Civil Rights (LBJ) Flashcards
LBJ’s Personal Views and Actions
Personally supports Civil Rights but can’t openly express it as he doesn’t want to alienate the South
Ensures Eisenhower’s 1957 Civil Rights Bill gets diluted when passing through Congress
Holds the belief that it is unlikely Civil Rights legislation will make it through Congress unless a significant event occurs, effectively increasing support for the proposed legislation
Opposed the Civil Rights Movement in 1948 and his earlier career, but by 1960 was supportive
Uses racial slurs with his southern congressional friends; calls the proposed 1964 Civil Rights Act the ‘n word bill’, however uses its proper name to northern congressmen
Civil Rights Act 1964
Using the momentum from Kennedy’s death in order to reform and push the 1963 Civil Rights Bill, LBJ passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Additional support for the Act came from the 1964 ‘Freedom Summer’ as well as the march on Washington, as the slightly elevated level of civil unrest/demonstrations pressured Congress into passing it.
Discrimination on the basis of race was outlawed in all areas of public accommodation
US Attorney General was given strong powers to use federal courts to secure equal treatment
Funds were withheld to areas which didn’t promote desgregation - this gives a foothold into enforcing federal Civil Rights legislation in the South
Furthered school desegregation
Established the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission - this wasn’t effective
Impact: De Jure segregation and Jim Crow were gone, legislatively. The Act alientated the south, but also the north as the silent majority disagreed with advancement in Civil Rights. African Americans didn’t think LBJ went far enough, they were concerned with the lack of voting reform
Selma, Alabama - 1965 ‘Bloody Sunday’
600 people stage a peaceful protest for fairer voting practises - only 2.1% of the African American population are registered to vote by 1965 - with the goal of marching to the state capital, Montgomery.
Upon reaching a bridge, protesters were met by a wall of state troopers. The troopers demanded that the protesters disband, a member of the protesters tried to negotiate but was refused a dialogue. The state troopers began beating the protesters with batons, mounted troopers beat protesters whilst teargas flooded the area.
The event was televised; thousands of Americans saw horrifying images of police brutality and a wave of support for the Civil Rights Movement was created.
Voting Rights Act 1965
In response to the horrific police actions at the Selma protest, LBJ called a nighttime Congress meeting in order to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965:
Voting registrars became federal employees who would be legally obligated to carry our federal legislation
By mid 1966, over 0.5 million African Americans were now registered to vote
By 1968, almost 400 African Americans were elected to office
In 1967, Thurgood Marshall - an African American and a member of the NAACP - was appointed as the first African American to the Supreme Court
Disproportionate Conscription of African Americans - 1966
By November 1966, more African Americans are conscripted to the Vietnam War than white people. This is due to the lower socio-economic state the African American population was in, as they were less likely to be in (higher) education and have “high value” jobs.
Assassination of MLK - April 1968
Martin Luther King was shot on April 4th 1968, leading to rioting across the country - even outside the Whitehouse.
Nixon capitalised on this, claiming to be the “law and order” presidential candidate
the Civil Rights Movement loses structure during this period, less organisation goes into protests and they become violent in places.
LBJ Announces He Won’t Run For a Second Term - 1st March 1968
The Democrats now have 8 months until the 1968 election, in which they have to find another candidate.
Judgement on LBJ’s Civil Rights Record
Fundamentally, LBJ didn’t understand the problems that African Americans were facing. As such, he believed that legal action was what would help the group become more equal within society; he was ignorant towards their continuing suppressed socio-economic state. This meant that as his presidency progressed, and he passed more Civil Rights Legislation, he became mildly disgruntled with the frustrated Civil Rights groups who felt that LBJ’s actions hadn’t gone far enough in uplifting the lives of African Americans.
African Americans became more politically equal, however the legislation that LBJ introduced didn’t change the social fabric of the country. Therefore, the economic position of African Americans in society did not change, which consequently meant that the group cannot and will not enter the political sphere.
LBJ’s focus on Civil Rights deeply angered the overtly racist white southern americans, as well as the silent majority in the north, which allowed Nixon to base his campaign partly on catering to the needs and fears of the majority ethnic group.
The Yippies (Youth International Party)
Youth-oriented radical and countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the late 1960s.
