01:512:104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 28: Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Orval Faubus, Montgomery Bus Boycott
15 May 2018
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Department
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Chapter 28 - The Civil Rights Movement
Origins of the Movement
- Nearly 1 million black men and women served in the armed forces in WWII
- After the war ended, these people began to push for political and social
equality
Civil Rights after World War II
- WWII boom brings many blacks north
- 1940s - 43 northern and western cities double their black population
- Less discrimination in the northern cities
- Gained significant political influence
- Biracial unity helped press for better wages and working conditions
- Black voters continue the switch to Democrats that started during the New
Deal
- Truman’s Committee on Civil Rights:
- Wanted to end racial inequality
- Created a permanent civil rights division in the Justice dept
- Voting rights protection
- Anti lynching & anti-housing segregation
- Although he publicly endorsed these suggestions, he never made them into
law
- Truman ends segregation in the armed forces before 1948 election - wins on
black votes
- National Assoc. for the Advancement of Coloured People gains 450,000
members
- Morgan v Virginia (1946) - bus segregation = undue burden on interstate
commerce
- “Freedom Ride” through the Upper South to celebrate
- Some riders arrested in North Carolina for refusing to leave
- Two major black accomplishments:
- Jackie Robinson wins the MLB rookie of the year (1947)
- Black UN diplomat wins Nobel Peace Prize
- Black musicians move away from traditional big-band jazz into new “bebop”
- Hard for whites to copy
- “Boppers” not the typical black entertainers (rebels) - did not fit white
stereotypes
The Segregated South
- Segregation in the South still was very bad
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- Schools, restaurants, libraries, hotels, hospitals, cemeteries etc still apart
- Black facilities not as good as white ones
- 1940s - Only about 10% of blacks voted
- Various legal & extra-legal ways to keep most disenfranchised
- Poll taxes & discriminatory registration, etc
Brown v. Board of Education
- NAACP did not try to outlaw segregation, but rather, to make it so expensive
that the government could not afford continue it
- Began pushing for everything to be separate and fully equal
- The war on schools:
- Missouri v. ex.rel. Gaines (1939):
- U. of Missouri must admit black law students or build another school for
them
- McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950):
- Black students cannot be forced to study & eat in different places than
whites
- Brown v. Board of Education (1952)
- Separate facilities deny blacks of basic American rights
- Segregation reduces children’s self-esteem
- Chief Justice Earl Warren convinces Court to approve of desegregation
- Plessy v. Ferguson ruling overturned
Crisis in Little Rock
- 1956 - 101 congressmen sign Southern Manifesto
- Wanted to refuse to comply with desegregation laws
- Eisenhower wouldn’t publicly endorse the Brown decision
- Was actually against it
- Little Rock, Arkansas - Fed. court orders school board to begin
desegregation
- Gov. Orval Faubus decided to make his reelection campaign based on
defying the order
- Faubus sends National Guard to prevent blacks into Central High School
- Eventually pulls out NG & leaves the 9 black students at the mob’s mercy
- Eisenhower puts the NG under fed. control & send troops in to escort the
students
- Proves that the federal government can enforce civil rights
No Easy Road to Freedom, 1957-1962
- Brown demonstrated the ability to use courts as a weapon against
descrimination
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find more resources at oneclass.com
- Black communities would still have to help themselves before anyone else
would
Martin Luther King and the SCLC
- Montgomery bus boycott makes MLK a national figure
- Admired Mohandas Ghandi - wanted a peaceful fight
- King called this passive resistance “A new & powerful weapon”
- The Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- 100 black ministers gathered to preach non-violent protesting
- Next wave of protest came from an unlikely source: college students
Sit Ins: Greensboro, Nashville, Atlanta
- Feb 1, 1960: 4 black freshmen sat down at a whites-only table in Woolworths
- Stayed all day & returned in the following days with more people
- Apr. 21 - 45 students arrested for trespassing
- Blacks boycott store; Greensboro finally gives in
- Spring 1960: 150 black students arrested during a sit in
- Morehouse, Spelman & other all-black colleges in Atlanta University
organize 200 people to sit in at city hall
- 76 arrested
- Sit ins continue & Atlanta desegregates in Sept. 1961
SNCC & the “Beloved Community”
- Well-established blacks frown on sit ins
- Ruins their status quo
- Southern University forces all 5,000 black students to reapply to screen out
agitators
- SNCC - Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee
- 120 black students in N.C.
- Established to fight through mass confrontation & civil disobedience
Election of 1960 & Civil Rights
- Nixon v. Kennedy
- Nixon - originally pro-Civil Rights, but stopped promoting it to gain Southern
votes
- Kennedy praises sit ins as “American tradition of standing up for one’s rights”
- After MLK was jailed, the Kennedys told the judge not to violate MLK’s civil
rights
- Kennedy wins on strength of black votes
- Kennedy promoted “minimum legislation, maximum executive action”
- 40 African Americans appointed to high federal positions
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Nearly 1 million black men and women served in the armed forces in wwii. After the war ended, these people began to push for political and social equality. 1940s - 43 northern and western cities double their black population. Biracial unity helped press for better wages and working conditions. Black voters continue the switch to democrats that started during the new. Created a permanent civil rights division in the justice dept. Although he publicly endorsed these suggestions, he never made them into law. Truman ends segregation in the armed forces before 1948 election - wins on black votes. National assoc. for the advancement of coloured people gains 450,000 members. Morgan v virginia (1946) - bus segregation = undue burden on interstate commerce. Freedom ride through the upper south to celebrate. Some riders arrested in north carolina for refusing to leave. Jackie robinson wins the mlb rookie of the year (1947) Black un diplomat wins nobel peace prize.
