The Civil Rights Movement began nearly 100 years after the Civil War to combat discrimination against African Americans. In the 1950s and 1960s, civil rights organizations and leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for desegregation and equal rights through nonviolent protests, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This led to important victories like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned segregation in public places. However, discrimination continued in other areas like education, employment, and criminal justice.
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Civil rights movement
1. The Civil Rights Movement
•The Movement Begins Nearly 100
years after the Civil War
• The 1960s were called the civil rights
decade
•Anti-discrimination organizations:
- The National Association for the
Advancement of Coloured people NAACP - The National Urban League NUL
- The Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee SNCC
2. • The civil rights of
African Americans were
limited by state laws
and discrimination.
• In the early 1950s,
segregation was legal.
• An Alabama law said
that African Americans
had to sit at the back of
the bus.
3. • In 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused
to move to the back of a bus. She was arrested.
• African Americans boycotted the buses until buses
were desegregated.
Black Residents Walking, Montgomery
Bus Boycott, 1955
4. • Martin Luther King Jr. helped lead the boycott.
He believed in nonviolent protest.
• He wanted people to fight back using peaceful
actions.
• In 1954, the Supreme Court ordered the
desegregation of public schools.
• In 1956, the Supreme Court said that
segregation on buses was illegal.
5. Civil Rights Victories
• In 1960, African Americans held sit-ins
in 54 cities.
• They sat at lunch counters that only
served food to white people. They
would not leave until they were
served.
• In 1963, Congress was discussing a bill
to end segregation.
6. • Martin Luther King Jr. and other
leaders organized a protest march
in Washington, D.C., to show
support for the bill.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964
banned segregation in schools, at
work, and in public places.
• Affirmative action to give
minorities increased
opportunities for higher
education and in the workplace
• Busing to promote desegregation
7. • In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.
• Along with non-violent protest the rise of
separatist movements:
• Nation of Islam & its leader(s) Louis Farrakhan
& Malcolm X
8. HOWEVER
• African-Americans tend to have a high dropout rate: only
15% complete 2 or more years of college Vs 26% of whites
• Glass ceiling: For those who reach higher positions,
discrimination prevents them from the top positions and
professional advancement
• They are hit twice as hard by unemployment as the rest of
the population
• They live in inner cities where violence and crime are
widespread
• The leading cause of death for a young black male is
murder (very often by other black teenagers from different
gangs.
• Half inmates of American prisons are black
• Housing segregation leads to poor social integration