The document summarizes key people and events of the civil rights movement from the 1950s-1960s, including: - The Voting Rights Act of 1965 which increased African American voter registration. - Martin Luther King Jr. as the leader of the nonviolent civil rights movement who was assassinated in 1968. - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited segregation and discrimination. - Resistance to school desegregation through events like the Little Rock Nine. - Important Supreme Court cases like Brown v. Board of Education and Miranda v. Arizona under the Warren Court. - The assassinations of JFK, Malcolm X, and Robert F. Kennedy in the tumultuous year

1. SSUSH22-SSUSH24 (#’s 221 –
252)

2. • Legislation passed by Congress in 1965
which authorized the president to suspend
literacy tests for voter registration and to
send federal officials to register voters in
the event that county officials failed to do
so.
• This new law led to huge increase in
African American voter registration, as well
as an increase in the number of African
American candidates elected to public

3. • Supporter of civil rights.
• In 1948, President Truman signed
legislation integrating the U.S. military.
• His support of such actions split the
Democratic Party over the issue of
integration in 1948.

4. • An act passed by Congress which
prohibited segregation in public
accommodations – hotels, restaurants,
theaters – and discrimination in education
and employment.

5. • The acknowledged leader of the Civil Rights
Movement, who was an extremely gifted man
who believed in nonviolent protest.
• He led the Montgomery bus boycott, was
president of the SCLC, wrote the famed “Letter
from Birmingham Jail”, delivered the famous “I
Have a Dream” speech at the March on
Washington for Jobs and Equality, won the
Nobel Peace Prize.
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in
April 1968.

6. • “March on Washington for Jobs and
Equality” – civil rights march held in 1963
that consisted of 200,000 civil rights
activists demanding equality for all citizens.
• It culminated in Dr. King’s famous “I Have
A Dream” speech on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial.

7. • Famous letter written by Dr. King from the jail in
Birmingham, Alabama, where he had been
arrested following a peaceful civil rights protest.
• His letter was a response to several white
ministers who wrote a statement arguing that the
battle for civil rights should be waged in the
courts rather than by protests.
• King’s public response eloquently expressed the
reasons he disagreed and proclaimed that civil
disobedience was a necessary and acceptable
method for achieving equality.

8. • Became famous as the first African
American during the modern era to play
baseball in the Major Leagues.

9. • Supreme Court decision in which the Court
ruled that segregation in public schools is
unconstitutional because conditions in
segregated schools are not equal.
• It reversed the decision made years before
in Plessy v. Ferguson that established the
“separate but equal” doctrine.

10. • Despite the Court’s decision, many southern leaders
were determined to maintain segregation as long as
possible.
• In Little Rock, Arkansas, the governor refused to obey a
federal court order to integrate Little Rock Central High
School in 1957. He called the Arkansas National Guard
to prevent nine black students from entering the school.
• Resistance also occurred at the college level when
governor of Mississippi defied the Supreme Court and
attempted to prevent an African American James
Meredith from enrolling at Univ. of Mississippi
• Similarly, Alabama’s governor, George Wallace, tried to
prevent the integration of the University of Alabama by
physically blocking the entrance in protest.

11. • In Little Rock, Arkansas, the governor refused to obey a
federal court order to integrate Little Rock Central High
School in 1957. He called the Arkansas National Guard
to prevent nine black students from entering the school.
• President Eisenhower nationalized the Guard and sent
them home.
• Eisenhower then mobilized elements of the 101st
Airborne to enforce the court’s ruling and make sure that
the African American students (“the Little Rock Nine”)
safely gained admittance to the school.

12. • Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Earl
Warren in the 1950s and 1960s which was
noted for using its authority to bring about
social change in the United States.

13. • Brown v. Board of Education (1954) – the Court struck
down school segregation.
• Mapp v. Ohio (1961) – the Court ruled that evidence
seized during a criminal investigation from a person’s
residence without a search warrant constitutes an “illegal
search” and cannot be used at trial.
• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) – the Court established that
states are required under the Sixth and Fourteenth
Amendments to provide attorneys for criminal defendants
who cannot afford them.
• Miranda v. Arizona (1966) – this case established the
Miranda Rule, which states that law enforcement
agencies must inform anyone they arrest that they have
protection against “self-incrimination” (5th) and the right to
counsel (an attorney) (6th).

14. • The Warren Court handed down one of its biggest rulings in
Miranda v. Arizona (1966).
• A Mexican immigrant named Ernesto Miranda was arrested
and interrogated by police without the presence of a lawyer.
During the interrogation, he confessed to the crimes of
kidnapping and rape.
• After his conviction, the case was appealed all the way to the
Supreme Court and it ruled that both Miranda’s 5th Amendment
protection against “self-incrimination” and his 6th Amendment
right to counsel had been violated.
• This case established the Miranda Rule, which states that law
enforcement agencies must inform anyone they arrest that
they have protection against “self-incrimination” (5th) and the
right to counsel (an attorney) (6th). “You have the right to
remain silent…you have the right to an attorney…”

15. • Younger brother of President John F.
Kennedy.
• 1968, as the Democratic presidential
hopeful, he was assassinated after winning
the California primary.
• Because of his open support for civil rights,
many citizens had considered Kennedy to
be their greatest hope for steering the
nation in a positive direction.

16. • On November 22, 1963, an assassin by
the name of Lee Harvey Oswald shot and
killed President Kennedy in Dallas as he
rode in an open car with the first lady and
the governor of Texas.
• The death of the young president left the
nation stunned and in mourning.

17. •Lyndon B. Johnson

18. • Became president following the
assassination of President Kennedy in
1963.
• Johnson pushed through civil rights
legislation proposed by Kennedy, proposed
domestic programs designed to end
poverty known as the “Great Society”, and
supported affirmative action.

19. • Legislation that consisted of various proposed social programs
and centered greatly around Johnson’s declared “War on
Poverty”.
• The Economic Opportunity Act combatted poverty and set
aside money to establish VISTA – Volunteers in Service to
America which mobilized volunteers to work in poorer
communities.
• It established Job Corps for the purpose of educating and
training inner-city youth for gainful employment.
• Head Start – helped ensure better education for low-income
families.
• National Endowment for the Humanities – fund art and
scholarships
• Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) –

20. • The Economic Opportunity Act combatted poverty and
set aside money to establish VISTA – Volunteers in
Service to America which mobilized volunteers to work in
poorer communities.
• It established Job Corps for the purpose of educating and
training inner-city youth for gainful employment.
• Head Start – helped ensure better education for low-
income families.
• National Endowment for the Humanities – fund art and
scholarships
• Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) –
oversees housing needs, rehabilitates urban
communities, and provides rent assistance to those living
in low-income housing

21. • It left others to carry the banner for civil
rights in his place.
• In the midst of all the chaos and violence
of 1968, the nation moved ahead with
concern and a sense of uncertainty.

22. • The year 1968 saw social and political revolutions take
place around the world.
• In the US, the antiwar movement featured students and
other activists calling for the US to withdraw its troops,
accusing the president of heartlessly sending young US
men to dies in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
• Assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr.

23. • Part of Johnson’s “Great Society”.
• Medicare is a program funded by the
federal government and is meant to
provide medical coverage for the elderly.

24. • Part of Johnson’s “Great Society”.
• Medicaid is health care partially funded by
the federal government and partially
funded by the states.
• Its purpose is to ensure medical care for
lower-income families.

25. • Political convention where the Democratic Party
nominated its candidates for president and vice president
for the 1968 election.
• Large numbers of radicals and protesters descended on
the city where the convention was held and, eventually,
massive demonstrations got out of hand after convention
delegates voted against a Vietnam peace resolution and
it became clear that Johnson’s vice president, Hubert
Humphrey, would be nominated for president.
• Police began clubbing those involved in the rally, while
television cameras caught most of the violence.

26. • It was a student organization which devoted itself to the
use of non-violent protests to demand civil rights for
African Americans.
• Tactics:
• Freedom rides – integrated bus trips in which civil rights
advocates, both black and white, traveled south on buses
to test Supreme Court rulings requiring the integration of
buses. One famous ride turned violent in Alabama.
These rides helped draw national attention to civil rights
and created additional support for the movement.
• Sit-ins – non-violent protests in which blacks sat in
segregated places until they were served or arrested.

27. • An organization that sought to unite leaders from the
black community during the civil rights movement.
• Early on, the SCLC tended to rely on voter registration
and education within the black community as its major
method for pursuing civil rights.
• The SCLS believed that if it could educate average
African America citizens and get the right candidates
elected to public office, it could successfully bring about
the end of segregation and inequality.
• However, following the participation in the Albany
movement, a number of SCLC leaders began to
appreciate the value of mass demonstrations and public
protests as well.

28. • Organization founded by Betty
Friedan which was devoted to political
activism and feminist causes.

29. • 1963, Betty Friedan wrote a book called “The Feminine
Mystique”, talking about her own experience in giving up
a career to be a homemaker. She suggested that the
idea of women being nothing but happy and fulfilled at
home was a myth.
• Friedan’s views helped launch the “Women’s Liberation”
or “Women’s Lib” movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
• This movement rejected traditional gender roles and
advocated equality between men and women.
• Advocates of such positions were labeled “feminists”.
• Founded by Friedan, NOW devoted itself to political
activism and promoting feminist causes.

30. • Social and political movement of the
1960s and early 1970s that consisted
of largely college students and was
aimed at ending the war in Vietnam.

31. • Founder of the United Farm Workers
(UFW) and an advocate for Hispanic
migrant workers.
• He imitated many of the methods of Dr.
King and went to great lengths to improve
the conditions under which migrant
workers toiled, including personally
conducting hunger strikes.

32. • Scientist and writer whose book
“Silent Spring” helped inspire the
modern environmentalist movement.

33. • “Silent Spring”
• It helped inspire the modern environmentalist movement
that is concerned with preserving the earth’s resources
and species of life. It often focuses on combating ways in
which human beings “negatively affect” the environment.
• Inspired the creation of the EPA – Environmental
Protection Agency – for the purpose of enforcing laws
aimed at maintaining a safe and clean environment.

34. • While the decades following World War II were
undoubtedly a time of change, not everyone embraced
the new spirit of protest and government intervention.
• Some groups grew concerned at the increasing role of
the Federal government and as a result, a number of
people in places like Orange County, CA and the Deep
South embraced conservatism – the belief that
government should not try to regulate too much.
• Conservatives resented higher taxes believing their “hard
earned money” was going to support those whom they
saw as lazy and unwilling to work for a living.
• Such concerns combined with a distrust of the various
social movements of the day led to a rise in conservatism
that eventually transformed US politics.