This document summarizes key events and tactics during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, including sit-ins, Freedom Rides, the integration of the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss"), and the Birmingham Marches. It provides details on individuals involved like Diane Nash, James Meredith, Martin Luther King Jr., and Bull Connor. Violence often met the nonviolent protests, but they continued to apply pressure and eventually achieved some desegregation victories. Students are asked to add these events to a timeline and define and explain their significance.

1. Ch. 21.3
pp. 709-714

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 1960, 70K+ students
had participated in a sitin
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,
Firebombed at Anniston,
DC on May 4, 1961
13 riders, both black and
white
2 interstate buses
Headed south, split up
in Atlanta
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

13. INTERACTIVE MAP

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
When asked how long he
in April 1963
would stay, King replied,
until “Pharaoh lets God’s
Birmingham’s population
people go.”
was 40% black
Police commissioner
King called it “the most
“Bull” Connor replied, “I
segregated city in America”
got plenty of room in the
Working w/ Rev. Fred
jail.”
Shuttlesworth, King called
for boycotts

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 highpressure hoses and
trained police dogs
Protesters were also
beaten w/ clubs

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

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**