Chapter

The Civil Rights

Movement
1954–1968
SECTION 1 The Movement Begins
SECTION 2 Challenging Segregation
SECTION 3 New Civil Rights Issues

Martin Luther King, Jr., and his wife

Coretta lead the civil rights march
in Selma, Alabama, 1965.

1954 1957 1963

• Brown v. 1955 • Eisenhower sends • The March on
Eisenhower Board of • Montgomery troops to Little 1960 Kennedy Washington,
1953–1961 Education bus boycott Rock to ensure 1961–1963 D.C., is held to
• Sit-in
ruling is begins in integration of a protests support the Civil
issued Alabama high school begin Rights bill
U.S. PRESIDENTS
U.S. EVENTS
1953 1957 1961
WORLD EVENTS
1955 1957 1960 1962
• West Germany • Russia launches • France • Cuban missile
is admitted Sputnik into successfully crisis erupts
to NATO orbit tests nuclear
weapons

848 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

 MAKING CONNECTIONS
What Causes Societies to Change?
The civil rights movement gained momentum rapidly after World War II.
Decisions by the Supreme Court combined with massive protests by civil
rights groups and new federal legislation to finally end racial segregation
and disfranchisement in the United States more than 70 years after
Southern states had put it in place.
• Why do you think the civil rights movement made gains in
postwar America? What strategies were most effective in
winning the battle for civil rights?

Sequencing Civil Rights Events Create

an Accordion Book Foldable to gather information
1964 1965 1968 on a time line about various events of the civil
Johnson • Civil • Voting Rights • Civil Rights Act of rights movement. As you read the chapter, com-
1963–1969 Rights Act Act passes 1968 is passed plete the time line by filling in events for roughly
of 1964 • Malcolm X is • Martin Luther King, 20 years, starting with Roosevelt’s Executive
passes assassinated Jr., is assassinated Order 8802 of June,
1941. The time line 1
194tive
cu
Exe rder
should include brief O 02
88
1965 1969
notes on each event.

1965 1967
• China’s Cultural • Arab-Israeli War brings
Revolution begins many Palestinians under )JTUPSZ 0/-*/& Chapter Overview
Israeli rule Visit glencoe.com to preview Chapter 25.

Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement 849

A 1965 Herblock Cartoon, copyright by The Herb Block Foundation
Section 1
The Movement Begins
Guide to Reading A fter World War II, African Americans and other civil
rights supporters challenged segregation in the
United States. Their efforts were vigorously opposed by
Big Ideas
Struggles for Rights In the 1950s, Southern segregationists, but the federal government
African Americans began a movement
began to take a firmer stand for civil rights.
to win greater legal and social equality.

Content Vocabulary
• “separate but equal” (p. 850) The Origins of the Movement
• de facto segregation (p. 851) MAIN Idea African Americans won court victories, increased their voting
• sit-in (p. 852) power, and began using “sit-ins” to desegregate public places.

Academic Vocabulary HISTORY AND YOU Are you registered to vote, or do you plan to register
• facility (p. 850) when you are 18? Read on to learn how African Americans increased their
voting power and worked to desegregate public places.
People and Events to Identify
• Rosa Parks (p. 850) On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks left her job as a seamstress in
• National Association for the Advance- Montgomery, Alabama, and boarded a bus to go home. In 1955 buses
ment of Colored People (NAACP) (p. 850) in Montgomery reserved seats in the front for whites and seats in the
• Thurgood Marshall (p. 852) rear for African Americans. Seats in the middle were open to African
• Linda Brown (p. 852) Americans, but only if there were few whites on the bus.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. (p. 854) Rosa Parks took a seat just behind the white section. Soon, all of
• Southern Christian Leadership Confer- the seats on the bus were filled. When the bus driver noticed a white
ence (SCLC) (p. 855) man standing, he told Parks and three other African Americans in
her row to get up and let the white man sit down. The other three
Reading Strategy African Americans rose, but Rosa Parks did not. The driver then
Organizing Complete a graphic orga- called the Montgomery police, who took Parks into custody.
nizer similar to the one below by listing News of the arrest soon reached E. D. Nixon, a former president of
the causes of the civil rights movement. the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP). Nixon, who wanted to challenge bus
Civil Rights
Movement segregation in court, told Parks, “With your permission we can break
down segregation on the bus with your case.” Parks replied, “If you
think it will mean something to Montgomery and do some good, I’ll
be happy to go along with it.”
When Rosa Parks agreed to challenge segregation in court, she
did not know that her decision would spark a new era in the civil
rights movement. Within days of her arrest, African Americans in
Montgomery had organized a boycott of the bus system. Mass pro-
tests soon began across the nation. After decades of segregation and
inequality, many African Americans had decided the time had come
to demand equal rights.
The struggle would not be easy. The Supreme Court had declared
segregation to be constitutional in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The rul-
ing had established the “separate but equal” doctrine. Laws that
segregated African Americans were permitted as long as equal facili-
ties were provided for them.

850 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

Thurgood Marshall
1908–1993
Over his lifetime, Thurgood Marshall made many
contributions to the civil rights movement. Perhaps his
most famous accomplishment was representing the
NAACP in the Brown v. Board of Education case.
Marshall’s speaking style was simple and direct.
During the Brown case, Justice Frankfurter asked
Marshall for a definition of equal. Marshall replied:
“Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time
and in the same place.“
Born into a middle-class Baltimore family in 1908,
Marshall earned a law degree from Howard University
Law School. The school’s dean, Charles Hamilton
Houston, enlisted Marshall to work for the NAACP.
Together, the two laid out the legal strategy for chal-
lenging discrimination in many areas of American life. In
1935 Marshall won his first case regarding segregation The NAACP’s Legal Strategy in Action
in state institutions. The decision forced the University Even before the famous Brown v. Board of Education case,
of Maryland to integrate. Marshall went on to win 29 of Thurgood Marshall had won several cases for the NAACP
the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court, and that chipped away at segregation in the South.
became known as “Mr. Civil Rights.” In 1967 Marshall
became the first African American to serve on the Smith v. Allwright (1944): Political parties cannot deny
Supreme Court, where he continued to be a voice for voting rights in party primaries on the basis of race.
civil rights. In his view, the Constitution was not perfect, Shelley v. Kraemer (1948): States cannot enforce private
because it had accepted slavery. “The true miracle of agreements to discriminate on the basis of race in the sale
the Constitution,” he once wrote, “was not the birth of of property.
the Constitution, but its life.”
Sweatt v. Painter (1950): Law schools segregated by race
How did Thurgood Marshall contribute to the are inherently unequal.
civil rights movement?

After the Plessy decision, laws segregating was unconstitutional. In 1950 it ruled in Sweatt
African Americans and whites spread quickly. v. Painter that state law schools had to admit
These laws, nicknamed “Jim Crow” laws, seg- qualified African American applicants, even if
regated buses, trains, schools, restaurants, parallel black law schools existed.
pools, parks, and other public facilities. Usually
the “Jim Crow” facilities provided for African
Americans were of poorer quality than those
New Political Power
provided for whites. Areas without laws requir- In addition to a string of court victories,
ing segregation often had de facto segrega- African Americans enjoyed increased political
tion—segregation by custom and tradition. power. Before World War I, most African
Americans lived in the South, where they were
largely excluded from voting. During the Great
Court Challenges Begin Migration, many moved to Northern cities,
The civil rights movement had been building where they were allowed to vote. Increasingly,
for a long time. Since 1909, the NAACP had Northern politicians sought their votes and lis-
supported court cases intended to overturn seg- tened to their concerns.
regation. Over the years, the NAACP achieved During the 1930s, many African Americans
some victories. In 1935, for example, the benefited from FDR’s New Deal programs and
Supreme Court ruled in Norris v. Alabama that began supporting the Democratic Party. This
Alabama’s exclusion of African Americans from gave the party new strength in the North. This
juries violated their right to equal protection wing of the party was now able to counter
under the law. In 1946 the Court ruled in Morgan Southern Democrats, who often supported
v. Virginia that segregation on interstate buses segregation.

Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement 851

 The Push for Desegregation but equal has no place. Separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal.”
During World War II, African American
leaders began to use their political power to
demand more rights. Their efforts helped end Southern Resistance
discrimination in wartime factories and
The Brown decision marked a dramatic
increased opportunities for African Americans
reversal of the precedent established in the
in the military.
Plessy v. Ferguson case. Brown v. Board of
In Chicago in 1942, James Farmer and George
Education applied only to public schools, but
Houser founded the Congress of Racial Equality
the ruling threatened the entire system of seg-
(CORE). CORE began using sit-ins, a form of
regation. Although it convinced many African
protest first used by union workers in the 1930s.
Americans that the time had come to chal-
In 1943 CORE attempted to desegregate res-
lenge segregation, it also angered many white
taurants that refused to serve African Americans.
Southerners, who became even more deter-
Using the sit-in strategy, members of CORE
mined to defend segregation, regardless of
went to segregated restaurants. If they were
what the Supreme Court ruled.
denied service, they sat down and refused to
Although some school districts in border
leave. The sit-ins were intended to shame res-
states integrated their schools, anger and
taurant managers into integrating their restau-
opposition was a far more common reaction.
rants. Using these protests, CORE successfully
In Washington, D.C., Senator Harry F. Byrd of
integrated many restaurants, theaters, and other
Virginia called on Southerners to adopt “mas-
public facilities in Northern cities including
sive resistance” against the ruling. Across the
Chicago, Detroit, Denver, and Syracuse.
South, hundreds of thousands of white
Americans joined citizens’ councils to pressure
their local governments and school boards
Brown v. Board into defying the Supreme Court. Many states
of Education adopted pupil assignment laws. These laws
established elaborate requirements other than
After World War II, the NAACP continued
To better race that schools could use to prevent African
to challenge segregation in the courts. From
understand the Americans from attending white schools.
1939 to 1961, the NAACP’s chief counsel and
court ruling in The Supreme Court inadvertently encour-
Brown v. Board
director of its Legal Defense and Education
aged white resistance when it followed up its
of Education, read Fund was the brilliant African American attor-
decision in Brown v. Board of Education a year
an excerpt from ney Thurgood Marshall. After the war,
later. The Court ordered school districts to pro-
the Court’s ruling Marshall focused his efforts on ending segre-
on page R55 in ceed “with all deliberate speed” to end school
gation in public schools.
Documents in segregation. The wording was vague enough
In 1954 the Supreme Court decided to com-
American History. that many districts were able to keep their
bine several cases and issue a general ruling
schools segregated for many more years.
on segregation in schools. One of the cases
Massive resistance also appeared in the
involved a young African American girl named
halls of Congress. In 1956 a group of 101
Linda Brown, who was denied admission to
Southern members of Congress signed the
her neighborhood school in Topeka, Kansas,
“Southern Manifesto,” which denounced the
because of her race. She was told to attend an
Supreme Court’s ruling as “a clear abuse of
all-black school across town. With the help of
judicial power” and pledged to use “all lawful
the NAACP, her parents then sued the Topeka
means” to reverse the decision. Although the
school board.
“Southern Manifesto” had no legal standing,
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled
the statement encouraged white Southerners
unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of
to defy the Supreme Court. Not until 1969 did
Topeka, Kansas, that segregation in public
the Supreme Court order all school systems to
schools was unconstitutional and violated the
desegregate “at once” and operate integrated
equal protection clause of the Fourteenth
schools “now and hereafter.”
Amendment. Chief Justice Earl Warren summed
up the Court’s decision, declaring: “In the field Examining Why was the ruling
of public education, the doctrine of separate in Brown v. Board of Education so important?

852 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

 Analyzing Supreme Court Cases
Is Segregation Unconstitutional?
★ Brown v. Board of Education, 1954
Background to the Cases
One of the most important Supreme Court cases in American
history began in 1952, when the Supreme Court agreed to hear
the NAACP’s case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,
Kansas, along with three other cases. They all dealt with the
question of whether the principle “separate but equal”
established in Plessy v. Ferguson was constitutional with regard
to public schools.

How the Court Ruled

In a unanimous decision in 1954, the Court ruled in favor of
Linda Brown and the other plaintiffs. In doing so, it overruled
Plessy v. Ferguson and rejected the idea that equivalent but
separate schools for African American and white students were
constitutional. The Court held that racial segregation in public
schools violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection ▲ The children involved in the Brown v. Board of Education
case are shown in this 1953 photograph. They are, from front to
clause because “Separate educational facilities are inherently back, Vicki Henderson, Donald Henderson, Linda Brown (of the
unequal.” The Court’s rejection of “separate but equal” was a case title), James Emanuel, Nancy Todd, and Katherine Carper.
major victory for the civil rights movement and led to the Together, their cases led to the Supreme Court decreeing that
public schools could not be segregated on the basis of race.
overturning of laws requiring segregation in other public places.

PRIMARY SOURCE PRIMARY SOURCE

The Court’s Opinion Dissenting Views
“In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably “We regard the decisions of the Supreme Court in the
be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity school cases as a clear abuse of judicial power. . . . In the case
of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 the Supreme Court expressly
undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made declared that under the 14th Amendment no person was
available to all on equal terms. We come then to the question denied any of his rights if the States provided separate but
presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely equal facilities. . . . This interpretation, restated time and again,
on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and became a part of the life of the people of many of the States
other ‘tangible’ factors may be equal, deprive the children of and confirmed their habits, traditions, and way of life. It is
the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We founded on elemental humanity and commonsense, for parents
believe that it does.” should not be deprived by Government of the right to direct the
lives and education of their own children.”
—Chief Justice Earl Warren writing for the Court in
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas —from the “Southern Manifesto”

1. Explaining Why did the Supreme Court find in favor of Linda Brown?
2. Drawing Conclusions What is the main argument against the Brown decision in the excerpt
from the “Southern Manifesto”?
3. Making Inferences Do you think that the authors of the “Southern Manifesto” were including
African Americans in the last sentence of the excerpt? Why or why not?

Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement 853

 PRIMARY SOURCE
The Civil Rights “Now let us say that we are not advocating vio-
Movement Begins lence. . . . The only weapon we have in our hands
this evening is the weapon of protest. If we were
MAIN Idea The Brown v. Board of Education rul- incarcerated behind the iron curtains of a commu-
ing ignited protest and encouraged African nistic nation—we couldn’t do this. If we were
Americans to challenge other forms of segregation.
trapped in the dungeon of a totalitarian regime—
HISTORY AND YOU Do you think that one person we couldn’t do this. But the great glory of American
has the power to change things for the better? Read democracy is the right to protest for right!”
on to learn how the courage and hard work of indi-
viduals helped reform society. —quoted in Parting the Waters:
America in the King Years

In the midst of the uproar over the Brown v. King had earned a Ph.D. in theology from
Board of Education case, Rosa Parks made her Boston University. He believed that the only
decision to challenge segregation of public moral way to end segregation and racism was
transportation. Outraged by Parks’s arrest, Jo through nonviolent passive resistance. He told
Ann Robinson, head of a local organization his followers, “We must use the weapon of
called the Women’s Political Council, called on love. We must realize that so many people are
African Americans to boycott Montgomery’s taught to hate us that they are not totally
buses on the day Rosa Parks appeared in responsible for their hate.” African Americans,
court. he urged, must say to racists: “We will soon
The boycott marked the start of a new era of wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and
the civil rights movement among African in winning our freedom we will so appeal to
Americans. Instead of limiting the fight for your heart and conscience that we will win you
their rights to court cases, African Americans in the process.”
in large numbers began organizing protests,
defying laws that required segregation, and
demanding they be treated as equal to whites.

The Montgomery
Bus Boycott The Montgomery
The Montgomery bus boycott was a Bus Boycott
dramatic success. On the afternoon of Rosa The act of one tired woman on a bus and the
Parks’s court appearance, several African subsequent bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama,
American leaders formed the Montgomery brought civil rights out of the legal arena and
Improvement Association to run the boycott turned it into a struggle in which ordinary
Americans realized that they could make a differ-
and to negotiate with city leaders for an end
ence. Rosa Parks’s refusal to give up her seat on the
to segregation. They elected a 26-year-old
bus to a white man showed that even small acts of
pastor named Martin Luther King, Jr., to defiance could empower people to create change.
lead them. The Montgomery bus boycott, which was begun
On the evening of December 5, 1955, a to show support for Parks, became a huge success.
meeting was held at Dexter Avenue Baptist It started a chain reaction—the beginning of a
Church, where Dr. King was the pastor. In the mass movement that would dramatically change
deep, resonant tones and powerful phrases American society over the next 20 years, and bring
that characterized his speaking style, King to prominence many influential African American
encouraged the people to continue their pro- leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr.
test. “There comes a time, my friends,” he said, ANALYZING HISTORY Drawing
“when people get tired of being thrown into Conclusions How did the bus boycott create a
the abyss of humiliation, where they experi- mass movement for change?
ence the bleakness of nagging despair.” He
cautioned, however, that the protest had to be
peaceful:

854 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

 King drew upon the philosophy and tech- ceeded without the support of the African
)JTUPSZ 0/-*/&
niques of Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi, American churches in the city. As the civil
Student Web
who had used nonviolent resistance effectively rights movement gained momentum, African Activity Visit
to challenge British rule in India. Believing in American churches continued to play a critical glencoe.com
people’s ability to transform themselves, King role. They served as forums for many of the and complete
was certain that public opinion would eventu- protests and planning meetings, and mobilized the activity on
Rosa Parks.
ally force the government to end segregation. many of the volunteers for specific civil rights
Stirred by King’s powerful words, African campaigns.
Americans in Montgomery continued their After the Montgomery bus boycott demon-
boycott for over a year. Instead of riding the strated that nonviolent protest could be suc-
bus, they organized car pools or walked to cessful, African American ministers led by
work. Meanwhile, Rosa Parks’s legal challenge King established the Southern Christian
to bus segregation worked its way through the Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957. The
courts. In November 1956, the Supreme Court SCLC set out to eliminate segregation from
affirmed the decision of a special three-judge American society and to encourage African
panel declaring Alabama’s laws requiring seg- Americans to register to vote. Dr. King served
regation on buses unconstitutional. as the SCLC’s first president. Under his leader-
ship, the organization challenged segregation
at voting booths and in public transportation,
African American Churches housing, and accommodations.
Martin Luther King, Jr., was not the only
prominent minister in the bus boycott. Many Summarizing What role did
of the other leaders were African American African American churches play in the civil rights
ministers. The boycott could not have suc- movement?

▲ Rosa Parks rides a newly integrated

bus after the successful boycott.

▲ African Americans walk to work

during the third month of the
Montgomery bus boycott (above).
The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in
Montgomery, Alabama (right), was
the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.’s, first church as a minister and
headquarters for the organizers of
the bus boycott.

Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement 855

 Eisenhower Responds remarked, “I don’t believe you can change the
hearts of men with laws or decisions.”
MAIN Idea President Eisenhower sent the U.S. Although he believed that the Brown v.
Army to enforce integration in Arkansas. Board of Education decision was wrong,
HISTORY AND YOU Do you believe that the Eisenhower knew he had to uphold the author-
president should uphold Supreme Court rulings? ity of the federal government. As a result, he
Read to learn how Eisenhower responded to events became the first president since Reconstruction
in Little Rock, Arkansas. to send troops into the South to protect the
rights of African Americans.
President Eisenhower sympathized with the
civil rights movement and personally disagreed
with segregation. Following the precedent set Crisis in Little Rock
by President Truman, he ordered navy shipyards In September 1957, the school board in
and veterans’ hospitals to desegregate. At the Little Rock, Arkansas, won a court order requir-
same time, however, Eisenhower disagreed ing that nine African American students be
with those who wanted to end segregation admitted to Central High, a school with 2,000
through protests and court rulings. He believed white students. The governor of Arkansas,
segregation and racism would end gradually, as Orval Faubus, was known as a moderate on
values changed. With the nation in the midst of racial issues, but he was determined to win
the Cold War, he worried that challenging white reelection and began to campaign as a defender
Southerners might divide the nation at a time of white supremacy. He ordered troops from
when the country needed to pull together. the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the
Publicly, he refused to endorse the Brown v. nine students from entering the school. The
Board of Education decision. Privately, he next day, as the National Guard troops sur-

Little Rock School Crisis, Arkansas, 1957

▲ Arkansas governor Orval Faubus sought to block

the school’s integration. He is shown holding up
a paper making his argument that the federal
government was abusing its power in forcibly
integrating Central High in Little Rock.

Analyzing VISUALS
1. Explaining Why do you think the white people
are shouting at Elizabeth Eckford?
▲

Federal troops
2. Identifying Central Issues Why did President protect African
Eisenhower send troops to Little Rock? American students
at Central High.

856 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

rounded the school, an angry white mob joined the troops to
protest and to intimidate the students trying to register.
Faubus had used the armed forces of a state to oppose the
Section 1 REVIEW
federal government—the first such challenge to the Constitution
since the Civil War. Eisenhower knew that he could not allow
Faubus to defy the federal government. After a conference Vocabulary
between Eisenhower and Faubus proved fruitless, the district 1. Explain the significance of: Rosa Parks,
court ordered the governor to remove the troops. Instead of end- NAACP, “separate but equal,” de facto
ing the crisis, however, Faubus simply left the school to the mob. segregation, sit-in, Thurgood Marshall,
After the African American students entered the building, angry Linda Brown, Martin Luther King, Jr.,
whites beat at least two African American reporters and broke Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
many of the school’s windows.
The violence finally convinced President Eisenhower that he Main Ideas
had to act. Federal authority had to be upheld. He immediately 2. Explaining What was CORE and what
ordered the Army to send troops to Little Rock. In addition, he were some of its tactics?
federalized the Arkansas National Guard. By nightfall, 1,000 sol-
diers of the elite 101st Airborne Division had arrived. By 5:00 A.M., 3. Identifying What event set off the civil
the troops had encircled the school, bayonets ready. A few hours rights movement of the 1950s?
later, the nine African American students arrived in an army sta-
4. Summarizing Why did Eisenhower send
tion wagon and walked into the high school. Federal authority
the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock,
had been upheld, but the troops had to stay in Little Rock for the
Arkansas?
rest of the school year.
Officials in Little Rock, however, continued to resist integration. Critical Thinking
Before the start of the following school year, Governor Faubus
5. Big Ideas Why did the role of the fed-
ordered the three public high schools in Little Rock closed. Steps
eral government in civil rights enforce-
to integrate the schools in Little Rock resumed only in 1959.
ment change?

6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer sim-

New Civil Rights Legislation ilar to the one below to list the efforts
In the same year that the Little Rock crisis began, Congress made to end segregation.
passed the first civil rights law since Reconstruction. The Civil
Rights Act of 1957 was intended to protect the right of African
Americans to vote. Eisenhower believed firmly in the right to Efforts to End
vote, and he viewed it as his responsibility to protect voting rights. Segregation

He also knew that if he sent a civil rights bill to Congress, conser-

vative Southern Democrats would try to block the legislation. In
1956 he did send the bill to Congress, hoping not only to split the 7. Analyzing Visuals Study the photo-
Democratic Party but also to convince more African Americans to graph of Elizabeth Eckford on page 856.
vote Republican. Describe Eckford’s demeanor compared to
Several Southern senators did try to stop the Civil Rights Act those around her. What might this indicate
of 1957, but the Senate majority leader, Democrat Lyndon about her character?
Johnson, put together a compromise that enabled the act to pass.
Although its final form was much weaker than originally intended, Writing About History
the act still brought the power of the federal government into the 8. Expository Writing Assume the role of
civil rights debate. It created a civil rights division within the an African American soldier returning from
Department of Justice and gave it the authority to seek court World War II. Write a letter to the editor of
injunctions against anyone interfering with the right to vote. It a newspaper describing your expectations
also created the United States Commission on Civil Rights to of civil rights.
investigate allegations of denial of voting rights. After the bill
passed, the SCLC announced a campaign to register 2 million
)JTUPSZ 0/-*/&
new African American voters.
Study Central To review this section, go to
Explaining Why did Eisenhower intervene in the Little glencoe.com and click on Study Central.
Rock controversy?

857
Section 2
Challenging Segregation
Guide to Reading I n the early 1960s, the struggle for civil rights intensi-
fied. African American citizens and white supporters
created organizations that directed protests, targeted
Big Ideas
Group Action African American citi- specific inequalities, and attracted the attention of the
zens created organizations that directed
mass media and the government.
protests to demand full civil rights.

Content Vocabulary
• filibuster (p. 864) The Sit-in Movement
• cloture (p. 864)
MAIN Idea African American students staged sit-ins and formed the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to organize efforts for
Academic Vocabulary
desegregation and voter registration throughout the South.
• register (p. 859)
HISTORY AND YOU Would you risk your personal safety to participate in a
People and Events to Identify sit-in? Read on to learn of the response of young people to the sit-in move-
• Student Nonviolent Coordinating ment of the early 1960s.
Committee (SNCC) (p. 859)
• Freedom Riders (p. 860) In the fall of 1959, four young African Americans—Joseph McNeil,
• James Meredith (p. 862) Ezell Blair, Jr., David Richmond, and Franklin McCain—enrolled at
• Civil Rights Act of 1964 (p. 865) North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, an African
• Voting Rights Act of 1965 (p. 867) American college in Greensboro. The four freshmen spent evenings
talking about the civil rights movement. In January 1960, McNeil
Reading Strategy suggested a sit-in at the whites-only lunch counter in the nearby
Organizing Complete a graphic orga- Woolworth’s department store.
nizer about the challenges to segrega- “All of us were afraid,” Richmond later recalled, “but we went and
tion in the South. did it.” On February 1, 1960, the four friends entered the Woolworth’s.
Cause Effect
They purchased school supplies and then sat at the lunch counter
Sit-In Movement and ordered coffee. When they were refused service, Blair asked, “I
Freedom Riders beg your pardon, but you just served us at [the checkout] counter.
Why can’t we be served at the counter here?”The students stayed at
the counter until it closed, then announced that they would sit at the
counter every day until they were given the same service as white
customers.
As they left the store, the four were excited. McNeil recalled, “I just
felt I had powers within me, a superhuman strength that would come
forward.” McCain was also energized, saying, “I probably felt better
that day than I’ve ever felt in my life.”
News of the daring sit-in at the Woolworth’s store spread quickly
across Greensboro. The following day, 29 African American students
arrived at Woolworth’s determined to sit at the counter until served.
By the end of the week, over 300 students were taking part.
Starting with just four students, a new mass movement for civil
rights had begun. Within two months, sit-ins had spread to 54 cities
in nine states. They were staged at segregated stores, restaurants,
hotels, and movie theaters. By 1961, sit-ins had been held in more
than 100 cities.

858 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

The Sit-ins Begin

▲ Nonviolent protests, such as

this pray-in in Albany, Georgia,
in 1962, spread across the nation
as the civil rights movement
gained momentum.

▲
Joseph McNeil, Franklin
McCain, Billy Smith, and
Clarence Henderson begin the
second day of their sit-in at
Analyzing VISUALS the whites-only Woolworth’s
1. Explaining Why did the four African American students counter in Greensboro, North
Carolina, in 1960.
begin the sit-in at the Woolworth’s counter?
2. Drawing Conclusions Why was nonviolence so effec-
tive as a form of protest?

The sit-in movement brought large num- them together was Ella Baker, the executive
bers of idealistic and energized college stu- director of the SCLC. In April 1960 Baker
dents into the civil rights struggle. Many invited student leaders to attend a convention
African American students had become dis- at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
couraged by the slow pace of desegregation. There she urged students to create their own
Students like Jesse Jackson, a student leader at organization instead of joining the NAACP or
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical the SCLC. Students, she said, had “the right to
College, wanted to see things change more direct their own affairs and even make their
quickly. The sit-in offered them a way to take own mistakes.”
matters into their own hands. The students agreed with Baker and estab-
At first, the leaders of the NAACP and the lished the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
SCLC were nervous about the sit-in campaign. Committee (SNCC). Among SNCC’s early
They feared that students did not have the dis- leaders were Marion Barry, who later served as
cipline to remain nonviolent if they were pro- mayor of Washington, D.C., and John Lewis,
voked enough. For the most part, the students who later became a member of Congress.
proved them wrong. Those conducting sit-ins African American college students from all
were heckled by bystanders, punched, kicked, across the South made up the majority of
beaten with clubs, and burned with cigarettes, SNCC’s members, although many whites also
hot coffee, and acid—but most did not fight joined. Between 1960 and 1965, SNCC played
back. Their heroic behavior grabbed the a key role in desegregating public facilities in
nation’s attention. dozens of Southern communities. SNCC also
As the sit-ins spread, student leaders in dif- began sending volunteers into rural areas of
ferent states realized they needed to coordi- the Deep South to register African Americans
nate their efforts. The person who brought to vote.

Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement 859

 The idea for what came to be called the Voter
Education Project began with Robert Moses, an The Freedom Riders
SNCC volunteer from New York. Moses pointed MAIN Idea Teams of African Americans and
out that the civil rights movement tended to whites rode buses into the South to protest the con-
focus on urban areas. He urged the SNCC to tinued illegal segregation on interstate bus lines.
start helping rural African Americans, who often HISTORY AND YOU Is it acceptable to risk provok-
faced violence if they tried to register to vote. ing violence in order to advance a cause you sup-
Despite the danger, many SNCC volunteers port? Read to learn about the violence that erupted
against the Freedom Riders and against Martin
headed to the Deep South. Moses himself went
Luther King, Jr.’s march in Birmingham.
to Mississippi. Several had their lives threatened;
others were beaten, and in 1964, local officials
brutally murdered three SNCC workers. Despite rulings outlawing segregation in
One SNCC organizer, a sharecropper named interstate bus service, bus travel remained seg-
Fannie Lou Hamer, had been evicted from her regated in much of the South. In 1961 CORE
farm after registering to vote. She was arrested leader James Farmer asked teams of African
in Mississippi for urging other African American and white volunteers, many of
Americans to register. Police severely beat her whom were college students, to travel into the
while she was in jail. She then helped organize South to draw attention to its refusal to inte-
the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and grate bus terminals. The teams became known
challenged the legality of Mississippi’s segre- as the Freedom Riders.
gated Democratic Party at the 1964 Democratic In early May 1961, the first Freedom Riders
National Convention. boarded several southbound interstate buses.
When the buses arrived in Anniston,
Explaining What were the Birmingham, and Montgomery, Alabama,
effects of the sit-in movement? angry white mobs attacked them. The mobs

May 1961
James Farmer
May 1954 December 1956 organizes the first
In Brown v. Board of Supreme Court January 1957 Freedom Riders
Education, Supreme declares separate-but- Martin Luther King, Jr., to desegregate
Court declares segregated equal doctrine is no and other Southern interstate bus
schools unconstitutional longer constitutional ministers create SCLC travel

December September February 1960

1955 1957 Students in Greensboro,
Rosa Parks is Arkansas governor North Carolina, stage
arrested and Faubus blocks a sit-in at a local lunch
Montgomery desegregation of counter; as sit-ins
Bus Boycott Little Rock High spread, student leaders
begins School, forcing form SNCC in April
Eisenhower to
send troops to
the school

860 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

slit the bus tires and threw rocks at the win-
dows. In Anniston, someone threw a firebomb
Kennedy and Civil Rights
into one bus, but fortunately no one was While campaigning for the presidency in
killed. 1960, John F. Kennedy promised to actively
In Birmingham the riders emerged from a support the civil rights movement if elected.
bus to face a gang of young men armed with His brother, Robert F. Kennedy, had used his
baseball bats, chains, and lead pipes. The gang influence to get Dr. King released from jail
beat the riders viciously. One witness later after a demonstration in Georgia. African
reported, “You couldn’t see their faces through Americans responded by voting overwhelm-
the blood.” The head of the police in ingly for Kennedy. Their votes helped him
Birmingham, Public Safety Commissioner narrowly win several key states, including
Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor, explained Illinois, which Kennedy carried by only 9,000
that there had been no police at the bus station votes.
because it was Mother’s Day, and he had given Once in office, however, Kennedy at first
many of his officers the day off. FBI evidence seemed as cautious as Eisenhower on civil
later showed that Connor had contacted the rights, which disappointed many African
local Ku Klux Klan and told them to beat the Americans. Kennedy knew he needed the sup-
Freedom Riders until “it looked like a bulldog port of many Southern senators to get other
got a hold of them.” programs through Congress and that any
The violence in Alabama made national attempt to push through new civil rights legis-
news, shocking many Americans. The attack lation would anger them. Congressional
on the Freedom Riders came less than four Republicans repeatedly reminded the public of
months after President John F. Kennedy took Kennedy’s failure to follow through on his
office. The new president felt compelled to get campaign promise to push for civil rights for
the violence under control. African Americans.

March 1965
May 1963 King leads a march
Martin Luther King, in Selma, Alabama,
Jr., leads protests in to build support for
Birmingham, Alabama; a new voting rights August 3, 1965
police assault the protes- law; police brutally Congress passes the
tors and King is jailed attack marchers Voting Rights Act of 1965

September August 1963 July 1964 Analyzing TIME LINES

1962 King delivers his Johnson signs
James Meredith “I Have a Dream” Civil Rights Act
1. Identifying According to the time line,
tries to register speech during of 1964 into law what was the first major event in the civil
at University of the March on rights movement?
Mississippi; riots Washington in 2. Analyzing How many years were there
force Kennedy support of new between the Brown decision and the
to send troops civil rights act passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
3. Stating When were the Freedom Riders
organized?

Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement 861

 Kennedy did, however, name approximately more money could be found. When Thurgood
40 African Americans to high-level positions Marshall learned of the situation, he offered
in the government. He also appointed James Farmer the use of the NAACP Legal
Thurgood Marshall to a federal judgeship on Defense Fund’s huge bail bond account to
the Second Circuit Appeals Court in New keep the rides going.
York—one level below the Supreme Court and When President Kennedy returned from
the highest judicial position an African meeting with Khrushchev and found that the
American had attained to that point. Kennedy Freedom Riders were still active, he changed
created the Committee on Equal Employment his approach. He ordered the Interstate
Opportunity (CEEO) to stop the federal Commerce Commission (ICC) to tighten its
bureaucracy from discriminating against regulations against segregated bus terminals.
African Americans in hiring and promotions. In the meantime, Robert Kennedy ordered the
Justice Department to take legal action against
Southern cities that maintained segregated
The Justice Department Takes Action bus terminals. The actions of the ICC and the
Although President Kennedy was unwilling to Justice Department finally produced results. By
challenge Southern Democrats in Congress, late 1962, segregation in interstate bus travel
he allowed the Justice Department, run by his had come to an end.
brother Robert, to actively support the civil
rights movement. Robert Kennedy tried to
help African Americans register to vote by James Meredith As the Freedom Riders
having the civil rights division of the Justice were trying to desegregate interstate bus
Department file lawsuits across the South. lines, efforts continued to integrate Southern
When violence erupted against the Freedom schools. On the day John F. Kennedy was inau-
Riders, the Kennedys came to their aid as well, gurated, an African American air force veteran
although not at first. At the time the Freedom named James Meredith applied for a transfer
Riders took action, President Kennedy was to the University of Mississippi. Up to that
preparing for a meeting with Nikita Khrushchev, point, the university had avoided complying
the leader of the Soviet Union. Kennedy did with the Supreme Court ruling ending segre-
not want violence in the South to disrupt the gated education.
meeting by giving the impression that his In September 1962, Meredith tried to regis-
country was weak and divided. ter at the university’s admissions office, only to
After the Freedom Riders were attacked in find Ross Barnett, the governor of Mississippi,
Montgomery, the Kennedys publicly urged blocking his path. Meredith had a court order
them to stop the rides and give everybody a directing the university to register him, but
“cooling off” period. James Farmer replied that Governor Barnett stated emphatically, “Never!
African Americans “have been cooling off We will never surrender to the evil and illegal
now for 350 years. If we cool off anymore, we’ll forces of tyranny.”
be in a deep freeze.” Instead, he announced Frustrated, President Kennedy dispatched
that the Freedom Riders planned to head into 500 federal marshals to escort Meredith to the
Mississippi on their next trip. campus. Shortly after Meredith and the mar-
To stop the violence, President Kennedy shals arrived, an angry white mob attacked the
made a deal with Senator James Eastland of campus, and a full-scale riot erupted. The mob
Mississippi, a strong supporter of segregation. hurled rocks, bottles, bricks, and acid at the
If Eastland would use his influence in marshals. Some people fired shotguns at them.
Mississippi to prevent violence, Kennedy The marshals responded with tear gas, but
would not object if the Mississippi police they were under orders not to fire.
arrested the Freedom Riders. Eastland kept the The fighting continued all night. By morn-
deal. No violence occurred when the buses ing, 160 marshals had been wounded.
arrived in Jackson, Mississippi, but the riders Reluctantly, Kennedy ordered the army to send
were arrested. several thousand troops to the campus. For the
The cost of bailing the Freedom Riders out rest of the year, Meredith attended classes at
of jail used up most of CORE’s funds, which the University of Mississippi under federal
meant that the rides would have to end unless guard. He graduated in August.

862 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

Protests in Birmingham, 1963
PRIMARY SOURCE
“Since we so diligently urge people to obey the
Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing
segregation in the public schools, at first glance it
may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to
break laws. One may well ask: “How can you
advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?”
The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of
laws: just and unjust. . . . [and] one has a moral
responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree
with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’
. . . . Any law that uplifts human personality is just.
Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.
All segregation statutes are unjust because
segregation distorts the soul and damages the
personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of
superiority and the segregated a false sense of
inferiority. . . . An unjust law is a code that a
numerical or power majority group compels a minority
group to obey but does not make binding on itself.
This is difference made legal. By the same token, a
just law is a code that a majority compels a minority
to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is
1. Classifying According to Dr. King, what are the two
sameness made legal.”
types of laws? What is the difference between them?
—from Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from
2. Determining Cause and Effect What does King say
Birmingham Jail, 1963”
are the effects of segregation on the segregator? On the
segregated?

Violence in Birmingham paper that had been smuggled into his cell.
The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” that he pro-
The events in Mississippi frustrated Martin duced is one of the most eloquent defenses of
Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders. nonviolent protest ever written.
Although they were pleased that Kennedy had In his letter, King explained that although
intervened, they were disappointed that the the protesters were breaking the law, they
president had not seized the moment to push were following a higher moral law based on
for a new civil rights law. divine justice. Injustice, he insisted, had to be
Reflecting on the problem, Dr. King came to exposed “to the light of human conscience
a difficult decision. It seemed to him that only and the air of national opinion before it can
when violence got out of hand would the fed- be cured.”
eral government intervene. “We’ve got to have After King was released, the protests, which
a crisis to bargain with,” one of his advisers had been dwindling, began to grow again. Bull
observed. King agreed. In the spring of 1963, Connor responded with force. He ordered the
he decided to launch demonstrations in Birmingham police to use clubs, police dogs,
Birmingham, Alabama, knowing they would and high-pressure fire hoses on the demon-
provoke a violent response. He believed it was strators. Millions of Americans watched the
the only way to get President Kennedy to graphic violence on the nightly news on televi-
actively support civil rights. sion. Outraged by the brutality and worried
The situation in Birmingham was volatile. that the government was losing control,
Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor, who Kennedy ordered his aides to prepare a new
had arranged for the attack on the Freedom civil rights bill.
Riders, was now running for mayor. Eight days
after the protests began, King was arrested. Evaluating How did President
While in jail, King began writing on scraps of Kennedy help the civil rights movement?

Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement 863

 The Civil Rights Act The March on Washington
Dr. King realized that Kennedy would have
of 1964 a very difficult time pushing his civil rights bill
MAIN Idea President Johnson used his polit- through Congress. Therefore, he searched for a
ical expertise to get the Civil Rights Act of 1964 way to lobby Congress and to build more pub-
passed. lic support. When A. Philip Randolph sug-
HISTORY AND YOU Do you remember the con- gested a march on Washington, King agreed.
stitutional amendments that granted African On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000
Americans civil rights after the Civil War? Read demonstrators of all races flocked to the
on to learn about new legal steps taken during nation’s capital. The audience heard speeches
the 1960s.
and sang hymns and songs as they gathered
peacefully near the Lincoln Memorial. Dr. King
Determined to introduce a civil rights then delivered a powerful speech outlining
bill, Kennedy now waited for a dramatic his dream of freedom and equality for all
moment to address the nation on the issue. Americans.
Alabama’s governor, George Wallace, gave King’s speech and the peacefulness and
the president his chance. At his inauguration dignity of the March on Washington built
as governor, Wallace had stated, “I draw a momentum for the civil rights bill. Opponents
line in the dust . . . and I say, Segregation now! in Congress, however, continued to do what
Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!” they could to slow the bill down, dragging out
On June 11, 1963, Wallace stood in front of the their committee investigations and using pro-
University of Alabama’s admissions office to cedural rules to delay votes.
block two African Americans from enrolling.
He stayed until federal marshals ordered him
to move. The Bill Becomes Law
The next day a white segregationist mur- Although the civil rights bill was likely to
dered Medgar Evers, a civil rights activist in pass the House of Representatives, where
Mississippi. President Kennedy seized the a majority of Republicans and Northern
moment to announce his civil rights bill. Democrats supported the measure, it faced a
That evening, he spoke to Americans about a much more difficult time in the Senate. There,
“moral issue . . . as old as the scriptures and a small group of determined Southern sena-
as clear as the American Constitution”: tors would try to block the bill indefinitely.
In the U.S. Senate, senators are allowed to
PRIMARY SOURCE speak for as long as they like when a bill is
being debated. The Senate cannot vote on a
“The heart of the question is whether . . . we are bill until all senators have finished speaking. A
going to treat our fellow Americans as we want
filibuster occurs when a small group of sena-
to be treated. If an American, because his skin is
dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to
tors take turns speaking and refuse to stop
the public, if he cannot send his children to the the debate and allow a bill to come to a vote.
best public school available, if he cannot vote Today a filibuster can be stopped if at least
for the public officials who represent him . . . 60 senators vote for cloture, a motion that cuts
then who among us would be content to off debate and forces a vote. In the 1960s,
have the color of his skin changed and stand however, 67 senators had to vote for cloture to
in his place? stop a filibuster. This meant that a minority of
One hundred years of delay have passed since senators opposed to civil rights could easily
President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, prevent the majority from enacting a new civil
their grandsons, are not fully free. . . . And this rights law.
Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not Worried that the bill would never pass, many
be fully free until all its citizens are free. . . . Now African Americans became even more dis-
the time has come for this Nation to fulfill its heartened. Then, President Kennedy was
promise.” assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22,
—from Kennedy’s White House address, 1963, and his vice president, Lyndon Johnson,
June 11, 1963 became president. Johnson was from Texas and

864 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Address, Washington, 1963

PRIMARY SOURCE
“And so even though we face the difficulties of today
and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply
rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up
and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of
Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former
slave owners will be able to sit down together at the
table of brotherhood. . . .
I have a dream that my four little children will one
day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the
color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
. . . And when this happens, when we allow freedom
to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every
hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able
to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black
men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants
and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the
words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
1. Identifying Central Issues What was Martin Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Luther King, Jr.’s dream?
—Martin Luther King, Jr.,
2. Interpreting What did King mean when he said “Address in Washington,” 1963
that he hoped that one day the nation will “live out
the true meaning of its creed”?

had been the leader of the Senate Democrats ily passed the bill. On July 2, 1964, President
before becoming vice president. Although he Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 To read more
had helped pass the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 into law. of Martin Luther
and 1960, he had done so by weakening their The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most King, Jr.’s “I Have a
Dream Speech”
provisions and by compromising with other comprehensive civil rights law Congress had see page R56 in
Southern senators. ever enacted. It gave the federal government Documents in
To the surprise of the civil rights movement, broad power to prevent racial discrimination in American History.
Johnson committed himself wholeheartedly to a number of areas. The law made segregation
getting Kennedy’s program, including the civil illegal in most places of public accommoda-
rights bill, through Congress. Johnson had tion, and it gave citizens of all races and nation-
served in Congress for many years and was alities equal access to public facilities. The law
adept at getting legislation enacted. He knew gave the U.S. attorney general more power to
how to build public support, how to put pres- bring lawsuits to force school desegregation
sure on Congress, and how to use the rules and required private employers to end dis-
and procedures to get what he wanted. crimination in the workplace. It also estab-
In February 1964, President Johnson’s lead- lished the Equal Employment Opportunity
ership began to produce results. The civil rights Commission (EEOC) as a permanent agency
bill passed the House of Representatives by a in the federal government. This commission
majority of 290 to 130. The debate then moved monitors the ban on job discrimination by
to the Senate. In June, after 87 days of filibus- race, religion, gender, and national origin.
ter, the Senate finally voted to end debate by a
margin of 71 to 29—four votes over the two- Examining How did Dr. King
thirds needed for cloture. The Senate then eas- lobby Congress to pass a new civil rights act?

Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement 865

 The Struggle for Across the South, bombs exploded in African
American businesses and churches. Between
Voting Rights June and October 1964, arson and bombs
destroyed 24 African American churches in
MAIN Idea President Johnson called for a new Mississippi alone. Convinced that a new law
voting rights law after hostile crowds severely beat was needed to protect African American vot-
civil rights demonstrators.
ing rights, Dr. King decided to stage another
HISTORY AND YOU Do you remember the tactics dramatic protest.
Southern states adopted to keep African Americans
from voting? Read on to learn about the Voting
Rights Act of 1965. The Selma March
In January 1965, the SCLC and Dr. King
Even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was selected Selma, Alabama, as the focal point for
passed, voting rights were far from secure. The their campaign for voting rights. Although
act had focused on segregation and job dis- African Americans made up a majority of
crimination, and it did little to address voting Selma’s population, they comprised only 3 per-
issues. The Twenty-fourth Amendment, rati- cent of registered voters. To prevent African
fied in 1964, helped somewhat by eliminating Americans from registering to vote, Sheriff
poll taxes, or fees paid in order to vote, in fed- Jim Clark had deputized and armed dozens of
eral (but not state) elections. African Americans white citizens. His posse terrorized African
still faced hurdles, however, when they tried to Americans and frequently attacked demon-
vote. As the SCLC and SNCC stepped up their strators with clubs and electric cattle prods.
voter registration efforts in the South, their In December 1964, Dr. King received the
members were often attacked and beaten, and Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, for his
several were murdered. work in the civil rights movement. A few weeks

Marching for Freedom, Selma, 1965

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Gave the federal government power to prevent racial
discrimination and established the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
• Made segregation illegal in most places of public
accommodation.
• Gave the U.S. attorney general more power to bring
lawsuits to force school desegregation.
• Required employers to end workplace discrimination.
Analyzing VISUALS
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
1. Making Connections How did the Civil Rights
• Authorized the U.S. attorney general to send federal
examiners to register qualified voters. Act of 1964 work to end segregation?
• Suspended discriminatory devices, such as literacy 2. Drawing Conclusions Why do you think counties
tests, in counties where less than half of all adults had where less than half of all adults were allowed to
been allowed to vote. vote were a focus of the Voting Rights Acts of 1965?

866 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

later, King announced, “We are not asking, we are demanding
the ballot.” King’s demonstrations in Selma led to the arrest of
approximately 2,000 African Americans, including schoolchildren,
Section 2 REVIEW
by Sheriff Clark. Clark’s men attacked and beat many of the
demonstrators, and Selma quickly became a major story in the
national news. Vocabulary
To keep pressure on the president and Congress to act, Dr. 1. Explain the significance of: SNCC,
King joined with SNCC activists and organized a “march for free- Freedom Riders, James Meredith, filibuster,
dom” from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery, a distance cloture, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting
of about 50 miles (80 km). On Sunday, March 7, 1965, the march Rights Act of 1965.
began. The SCLC’s Hosea Williams and SNCC’s John Lewis led
500 protesters toward U.S. Highway 80, the route that marchers Main Ideas
had planned to follow to Montgomery. 2. Describing What was the purpose of
As the protesters approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which SNCC?
led out of Selma, Sheriff Clark ordered them to disperse. While
the marchers kneeled in prayer, more than 200 state troopers and 3. Summarizing How did the Freedom
deputized citizens rushed the demonstrators. Many were beaten Riders help the civil rights movement?
in full view of television cameras. This brutal attack, known later
4. Explaining Why did Dr. King lead the
as “Bloody Sunday,” left 70 African Americans hospitalized and
March on Washington in 1963?
many more injured.
The nation was stunned as it viewed the shocking footage of 5. Analyzing What was “Bloody Sunday”?
law enforcement officers beating peaceful demonstrators. Watching How did President Johnson respond?
the events from the White House, President Johnson became furi-
ous. Eight days later, he appeared before a nationally televised joint Critical Thinking
session of the legislature to propose a new voting rights law. 6. Big Ideas How did television help the
civil rights movement?

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 7. Sequencing Use a time line similar to
the one below to sequence the events in
On August 3, 1965, the House of Representatives passed the
the civil rights movement.
voting rights bill by a wide margin. The following day, the Senate
also passed the bill. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 authorized Feb. 1960 Sept. 1962 July 1964
the U.S. attorney general to send federal examiners to register
qualified voters, bypassing local officials who often refused to
May 1961 Aug. 1963 March 1965
register African Americans. The law also suspended discrimina-
tory devices, such as literacy tests, in counties where less than
8. Analyzing Visuals Study the photo-
half of all adults had been registered to vote.
graphs in this section. What elements of
The results were dramatic. By the end of the year, almost
the photographs show the sacrifices
250,000 African Americans had registered as new voters. The
African Americans made in the civil rights
number of African American elected officials in the South also
movement?
increased. In 1965, only about 100 African Americans held elected
office; by 1990 more than 5,000 did. Writing About History
The passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 marked a turning
9. Descriptive Writing Assume the role of
point in the civil rights movement. The movement had now
a journalist working for a college newspa-
achieved its two major legislative goals. Segregation had been
per in 1960. Write an article for the news-
outlawed and new federal laws were in place to prevent discrimi-
paper describing the sit-in movement,
nation and protect voting rights. After 1965, the movement began
including its participants, goals, and
to shift its focus to the problem of achieving full social and eco-
achievements.
nomic equality for African Americans. As part of that effort, the
movement turned its attention to the problems of African
Americans trapped in poverty and living in ghettos in many of
)JTUPSZ 0/-*/&
the nation’s major cities.
Study Central To review this section, go to
Summarizing How did the Twenty-fourth Amendment glencoe.com and click on Study Central.
affect African American voting rights?

867
 ANALYZING
1
PRIMARY
SOURCES Public Testimony, 1964
In 1964, the “Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party” challenged the right of
Mississippi’s established (all white) Democratic Party representatives to seats at
The Civil Rights the party’s national convention on the grounds that African Americans had been
systematically denied the right to vote.
Movement
[M]y husband came, and said the plantation owner was raising cain because
Although major figures of I had tried to register [to vote] and before he quit talking the plantation owner
the civil rights movement such came, and said, ‘Fannie Lou, do you know—did Pap tell you what I said?’ And I
as Martin Luther King, Jr., are said, ‘Yes sir.’ He said, ‘I mean that . . . If you don’t go down and withdraw . . .
widely remembered today, the well—you might have to go because we are not ready for that.’ . . .
movement drew its strength And I addressed him and told him and said, ‘I didn’t try to register for you.
from the dedication of grass- I tried to register for myself.’
roots supporters. In rural and I had to leave the same night.
urban areas across the South, On the 10th of September, 1962, 16 bullets was fired into the home of Mr.
ordinary individuals advanced and Mrs. Robert Tucker for me. That same night two girls were shot in Ruleville,
the movement through their Mississippi. Also Mr. Joe McDonald’s house was shot in.
And in June, the 9th, 1963, I had attended a voter registration workshop,
participation in marches, boy-
was returning back to Mississippi. . . . I stepped off the bus . . . and somebody
cotts, and voter registration
screamed . . . ‘Get that one there,’ and when I went to get in the car, when the
drives. Those who dared to man told me I was under arrest, he kicked me.
make a stand against discrimi- I was carried to the county jail. . . . [The patrolmen] left my cell and it wasn’t
nation risked being fired from too long before they came back. He said ‘You are from Ruleville all right,’ and he
their job, evicted from their used a curse word, he said, ‘We are going to beat you until you wish you was
home, and becoming the tar- dead.’. . .
get of physical violence. All of this we on account we want to register, to become first-class citizens,
Study these primary sources and if the freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America, is
and answer the questions this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave where we have to
which follow. sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily
because we want to live as decent human beings in America?”
—Fannie Lou Hamer testifying before the Credentials Committee of the
Democratic National Convention, August 22, 1964

2
Photograph, c. 1964
“Freedom Schools” taught literacy and African
American history and encouraged voter registration.
3
Strategy Memo, April 1960
“The choice of the non-violent method, ‘the sit-in,’
symbolizes both judgment and promise. It is a
judgment upon middle-class conventional half-
way efforts to deal with radical social evil. It is
specifically a judgment upon contemporary civil
rights attempts. As one high school student from
Chattanooga exclaimed, ‘We started because we
were tired of waiting for you to act. . . .’”
—James M. Lawson, Jr., “From a Lunch-Counter
Stool,” April 1960, Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee Papers

868 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

 4 5
Autobiography, 1968 U.S. Government
Photograph, 1963 Pamphlet, 1918
“[At Tougaloo College] I had become very friendly with my ▲
“Fear,
Lunch counter sit-in May 28, 1963, in Jackson,
social science professor, John Salter, who was in charge of Mississippi. Seated (from left to right) are John Salter,
NAACP activities on campus. All during the year, while the Joan Trumpauer, and Anne Moody.
NAACP conducted a boycott of the downtown stores in
Jackson, I had been one of Salter’s most faithful canvassers
and church speakers. During the last week of school, he
told me that sit-in demonstrations were about to start in
Jackson and that he wanted me to be the spokesman for a
team that would sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter. The
two other demonstrators would be classmates of mine,
Memphis and Pearlena. . . .
Seconds before 11:15 we were occupying three seats at
the previously segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter. In the
beginning the waitresses seemed to ignore us, as if they 6
really didn’t know what was going on. Our waitress walked
past us a couple of times before she noticed we had started American Red Cross Poster, c. 1916
to write our own orders down and realized we wanted
service. She asked us what we wanted. We began to read
to her from our order slips. She told us that we would be
served at the back counter, which was for Negroes.
‘We would like to be served here,’ I said.
The waitress started to repeat what she had said, then
stopped in the middle of the sentence. She turned the lights
an adjoining counter. . . . The mob started smearing us
out behind the counter, and she and the other waitresses
with ketchup, mustard, sugar, pies, and everything on the
almost ran to the back of the store, deserting all their white
counter. . . .
customers. I guess they thought that violence would start
About ninety policemen were standing outside the
immediately after the whites at the counter realized what
store; they had been watching the whole thing through
was going on.
the windows, but had not come in to stop the mob or do
At noon, students from a nearby white high school
anything. . . .
started pouring in to Woolworth’s. When they first saw us
After the sit-in, all I could think of was how sick
they were sort of surprised. . . . Then the white students
Mississippi whites were. They believed so much in the segre-
started chanting all kinds of anti-Negro slogans. We were
gated Southern way of life, they would kill to preserve it. . . .
called a little bit of everything. . . .
Now I knew it was impossible for me to hate sickness. The
Memphis suggested that we pray. We bowed our
whites had a disease, an incurable disease in its final stage.
heads, and all hell broke loose. A man rushed forward,
What were our chances against such a disease?”
threw Memphis from his seat, and slapped my face. Then
another man who worked in the store threw me against —Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi

1. Identifying In Source 1, what sorts of repercussions did 3. Evaluating Read the passage in Source 3 and study the
Fannie Lou Hamer endure for daring to register to vote? photograph in Source 5. Why do you think nonviolent dem-
How do you think such tactics affected the civil rights onstrations were effective for the civil rights movement?
movement? 4. Making Inferences Read Source 4. Why do you think
2. Interpreting Study the photograph in Source 2. Who Anne Moody wanted to try to force integration of the lunch
seems to be teaching whom? Why do you think the civil counter? Why would she risk physical harm to do so?
rights movement attracted so many young people?

Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement 869

Section 3
New Civil Rights Issues
Guide to Reading B y the mid-1960s, much progress had been made in
the arena of civil rights. However, leaders of the
movement began to understand that merely winning
Big Ideas
Struggles for Rights In the late political rights for African Americans would not com-
1960s, the civil rights movement tried
pletely solve their economic problems. The struggle
to address the persistent economic
inequality of African Americans. would continue to try to end economic inequality.
Content Vocabulary
• racism (p. 870)
• black power (p. 872) Urban Problems
MAIN Idea African Americans became impatient with the slow pace of
Academic Vocabulary change; this frustration sometimes boiled over into riots.
• enforcement (p. 874)
HISTORY AND YOU Have you ever seen news coverage of a riot in the
People and Events to Identify United States or overseas? What triggered the outburst? Read on to learn
• Kerner Commission (p. 871) about the factors that fed into the riots of the 1960s.

• Chicago Movement (p. 872)

• Richard J. Daley (p. 872) Despite the passage of civil rights laws in the 1950s and 1960s,
• Stokely Carmichael (p. 872) racism—prejudice or discrimination toward someone because of his
• Malcolm X (p. 873) or her race—was still common in American society. Changing the law
• Black Panthers (p. 874) could not change people’s attitudes, nor did it help most African
Americans trapped in poverty in the nation’s big cities.
Reading Strategy In 1965 nearly 70 percent of African Americans lived in large cities.
Organizing Complete a graphic orga- Many had moved from the South to the big cities of the North during
nizer like the one below by listing five the Great Migration of the 1920s and 1940s. There, they often found
major violent events in the civil rights the same prejudice and discrimination that had plagued them in the
movement and their results. South.
Event Result Even if African Americans had been allowed to move into white
neighborhoods, poverty trapped many of them in inner cities. Many
African Americans found themselves channeled into low-paying jobs
with little chance of advancement. Those who did better typically
found employment as blue-collar workers in factories, but most
did not advance beyond that. In 1965 only 15 percent of African
Americans held professional, managerial, or clerical jobs, compared
to 44 percent of whites. The average income of an African American
family was only 55 percent of that of the average white family, and
almost half of African Americans lived in poverty. Their unemploy-
ment rate was typically twice that of whites.
Poor neighborhoods in the nation’s major cities were overcrowded
and dirty, leading to higher rates of illness and infant mortality. At
the same time, the crime rate increased in the 1960s, particularly in
low-income neighborhoods. Juvenile delinquency rates rose, as did
the rate of young people dropping out of school. Complicating mat-
ters even more was a rise in the number of single-parent households.
All poor neighborhoods suffered from these problems, but because

870 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

The Problem of Urban Poverty

▲
Congress is
compared to
the Roman
emperor Nero,
who was said
to have played
music as Rome
burned.

▲
Barry Goldwater
tries to persuade
President Johnson
to stop creating
programs to end
urban poverty.

Analyzing VISUALS
1. Making Inferences In the cartoon on the left, what
does the man suggest about urban problems?
2. Drawing Conclusions Based on the cartoon above,
what should Congress have done to stop the rioting?

more African Americans lived in poverty, More rioting was yet to come. Riots broke
their communities were disproportionately out in dozens of American cities between 1965
affected. and 1968. The worst riot took place in Detroit
Many African Americans living in urban in 1967. Burning, looting, and skirmishes with
poverty knew the civil rights movement had police and National Guard members resulted
made enormous gains, but when they looked in 43 deaths and over 1,000 wounded.
at their own circumstances, nothing seemed to Eventually the U.S. Army sent in tanks and
be changing. The movement had raised their soldiers armed with machine guns to get con-
hopes, but their everyday problems continued. trol of the situation. Nearly 4,000 fires destroyed
As a result, their anger and frustration began 1,300 buildings, and the damage in property
to rise—until it finally erupted. loss was estimated at $250 million.

The Kerner Commission

The Watts Riot In 1967 President Johnson appointed the
Just five days after President Johnson signed National Advisory Commission on Civil
the Voting Rights Act, a riot erupted in Watts, Disorders, headed by Governor Otto Kerner
an African American neighborhood in Los of Illinois, to study the causes of the urban
Angeles. Allegations of police brutality had riots and to make recommendations to pre-
served as the catalyst for this uprising, which vent them from happening again. The Kerner
lasted for six days and required over 14,000 Commission, as it became known, conducted
members of the National Guard and 1,500 law a detailed study of the problem. The commis-
officers to restore order. Rioters burned and sion blamed racism for most of the problems
looted entire neighborhoods and destroyed in the inner city. “Our nation is moving
about $45 million in property. They killed toward two societies, one black, one white—
34 people and injured about 900 others. separate and unequal,” it concluded.

Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement 871

(l)Atlanta Constitution, 1964, Clifford H. “Baldy” Baldowski Editorial Cartoons. Courtesy of the Richard B. Russell Library for Political, (r)A 1967 Herblock Cartoon, copyright by The Herb Block Foundation
 The commission recommended the creation
of 2 million inner-city jobs, the construction of Black Power
6 million new units of public housing, and a MAIN Idea Impatient with the slower gains of
renewed federal commitment to fight de facto Martin Luther King, Jr.’s movement, many young
segregation. President Johnson’s War on African Americans called for “black power.”
Poverty, which addressed some of the concerns HISTORY AND YOU How did Dr. King work to
about inner-city jobs and housing, was already avoid violence? Read on to find out how some
underway. Saddled with spending for the African Americans broke with Dr. King’s approach.
Vietnam War, however, Johnson never endorsed
the recommendations of the commission. Dr. King’s failure in Chicago seemed to
show that nonviolent protests could do little to
solve economic problems. After 1965, many
The Shift to Economic Rights African Americans, especially urban young
By the mid-1960s, a number of African people, began to turn away from King. Some
American leaders were becoming increasingly leaders called for more aggressive forms of
critical of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s nonviolent protest. Their strategies ranged from armed
strategy. They felt it had failed to improve self-defense to promoting the idea that the
the economic position of African Americans. government should set aside a number of
Dr. King came to agree with this criticism, and states where African Americans could live sep-
in 1965 he decided to address economic arate from whites. As African Americans
issues. became more assertive, some organizations,
Dr. King decided to focus on the problems including CORE and SNCC, voted to expel all
that African Americans faced in Chicago. King whites from leadership positions in their orga-
had never conducted a civil rights campaign in nizations. They believed that African Americans
the North, but by tackling a large Northern alone should lead their struggle.
city, he believed he could call greater attention Many young African Americans called for
to poverty and other racial problems that lay black power, a term that had many meanings.
beneath the urban race riots. A few interpreted black power to mean that
To call attention to the deplorable housing physical self-defense and even violence were
conditions that many African American fami- acceptable—a clear rejection of Dr. King’s
lies faced, Dr. King and his wife Coretta moved philosophy. To most, including Stokely
into a slum apartment in an African American Carmichael, the leader of SNCC in 1966, the
neighborhood in Chicago. Dr. King and the term meant that African Americans should
SCLC hoped to work with local leaders to control the social, political, and economic
improve the economic status of African direction of their struggle:
Americans in poor neighborhoods.
The Chicago Movement, however, made PRIMARY SOURCE
little headway. When Dr. King led a march
“This is the significance of black power as a slogan.
through the all-white suburb of Marquette
For once, black people are going to use the words
Park to demonstrate the need for open hous- they want to use—not just the words whites want
ing, he was met by angry white mobs similar to hear. . . . The need for psychological equality is
to those in Birmingham and Selma. Mayor the reason why SNCC today believes that blacks
Richard J. Daley ordered the Chicago police must organize in the black community. Only black
to protect the marchers, and he was deter- people can . . . create in the community an aroused
mined to prevent violence. He met with Dr. and continuing black consciousness. . . .”
King and proposed a new program to clean up —from the New York Review of Books, September 1966
the slums. Associations of realtors and bankers
also agreed to promote open housing. In the-
Black power stressed pride in the African
ory, mortgages and rental property would be
American cultural group. It emphasized racial
available to everyone, regardless of race. In
distinctiveness rather than assimilation—the
practice, little changed.
process by which minority groups adapt to the
Describing How did Dr. King and dominant culture in a society. African
SCLC leaders hope to address economic concerns? Americans showed pride in their racial

872 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

heritage by adopting new Afro hairstyles and Muslims do not hold the same beliefs as main-
African-style clothing. Many also took African stream Muslims. The Nation of Islam preached
names. In universities, students demanded black nationalism. Like Marcus Garvey in the
that African and African American studies 1920s, Black Muslims believed that African
courses be made part of the standard school Americans should separate themselves from
curriculum. Dr. King and some other leaders whites and form their own self-governing
criticized black power as a philosophy of hope- communities.
lessness and despair. The idea was very popu- Shortly after joining the Nation of Islam,
lar, however, in poor neighborhoods where Malcolm Little changed his name to Malcolm
many African Americans resided. X. The “X” symbolized the family name of his
African ancestors who had been enslaved. He
delcared that his true name had been stolen
Malcolm X from him by slavery, and he would no longer
By the early 1960s, a young man named use the name white society had given him.
Malcolm X had become a symbol of the black The Black Muslims viewed themselves as
power movement. Born Malcolm Little in their own nation and attempted to make
Omaha, Nebraska, he experienced a difficult themselves as self-sufficient as possible. They
childhood and adolescence. He drifted into a ran their own businesses and schools, and
life of crime and, in 1946, was convicted of bur- published their own newspaper, Muhammad
glary and sent to prison for six years. Speaks. They encouraged their members to
Prison transformed Malcolm. He began to respect each other and to strengthen their
educate himself and played an active role in families. Black Muslims did not advocate vio-
the prison debate society. Eventually, he joined lence, but they did advocate self-defense.
the Nation of Islam, commonly known as Malcolm X’s criticisms of white society and the
the Black Muslims, who were led by Elijah mainstream civil rights movement gained
Muhammad. Despite their name, the Black national attention for the Nation of Islam.

Black Power in the 1960s

In the late 1960s, a new group of African American leaders, such as
Malcolm X, had lost patience with the slow progress of civil rights
and felt that African Americans needed to act more militantly and
demand equality, not wait for it to be given.

PRIMARY SOURCE
“Since the black masses here
in America are now in open
revolt against the American
system of segregation, will
these same black masses ▲ Medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos give the black
turn toward integration or power salute at the 1968 Olympics. Above right, Stokely
will they turn toward complete Carmichael speaks at a protest rally in Mississippi in 1966.
separation? Will these awak-
ened black masses demand
integration into the white society that enslaved them or will they
demand complete separation from that cruel white society that has
enslaved them? Will the exploited and oppressed black masses seek 1. Identifying What are two options Malcolm X
integration with their white exploiters and white oppressors or will thinks African Americans have regarding their rela-
these awakened black masses truly revolt and separate themselves tionship with whites?
completely from this wicked race that has enslaved us?” 2. Drawing Conclusions Do you think Malcolm X
—Malcolm X, from his speech “The Black Revolution,” 1964 supported integration? Why or why not?

Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement 873

The Civil Rights Movement’s Legacy African-Americans in House of
Representatives and Senate, 1961–2001
There have been many changes in the status of African
50

Number in Congress
Americans in the United States since the 1960s. Changes
have taken place in politics, economics, and education. 40
30
Economic Status of African Americans 20
Poverty 10
1959 2005
1961 1971 1981 1991 2001
24.9% Year
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States.
44.9% 55.1% 75.1%

Above poverty level Below poverty level African Americans Elected by Office

College Degrees 6,000 5,456 1970 2001

Elected Officials
1960 2000 5,000
3.5%
14.3% 4,000
96.5% 85.7% 3,000
1,928
2,000
1,044
1,000 633 715
179 213 362
Less than Bachelor’s degree With Bachelor’s degree 0
at e
es

es

ion
of d

en
isl tat

ty an
ur

fic

at
m
leg d s

un y

rce

uc
Analyzing VISUALS

co Cit
an

Ed
fo
S.

en
U.

w
1. Interpreting In which elected offices did African

La
Americans see the greatest increase in representation? Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States.

2. Drawing Conclusions Does the data presented

suggest that the civil rights movement was a success?
Why or why not?

By 1964, Malcolm X had broken with the and economic self-sufficiency. In 1966 in
Black Muslims. Discouraged by scandals involv- Oakland, California, Huey Newton, Bobby
ing the Nation of Islam’s leader, he went to the Seale, and Eldridge Cleaver organized the
Muslim holy city of Makkah (also called Mecca) Black Panthers.
in Saudi Arabia. After seeing Muslims from The Black Panthers believed that a revolu-
many races worshipping together, he concluded tion was necessary in the United States, and
that an integrated society was possible after all. they urged African Americans to arm them-
After Malcolm X broke with the Nation of selves and prepare to force whites to grant
Islam, he continued to criticize the organiza- them equal rights. Black Panther leaders called
tion. Because of this, organization members for an end to racial oppression and control of
shot and killed him in February 1965. Although major institutions in the African American
Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam before his community, such as schools, law enforcement,
death, his speeches and ideas from those years housing, and hospitals. Eldridge Cleaver, who
with the Black Muslims have influenced African served as the minister of culture, articulated
Americans to take pride in their own culture many of the organization’s aims in his 1967
and to believe in their ability to make their way best-selling book, Soul on Ice.
in the world.
Malcolm X’s ideas influenced a new genera- Describing What disagreements
tion of militant African American leaders who split Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the black power
also preached black power, black nationalism, movement?

874 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

King Is Assassinated
MAIN Idea After Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee,
Section 3 REVIEW
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

HISTORY AND YOU Do you know someone who remembers Dr. King’s
assassination? Read about the events surrounding King’s death. Vocabulary
1. Explain the significance of: racism,
By the late 1960s, the civil rights movement had fragmented Kerner Commission, Chicago Movement,
into dozens of competing organizations with differing philoso- Richard J. Daley, black power, Stokely
phies for reaching equality. At the same time, the emergence of Carmichael, Malcolm X, Black Panthers.
black power and the call by some African Americans for violent
action angered many white civil rights supporters. This made fur- Main Ideas
ther legislation to help African Americans economically less likely. 2. Describing What were the findings and
In this atmosphere, Dr. King went to Memphis, Tennessee, to the recommendations of the Kerner
support a strike of African American sanitation workers in March Commission?
1968. At the time, the SCLC had been planning a national “Poor
3. Assessing How did Malcolm X’s ideas
People’s Campaign” to promote economic advancement for all
about the relationship between African
impoverished Americans. The purpose of this campaign, the most
Americans and white Americans change
ambitious one that Dr. King would ever lead, was to lobby the
by the time of his murder?
federal government to commit billions of dollars to end poverty
and unemployment in the United States. People of all races and 4. Explaining What was the general effect
nationalities were to converge on the nation’s capital, as they had of Dr. King’s assassination?
in 1963 during the March on Washington, where they would
camp out until both Congress and President Johnson agreed to Critical Thinking
pass the requested legislation to fund the proposal. 5. Big Ideas How was the Civil Rights Act
On April 4, 1968, as he stood on his hotel balcony in Memphis, of 1968 designed to improve the eco-
Dr. King was assassinated by a sniper. Ironically, the previous nomic status of African Americans?
night he had told a gathering at a local church, “I’ve been to
the mountaintop. . . . I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the Promised 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer
Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know similar to the one below to list the main
tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land.” views of each leader.
Dr. King’s death touched off both national mourning and riots
Leader Views
in more than 100 cities, including Washington, D.C. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ralph Abernathy, who had served as a trusted assistant to Dr. King Malcolm X
for many years, led the Poor People’s Campaign in King’s absence. Eldridge Cleaver
The demonstration, however, did not achieve any of the major
objectives that either King or the SCLC had hoped it would. 7. Analyzing Visuals Study the cartoons
In the wake of Dr. King’s death, Congress did pass the Civil on page 871. Together, what do they imply
Rights Act of 1968. The act contained a fair-housing provision about government response and responsi-
outlawing discrimination in housing sales and rentals and gave bility for the problems of the inner cities?
the Justice Department authority to bring suits against such
discrimination. Writing About History
Dr. King’s death marked the end of an era in American history. 8. Expository Writing Assume the role of
Although the civil rights movement continued, it lacked the unity a reporter in the late 1960s. Suppose that
of purpose and vision that Dr. King had given it. Under his leader- you have interviewed a follower of Dr.
ship, and with the help of tens of thousands of dedicated African King and a member of the Black Panthers.
Americans, many of whom were students, the civil rights move- Write a transcript of each interview.
ment transformed American society. Although many problems
remain to be solved, the achievements of the civil rights movement
in the 1950s and 1960s dramatically improved the lives of African
)JTUPSZ 0/-*/&
Americans, creating opportunities that had not existed before.
Study Central To review this section, go to
Summarizing What were the goals of the Poor glencoe.com and click on Study Central.
People’s Campaign?

875
Chapter VISUAL SUMMARY You can study anywhere, anytime by
downloading quizzes and flashcards
to your PDA from glencoe.com.

Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

Long-Range Causes

▲
Linda Brown
• Widespread racial segregation in the American South was the main
• Lack of voting rights for African Americans in the plaintiff in
American South Brown v. Board
of Education.

Immediate Causes
• Arrival of large numbers of African Americans in the North
after the Great Migrations gives them increased political
influence and greater voting power.
• African American contributions during World War II lead
many African Americans to believe it is time to take action
to demand change.
• NAACP strategy of using lawsuits to weaken segregation
scores a major victory in 1954 with the Brown v. Board of
Education ruling.
• African American churches serve as organizational bases,
and pastors rally African Americans and organize protests.
Major Events of the
Civil Rights Movement
• African American community in Montgomery, Alabama, led by
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., organizes the Montgomery bus boycott.
• African American students are blocked from entering Little Rock
High School. President Eisenhower sends in federal troops and
asks Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
• Sit-ins begin in Greensboro, and soon young people are staging
sit-ins across the South to integrate public facilities.
• Freedom Riders end segregation on interstate bus travel.
• Martin Luther King, Jr., leads a march in Birmingham, then a
March on Washington to support the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Martin Luther King, Jr., leads a march in Selma to pressure
▲ Civil rights activists march to protest a pro-segregationist Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
speech by Alabama governor George Wallace in 1964.

Major Results of the

Civil Rights Movement
• Civil Rights Act of 1957
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Civil Rights Act of 1968
• End of legal segregation in schools and public facilities
• Restoration of voting rights for African Americans
• Ban on discrimination based on race in the workplace
• Increased federal power to protect civil rights ▲ A civil rights march in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.

876 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

 ASSESSMENT
STANDARDIZED TEST PRACTICE
TEST-TAKING TIP
Look for clues in the question that help you to eliminate certain answer choices right away. For example, if a question asks for a
difference between two political leaders, you know that you can eliminate answer choices that show what they have in common.

Reviewing Vocabulary Reviewing Main Ideas

Directions: Choose the word or words that best complete the Directions: Choose the best answer to the following questions.
sentence.
Section 1 (pp. 850–857)
1. In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court over- 5. Which event led to the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama?
turned the precedent of established in Plessy v.
Ferguson. A a riot in Montgomery
A reading requirements B the CORE sit-in
B de facto segregation C the arrest of Rosa Parks
C “separate but equal” D a church bombing
D discrimination
6. In 1957 the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
set out to
2. Some Southern senators used a to try to prevent
civil rights legislation from passing. A march on Washington and pass a civil rights bill.
A filibuster B encourage demonstrations and boycotts.
B cloture C increase church attendance and promote brotherhood.
C closed vote D end segregation and encourage voter registration.
D walk-out
7. Brown v. Board of Education was a significant case
because
3. Prejudice and discrimination against a person because of his
or her race is called A it declared it illegal to prevent African Americans from
voting.
A black power.
B it declared it illegal to segregate restaurants.
B cloture.
C it declared it illegal to segregate public schools.
C segregation.
D it declared it illegal to discriminate in the selling of
D racism. a house.

4. The concept of was supported by militant African

American leaders.
A racism
B black power
C nonviolent resistance
D freedom marches

Need Extra Help?

If You Missed Questions . . . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Go to Page . . . 852 864–865 870–871 872–873 854 855 852
GO ON

Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement 877

Chapter
Section 2 (pp. 858–867) Critical Thinking
8. “Bloody Sunday” occurred in reaction to which event? Directions: Choose the best answers to the following questions.
A the Selma march
12. Which group worked to fight segregation and other
B the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
inequalities primarily through the courts?
C the March on Washington
A NAACP C SCLC
D the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
B SNCC D CEEO

9. How did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 help African

Base your answers to questions 13 and 14 on the map below and on
Americans?
your knowledge of Chapter 25.
A The act authorized the U.S. attorney general to send
federal employees to register voters. Route of the Freedom Riders, 1961
B The act suspended literacy tests in counties where less Washington, D.C.
than half of all adults had been allowed to vote. May 4
W.
C The act outlawed discrimination in housing sales and Va. Richmond
rentals. Route of Freedom Riders Va.
D The act gave the federal government more power to Greensboro
force school desegregation. N.C.
Tenn. Charlotte May 8
S.C. Rock Hill May 9
Section 3 (pp. 870–875) Winnsboro N
Birmingham Atlanta May 10
10. In response to the race riots in the mid-1960s, the federal May 14 Augusta W E
government established which of the following? Miss. May 17 Anniston
May 14 Ga. S
A SNCC Meridian Selma
Montgomery
B EEOC Jackson Ala. May 20 ATLANTIC
May 24
OCEAN
C Chicago Movement Fla.
La.
D Kerner Commission New Intended destination
Orleans

11. What did the Nation of Islam, or the Black Muslims,

13. The route of the Freedom Riders focused on which region of
advocate?
the United States?
A African Americans should use nonviolent resistance to
A the Midwest
fight for civil rights.
B the South
B African Americans should separate from whites and form
their own government. C New England
C African American should use violence to overthrow the D the West
government and establish their own nation.
D African Americans should sue the federal government to 14. The final destination of the Freedom Riders was
establish equality among the nation’s citizens. A Montgomery, Alabama.
B Washington, D.C.
C Selma, Alabama.
D Jackson, Mississippi.

Need Extra Help?

If You Missed Questions . . . 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 GO ON
Go to Page . . . 866–867 864–865 871–872 873 850–851 R15 R15

878 Chapter 25 The Civil Rights Movement

 ASSESSMENT
15. Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, and Bobby Seale founded Document-Based Questions
which militant African American group?
Directions: Analyze the document and answer the short-answer ques-
A the Black Muslims tions that follow the document.
B the Black Panthers
C SNCC On the evening of July 2, 1964, as he prepared to sign the his-
toric Civil Rights Act of 1964, President Lyndon Johnson made a
D the Chicago Movement televised address to the American people. Below is an excerpt:

Analyze the cartoon and answer the questions that follow. Base your “I want to take this occasion to talk to you about
answers on the cartoon and on your knowledge of Chapter 25. what . . . [the Civil Rights Act of 1964] means to every
American. . . . We believe that all men are created equal.
Yet many are denied equal treatment. . . . We believe that
all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. Yet millions
are being deprived of those blessings—not because of
their own failures, but because of the color of their skin.
The reasons are deeply imbedded in history and tradition
and the nature of man. We can understand—without
rancor or hatred—how this all happened. But it cannot
continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our
Republic, forbids it. The principles of our freedom forbid
it. Morality forbids it. And the law I will sign tonight
forbids it.”
—Lyndon Johnson

18. According to Johnson, what are the origins of racism?

19. What does Johnson say forbids the continuation of racism
in the United States?

Extended Response
20. Select one of the African American leaders who advocated
a more militant approach to the problems of racism in
16. In this cartoon, American cities are represented by America than did Martin Luther King, Jr. Write an essay
A riots. comparing and contrasting the ideas of that figure with
B water. King’s ideas, providing your views on which approach was
more effective and why. Your essay should include an intro-
C mines. duction and at least three paragraphs with supporting
D ships. details from the chapter.

17. Which of the following describes the main idea of this STOP
cartoon?
A American cities are being destroyed by racial issues.
B American cities are much like ships.
)JTUPSZ 0/-*/&
C American cities need to change direction.
For additional test practice, use Self-Check Quizzes—
D American cities should avoid racial issues.
Chapter 25 at glencoe.com.

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