Terminale OIB History Civil Rights Movement Notes Background conditions Blacks cut off from full participation in American society, social mobility. Social and economic discrimination - Jim Crow laws enforcing segregation in the South, including severely limited access to jobs and education; low wages. Political disenfranchisement - Blacks prevented from exercising right to vote by literacy tests, poll taxes, intimidation tactics, KKK Legacy of slavery strong up through WWII (even Army segregated until after end of the war - first real gov't action to address racial discrimination/inequality) Modern Civil Rights Mvt begins after war - 1950s and 60s Main goals of early mainstream movement: end discrimination and inequality; promote integration by working within the system- court cases, and non-violent civil disobedience in order to abolish discriminatory laws and to influence attitudes Second phase: work outside of the system to promote Black separatism violent tactics shift to a radicalized Black Power mvt Frustration at slow pace of change amid rising expectations urban riots Watts 1965; Detroit 1967 ("White Flight") Nation of Islam (1930s) gains in influence Urban Blacks attracted to Black Panthers (1966) Interaction between mvt protests, and role of the gov't: *Community-based protests local Black churches and national organizations NAACP, student groups SNCC *Gov't action /legislation and Supreme Court decisions, and enforcement Major Events from 1954 to 1968: assess nature of event 1954 Brown v. Bd. of Education overturns Plessey "Separate but Equal" 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott/emergence of MLK Baptist minister 1957 Little Rock 1957 Civil Rights Commission 1960 Lunch Counter Sit-ins 1963 Birmingham protest against segregation/Bull Connor/MLK's letter from jail 1963 March on Washington 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer "What has four eyes but can't see?" Northern white college students & southern Black civil rights workers register Black voters; Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney murdered near Philadelphia, Miss. shot and buried in an earthern dam, Chaney's skull crushed.(Chaney buried in a segregated cemetary in accordance with state law) Turning Point: spurred Voting Rights Act; also radicalized mvt and led to increasing urban violence 1964 Civil Rights Act: ban racial discrimination in public facilities, employment 1965 Voting Rights Act: federal gov't to enforce right to vote; ban literacy tests