Civil Rights Organizations in the 1960s

Civil Rights Movement

• The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) focused on nonviolent, Christian-based activism to achieve civil rights.
• The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) practiced peaceful, direct action protests, mainly comprised of Black college students.

Organizations and Their Goals

• The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) aimed to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of minority group citizens.
• The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was characterized by its white supremacist and terrorist ideology.

Key Events

• The Selma to Montgomery marches began with the brutal beating of peaceful protesters on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965.
• The Montgomery Bus Boycott was prompted by the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat to a white person.
• The Great Migration marked the mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to urban cities in the North between 1910 and 1970.

Amendments and Legislation

• The 24th Amendment focused on prohibiting the federal government and states from requiring the payment of a poll tax as a condition of voting in federal elections.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 aimed to outlaw discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
• The Black Codes were aimed at maintaining white supremacy and restricting the rights of freed slaves.

Protests and Figures

• Sit-ins as a form of protest were initiated by Ezell Blair Jr. (Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil.
• The 'Little Rock 9' refers to the first African American students who attended Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, despite violent protests and opposition.

Laws and Restrictions

• 'Jim Crowe' laws were aimed at segregating and disenfranchising African Americans in the South.
• The Black Codes were primarily aimed at restricting the rights of freed slaves and maintaining white supremacy.
• The Supreme Court declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional in the Brown vs. Board of Education case in 1954.
• Strom Thurmond was a member of the right-wing Democratic splinter group known as Dixiecrats in the 1948 U.S. presidential election.

Test your knowledge about the key civil rights organizations during the 1960s, including CORE, SNCC, SCLC, and NAACP, and their efforts to advance racial equality through various peaceful protests and movements.