History 2
sthapa55
TheNewFrontier.pptxThe New Frontier
Civil Rights Activism and the Kennedy Administration
Ella Baker
Critical of “professional” organizing of Civil Rights Movement
Promoted grassroots activism: direct action
South-wide Youth Leadership Conference at Shaw University on Easter weekend
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Divided SNCC into two wings: 1) direct militant action (sit-in’s); 2) voter registration
Direct Action: SNCC’s Civil Rights Activism
SNCC: Initially was a racially integrative group
Direct action: demand civil rights through non-violent protest – sit-in’s demonstrations, boycotts, etc.
Example: Nashville; Greensboro
Provokes violence from reactionary forces
Forces JFK to become more active
Civil Rights: CORE
Need to integrate a fundamental part of American life
Interstate Travel
Freedom Rides: Push for Integrative Bussing, attack Jim Crow
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE): civil rights activist group
The Freedom Rides
Also put JFK on the defensive with respect to civil rights
Freedom Rides
Stokely Carmichael
Young SNCC official from the Bronx, New York
Freedom Rider
Parchman State Prison Farm, 1961
Militant, direct action
Critical of many MLK policies
MLK and Civil Rights
Birmingham: the “Most Segregated City in America”
Boycott Birmingham
Peaceful demonstrations
Eugene “Bull” Connor
MLK arrested for demonstrating without a permit
Letter from the Birmingham Jail: “we find it difficult to wait…”
Malcolm Little
Omaha, Nebraska and the Black Legion
Rev. Earl Little and Garvyism
Move to Lansing, Michigan
Ku Klux Klan assassinates Rev. Little
Racism in the North
Malcolm becomes petty thief, drug dealer
Arrested for burglary
Nation of Islam
Malcolm X
Black Separatism
“By any means necessary…”
Nation of Islam
Mosque No. 7
Johnson Hinton
Radicalism vs. Non-Violent Protest
JFK’s Dilemma: Choosing Sides vs. Keeping the South
The Revolt of the “Dixie-crats,” 1948
Southern defiance: Virginia’s refusal to acknowledge the Brown decision
James Meredith and the University of Mississippi; JFK goes on the offensive
Gov. George Wallace and Alabama
National Politics and Civil Rights
JFK Delivers a Televised Speech on Civil Rights: “Second Emancipation Proclamation”
Lays out plan for sweeping civil rights reform
Federal government involves itself with civil rights
Result of grassroots protest
Civil Rights Movement on High Tide
Bayard Rustin Organizes a March on Washington
King Delivers his “I Have a Dream” Speech
High point of the movement
