lawyer said he would appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

·        Inspired by the boycott's success, thousands of people gathered in a Montgomery church on the evening of December 5 to listen to their new leader, Dr. King.

·        In a spellbinding speech, King explained why the boycott had to continue. "There comes a time," he said, "that people get tired. We are here this evening to say to those who have mistreated us for so long, that we are tired, tired of being segregated and humiliated, tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression." But above all, King asked that the protesters fight without violence. In response, the crowd rose to their feet. Thunderous applause filled the air.

·        Leaving the church that night, the people were as determined as ever to keep the boycott going. They had three simple demands:

1.                  Change the law that says African-American passengers must give up their seats to white passengers.

2.                  Bus drivers must be courteous to all riders.

3.                  Hire African-American bus drivers.

Though the demands were modest, city commissioners and the bus company refused to budge. Instead of weakening the boycotters' determination, the city's refusal only pushed the protesters to demand an end to bus segregation altogether.

*   The bus boycott continued. Slowly but surely the bus company began to lose money — 70% of its passengers were black and all had joined the boycott. Nevertheless, the company didn’t change its segregation policies. Executives were convinced that the protesters — who were mostly poor and supporting large families — could not afford to miss work and would be back on the buses soon.

*  To their surprise and dismay, as days turn into weeks, Montgomery's African Americans adjust to finding other means of transportation.

*  Eventually the bus company was forced to cut back on the number of buses serving the city. It also raised the price of a ride from ten to fifteen cents. Because the protesters were now shopping closer to home, the white owners of downtown shops were starting to lose money. Angry and frustrated, some of the white people of Montgomery began to harass and threaten anyone involved with the boycott. The protesters stayed calm, resisted using violence, and continued to follow the guidance of their leader, Dr. King. They would fight this battle using non violent tactics no matter how much they were provoked

* Harassment grew worse as the boycott continued. Protesters received threatening phone calls and tickets for trivial violations; their homes were vandalized.

*  The violence reached new heights when one day, while Dr. King was at a church meeting, a bomb exploded at his home. His wife, Coretta Scott King, their two-month-old baby, Yolanda, and a friend were inside. Dr. King rushed home as soon as he heard the news. Upon arriving he learnt that no one has been hurt. But supporters were crowding around his house. They were furious and ready to fight. King told them not to fight. "We cannot solve this problem with retaliatory violence," King told the crowd calmly. "We must meet violence with non violence."

*   The bombing not only failed to stop the protesters, but it united them and made them stronger. Finally, almost one year after Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat, the Supreme Court ruled — on November 13, 1956 — that Montgomery's segregation laws were unconstitutional. Although the boycott wouldn't have been successful without the unified effort of Montgomery's 17,000 African Americans, no one will forget Rosa Parks, the brave woman who led the way.

*   The very next day, Rosa Parks, along with E.D. Nixon and Martin Luther King, Jr., boarded a city bus. Proudly, Rosa Parks took a seat right up front.

*   King knew that blacks had to resist the pressure to look triumphant. To win support they had to look like innocent victims. He, therefore, wrote a leaflet to be given out to black passengers:

            Remember that this is not a victory for Negroes alone, but for all Montgomery and the south. Do not boast! Do not brag! Be quiet but friendly; proud but not arrogant. Be loving enough to absorb evil and understanding enough to turn an enemy into a friend … If there is violence in word or deed it must not be our people who commit it.

·        King received world-wide acclaim. He appeared on the cover story for time Magazine on 18 February 1957, which symbolised the approval of Northern white liberal America.

·        However, transport segregation continued in some parts of the South, despite the ruling of the Supreme Court.

·        In 1961 a civil rights group, CORE (Congress of racial Equality) set out to end this. They organised what became known as Freedom Rides.

·        After three days of training in non-violent techniques, black and white volunteers sat next to each other as they travelled through the Deep South.

·        Local police were unwilling to protect these passengers and in several places they were beaten up by white mobs with iron bars.

·        Pictures of the beatings appeared on television and in the press, which was part of the plan. Many whites were shocked and horrified and there was revulsion against those whites guilty of these actions. Sometimes buses were firebombed:

John Lewis and James Zwerg, two Freedom Riders
beaten up by a white mob in Montgomery, Alabama.

·        James Peck, a member of the Freedom Rides, wrote about his experiences in Alabama on 14th May, 1961, in his book, Freedom Rider (1962) :

When the Greyhound bus pulled into Anniston, it was immediately surrounded by an angry mob armed with iron bars. They set about the vehicle, denting the sides, breaking windows, and slashing tires. Finally, the police arrived and the bus managed to depart. But the mob pursued in cars. Within minutes, the pursuing mob was hitting the bus with iron bars. The rear window was broken and a bomb was hurled inside. All the passengers managed to escape before the bus burst into flames and was totally destroyed. Policemen, who had been standing by, belatedly came on the scene. A couple of them fired into the air. The mob dispersed and the injured were taken to a local hospital. (The Freedom Riders were then taken by another bus to Birmingham).

Upon arrival in Birmingham I could see a mob lined up on the sidewalk only a few feet from the loading platform. Most of them were young -- in their twenties. Some were carrying ill-concealed iron bars. All had hate showing on their faces. I looked at them and then I looked at Charles Person, who had been designated as my team mate to test the lunch counter ... When I looked at him, he responded by saying simply, "Let's go". As we entered the white waiting room and approached the lunch counter, we were grabbed bodily and pushed towards the alleyway leading to the loading platform. As soon as we got into the alleyway and out of sight of onlookers in the waiting room, six of them started swinging at me with fists and pipes. Five others attacked Person a few feet ahead. Within seconds, I was unconscious on the ground."

·        In another incident one of the riders, Jim Zwerg, a white man,  was beaten by an angry white mob. Jim Zwerg was badly injured and left in the road for over an hour. White ambulances refused to take him to hospital.

·        With the local authorities unwilling to protect the Freedom Riders, President Kennedy sent U.S. marshals from the North to do the job.

·        By the end of 1961 there were over 1000 people involved in Freedom Rides.

·        Blacks had found inspired leadership, courage and had discovered that their economic power could produce change if used properly.

·        This discovery led to further action. Black and white campaigners sat together in segregated restaurants, lunch counters and hotels.

·        This was especially effective when it concerned large companies who, fearing boycotts in the North, began to desegregate their shops, restaurants and hotels in the South.

·        In Greensboro, North Carolina, a small group of black students read King’s book and decided to take action themselves. They started a sit-in at the restaurant of their local Woolworth’s store, which had a policy of not serving black people.

·        In the days that followed they were joined by other black students until they occupied all the seats in the restaurant.

·        The students were often physically assaulted, but following the teachings of King, they did not hit back.

·        This tactic was soon adopted by black students all over the South.

·        Within six months the sit-ins had ended restaurant and lunch-counter segregation in 26 southern cities.

·        Student sit-ins were also successful against segregation in public parks, swimming-pools, theatres, churches, libraries, museums and beaches.

·        On 31 May 1963, the New York Times reported on the training that young volunteers were receiving in their attempts to end racial segregation in restaurants and lunch-counters:

Mr Dennis (the director of CORE) emphasised the need for a relaxed attitude during the demonstrations. “Don’t tense or you will get the full impact of the blows”, he said

Joan Trumpauer, the second white girl, asked: “What if someone comes at you from behind?” Miss Trumpauer, a student at Tougaloo College, was one of the sit-in demonstrators who was covered with ketchup and mustard on Tuesday by a white crowd during a three-hour clash at the F.W. Woolworth Company.

“If he comes from behind”, Mr Dennis said, 2you have to hope and pray that you reach the man’s conscience before it is too late”.

Some of them stirred restlessly, and Mr Dennis addressed himself to them.

“We’re trying to change a system with love and understanding”, he said. “t’s very difficult. Maybe it sounds stupid, but if any of you know what violence will accomplish, let me know”.

·        By careful use of non-violence and economic power, blacks had gained a degree of success in their campaign against segregation, but there was still a long way to go to achieve civil rights.

 

 

 

AREA THREE :  THE COURAGE OF BLACKS IN DEFYING WHITE PROTESTORS

Martin Luther King emerged as the main black civil rights leader in the mid-1950s. He argued that blacks could not force through change as the whites outnumbered blacks by 9 to 1 and had all the army and police forces at their disposal. Change would have to come through peaceful pressure and by persuading whites that the system was unfair and needed changing. He advocated civil disobedience and non-violent protest. Blacks began to show remarkable courage in standing up to white intimidation and violence. However, it did the trick. In the 1950s the USA was the richest country in the world and most Americans had TVs. Whites began to see images of peaceful blacks being victimised and beaten up by the police and white thugs. Many were appalled by this and demanded change. The US Presidents came under increasing pressure to act and America’s image was being damaged throughout the world. The USA was fighting the Cold war with the USSR, claiming that their system was better as they respected freedom and human rights. The USSR responded by showing propaganda pictures of blacks being lynched from the Statue of Liberty. This seriously embarrassed the USA. Also many black countries in Africa were becoming independent and the USA was finding it hard to convince them that they should ally with the USA rather than Russia when the world was seeing evidence of anti-black treatment in the USA. Without the courage of the blacks themselves, things may not have changed as fast as they did.

(a)    LITTLE ROCK HIGH SCHOOL, 1957

9 black students were chosen to enter Little Rock High School in Arkansas. There were many white politicians from the South who were totally hostile to the idea of integration. Senator James Eastland of Mississippi made a speech on the subject of racial segregation in the United States Senate on 27th May, 1954 : "Separation promotes racial harmony. It permits each race to follow its own pursuits, to develop its own culture, its own institution, and its own civilisation. Segregation is not discrimination. Segregation is not a badge of racial inferiority ... Segregation is desired and supported by the vast majority of the members of both races in the South, who dwell side by side under harmonious conditions ... It is the law of nature, it is the law of God, that every race has both the right and the duty to perpetuate itself ... Free men have the right to send their children to schools of their own choosing, free from governmental interference."

Arkansas was considered one of the moderate states in the South. By 1957 it had desegregated its buses and its State University. The Arkansas School Board also planned to slowly desegregate its schools. Nine black students were selected to go to the all-white Little Rock Central High School. The State Governor, Orville Faubus, under pressure from segregationists, announced that he would send soldiers to Little Rock with instructions to stop black students from entering the school. On 5 September, the first day of term, eight of the black students were stopped at the front gates and sent home. Elizabeth Eckford, who was late, arrived at school on her own. She later recalled the event : "I saw a large crowd of people standing across the street from the soldiers guarding Central High School ... The crowd moved in closer and then began to follow me, calling me names. I still wasn't afraid. Just a little bit nervous. Then my knees started to shake all of a sudden and I wondered whether I could make it to the entrance ... When I was able to steady my knees, I walked up to the guard who had let the white students in. When I tried to squeeze past him, he raised his bayonet and then the other guards closed in and they raised their bayonets. They glared at me with a mean look and I was very frightened and didn't know what to do. I turned around and the crowd came toward me. Somebody started yelling "Lynch her!" I tried to find a friendly face somewhere in the mob. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again she spat at me. They came closer, shouting, "No, nigger bitch is going to get in our school! Get out of here!" Then I saw a bench at the bus stop. I sat down and the mob crowded up and began shouting all over again. Just then a white man sat down beside me, put his arm around me and patted my shoulder. He raised my chin and said, "Don't let them see you cry"."

On 24th September, 1957, black students entered Little Rock Central High School for the first time. The New York Times reported the events outside the gates of the school : "A man yelled : "Look, they're going into our school". Six girls and three boys crossed over into the school yard. They had arrived in two automobiles and had driven to the side of the school. Mrs Bates (President of the Arkansas Branch of the N.A.A.C.P.) accompanied them. The crowd now let out a roar of rage. "They've gone in," a man shouted. "Oh, God," said a woman, "the niggers are in school". A group of six girls, dressed in skirts and sweaters, hair in pony-tails, started to shriek and wail. "The niggers are in our school", they howled hysterically ... Hysteria swept from the shrieking girls to members of the crowd. Women cried hysterically, tears running down their faces." An angry white mob surrounded the Little Rock Central High School after the nine students had gone in. Afraid that the students would be lynched, the local police arranged for them to be smuggled out of the school. Film of the events at Little Rock was shown throughout the world. This was extremely damaging to the image of the United States as leader of the 'free world'.

After waiting for eighteen days, President Eisenhower decided to send federal troops to Arkansas to ensure that black children could go to Little Rock's Central High School. That night President Eisenhower made a statement to the people of the United States. He explained that he intended sending federal troops to Little Rock to enforce the decision made by the Supreme Court in 1954 : "Mob rule cannot be allowed to override the decisions of our courts ... At a time when we face grave situations abroad because of the hatred that communism bears towards a system of government based on human rights, it would be difficult to exaggerate the harm that is being done to the prestige and influence, and indeed to the safety, of our nation and the world. Our enemies are gloating over this incident and using it everywhere to misrepresent our whole nation. We are portrayed as a violator of those standards of conduct which the peoples of the world united to proclaim in the Charter of the United Nations."

The white population of Little Rock were furious that they were being forced by President Eisenhower to integrate their school. Governor Faubus described the federal troops as an army of occupation. On 27th September, with troops protecting the black students, the New York Times described what was going on inside Little Rock Central High School : "The Negro students in the classrooms were a novelty. And from time to time, groups of students threw down their books and walked out of the school. Some of them were chanting sing-song words that went "two four six eight, we don't want to integrate". Many classes were half empty. Segregationist leaders had called for a student boycott. It was partly successful. Seven hundred and fifty of the 2000 students remained away. However, the school officials thought that this might have been from fear rather than sympathy with the boycott movement ... "If the parents would just go home and leave us be," a senior, who wants to do research said, "we'd work this thing out for ourselves". "It is just the idea of going to school with coloured kids that's hard to take at first", a boy of 17 remarked. "Once you get used to the idea it's not too bad". "Things would be better if only the grown-ups wouldn't mix in", said (black student) Ernest Green, 16, whose ambition is to get a college education. "The kids have nothing against us. They hear bad things about us from their parents"."

The nine black students at Little Rock Central High School suffered physical violence and constant racial abuse. Although under considerable pressure to leave the school they agreed to stay. By remaining at Little Rock Central High School they showed the rest of the country that black people were determined to obtain equality. Melba Pattillo Beals was one of the nine black students at Little Rock Central High School in 1957. In 1986 she was interviewed for the television documentary Eyes on the Prize : "The troops were wonderful but they couldn't be with us everywhere. They couldn't be with us in the ladies bathroom. They couldn't be with us in the gym. You would be walking out to the volley-ball court and they would break a bottle and trip you over. I still have scars on my right knee from that ... All the time you thought about what they were going to hit you with today. Is it going to be hot soup and will it be so greasy that it will ruin the dress my grandmother made for me ... When the year ended I could have gone on for five more years because it didn't matter anymore. I was past feeling. I was into that kind of numb pain when you say : "Do whatever you like, it just doesn't matter anymore". I came home and by myself I went to the backyard and burnt my books and just stood by the fire and cried."

However, many whites were determined to make a stand. Citizen Councils were set up all over the Deep South to resist segregation. Blacks who advocated an end to segregation in the South found themselves victimised. As an official of the Alabama Citizen Council pointed out : "The white population in this country controls the money ... We intend to make it difficult, if not impossible, for any Negro who advocates desegregation to find and hold a job, get credit or renew a mortgage."

The N.A.A.C.P. and other black civil rights organisations continued to argue for an end to segregation but progress was slow. By 1963 only 10% of black children in the South went to desegregated schools. State Universities in the South also prevented black students from attending classes. Others let black students in but treated them so badly that they left of their own accord. Martin Luther King wrote an article explaining why school integration was important : "A demonstration against the evil of school segregation is based on the awareness that a child's mind is crippled daily by inadequate opportunity. The demonstrator agrees that it is better for him to suffer publicly for a short time to end the crippling evil of school segregation than to have generation after generation of children suffer in ignorance."

 

Think about these questions about Little Rock:

(a)    Why were so many Americans shocked by the events at Little Rock?

(b)   Why do you think Eisenhower intervened now, when in the past Presidents had ignored such events? What was different this time?

(c)    Why was Little Rock significant?

(d)   Why do you think that blacks considered it vital to de-segregate education?

(e)    What problems did blacks face, even after Little Rock, in achieving integration in education (use p93 and the case of James Meredith on p98)

 

(b)   SIT-INS

Many blacks hated the fact that even in restaurants they were treated as second class citizens : they were not expected to eat at the same areas as whites. They decided to take action. They knew that this would provoke a furious back-lash among many whites, but they were determined to risk being beaten up, or even murdered, to achieve change. Their courage was incredible. They were determined not to resist the whites no matter what they did. They knew that these events would be filmed and written about in the newspapers. The public would see young black men and women subjected to savage beatings by angry whites simply for eating at the same counter as whites.

One of the most famous of these sit-ins was at Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960. King and two other ministers had formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). This new organisation was committed to using non-violence in the struggle for civil rights. There had been a long tradition of non-violent resistance to racism in the United States. The importance of the SCLC was that now the black church, a powerful organisation in the South, was to become fully involved in the struggle for civil rights. King wrote a book, Stride Towards Freedom, advocating non-violence and direct action. The book was to have a considerable influence on the civil rights movement. In Greensboro, North Carolina, a small group of black students read the book and decided to take action themselves. They started a sit-in at the restaurant of their local Woolworth's store which had a policy of not serving black people. In the days that followed they were joined by other black students until they occupied all the seats in the restaurant. The students were often physically assaulted, but following the teachings of Martin Luther King they did not hit back. This tactic was soon adopted by black students all over the South. Within six months the sit-ins had ended restaurant and lunch-counter segregation in twenty-six southern cities. Student sit-ins were also successful against segregation in public parks, swimming-pools, theatres, churches, libraries, museums and beaches. On 31st May, 1963, the New York Times reported on the training that young volunteers were receiving in their attempts to end racial segregation in restaurants and lunch-counters. Mr Dennis, the teacher, was at the time the director of CORE : "Mr Dennis emphasised the need for a relaxed attitude during the demonstrations. "Don't tense or you will get the full impact of the blows", he said. Joan Trumpauer, the second white girl, asked: "What if someone comes at you from behind?" Miss Trumpauer, a student at Tougaloo College, was one of the sit-in demonstrators who was covered with ketchup and mustard on Tuesday by a white crowd during a three-hour clash at the F.W. Woolworth Company. "If he comes from behind", Mr Dennis said, "you have to hope and pray that you reach that man's conscience before it is too late". Some of them stirred restlessly, and Mr Dennis addressed himself to them. "We're trying to change a system with love and understanding", he said. "It's very difficult. Maybe it sounds stupid, but if any of you know what violence will accomplish, let me know"."

 

Think about these questions:

(a)    What were the consequences of the Greensboro sit-in?

(b)   Do you think that Martin Luther King’s advice on non-violent protest was a sensible decision?

 

(C) FREEDOM RIDES

One of the most annoying areas of segregation was public transport. In 1955 Rosa Parks had made a stand against this in Montgomery, Alabama and had achieved success. Then in 1960 the Supreme Court once again sided with the Civil Rights campaigners by decreeing that all bus stations and terminals should be integrated. Black campaigners and their white supporters knew that whatever the law said, there would be some who would try to prevent this. CORE decided to test whether the law was being enforced. They set up what were known as Freedom rides where blacks and whites travelled together on buses. (Read about these in the textbook).

Think about these questions:

(a)    What was CORE?

(b)   How did whites sometimes react to the Freedom Rides?

(c)    What evidence is there that white police often failed to enforce the law?

(d)   How did the President and his brother set out to end segregation on the buses?

 

(D) Voter education project

There was a real danger of American being torn apart by the black civil right movement and white segregationists. If blacks could gain greater political power, they would be in a stronger position to deal with white extremists. In theory blacks had the right to vote, but in reality many were prevented from registering or from voting. Blacks were known to have been lynched simply for voting. Not surprisingly few blacks bothered. Robert Kennedy, President Kennedy’s brother had been appointed Attorney General, and he was determined to help the blacks. If they had power, they could get better jobs, housing etc. He set up the Voter Education Project, with help from the SNCC (Student Non-Violent Co-Ordinating Committee). These volunteers went round meeting blacks and showing them how to register and vote. However, in order to register people had to answer a series of questions. The SNCC tried to help people overcome these questions, but often white registrars would ask blacks impossible questions like how many bubbles can a bar of soap produce? The SNCC workers were subjected to harassment, with workers being beaten up or even shot, and black churches were bombed. Those blacks who did register, faced a back-lash : some were sacked, some were evicted from their property, whilst others found it hard to get a mortgage or credit. Not surprisingly many blacks did not register or failed to vote. The Kennedys had expected local police to enforce the law, but in reality they often just stood by or were a part of the anti-black campaigns.

Think about these questions:

(a)    What problems were there in any attempt to improve opportunities for blacks?

(b)   How do you think many whites felt about Kennedy’s help for the blacks?

 

4. HOW SUCCESSFUL WAS MARTIN LUTHER KING AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT?

Martin Luther King had urged passive resistance and black groups had organised marches, sit-ins, freedom rides and economic boycotts. There had been key events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Little Rock High School success and the March on Washington. In addition the Movement had been helped by the media, liberal presidents and the Supreme Court.

Make sure you know what happened at Little Rock and the Montgomery Bus Boycott and their impact. Also examples of actions by the Supreme Court, eg Brown v Topeka and actions taken by presidents.

In 1963 King organised a massive MARCH ON WASHINGTON to try to persuade Congress to pass the Civil Rights Bill proposed by President Kennedy, but Kennedy’s assassination ended this. Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B Johnson, decided to press ahead with the Bill and it became law in 1964.

Anti-Discrimination Laws  

1964- Civil Rights Act. Outlawed racial discrimination in employment, restaurants, hotels and amusement areas and many bodies receiving Government money including schools. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was set up to investigate complaints. The Act placed the responsibility on the federal government to bring cases to court where discrimination still occurred.

1965 - Voting Rights Act- allowed people register and stopped racial discrimination with respect to the right to vote. This ended literacy tests and gave federal agents the power to monitor registration and to intervene if there was discrimination. By the end of 1965, 250,000 black Americans had registered (33% had been helped by Federal agents). 750,000 registered between 1965 and 1968. The number of elected black representatives increased rapidly after the Act.

1967 – Supreme Court ruled that state laws forbidding inter- racial marriages were unconstitutional.

1968 – Civil Rights Act (Fair Housing Act) made racial discrimination in housing illegal.

 HOWEVER In 1968 Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Although James Earl Ray was convicted, his murder was almost certainly a conspiracy. He had been campaigning on behalf of striking refuse workers. He had also criticised the Vietnam War. Riots followed his murder. Many black Americans became more militant after this.

 

BLACK POWER

Despite the relative successes of the Civil Rights Movement, many blacks felt that the progress was too slow and that whites would never surrender power to blacks. Three groups emerged to challenge King’s tactics of passive resistance:

(a)     The Nation of Islam

(b)     Black Power

(c)     The Black Panther Party

 

YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:

 

  1. NATION OF ISLAM

(a)     What was the ultimate aim of the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims)?

(b)     Why did its members have the surname X?

(c)     Who was Malcolm X and what did he set out to achieve?

(d)     Why was he assassinated?

 

  1. BLACK POWER

(a)     Why were many young blacks dissatisfied with the achievements of Martin Luther King?

(b)     How did they express their discontent?

(c)     What was the Black Power Movement, who were its leaders and what were its aims?

 

  1. THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY

(a)     What was the Black Panther Party

(b)     What were their aims

(c)     Why did many whites find them threatening?

(d)     Why did they fail?  

 

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