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INTRODUCTION

“There comes a time when people get tired...tired of being segregated and humiliated.”
(Martin Luther King)
We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. We have talked for one
hundred years or more. It is time now to write it in the books of law.
~ President Lyndon Johnson
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of
racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a
reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
~ Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

From “A History of the United States” by Brooks Mather Kelly

The late twentieth century was a time of climax. Never before had Americans cared so much for
the ideal Of equality. Never before had they worked so hard to keep Americans free - to choose
their President, to decide on their laws, to know their government. It was not surprising then that
it was a difficult time.

It was difficult too because the nation was built not only on the ideal of equality, but also on the
ideal of freedom. Equality and freedom were twin ideals. Equality meant the right to be equal at
the ballot box and in the courts. Freedom meant the right to have your say, to believe and
worship as you pleased, to grow and be educated according to your talents, to choose your job
and compete for the best things in life. In the two centuries of nation's life both these ideals had
grown. And it had combined the two quests - for equality and for freedom - more successfully
than any other nation.

Equality meant opportunity, freedom meant competition. Although, the twin ideals - equality and
freedom - both came from American revolution, as the years went on the two ideals had not
always worked together.

Failure to consolidate gains of the Civil War in favour of the Blacks, meant that they had to
struggle for a whole century for gaining recognition and equality. They had realized that if they
don't act, another century of discrimination and violence will continue to marginie the African
American community.

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Many realized that although changing racist laws was actually relatively simple, changing
racist attitudes was a much more difficult task.

By the 1950s, change was in the air. Thousands of African-American soldiers had fought to
liberate Europe, and the freedom they had experienced overseas left them determined to fight
discrimination and injustice when they returned home. Many whites as well as African
Americans who had migrated north in search of a better life felt compelled to take action against
the deep-seated prejudices preventing achievement of the American Dream.

Historical Overview
● The Constitution allowed the menace of slavery
● For African Americans, victory in the Civil War proved to be a false dawn.
● The Civil War ended Slavery but didn't bring social, political and economic equality.
● The idea of civil rights appeared appears in the Declaration of Independence (1776)
when the founding fathers declared:
○ “ We hold the truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and that
they are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness.”

CAUSES OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

1. African Americans though, Emancipated but Unaccepted

○ Insidious legislation and intimidation
○ Rights under 14th amend denied.
2. The Black Codes: a black stain on the face of humanity
○ Outlawed unemployment
○ Restricted inter racial marriages
○ Prohibited public loittering
○ Prevented from serving on juries and testifying against Whites
○ Outlawed free speech
○ After RECONSTRUCTION, the state legislatures were forced to repeal Black
Codes but many states continued to enforce them unlawfully.
○ Why enacted black codes?

3. The Ku Klux Klan: a reign of terror for the African-Americans

○ Formed in Tennessee in 1866
○ Klux Klan Act of 1871 tried to curb the tide of violence.

4. The Roll back of Anti-Slavery Gains Amid Failure of Reconstruction

○ Supreme court declared the civil rights act of 1857 illegal.

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○ Johnson disbancec the Freedman Bureaus.

○ Premature withdrawal of federal troops from the South in 1877
5. Relegating Blacks to the status of Wild Beast through the abominable concept of
Racial Darwinism
6. Establishing the principle of “Separate but Equal” through the Plessy vs Ferguson
Case, 1896
○ Segregated private facilities for whites and blacks were separate but equal.
○ Literacy tests and poll tax for blacks.
7. The Jim Crow Laws
○ Separate schools
○ Lunch corners
○ Inter-racial marriages not allowed.

ROLE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS AND IMPORTANT

EVENTS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

1. National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People ( NAACP): a first

drop of rain for the proponents of the Civil Rights
○ Harvard Educated W.E.B Du Bois and others joined with White proponents to
form NAACP in 1909.
○ Equal rights in housing, employment, accommodations and public facilities.
○ Through lawsuits.

2. Montgomery Bus Boycott: the most visible event which triggered the civil rights
movement / Stand for Something or you will fall for anything
○ December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks of Montgomery Alabama.
○ “Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today's mighty oak is
yesterday's nut that held its ground.”
– Rosa Parks
○ On 1st December 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat,
reserved for white passengers, on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Parks
was tried and convicted for ‘disorderly conduct and violating a local ordinance’.
○ The Women’s Political Council (WPC), alongside other leaders in the black
community, launched a full-blown citywide boycott of the buses.
○ During the early days of the boycott, the WPC urged those involved in the boycott
to attend a mass meeting at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church to hear the words of
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. He was recruited as spokesman for the
Montgomery Bus Boycott.
○ The boycott lasted for over a year with the support of most of Montgomery’s
50,000 African-Americans, many of whom had to walk several miles to work
each day.

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○ In November 1956, a federal court ordered that Montgomery’s buses be

desegregated and the boycott stopped – its goal achieved.

3. The Birth of Martin Luther King's Brainchild: the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, (SCLC) 1957
○ Result of the montgomery movement
○ "I had to see come early that the Christian doctrine of love operating through the
Gandhian method of non-violence was one of the most potent weapons available
to the Negro in his struggle for freedom." (Martin)
4. THE INTERRACIAL CONGRESS OF RACIAL EQUALITY (CORE)
○ Civil disobedience
5. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Which Infused Young
Blood in the Civil Rights Movement (1960)

○ Local projects and voting rights

○ Sit-ins: a new weapon for peaceful protest strategy
i. 4 black students in Greensboro, North Carolina, Feb 1, 1960.
ii.
○
6. The March on Washington in Perusal of Martin Luther King's 'Dream’
○ The Birmingham protests of 1963 culminated in the August 23 March on
Washington.
i. 200,000 participants
ii. King's speech: “ 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.”
○ Prompted Kennedy to push for passage of new civil rights legislation
○ Outcome
i. The civil rights Act of 1964 act gave Federal Law Enforcement
agencies power to prevent discrimination in employment, voting and
use of public facilities.
● The Civil Rights Bill became law when the new president, Lyndon
Baines Johnson (installed after Kennedy’s assassination in
November 1963), signed it on 4 July 1964.
● However, his influence in the movement was already diminishing.
● Resulted in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Lyndon B.
Johnson on July 2, 1964.
● Martin received Nobel Prize next year
● Southern whites opposed, protested and conflicts
● Even The Scorching Heat of the Summer of 1964 CFreedom
Summer
7. The Freedom Summer, Mississippi in 1964 Was an attempt at Mobilising Youth For
Ending Segregation in Mississippi but it was Overshadowed by violence
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○ The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) wanted increased voter

registration for the Blacks but couldn't succeed.
i. Wanted more seats in the Mississippi delegation.
○ The ‘Freedom Summer’ volunteers were under constant threat of violence.
Whites burned 37 churches, bombed 30 houses and buildings, beat up 80 people
involved in the project, arrested over 1000 and murdered Chaney, Goodman and
Schwerner. The failure of the newly established Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party (MFDP) to gain full representation at the Democratic Party
Convention supported the view of many African Americans that integration was
unrealistic and non-violence was ineffective.
○ Disillusioned SNCC members gravitated towards violent methods
○
8. SELMA TO MONTGOMERY MARCH 1965: THE BLOODY SUNDAY AND THE
CULMINATION OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
○ On 7 March 1965, 600 SCLC activists embarked on an 80-kilometre march from
Selma to Montgomery to highlight the cause of voting rights.
○ Only 23 of Selma’s 19 000 African Americans were registered to vote and King’s
campaign to change this had led to police violence but no progress. Police
attacked the crowd with clubs and tear gas. Martin returned due to lack of court
permission.
○ People called the day ‘Bloody Sunday’. Two days later, Martin Luther King led a
second protest with court permission for a march to the bridge and, on Sunday
21 March, 3200 protesters — this time with court protection and a crowd of 25
000.
○ A group of Selma whites killed a White Minister who had joined the
demonstrations which led to visible outcries against the protest. ..mgot name of
bloody Sunday
○ Similar marches in key US cities highlighted the growing popular support for this
issue.
9. Voting Rights Act of 1965, a direct outcome of the SELMA TO MONTGOMERY
MARCH 1965 and eliminated remaining voting barriers
This Act eliminated the remaining barriers to voting for African-Americans, who in some
places had been almost completely disenfranchised. This legislation resulted directly
from the Selma to Montgomery March for Voting Rights. Within four years of this Act,
black voter registration in the South had more than doubled.
10. The development of more radicalised methods

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○
○ The Black Power: a demand for self-determination

i.
ii. Malcolm X Favoured a Militant Struggle

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a. “White King is having dreams, we all are having

nightmares”: Malcolm X opposed King’s peaceful
struggle

i.
b. Black Panthers: a violent reaction to violent
suppression by police

i.

11. POST 1960s Civil Rights: Defending Gains, Strengthening Enforcement

○ King’s Poor People's Campaign, 1968
i. “Bombs that America are dropping on Vietnam will explode in USA in
inflation and unemployment.” …. King
12. King’s death in April, 1968

LEGACY

● Black live matter

● Obama

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CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Black civil rights movement, initiated a 100 years after the civil war played an important role in
integrating blacks into each and every sphere of American life. it instilled in them love for
themselves and made them confident of their existence. Many prominent individuals like martin
Luther king and Malcolm x played an important role in this regard.in addition, organizations
such as MIA, SNCC, SCLC and CORE also deserve due respect.

CONCLUSION
Civil rights movement was the modem launched by the blacks in response to their dismal
condition and their low status in the society. Through non-violent and violent measures, they
succeeded in getting the due share.
Hope and optimism gave way to alienation and despair as the 1970s began. Many realized that
although changing racist laws was actually relatively simple, changing racist attitudes was
a much more difficult task.

M.Hassan
03216607344