Changing Mississippi Chapter 8 The Struggle for Civil Rights Jim Crow Laws made it a crime for blacks and whites to use the same public places. African Americans were their freedoms and opportunities by these laws. Civil rights are the rights of all people to be treated equally under the law. These rights include the right to vote and freedom of speech. Separate but Not Equal Many white southerners supported Jim Crow laws. Discrimination is unfair difference in the treatment of people. Jim Crow laws called for separate schools for black and white children. Schools for black children were smaller and in poor condition. Most schools were only one room, and had rarely had a library. Black teachers were paid much less than white teachers. School Segregation Stopped In 1954 the Supreme Court of the United States ordered that all United States schoolsmust allow both black and white students to attend. Unconstitutional means something is not allowed by the United States Constitution Many white Mississippians tried to pass laws to keep schools integrated. In 1969 all of Mississippi’s public schools were integrated. Integrated means made available to all people. Struggle for Change African Americans believed integration would open new doors for people looking for jobs and the opportunity to vote. Many white people organized the Ku Klux Klan to support segregation. In 1961 a 28-year-old-black Mississippian named James Merideth want to attend Ole Miss, but he was denied entrance into the school because no African American had ever attended a public school or college for whites in Mississippi. The United States Supreme Court ordered Ole Miss to enroll James Meredith. When Meredith arrived at Ole Miss, the crowd began throwing bricks, bottles, and fire bombs. 28 people were shot, and 2 people were killed. 23,000 Army soldiers had to go to Ole Miss to restore order. In the 1950s there were no African Americans signed up to vote in many parts of Mississippi. To keep blacks from voting, many white Mississippians made it difficult for blacks to register. Fannie Lou Hammer lost her job when she first tried to register to vote in Ruleville. She finally registered to vote in 1962. After attending a local political meeting, her husband was fired from his job. Medgar and Charles Evers were brothers who worked to get African Americans registered to vote. Medgar led demonstrations, or public gatherings to express opinions about a particular issue or person. In 1963 Medgar Evers was shot and killed. The Civil Rights Movement In the 1960s the civil rights movement grew in the United States. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a national leader in the movement. Freedom Riders, civil rights workers, traveled on buses across the South to integrate public places. Sit-ins were another way to protest segregation. This is happened when people sat down and refused to move from segregated areas. One of the first sit-ins took place in the Jackson Public Library. African Americans were not allowed to use the public library. 9 African American students from Tougaloo College refused to leave the library, and they were arrested. Freedom Summer Freedom Summer was a project led by Robert Moses to help African Americans fight for their civil rights. There was some violence during Freedom Summer. Three civil rights workers disappeared near Philadelphia. They were later found dead. Sixty-five homes and churches were burned or bombed. Civil Rights Act is the law that made it illegal for businesses to treat people differently because of their race, sex, or religion. Voting Rights Act made it against the law to create special rules to keep African Americans from voting. The US government created programs to help black Mississippians get jobs and get into college. Robert Clark became Mississippi’s first African American elected to the state legislature since Reconstruction. Unita Blackwell was the first female African American mayor in our state. Toward A new Century People are moving into Mississippi because it is in the Sun Belt. The Sun Belt gets its name because of the warm climate and sunshine. Suburbs are communities just outside a large city. Census is a count of people who live in a place. Industry is all the businesses that make up one kind of good or provide one kind of service. High-tech industries use science and math to produce goods, such as electronics and computers. Technology is the use of skills, ideas, and tools to meet people’s needs. People from the north, Mexico, Vietnam, China, Japan, and Korea have migrated to Mississippi because of jobs. .