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43_civil_rights_part_2.pptxCivil Rights
Part two
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
Grandson of a slave and sharecropper; son of Baptist minister; prominent in Negro Voters League
Tactics of non-violence relied on Gandhi and Thoreau
Gains national attention during the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955-56 at 26 years old
Shift in tactics
After 1960, more active resistance
Greensboro, NC sit-ins at Woolworth’s
Freedom rides
Birmingham, AL 1963
Mass demonstrations (including children) met with force by Police Chief Bull Connor
Sight of fire hoses and police dogs on children seen in American homes on TV
Over 4,000 arrested March on Washington
4
March on Washington, 1963
“I Have a Dream” speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr. on August 28
250,000 participants
Victories and Challenges
1964
MLK wins Nobel Peace Prize
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Outlawed discrimination in public facilities, equal opportunity in hiring. Applied to “race, creed, color, and sex”
1965
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Banned literacy tests, authorized federal intervention
1968
Civil Rights Act of 1968
Banned discrimination in housing, jury service
1963
Bombs blow up MLK’s brother’s house
Medgar Evers shot
1964
Freedom Riders: 1000 arrests, 35 shooting incidents, 30 buildings bombed, 80 beatings, 6 murders
1966
MLK targets northern inner-city neighborhoods
1965-1968: 150 major riots
Watts and Detroit
Conclusions
Schools targeted because of belief of equality of opportunity.
Mixed legacy
Economic inequalities, despite advances in sports and politics
Limits of Civil Rights Movements
Lessons of emancipation/Reconstruction. Politics is only one form of freedom
“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”
Given April 3, 1968 in Memphis during sanitation workers’ strike
Assassinated and died the next day
http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL4FOvIf7G8
