Civil Rights

KIDS DISCOVER Civil Rights ROSA PARKS TAKES A STAND AND SITS WHO WERE THE FREEDOM RIDERS? A KING WITH A DREAM LITTLE ROCK ROCKS A NATION! NONVIOLENCE WORKS! GOSPEL SINGER MAHALIA JACKSON PERFORMS AT THE PRAYER PILGRIMAGE FOR FREEDOM IN WASHINGTON, D.C., 1957 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Civil_Rights_FC.indd 1 3/15/17 6:11 PM 2 r SEGREGATION café. Because the created shameful enemy prisoners Defining Civil Rights situations. In the were white, they 1940s, the U.S. were served inside Slavery in the United States officially was at war with the restaurant. Germany. German But the African ended in 1865 with the end of the Civil prisoners of war American soldiers War. But that was not the end of the mis- were sometimes who were guarding treatment of African Americans. By the taken from one them were not. prison to another They were told to turn of the century, a system had been in the South. Often pick up their food developed to discriminate against African during these trips, at the back door of Americans. This system kept them in a they stopped for the café and eat it lower social status, or rank, than the status lunch at a roadside outside. of Americans who had European origins. The system was called segregation, or the separation of people by race. In the South, laws kept African Americans in segregated schools, restau- rants, and restrooms. They had to use separate drinking fountains and sit in the backs of buses. In the North, there were unwritten rules about where African Americans could live, work, and play. Two things kept segregation in place. One was the constant threat of violence against African Americans. The other, in the southern states, was denying African Americans the right to vote. From the start of segregation, African Americans fought hard for their rights as U.S. citizens. But until the 1950s, they didn’t get very far. That was when a series of nonviolent protests began. African Americans started to right some of the wrongs done to them. The wrongs went all the way back to the enslavement of their ancestors.These protests came to be known as the civil rights movement. show unity. The songs also let them express feelings, such as sadness, joy, and determination. Most freedom songs were u FREEDOM SONGS 1950s and 1960s. inspired by reli- became part of Participants in civil gious hymns, but the civil rights rights marches others had roots movement in the sang together to in blues and jazz. Civil_Rights_2-3.indd 2 3/15/17 6:12 PM 3 r WHAT ARE CIVIL long fight, women rights? They are won the right to the protections vote. Famous and privileges (or African Americans, rights) guaranteed including Frederick by law to citizens Douglass and of a country. In Sojourner Truth the United States, – both born into they include the slavery – were part right to vote and of the woman suf- the right to equal frage (voting rights) Who was Henry David Thoreau? How did he influence the U.S. civil rights movement? treatment in the movement. eyes of the law. In 1920, after a IN THE SUMMER OF 1964, volunteers went to Mississippi to help register voters. These civil rights workers are singing before boarding a bus. u THE EARLY LEADERS of the U.S. civil rights movement were committed to using only nonviolent protest. That meant marches, big demonstrations, and sit-ins to point out injustices. Another type of protest was civil disobedience. That meant breaking a law thought to be unfair, and being willing to go to jail. Mohandas K. Gandhi (above) was an inspiration for the U.S. civil rights movement. He led a nonviolent movement that freed India from British rule in 1947. Civil_Rights_2-3.indd 3 3/15/17 6:12 PM 4 The Rise of Segregation In 1863, during the Civil War, African Americans. And the 15th President Abraham Lincoln signed Amendment, in 1870, gave African the Emancipation Proclamation. American men the right to vote. This document freed enslaved peo- The Civil Rights Act of 1875 said ple in the southern states still at African Americans could not be war. In 1865, the 13th Amendment kept out of public places like hotels to the U.S. Constitution ended and theaters. For a while, these laws slavery in the rest of the country. helped African Americans. But the The 14th Amendment, passed laws were ignored more and more. in 1868, gave citizenship to Segregation became the unwritten law of the land. l HOW DID SLAVE- holders excuse the cruelty of slavery? They convinced themselves that white people were superior to, or better than, enslaved Africans. This idea, called “white supremacy,” has no basis in reality. Yet it was the force behind segregation after the Civil War. u BY 1877, THE d AFTER THE CIVIL people were U.S. government War, white suprem- lynched, or illegally had taken its acists formed put to death, usually troops out of the groups that used by hanging. Racist South. This left mob violence. terrorist groups, freed African Members of these such as the Ku Klux Americans to be groups lied about Klan (below), were governed by for- African Americans behind killings and mer slaveholders. committing crimes. bombings during the Southern states African American civil rights era. passed what became known as Jim Crow laws. These laws sup- ported segregation and took away African Americans’ u THE PERIOD AFTER Charleston, South nesses and farms. right to vote. the Civil War Carolina. From But the government is called Reconstruction did not give former- Reconstruction. until 1901, voters ly enslaved people Federal troops took sent 22 African financial help or over the South to American repre- land that had been protect the rights sentatives to the promised to them. of people newly U.S. Congress. Most had little hope freed from slavery. Some African of making more Schools were set Americans started money and making up, like this one in successful busi- their lives better. Civil_Rights_4-5.indd 4 3/15/17 6:13 PM 55 l OVER THE YEARS, many African Americans went north to find work. Most ended up living in crowded inner-city neigh- borhoods. They worked at low-paying jobs and didn’t have many chances to get ahead. Segregation wasn’t the law in the North, but it still existed there. White home buyers were sometimes asked to sign agreements that said they would not resell their homes to African Americans. Segregated hous- ing meant that churches, schools, and other local institutions were also separated by race. Where African Americans were not segregated, they were often simply refused d IN 1892, HOMER Court. The court African Americans certain jobs. They Plessy got on ruled, in 1896, that had to be equal weren’t allowed to a train in New segregation didn’t to the whites-only enter some restau- Orleans and sat violate the 14th ones. “Separate but rants and other in a whites-only Amendment to the equal” became the public buildings. car. Because he Constitution. It said law. But the sep- was of mixed that separate facili- arate facilities for race, Plessy was ties – from schools African Americans arrested. His case to restrooms to were almost always u TWO FAMOUS W. E. B. Du Bois went all the way to bus station wait- much worse. African American (1868–1963), the U.S. Supreme ing rooms – for leaders had very above right, was different ideas born in the North. about segre- He believed that gation. Booker African Americans T. Washington should demand (1856–1915), above equality in all parts left, was born into of life. In 1909, slavery. He founded Du Bois helped Tuskegee University form the National in Alabama. He Association for the thought African Advancement of Americans should Colored People. accept segregation The NAACP was and work to make one of the first the best of their civil rights place in society. organizations. Civil_Rights_4-5.indd 5 3/15/17 6:13 PM 6 d THE U.S. GOVERN- the U.S. could call ment was slow to itself a democracy Birth of the Civil end segregation. if African Americans President Harry were treated as Truman was second-class Rights Movement embarrassed by citizens. In 1948, criticism from Truman ordered an around the world. end to segregation Protests against segregation People asked how in the military. spread during World War II (1939–1945). African Americans fought bravely in segregated military units. Yet they came home to find that only the lowest-paying jobs were offered to them. Membership in the NAACP r IN 1954, THE went way up. And labor U.S. Supreme Court leader A. Philip Randolph ruled against segregation in schools. threatened to lead a march in The court case was Washington, D.C., to protest called Brown v. the discrimination in the military Board of Education of Topeka. “Brown” and in jobs. After the war, was the family of African Americans kept ask- Linda Brown, shown ing the government to ensure here in her segregated classroom in their constitutional rights. Kansas. The court The civil rights movement ruled that separate schools for African was born. Americans were by play major league their nature unequal. baseball. Robinson To separate African was no stranger to American students civil rights protests. from white students, As a soldier during the court said, “gen- World War II, he erates a feeling of refused to accept inferiority . that the segregated may affect their seating on a mil- hearts and minds in itary bus.

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