The US civil rights movement

Source 8.18 From the 'Nkyinkim' sculpture by Kwame Akoto-Bamfo. This sculpture, in Montgomery, Alabama, is dedicated to the memory of victims of the transatlantic slave trade

Source 8.19 Areas of significance for African American rights and freedoms in the United States

1930 and 1965, the civil rights movement was also in full swing in the United States. Most African American people had originally come to the United States as slaves, abducted from Africa during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

At the end of the American Civil War the Constitution was amended to abolish slavery in 1865. But in 1877 the southern states introduced laws to segregate freed black slaves from the white population in public places, such as schools, restaurants, hospitals and public transport.

These became known as ‘Jim Crow’ laws. In the early twentieth century President Woodrow Wilson supported segregation because he believed that keeping the black and white races separate was for the good of American society.

ACTIVITY

Source 8.22 A segregated cinema in Mississippi, 1939

Evaluate the quality of the two drinking fountains in Source 8.20.
Discuss the effect the protesters outside the school would have on parents.
Identify what type of films are being shown at the Rex Theatre in Source 8.22. Discuss if this is what you would have expected at a cinema ‘for colored people’.
Analyse the practical effects of having segregated cinemas and schools

Aims and methods of US civil rights movement

The US civil rights movement had several specific aims. These included:

ending desegregation in schools, transport and other aspects of American life
improving the economic outcomes of African American citizens, such as employment and home-ownership
improving political participation and representation by increasing the number of African American voters
reducing the widespread violence and intimidation experienced by many African American people.

Watch clip/Guided discussion:

Students watch video about US Civil Rights and discuss why it is so significant.

Dr Martin Luther King Jr

The unofficial leader of the movement was Dr Martin Luther King Jr., a Christian minister and Boston University graduate. King gained prominence due to his intelligence and skill in public speaking, his courage in the face of a seemingly never-ending string of death threats from white racists, and his use of non-violent demonstration inspired by the Indian activist Mahatma Gandhi.

King travelled across the United States and spoke at rallies to gather support, strategically campaigning in key cities known for their discriminatory laws. While visiting Memphis on one of his tours in 1968, King was shot dead by a lone racist gunman named James Earl Ray.

Malcolm X

Another prominent figure was Malcolm X (whose birth name was Malcolm Little), who provided a contrast to Martin Luther King’s carefully staged non-violent demonstrations. When he was a child, Malcolm X’s house was burned down and his father was murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1946 he was imprisoned for drug dealing, and while incarcerated he joined the Nation of Islam, changing his name to ‘Malcolm X’. ‘X’ represented his rejection of his ‘slave’ name.

Unlike King, Malcolm X believed that African Americans needed to defend themselves against racism by any means possible and that they should actively fight for the creation of a separate nation just for themselves. He publicly criticised King and other non-violent civil rights activists who wanted to achieve racial integration. In later years he fell out with the Nation of Islam and began to speak of a ‘bloodless revolution’ that would not rely on violence. In 1965 he was shot dead while delivering a speech in Harlem, New York.

Evaluating the effectiveness of a civil rights campaign: the Montgomery Bus Boycott

The Montgomery Bus Boycott is often credited as one of the most pivotal events of the US civil rights movement. The methods used in the campaign, the causes and effects that contributed to the course it took, and the event’s ongoing significance in the wider story of the US civil rights movement can all be evaluated through a closer examination of the boycott’s timeline.

In 1943 a white Montgomery bus driver ejected passenger Rosa Parks from the bus after she broke Montgomery rules by attempting to pay her fare at the front door rather than at the back. Rosa Parks had been involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from as early as 1932 and was an official member until 1943 when the Montgomery Chapter of the NAACP elected her as its secretary. She was to become a key figure in the Montgomery Bus Boycott more than ten years later.

Source 8.24 Rosa Parks being fingerprinted by police after her refusal to move to the back of a bus

On 1 December 1955, Rosa Parks, feeling tired and thinking about Colvin’s arrest, refused to move from her seat so that a white passenger could sit down. She was arrested and kept overnight in the city jail. The NAACP responded by asking the African American community to boycott Montgomery’s buses from 5 December onward. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. arrived on this date and was voted in as leader of the newly-formed Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). The MIA met with Mayor Gayle, who refused to negotiate any change to the bus segregation laws.

Facing the financial pressure of losing most of their customers, the Montgomery bus service cancelled routes and put up its prices. The MIA organised carpooling to assist the African American community to continue the boycott but, after six weeks of this, the Montgomery police began issuing traffic violations to any MIA members observed driving cars. Dr King dealt with arrest, death threats and the bombing of his home.

In June 1956 after Dr King had organised mass rallies of 5000 supporters and received fines from the Montgomery police for breaking ‘antiboycott’ laws, the US Supreme Court overruled the right of any state to segregate their buses. On 17 December 1956, a full year after Rosa Parks had been arrested, Montgomery’s attempt to appeal the Supreme Court’s decision was rejected once and for all and Mayor Gayle was formerly ordered to desegregate the buses.

Some elements of the white community responded in a violent manner. Dr King’s front door was blown apart by a shotgun, and several buses and African American churches were bombed. On 30 January 1957 the Montgomery authorities arrested seven white men for these attacks.

Note taking/comprehension:

Students are given chapter notes from Retroactive 2 summarising the Civil Rights Movement taking notes in their workbooks. Students answer questions in their books about the US Civil Rights Movement:

Provide three examples of how authorities denied African Americans their civil rights.

Name some of the methods African Americans used in the Civil Rights Movement.

What did the freedom riders hope to achieve?

Describe how people responded to them.

Describe how the Civil Rights Movement affected Australia.

The Freedom Rides, 1961

On 4 May 1961 thirteen activists - both African American and white - spent nine days riding an interstate bus from Washington D.C. to Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. This was a non-violent protest, with the intention of ‘creating a crisis’ in segregated towns by confronting them with a mixed-race bus.

The bus was firebombed in Birmingham, Alabama, and the US Government sent federal police to protect it between cities. In Montgomery, Alabama, state troopers took over from the federal police and secretly organised to leave the buses unprotected so that a mob of racist people could attack them with chains and clubs. The media reported on the severe beatings that the Freedom Riders received.

The US Government became nervous and tried to stop the Freedom Ride but Dr King intervened. He argued that this demonstration was intended to draw this kind of racism into the open where the whole world could see it. Eventually the government realised that it could not stop the Freedom Riders and decided to put pressure on the Interstate Commerce Commission to ban all segregation on buses and bus-related facilities.

The Freedom Rides became a powerful example of non-violent activism prompting positive changes in legislation. They were the inspiration for the NSW Freedom Ride, discussed later in this chapter.

Source 8.25

Martin Luther King, Jr., 1964, portrait from the Nobel Foundation

Black Power salute at the Olympics, 1968

After the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., some younger African American people began to look to the Black Power movement for inspiration and support. This was an ideology that encouraged black Americans to resist discriminatory laws made by the white majority. They wanted to take power into their own hands to achieve self-determination. This movement inspired prominent figures such as American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos to raise the ‘Black Power salute’ at the 1968 Olympics in front of the world.

Black Panther clashes with police and FBI

The Black Panther Party was formed in 1966. It advocated for communist revolution as a way to gain true equality for African American people. During the late 1960s and 1970s there were several outright battles between Black Panthers and the police, with some even ending in death. Some Black Panthers were also part of an underground organisation called the Black Liberation Army, which formed as an illegal paramilitary group in response to FBI sabotage.

What were the main goals of the US civil rights movement, and how did they evolve over time?
What were some of the key events and figures associated with the civil rights movement, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, and Martin Luther King Jr.?
How did various groups and individuals respond to the civil rights movement, both in terms of supporting and opposing it?
What were some of the key legislative and legal developments that impacted civil rights in the United States, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
How has the legacy of the civil rights movement continued to shape American society and politics, particularly in relation to ongoing debates about racial justice and equality?

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