“Double V” (Civil Rights Movement)

• Victory abroad and at home.
• Give Europe freedom and same for the US
• Need to fight and kill hitler then come back and fight segregation
• African Americans were war supporters, and flew fighter planes
• Served in dangerous and prestigious war efforts, artillery. They Served a lot and well
• Sometimes restricted by Govt but Govt needed to get AA’s involved more, AA embraced it
• Explicitly emphasized war for freedom. AA in military going to bases in South. Things got worse b4 better

Lynching (through 1960s)

• Practice of killing (by hanging, burning, or torturing) of an individual or individuals, by a group of three or more persons operating outside the legal system in the belief that they have the right to serve justice to reinforce tradition or social custom
• It occurred in the United States chiefly from the late 18th century through the 1960s
• Mob members acted spontaneously on the basis of presumed guilt, without the due process of law.
• Lynching could exist because law enforcementofficials tacitly approved or could not prevent it
•  After the Civil War, when slaves became free men and women, whites perpetuated a caste system by creating an atmosphere of fear
• In the South, the lynch mob institutionalized social control with enforcement by hanging and burning, Many people watched each death as a celebration, became acceptable
• Lynchings have been more frequent in times of social and economic tension, and have often been the means used by the politically dominant population to oppress social challengers.

Walter White (Civil Rights)

• US Civil Rights Activist, also Head of NAACP, was aked for advice and help to improve race relations and how to respond to this segregation problem(lynching) caused by the Cold War. 
• Extremely light-skinned African American, mom had blonde hair blue eyes. Got started in Civil Rights - went around South to investigate Lynching. 
• Got away as simply white, he witnessed lynching then wrote about it to publicize.
• Once, He was eating in a town, heard about an oncoming Lynching of a NAACP activist in town who was spying. 
• He escaped town immediately. Publishes a report called “To Secure These Rights”. 
• Lynching not a local issue alone, affects image, undermines values and fed. Govt never did anything. He thought things need to get better in US, Soviet Union unaware of lynching. White said No, we need to fix this

• White challenged laws the South were violating. Fed govt can argue for plaintiff(law challenger) or the defendant. Govt can also just throw it out, and they did

Brown vs. Board of Education (1954)

• Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional
• The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which allowed state-sponsored segregation
• On May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." 
• As a result, de jure(concerning law) racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
• This ruling paved the way for integration and was a major victory of the civil rights movement.
• Eisenhower thought it would not work

Massive Resistance (1956)

• Policy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. of Virginia on February 24, 1956, to unite other white politicians and leaders in Virginia in a campaign of new state laws and policies to prevent public school desegregation 
• Response to the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision 
• Massive resistance of violence, protest came back after Brown vs. Board. Civil Rights movement made it dangerous
• Most of the laws created to implement Massive Resistance were negated by state and federal courts by January 1960 
• Although some policies and effects of the campaign against integrated public schools continued in Virginia for many more years; many schools,  were shut down in preference to integration.

Little Rock Central High School (1957)

• By 1957, after the Board vs. Education court decision, the NAACP had registered nine black students to attend the previously all-white Little Rock Central High, selected by criteria of grades and attendance
• Ernest Green was the first African American to graduate from Central High School
• Governor of Arkansas Orval Faubus responded to wat was aka Little Rock 9, he prevented the 9 girls from going to school by standing in doorway with many protestors. 
• He announced for the  National Guard to guard whole school to keep Little Rock 9 from entering. 
• The blockade made national headlines and polarized the nation
• The school district issued a statement condemning the governor's deployment of soldiers to the school, and called for a citywide prayer service on September 12.
• Even President Dwight Eisenhower, who didnt believe in the court decision, federalized the National Guard and made them stop the governor of Arkansas and integrate the school. 

Public Opinion Strategy (civil rights, )

• Did not focus on getting the federal government to enforce existing laws through legal challenges like Brown vs. Board (and by arguing segregation hurt American national interests)
• Instead, civil rights leaders shifted to trying to get the rest of the American people behind their movement by showing how bad segregation itself was and generating sympathy.  
• So the public opinion strategy involved civil disobedience to highlight the injustice and non-violent protest even if they were violently-suppressed, which would show how bad things were
• This was done not only to get existing laws enforced but to get new laws guaranteeing protection.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956)

• A political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama.
• Began when Rosa Parks, was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person, 
• Ended when a federal ruling, Browder v. Gayle, took effect, and led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional.
• Many important figures in the civil rights movement took part in the boycott, including Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy.

• Public buses in Montgomery were primarily used by blacks, while whites had cars. Politically was used as leverage of segregation. Segregation very strictly enforced in Montgomery. Bus drivers, etc, were most brutal segregation violators, carried batons, guns, etc.  

Gov. George Wallace (E1960s)

• American Politician and Alabama governor and In 1962, he won election for governor, went on to serve 4 terms(2 nonconsecutive)
• He vowed to halt desegregation, by the enrollment of black students Vivian Malone and James Hood In 1963, 
• He stood in doorway of auditorium at University of Alabama, became known as the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door"
• After being confronted by high authorities, he stepped aside but months later, He resisted desegregation once again and attempted to stop four black students from enter different elementary schools.
• His resistance and popularity in Alabama set stage for rights. He became Known as an extremely racist guy
• In his inaugural address for governor, famous for line "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever",  
• MLK noticed his speech and called operation confrontation in many speeches and directly confronted in "I Have a Dream" speech.

Birmingham (1955-1960s, civil rights)

• Most racially divided city in 1960s of the Civil Rights Movement
• Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth of Birmingham invited King and the SCLC to Birmingham, nicknamed "Bombingham" because was site of eighteen unsolved bombings in black neighborhoods over a six-year span and of the vicious mob attack on the Freedom Riders on Mother's Day 1961.
•  In 1963, the city government was undergoing a major change. 
• Voters decided to rid the city of the three-man city commission and elect a mayor, mostly(deliberately) to force Bull Connor, commissioner of public safety(head of fire and police dept) and largely responsible for the attack on the Freedom Riders, to step down. 
• Connor ran for mayor but the voters elected the more moderate Albert Boutwell instead. 
• The city commission, however, refused to step down, leaving Birmingham with two city governments until the courts decided which was the legitimate one.
•  In response to the Church to city hall protests, a judge issued an order preventing 133 of the city's civil rights leaders, including King 
• He published nonviolence letters from jail, gave him bigger platform
• Connor used the police and fire dept to hurt protestors and aggressively(break bone pressure) hose down children escaping
• With pictures, everyone was watching birmingham, very shocked
• Because the jails were filled, the police did not know what to do. 
• Finally, the Birmingham business community, fearing damage to downtown stores, agreed to integrate lunch counters and hire more blacks, over the objections of city officials. King had won.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Lyndon B Johnson, began(vp) office after JFK assassination, cast legacy by voting for bill, ended unequal enforcement in registration laws.
• Hard to pass, cuz needed more than just majority.
• Required in certain school districts, kids would be forced to be bussed to equalize things, enforcement troubled white parents.
• Outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and women
• principally its power to regulateinterstate commerce under Article One (section 8), its duty to guarantee all citizens equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment and its duty to protect voting rights under the Fifteenth Amendment

The Voting Rights Act (1965)

• Outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S
•  Congress intended the Act to outlaw the practice of requiring otherwise qualified voters to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote
• Changed from all South Dem to All South Repub. In 1972. The Voting Rights Act ensured that the South would become Repub. 
• Another part of the act  which is known recently is section 5, history of discrimination to give pre-clearance(required permission to change), was designed to stop gerrymandering, act applied to states that establishmed discriminatory voting practices
• IN 2006, George Bush signed 25 year law extension of the Act