DHS US History II

Over the course of the Civil Rights movement there were many events that lead to the eventual improvement of civil rights. However, one event that is seen as a breaking point for the movement were the “Freedom Rides” that took place on May 4th 1964. The plan was for the group to leave Washington D.C. on a Greyhound bus set to arrive in New Orleans, Louisiana so that they could show supports for the Brown v. Board of Education trial that was currently taking place. These rides were a way to show the world what kind of discrimination that African American and many different races had to endure as they were attempting to go through their typical day. These rides were an attempt to create improvement in how different races were treated. One of the desired effects of these rides was to draw attention to the violations of the Supreme Court ruling that had been set earlier. They did these rides in a public fashion so that they would be able to generate attention within media outlets and hopefully create friction between the government and the people to create change. As defined by “Holt The American Nation Full Volume” the Freedom riders were “A group of civil rights workers who took bus trips through southern states in 1961 to protest illegal bus segregation.” However, they were much more than just a group of Civil Rights workers. These were people who were actively attempting to make a difference even if they had to endure mental and physical pain along the way. These people were a part of CORE (or the Congress of Racial Equality), which meant that they had a large role in changing the way that certain races were being treated. But, not all of these thirteen protesters were of African American descent, seven were African American and six were white American according to an article created by History.com, this meant that at this point in time there was a strong backing for the improvement of civil rights by all races, including John F. Kennedy who supported the rides, but did not want them to end with violence between the people. Which is precisely the opposite of what the rides ended with. According to an article from NPR on May 14th 1961 the bus arrived in Anniston, Alabama shortly after arriving the bus was greeted with around 200 angry white supremacists. While this crowd was expected, a bomb was thrown under the bus and the riders escaped as it was exploding into flames. The group was then brutally beaten using a variety of weapons including metal pipes. They were then transferred onto another bus that was driven to Birmingham, Alabama. Once they arrived they were again brutally beaten. After this incident Greyhound gave up on the group and would no longer transport them. However, due to the impact that this ride was having an activist from the SNCC (The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) was able to get a group of 10 students from Nashville Tennessee to continue the ride. With all of this pressure on the government from this movement John F. Kennedy secured a driver and bus and sent the riders off from Birmingham, Alabama on May 20th under police escort. However, soon after departing the station the police departed from the bus due to the huge crowds of white supremacist’s rioting around the bus and police escorts. This process continued as they went through Montgomery, Alabama. It was finally put to an end when they reached Jackson, Alabama and they were greeted with hundred of supporters. This that they did the same and these rides happened for several months until change finally came inspired so many people

Sam Katz Mael P.3 US History II May 2, 2017 Background on the March on Washington; The March On Washington was a giant gathered march to help protest for civil rights for African Americans. The leaders of the civil rights movement and also religious groups organized the march. More than 200.000 Americans were apart of the March on Washington D.C. This march was a huge eye opener to American citizens about the social and political damage that America was inflicting on the African American culture. This march also led to one of the most famous American speeches of all time, delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. The I Have A Dream Speech, is something that will forever be famous in American history, however what many people don’t know is that Martin Luther King Jr. was given the worst speech time slot. He delivered the final speech and it was assumed that most reporters would be gone at that point and that not many people would ever even hear the speech. Surprisingly many people heard the beautifully spoken MLK speech and it would forever be engraved into American history. There is a very famous photo from this I Have A Dream speech, showing just how many people cared about MLK and were still there to listen to him. This speech alone was enough to push many American citizens into social change. It also was enough to sway the government into making political changes involving civil rights. One act that was most likely passed because of this march was Civil Rights Act of 1964, an act that outlaws discrimination based on race or religion. This shows how much of a giant impact this march truly had on America.

August 6, 1965: Voting Rights Act by DHS US History II

MLK assassination by DHS US History II

June 28, 1969 -- The Stonewall Inn Riots by DHS US History II

Luke Bernier Mr. Mael 4/30/17 U.S. History II How the Civil Rights Address Movement Affected Civil Rights The Civil Rights Address was a speech given by John F. Kennedy, following the famous stand at the schoolhouse door. During the stand at the schoolhouse door, Governor George Wallace of Alabama stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two African American students from entering the school. To get the students in the school, the national guard was required. In response to this event, JFK created a speech that would go down in history as one of the best presidential speeches of all time. Traditionally, JFK had not expressed concern or acknowledged the civil rights movement, as, while he believed in their cause, he could do nothing for the movement. According to the New York Times, “The president had been routinely criticized by black leaders for being timid on civil rights, and no one knew just what to expect when the cameras started filming.” Despite the speculation that he would downplay the event, JFK instead brought the issue of civil rights into the nation’s eye. He calls on the American people and pleads to them to find it within their hearts to accept the African American as just another human. JFK says that he, “hopes that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.” JFK truly believes that he can convince the people of America to help their fellow American out, regardless of skin color. The reason this was such an important speech for America was because it had never been done before. No other president had ever brought up civil rights like this before, and especially not on the national stage. What many presidents do when they need to talk about a polarizing issue, like JFK had to do about civil rights, is they try and compromise with both sides, because for many presidents, they want to appease everyone. This is not what JFK decides to do. He calls out racists and bigots across America, and tells them that what they are doing is killing the country, and they are wrong in their beliefs. This is what made the Civil Rights Address so influential; it not only helped out the civil rights movement, it also reached the hearts and minds of the American people. Bibliography “Civil Rights Address.” American Rhetoric. Accessed May 2, 2017. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkcivilrights.htm. Joseph, Peniel. “Kennedy’s Finest Moment.” New York Times. Accessed May 2, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/opinion/kennedys-civil-rights-triumph.html. Textbook

During 1961 and 1964, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had led a voting registration campaign in Selma, the seat of Dallas County, Alabama, a small town with a record of consistent resistance to black voting. Resistance from law enforcement cramped SNCC’s efforts. Local civil rights activists allured Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to turn Selma’s obstinacy to black voting into a national concern. SCLC also wanted to use the momentum of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to achieve federal protection for a voting rights statute. Over the course of January and February of 1965, King and the SCLC led many demonstrations to the Dallas County Courthouse in Selma. On February 17, during one of these demonstrations, an Alabama state trooper shot protester Jimmy Lee Jackson, fatally wounding him. A protest march from Selma to Montgomery was scheduled for the beginning of March in response to his killing. Six hundred protestors gathered in Selma on Sunday, March 7. They crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River on their way to Montgomery. Just before the bridge, they found their route blocked by Alabama State troopers and local police who ordered them to turn around back towards Selma. When the protesters refused to turn around, the officers used teargas and entered the enormous crowd, beating the passive protesters with billy clubs and sending over fifty people to the hospital. The big difference between this demonstration and bloodshed and demonstrations before it was that it was televised nationally and internationally. This embarrassed Americans and let Americans who had never witnessed the barbarity of racism see it for the first time. After this atrocity, Martin Luther King, Jr. asked civil rights supporters to come back to Selma for a second march. Members of Congress urged Martin Luther King, Jr. to hold off on the march until a court could decide whether the protesters deserved federal protection. With many prominent civil rights activists now in Selma at Martin Luther King, Jr.’s call, they didn’t want to sit around, they wanted to make change. King found it hard to elect the correct action. Should he passively listen to the government’s requests for patience or should he continue to lead demonstrations and protests to actively help his cause? On March 9, MLK did end leading the second protest. This time, however, he turned the protest around at the beginning of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s decisions at this demonstration aggravated the tension between SCLC and the more radical SNCC. The SNCC wanted more violent tactics to be used in order to win reforms to active opposition to racist programs. On March 21 of 1965, the last, and successful march began with federal protection. On August 6 of the same year, the federal Voting Rights Act was passed, making the process successful. In the end, the world witnessed change after bloodshed and a testament to what civil rights can do.

In the 1960s, Birmingham, Alabama was one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States. By 1963, Birmingham had earned the nickname “Bombingham” because homemade bombs set of in homes and churches were so common. KKK members would call in bomb threats to black churches to interrupt services and civil rights meetings. Birmingham hosted one of the largest and strongest chapters of the KKK. Because of the severe segregation and violent attitude toward African Americans, civil rights activists used this city as a target for their campaigns. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham in the spring of 1963 and wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” which was published with images of police brutality, which helped gather support for the civil rights movement. The 16th Street Baptist Church was a significant church for many African Americans in Birmingham and many civil rights marches took place on its steps and many civil rights meetings took place within its walls. On the morning of September 15, 1963, a few bomb threats were called in to the church. These threats were ignored because KKK members called in frequently so as to interrupt church services and civil rights meetings. However, this day was different, these threats had truth to them. Four KKK members of the United Klans of America planted 15 sticks of dynamite under the back stairs of the 16th Street Baptist Church. Around 200 people were in the church at the time before the 11:00 service, most were girls attending Sunday School. At 10:22, the bomb went off. Four girls died in the attack and another twenty were injured. Thousands of angry protesters showed up at the scene of the bombing. Police and State Troopers were sent to break up the protest, but it only caused a stream of violence to break out throughout the city. A few protesters were arrested and two were killed in the conflict. Eventually, the National Guard was sent in to take control over the city and bring order back. The white supremacists of Birmingham were suspected from the start, even individuals were accused of the attack, however no one was brought to justice. Many people called for them to be persecuted, but their calls wouldn’t be answered for a number of years. Those in the government did not agree with the civil rights movement and therefore did nothing. It was even proven that they had information on the attackers by 1965 and still did nothing about it. They turned a blind eye to this act of violence simply because they agreed with those who committed the act and disagreed with the victims. Later, in 1977, the case was reopened by Alabama Attorney General Bob Baxley and brought Robert E. Chambliss, a Klan leader, to trial for the crime. Chambliss was convicted of the bombings and murder of the girls and died in prison in 1985. The case was reopened three other times (1980, 1988, 1997) and two more men, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry, were convicted and received life sentences for their crime. The fourth suspect, Herman Frank Cash, died in 1994 before he could be tried.

Malcolm X who was born in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19th 1925 from his mother Louise Norton Little and his father Earl Little. He was one of 8 children and grew up in a very proactive household. His father, Earl who was a baptist minister was very outspoken and was a large supporter of the Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. Being outspoken came with its consequences, his father would receive death threats from a white supremacist organization Black Legion. They were forced to move to avoid the threats but less than a year later their house was burned, and two years later he was found dead. It was presumed an accident and after his death his mother became insane and had to go to a mental institution in which all the kids went to foster care. As Malcolm grew up he bounced from home to home and eventually in 1946 he was arrested for burglary. During his time in prison he reflected on his life and his brother would visit him, he introduced him to Nation of Islam. He then took very close following of the leader Elijah Muhammad, and when he got out he decided to get involved. He then changed his name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X to get rid of his slave name. Most importantly he became the spokesperson for the NOI because he was very intelligent and articulate. He used television, radio and newspapers to spread his beliefs and ideas with the world. The NOI grew from 500 to 30,000 followers in 10 years. Malcolm X was very controversial and his statements brought outrage from the public. He told his followers to break away from racism “by any means necessary” which means violence is acceptable. Separate from his rival Martin Luther King who was anti-aggression, Malcolm often scolded MLK for being friends with the white man. He said “You don’t have a peaceful revolution” and “You don’t have a turn the cheek revolution. There’s no such thing as a nonviolent revolution”. These words had an effect on the people of America due to his pro-violence views. These statements won him large amounts of followers but also brought many critics. One of the critics was MLK himself saying “I feel that Malcolm has done himself and our people a great disservice.” showing the feelings he has for Malcolm’s opinions. In 1963 Malcolm was betrayed by his most coveted friend Elijah Muhammad. He had followed Muhammad’s teachings for many year only to find out that Elijah himself was breaking some of the most important rules of his religion. He was having affairs with numerous women and it caused a huge outbreak for Malcolm to handle. He then separated himself from NOI and moved on to start his own organization. The death of Malcolm X was monumental for the civil rights movement. He was killed in 1965 at the Audobon ballroom in Manhattan. He was shot 15 times at point blank range by members of the NOI. This allowed Martin Luther King to take Malcolm’s followers and move forward with the civil rights movement. Without Malcolm X the civil rights movement would have been drastically different.

The Black Panther Party was created in 1966, in Oakland, California. It was established in California but it spread throughout the US including many different cities in the following years, a few of them being: Boston, Chicago, and New York. The founders of this party were Huey P. Newton and Bobby Steale, and they made it clear of their goals and the needs of this party. They did this by creating a ten point program, which consisted of many different things that involve equal rights for all. “We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community. We want full employment for our people. We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings.We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want all Black men to be exempt from military service. We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black people. We want all Black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their Black Communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.” This list was the goals made by the the Black Panthers. They followed through with some of these goals very forcefully. For example for their goal to end the brutality and murder of black people by the police, they would follow white police officers around with guns in order to make sure they were not harming any black person. This is one of the reasons why the Black Panthers were so unique. The government could not ignore them like some other civil rights movements at the time. The FBI got involved to follow some of the leaders of the Black Panthers to make sure that nothing got too out of hand. There were many different parts of this party that made them unique their dress code, the contribution of women, and the sense of community that they established all showed how this party was one of a kind. The Black Panthers made it evident that “they would do whatever it takes” in order to achieve these goals. They made this very prominent with their dress code. Their dress code consisted of a leather jacket with a blue shirt underneath but in their hands they would have loaded shotguns. They held the weapons not always as a threat but to show that they too are citizens of the United States and they too have the right to bare arms. Although the Black Panthers had their goals set since the beginning not everything stayed the same in the party. The main thing that changed after a year of the party being founded was women and their role. In the beginning this was an all males organization with no women in it. This started to change when more and more women wanted to get involved they opened the group to them. The Black Panthers did not stop there not only did the open the group up to women but they made it so women were then important players in this game. Women were public speakers for the party, they would go to the rallies and protests as well. Because of the big role that women played more and more women joined the group. After several thousands of women joining the party, they took another turn. The Party used to stand for only black men should be treated equal to a white man, they then changed it to both black men and women should be treated equal to white men and women. The last thing that made the Black Panther Party one of a kind was the sense of community that they had. Everyone that was apart of the party was also part of the community. This community that they established constantly would help out families who were in poverty. Two of the things that they created was a preschool for children for families that could not afford to pay for their child to go to preschool. And the other one being daily breakfasts. The Black Panthers would have a common area where they would set up breakfast lines to serve people food.

In 1964 the number of registered African American voters had been gradually increasing. In most Southern States, about 50-70% of African American citizens were registered to vote on average. However, this number was drastically lower in Mississippi. Unfortunately, less than 7% of African Americans were registered to vote. This means that over 93% could not vote in any elections. This was due to the fact that registering to vote was an extremely discouraging process for African Americans within the state. Those who would register a black voter would be all-white, and most likely be judging the person attempting to register, and would be trying to make it extremely difficult to register. Civil rights activists were aware of this and had been attempting to change it, but their previous efforts were not doing much to change the numbers. Several groups had started to get frustrated with the fact that not much was changing. Groups such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and many others wanted to bring the treatment of African Americans in Mississippi to national attention. The Freedom Summer of 1964 was the result. The main goal of the Freedom Summer was to register as many African Americans to vote as possible. White citizens, along with some African Americans, traveled to Mississippi from the north to help. All of these people were civil rights activists and while they were registering people, they were trying to combat discrimination towards blacks, particularly in the South. There was a lot of support from the black community, but not everyone agreed with what they were doing. In particular, the Ku Klux Klan was prominent in the state and were very vocal about their negative feelings about the freedom summer. The Klan was not only trying to attack African Americans trying to register, but any white people trying to help them as well. That summer Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, two white men, and James Chaney, a black man, were all helping register voters. One night, the three were arrested and only jailed for a few hours. When they were released that night, they were released into the hands of some Klan members who assaulted and killed them. The FBI tried to convict men who had connection to the crime, but the final verdict was 18 men arrested, and seven charged with federal charged. There were some negative responses from the Freedom Summer, but overall it had a fairly positive response. That year the Civil Rights Act passed and the following year the Voting Rights Act passed. The passing of these acts was in part due to the fact that the country as a whole gained a lot of awareness from the Freedom Summer.

July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law Background: The Civil Rights Act of 1964, simply put, declared that all men are equal in the workforce as well as in public. It applied to all genders, races, religions, and nationality. It proved to very beneficial as is it managed to give equal voting rights to all. Before the Act was passed, people fought beyond belief for equal rights. Many momentous events were slowly, but surely leading up to it, and it was only a matter of time before someone did something about it. Starting ten years prior, in 1954, the Brown V. Board of Education court case was the first big step towards public equality. The Case ruled that the Plessy V. Ferguson stance, “separate but equal,” was unconstitutional in schools. It showed that the people were starting to care more equal rights, and they were starting with the schools. Many “small,” but still immensely important events followed the case, including Rosa Parks’ arrest, and the Freedom Rides. Both of which used similar ideas of protesting by testing the system. The Act: The most influential event, on the Civil Rights act, was JFK’s Civil Rights Address. In it, he consistently addresses the issue of injustice. “We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is the land of the free except for the Negroes…” Kennedy explains how the freedom that the population is imagining doesn’t exist for blacks. Later in his speech, he announces what he is going to do about the issues, “Next week I shall ask the Congress of the United States to act, to make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life or law.” Unfortunately, Kennedy was not able to create the Civil Rights act he dreamed of. After Kennedy was assassinated, Lyndon B. Johnson took his place as president. He followed through with Kennedy’s beliefs, and worked hard to make them a reality. Kennedy previously said in his speech, “Unless the Congress acts, their [African American’s] only remedy is the street.” This quote was true, until congress finally passed the act on July 2, 1964, eliminating all prejudice originating from race, religion, gender, and nationality. Aftermath: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 impacted the future heavily. Discrimination didn’t completely end after the act was created, but it helped. Since the act, equality has been getting stronger and stronger throughout the years. Schools were and still are becoming less segregated, and more integrated. To prove the effects of the act, was the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, the first African American President.

On August 11, 1965, an African-American was pulled over for allegedly drunk driving in a predominantly black neighborhood in Los Angeles. The man behind the wheel was Marquette Frye and was arrested by two white police officers for reckless driving. The situation escalated when Frye’s mother arrived at the scene of the arrest and a crowd of spectators gathered at the corner of the street. Premeditated distrust for the police force and acts of physical aggression led the witnesses to believe that this arrest was yet another incident of racially motivated police brutality. A dangerous and violent six days followed, as the community rioted together against police racism and unwarranted brutality. The riots resulted in 34 deaths and over 40 million dollars in property damage; it was the city’s worst unrest until the infamous Rodney King riots in 1992. Leading up to societal revolt, Los Angeles racially prohibited minorities from renting or buying property in certain areas and ethnically divided the city. This caused a racism battle within property and many white people believed in the stereotypical assumptions of black men; that included the LAPD. When the riots began, chief of police, William H. Parker called for assistance from the California Army National Guard. Thousands of law enforcers attempted to maintain order on the streets but only further escalated the furiousness of the community. "The streets of Watts resembled an all-out war zone in some far-off foreign country, it bore no resemblance to the United States of America." White-owned stores were looted and burned down as over 31,000 participated in the riots while 70,000 were “sympathetic, but not active.” For far too many years, African Americans held their heads high as they were oppressed and discriminated by society. The morally unsound act of racism has haunted the United States since its birth. The Civil Rights movement was the triumphant and powerful impact created by African Americans in hope for change. While many acts were peaceful, some were violent as the fury from being oppressed bottled over when police use their power to intentionally harass, beat and kill African Americans. The issue of police brutality still runs hot and the Watts Riots played part in not only pushing for civil rights, but also righteously demanding it. Police brutality is a dishonorable and disgusting act that cannot continue. How many lives does it take to end this conflict? We are equal, that is no debate. Frye, King, Till and Martin are only a few of the victims of police brutality. Regardless of the color of a man’s skin, there is no excuse. The Watts Riots was a reflection and reaction of the Civil Rights movement and the unhurriedness of the government to make drastic and desperate changes.

Civil Rights movements were being sparked all over the place in the 1960s due to gross injustices against the African American population. Brave people from black communities were sick of the treatment and started to protest and speak out. Their courage gave effective attention to the cause. Ironically though some of the most impactful moments were created by those seeking to prevent equal rights. A man by the name of George Wallace was among a group that would do anything to keep the United States segregated even as lawfully it moved towards becoming more desegregated. His position as the governor of Alabama helped the issue reach high government level. He sought to take down a race, that his protest only helped raise awareness for. George Wallace was elected governor of Alabama in 1963. A scary reality for African Americans seeing as he led his campaign off the message of "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." He was an extreme segregationist who had the power to make his opinions realities with his political office. His inaugural address highlighted his fight for white supremacy. He fought to keep Alabama a separated state, that had no future of changing. In the beginning of his address he thanked the small town that allowed for him to take his first political foot holdings. He than turned to preach that he shall “do my duty to you, God helping . . . to every man, to every woman . . . yes, to every child in this state. I shall fulfill my duty toward honesty and economy in our State government so that no man shall have a part of his livelihood cheated and no child shall have a bit of his future stolen away. “ Ironically he preached this as he pursued to take away the futures of all black children. He was cheating away the lives of all the people he sought to segregate. But he believed that he was only doing right by these people by continually demoralizing them. And demoralize, he did, so much in fact that one day he decided to block two black students from enrolling at Alabama University. The act he performed is often referred to as the “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” because that is exactly what he did. He physically stood in front of the doorway to the admissions office at the pubic university, blocking Vivian Malone and James A. Hoods entrance. His act caught the attention of the President who sent the attorney general to halt his humiliating protest. Wallace was not an easy target. He quickly spit back to the general’s orders, sent by and signed by the President of the United States, citing his “obstruction of justice.” He tried to counter “the enforcement of a court order” that he was aware of. He was asked to “not bar entrance to these students.” It probably frightened him that when the general spoke of “students” he didn’t attach the word black in front. Wallace was a small minded man, with a racist southern outlook that was not uncommon for his time. Wallace demanded that they were trying to “Subordinate the rights of Alabama and millions of Americans,” also adding that “there has been no legislative action by congress justifying this intrusion.” What he referenced as an intrusion, was actually a lawful attempt to stop his childlike protest. He stood alone, all other protests were followed by millions. He stood with words while others stood with meaning.

The Beginning of the Movement: During the 1960s, southern states were still mostly segregated and it was not a strange thing. Southern states did not enact the desegregation laws as quickly as the other states did. This was not fair for the African American people and they took action, a non-violent course of action. In 1960, four students from a local college decided that enough was enough. They decided to show the white people of the area that things were still segregated and that it should be changed. They decided to target a local business, Woolworth’s in downtown Greensboro. The four of them, Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil, sat at the segregated counter at this diner. The waiters, waitresses, and managers refused to take their orders and serve them. As a result of this, these students did not get up until closing time and came back at opening the next morning. They returned the next day and brought more of their friends from the college. They filled the entire counter so no one else could sit and order. They occupied these chairs all day, everyday. The store was still not serving them just because of the color of their skin. The store, as well as others, was losing money because they had no business since they were not serving anyone. The news spread to other towns and states, which caused people to follow by the example and occupy other stores. They demanded service and they did not receive it. Reaction of the Locals: Throughout these non-violent forms of rebellion, there was violence towards these people. Other teenagers and sometimes adults became violent with these non-violent protestors. They used their fists and sometimes baseball bats and other objects to hurt these people. The white people in these areas thought this would make the African Americans stop their protests but it didn’t. It actually brought more attention to them. Result of the Non-violence: The people did not stop at just hurting them but they actually got police involvement. The Woolworth’s store in Greensboro called the police on the teenagers and they came and demanded the African Americans leave or else they would go to jail. After just over a month, there was a big change. Many stores desegregated and started serving the African Americans. This proves that non-violence is a good way to protest and it makes a big difference. The Greensboro Sit-In was proven to be effective and allowed African Americans to sit where they liked and order at restaurants freely.

The Birmingham Campaign: During the early 1960s, segregation was at an all time high in the south, especially in Alabama. Times were very difficult for African Americans as they were seen as the inferior race. They were segregated from restaurants, bathrooms, water fountains and they had specific neighborhoods to live in. Furthermore, African American students were forced to attend different schools which were often not as good. Blacks were forbidden to be seen with whites. Birmingham Alabama was a city known for the extreme racism. The KKK dominated this city and years before, this group castrated an African American, forced a library to remove a book because it contained a black and white rabbit together and sought to end black music on radios. Martin Luther King Jr. said that Birmingham was “the worst big city in race relations in the United States.” The African Americans had enough with the extremities the whites were doing, so they sought change. The Birmingham Campaign was a movement in 1963 that worked to desegregate the public facilities in Birmingham, Alabama. These movements were run by Martin Luther King Jr, James Bevel, Fred Shuttlesworth and many others.The first protest in Birmingham was when Shuttlesworth pressured business employees to allow employment be open to all ethnicities and to put a stop to the segregated public facilities. However, this failed and the SCLC, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, agreed to help them. Soon a group began, which was called the Project C. Project C was a series of sit-ins, boycotts and nonviolent protests. The goal of Project C was to be on media and see why black people needed justice in the South. This was a success. People from across the country were changing views on the discrimination in the south as they saw everything that was happening. After being arrested so many times, King was sent to jail due to the protest he was apart of. While King was in jail, he wrote a letter explaining why he was in jail. "I am here because injustice is here," he wrote. "I would agree with Saint Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all.'" His words were powerful and motivating towards the other African American citizens in Birmingham. King and many others were willing to go to jail to fight for the rights they deserve. The Birmingham Campaign began to become very low on adult volunteers so James Bevel decided to recruit students to become the main focus of the campaign. He trained students in from elementary school to college in order for them to be able to participate in nonviolent protests and peaceful walks. However, this failed as it ended it thousands of arrests and children sitting in jail. Having children participate in these movements proved how passionated people were about the rights they deserved. On may 11th, things turned violent; a bomb went off at the Gaston Motel where King was previously stayed. Thankfully he had left earlier that day. In addition, another bomb exploded at King’s younger brother’s, A.D King, house. These two bomb attacks affected the protesters greatly and they become violent as well. They rioted through the city, burning building and cars and attacking police officers. Soldiers from the US army were forced to come to control the terror and violence. The Birmingham Campaign was a model of nonviolent directed actions to attract attention on the media to the rest of the country in order for others to see the problems occurring. Stores were desegregated, opportunities for African Americans improved and a biracial committee was set up in Birmingham to help fix the troubled community. This campaign ultimately paved the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In the early 1920s women began to have a safe place outside the home. They were given more rights, not abused in the workplace, and were able to express themselves more freely. They stood up for what was right and in August of 1920 the 19th amendment was ratified; they were granted the right to vote. With this came responsibility, respect and much more freedom than they previously had. Also, the Miss America Organization started what is now a household name, the Miss America Pageant. It started as a way for the Atlantic City Boardwalk to hold tourism past Labor Day. It attracted many, from women wanting to participate in it, to people of all ages coming to watch. This Pageant was a product of its time, due to the previous decades of transformation for women in society. For many it was a time of expansion in social, political, and cultural activities for women. Not only did women in the workplace grow by 25%, but they began to express themselves more freely. They stopped following the Victorian norms that were pushed on them since birth. They became more modern by smoking cigarettes, dancing, and becoming more sexually liberated. They stopped wearing the normal clothing, and began to dress in clothing that allowed them to be active and were more comfortable. With their newfound liberations, they began to be sexual icons. With this came women wanting to show off what they had, making pageants a way to do so. Almost 100 years later, the Miss America Pageant is still a name that everyone knows. It is televised across the country and is a way for women to show their humanitarian ways, but mostly, their good looks. However, not everyone is the biggest fan. It emphasizes the idea that there is only one type of ideal women, and that anyone who does not follow those beauty standards is not equal. Many find the system flawed by how year after year there is a scary similarity between each year’s winners. Feminists have been questioning their system for years, the first public protest in 1968. On September 7th in 1968 the Atlantic City Boardwalk became flooded with angry women who found the pageant system flawed. They had girdles, curlers, and copies of popular magazines that over sexualized women. They called these “instruments of women-torture” and threw them into a plastic bin with the words “Freedom Trash Can” scrawled on it. Many onlookers heckled them, making fun of them for standing up for what they believed in. This protest brought a national spotlight to the Women’s Liberation Movement. Unlike previous riots against women’s oppression, this one came unknowingly to the public. It ran alongside the ongoing Miss America pageant, and it became a story that viewers heard loud and clear. Many women at home could understand and support these brave women for performing an unannounced protest right at the base of the issue, the actual pageant. Signs scattered the pier reading “Lets judge ourselves as people” or “Welcome to the Miss America cattle auction” or even “If you want meat, just go to the butcher”. Women of the time wanted to be seen as real people, not items. Even though they were standing up for their beliefs, feminists of the time were given a bad reputation. Carol Hanish led the protest and put the idea out to everyone. She later recalled that, “‘Bra-burner’ became a put-down term for feminists of my generation. The risqué implication of the term made the action embarrassing even to some feminists”. She believed that if there wasn’t such a negative connotation to being a feminist, nearly all women would have rushed to join.

Martin Luther King held a peaceful, nonviolent protest in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. It is commonly referred to as the Birmingham movement. Because of King’s harmonious approach to the issue, he gained supporters for it quickly, and, although peaceful, his protests posed a high risk for its volunteers. Previous to the Birmingham movement, hundreds were arrested for participating in stand-ins. A temporary anti-protest injunction was passed by the Supreme Court on April 10th, 1963, at regard of officials of Birmingham’s request. It required petitioners to acquire a permit in order to hold mass events on the streets. Most people felt as if the injunction attacked their basic rights. It was discriminatory and it restricted freedom of speech without reason. The law was unjust and unconstitutional. The majority of protesters intended to violate the law and hold parades without permits. Despite the danger of leading a protest, King felt that it was necessary to take a faithful leap. He led one thousand african american people into the business district of the city. On April 12th, 1963, King was arrested for violating Alabama’s law forbidding public parades. He remained in The Birmingham City Jail for eleven days. Following his release on bail, a letter from a birmingham jail was written and released on April 16th, 1963. King outlined the injustices in the city and the extreme actions taken following the nonviolent campaign. He defended his nonviolent campaign to resist racism for everybody. It was published in various articles such as The American Friends Service Committee and Christianity and Crisis, as well as fifty thousand copies printed as pamphlets. The city charged him for being impatient, and he responded by claiming that when they felt the sense of ‘nobodiness’ that he felt, they would understand why he could not wait. He also called the laws unjust and unconstitutional, and claimed that human progress happens over time with hard work and sacrifice. He compared himself to other great extremists, such as Jesus and Abraham Lincoln. King’s letter led many down a path of revolution. Just over a week after King’s arrest and release on bail, one thousand more african american students attempted to march into downtown Birmingham. Hundreds were arrested on site, and hundreds more gathered the following day. Police officers beat protesters violently with clubs and hoses. Violence created an uproar when four young girls died in a bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church. These images appeared on the news, triggering international outrage. King responded by instilling courage into volunteers and their families. He said that participants were not just achieving a job for themselves and America, but for all of mankind. His letter helped reignite the Birmingham movement and campaign. It helped African American citizens gain the recognition and attention that they needed, while acting as a source of courage in the face of brutality. Overall, MLK’s ‘Letter From a Birmingham Jail’ was extremely influential in the progression of African American’s in a racially unjust society.

“The Feminine Mystique” – February 19, 1963 Background Before the early 1960s, women’s purpose was to take care of their families at home and have children. Many women did follow this way of life, whether it meant cooking homemade meals for their husbands while they were at work or cleaning the house. Although they could attend school, it was harder for girls than boys if they wished to be successful in a high paying job after they finished school. Even if they did get a job, women earned far less wages than men. The more time went on, the more women accepted their role as being the housewife at home. However, nearing the early 1960s, many women became active in fighting for equal rights. Women had to gain support before any hope of being listened to, since they did not have high political power. To accomplish this, many women advocated their views on the unjust rights between men and women through articles. Some of these journalists advocated for their rights in newspapers, such as Gloria Steinem, who wrote for the New York Magazine and created her own publication called Ms. Magazine. Another writer, Betty Friedan, published The Feminine Mystique, which could be considered one of the works of literature that sparked the second effort for the women’s rights movement. Feminine Mystique: The Feminine Mystique, written by Betty Friedan, outlines the problem of the traditional roles that women had become accustomed to for the past fifty years. Women had to live up to standards of the “ideal” American women, which put pressure on many young girls to become that ideal women. She spoke to different women about their experiences in order to understand how those women felt about being a housewife. One of them explained that “all she wanted...was what every other American girl wanted--to get married, have four children, and live in a nice house in a nice suburb.” This idea was considered “the dream image of the young American women and the envy, it was said, of women all over the world.” Friedan advocated for other issues as well, such as the lack of birth control options and political involvement allowed by women. In response, she created the National Organization for Women (NOW), which was designed to gain supporters to obtain equal rights for women. Legacy: Writers such as Friedan and Steinem are credited with starting the second women’s rights movement, whose legacy is acknowledged by women still fighting for equal rights today. Although women are mostly legally considered “equal,” many are still denied of a variety opportunities that men are granted, such as equal pay. Since the 1960s, the amount of progress made by women is substantial, shown through the recent presidential election, where America almost saw its first women president. The women who publicized their views about unequal opportunities paved the way for the women’s rights movement and initiated a long-lasting fight that is still going on today.

April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson makes MLB debut Background: Major League Baseball had been segregated since the late 1800s, even though many teams played in cities that were generally regarded as progressive like New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. Some of the most talented players in the history of the game like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson were relegated to the Negro League, which was extremely popular among the African American community but was generally ignored by the majority of white baseball fans. In 1945 Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers changed the status quo by signing Jackie Robinson, a Negro League star, to a minor league deal. Robinson was a gifted athlete, lettering in four sports at UCLA: football, basketball, baseball, and track. After a year with the Montreal Royals (where he led the minor leagues in batting average), the shortstop was slated to make his debut at Ebbets Field against the Boston Braves on Opening Day, April 15, 1947. The Rookie Season: Robinson made his debut for the Dodgers, going 0-3 that day. Many Dodger fans and even some players were conflicted about supporting an African American player trying to integrate one of America’s most beloved institutions. Dodgers announcer Red Barber famously considered quitting his dream job over calling a game with an African American player, as stated in an interview shortly before his death. Everywhere Robinson went, there were threats made by opposing players and fans, and when the team traveled south he was forced to face state-sanctioned segregation on buses, in hotels, and even at the ballpark. A 1951 letter sent to the Cincinnati Reds said “ROBINSON WE ARE GOING TO KILL YOU IF YOU ATTEMPT TO ENTER A BALLGAME AT CROSLEY FIELD.” Nevertheless, Robinson played through these hardships, earning Rookie of the Year honors in 1947 and National League MVP in 1949. He helped the Dodgers to a World Series Title in 1955. Aftermath/ Legacy: Although Robinson’s debut was a landmark event in American racial history, getting baseball fully integrated was a lengthy conquest. The Red Sox were the last team to integrate, in 1959. Even so it’s clear that Robinson made a major impact, particularly in empowering African American youth, who regarded him as a hero. To see a black man playing on the same stage as white stars dented the idea of white supremacy that had infiltrated the minds of many young African Americans, who would be a part of the generation that would lead the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Major League Baseball was one of a number of institutions that would integrate in the late 1940s, such as the Armed Services in 1948. Integration in public schools wouldn’t begin until 1954, but Robinson’s debut was certainly a significant early step in the direction of equal rights.