HISTi
mr.ali
greatsociety.pptxLargely walled out from the prosperity of the 1950’s, African Americans and Latinos campaigned to gain the freedoms denied them through widespread racism and, in the South, a system of Segregation. As the civil rights movement blossomed, young and relatively affluent baby boomers spread the revolution to other areas of American life. Their radical goals sometimes clashed with President Lyndon Johnson’s liberal strategy of using federal programs to alleviate inequality and create a Great Society.
The Sixties
The period of 1954-1965 marked a major shift in the civil rights strategy of African Americans. The ruling in brown had emboldened large parts of the community to demand change Now. The age of gradualism and deference had ended. The age of directed community action had begun.
The Freedom Movement
Mendez v Westminster
Mexican American children segregated in public schools
Segregation not based on race
Everyone agreed Mexicans were white
The district claimed that children were segregated because they were Spanish-speaking
Supposedly, they could enter white school when they demonstrated English proficiency
That never happened
The parents and community took the district to federal court
Court found that the district violated Mexican Americans right to equal access and due process
Court demanded schools be segregated
Ultimately, the federal 9th circuit court upheld the district courts ruling
The state of California, led by governor Earl Warren, forced integration
Brown v Board of Education of Topeka
NAACP had a long-term legal strategy: chip away at the Plessy ruling
Thurgood Marshall led the NAACP legal team
Marshall had reviewed Mendez and used it as a model
Peter Clark who had worked on a companion case Briggs joined
Brown was five similar cases heard together
In Briggs the plaintiffs had utilized social scientist testimony
Clark, Holt, and Speer all testified that segregation brings on a sense of inferiority that damaged the ability of African American children to adapt and succeed
Chief Justice Earl Warren
The court had determined the time had come to end segregation
Warren coerced hold outs to join the majority for a unanimous decision
9-0 deciscion reached
Court ruled that education was too important success and needed to be provided at equal quality for blacks and whites
Separate can never be equal—essentially ended Plessy
Rosa Parks
December 1, 1955
43-yearl old department store seamstress and civil rights activist
Refused to give up her seat to white man
She had not planned to protest that day
She had planned to resist at the next opportunity
Trained for the challenge for years
When she saw her opportunity she acted
Plans of the Women’s Political Council and NAACP came into play
Bail Parks out of jail
Began mobilizing black community leadership behind her
WPC sent out a flyer calling for a one-day boycott of the buses
30,000 printed
WPC had planned distribution routes month earlier
In one day hundreds of volunteers distributed them across the city
Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)
Formed by NAACP, WPC, and MVL
Chose 26-year old minister Martin Luther King, Jr. as its president
On December 5, he called the community to unify behind the boycott
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Earned PhD in Theology at 25 from Boston University
Move with wife Coetta to become pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
Combined Gandhian nonviolence with black Christian faith and church culture
“we must realize so many people are taught to hate us that they are not totally responsible for their hate”
Their hate manifest it self in bombs lobbed at the homes of King, Nixon and MIA leaders, Ralph Abernathy and Fred Shuttlesworth
Boycott in Action
Walking for freedom
Men led but women were key to its effectiveness
For 381 days black women dependent on buses refused to ride
Organized car pools
Walked miles to work
Were supported by white employers
Organized bake sales and other forms of fund raising
$2,000 per week was raised to keep carpools going
Boycott took 65% of bus company business
Company might have relented but it was under a city charter
Officials refused concessions, like “first come, first served”
As the boycott drug on NAACP opened a legal path to victory
Victory
By 1956, many began to lose hope
November 13, 1956, Gayle v Browder
Case had been brought by NAACP in support of Colvin, Parks and other arrested
Unlike Brown, Gayle expressly overturned Plessy
On the same day the state had secured a court injunction to end the MIA car pool
Bus company ended segregation and hired African American drivers
Little Rock, Arkansas
September 1957, governor Faubus posted 270 national guardsmen around Central High to prevent 9 black students from entering
After court forced Faubus to allow students in he removed troops and left the children alone to face a mob
Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne and put the state national guard under federal control
First time since Reconstruction federal troops used in South
Sit-ins: the kids take over
February 1, 1960, Greensboro, NC
Joseph McNeil, Francis McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., and David Richmond all freshman at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sit at the lunch counter of Woolworth’s five-and-dime
Well planned out: all four had been members of the NAACP
They had shopped in the store and placed their receipts in front of them and waited to be served
They were ignored as they sat doing their homework
When the store closed they left
February 2, word had spread of the sit-in and other students joined
Within 5 days hundreds of well dress students crowded the store
Soon it spread to other white stores
Nashville, Atlanta, joined in similar boycotts
By April more than 2,000 students in 78 southern cities were arrested
By the summer, 30 cities had set up community organizations to address the complaints of local blacks
Freedom Rides
The Congress for Racial Equality’s (CORE) Bayard Rustin and James Farmer called for a test of interstate transportation segregation
Inspired by Rustin’s 1947 “Journey of Reconciliation”
Reached Chapel Hill, NC where they were met by a mob and arrested
Sentenced to 30 days on a road gang
May 4, 1961, a group of interracial riders set out on a bus trip from D.C. to New Orleans
13 riders, seven black, 6 white
In Rock Hill, SC John Lewis one of the black riders entered the white waiting room at the Greyhound terminal
Brutally beaten by white mob as police looked on
The ride continued on to Alabama heading to MS
Violence made escape from Alabama difficult
At Anniston, AL a mob firebombed the bus and beat escaping riders
Local African-Americans led by Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth took the riders to Birmingham
Without police protection CORE abandoned the Freedom Rides
SNCC refused to let the Freedom Rides dies
20 civil rights workers went to Birmingham to meet the riders
May 20, rode to Montgomery
An angry mob of more than a 1,000 met them
No police
Everyone on bus had to be hospitalized, including a presidential aide sent to monitor the crisis
Attorney General Robert Kennedy had enough
May 21, sent 400 federal marshals to restore law and order
The first protected was a meeting of 1,200 men, women and children meeting at Ralph Abernathy’s church
King spoke and called the crowd to resolve
Outside federal troops had surrounded the building but were outnumbered
Governor John Patterson ordered National Guard and state troopers to protect protesters and aid the Marshals
The Election of 1960
The election was the culmination of southern fears
Blacks had the vote and could be the deciding factor
John F. Kennedy
As a Democrat, had done little to distinguish himself as a friend of African Americans
Richard Nixon
Was supported by Jackie Robinson and many black leaders
Remained silent on civil rights
The Republican Party had a strong pro-civil rights record
King sentenced to four months in prison for leading nonviolent protest in Atlanta
Kennedy called Coretta Scott King to offer support
Robert F. Kennedy used his influence to obtain King’s release
The Kennedys actions impressed and won over black voters
This was the difference
In Illinois black voters cast 250k votes for Kennedy who won the state by 9,000
The Kennedy Administration and the Civil Rights Movement
Kennedy found himself restrained by the white Southern of his party and in Congress
Executive Order #11063
Required government agencies to discontinue discriminatory policies and practices in federally supported housing
Named Vice-President Lyndon Johnson to chair the newly formed Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity
Nominated Thurgood Marshal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals
More than 40 African Americans were given positions in the administration
Robert Kennedy brought force to the Civil Rights Division
Brought in noted attorneys to litigate for the agency
Voter Registration Projects
June 16, 1961 Robert Kennedy met with student leaders
Urged them to redirect efforts to voter registration and reduce direct-action activities
Persuaded students that greater access to voting would result in profound and significant social change
By October 1961, SNCC, NAACP, SCLC and CORE joined together in a voter education project
The groups took different regions of the south
Attempts to register voters unleashed a wave of violence and murder across Mississippi
The Birmingham Confrontation
By early 1963 the movement had stalled
Despite strong organized community committees few gains had been made
Without federal support, the movement had little leverage
SCLC, in Birmingham, launched a massive campaign marking the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation
The city was tightly segregated
Blacks were victims of severe police brutality, as well as economic, educational, and social discrimination
The KKK operated without limits
Project C
A coalition of protest groups called the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, led by Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, joined with the SCLC
Prepared massive pickets, boycotts, and demonstrations
Demanded integration of public facilities, guarantees of employment opportunities for black workers in downtown businesses, desegregation of schools, improvement of services in black neighborhoods, and low-income housing
Hoped to provoke the city’s safety commissioner Eugene T. “Bull” Connor, who had a reputation for visciousness
Civil rights leaders believed Connor’s conduct would horrify the nation and compel Kennedy to act.
April 3 the project began with college students conducting sit-ins
April 10, marches began
Connor seemed to have learned from Pritchett
Arrests but no violence
April 12, state court prohibited further protests
King and Abernathy violated the ruling and were arrested
While in jail, eight local Christian and Jewish leaders signaled their objections to his “unwise and untimely” protest
King had smuggled a pen into jail and on scraps of paper, including toilet paper he wrote a treatise on the use of direct action
“Letter from Birmingham Jail” was published in papers around the country
King dismissed those who called for black people to wait
He declared, “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
The Birmingham Confrontation, Cntd
The Birmingham movement began to wane with so many in jail
James Bevel of the SCLC proposed using school children to continue the protests
May 2 and 3, thousands of children, some as young as 6, marched
This tactic enraged “Bull” Connor and his officers
Dogs were set on the kids others were beaten with nightsticks
Finally, Connor ordered firefighters to aim their fire hoses on the children
Clothes were ripped off, skin was torn
In succeeding days violence escalated as parents joined their children in attacks on police
Businessmen became concerned and the city came to the bargaining table
President Kennedy deployed Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Burke Marshall to negotiate the settlement
May 10, white businessmen agreed to integrate downtown facilities and to hire black men and women
May 11, the KKK bombed SCLC headquarters
Black citizens responded by burning cars and buildings and attacked the police
King and other leaders stepped in and prevented a riot
Business promises were kept and the agreement stuck
Birmingham was a major victory and a turning point in the movement
The Summer of 1963 witnessed a massive surge in protests across the South (800 marches)
Violence by white supremacist escalated as well
Byron de la Beckwith gunned down Medger Evers, executive secretary of the NAACP, on June 12, 1963
Became undeniable the lengths southerners would go to resist change
The March on Washington
June 11, 1963, Kennedy proposes a strong civil rights bill
Said country faced a moral crisis that couldn’t be resolved by police action or token action, or more talk
Southerners in Congress blocked legislation
SCLC, NAACP, CORE, SNCC and National Urban League resurrected A. Phillip Randolph’s idea of marching on Washington D.C.
Hoped to move the politics of a civil rights bill forward
Birmingham changed the calculus that had kept many tepid to the idea
August 1963, 250,000 gathered at the Lincoln Memorial
Singing and speeches went on throughout the day
Martin Luther King, Jr. rose to the podium late in the afternoon
Threw away his prepared remarks
Delivered a largely extemporaneous vision of the future
“I have a dream”
His speech of a better, peaceful, and inclusive America did not cool southern anger
September 15, 1963, 16th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham bombed
Four young girls killed
November 22, 1963, Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, TX
Combined with Birmingham, the March on Washington, and the bombings set the stage for change
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Newly sworn in President, Lyndon B. Johnson chose as his first legislative act to push through Kennedy’s legislation
Johnson intimidated and cajoled Congressmen and Senators through a series of filibusters unto passage
Banned discrimination in places of public accommodation, schools, parks, playgrounds, libraries, and swimming pools.
Banned discrimination by employers, of labor unions, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, and sex, in regard to hiring, promoting, dismissing, or making job referrals
Unlike most past rights legislation, there was an enforcement mechanism
Government could withhold federal money from any program permitting or practicing discrimination
This settled the issue of school segregation
U.S. attorneys general had the power to initiate proceedings against segregated facilities and schools on behalf of people who could not do so on their own
Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Monitors discrimination in employment
Mississippi Freedom Summer
Fall 1963, CORE and SNCC began organizing voter registration drive in the deep South
Knew that the only way to make real change was to enfranchise southern blacks
CORE registered in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida
SNCC went to the most oppressed states, Alabama and Mississippi
At the end of ‘63 Robert “Bob” Moses mobilized the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) to sponsor a mock Freedom Election in Mississippi
COFO consisted of CORE, SNCC, SCLC, and the NAACP)
80,000 disfranchised blacks voted
This success led them to call for a massive effort in the summer of 1964
Summer 1964, the voter registration campaign was began
COFO invited northern white students to participate in the Mississippi project
This was a move away from the groups’ emphasis on black empowerment
About 1,000 white students joined
Neshoba
Three volunteers, two whites from New York—Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman—and a black Mississippian, James Chaney disappeared
Ultimately, their bodies were discovered on the property of a KKK member
beatings, intimidation, and murder escalated
SNCC began to chafe under King’s commitment to nonviolence, inclusion of white activists in the movement, and the wisdom of integration
Despite problems dozens of “Freedom Schools” were organized sowing the seeds for political activism
Selma and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Local black leaders in Selma, Alabama setup voter registration drives
Local and SNCC registration workers were blocked
Calls to President Johnson for federal marshals were refused
Worker sent out a call to the SCLC and Martin Luther King, Jr.
King came and was promptly arrested
In mid-February 1964, Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot trying to shield his mother from a beating by a stat trooper
Local reporters were threatened, harassed, and beaten
All of this led to national media attention
Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, SCLC called for a march from Selma to Montgomery
King, his aid Hosea Williams, and John Lewis led 600 protesters
Once they reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, State troopers and county police opened up on the marchers with teargas
Retreating protesters were beaten
Many who fell were trampled by police horses
TV cameras caught the brutality in graphic detail and broadcasting it across the country
King seized the moment and called for a second attempt on March 9
Federal judge issued an injunction
Johnson urged King not to go through with it
King was reluctant but knew that the march would move forward with or without him
March 9, 1965
1500 protesters set out to walk
When they reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge King prayed then turned around
He had privately made a face-saving agreement with federal authorities
SNCC workers felt betrayed
King’s leadership suffered
White people clubbed to death James Rebb, a white Unitarian minister
His martyrdom created a national outcry and forced Johnson into action
March 15, 1965 The President held a televised address to Congress
Announced he would submit voter registration legislation
He praised civil rights activists speaking to them he declared “we shall overcome”
The realities of southern atrocities moved Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act
Outlawed educational requirements for voting
Empowered the attorney general to have the Civil Rights Commission assign federal registrars to enroll voters
The AG quickly dispatched federal registrars to nine states
Black Power Movement
The Civil Rights Act could not stop de facto racism
Racist were resistant to change and in some ways more violent
Southerners worked to keep blacks from registering even with the new Voting Rights Act
Blacks were still impoverished, kept out of good schools, and denied all but the most menial jobs
CORE and SNCC give up nonviolence
If blacks were going to get their rights they needed to take them
Members began carrying guns to defend themselves
Encouraged African Americans to recover their cultural roots and a new sense of identity
Malcolm X
Though he led the movement in the beginning by ‘65 was moderating
When he broke with Black Muslims he was assassinated
Black Panthers
Violence was a revolutionary tool
Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver
Because in California it was illegal to carry a concealed weapon, members brandished rifles and shotguns as they patrolled the streets
Newton got into a gunfight with police and was jailed
Lyndon Johnson
Ambitious product of Stonewall Texas
Wanted to “be the greatest [president] of them all, the whole bunch of them
Thought he could complete the incomplete agenda of the New Deal (and by extension Progressivism)
Led through intimidation and cunning
Control freak
Great at deal making and compromise
New his limits
Origins of the Great Society
Michael Harrington, The Other America (1962)
Brought attention to American poverty
Poverty zone along the Appalachian Mountain Range
Kennedy had responded by created Food Stamp program
Began “war on poverty”
New Dealer and Progressive belief in government and the employment of “experts” to improve society
Liberals believed they could cure poverty
Economic Opportunity Act, 1964
Aimed at almost every major cause of poverty
Job Corps
Loans to rural families and urban small businesses
Aid to migrant workers
VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America)
Created the Office of Economic Opportunity
Led by Sargent Shriver
$1 billion
Harrington complained this was not enough
The Great Society
In January 1965, announced he would vastly expand welfare programs
By the end of the year 50 bills had been passed
Elementary and Secondary School Act
Made education the cornerstone of his Great Society
Low-income schools districts received educational equipment, money for books, and enrichment programs
Head Start
For nursery school age children
Medicare
Federal program
Provided elderly with health insurance to cover hospital costs
Elderly used hospitals 3x more than other Americans
Had ½ the income
Medicaid
Joint federal-state program
Participating states received matching grants
Cover those on welfare or too poor to afford medical care
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Robert Weaver, former president of the NAACP, chosen to head it
Designed to subsidize rents for poor families unable to find public housing
National Foundation of the Arts and Humanities
College and students received scholarships and loans, research equipment, and libraries
Its roots lay in the WPA art programs
Great Society, Cntd.
Immigration Act of 1965 (Hart-Cellar Act)
Abolished national origins system
Increased annual admissions to 170,000
Capped at 20,000 admissions from any one country
Gave preference to reuniting families of immigrants already in the US
Asians and Eastern Europeans were among the prime beneficiaries
Capped arrivals from the Western Hemisphere at 120,000
Widespread poverty in Latin America left many unemployed
So Americans feared mass migrations
National Wilderness Preservation System
Origins in Progressive attempts to preserve America’s beauty
Set aside 9.1 million acres of wilderness
Pollution Standards set
Money designated for cleaning waterways
Limits on air pollution set
By mid-1990s smog had declined by about 1/3
Fair Housing Act
Banned discrimination in housing
Provided money to built public housing
Evaluating the Great Society
Produced more legislation and more reforms than the New Deal
Cost more
Employment accelerated
Dispute over whether tax cut or programs created jobs
Set the high water mark of interventionist government
Though citizens claimed a love for small government no strong movement emerged to eliminate Medicare or Medicaid
Few resisted environmental regulations
By the mid-1960s dissatisfied members of the middle class—and especially the young—had launched a revolt against the conventions of society and politics as usual. The students who returned to campus from the voter registration campaign in the summer of ‘64 were the shock troops of a much larger movement. They included a mix of political activists and apolitical dropouts, known as Hippies
The Counterculture
Activists on the New Left
Tom Hayden and Al Haber students at the University of Michigan formed the radical Students for a Democratic Society
They chafed at the slow pace of reform by the old “left” led by Johnson and the Great Society reforms
Condemned the modern bureaucratic society of the 1950s
The Free Speech Movement
University of California, Berkeley
Fall 1964, administrators closed area political organizations had used to advertise their causes
Campus police attempted to remove CORE recruiter
Thousands surrounded the police car attempting to take him away
Led by student Mario Salvo they blocked the car for 32 hours
Salvo had been changed by his participation in Freedom Summer
When university president tried to expel Salvo, 6,000 students took control of the administration building, stopped classes with a strike
Kerr backed down and removed free speech restrictions
Young Americans for Freedom emerged as a counter to the new left
Conservative, buttoned-down students who claimed liberalism sapped the moral and physical strength of the nation
The Rise of the Counterculture
Anti-materialism emerged as young people rejected the economic competition of the 1950s
Tune in, turn on, and drop out
Mantra of a spiritual movement that rejected politics for a lifestyle of music, sex, and drugs
Religious revival and utopian movements
Communes mimicked those of the late-19th century
Sought perfection outside society
Scrounged materials lived off the land and rejected materialism
Sexual freedom became a source of liberation from “uptight” parents
Drugs opened their inner minds to a higher consciousness or pleasure
LSD and hallucinogenic mushrooms
The “conscious raising” nature of psychedelic allowed for freedom from conventions
Timothy Leary advocated LSD for personal and contemplative exploration
Ken Kesey embraced is with antic frenzy
Formed a ragtag band of druggies and freaks called the “Merry Pranksters”
Tom Wolfe chronicled their adventures in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
The Rock Revolution
Folk singers like Joan Baez and Bob Dillon reflected the activist side of the counterculture
They sought to provoke their audiences to political commitment
The Beatles and Rolling Stones
Long hair, modish clothes
Started a British music invasion that repackaged American rhythm and blues
Motown
Berry Gordie’s music city radicalized soul music
Combined elements of gospel, blues, and big band jazz
Produced Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, and others
