Civil Rights Movement: Eisenhower Years

• The Civil Rights Movement took place during the Eisenhower and Kennedy years

Major events during the Eisenhower years

• In 1955, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy, visiting his uncle in Mississippi, was murdered for speaking to a white woman in a grocery store

• Emmett Till's mother had an open casket funeral to show the world what happened to her son, with photos published in Jet magazine

• Emmett's death united the black community and jump-started the Civil Rights Movement

• In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a city bus

• The black community organized a peaceful bus boycott, refusing to ride the buses

• The NAACP filed a lawsuit stating that racial segregation of public buses was unconstitutional

• The boycott lasted 381 days and ended after a federal court ruled in their favor

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the leader of the bus boycott

• This showed that small acts of defiance could empower people to create change

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a PhD in Theology and a Baptist minister, led the Montgomery bus boycott

• King believed that nonviolent resistance could end segregation

• He based his tactics on Gandhi's teachings in India

• King led boycotts and marches, and called for legislation to end segregation

• In 1957, in Little Rock, Arkansas, nine black students, known as "The Little Rock Nine", tried to integrate into Central High School

• The school board voted to integrate with help from the NAACP

• The students were met by mobs

• President Eisenhower called in federal troops to assist the students in attending school

• In 1960, four freshmen students from North Carolina A&T sat at a whites-only lunch counter

• The students refused to leave when they were denied service, sparking a movement across the South

• Students nationwide sat at dime-store counters, and were punched, kicked, and burned with cigarettes

• Students were arrested and jailed, but continued to protest until the lunch counters were integrated

Major events during the Kennedy years

• In 1961, African American and white volunteers, many of whom were collage students, traveled into the South to protest segregated bus terminals

• The teams became known as the Freedom Riders

• The South was not compliant with the Supreme Court ruling outlawing segregation in bus and train stations

• They entered areas marked "whites only" and "colored only" regardless of their race

• In South Carolina an angry mob beat the freedom riders

• In Anniston, Alabama a mob slashed the tires of the bus and threw a firebomb inside

• As the riders exited the burning bus, they were beaten with lead pipes and baseball bats

• In 1963, thousands of young people marched to end segregation Birmingham, Alabama which was considered the most racist city in the south

• Dr. King organized the march and the children volunteered

• Pictures of the bravery and determination of the Birmingham children as they faced the brutal fire hoses and vicious police dogs were splashed on the front pages of newspapers

• The march helped turn public opinion towards support of the movements fight for justice

• Their heroism moved President Kennedy to introduce the Civil Rights Bill

• In 1963, over 200,000 Americans gathered in Washington, D.C. for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

• It included Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech

• Kings' speech and the peaceful dignity of the event built momentum for the civil rights bill.

• The rally was the peak moment of the Civil Rights Movement

Major events during the Johnson years

• On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, TX

• Vice President Lyndon Johnson becomes President

• In 1964, Johnson signed Kennedy's Civil Rights Act into law

• In 1965 Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law

• In 1965, John Lewis, along with others, organized a march for voting rights from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery

• At the end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, 150 Alabama state troopers stopped the march and attacked the demonstrators

• Troops advanced, wielding clubs, bullwhips, and tear gas; John Lewis suffered a skull fracture

• The day is remembered as "Bloody Sunday" and prompted President Johnson to address congress on the need to pass a voting rights bill

• John Lewis was involved in the sit-ins, freedom rides, and Selma March

• Malcolm X was the public voice for the Nation of Islam, which combined Islam with black nationalism

• They called for complete separation from whites and for black self-governance

• Unlike Dr. King, Malcolm X urged followers to defend themselves by "any means necessary

• After Malcolm X's death in 1965, his ideas became popular among black youth

• From 1964-1968, the Black Power Movement called for armed self-defense against racist cops in cities

• Others adopted a pride in their African cultural heritage, with "Black is Beautiful" becoming a common phrase

• Embracing afro hairstyles and new African design dress styles

• In 1966, the Black Panther Party was founded to patrol African American neighborhoods to protect residents from acts of police brutality

• The party justified the use of violence

• The Panther's Free Breakfast for School Children Program began in Oakland, feeding over 10,000 children every day before school

• In April 1968, Dr. King was hit by a sniper's bullet as he stood on the balcony in front of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee

• James Earl Ray was arrested for the crime

• Outrage over the murder led to riots and violence

• Dr. Kings death in 1968 marked the end of the movement, as America turned to the war in Vietnam

Explore the Civil Rights Movement during Eisenhower's presidency. Key events include the murder of Emmett Till, which galvanized the black community, and Rosa Parks' arrest, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.