The Civil Rights Movement in the United States gained momentum in the post-World War II era. Key early events and court cases like Jackie Robinson breaking the MLB color barrier, Brown v. Board of Education, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott laid the groundwork. Grassroots organizations like the NAACP, CORE, SCLC, and SNCC employed tactics like sit-ins, freedom rides, and marches to challenge segregation and push for desegregation and voting rights. Figures like MLK and Malcolm X advocated for change through nonviolent and more radical approaches. Landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed amid continuing protests, though tensions and divisions within

1. Civil Rights Movement

2. Early Events
• 1945—WWII ends
• 1947—Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier in MLB
• 1948—President Truman begins process of integrating the
armed forces
• 1954—Brown v. Board of Education begins process of integrating
public schools
• 1955—Emmett Till is murdered/Montgomery Bus Boycott
begins
• 1956—Browder v. Gayle ends segregation on public
transportation

4. Laying the Groundwork
• Civil rights movement was a grassroots movement;
no central organization
• Carried out by ordinary citizens
• Goals & tactics varied from group to group

5. Organizations

6. NAACP
• Est. in 1909; WEB DuBois=one
of the original founders
• Focused on challenging laws
that prevented African
Americans from exercising their
full rights as citizens

7. Du Bois on the NAACP
• “The main object of this association is to secure for
colored people, and particularly for Americans of
Negro descent, free and equal participation in the
democracy of modern culture. This means the
clearing away of obstructions to such participation…
and it also means the making of a world democracy
in which all men may participate.”

8. NAACP
• Focused on lynching in 1920s & 1930s
• Limited success due to southern senators
• Later shifted focus towards ending segregation
• Influential in areas of housing & education (Brown v. Board)
• Made up of educated, middle & upper class African
Americans & liberal whites
• Accused of being out of touch w/ socioeconomic troubles
of African Americans

9. CORE
• Congress of Racial Equality
• Est. in 1942 by pacifists
• Hoped to bring change through peaceful
confrontation
• Demonstrations against segregation during WWII
• Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, & Detroit
• Led by James Farmer

11. SCLC
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• Est. in 1957 by MLK & other clergymen
• Advocated nonviolent protests
• “To understand that nonviolence is not a symbol of
weakness or cowardice, but as Jesus demonstrated,
nonviolent resistance transforms weakness into strength
and breeds courage in the face of danger.”
• Made up of southerners; previous civil rights organizations
were dominated by northerners

12. MLK Leads the Way
• Baptist preacher
• Quick rise to forefront of civil rights movement
• Became a symbol of nonviolence to the world
• Won Nobel Peace prize in 1964
• Influenced by Gandhi of India & also Thoreau (objected
Mexican-American War of 1846-1848)
• Civil disobedience=nonviolent refusal to obey a law in an
effort to change a law

14. MLK Leads the Way
• Advised other activists
• 17 rules to follow; nonviolent
approach
• “Be loving enough to absorb evil &
understanding enough to turn an
enemy into a friend”
• “If cursed, do not curse back. If
pushed, do not push back.”

15. MLK Leads the Way
• Nonviolent protests were a practical strategy
• Quotes from King:
• “To accept passively an unjust system is to cooperate
with that system; thereby oppressed become as evil
as the oppressor.”
• “Non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral
obligation as is cooperation with good.”

16. SNCC
• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee,
“Snick”
• Student organization
• Est. in 1960; Raleigh, NC
• Ella Baker at SNCC meeting: “They are asking us
to forget our laziness and doubt and fear, and follow
our dedication to the truth to the bitter end.”

17. SNCC
• MLK at SNCC meeting in regards to civil rights
movement: “a revolt against the apathy and
complacency of adults in the Negro community…”
• Remained a permanent & separate organization
• Shifted focus away from church leaders
• Demanded immediate change

19. Robert Moses
• SNCC leader
• Harvard grad
• Math teacher in Harlem, NY
• Soft-spoken
• Worked in Atlanta, then Mississippi
• Helped SNCC become a powerful force

20. Robert Moses

21. Tactics

22. • 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.”
Anne Moody

23. • 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
Anne Moody

24. • Moody (3rd
from left) at
a sit-in
Jackson, MS
in May of
1963
• Hostile
crowd
responded
by dumping
food on
activists

25. 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
Sit-Ins

26. • 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.”
Sit-Ins

27. • MLK told students an
arrest was a “badge of
honor”
• By 1960, 70K+ students
had participated in a sit-in
• 3,600 had served jail time
• TIMELINE
• VIDEO
Sit-Ins

28. Freedom Rides
• 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

29. Violence Greets the Riders
• 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
• Got out of bus alive, but were
beaten by waiting crowd

30. Violence Greets the Riders
• 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!”

31. • 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
Reaction to Freedom Rides

32. • INTERACTIVE MAP
Freedom
Riders

33. • 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
Integration at “Ole Miss”

34. Integration at “Ole Miss”
• 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.”

35. Integration at “Ole Miss”
“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

36. Clash in Birmingham
• 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.”

37. • 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
Clash in Birmingham

38. Clash in Birmingham
• “Bull” Connor arrested 900+
young people
• Police used high-pressure hoses
and trained police dogs
• Protesters were also beaten w/
clubs

39. Clash in Birmingham

40. • TV cameras brought
national attention to
Birmingham
• Eventually the city’s facilities
were desegregated & fairer
hiring practices were
instituted
Clash in Birmingham

41. • 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
Clash in Birmingham

43. The Political Response

44. Kennedy on Civil Rights
• Kennedy brothers had worked to free MLK from a GA jail in
October ‘60
• Helped win African American voters
• JFK moved slowly on issues related to civil rights
• Did not want to anger southern Democratic senators
• But scenes of violence forced him to act
• Race riots surrounding the Freedom rides embarrassed him
when he met w/ Khrushchev in ‘61
• Responded to police brutality in Birmingham w/ television
address
• Same night Medgar Evers of the NAACP was gunned down in MS
• Introduced a strong civil rights bill after Birmingham

45. March on Washington
• Goal was to focus attention on JFK’s proposed bill
• Kennedy feared March would alienate Congress & create violence
• August ‘63
• 200K+
• “Jobs & Freedom”
• Highlighted by King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in front of Lincoln
Memorial
• Peaceful & orderly
• Civil rights bill remained stalled in Congress

47. Civil Rights Act (1964)
• Kennedy assassinated 3 mos. after March on Washington
• LBJ nothing “could more eloquently honor President
Kennedy’s memory than the earliest possible passage of
the civil rights bill”
• Johnson let Congress know he would accept no
compromises on the bill
• HOR passed it; Senate stalled due to filibusters
• ’64 Senate voted for cloture & forced a vote
• Bill was passed

48. Civil Rights Act (1964)
• 1. Banned use of different voter registration standards for
blacks and whites
• 2. Prohibited discrimination in public accommodations
(motels, restaurants, gas stations, etc.)
• 3. Allowed the withholding of federal funds from public or
private programs that practiced discrimination
• 4. Banned discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion,
or national origin by employers & unions; also created
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

49. Freedom Summer (1964)
• Voter registration drive in
MS
• 1K volunteers, mostly college
students
• KKK held rallies to
intimidate
• 80 mob attacks, 3 murders
that summer, 1K arrested,
firebombings

50. Selma March (1965)
• Police arrested blacks for just
standing in line to vote
• MLK & others decided to
react
• Walk from Selma to
Montgomery, roughly 50
miles
• State troopers on horseback
charged into crowd

51. Selma March (1965)
• TV pictures shocked viewers
• LBJ put Alabama National Guard under federal
control
• Also used federal marshals & army helicopters
• When Selma marchers started out again, supporters
from all over the country joined them
• 25K+ people

52. Voting Rights Act (1965)
• LBJ went on national TV promising to protect voting
rights
• Johnson repeated “We…..Shall…..Overcome”
• That summer Congress passed the Voting Rights Act
• Federal officials could register voters in places where
local officials were blocking registration
• Eliminated literacy tests & other barriers
• In 1966 over 400K African Americans registered to vote
in the Deep South

53. The Movement Takes a
Radical Turn

54. James Baldwin
Author & Civil Rights Activist
• “The Negro’s past, of…death and humiliation; fear by day
and night; fear as deep as the marrow of the bone; doubt
that he was worthy of life, since everyone denied it…”
• “The Negro himself no longer believes in the good faith of
white Americans—if, indeed, he ever could have.”

55. Malcolm X & Black
Nationalism
• Born in Omaha in 1925 as Malcolm Little
• Father was a Baptist minister that supported “Back-to-
Africa” campaign
• Father died when he was young
• Uncle was lynched
• Mother put in mental hospital
• Grew up in ghettoes of Detroit, Boston, NYC
• In jail by age 20, served 7 years

56. Malcolm X & Black
Nationalism
• Joined Nation of Islam or Black Muslims
while in jail
• Preached black separation & self-help
• Viewed white society as oppressive

57. Malcolm X & Black
Nationalism
• Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam,
taught that Allah would bring about a “Black
Nation”
• One of the keys to knowledge was knowing one’s
enemy; namely white society
• Black Muslims did not seek change through political
means
• Instead, they tried to live righteous lives & become
economically self-sufficient

58. Malcolm X & Black
Nationalism
• Malcolm X was released from prison
in 1952, changed his name, & quickly
rose to power
• Spent next 12 years as minister of the
Nation of Islam & spreading ideas of
Black Nationalism
– Separate identity
– Racial unity of African Americans
• Delivered fiery speeches

59. Malcolm X & Black
Nationalism
• Malcolm X disagreed w/ tactics & goals of early civil
rights movement
• The “Farce on Washington”
• “All of this non-violent, begging the white man kind of
dying…all of this sitting-in, sliding-in, wading-in, eating-
in, diving-in, and all the rest”
• “No sane black man really wants integration!...No sane
black man really believes that the white man ever will
give the black man anything more than token
integration.”
– *See full quote on p. 723

61. Malcolm X & Black
Nationalism
• In 1964, over disputes w/
Elijah Muhammad,
Malcolm X left the Nation
of Islam
• Est. Muslim Mosque, Inc.
• Made a pilgrimage to
Mecca (holy city of Islam)
in Saudi Arabia

62. Malcolm X & Black
Nationalism
• Pilgrimage had profound
effect
• He then wanted to work
w/ other civil rights
leaders, even whites on
some issues
• His change of heart led to
new enemies though

63. Malcolm X & Black
Nationalism
• Shot to death at a rally in
NYC in February 1965
• 3 members of the Nation of
Islam were charged w/
murder
• Message lived on
• Influenced young members
of SNCC

64. The Black Power Movement
• Stokely Carmichael
• Follower of Malcolm X
• Became involved in SNCC at
Howard University
• Freedom Riders
• Had beaten & jailed, grew tired
of nonviolent protest
• SNCC became more radical

65. Movement Splits
• Greenwood, MS in 1966
• King’s followers sang “We
Shall Overcome”
• Carmichael’s supporters
sang “We Shall Overrun”
• “This is the 27th
time I have been
arrested, and I ain’t going to jail
no more!...The only way we
gonna stop them white men
from whippin’ us is to take over.
We been saying freedom for six
years—and we ain’t got nothin’.
What we gonna start saying
now is ‘black power!’

66. Black Power
• New slogan resonated w/ many
African Americans
• Encouraged immediate action
• A call to “unite, to
recognize their heritage, to
build a sense of
community…to begin to
define their own goals, to
lead their own
organizations and support
those organizations.”

67. Black Panthers • Est. in fall of 1966
• Militant political party
• Founded by Bobby Seale &
Huey Newton
• Demanded action from
federal government
• Wanted African Americans
to lead their own
communities

68. Black Panthers
• Often confrontation w/
white authorities
• Newton repeated phrase
from Communist leader of
China, Mao Zedong,
“power flows from the
barrel of a gun”
• Violence w/ police
• “Black is beautiful” became
a new slogan
• SNCC & Black Panthers
moved away from NAACP
& SCLC

69. Riots in the Streets
• De jure segregation= racial
separation created by law
• De facto segregation=
separation created by social
conditions, like poverty
• De facto segregation was a
fact of life in most
American cities, North &
South
• Residents of neighborhoods
viewed police officers as
oppressors, not upholders
of justice
• “like an occupying soldier
in a bitterly hostile country”
• Riots started to flare up
along east coast (NYC) in
1964

70. Riots in the Streets
• Watts, LA neighborhood, August of 1965
• Beating of young African American male by
white police officer sparked 6 days of riots
• National guard needed to restore order
• 3K+ arrests, 1K+ injured, 34 dead, $40
million+ in damages

71. Riots in the Streets
• Rioting spread to other
cities in following years
• “Burn, baby, burn”
• Kerner Commission
reported that riots were
explosion of anger that had
been smoldering for
decades
• “Our nation is moving
toward two societies, one
black, one white—separate
& unequal”

72. Tragedy Strikes in 1968
• Achieving peaceful social change
through political activism
seemed hopeless
• MLK had shifted focus to
tackling economic problems
• Poor People’s Campaign
• “We’ve got some difficult days
ahead. But it doesn’t matter with
me now. I’ve been to the
mountain top. And I don’t
mind. Like anybody, I would
like to live a long life…But I’m
not concerned about that now. I
just want to do God’s will. And
He’s allowed me to go up to the
mountain. An d I’ve looked
over. And I’ve seen the
promised land.”
• --April 3, 1968, in Memphis---

73. Tragedy Strikes in 1968
• The next day King was shot
while standing on the
balcony of his motel
• His assassination sparked
violent reactions
• Riots occurred in 120+
cities
• 50K+ troops were needed
to stop the violence
• Further eroded hope in
nonviolent change

74. Tragedy Strikes in 1968
• RFK, presidential candidate
for Democratic Party
• Civil rights leader
• Anti-Vietnam War
• Hoped to continue brother’s
legacy
• LBJ had announced he
would not seek another
term
• RFK had reached out to
minorities & the poor

75. Tragedy Strikes in 1968
• RFK won key CA primary
on June 4th
• That night, after midnight,
gave a short speech in LA
hotel
• Shot by an assassin, died
the next day

76. Legacy of the Movement
• LBJ administration brought
about major changes
• Segregation was illegal
• African Americans began to
vote by the thousands
• Number of African
Americans elected to high
office rose dramatically
• *Shirley Chisholm of NY
became first black woman
elected to Congress