CivilRightsOutline

CIVIL RIGHTS AS A PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT: AN OUTLINE

The United States since 1945
History 207.01

The Past as Prologue	Little Rock, Arkansas (1957)	Greensboro, NC (1960)	March on Washington (1963)
The Origins...
Civil Rights as a National Movement
An Issue in National Politics
A People's Movement
Climax and Aftermath

The Past as Prologue

The Legacy of Slavery The Civil War and Reconstruction The "Road to Reunion" and The Rise of "Jim Crow" The Economics of "Jim Crow" The Politics of "Jim Crow" Segregation. "Jim Crow" and the Law. For examples, click on: "Jim Crow" laws. The Supreme Court sanctions the new system: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Violence. [For an excellent overview of the Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, see the PBS website at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/struggle.html] Resistance, Rebellion and Accommodation Booker T. Washington and the "Atlanta Compromise" W.E.B. DuBois and the NAACP Marcus Garvey and the United Negro Improvement Association	Picking Cotton in Arkansas (1930s)
	"Jim Crow" Waiting Room
	Supreme Court rules in *Plessy v. Ferguson* (1896)
	Lynching in Mississippi (1889). See "Without Sanctuary: Photographs and Postcards of Lynching in America."

The Origins of the "Modern" Civil Rights Movement

The Continuity of the Struggle for Equality

Economic and Demographic Changes: The Great Migration

Social and Intellectual Trends: The Decline of "Scientific Racism"

The Law of the Land: The Long Road to Brown [Document Three, Major Problems. For an brief description of the legal assault on Jim Crow, see the PBS website at:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/struggle_court2.html

Seed time: World War II and the origins of the modern Civil Rights movement [Document One, Major Problems]

Thousands of families arrived in Chicago and other Northern cities during the Great Migration.

African-American troops in the South Pacific

Civil Rights as a National Movement

The Emergence of Organized Protest at the National Level A. Philip Randolph, The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters James Farmer and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) *Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund [Document Two, Major Problems]* *Martin Luther King, the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the SCLC [Document Five, Major Problems]* Listen to King's speech at: I have a dream, 1963. The story behind The March on Washington and King's Speech. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Freedom Rides The Sit-Ins [Document Four, Major Problems] Freedom Summer (1964) *Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam [Document Two, Major Problems]* Black Power, Black Panthers [Document Six, Major Problems]
	Proposed "March on Washington" (1941) compels FDR to establish Fair Employment Practices Commission.
	NAACP attorneys James Nabritt, Jr., Thurgood Marshall and George E. C. Hayes celebrate the Brown decision (May 17, 1954).
	Freedom Ride (1961)
	Sit-in - Mississippi (1963)
	March on Washington (1963)
	Malcolm X

Civil Rights as an Issue in National Politics

Franklin Roosevelt and the Ambiguous Legacy of the New Deal An Unlikely Champion: Harry S. Truman and the Fair Deal To Secure These Rights Executive Order 9981 - desegregation of the armed forces Korea - an equal right to die for your country Dwight D. Eisenhower: The Middle Road Grows Bumpy Brown, Montgomery, Little Rock "Massive Resistance" J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI's campaign to discredit Martin Luther King [Document Seven, Major Problems] John F. Kennedy Listen to his June 11, 1963 Address on Civil Rights at: http://www.cs.umb.edu/jfklibrary/j061163.htm Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society: Read his "We Shall Overcome" Speech at: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/lbjweshallovercome.htm The Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1965 The Civil Rights Act of 1968	Black and White soldiers in Korea, 1951
	Klan cross-burning (1965). See more photos by Charles Moore at: http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/moore/mooreIndex.shtml
	JFK meets with Civil Rights Leaders (1963)
	LBJ signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Civil Rights as a People's Movement

How "ordinary" people made a movement. How local communities created change Listen to "freedom songs" (This Little Light of Mine) The intersection(s) of the local and the national Montgomery Montgomery and the Making of Martin Luther King Greensboro How Franklin McCain's soul got cleansed [Document Four, Major Problems] Listen to Franklin McCain. For an extensive Audio File on the Greensboro Sit-Ins, click on http://www.sitins.com/multimedia.htm Birmingham Mississippi Freedom Summer The murder of Medgar Evers The murder of three young civil rights workers The 1964 Democratic convention Selma, Alabama	Rosa Parks & the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)
	The Greensboro Sit-In (1960)
	Birmingham (1963)
	Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers (center), with national president Roy Wilkins & local police (1964)
	Selma, Alabama (1965)

Climax and Aftermath

The Long, Hot Summers (1964-1968)

See, Police and Fire Department Logs Record an Urban Riot, 1967 (From Major Problems, 1992).

The Assassination of Martin Luther King.

Listen to King's last speech: The Promised Land delivered in Memphis on the eve of his assassination in 1968.

Listen to Robert F. Kennedy's emotional announcement of King's death at: http://www.jfklibrary.org/r040468.htm

The 1968 Election

The Democratic National Convention

George Wallace & the "Politics of Rage"

Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy

"The whole secret of politics [is] knowing who hates who." Nixon advisor, Kevin Phillips.

Newark (1967). National Guard and U.S. Army units were ordered into many cities

King is murdered on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee (1968).

Alabama Governor George Wallace (1968)

Richard Nixon (1968)

Summary and Conclusion

What the "movement" accomplished?

What the "movement" failed to accomplish.

A look ahead at the 1980s and 1990s

Return to top of page

The Long, Hot Summers (1964-1968) *See, Police and Fire Department Logs Record an Urban Riot, 1967 (From Major Problems, 1992).* The Assassination of Martin Luther King. Listen to King's last speech: The Promised Land delivered in Memphis on the eve of his assassination in 1968. Listen to Robert F. Kennedy's emotional announcement of King's death at: http://www.jfklibrary.org/r040468.htm The 1968 Election The Democratic National Convention George Wallace & the "Politics of Rage" Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy "The whole secret of politics [is] knowing who hates who." Nixon advisor, Kevin Phillips.	Newark (1967). National Guard and U.S. Army units were ordered into many cities
	King is murdered on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee (1968).
	Alabama Governor George Wallace (1968)
	Richard Nixon (1968)