Chapter 13(B): The Civil Rights Years

The End of the Civil War

• Lincoln’s second inaugural address was a plea for reconciliation

• In April 1865 Gen. Lee surrendered to Gen. Grant at Appomattox Court House

• The Death toll of the Civil War was 630,000

New Amendments

• 13th Amendment – an end to slavery (1865)

• 14th Amendment – protect the legal rights of all citizens, due process of law, & citizenship for freedmen (1868)

• 15th Amendment – A/A men could vote (1870)

Legally Free, Socially Bound

• After the war, rumors swept the South that ex-slaves would receive 40 acres and a mule

• According to a Confederate general, recently freed blacks had "nothing but freedom"

The Radical Republicans• These Republicans

understood that essential to maintaining Republican control of the federal government was the right of ex-slaves to vote

• 14th Amendment guaranteed equal legal protection to all citizens

• The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed over Johnson’s veto

Hiram Rhodes Revels• He was elected as the first

African American to serve in the United States Senate, and was the first African American to serve in the U.S. Congress. He represented Mississippi in the Senate in 1870 and 1871 during the Reconstruction era.

• During the American Civil War, Revels had helped organize two regiments of the United States Colored Troops and served as a chaplain. After serving in the Senate, Revels was appointed as the first president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Alcorn State University), 1871-1873 and 1876 to 1882. Later he served again as a minister.

White Terror• The primary objective of the

KKK was oppressing blacks & white Republicans

• In response to the Klan, Grant tried to protect black rights

• White supremacist violence, electoral fraud, the panic of 1873, & the growing weakness of Grant’s administration, all contributed to the weakening of Republican control in the South.

Cartoon chiding the Ku Klux Klan and the White League for promoting conditions

"worse than slavery"

The Election of 1876

• Grant didn’t seek a 3rd term b/c by 1875, he knew there was growing opposition to his re-nomination

• The Electoral Commission, set up by congress in Jan. 1877 consisted of 15 members, 5 from the House, Senate, & Supreme Court

• The Compromise of 1877 ended Radical Reconstruction

Tilden Hayes

Booker T. Washington

• The Atlanta compromise was an agreement struck in 1895 between Booker T. Washington, president of the Tuskegee Institute, and other African-American leaders, and Southern white leaders. It was opposed by W. E. B. Du Bois and other African-American leaders.

W.E.B. Du Bois

• Du Bois was very much against the Atlanta Compromise. He wanted full civil rights immediately.

• He went on to co-found the NAACP in 1909

Plessy v. Ferguson

• In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) the Supreme Court ruled segregation was legal if there was equality, however there was rarely ever equality.

• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) started to change Plessy.

Civil Rights During the 1940s• One reason that WWII inspired

postwar changes in race relations was the racist nature of the enemies of the U.S. during the War

• In 1948, Truman banned racial discrimination in hiring of federal employers, & desegregated the military

• In 1947, baseball was integrated when Jackie Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers

The Warren Court 1953-1969• Ike later say it was one of

he biggest mistakes• This court became an

important force of social and political change

• In 1957 the court ruled that the Smith Act protected free political expression

• One could only get in trouble for advocating revolution

The Early Years of the Civil Rights Movement

• Ike believed that state of local action should change racial attitudes

• This left it up to the courts to take action

• In 1954, the Warren Court & the Brown Decision over turned Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

• “separate but equal” was no longer legal in education Justice Thurgood Marshall

The Montgomery Bus Boycott• The arrest of Rosa Parks in

Montgomery, in 1955 inspired a massive bus boycott

• This showed African Americans and the Civil Rights movement the power of nonviolent protest

• “We Shall Overcome” became the civil rights anthem & showed the power of black evangelical churches Rosa Parks

Problems at Little Rock High• Gov. Orval Faubus would

not let 9 black students into the high school

• Eisenhower had to send 1,000 federal troops to protect the black students

• This shows that by the end of Ike’s term in office integration was still massively opposed in the deep South

Expansion of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s

• Militant Nonviolence• Sit-in Movement started in

Greensboro, N. C.• In 1960 student activists

formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) which worked with King’s (SCLC)

• Kneel-ins at churches• Wade-ins at public pools

“Freedom Riders”

• In May of 1961, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) sent a group of black and white “freedom riders” on buses to test a federal ruling that had banned segregation on buses & trains & terminals…

Birmingham, Alabama• MLK launched a series of

demonstrations in Birmingham

• Americans got to see on TV the use of dogs, tear gas, electric prods, & fire hoses on nonviolent protesters

• MLK was jailed and wrote his now famous letter and declared his willingness to break unjust laws

LBJ & The Great Society• LBJ’s first priority on the

domestic front was to get JFK’s legislative program through Congress

• The Revenue Act of 1964 passed and provided the needed boost to the economy

• JFK’s Civil Rights Act also passed in 1964 and outlawed segregation in public facilities Passage of the Civil Rights Act

More Legislation• Changes in immigration law

in 1965 removed quotas based upon national origin

• Therefore, during the 1960s, Asians & Latin Americans became the largest groups of new Americans

• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 dramatically expanded black votes in the South

Passage of the Voting Rights Act

Civil Rights to Black Power• By 1966, the term “Black

Power” had become a rallying cry for no more than 15 %

• Beginning w/ Watts, the major race riots of 1965 & 1966 occurred largely outside the South

• Malcolm X told blacks they should be proud of their race and started the term African American Malcolm X

Martin Luther King Jr.

• This lead MLK to decide to emphasize the need for economic uplift for the black urban poor.

• This is what MLK was working on when he was assassinated in 1968