WHAT WAS THE 1950’S LIKE IF YOU WEREN’T WHITE OR MIDDLE CLASS? Immigration and Migration
The “other” America Immigration changes Chinese (1943), Asian (1952) Displaced Persons Act (1948) Allowed 415,000 Latino immigration
Mexicans (bracero program), Puerto Ricans, Cubans Immigration and Migration
Southern blacks to N/W cities Economic opportunities slums (ghetto/“the projects”) Lack of services, more crime Civil Rights Protests in the 1950’s and early 1960’s
North -- De facto segregation By custom or practice South -- De jure segregation By law Which is easier to fight? Civil Rights Protests in the 1950’s and early 1960’s
Black urbanization
organization Religious faith
God will protect; ministers (like King) often leaders Constitutional rights
Already exist, WWII? Media coverage
See problem (TV) African independence
End of colonialism; Africa free Civil Rights Protests in the 1950’s and early 1960’s
How did we get here? 13th Amendment (1865) 14th Amendment (1868) 15th Amendment (1869) Jim Crow Laws Civil Rights Act of 1875
Ruled unconstitutional by Supreme Court (1893) Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) Brown vs. Board of Education (Topeka, Kansas) 1954
Linda Brown
Segregated schools National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed case Chief attorney: Thurgood Marshall Brown vs. Board of Education (Topeka, Kansas) 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education (Topeka, Kansas) 1954
Court finds for Linda Brown Chief Justice Earl Warren “separate is inherently unequal” Creates a sense of inferiority Implement “with all deliberate speed” Brown vs. Board of Education (Topeka, Kansas) 1954
White Southern reaction? Congress Southern Manifesto (101 signed) “clear abuse of judicial power” South
White Citizens Councils
Block integration Klan
terror and intimidation Killing of Emmitt Till
From Chicago; visiting Mississippi (summer 1955) Killed (open casket funeral) Roy Bryant and J.W. Minam acquitted (later admitted) Impact? The Little Rock Nine
Nine black students at Central High School
Governor Orval Faubus vs. President Eisenhower http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= RGjNqrQBUno The Little Rock Nine The Montgomery Bus Boycott
December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks Martin Luther King, Jr. leads Follower of Gandhi; believed in non-violence Boycott of city busses The Montgomery Bus Boycott
381 days (walk/carpool) Economic boycott
Bus company & businesses lost money Ruled unconstitutional (1956) boycott ended King and Ralph Abernathy found Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) King becomes national figure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4I0k0O3 pO0 Civil Rights Groups
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Focus: legal system SCLC Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
Focus: action Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Ella Baker
Similar to SCLC; founded for college students Civil Rights Issues
Greensboro Sit Ins Freedom Riders James Meredith Birmingham March on Washington Freedom Summer Civil Rights Act of 1964 March on Selma Voting Rights Act of 1965 Civil Rights Act of 1968 Militancy in the Civil Rights Movement Greensboro Sit-ins
February 1, 1960 Four students sit at “whites only” lunch counter (Woolworth’s); won’t leave until served Taught non-violence Desegregated lunch counters (over 126 southern cities) Freedom Riders
Rode interstate busses throughout south Interstate bus segregation ruled illegal Applied to busses, waiting rooms, bathrooms, etc. Attacked by KKK in Anniston, Alabama Beaten in Montgomery and Birmingham Freedom Riders
Governor refused to help Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent federal marshals South made changes James Meredith
Denied admission to University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Courts supported Meredith Governor Ross Barnett refused Kennedy sent troops Meredith admitted Birmingham
Known for violence; “Bombingham” Blacks picketing department stores Police Chief Eugene “Bull” Connor aimed to stop protestors Birmingham
Connor jailed King Protests continued with children Connor responded https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=oZfkcDEMIPQ Meanwhile in Mississippi . . . NAACP state chairman Medgar Evers murdered in driveway Birmingham
Kennedy forced to act http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =RWX_pjyIq-g Back in Birmingham . . . 16th Street Baptist Church bombed (September) Four girls (age 11-14) killed; 22 injured Birmingham
Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry found guilty in 2001 Byron de la Beckwith found guilty in 1994 of Medgar Evers murder Movie Ghosts of Mississippi March on Washington
A. Philip Randolph (1941) August 28, 1963
250,000 at Lincoln Memorial I Have a Dream King: Nobel Peace Prize (1964) Led to Civil Rights Act of 1964 March on Washington Freedom Summer
Focus: voting rights Northerners (many white) did registering Created Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Violence followed Members of CORE Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, and Andrew Goodman disappeared Freedom Summer
Bodies found six weeks later Klan responsible; no conviction 2005: Edgar Ray Killen convicted; sentenced 60 years Movie Mississippi Burning Led to Voting Rights Act of 1965 Civil Rights Act of 1964
Passed June 1964 Southern senators tried to filibuster Outlawed discrimination in Employment
Race
Religion
National origin
Sex Public places Government could withhold funds Could appeal to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission March on Selma
Protest lack of voting rights: march from Selma, Alabama to capitol (Montgomery) Governor Wallace prohibits march; turns Alabama State Troopers on marchers Second march organized (with Martin Luther King); President Johnson federalizes Alabama National Guard for protection Selma March Leads to Voting Rights Act of 1965 Voting Rights Act of 1965
Passed August 6, 1965 Outlawed literacy tests Outlawed “grandfather clauses” Poll taxes prohibited by 24th Amendment (1964) Impact? Civil Rights Act of 1968
Prohibited discrimination in sale, rental, and financing of housing Based on
Race Religion National origin Gender (1974) Disability (1988) Families with children (1988) Signed one week after King’s assassination Militancy in the Civil Rights Movement
Black Separatism Nation of Islam Malcolm X Black Power Black Panthers Violence in the cities Assassination of Martin Luther King Legacy of Civil Rights Black Separatism
De jure segregation solved De facto still a problem Speed of change coming too slow Many repudiated non-violence of King Nation of Islam
Set up in 1930’s Led by Elijah Muhammad Promoted black separation, black pride, unity, and self-help Popular members Malcolm X Muhammad Ali http://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=ueDbCmG3iu4 Malcolm X
Born Malcolm Little Converted to Islam in prison Prominent spokesman for Nation of Islam Led to break with Elijah Muhammad Malcolm X
Pilgrimage to Mecca (1964) Felt views too extreme Began to see King’s views Assassinated in 1965 https://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=eqjMzzUS38w Black Power
CORE and SNCC became more violent Coined by Stokely Carmichael (head of SNCC) Focus: black pride & self-reliance Black Power
S A L U T E Black Panthers
Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale (Oakland) Armed to protect against police brutality Also provided necessary services for inner-city people Black Panthers Violence in the Cities
Violence in northern cities Bulk of riots: Economic inequity De facto segregation Violence in the Cities
Johnson created Kerner Commission Conclusions: America creating two societies Whites created it Whites support it Assassination of Martin Luther King
King in Memphis supporting striking sanitation workers April 4, 1968 Violence erupts Assassination of Martin Luther King Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement
Political success Segregation ends Civil Rights Acts Voting Rights Act Economic failure? Poverty still a major problem Social failure? Blacks still not having basic needs met Riots Other Social Movements
Mexican-Americans Native Americans Feminism Gay rights Student Movement Environmental Movement Women’s Rights Movement (ERA) Mexican-Americans
Focus on economic organization Became political in 60’s Mexican-American Political Association (MAPA) Mexican-Americans elected to Congress Young wanted more Created term Chicano Celebrated Mexican-American culture Created political party La Raza United (The United Race) Supported politicians Pushed for bilingual education Militants known as “Brown Berets” (like Black Panthers) Mexican-Americans
Cesar Chavez Organized United Farm Workers (UFW) 1965
Grape pickers strike Organized boycott Supported by
AFL-CIO
Martin Luther King, Jr. Robert Kennedy Hunger strike in 1968 Grape growers acknowledged union in 1970 Native Americans
More militant Now Native Americans – not “Indians” 1961 – Declaration of Indian Purpose 1968 – American Indian Movement (AIM) Poverty in cities Militant like Black Panthers Native Americans
Took Alcatraz Island (1969) Offered government $24 Stayed until 1971 Occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington in 1972 Native Americans
February 1973: Wounded Knee
Reaction to killing of Sioux Took eleven hostages Gun fight with FBI End of siege Actions did lead to changes from government Feminism
Increase in Women going to college Women working Divorce rate Decrease in Birth rate (invention of “the pill”) Feminism
Kennedy: Presidential Commission on Status of Women Discrimination in education & workplace The Feminine Mystique
Is this all? National Organization for Women Organized in 1966 Initially militant like Black Panthers Feminism
Impact of NOW Equal Pay Act Fought sex discrimination Feminist movement Individualized Militant Abortion rights Gay Rights Movement
Homosexuality illegal in most states Gays went “underground” Stonewall riots 1969
Gays fought back against police Became political active Student Movement
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Port Huron Statement (1962) Written by Tom Hayden Called themselves the “New Left” Student Movement
Goals of the SDS Anti-bureaucracy Anti-Cold War More political power More control within the university End in loco parentis (in the place of the parent) Student Movement
Hotbed: Bay Area Cal-Berkeley, Stanford Mario Savio Challenged university on Student rights Academic rights Poverty near university Actions Sit ins Took over administration buildings Environmental Movement
Two goals Use of resources “rights of nature” Mainstream Clean air and water Standard of living Radical Protests Making political statements Environmental Movement
Silent Spring
Written by Rachel Carson in 1962 Showed the environmental impact of DDT Pushed the environmental movement Environmental Movement
Two disasters Love Canal Abnormally high rates of cancer, birth defects, etc. Discovered it had been built on a toxic waste dump Government paid to relocate residents Private companies settled lawsuits Environmental Movement
Two disasters Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania A reactor meltdown was narrowly averted End of large scale push for nuclear power Many of the environmental problems were tied to weapons development during the Cold War Women’s Movement Gains Title IX Women in Congress Equal Credit Opportunity Roe vs. Wade Equal Rights Amendment Passed Congress in 1972 Can’t deny rights based on sex Not all women wanted it Women’s Movement Phyllis Schlafly Stop ERA campaign Preserve traditional gender roles Fear women would get drafted, homosexual marriages, etc. Needed 75% of states to ratify (38) By 1982 only 35 had ratified WHAT IMPACT DID THE DIFFERENT MOVEMENTS HAVE?