Unit 9 Lesson 1: The fight for Equality Flashcards
When people follow a practice regardless of official rules or laws, it’s a called a
de facto practice
Thanks in part to the efforts of civil rights activists in the first part of the twentieth century, segregation had decreased by the 1960s. Was there this segreation? if so why?
Unfortunately, it was still a major factor in many communities, especially in southern states. Though laws had been passed to make discrimination illegal, de facto segregation thrived in many places. Racist populations used intimidation, violence, and legal loopholes to keep equal opportunities from others.
Leaders of organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) encouraged patience. What did they believe?
. They felt that slow progress was the right strategy because it would be less likely to meet with white resistance. The everyday injustices felt by many, however, led to more direct action
What was the frist sit in like
They entered the Woolworth’s five-and-dime store in Greensboro, North Carolina, and sat at the lunch counter. The counter was segregated, and they were refused service—as they knew they would be. Over the next few days, more protesters joined the four sophomores. Hostile whites taunted the students by pouring sugar and ketchup on their heads.
The spread of sit ins
The sit-in lasted six months and inspired students all over the country to join the civil rights movement. Within two months, the sit-in movement had spread to 54 cities in nine states.
Students also participated in the 1961 “freedom rides” sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the SNCC. What were freedom rides
African American and white volunteers rode buses south to test enforcement of laws that prohibited segregation on interstate transportation. Departing Washington, D.C., on May 4, the volunteers challenged segregated seating order on buses headed south. Whites rode in the back, African Americans sat in the front, and on some occasions, riders of different races shared the same bench seat
On February 1, 1960, four African American college students staged the first lunch counter
sit-in
The students at that North Carolina lunch counter had helped launch a movement. In April 1960, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) formed to carry the battle forward.
Students of different races organized and made plans for peaceful protests. In response, within a year, more than 100 cities had desegregated at least some public accommodations.
The sit-ins inspired other forms of nonviolent protest:
“sleep-ins” occupied motel lobbies, “read-ins” filled public libraries, and “pray-ins” took place at churches.
How did the Woolworth’s sit-in influence the civil rights cause nationwide?
: Students nationwide were inspired by the sit-in. They staged their own sit-ins and also joined organizations like the SNCC to take part in other demonstrations.
The freedom riders encountered little difficulty until they reached Rock Hill, South Carolina. Whathappen there
There, a mob severely beat John Lewis, a freedom rider who later became chairman of the SNCC.
The danger increased as the riders continued through Georgia into Alabama.
. One of the two buses was firebombed outside the town of Anniston, Alabama. The second group continued to Birmingham, where the Ku Klux Klan attacked riders. The remaining volunteers continued to Mississippi. They were arrested when they attempted to desegregate the waiting rooms in the Jackson bus terminal.
Some of the greatest violence during this era was aimed at those who attempted to register African Americans to vote. In 1964, the SNCC, working with other civil rights groups, worked to register African American voters in the South.
. The SNCC invited hundreds of white middle-class students, mostly from northern states, to help in the task. Many volunteers were harassed, beaten, and arrested, and African American homes and churches were burned. The Ku Klux Klan killed three civil rights workers.
What did the SNCC do to challenge segregated transportation and discrimination against African American voters?
The SNCC organized freedom rides to challenge segregated transportation and sent volunteers to help register African American voters.
. Perhaps the most famous demonstration of the civil rights era was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, held in August 1963, on the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Its purpose was to pressure President John F. Kennedy to act on his promises regarding civil rights.
As a crowd gathered outside the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his most famous speech
“I Have a Dream”
In 1963, in addition to the March on Washington, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., mounted peaceful protests in some 186 cities throughout the South. Did they face violence
In the fall of 1963, police met one of their demonstrations with violence. Officers used fire hoses and dogs to attack demonstrators, including children. Much of the world looked on in horror as innocent people were assaulted and thousands arrested.
Dr. King himself was jailed on Easter Sunday in 1963. While in his cell, he wrote one of the most significant documents of the struggle: “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
The letter was a response to a group of clergy members who, in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper, had taken Dr. King to task for acting in an unwise manner. They asked him and the civil rights movement to show more patience and restraint. In his reply, Dr. King argued that African Americans had waited patiently for more than 300 years to be given the rights that all human beings deserved. Perhaps the time for waiting was over.
One of the most famous events for the Mexican American civil rights movement was a strike among California agricultural workers.
In 1962, labor leaders César Chávez and Dolores Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA). In 1965, when Filipino grape pickers went on strike to call attention to their low wages and poor working conditions, Chávez supported them. Workers organized by the NFWA also went on strike, and the two organizations merged to form the United Farm Workers (UFW). Chávez asked American consumers to boycott lettuce and grapes, publicizing the poor treatment workers faced on farms. In 1965, Chávez led striking workers to the state capitol building in Sacramento, further publicizing the cause. The strike ended in 1970 when California farmers recognized the right of farmworkers to unionize.
Why was the United Farm Workers boycott considered a civil rights issue?
: Most of the migrant workers picking the lettuce and grapes being boycotted were Mexican American. They were treated unfairly as a group and were not allowed to unionize to fight for their rights.
What were the goals of the Chicano civil rights movement?
The movement demanded increased political power for Mexican Americans, education that recognized their cultural heritage, and the restoration of lands taken from them after the Mexican-American War.
