Chapter 21

The Struggle for Civil Rights

1.What court case confirmed the legality of racial segregation?

PLESSEY vs. FERGUSON- 1896

Supreme Court ruled that segregation was
not Unconstitutional.
Created Separate but Equal

2. What court case overturned the Separate but Equal Doctrine?

Separate

But Equal Doctrine

Made African-Americans 2nd class citizens

Etiquette of proper race relations developed

Had to address whites as Mr. and Mrs.

Blacks addressed as boy and girl
Black couldnt challenge whites
Overturned by the Brown Vs. Board of
Education court case

3. Who argued the Brown Vs. Board case to the Supreme Court?

Brown v. Board of Education May 17, 1954

Thurgood Marshall was the NAACP lawyer who
brought the case before the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court reversed the Plessy v. Ferguson
decision of Separate but Equal
Court stated that Segregated schools were found to
be inferior because it stigmatized African-Americans
South refused to integrate.

4. How did Emmett Till Bring national attention to racial discrimination in the
South?

Emmett Till August 1955

Visiting relatives in Mississippi from Chicago

Whistled at a white woman
Was found beaten and thrown in the river by her husband and
a friend.
Funeral was televised- brought national attention to racial
discrimination in the South
At the trial an all white jury found the two men not guilty
The freedoms in the North for African Americans did not extend
into the South.

5. What event helped spark the Montgomery bus boycott?

Montgomery, Alabama- December 1955

Rosa Parks- refuses to give up her seat to a white
person
Montgomery Improvement Association began
Selected Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as President
Advocated non-violent philosophy (Passive resistance)
NAACP boycott the buses in Montgomery AL.

6. Who felt the path to equal rights was nonviolent protests?

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)-1957

President Martin Luther King Jr.

Believed the path to equal rights was to carry on
nonviolent protests against the evils of second class
citizenship
Staged protests and demonstrations throughout the
South.

7. Which president ordered soldiers to protect black students integrating Little Rock H.S

Little Rock High School-September 1957

Governor of Arkansas used National Guard to prevent 9
black students from enrolling in Little Rocks Central
High School
Eisenhower placed National Guard under federal control
and sent the soldiers to Little Rock to allow the 9
students to attend

The Little Rock Nine

8. What is a sit- in?

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Greensboro, North Carolina- February 1960
African American students sat at the whites only lunch counter
in Woolworths
Television crews televised the event showing the students
being beaten, jeered at and having food poured on them
New way to protest- sit-in
Students from all over the south began copying this technique.

9. What was the goal of the freedom riders?

Freedom Riders-May 1961

Historic bus ride by African Americans across the South to test

the Supreme Court decision banning segregation on interstate
bus routes and terminals
Riders were beaten by whites waiting for them as they pulled
into each terminal
Newspapers throughout the nation denounced the beatings
It was exactly the response the Freedom Riders wanted

10. What caused Birmingham Alabama to desegregate?

The Desegregation of Birmingham Alabama-1963

The Most segregated City in America

MLK and the SCLC came to demonstrate
Friday April 12th, King and others were arrested
May 2nd, thousands of teens came to march on Birmingham
Police used fire hoses, attack dogs, and clubbed and arrested 959 of the
children.
The television cameras captured it all
Birmingham officials were forced to end segregation

11. Where did Dr. King deliver his I Have A Dream Speech?

March on Washington- Aug. 28, 1963

250,000 gathered at the Lincoln Memorial
Black and White marchers protested against
segregated facilities
Dr. King delivered his famous I Have a Dream
Speech
Two Months later Kennedy is assassinated

12. What did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 accomplish?

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Two months after Kennedys assassination,

Johnson pledged to carry on his work on civil
rights legislation
President Lyndon B. Johnson pushed The Civil
Rights Act of 1964 through Congress
Eliminated whites only public facilities

13. What happened to some whites who came to Mississippi to register black
voters?

Mississippi Summer Project

White volunteers came to work in Mississippi
Presence brought national attention
3 volunteers- 2 white, 1 black turn up missing
Were on their way to investigate a church bombing in
Mississippi
Murdered by KKK and law enforcement personnel

14. What was Malcolm X exposed to in prison that changed his life?

Militant Black Consciousness

Malcolm X (Malcolm Little)

Grew up in poverty
Lost hope in that he could succeed in a white society
Ended up in jail
While in jail he was exposed to the teaching of the
Nation of Islam

15. How did MLKs philosophy differ from Malcolm X on gaining civil rights?

Militant Black Consciousness

Urged blacks to separate from white society
Wanted to use force, instead of passive resistance
1964- Quit The Nation of Islam over differences in
strategy and doctrine and formed Organization of AfroAmerican Unity
1965- assassinated while giving a speech in New York

16. Name the Civil rights leader who became impatient with non-violence and called
for black power.

Militant Black Consciousness

Members of Nation of Islam convicted of
Malcolm Xs murder
Stokely Carmichael became impatient with nonviolence and started the rise of Black Power
Became the battle cry for militant civil right
activists

17. Why was MLK against The Black Panther Party?

Militant Black Consciousness

Black Panther Party
Goal: gain political office for African-Americans throughout
the South
Militant in demands for land, bread, housing, education,
clothing, justice and peace.
King very critical of black militant groups- thought it
weakened support of Whites

18. What happened after MLK was assassinated?

Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated

April 4, 1968- assassinated in
Memphis
Led to a new wave of urban
violence and worst rioting in
history
Poverty still remained high
among African-Americans
even though segregation had
ended.

Legacy Of The Civil Rights Movement

Created legal protection for the civil rights of all Americans
More African Americans finishing school and going to college
African Americans having greater pride in their racial identity

African Americans began to appear more frequently in movies

and film
The number of African Americans in political office significantly
increased