HIST206 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Claudette Colvin
14 Jan 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
The Civil Rights Movement
• World War 2 was a change of mentality for African Americans
• They were emboldened and ready to fight
• Did not like being discriminated in American society
• Civil Rights Movement was not spontaneous; it was planned and thought out
Martin Luther King
• Martin Luther King was a democratic socialist
• Opposed the Vietnam War
• Obscured by media; they framed the narrative a little different
• Did’t eliee that raial issue as ot a souther issue, ut a atioal oe
CVR cont.
• 1944- Smith vs. Alwright
o All white primaries were invalidated in the south
• May 17, 1954
o Brown v. Board of Ed
▪ Desegregation of school
▪ Separate but equal is NOT okay for school
o Brown v. Board of Ed is not constitutional
o Arkansas- governor of Arkansas did not follow the rule, national guard was
brought in to protect the students that were affected by backlash
• Claudette Colvin
o March 2, 1955- refused to get off a bus
o Arrested
o Not the right type of figure to lead a movement
▪ 15 years old
▪ unwed mother
▪ did’t hae the right look
o she was one of the plaintiffs that took the case to court
o not Rosa Parks
• Misconceptions
o Rosa Parks did ot oe eause she as tired or hateer
o Emmett Till was a 14 year old who was killed
▪ Mississippi
▪ Convenience store that he went to
▪ Spoke to Carolyn Bryant
▪ Wife of store owner
▪ Was killed for it; beaten to mutilation, shot, and thrown into Tallahatchie
River
▪ Youg Afria Aerias should ot speak to hite oe
▪ at his funeral, she refused to let them shut the casket
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▪ the press saw it; pictures everywhere of the mutilated and
unrecognizable body, online today
▪ the perpetrators were acquitted even after admitting they beat Emmett
Till
▪ double jeopardy saved them from being tried again
▪ Rosa Parks knew she had to take a stand
• Secretary of the local NAACP
• MLK was 26 years old when the bus boycott began
• Very charismatic; drew people in
• Used mass media; was very savvy
• MLK became the figure head of the movement
• Osured eeryoe else’s iage i the oeet
o Women played pivotal roles
• Starts the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful
• February 1960- 4 Afria Aeria ales sit do at a restaurat all day ad do’t get
served
o Start of nonviolent sit-ins
• 1961- Birmingham, Alabama → State radically opposed the bus integration; began
burning busses
• Kennedy had no interest in Civil Rights
• Violence became so extreme so had to become involved
• Initially did not have that approach
• 1963- Birmingham church bomb; 4 young girls go into church where there was a bomb
and it sets off and kills the 4 young girls
• North Carolina → African Americans not being served food at a lunch counter
o Over 80 people sitting and not being served
• Atlanta University → desegregation
• Raleigh, North Carolina →
• 1961 – violence begins
o Freedom rides
o Interstate Bus System
o Birmingham, AL
▪ First integrated bus that was set to leave the state blows up, when
people leave the bus, they get beaten
o Arrest
• Childre are supported… Beoes a eterpiee durig the oeets
• I hae a drea speeh
o MLK
o August 28, 1963
o Quarter of a million people, both black and white
o He was able to bring in together nationalism and Christianity
o He shoed that it is a atioal prole… Outside of the south
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find more resources at oneclass.com
• November 1963 → Kennedy is assassinated
• JFK realized he needed to step in and rig hage… died
• Johso eoes presidet after Keedy’s death
• He passes Civil Rights Act of 1964
o Prohibits public segregation
▪ Hotels, restaurants, etc
o Freedom Summer
▪ Summer 1964
▪ Grandfather clause, literary tests, poll taxes is eliminated
• End of 1964 into 1964, whites join the movement
o Go into the south
o Two white men and a black man go down for a voter registration trial
o Clash with local KKK chapter
o They were back and took over parts of south
o In Mississippi
o They left the jail and followed
o They were shot and killed
o Assailant was ever prosecuted
• 1965 → Civil Rights Voting Act
• Selma, Alabama
o Law of the land
o Jim Clarke → enforces all of rules and regulations and those who seek to hinder
African American voting rights
o They’re protestig y arhing into courthouse demanding the right to vote
o They are arrested and put to jail
o 2600 people are arrested
o march from Selma to Montgomery
• March 7, 1965 → met at the bridge by Alabama state troopers go down and beat them
with clubs
• This as teleised… Media shows the violence in the south to people who are not
resisting
• LBJ goes into Congress and gives a speech about giving god given liberty rights to vote
• Congress passes the law
• March 25, 1965 → Viola Liuzzio… The oly hite oa to e urdered durig the Civil
Rights Movement
• Viola Liuzzio
o Mother of 5
o Native of Michigan
o Inspired by listening to the media and wanted to enact change
o She was taking the bus
o Violated Southern taboo; caught in the same car as an African American
o Members of KKK followed her and shot her in the head
o Members of KKK was not found guilty
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
