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Civil Rights - Coggle Diagram
Civil Rights
LBJ
Actions of Civil Rights Groups
King and other Civil Rights groups were anxious to keep pressure on Johnson, so went to St. Augustine and organised Sit-ins, wade-ins and swim-ins in segregated facilities, prompting violent responses from whites and the KKK.
The SNCC and Core extended their involvement in the south, in this case attempting to increase the number of black people registered to vote in Mississippi which was only 6.2%
In the end only an additional 1600 became registered to vote
Selma to Montgomery March
In 1965 the SCLC began targeting the issue of voting rights. Of Selma's 30,000 population, half were black, of this half only 23 could vote.
King led a march to Selma county court leading to beatings and live snakes being thrown at people, one black child was shot protecting his mother, 3000 more were arrested including MLK
During the march the protestors were clubbed and hti with tear gas in an incident known as bloody Sunday. The images produced drastically increased support for the Civil Rights Movement, and the voting act.
King and by extension the SCLC pivoted, saying they should now prioritise black economic equality
This led to the 1965 Chicago campaign, however this was a relative failure.
King put his finally up in a ghetto slum, but the landlord refurbished to deny media attention
At a rally he only recieved 3000 supporters
Damages to fire hydrants totalling 2 million in cost was blamed on the SCLC
The issue was that King did not focus on issues northern black people faced, like poor housing, poor jobs and police brutality.
The SNCC organised the Merideth march to support the first black student at university, James Merrideth.
During the March he was shot, and the leader of the SNCC began speaking of Black Power and rejected white support, in December of 1966 white members of the SNCC were expelled
In May 1967 Carmichael was replaced by Rap Brown who urged SNCC members to arm themselves and take over white-owned shops in black ghettos.
In 1968 The SNCC worked closely with the Black Panthers. The Black Panthers had a ‘shadow government’ and elected Carmichael as Prime Minister and Rap Brown their Minister for Justice.
In 1969 The SNCC officially changed its name to the Student National Coordinating Committee.
In 1966 the Black Panthers were founded in California, adopting a predominantly black military uniform with leather jackets and Berets
They held inspirational rallies characterised by cries of ‘Power to the people’ and ‘the revolution has come, it’s time to pick up the gun’.
They had around 5000 members, most of whom were in the ghettos. They advocated self-help, setting up clinics to advise on health, welfare and rights and ran lessons to educate young people about their beliefs. They also provided childcare for working mothers and free food.
In 1967 In May they surrounded and entered the California State Capitol building accusing the legislature of considering repressive legislation.
The groups main goal: They wanted to expose police brutality and so often followed police cars in the ghettos while carrying weapons, which was legal under California law. This led to some violent shootouts. They routinely engaged in petty crime and advocated the killing of police officers.
They began to decline due to consistent and thorough targeting by the FBI, including several murders of high ranking members important to leadership.
Actions of the President
1964 Civil Rights Act
This made all forms of De Jure Segregation a federal offence, effectively destroying the Jim Crow Laws.
1965 Voting Rights Act
This Act abolished literacy tests, the poll tax and constitutional interpretation tests.
It also meant all you needed to vote was citizenship and a registration form
Registers became federal employees, meaning if they denied black people the vote they became answerable to federal law and the federal government,instead of local law,
by 1966 only four southern states had a black population were less than half could vote. In the following years black officials increased 12 fold
1968 Civil Rights Act
This outlawed discrimination in the sale of houses
The Kerner Commission
Johnson Commissioned Otto Kerner, the governor of Illinois, to investigate the cause of the Urban Riots.
It included the damning line of "our nation is moving towards two societies, one black one white. Separate and Unequal"
It listed 12 reasons for the riots gathered from interviews
Police practice
poor housing
Poor educational opportunities
Disrespectful white attitudes
Context
In 1965 Malcolm X was assassinated by the NOI after leaving.
In 1966 riots erupted in Watts Los Angeles
This began and was mainly centered in black ghettos
It led to 34 deaths, 3500 arrests and 40 million in damages
This set the tone for later riots that erupted across 200 cities in America from 1966 to 1968, leading to 250 deaths, 10,000 serious injuries and 60,000 arrests
Division in civil rights groups began to emerge in 1966
Civil Rights groups were mainly annoyed at King and the SCLC. The strategy of maximising media attention made it seem like they were glory hounds and left a string of unhelped, unaffected cities. The SCLC's shift of focus ot the north also upset people
There were complaints over the majority of donations to civil rights groups going to the SCLC
The SNCC became increasingly militant, beginning to chant "Black Power".
The Detroit Riots of 1966
Of the summer riots some of the most serious emerged in Detroit
It lasted 5 days and led to 43 deaths, 1,189 injuries and 7,200 arrests
412 Buildings had to be demolished due to damages
2500 buisnesses reported some kind of damages as a result of the riots.
In 1967 MLK was killed, sparking riots across the country
In 1967 Carmichael wrote Black Power: The Politics of Liberation and urged black Americans to help other black people oppressed by whites in developing countries.
He adopted the slogan ‘Black is Beautiful’ and advocated a mood of Black pride, rejecting white style, and favoured afro hairstyles.
Other protest movements
Sunset strip riots
riots broke out when over a thousand teens who were incensed by the enforcement of archaic curfew laws made their views known.
Thanks to the attention of the media both sides in the argument escalated until it eventually climaxed in brutal police beatings on the 26th of November and the 10th of December.
Youth Protests
Following the election of Kennedy and his subsequent death, the youth began to take a greater interests in politics
This being said only 12% of youth identified themselves as being with the New Left
In the first half of 1968 alone there were 221 major demonstrations at universities such as Stanford, Yale, Harvard and UC Berkeley with slogans such as ‘don’t trust anyone over 30’.
These protests ranged from Civil Rights to Vietnam to the quality of education (lack of diversity in curriculum namely)
This spread to a wider sense of disenfranchisement that students were being made to fit into a role in the ‘rat race’ and to work for ‘the man’.
A generation gap emerged where those who had lived through the war could no longer understand the music, the movies, the poetry, the intoxicants, the art, the clothes, the hairstyles, the literature, or the politics of the young.
The Anti-War/Hippie Movement
Protests of Vietnam started even before troops actually arrived in the nation, with marches in places like San Francisco and Boston in 1964
These were led by students from the Progressive Labour Party and the Young Socialist Alliance
On the 12th May young men in New York publicly burnt their draft cards in protest against the growing US presence which led Congress to criminalise anyone who knowingly destroyed the cards.
The movement benefitted from the experience of older civil rights protestors.
In 1965 Norman Morrison, a 32-year-old Quaker and father of 3, stood outside the window of Robert McNamara’s office (Secretary of Defence) and burned himself to death.
Starting in 1965 "Teach-ins" the boycotting and picketing of universities across the country became a popular method of protest.
In 1966 Mohamed Ali publicly refused to accept the draft.
In 1967 the largest of these Protests occurred in Washington, with 70,000 students participating in running battles with the police and national guard, this led to 625 arrests.
The Feminist movement
The feminist movement benefited from the lessons of the Civil Rights movement, using much of the same techniques.
In 1962 Betty Freidman's "The Feminine Mystique sold 1.4 million copies.
Feminist's often separated from civil right groups over the sexist attitudes of leaders like Carmichael and MLK.
In 1965 in Griswold V. Connecticut, birth control was legalised.
In 1966 Betty Friedmann and 27 others formed NOW, the National Organisation for Women, and went on to win 30 million in back pay from companies that had ignored the 1963 equal pay act.
In September 1968 Radical Women picketed the Miss America Pageant, crowned a sheep as miss America and listed several reasons for their desire for its dissolution, such as upholding an impossible standard of beauty.
As a movement it became increasing militant with the founding of SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) and WITCH (Women's International Conspiracy From Hell)
A member of SCUM attempted to assassinate Andy Warhol
WITCH hosted an un-wedding at a bridal fair in Madison Square Garden. Both grabbed a lot of media attention but did little more.
As a result of the movement, Johnson signed executive order 11375, adding sex to the 1964 Civil Rights act.
Nixon
Context
Nixon's inauguration was probably the first to be marred with Protests
Hundreds of student protestors burned flags, spat at police and chanted how
Ho Chi Minh was going to win.
The Kerner report had urged the importance of government action to end De-Facto segregation.
However this would likely lead to higher taxes, which the Silent Majority was against.
Liberal sympathy for the Civil Rights movement had faded in the face of the Urban Riots and the increased radicalisation of groups like the Black Panthers.
The Silent Majority which were becoming increasingly important, were generally opposed to the idea of spending more money to help civil rights.
Actions of the President
Nixon believed that controlling the Protests of the war at home was key to winning the war, therefore he took several measures to attempt to suppress them.
He started withdrawing troops, first 25,000 in June then 60,000 in 1969 December
He altered the criteria for the draft to include no-one over 20
He questioned the patriotism of the protestors, turning the public against them to the best of his ability.
This led to a great deal of counter-protests against these protests, and violence against them.
Hid the most damning realities of Vietnam, to reduce the ammunition of the Protestors.
Nixon's first Vice President Spiro Agnew was in charge of ending School Desegregation.
By 1970 fewer then 10% of black students attended segregated schools.
Nixon Publicly supported busing, and the 1971 Swann V. Charlotte Mecklenburg ruling of the Supreme Court upheld this practice.
However privately he was against the practice, and ordered the justice department to stop responding to the rulings.
George Schultz, Nixon's secretary of labour, ensured federal aid was only available to schools complaint with desegregation.
In 1970 the first federal affirmative action programme was introuduced, known as the Philadelphia Plan put in place by executive order 11246 . This was upheld by the courts in Contractors’ Association of Eastern Pennsylvania v. Schultz in 1971.
Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman to be elected to Congress in 1968 and the Congressional Black Caucus was founded by the 13 black members of congress sitting in 1971.
Appointment of conservative Supreme Court Justices, such as Warren Burger, led to rulings that hurt the civil rights movement.
Milliken V. Bradley (1974) halted busing in the Detroit area, justifying the continuation of De Facto Segregation.
Feminist movement
Nixon was frequently accused of doing very little for women
He increased the number of federal appointees to the Administration and created a presidential task force on Women's Rights.
He instructed the justice department to bring sex based suits under the civil rights act.
He encouraged the Department of Labour to add sex discrimination provisions to the guidelines for its Office of Federal Contract Compliance.
Though Nixon was notably liberal on the issue of civil rights in the 50s, being the one to organise the civil rights act under Eisenhower, He personally was quite racist
"There has never been an adequate black nation, and this is the only race for which this is true".
He appointed a known Southern racist to the Supreme court despite unimpressive qualifications.
He appointed 4 conservative supreme court justices, which did a lot to undermine the civil rights movement.
Attempted to reverse the 1965 Voting Rights Act in order to win over the Southern white vote.
Nixon set up the office of Minority Business enterprise to try and encourage "Black Capitalism"
He was against welfare programmes and a great believer in "pulling yourself up by the bootstraps"
He empowered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with the 1973 equal employment act
He embraced the idea of affirmative action
Fought off opposition from both the Congress and trade unions to ensure that over 300,000 companies carrying federal contracts employed black people in proportion to the population.
This allowed black people to get better jobs, earn more money and more easily escape the Ghetto. This in turn helped end De-Facto segregation.
The supreme court also supported affirmative action (GRIGG v. DUKE POWER COMPANY 1971).
Actions of Civil Rights groups
Though Nixon did oppose busing, it continued and resulted in a change of 60% in the number of children attending segregated schools from 1968 to 1974
Nixon personally hated welfare programmes, however congress did not and welfare payments doubled during his presidency, helping raise black living standards
In 1972 Andrew Young was elected to Congress
Other protests movements.
Anti-War protests
The Kent State massacre
In 1970 Nixon authorised a pre-emptive strike against neutral Cambodia, the US had actually been involved in the region for years but secretely
This expansion of the war caused massive protests, notably in Kent State University
Initially these protests were peaceful, but in response to police suppression quickly escalated to rock throwing and a building being burnt to the ground
In response the governor of Ohio called in the national guard
In May the Governor banned Protests, but this had no effect.
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John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged a “bed-in” for peace as part of their honeymoon in 1969 and Lennon recorded Give Peace a Chance which 500,000 people played during their march on Washington on 15th November 1969.
On the 8th of May 1970 1000 students protesting the Kent State massacre were attacked by 200 construction workers.
In 1971, Veterans on the Capitol building threw away their medals (700) publicly before an anti-war march in Washington of 500,000
On the 5th of May 1971 over a thousands people were arrested due to attempting to shut down Congress.
War support hit an all time low in 1971 of 28%
In 1971 Veterans occupied the Statue of Liberty and flew the flag upside down from her crown.
Bleed-ins to donate blood to the North Vietnamese were organised,
Jane Foster, an actress, visited the Vietcong in 1972, earning her the nickname "Hanoi Jane".
Eisenhower
Actions of Civil Rights groups
In 1952 the NAACP brought a case to the supreme Court against the segregation of schools under the doctrine of separate but equal.
The case used the relatively new field of psychology as the basis for its case, it argued that segregation of children in education had a hugely detrimental effect on black children's psyche, and therefore could never be equal.
This led to the Supreme Court Ruling under Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall in 1954 that the segregation of schools and the doctrine of "separate but equal" was unconstitutional, and as a result all schools should be desegregated with all deliberate speed.
However this created the issue of there being no actual time limit given by which schools must be desegregated, leading to many southern states dragging their feet on the issue.
In Montgomery following the arrest of Rosa Parks for sitting at the front of the bus, a boycott was organised by MLK and the SCLC.
This lasted 381 days and cost the company 80% of its revenue.
While this boycott was taking place the NAACP took Bowder Vs Gayle to the supreme court and won, leading to bus segregation becoming unconstitutional under the 14th amendment.
Eisenhower largely ignored the bus boycott. This boycott also showed the power of nonviolent protest and the economic strength of the black populace.
1960s Sit-Ins
Starting in Early 1960, in protest to the Jim Crow laws of the south. Black students started going to segregated restaurants and sitting in "white only" areas
Within a month of the first incident, 50,000 students across 7 states had replicated the process.
This drew violent responses from white people and mass media attention
This also led to the creation of the SNCC
Actions of Eisenhower
During the Little Rock Crisis, Eisenhower invited Faubus to speak to him personally, and attempted to get him to agree to desegregating schools, but failed.
He also called in the 101st airborne to help
Eisenhower was responsible for the appointment of Chief Justice Earl Warren to the Supreme Court, who would responsible for a great deal of progressive and liberal legislation that furthered the civil rights movement.
It's worth noting he did this as a political favour however, and would later go on to say it was the "biggest fool mistake I ever made".
Eisenhower did pass 2 civil rights acts, though both were watered down and extremely ineffective as a result
The 1957 Civil Rights Act led to a civil rights division to be created in the justice department.
It attempted to increase the number of black people who could get the vote by making it a crime to obstruct black people from voting. However those accused would be tried by an all white jury and subsequently found innocent.
of the 900,000 people in Mississippi, only 7000 could vote.
Storm Thurmond Filibustered for 24 hours straight to get the bill as watered down as possible, though Eisenhower did little to defend it once opposition became immense. Going so far as to claim he did not entirely understand all aspects of the bill.
The 1960 civil rights act was similarly watered down
It made it a federal crime to obstruct court ordered desegregation and set punishments for obstructing black people from voting.
In the end both civil rights acts had the effect of increasing the black electorate by 3%
Though Eisenhower intervened in Little Rock, he did not when the same situation occurred in Texas.
He did not intervene when the governor of Texas used state troopers to prevent integration of schools after the Brown v. Board ruling due to the governor being a political friend.
Nixon, his vice president, was actually the one largely responsible for the two civil rights bills that did pass. Writing a good chunk of them to such a degree that Eisenhower admitted to not fully knowing what was in the 1957 Civil Rights Act.
Context
The murder of Emmett Till, a teenage black boy who was killed for supposedly whistling at a white women, sparked international outrage. This was intensified when his killers were acquitted of all charges.
This increased the support for the civil rights movement. With the pictures of the dead Emmett Till being circulated nationally.
The murder of this 14 year old boy and the acquittal of both accused, who then bragged about doing it, caused a wave of civil rights protests across the country including one attended by MLK and Rosa Parks
Eisenhower avoided comment on this incident.
Following the Brown V. Board of education ruling in 1954, the Southern Manifesto was signed in 1956 by 101 Southern Dixiecrat politicians, stating that desegregation would be resisted by all legal means on the grounds it violated states rights.
This made Eisenhower reluctant to intervene with federal authority, it had echoes of the civil war and he did not wish to destabilise the nation.
Following Brown V Board of Education. The KKK was resurrected and revitalised, become more active and brutal. White Citizens councils also formed bosting 250,000 members by 1956
The Little Rock Crisis
In 1957, 3 years after the Brown V Board ruling. The NAACP aimed to challenge how well it was being enforced in the same style as the freedom rides. They planned to try and have black children apply and attend the school of Little Rock Arkansas. They faced difficulty in even attempting to apply but in the end managed to successfully get 9 students to apply for entry into Central High Little Rock.
However Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas refused to allow this to occur. He called in the national guard to block these nine students from entering.
At this point Eisenhower intervened, in part due to the fact that allowing people to flagrantly ignore the ruling of the supreme court was a very bad precedent to set.
He called in the 101st airborne to escort the students, at the same time he also federalised the national guard.
In response to this Faubus closed the schools, giving money to allow white children to attend private schools.
In Arkansas there was a lot of support for Faubus in his actions, and he would remain governor of Arkansas until 1967
Ford and Carter
Women's rights
Though Betty Ford was a champion of Women's rights, her husband did nothing.
The ERA failed to be ratified, and For did nothing to forward it.
Carter insisted that at least one female candidate be considered for each cabinet post in office and appointed 2 female cabinet members and more women to high level posts than any previous president.
He supported ERA but let his wife, Rosalynn, talk for him on women’s issues
In a 1973 Supreme Court ruling, Roe V. Wade legalised abortion in the first 13 weeks when a foetus could not sustain life on its own.
Once again Betty Ford was the one to speak on this instead of her husband, calling it a great achievement
There was great conservative backlash to this ruling.
In 1979 housewife and author Beverly LaHaye established Concerned Women for America (CWA) to fight against ERA and abortion, it had 500,000 members by the mid-1980s.
in 1976 Republican representative Henry Hyde led congress in the passage of a law that banned the use of federal funds for abortions.
Carter supported this when it was not in the case of rape, incest of a threat to the mother. In 1977 the ban was extended to military and peace corps personnel.
Poverty and Welfare
Ford was a great believer in self help and had no real views in relation to Welfare.
Carter allocated 4 billion for public works in 1977 and increased federal aid for the poor, but found issues due to opposition to tax increases and the need for a balanced budget.
Civil Rights
Opposition
ROAR (Restore Our Alienated Rights) and other anti-busing groups appeared
Context
In 1974 Boston was found guilty of School segregation by the federal district court and busing was ordered to occur, this was met was massive backlash from the white population.
Black male teenage unemployment averaged 50%; ghetto communities were becoming even more rundown; a black child was twice as likely to die before reaching the age of 1; twice as likely to drop out of school and four times as likely to be murdered.
Presidential action
Ford endorsed anti-busing action, saying he disagreed with the ruling of the federal judge and there would be no federal action to restore law and order.
This led to white parents surrounding South Boston High, yelling and jeering and throwing rocks at black students, leading to 9 injuries and 18 buses being damaged. Whites they boycotted schools.
Metal detectors had to be installed in schools due to increasing knife crime.
Despite his comment, Ford did deploy troops to quell riots in 1974 after erupting after a white student was stabbed.
Violence eventually decreased as white students enrolled in schools outside Boston.
Carter
Carter tried to actually do a damn thing however
He stated that at least one minority candidate should be considered for each post, choosing African American Patricia Harris as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
He appointed 38 black federal judges, more than any previous president.
Made Andrew Young, MLK's associate, ambassador to the UN.
Supported the 1977 Public Works Act which said minority contractors should get 10% of federal grants for public works.
In 1978 the Supreme court ruled in favour of upholding affirmative action, but not quotas. The Supreme Court ruling Bakke V Regents of the University of California
Good stuff
Renewed the Voting Rights Acts.
Ensured minority owned companies had their fair share of government contracts.
Deposited federal funds in minority banks.
Strengthened the OEEC.
Supported the Supreme Court in upholding affirmative action.
Birmingham had its first black mayor in 1979.
Around ⅓ of black people could be considered to be middle class.
However he wasn't all good
Carter was still criticised for not being committed to busing, the expansion of social welfare programmes, the Community Reinvestment Act 1977 (encouraged lenders to assist minorities) and the Humphrey- Hawkins Bill which attempted to increase employment opportunities but failed to be passed.
African Americans also suffered more during the recession years,
when black teenagers turned up for snow-shovelling work in Washington DC in 1979 they found the jobs already filled and looted shops.
In 1980 economic problems prompted the worst racial violence since the 1960s.
When an all white jury in Miami Florida acquitted 4 policemen charged with beating to death a black insurance salesman, 3 days of looting, shooting, overturning cars and burning property followed.
16 people died, over 400 were injured and an estimated $100million of property was damaged.
Bad stuff
The idea of two societies as outlined in the Kerner Report, one black and one white, was still true in 1980 due to the remaining issue of ghettoisation and continued racial tensions as shown by white backlash to desegregation efforts like busing.
Though black people only made up 12% of the population, they made up a significantly higher proportion of the prison population.
Average black earnings were half of whites.
One third of black people and half of all black children lived below the poverty line.
The black infant mortality rate of 19% was higher than many developing countries.
In 1980 the Supreme Court weakened the voting Rights Act which made it harder to challenge discriminatory voting laws.
JFK
Actions of Civil Rights Groups
In 1961 CORE decided to replicate the journey of reconciliation of 1947. They did this to test the enforcement of supreme court rulings such as Boyton V Virginia that said interstate travel was to be desegregated
13 riders, 7 black 6 white led by the director of CORE set out on the journey, and were frequently attacked and beaten, with these images being spread internationally by the media
Robert Kennedy made local authorities protect the riders and instructed the ICC to fulfill the rulings of the Supreme Court.
60 further rides were made, involving 300 more riders, who all arrived in Mississippi and were subsequently arrested.
In late 1961 the ICC issued orders to enforce desegregation on interstate travel.
1961 Albany Campaign
The SNCC saw the success of the earlier sit-ins of 1960 and decided to move to Albany to campaign civil rights
Their efforts lacked focus, with students sitting in segregated buses, parks, restaurants and others.
Laurie Pritchett was police chief and realised that violence simply brought media attention and helped the civil rights groups. Therefore he ordered his police to protect the groups
He also called transferred those he arrested to prisons far away in order to prevent protestors filling up local cells and preventing further arrests by doing so.
Within a year Albany removed all segregation laws as a result of the Protest
King joined the protests and was arrested, however Pritchett organised his bail to be paid against his will, to drive away media attention. King quickly left after this
Marches and boycotts were also used
1962 James Meredith and Old Miss
James Meredith, following a litany of NAACP legal cases and attempts from the governor to prevent it, used the GI bill to apply and enroll in the university of Mississippi
Riots followed leading to the deaths of 2 people and Robert Kennedy being forced to call in 500 US Marshals supported by the 70th Army Engineer Combat Battalion to maintain order.
James Meredith would graduate in 1963 with a degree in Political Science.
In 1962 Governor of Alabama blocked the access of 2 black students to the University of Alabama which had already been integrated by Autherine Lucy.
Kennedy federalised the National Guard to force Wallace to step aside.
The 1963 Birmingham Campaign
The success of the SNCC in Albany prompted the SCLC to try the same in the most racist city in the south, Birmingham
The campaign included marches, boycotts and sit-ins and quickly led to MLK's arrest, were he wrote his famous "letter from Birmingham jail"
While MLK was in jail, James Bevel proposed using kids in protests to help bolster falling numbers in response to the large number of arrests
James "Bull" Connors instructed police to use clubs and dogs, as well as the fire department to use high pressure hoses
The images of children being beaten by police and mauled by dogs circulated international and caused incredible outrage internationally, as well as increased support for the civil rights movement.
In response to the images Robert Kennedy sent Burke Marshall, his chief civil rights assistant, and an agreement for desegregation was made
The 1963 March on Washington
On Tuesday 27th August 1962 over 200,000 marchers descended on Washington DC in the largest rally for Civil Rights in American history.
The march was envisaged by Bayard Rustin and A Phillip Randolph who co-organised with the “big six” leaders, James Farmer of CORE, John Lewis of SNCC, MLK of SCLC, Roy Wilkins of NAACP, Whitney Young of the Urban League and Randolph as head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
It was here that King made his I Have a Dream speech which is widely regarded as one of the best speeches ever delivered. King went on to be named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year for 1963 and to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
There was a split in the civil rights movement slightly over this, due to some considering MLK a glory hound. This was especially true for black people in the north who did relate to the issues faced by black people in the south.
Malcolm X referred to it as the "farce on Washington" due to the government cooperation.
Kennedy endorsed the march, ensuring 19,000 troops were stationed in the suburbs in the event of trouble. No marchers were arrested.
Actions of the President.
Kennedy did a lot to protect civil rights protestors during the movement
His brother and Attorney general Robert Kennedy similarly did a lot.
He drafted a civil rights act in 1963, far more comprehensive then any that had come prior
This bill included things such as “the right to be served in facilities open to the public” which was planned to be granted to everyone.
It was later strengthened to ban racism in employment, segregation in all publicly owned facilities and strengthened anti segregation clauses.
However this bill was heavily filibustered in congress by southern Dixiecrats, it would not pass until after Kennedy's death
In his New Frontier speech, Kennedy promised to end Ignorance and Injustice
JFK made a huge number of black appointments to the federal bureaucracy and appointed 5 AA black federal judges.
JFK made the EEOC to ensure equality of federal contracts
JFK brought 57 cases against illegal violations of black voter registration in south
Bobby Kennedy supported Freedom Riders
JFK was overall reactive to the issue of civil rights however, and often reacted to the actions of civil rights groups or opposition, and not independantly.
Context
The situation in the north
57% of housing was considered substandard
Black life expectancy was 7 years lower
Black infant mortality was double
Malcolm X and Muhammed Ali got media attention
Malcolm X criticised MLK, calling him and his followers chumps.
Truman
Context
WW2 had a notable effect on the civil rights movement
Most black people realized they were actually treated better abroad, then at home. This led to an increase in black consciousness as black people realized in greater numbers that the way they were treated domestically was not normal.
Many black people quickly realized the hypocrisy of fighting against Fascism abroad while experiencing extreme discrimination at home, leading to the birth of the "Double V" campaign. Victory abroad and at home.
The NAACP and CORE were founded shortly after the end of WW2.
Though most African Americans did not get the benefits they were meant to from the GI bill, some did. This led to an increase in black people getting high level education and careers.
As returning soldiers returned from their place of work, black people who had taken their job were often the first to be fired and the last to be hired.
Most black people worked low level menial jobs, like factory work, cleaner, or in the south sharecropper.
Mechanization reduced the number of workers needed, and black people were often the first fired and last hired, causing increased unemployment in the black population.
Though the army was mostly segregated at this point, the Navy was not, out of necessity.
North V. South.
North
Political status
There were a few black people in political positions, but only at a local level. Such as Adam Clayton Powell who represented Harlem.
Social status
De Facto Segregation
There was segregation but it wasn't enforced in law, it happened as a result of black people ending up in bad jobs, causing them to earn less, resulting in them living in slums with poor schools, resulting in their children getting poor educations, resulting in them getting bad jobs and so on.
Black people were not segregated in law, but racism caused them to be segregated as a result of poverty.
Economic status
Due to poor education opportunities, black people tended to get worse job opportunities then their white counterparts.
Some were able to get relatively good paying jobs in Detroit car factories, or Chicago meat packing plants. But even then it wasn't great.
There was a small but growing black middle class. But black people were on average notably poorer then their black counterparts.
Legal status
Malcolm X's brother stated he saw little difference between 1920s/30s North and South
Authorities provided black people little to no protection during race riots and lynching's, which were not unheard of.
South
Political status
In 1947 only 12% of southern blacks were actually allowed to vote. This was the result of a combination of impossibly hard "literacy tests", a prohibitively expensive poll tax which most southern blacks, being forced into ill paying jobs, simply couldn't afford, and violent voter intimidation and violence to anyone who still tried.
De Jure Segregation
Jim Crow Laws
A set of racist laws that in short outlined that black people were not allowed to sit with white people, or even drink from the same water fountain.
It was not unheard of for black people who accidentally made eye contact with a white women to be beaten bloody.
Economic status.
Most black people worked in menial agricultural jobs like sharecropping. Though some did work in manufacturing such as the Birmingham steel mills.
Underfunded segregated schools meant education was poor, meaning it was hard for most black people to get jobs past unskilled labor such as railway porters or waiters.
The highest job a black southerner could expect to get was church minister, who could afford to send their kids to college.
legal status
The difference between north and south in this regard was that though lynching happened in both, it was encouraged in the south as an effective form of race control
All white juries as a result of De Facto segregation meant that black people had little to no protection in law.
Civil Rights groups
The NAACP formed in this era, 1909
They aimed to win legislative changes to further the civil rights movement, via the supreme court.
The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People
NAACP won cases like Henderson Vs United states which prevented segregation of railroad dining cars.
CORE
The Congress of Racial Equality 1942
An organisation wishing to end segregation for all, regardless of race, gender or sexuality. They used non-violent methods following the examples of Gandhi
The 1947 Journey of Reconciliation tested the Supreme Courts ruling on the desegregation of interstate travel. The riders were attacked which forced the federal government to intervene and enforce the ruling of the supreme court.
The Nation of Islam
Founded in 1930s Detroit by Elijah Muhhamed.
It aimed to It aimed to "teach the downtrodden and defenceless Black people through a knowledge of God and of themselves, and to put them on the road to Self- Independence with a superior culture and higher civilisation than they had previously experienced.”
The nation of Islam did not believe desegregation to be realistically possible, instead its founded Elijah Muhammed advocated for a separate black state to be created out of the southern states of Alabama, Georgia and Mississipi
Some black athletes did receive recognition, notably Jackie Robinson, a baseball player, won the MVP in 1949.
Truman's actions.
Truman was not an outward supporter of the civil rights movement, but he was also not opposed to the movement.
It's not unfair to say he simply didn't realize the reality of the situation, and his opinion quickly reversed once he did.
In 1946 Isaac Woodard was beaten by South Carolina police mere hours after being honorably discharged, while still in uniform, to the point of permanent blindness.
Seven months after the incident, Truman met the executive secretary of the NAACP. Upon learning of the lack of action from South Carolina state authorities he is said to have exploded in anger “My God! I had no idea it was as terrible as that! We’ve got to do something!”
He ordered the attorney general to take action regarding the lack of that which had come from South Carolina state authorities. A short investigation followed and a trial was conducted, but in a local court.
An all white Jury found the cop, despite outwardly admitting to blinding Woodard, not guilty on all charges.
In his 1948 election campaign he made quite fiery speeches advocating for desegregation and civil rights
If this was to simply win over the electorate or was his genuine feelings on the matter is a point of debate, he still personally made racist jokes and said the N-Word. However it is possible this is just the results of the times, and he did personally support the civil rights movement.
In 1948 Truman by executive order desegregated the American armed forces, though the reserves and national guard remained segregated.
As part of this executive order the Presidents committee for Equality of Treatment and Equality in the Armed Services was also created.
Truman got the Fair Employment Practices Committee, a New Deal piece of legislation, extended. Though this board was limited by funding and conservative employees in its staff.
His was done in 1948 in the run up to the election, it was likely partly done in order to win the not insubstantial African American electorate, as well as the liberal electorate.
In 1946 following the blinding of the Isaac Woodward Truman launched a presidential committee to investigate the increasing attacks on black people.
Thought told by his advisor that this was nothing short of political suicide, he instructed it to be pushed with "everything you have".
This committee produced a document in 1947 called "to secure these rights", which called for the elimination of segregation in America via the employment of federal authority. It also called for the addition of anti-lynching legislation and the elimination of the Poll Tax.
to guarantee fair employment in federal bureaucracy.
Truman set up the Committee on Government Contract Compliance in 1951 which pressued companies with federal contracts to end discrimination,
Truman campaigned in Congress for civil rights legislation, but faced too stiff opposition.
Executive order 10381 established the Committee on Government Contract Compliance. Which attempts to enforce the fair employment practices of federal buildings.