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Civil Rights Movement – Background Info 161 9 – Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia asses – Slavery’ officially began when laws in Virginia and Maryland were passed. The trade lasted until 1808. South Cotton ?? Most slaves went to the agricultural southern states where they grew cotton for the massive textile mills in England. Abolitionists – ‘Underground Railways’ – People who fought against the slave system. There was even a underground railroad that helped escaping slaves reach the northern states.
War of Independence – Many African Americans fought in this war hoping that once the colony was freed room British country, the ideas of freedom and equality would also include them. 1866 Civil Rights Act ?? This act ‘protected’ people from discrimination. 1870 Right to Vote – By this time, African Americans had the right to vote and between 1869 and 1901 twenty African Americans had been elected in the US House of Reps. Sharecropping – African American families would work on the farm in return for housing and seed.
This wasn’t much better than slavery and the families usually owed money to the landowners. The UK Klux Klan (The ASK) – Founded in 1865, the ASK recruited poor white men who resented lacks and the new freedom of ex slaves. The ASK terrorists African Americans and whites who had opposing views to them. ‘Jim Crow Laws these laws allowed further segregation in the south. In 1 875 the US Supreme Court ruled that the 1866 Civil Rights Act was against the constitution and in 1896 accepted the Jim Crow laws by saying that segregation was allowed if the facilities were “separate but equal”.
Booker T. Washington – ex-slave who became a teacher and began a school called the Tuskegee Institute in 1 881 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N. A. A. C. P) Founded in 1909, the NAACP fought for colored people rights. By 1923 they had 400 branches an ad won important victories such as defeating segregation laws and establishing the right for African Americans to sit in on juries. W. E. B Du Bois – the editor of the newspaper The Crisis’ and a scholar who believed they must demand a fight for equality.
Marcus Graver – the leader to the ‘Back to Africa’ movement. This movement believed that African Americans should move back to Africa as they would never belong to America. Congress for Racial Equality (C. O. R. E) – Founded in 1942 with the help of James Farmer. CORE used non-violent ways to gather attention such as protests, boycotts and demonstrations. Change Post WWW – WWW saw the end of segregation in the US Army and Navy and African Americans had the right to vote in the south again. President Harry S.
Truman – began a program of civil rights. In 1946, the US Supreme Court decided that segregation on buses was against the constitution. Civil Rights Movement ?? Main Events Emmett Till – A fourteen year old black boy from the north goes on holiday in the south. – Shows some of his friends a picture of a white girl and says she IS his girlfriend – His friends were shocked because no black boot ever went out with a while girl in the south. One boy says to go into the nearby store and talk to the white girl in it. Emmett goes in and buys gum and says “Bye, Baby’ to the girl on the way out. The girl is the wife of the shop owner. – There’s debate on whether or not Emmett actually said that, some sources state that he whistled at the girl -Emmett later gets kidnapped by the girl’s husband and his friend. They beat him to the point where he is unrecognizable. They kill him. – At first Americans, both black and white, are shocked and disgusted. The case reached Germany and other countries; protests occur. – Whites in Mississippi resented the northern criticism.
People started supporting the murderers. There was a trial and the verdict came back not guilty. – The all- white jury said they decided the two men were not guilty as they ‘felt the state failed to prove the body was Emmett Till’. They also said it would have been quicker if they hadn’t stopped for lemonade. Asses – Brown v Board of Education Special counsel to the NAACP, Thorough Marshall, Challenged the “separate but equal” doctrine before the supreme court n four cases that came to be known as Brown v.
Board of Education -1 1 954, the Courts unanimously agreed that “the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place in the nation’s public schools” was against the American constitution – By the end of 1955, over 500 schools were integrated White Backlash Against Decision – Southern leaders decide that they would defy the Supreme Court’s decision – The ASK, White Citizens councils and other white supremacist or hate groups underwent a revival. Emmett Till gets killed while on holiday in the south.
Due to all the negative views towards them, people start supporting the murderers and they are found not guilty- 1956 ?? Atheling Lucy is the first African American student to attend the University of Alabama. On the day she began, riots broke out on campus and a mob of almost 1 000 men surrounded the car in which she had to be driven in between classes – In 1995, the Supreme Court said that states should desegregate schools with “all deliberate speed” Montgomery, Alabama – In 1947, CORE organized the Journey of Reconciliation.
This was where black and white members traveled on buses in southern states to challenge segregated travel. – The Journey of Reconciliation was quickly ended when most of the riders were arrested – In 1952, forty-eight African American solders were arrested and fined because one of them sat next to a white women on a bus in South Carolina – In December of 1 955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat of the front of the bus for a white man in Montgomery, Alabama.