Cynthia H. Roberts
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1) Build students’ awareness of ethnicity as one source of diversity within our society;
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2) A sense of identity and personal pride;
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3) Develop an awareness of pride in the many contributions and accomplishments of black Americans;
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4) Encourage pride and self-confidence;
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5) Stimulate growth and development in our society;
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6) Encourage students to detect cultural patterns as a way of identifying commonalities.
During the 1960’s Congress played a large role in changing patterns of discrimination. It passed the following laws:
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1) The Civil Rights Act of 1960 provide help for any blacks who were unfairly barred from registering to vote in federal elections.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination in public accommodations (restaurants, hotels, etc.,) It declared that federal funds would be cut off from any program or activity which permitted racial discrimination. It also established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce fair employment practices.
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The Voting Rights Act of 1965 provided federal officers to register blacks in counties where less than one half of eligible voters took part in federal elections. It also outlawed literacy test in many states.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1968 declared racial discrimination illegal in the sale of most private housing.
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The 1978 decision Bakke Case, the supreme court ruled that State Universities could take race into account as one of several factors (along with academic qualifications, region, outside interest, age, etc.,) in determining admission policies for its medical school.
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In Griggs v. Duke Power Company, the supreme court ruled that “good intent—does not redeem employment procedures or testing mechanisms that operate as “built-in-headwinds’ for minority groups and are unrelated to measuring job capability.
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In 1890 states pass the Jim Crow Laws. These laws were used to refer to the laws being passed in the South to segregate African Americans in housing, transportation, and many other aspects of daily life. These laws were enacted at a time when African Americans were finding it difficult just to earn a living. Separation, or segregation, became the law.
Many Americans became well known “names in the news” during the civil rights movement.
In this unit, I will familiarize students with the following individuals: Julian Bond; Stokely Carmichael; Eugene “Bull” Connor; Medgar Evers; James Farmer; Andrew Goodman; James Chaney; and Michael Schwerner; Fannie Lou Hammer; Cesar Chavez; James Meredith; Malcolm X; Roy Wilkins; Earl Warren; Orval Faubus; Rosa Parks; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and Thurgood Marshall.
OBJECTIVES:
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1) Define what is meant by the civil rights movement;
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2) Explain the meaning of segregation and describe how, it differed in the North and the South.
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3) Identify methods used by civil right workers to achieve their goals.
INDIVIDUALS WHO PLAYED A ROLE IN THE MOVEMENT
STOKLEY CARMICHAEL, He became a leader of the Student nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1966, he was among the first publicly to advocate “Black Power” as a means of tipping the balance against White establishment which he believed was denying African Americans their constitutional and economical rights. The power was to be expressed by political and economic pressure.
CESAR CHAVEZ, was an early leader of the CSO and a worker for civil rights. He became a strong leader in a nonviolent movement to raise the standard of living for farm workers, most of whom were Mexican Americans. Chavez helped to organize the National Farm Worker’s Association in 1962. Its members joined a strike begun by Filipinos of the Agricultural Workers’ Organizing Committee (AWOC). These two groups joined the AFL-CIO as the United Farm Workers’ Organizing Committee (UFWOC). The UFWOC organized strikes and boycotts against large companies that grew grapes and lettuce.
EARL WARREN, under this chief justice, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional.
ORVAL FAUBUS, this Arkansas governor called out the state’s national guard to prevent desegregation of a city high school.
African Americans made significant gains in their struggle for equal rights during the Reconstruction, the twelve-year period after the Civil War. The 13th amendment, adopted in 1865, abolished slavery in the United States. In 1868, the 14th amendment made former slaves citizens. It also provided that the states must grant all people within their jurisdiction “equal protection of the laws.” The 15th Amendment, which became law in 1870, prohibited the stated from denying people the right to vote because of their race (minority grouping). Congress, the national lawmaking body, passed several other laws to protect African American’ civil rights with the Reconstruction period.
Major changes in the Civil rights Movement occurred during the 1970’s. Earlier civil right efforts had involved lawsuits and other attempts to protect individual rights. The emphasis shifted from individual rights to groups that formerly had suffered discrimination.
African Americans were not the only group who were discriminated against. The Spanish-speaking people Americans wanted many of the same things—good jobs, education for the children and decent housing. The civil rights legislation of the 1960’s benefited Spanish-speaking people (Chicanos, Mexican American or Hispanic Americans) as well as other minority groups.
In this unit, I want to explore the History of the Movement, using several occurrences from the civil rights Timeline.
May 17, 1954
The United States Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in the public schools was unconstitutional. This ruling was made in a case known as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. This case was brought before the Supreme Court by the NAACP lawyers. By a 9-0 vote, the Supreme Court reversed its earlier decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). It declared that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” and that African Americans were therefore being denied the rights guaranteed by the 14th amendment.
September 1957
Little Rock Central High School is Desegregated. When nine African American students tried to enroll in high school, they were threatened by angry mobs of Whites. The governor ordered the African American students out of the school. President Dwight Eisenhower sent the U.S. army troops to Little Rock to make sure that integration was carried out.
December 5, 1955 -December 20, 1956
This 1955 incident sparked black protest against segregation. Rosa Parks, a black women, refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white person as was require by law. Her arrest led blacks in Montgomery to boycott the city buses. She chose to defy the Jim Crow tradition. Her decision inspired 17,000 African Americans and Martin Luther King, Jr. to boycott the city buses.
May 6, 1960
The Civil Rights Act is passed. Among other things, it allows judges to appoint people to help blacks register to vote.
During the 1960’s African American voting rights received increased protection. The Civil Rights Act of 1960 provided for the appointment of referees to help African Americans to register to vote. The 24th amendment, adopted in 1964, barred poll taxes in federal elections. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed literacy tests in many southern states. A 1970 federal law made literacy tests illegal in all states.
