2. Continue to add to your Ch. 21/Civil Rights Era
timeline
For each item: 1) define (2) explain its significance
A) Sit-ins
B) Freedom Rides
C) Integration at “Ole Miss”
D) Birmingham Marches
**Use the chart on top of p. 709 if you like**
3. Grew up in rural Centreville, MS
Wondered about the “white
folks’ secret”
“Their homes were large and
beautiful with indoor toilets and
every other convenience that I
knew of at the time.”
“Every house I have ever lived in
was a one or two-room shack
with an outdoor toilet.”
4. Horrified by Emmett Till’s death
While in college she joined the NAACP and worked with
CORE and SNCC
Took part in sit-ins in Jackson, MS and was jailed
Her mom begged her stop out of fear
Her brother was beaten and nearly lynched
But she continued the fight at all costs
Gains came at tremendous personal cost
Challenging white supremacy often provoked an ugly and
violent reaction
5. Moody (3rd
from
left) at a sit-in
Jackson, MS in
May of 1963
Hostile crowd
responded by
dumping food
on activists
6. Tactic of sitting down at a segregated lunch counter or
other public place; if refused service they stayed in
place
Started in 1943 in Chicago at Jack Spratt Coffee House
Popular during early 1960s
Forced business owners to decide between serving
protesters or risking a disruption and loss of business
7. John Lewis of SNCC on his experiences from a sit-in
in Nashville, TN:
“A group of young white men came in and they
started pulling and beating primarily the young
women. They put lighted cigarettes down their backs,
in their hair, and they were really beating people. In a
short time police officials came in and placed all of us
under arrest, and not a single member of the white
group, the people that were opposing our sit-in, was
arrested.”
8. MLK told students an
arrest was a “badge of
honor”
By the end of 1960,
70K+ students had
participated in a sit-in &
3,600 had served jail
time
TIMELINE
Video
9. Boynton v. Virginia
(1960)—Expanded ban
on segregation on
interstate buses;
included bus station
waiting rooms and
restaurants that served
interstate travelers
1961—CORE w/ help
from SNCC carried out
the Freedom Rides
Designed to see if
southern states would
obey SC ruling
10. Riders left Washington,
DC on May 4, 1961
13 riders, both black and
white
2 interstate buses
Headed south, split up
in Atlanta
Firebombed at Anniston,
Alabama
*See quote and picture
on p. 711
Got out of bus alive, but
were beaten by waiting
crowd
11. James Farmer (leader of
CORE) called for an end
to the Freedom Rides
SNCC leaders wanted to
carry on
Student activist Diane
Nash in response to
Farmer’s concerns: “If we
let them stop us with
violence, the movement
is dead!...Your troops
have been badly
battered. Let us pick up
the baton and run with
it!”
12. Photos from burning bus in Anniston shocked the nation
Violence intensified in Birmingham and Montgomery,
Alabama
Upon arriving in Jackson, Mississippi the Riders were
arrested
Volunteer Riders stepped in and were also arrested
A secondary Freedom Rider movement began with 300
activists that same summer
Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent federal marshals
to protect them
Eventually the ICC prohibited segregation in all
interstate transportation
14. James Meredith, an African American Air Force vet,
attempted to enroll to U. of Mississippi in 1961
He was denied access to the all-white school, but got
legal help from the NAACP
The SC supported Meredith’s entrance, but Governor
Ross Barnett disregarded the ruling
Pres. Kennedy used federal marshals to accompany
Meredith to campus
Crowds protested and attacked the marshals’ vehicles,
violence ensued, two bystanders were killed and
hundreds were injured
Meredith continued to go to classes w/ aid of marshals
15. Meredith describing his
experiences to the Saturday
Evening Post (1962): “It hasn’t
been all bad. Many students
have spoke to me very
pleasantly. They have stopped
banging doors and throwing
bottles into my dormitory now.”
16. “One fellow from my home
town sat down at my table in
the cafeteria. ‘If you’re here to
get an education, I’m for you,’
he said. ‘If you’re here to cause
trouble, I’m against you.’ That
seemed fair enough to me.”
Earned bachelor’s degree in
1963
VIDEO
OXFORD TOWN LYRICS
17. MLK & SCLC invited there
in April 1963
Birmingham’s population
was 40% black
King called it “the most
segregated city in America”
Working w/ Rev. Fred
Shuttlesworth, King called
for boycotts
When asked how long he
would stay, King replied,
until “Pharaoh lets God’s
people go.”
Police commissioner
“Bull” Connor replied, “I
got plenty of room in the
jail.”
18. Started w/o violence; marches & sit-ins
Courts ordered end to marches
King decided to disobey orders
Connor arrested King & others
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King defended his
actions
After a week King was released from jail
He called on young people to join movement
19. “Bull” Connor arrested
900+ young people
Police used high-
pressure hoses and
trained police dogs
Protesters were also
beaten w/ clubs
20.
21. TV cameras brought
national attention to
Birmingham
Eventually the city’s
facilities were
desegregated & fairer
hiring practices were
instituted
22. A few months after the settlement tragedy struck
The 16th
St. Baptist Church became a target
Training ground for activists
Meeting place for leaders, including MLK
Bombed by members of the KKK on a Sunday
Morning in Sept. 1963
Four girls were killed, and 22 children were injured
Bombers were not caught until much later
23.
24. Continue to add to your Ch. 21/Civil Rights Era
timeline
For each item: 1) define (2) explain its significance
A) Sit-ins
B) Freedom Rides
C) Integration at “Ole Miss”
D) Birmingham Marches
**Use the chart on top of p. 709 if you like**
