The Movement Gains Ground

hsus_te_ch14_s02_s.fm Page 589 Wednesday, January 14, 2009 3:15 PM ᮤ Vivian Malone WITNESS HISTORY AUDIO Step-by-Step Blocking the Schoolhouse Door SECTION 2 Instruction Alabama governor George Wallace made it clear where he stood on civil rights: “I say segregation now! Segregation SECTION 2 tomorrow! Segregation forever!” Wallace vowed to stand “in the schoolhouse door” and personally block any Objectives attempt to integrate Alabama schools. On June 11, 1963, As you teach this section, keep students he got his chance. As federal marshals escorted two focused on the following objectives to help African American students to register at the University of Alabama, Wallace stood on the steps of the school. He them answer the Section Focus Question and proclaimed the right of states to regulate their own master core content. schools. One of the students later recalled: • Describe the sit-ins, freedom rides, and the “I didn’t feel I should sneak in. I didn’t feel I should go actions of James Meredith in the early around the back door. If [Wallace] were standing in the 1960s. door, I had every right in the world to face him and to go to • Explain how the protests at Birmingham school. ᮡ George Wallace (right) takes ” and the March on Washington were linked a stand against integration. —Vivian Malone Jones, 2003 to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. • Summarize the provisions of the Civil The Movement Gains Ground Rights Act of 1964. Objectives Why It Matters Despite the Brown decision and other civil rights • Describe the sit-ins, freedom rides, and the victories, little changed in the everyday lives of most African Amer- actions of James Meredith in the early 1960s. icans. Nonetheless, activists continued to struggle for civil rights. In the early 1960s, the movement experienced a groundswell of sup- Prepare to Read • Explain how the protests at Birmingham and port. This surge produced a dramatic shift in race relations, led to the March on Washington were linked to the the passage of landmark civil rights legislation in 1964, and set the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Background Knowledge L3 stage for future reforms. Section Focus Question: How did the civil rights Remind students about the successes • Summarize the provisions of the Civil Rights movement gain ground in the 1960s? Act of 1964. of the civil rights movement in the 1950s. Ask students to predict what Terms and People Student Activists Make a Difference challenges the civil rights movement sit-in Medgar Evers After the Brown decision, many black youths expected that their might face in the 1960s. SNCC March on Washington schools would integrate quickly and that other racial reforms would freedom ride filibuster follow. Change was not quick to come, however. Disappointed by Set a Purpose L3 James Meredith Civil Rights Act of 1964 the lack of progress, young African Americans began to challenge ½ WITNESS HISTORY Read the selec- segregation with new vigor and determination. tion aloud, or play the audio. Sit-ins Challenge Segregation On February 1, 1960, four Afri- Witness History Audio CD, Reading Skill: Summarize Use a concept can American college students ordered doughnuts and coffee at a Blocking the Schoolhouse Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. As they web like the one below to record information Door about the civil rights protests of the 1960s. expected, the white waitress refused to serve them. In the South, nearly all restaurants that served whites refused to serve blacks. To Ask Why did Vivian Malone not protest this discrimination, the four students sat down on the stools Sit-ins enter the school from the back at the lunch counter, where they stayed until closing time. door? (She believed that she had the Protested Word of the Greensboro sit-in spread rapidly, sparking a wave of right to enter by its main door.) restaurant Civil Rights similar protests across the nation. In Nashville, Tennessee, for segregation Protests ½ instance, students led by the Reverend James Lawson staged sit-ins Focus Point out the Section Focus Question, and write it on the board. Tell students to refer to this question as they read. (Answer appears with Section 2 Assessment answers.) Use the information below and the following resource to teach students the high-use word ½ Preview Have students preview from this section. Teaching Resources, Vocabulary Builder, p. 10 the Section Objectives and the list of Terms and People. High-Use Word Definition and Sample Sentence ½ Using the Guided tolerate v. to allow or put up with Questioning strategy (TE, p. T20), The Allies refused to tolerate Hitler’s aggression. have students read this section. As they read, have students record information about the civil rights protests of the 1960s. Reading and Note Taking Study Guide Chapter 18 Section 2 589 hsus_te_ch14_s02_s.fm Page 590 Friday, December 5, 2008 6:47 PM Teach Student Activists Make aDifference L3 Instruct ½ Introduce: Key Terms Ask students to find the key terms sit-in and SNCC (in bold) in the text and provide definitions. Have students predict the effect that sit-ins and the SNCC will have on the civil rights movement. ½ Teach Ask What did the people and, later, marches to protest racial inequality. Elsewhere, protesters held who participated in sit-ins hope “wade-ins” at public beaches and “read-ins” at public libraries, refusing to to accomplish? (They wanted to leave beaches or libraries reserved for whites only. Other activists carried force public places to desegregate.) picket signs in demonstrations and wrote letters to newspapers and gov- Have a student read the Primary ernment officials to express their support of the protests in the South. Source quotation on this page aloud. Ask On what strategy did protes- SNCC Promotes Nonviolent Protest The sit-ins marked the birth of a new tors at sit-ins rely? (the power of militancy, especially among young African Americans. To build on the momen- tum they had gained, about 175 students from 30 states met at Shaw University, nonviolent civil disobedience to Protesting Segregation in Raleigh, North Carolina. There, on Easter weekend in 1960, they listened reveal the injustice of segregation) Protesters challenged segregation at to James Lawson deliver an inspiring address: What was the goal of the SNCC? lunch counters by picketing (above, (to unite all African Americans in left). Later activists held sit-ins, like “We who are demonstrators are trying to raise what we the fight against racial discrimina- the one (above, right) in Jackson, call the ‘moral issue.’ That is, we are pointing to the viciousness of racial segregation Mississippi. Sit-in participants were tion) Discuss how the goals of sit-ins and prejudice and calling it evil or sin.... [We are also] asserting, ‘get moving.’ The and the SNCC were linked. trained not to react, even when hostile onlookers dumped food on pace of change is too slow. At this rate it will be another generation before the major ½ Analyzing the Visuals Draw stu- them. How would you describe the forms of segregation disappear.... Most of us will be grandparents before we can live dents’ attention to the photograph of atmosphere at this lunch counter? normal human lives.” the sit-in. Ask students to identify —James Lawson, “From a Lunch Counter Stool,” 1960 those participating in the sit-in and Ella Baker, a veteran of the struggle for civil rights, had organized the meet- those who are there to threaten the ing. The granddaughter of enslaved African Americans, Baker had been active participants. Discuss the dangers in the NAACP and SCLC. She helped the young activists to establish a new civil that sit-in participants faced. rights organization, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC. Its goal was to create a grass-roots movement that involved all classes of African Independent Practice Americans in the struggle to defeat white racism and to obtain equality. Have students write journal entries How did young people energize the civil rights from the viewpoint of a sit-in partici- movement in the 1960s? pant, describing their experiences and emotions. Riding for Freedom The next battleground was interstate transportation. Activists targeted this Monitor Progress industry because they knew that travel between states was subject to federal As students fill in their concept webs, rather than state regulation. In fact, the Supreme Court had recently ruled in circulate to make sure that they accu- Boynton v. Virginia (1960) that segregation on interstate buses and in waiting rately connect information about the rooms was illegal. Civil rights activists were now going to test the federal gov- ernment’s willingness to enforce the law. civil rights protests of the 1960s. For a completed version of the concept web, see Note Taking Transparencies, B-128. L1 Special Needs Students L2 English Language Learners L2 Less Proficient Readers Direct each student to choose three key events dis- this section on the board. Ask students to explain the Answers cussed in this section and create illustrations for a significance of the events they illustrated and tell newspaper reporting on these events. For example, under which red heading each illustration should Caption The atmosphere is tense and students may wish to illustrate the sit-in at Wool- appear. After students have categorized all their illus- threatening. worth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina, or Martin trations under the section red headings, have stu- Young people brought an attitude of Luther King, Jr., giving his “I Have a Dream” speech dents confirm that each illustration appears under urgency to the movement. They wanted in Washington, D.C. Then, write the red headings for the appropriate red heading. change to come quickly, not in decades.

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