MARCHING TOWARDS FREEDOM 1950S & 1960S

Transcription

1 MARCHING TOWARDS FREEDOM 1950S & 1960S AMERICANS STRUGGLE TO ATTAIN THEIR RIGHTS GUARANTEED BY THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES YOUR CIVIL RIGHTS Do you know your Civil Rights? What document guarantees your Civil Rights? Which level of government is responsible for the enforcement of your Civil Rights? What is purpose of your Civil Rights? Do all governments provide and protect their citizens Civil Rights? THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREAMBLE We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. 1

2 ARTICLES OF THE CONSTITUTION Article 1: Creates and establishes the powers and responsibilities of the Legislative Branch of the U.S. Government. Article 2: Creates and establishes the powers and responsibilities of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. Article 3: Creates and establishes the powers and responsibilities of the Judicial Branch of the U.S. Government. THE BILL OF RIGHTS 1 ST TEN AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION 1 st Amendment 2 nd Amendment 3 rd Amendment 4 th Amendment 5 th Amendment Why were these Amendments added to the Constitution? 6 th Amendment 7 th Amendment 8 th Amendment 9 th Amendment 10 th Amendment THE MODERN AMENDMENTS Which amendments pertain directly to Civil Rights? 13 th Amendment: abolished slavery. 14 th Amendment: establishes the principle that no state may deprive a person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person the equal protection of the laws. 15 th Amendment: The right of a citizen of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on the account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 2

3 MODERN AMENDMENTS 19 th Amendment: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied of abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. 24 th Amendment: The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay poll tax or other tax. MODERN AMENDMENTS Amendment 26: The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age. Congress has the power to enforce these Articles and Amendments by appropriate legislation. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876 AND THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION 1877 Presidential Election of 1876 was contended by the Democrats due to the nullification of votes in states under Republican govts. in the South. The Compromise of 1877 that settled the dispute and ended Reconstruction left enforcement of the Constitution and Civil Rights up to the States. Southern States will enact legislation that will prevent African-Americans from voting and eventually segregate them by law. 3

4 UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT CASES Plessey v. Ferguson 1896: separate but equal is constitution. This Supreme Court decision made the use of segregated facilities such as schools legal. Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas 1954: This Supreme Court decision overturned Plessey v. Ferguson by ruling that segregated schools are inherently unequal therefore un-constitutional. Segregated schools must be desegregated with all deliberate speed. DEJURE SEGREGATION Segregation by law. The Supreme Court s ruling in Plessey v. Ferguson 1896 opened the door for segregation of races by state and local laws based on the principle of separate but equal DEFACTO SEGREGATION Segregation not by law. As African-Americans moved north into the large cities, many whites moved out to the suburbs creating basically black and minority inner city schools and all white schools in the suburbs. 4

5 REACTION TO THE BROWN V. BOARD OF ED. DECISION The Southern Manifesto: 81 members of the House of Representatives and 9 Senators say they will not do anything legal to support the Brown decision. Resistance to the Brown decision is strongest in the South which has a completely segregated society. Segregated Schools, dining facilities, swimming pools, transportation, movie theaters, etc. MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA BUS BOYCOTT 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her sit to a white man on a city bus. Blacks were obligated to do so according to city ordinance. Mrs. Parks was arrested. Leaders from the black community organized a bus boycott in protest of the segregation ordinance and were successful. One of the leaders was a young minister from the Holt Street Baptist Church. Rev. Martin Luther King. LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL SEPTEMBER 1957 The Little Rock School Board voted to begin desegregation by allowing 9 African American students to enroll at Central High School. The Governor of Arkansas Orval Faubus calls out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the students from enrolling. The event was covered by national and international news crews whose reports would be aired on television. 5

6 LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL SEPTEMBER 1957 The nine were not allowed to enroll at Central H.S. This placed the Governor of Arkansas in direct defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court s ruling. President Eisenhower sent soldiers of the 101 st Airborne into Little Rock to enforce the Court s decision and protect the Little Rock Nine. CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST USE NON-VIOLENT METHODS OF PROTEST Civil Rights Activist used a variety of actions to protest segregation by law in the South. Sit ins at segregated lunch counters, bus stations, movie theaters, etc. Boycotting businesses Marches Jail not bail: filling the jails with protesters and refusing bail to place pressure on local governments and to bring media attention to their cause. FREEDOM RIDES 1961 A series of Freedom Rides were organized test the enforcement of the Supreme Court s ruling to desegregate interstate bus terminals and restaurants in the South. The Freedom Riders boarded commercial busses in Washington,D.C. and headed South. They were met with violence in Alabama. The busses had the tires slashed and one was firebombed. The riders were severely beaten. In Jackson, Mississippi they were jailed. The busses never reached the intended destination of New Orleans. 6

7 CIVIL RIGHTS PROTEST AND DEMONSTRATIONS Birmingham, Al Rev. King leads students on marches to protest the segregation Birmingham police respond with police dogs and high pressure fire hoses. The event is captured on film and view on the evening news. U.S. and World public opinion is firmly on the side of the protesters. This encourages the Johnson Administration to push through the Civil Rights Act THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON, D.C President Kennedy promised during his 1960 campaign to sponsor a Civil Rights Bill that would make it the Federal Govts. Responsibility for the enforcement of Civil Rights. Civil Rights leaders planned a Civil Rights march on Washington to push Congress to pass the Civil Rights Bill proposed by President Kennedy. Over two hundred thousand people peacefully gathered to hear Civil Rights leaders speak. The March culminated with Rev. King s I Have a Dream Speech. The March was seen as an outstanding success. CIVIL RIGHTS BILL President Kennedy was assassinated. President Johnson applies pressure on Congress to pass the slain President s Civil Rights Bill. President Johnson will not make any compromises on the bill. Southern Democratic Senators filibuster to prevent the passage of the bill. President Johnson ask Republican leader Erik Dirkson to initiate cloture (a vote to end debate) in order to vote on the Civil Rights Bill 7

8 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 Passed by Congress and signed by President Johnson into law places the responsibility for guaranteeing civil rights in the hands of the Federal govt. Most comprehensive Civil Rights Act in U.S. History. The law makes it federal offense to discriminate in employment, voting, and public accommodations. VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 Black voters were not allowed to register to vote in many areas of the South. A march to protest this discrimination was attempted from Selma, Al to Montgomery, Al. The marchers were met by state troopers at the Edmund Pettus bridge and beaten. President Johnson nationalized the Alabama National Guard to protect the marchers and a second march occurred with them reaching Montgomery the State capitol. President Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act making it a Federal offense to deny any citizen the right to vote. DISSATISFACTION, RIOTS, & VIOLENCE Discontent with the slow changes made during the Civil Rights Era continued to grow from the mid to late 1960s. Riots in Los Angles, Detroit and throughout the north occurred due to the frustration with continued discrimination and lack of economic improvement. The Civil Rights Movement began to move away from the groups who practiced passive non-violent resistance to more aggressive activism. Organizations such as the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers took more direct action and encouraged self-defense. 8

9 ASSASSINATION OF REV. KING 1968 Rev. King and the Civil Rights movement began to speak out against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Rev. King was in Memphis, to support striking city sanitation workers. On the balcony of the Loraine Motel Rev. King was struck down by sniper s bullet. Riots broke out in many cities. Many lost faith in the movement as the nation became more focused on the Vietnam War. CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE The period is often referred to as the Second Reconstruction, not since the 1 st Reconstruction after the Civil War had so much legislation ensuring the civil rights of all citizens been passed. Providing greater opportunity for all Americans to enjoy the security and blessing guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States of America. 9