The Civil Rights Movement
By: Aubrie Daft, Period 4
Equality Then, Equality Now
The Struggle
- Colored folks couldn't shake hands with a white person (Because that would make them socially equal)
- They couldn't go into some of the same buildings
- Had to give up their seats on the bus for any white person that wanted it
- Got paid less than a white person
- Were called boy or girl no matter their age
- Had to have different schools
- Had to address any white person by Mr, Mrs, or Miss
- They couldn't vote
And those are only a few of their rules. The government said separate but equal. Non of this was equal. Colored people started protesting. they took the non-violent route to gain their rights. Except for the group that called itself the Black Panthers. They used self defense against anyone who was hurting another black person. Martin Luther King Jr played a major role in the civil rights movements. He organized walks,pickets,and protests. He was a very motivational speaker. One of his most famous speeches was his "I Have A Dream" Speech. He was arrested many times for his cause; but eventually was murdered. But that didn't stop the movements. That just fed their fire. They thought of him as a martyr. Someone who dies for their cause/beliefs. They had the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Colored people refused to ride the bus for a year until they desegregated the buses. They walked for miles with picket signs. They were bombed by the Ku Klux Klan. They were beaten by cops and white bystanders. Many of them died. But the fight went on.
When the Government desegregated the schools we had the "Little Rock Nine" was created. Little Rock nine was the program where nine colored children came to an all white High School in Arkansas. They were escorted by military to, from, and in school. On April 11th, 1968 President Johnson signs the civil rights act of 1968. Prohibiting any racial, sexual,religious segregation or discrimination in the United States.
Casualties Of Segregation
Emmett Till
Rosa Parks
Little Rock Nine
Forgotten Hero's Of The Civil Rights Movement
Jimmie Lee Jackson
Jimmie Lee Jackson was born December 16th, 1938 in Marion. Alabama. Not too far from Selma Alabama. He was a Veteran and a father to a young girl. By age 26 he was back in his hometown working as a laborer. As a colored man, Jimmie has to fight for his right to vote. Jimmie had tried several times to vote and was rejected every time. On January 2nd, 1965 in Selma, Alabama, Martin Luther King Jr brought the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to protest the voting issue for colored folks.
February 18th, 1965 Jimmie was marching in protest to the arrest of James Orange. He was with his Mother, Sister, his Grandfather, and other protesters. Then local police and state troopers started to violently break up their march. Jimmie and his family sought refuge at Mack's café. But the police and troopers went in and started dragging people out and beating them. When Jimmie saw it was his Grandfather and his Mother being beaten he tried to protect him. Resulting in him being shot twice point blank in the abdomen by James Bonard Fowler, a state trooper who claimed it was in self defense. Then Jimmie was beaten till he clasped. He died in the hospital February 26th, 1956. He was only 26 years old. James didn't lose his position in the force, and he wasn't punished for his crime.
Jimmie's death inspired the SCLC to walk to protest the voting laws against colored folks and in memory of Jimmie Lee Jackson. March 7th, 1956 was known as "The Bloody Sunday". People who were in that walk were hit with tear gas, batons, and violence. But all this was captured by bystanders with cameras and video cameras. These were shown round the country. People started to favor desegregation an a new law was passed two weeks later after another march. The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1956, this fought the discriminatory laws that kept colored people from voting. So because of Jimmie Lee Jackson and his death, Colored people can now vote
Juliette Hampton Morgan
Born February 21st, 1914 in Montgomery, Alabama. She was a white only child born into a very wealthy and respected white family. Morgan was very smart. She got the best education and was the top of her class in graduate school and college. She later became a School librarian. Juliette had a life of privilege, and was used to seeing "Whites Only" Signs and having colored people work for her to make her life more comfortable. The one different thing about her is she had really bad anxiety attacks. So she couldn't drive. she rode the bus. And she watch colored people be put down and treated differently from her by the white bus driver and other white passengers. She thought this was outrageous! They paid the same 10 cents she did. The only difference from her was their skin color.
In 1939 Juliette started writing angry letters to the newspaper about how colored people were treated on buses. She being a Christian, said that segregation was wrong and un-Christian. She said that the Montgomery citizens should do something about this. She lost her job at her bookstore soon after. But that didn't stop her. She still rode the bus and started standing up for the Colored people that rode. A black person would pay their fare and then get off to enter through the back door in the back of the bus. that was the custom. But sometimes the Black person would pay their fare, step off the bus to go through the "Blacks Only" door in the back of the bus, and the bus driver would close the door and just drive away. When Juliette saw this she got up and pulled the emergency-cord to stop the bus. Then she yelled at the bus driver till he opened the door and let that person on. She did this every time she saw this.
Word soon got out that Juliette was helping black people on the bus, and was now being harassed by the bus drivers, and other white people. When she got mad at the bus drivers she would get out and walk. it didn't matter how far she had too. he own mother said she was being foolish and ruining their family name. On December 1st, 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat to a whit passenger. Then the Montgomery bus boycott started. No African-American would ride the bus until they desegregated the buses. Juliette wrote to the newspaper in support of this movement. She received threating calls and letters in return. The mayor demanded her to be removed from her job at the library. The library said they wouldn't fire her as long as she stopped writing letters. So Juliette stayed silent. Even when colored peoples houses and churches were bombed.
When a man named Buford Boone, who was a white newspaper editor, told the white racist people that they were to blame for the continuing violence. Juliette wrote one more letter. She wrote it to him an commended him on his bravery and morals. In her letter Juliette also stated that "There are so many Southerners from various walks of life that know you are right.... They know what they call 'our Southern way of life' must... change. Many of them even are eager for change, but are afraid to express themselves—so afraid to stand alone...." Boone asked if her could put her letter in the newspaper. At first Juliette was hesitant. She promised the library she wouldn't write any more letters. If he put her letter in the paper they would know she had written one. But she saw around the fear of losing her job and had him put it in the paper.
Juliette resigned from her job because the Mayor was making it difficult to continue working.. She had no friends. her own mother disowned her. A cross was burned in her front yard an she was taunted, harassed, and humiliated. Lost in anxiety and depression Juliette took her own life the day after she resigned. July 16, 1957 Juliette's mother found her in her bed with an empty bottle of sleeping pills next to her bed. Juliette wrote a note saying "I am not going to cause any more trouble to anybody."
Martin Luther King wrote about Juliette's influence on him in his book Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. Martin wrote "About a week after the protest started, a white woman who understood and sympathized with the Negroes' efforts wrote a letter to the editor of the Montgomery Advertiser comparing the bus protest with the Gandhian movement in India. Miss Juliette Morgan, sensitive and frail, did not long survive the rejection and condemnation of the white community, but long before she died in the summer of 1957, the name of Mahatma Gandhi was well known in Montgomery."
Juliette Hampton Morgan was inducted into the Alabama women's hall of fame on March 3rd, 2005. On November 1, 2005, the Montgomery City Council renamed the main public library after Morgan. Nearly 50 years after her death she is finally recognized for her support of the civil rights movement. To this day she is still an inspiration to many people around the world.
Website: http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/juliette-hampton-morgan-white-woman-who-understood
Location: Montgomery, Alabama, United States
Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around
Ain't gonna let nobody, turn me round,
Turn me round, turn me round,
Ain't gonna let nobody, turn me round,
I just keep on a-walkin', keep on a-talkin',
Marching on to freedom land.
Ain't gonna let nobody, turn me round,Lord,
Turn me round, turn me round,
Ain't gonna let nobody, turn me round,
I just keep on a-walkin', keep on a-talkin',
Marching up on freedom land.
Ain't gonna let no jailhouse, turn me round,
Turn me round, turn me round,
Ain't gonna let no jailhouse, turn me round,
Oh, I, keep on a-walkin', keep on a-talkin',
Marching on to freedom land.
I can't let segregation, turn me round,
Turn me round, turn me round,
Ain't gonna let segregation, turn me round,
I'm gonna keep on a-walkin', keep on a-talkin',
Marching on to freedom land.
Ain't gonna let no dogs, Lord, turn me round,
Turn me round, turn me round,
Ain't gonna let no dogs, Lord,turn me round,
I'm gonna keep on a-walkin', keep on a-talkin',
Marching on to freedom land.
Ain't gonna let nobody, turn me round,
Turn me round, turn me round,
Ain't gonna let nobody, turn me round,
I just keep on a-walkin', keep on a-talkin',
Marching on to freedom land.
This song was created by colored people fighting for there Rights to be considered equal with white people. This song states that nothing anybody does is going to stop them from fighting. Not Prison, Not police dogs, and defiantly not segregation! This Bluesy song could be heard at any protest or on any march. Because the people were stating that they can't be stopped. This song for me is powerful because people just give up to easy these days. But this song empowers the singer. Gives a feeling of "I can do it!".
This song was written because colored people were being treated very unfairly. if they protested they were arrested, beaten, murdered, or attacked by police dogs. Segregation was a huge problem back in the mid 1900's. There were separate buildings and schools for black and white people, there were laws against things only black people could and couldn't do, and they were not considered equal to white people. So They held marches, protests, boycotts, you name a nonviolent way to protest they did it. Songs were created to encourage other protesters to not give up no matter what. They would be equal someday.
Top 5 Movements
#1 The Little Rock Nine. Nine colored children went to an all white school. This program abolished segregation in schools.
#2 Civil Rights protest in Birmingham, Alabama. Eugene "Bull" Connor, the commissioner of public safety. Turned on fire hoes' and police dogs against nonviolent protesters. This event was captured by cameras and shown round the world. People started seeing the unjustness in segregation.
#3 I have a Dream! Martin Luther King Jr gave a speech that we all know as his "I Have A Dream" speech. One of his most powerful speeches. It motivated people to take action and gave them hope to continue on.
#4 The bombing of black churches. Four young colored girls were murdered by a bomb set off by the KKK. The girls were attending Sunday school at the sixteenth street Baptist church. This shows the brutality of peoples racism. And made some people take more of a stand against segregation
#5 The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. April 4th, 1968 Martin was shot while standing on his balcony outside his hotel room. James Earl Ray is convicted of this crime. This made MLK a Martyr to his followers and gave them the extra push they needed to end segregation.
Importaint Groups Of The Civil Rights Movement
The first group I see the most importance in is CORE (Congress Of Racial Equality). Was founded by James Farmer in Chicago 1942. They supported quality of all races and to end racial discrimination in the United States. This group like many others held picket protests and sit-in's, But the one thing different about this group is they joined the freedom riders. They were known nationally because they had sponsored the Freedom riders, and broke down many laws that prevented black people from being equal to white people.
The next group that I though was really important was The Black Panthers. The Black Panthers were founded by Huey P Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland 1966. They started out as a self defense group then became a group that told colored people to physically fight for there rights. Too bare arms and fight the police. They were involved in many Fights and shoot outs with the police. People dies in both sides. There were many trials and convictions. in 1972 Newton and Seale announced they would no longer be violent. while another man in the group Eldridge Cleaver was still promoting a violent approach. In 1974 Seale and Newton both left the group and the group slowly dissipated.