Chapter 21 Section 2

Civil Rights Continued

A.    Marching to Washington

  1. A. Philip Randolph  suggested a March on Washington to show support for a civil rights law.
  2. On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people (including 75,000 whites) went to D.C.

a.     They gathered on the lawn between the Washington monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

b.     Many speakers demanded the passage of a civil rights bill.

c.     This is where MLK made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

  1. Two weeks after the speech, four girls in a Birmingham church were killed when racists threw a bomb.
  2. The church had been an organizing site for many protests.
  3. The bombing showed that as soon as civil rights leaders gained followers and made an impact, racists would be there to take revenge by trying to break spirit of the leaders of the movement.

B.    Fight for Voting Rights

  1. In a project known as Freedom Summer, civil rights groups sent volunteers across the South to register African Americans to vote.

a.     Civil rights groups recruited and trained college students, who were mostly white (1/3 women, 2/3 men).

b.     These students went to Mississippi to register voters.

c.     The KKK and local police together murdered three of the students in Neshoba County, Mississippi, (two of them were white and one was black).

d.     Throughout the summer, racial beatings, murders, and the destruction of property raged through the South.

  1. In 1965, the SCLC conducted a voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama.

a.     From 1963-1965, 2,000 members of SCLC were arrested for trying to help blacks to vote.

b.     A demonstrator named Jimmy Lee Jackson was shot and killed by white racists.

c.     Due to all the acts of violence and the excessive arrests, MLK announced that there would be a fifty mile protest march from Selma to Montgomery, the capital of Alabama.

d.     On March 7, 1965, 600 protesters left Selma.

e.     There were television cameras present recorded the police attacking the protestors with whips, clubs, and tear gas.  This created public outrage.

  1. On March 21, 1965, 3,000 marchers set out again for the protest march.

a.     This time the national government sent federal marshals for their protection.

b.     As word of the protection spread, more and more people joined the march, finally totaling 25,000 people.

C.    Political Successes

  1. Civil Rights Act of 1964

a.     banned discrimination in employment and public accommodations

b.     enlarged federal power to protect voting rights and to desegregate schools

c.     established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to ensure fair treatment

d.     prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, and gender

  1. Voting Rights Act of 1965

a.     eliminated literacy tests

b.     established federal examiners to register voters

c.     Result:  In Selma, only 10% of blacks were registered to vote in 1964, but by 1968, 60% were registered.

  1. The Civil Rights Act of 1968

a.     prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of housing

b.     strengthened anti-lynching laws

c.     made it a crime to harm civil rights workers

  1. 24th Amendment (1964)

a.  “the right to vote shall not be denied. . . by reason or failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.”