Ch.31+Civil+Rights+Movement+P.826-832

__Civil Rights Movement __ Racial tension reached a climate at the beginning of the 1960’s, occurring simultaneously with John Kennedy’s presidential campaign. Kennedy’s involvement in the release of Martin Luther King Jr. from prison and his enforcement of laws against segregation helped him gain the vote of African American citizens. However, this did not contain protests and riots of Southern African Americans. Students formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which continued the progression of resistance in segregation of education. In 1961, a group of students began what was known as “freedom rides” throughout the south. Freedom riders traveled by bus, trying to create desegregation of southern bus stations. Most of the freedom rides were met with such aggression by outraged white citizens; the president had to use federal marshals to put an end to the violence.
 * __Expanding Protests __**

During this time, SNCC began to challenge voting laws and Jim Crow Laws that southern society maintained. A new reform group, The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), organized by Ella Baker, created new opportunities for citizen-education and mobilized black families to challenge segregation and discrimination. Judiciary efforts helped force the integration of public education. In 1962, the University of Mississippi enrolled its first black student, James Meredith, despite this enraging Governor Ross Barnett and the other white citizens of Oxford, Mississippi. Violence between the two factions grew so severe that federal troops were sent by the president to protect the right of James Meredith to attend the university. Beginning in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., lead a series of nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama, a city known for its sustaining support of segregation. Police Commissioner Eugene Connor used dogs, tear gas, electric cattle prods, and fire hoses to break up peaceful marches of the black citizens. These movements in Alabama and Mississippi were notifications that the issue of segregation needed to be resolved with immediate action.

The events that occurred in Alabama and Mississippi served as a warning to the president to use his power to solve the race problem. Kennedy addressed the University of Alabama occurrence on national television, stating that we should wait no longer in our efforts to stop segregation. Shortly after this address, Kennedy created a series of legislative proposals to end segregation in public areas. But perhaps a bigger example of a growing movement against segregation was the March on Washington in August of 1963. The 200,000 protestors gathered before the Lincoln memorial were moved by the speakers, including Martin Luther King Jr., who gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. This protest even gained support from the president, who at the start was completely against the idea. After the assassination of Kennedy in 1963, the battle for civil rights stalled through congress, until the senate passed its most influential civil rights bill in our history under Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
 * __A National Commitment: __**

In 1964, voting rights became the big issue behind the civil rights movement. “Freeing Summer,” a campaign to support black voter registration and participation, caused violence between the southern whites and the freedom workers. The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) was founded by Fannie Lou Hamer, and it challenged the Democratic Party’s right to its seats at the Democratic Convention that summer. In March of 1965, King led a protest in Selma, Alabama, arguing for the right of black citizens to register to vote. This protest much like the one in Birmingham was brought down with violence, and did gain national television coverage. This forced Johnson to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1965, which provided federal protection to black voting rights.
 * __Battle for Voting Rights: __**

Later on in the Civil Rights movement, a new idea known as black power, stressed the idea of a nationalist tradition among African Americans. This movement was based off similar ideals to Marcus Garvey’s movement in the early twentieth-century. The black power movement provided blacks with a new interest in their African roots. They began to reject cultural practices from white society, and adopted African styles and culture. The black power movement did not gain much political support from other organizations of the civil right movement, which emphasized assimilation into white culture. In fact, black power movements existed outside the mainstream civil rights movement entirely. In California, the Black Panther Party dedicated their platform on the idea of defending black rights, even if that required violence. Black panthers were more the victim of violence then the creators of it, but they created the idea of blacks using force to defend their rights. Another Black Nationalist group, the Black Muslims, lived by their strict religious code of behavior, and dejected dependence on whites. Their leader, Malcolm X, became the movement’s most influential spokesman. Malcolm X was best known for his intelligence, his oratory skills, and his strong opposition to all forms of racism. He insisted that blacks must defend themselves, violence permitted if necessary.
 * __Black Power: __**

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