Civil Rights Movement – Legends of America
The Civil Rights Movement stands as a monumental period in American history, a testament to the enduring struggle for social justice and equality. Primarily unfolding during the 1950s and 1960s, this movement was a powerful campaign by African Americans to secure their constitutional rights at a national level. It was arguably the most significant mass mobilization in modern American history, marked by widespread demonstrations that swept across the nation. The culmination of this struggle was the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a landmark piece of legislation rooted in the relentless efforts of African Americans to achieve fundamental citizenship rights.
The Seeds of Discontent: From Slavery to Reconstruction
To fully comprehend the Civil Rights Movement, one must delve into the historical context that preceded it. Over a century earlier, antislavery movements had gradually dismantled slavery in the Northern states by the 1830s. However, even as free blacks emerged, they were not granted full citizenship rights, leaving them in a precarious state of semi-freedom. In the South, the economic dominance of slaveholders effectively stifled any meaningful discussion about abolition, as their wealth and power were deeply intertwined with the institution of slavery.
The irreconcilable differences between the North and South eventually erupted into the Civil War, a bloody conflict that ultimately led to the emancipation of slaves. Yet, emancipation did not eradicate discrimination against blacks. They continued to suffer the devastating effects of racism, particularly in the South, where deeply ingrained prejudices and systemic inequalities persisted.
Reconstruction: A Period of Hope and Betrayal
In the aftermath of the Civil War, Northern Congressional Republicans sought to solidify the rights of newly freed slaves by proposing the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These amendments were designed to grant freedom, citizenship, and the right to vote to African Americans. Numerous civil rights acts were also enacted to safeguard the freedom of former slaves. During the Reconstruction era, African American men actively participated in electoral politics as both voters and public officials, marking a significant shift in the political landscape.
However, the promise of Reconstruction was short-lived. The three constitutional amendments, intended to provide legal status to African Americans, were poorly enforced. White supremacist groups, most notably the Ku Klux Klan, terrorized black citizens who dared to exercise their right to vote, run for public office, or serve on juries. Congress responded by passing a series of Enforcement Acts in 1870 and 1871, authorizing the use of military force to protect African Americans. Despite these efforts, violence and intimidation continued to undermine the rights of black citizens.
In 1870, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts introduced a groundbreaking civil rights bill aimed at granting African Americans equal access to public accommodations such as churches, theaters, trains, ships, jury boxes, and public schools. Despite Sumner’s tireless efforts, the bill languished in committee for years. It finally became law in March 1875, a year after Sumner’s death. However, the bill was a mere shadow of Sumner’s original vision and suffered a major setback with the Compromise of 1877. In this agreement, Southern Democrats conceded the contested 1876 presidential election to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South. This marked the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of a new era of oppression for African Americans.
Despite the growing white resistance and violence, blacks persevered, continuing to attend schools and churches, participate in politics, and assert their rights as citizens whenever possible.
The Rise of Jim Crow: Segregation and Disenfranchisement
Despite the legislation and constitutional amendments passed during Reconstruction, many states adopted various methods to disenfranchise black voters. They instituted "Jim Crow" segregation laws, mandating the separation of the races in virtually every aspect of life. Debt peonage, sharecropping, and tenant farming often reduced blacks to generational poverty, trapping them in a cycle of economic hardship.
The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations resorted to lynchings, beatings, and burnings to enforce the new racial order and prevent African American voters from participating in political activity. Starting in the 1870s, blacks began migrating from the South to northern and western regions in increasing numbers, a phenomenon that would ultimately transform the racial geography of the country.
The U.S. Supreme Court further entrenched segregation policies through several landmark decisions. In 1883, the Court declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, ruling that the 14th Amendment did not prohibit discrimination by individuals and private organizations. In 1896, the Court upheld the doctrine of "separate but equal" accommodations in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, legitimizing racial segregation and paving the way for more Jim Crow laws that would persist well into the 20th century.
These Jim Crow laws pervaded Southern society, dictating that blacks could not use the same public facilities as whites, live in the same neighborhoods, or attend the same schools. Interracial marriage was outlawed, and most blacks were effectively barred from voting through discriminatory voter literacy tests. While Jim Crow laws were not adopted in other states, blacks still faced discrimination in employment, housing, and education. To exacerbate matters, some states enacted laws designed to limit black voting rights, further marginalizing them politically.
Meanwhile, violence against black people continued throughout the nation, despite legislation like the Enforcement Acts. The issue of lynching became particularly explosive in the early 20th century. Senator Robert Wagner of New York and his allies repeatedly attempted to confront such violence through anti-lynching legislation, but opponents successfully blocked all such measures, often through the filibuster.
Voices of Resistance: Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, and the NAACP
As segregation tightened and racial oppression escalated across the United States, African American leaders responded with diverse strategies. Booker T. Washington, a prominent black leader, advised African Americans to focus on education and economic self-improvement, believing these to be essential steps toward achieving civil rights. However, some leaders, such as W.E.B. Du Bois, rejected Washington’s approach, arguing for more direct and assertive action to challenge racial inequality.
In 1905, Du Bois and other black leaders founded the Niagara Movement, which later joined with white reformers in 1909 to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP employed the federal courts to challenge disenfranchisement and residential segregation. Job opportunities were the primary focus of the National Urban League, which was established in 1910.
During the Great Migration of 1910-1920, African Americans migrated to industrial cities in the North in search of work, filling labor shortages created by World War I. Although they continued to face discrimination in employment and some segregation in schools and public accommodations, Northern black men encountered fewer barriers to voting. As their numbers grew, their vote became a crucial factor in elections. The war and migration bolstered a heightened self-confidence in African Americans, which manifested in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. The NAACP lobbied aggressively for a federal anti-lynching law.
The New Deal and World War II: Seeds of Change
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt provided more federal support to African Americans than ever since Reconstruction. Even so, New Deal legislation and policies continued to allow considerable discrimination. During the mid-1930s, the NAACP launched a legal campaign against segregation, focusing on inequalities in public education. By 1936, the majority of black voters had abandoned their historic allegiance to the Republican Party and joined with labor unions, farmers, progressives, and other ethnic minorities in assuring President Roosevelt’s reelection. The election significantly shifted the balance of power in the Democratic Party from its Southern block of white conservatives towards this new coalition.
In the spring of 1941, hundreds of thousands of whites were employed in industries mobilizing for World War II. At this time, most blacks were low-wage farmers, factory workers, domestics, or servants and were discouraged from joining the military. Black labor leader A. Philip Randolph threatened a mass march on Washington unless blacks were hired equally for those jobs, stating: “It is time to wake up Washington as it has never been shocked before.” To prevent the march, which many feared would result in race riots and international embarrassment, President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order in June 1941. This opened up national defense jobs and other government jobs to all Americans regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin. The order also established the Committee on Fair Employment Practices to receive and investigate discrimination complaints and take appropriate steps to redress valid grievances.
Black men and women served heroically in World War II despite facing segregation and discrimination during their deployment. Yet many were met with prejudice and scorn upon returning home. The fight against fascism during World War II brought to the forefront the contradictions between America’s ideals of democracy and equality and its treatment of racial minorities, dramatically altering opinions and expectations. African American veterans led a “double victory” campaign, declaring that those who fought to end fascism abroad would not tolerate discrimination at home.
President Harry Truman appointed a special committee to investigate racial conditions that detailed a civil rights agenda in its report. In 1948, Truman issued an executive order that abolished racial discrimination in the military. The NAACP won important Supreme Court victories and mobilized a mass lobby of organizations to press Congress to pass civil rights legislation. These events helped set the stage for grass-roots initiatives to enact racial equality legislation and incite the civil rights movement.
The Civil Rights Movement: A Call for Equality
During this time, African Americans achieved notable firsts – Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, and civil rights activists Bayard Rustin and George Houser led black and white riders on a “Journey of Reconciliation” to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses.
The NAACP’s legal stance against segregated education culminated in the 1954 Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, in which African Americans gained the right to study alongside their white peers in primary and secondary schools. The decision fueled an unwilling and violent resistance in the Southern states, which used various tactics to evade the law.
In the summer of 1955, a surge of violence against blacks included the kidnapping and brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till. This crime provoked widespread and assertive protests from black and white Americans. By December 1955, the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott led by Martin Luther King, Jr. began a protracted campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience to protest segregation that attracted national and international attention. In 1956, a group of Southern senators and congressmen signed the “Southern Manifesto,” vowing resistance to racial integration by all “lawful means.”
Resistance heightened in 1957-1958 during the crisis over the integration at Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central School. In the meantime, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sought to strengthen enforcement mechanisms and sent a civil rights bill to Congress in 1957. The House passed the measure on June 18; later, the Senate approved a scaled-down bill with amendments. Although not as strong as initially proposed, this law created a Commission on Civil Rights, established a civil rights division within the Department of Justice, provided for jury trials in the case of criminal civil rights violations, allowed federal prosecution of anyone who tried to prevent someone from voting and created a commission to investigate voter fraud.
Despite making some gains, blacks still experienced blatant prejudice daily. In February 1960, North Carolina college students staged a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in a Greensboro department store that refused to serve them because of their race. Over the next several days, hundreds of people joined their cause. After some were arrested and charged with trespassing, protestors launched a boycott of all segregated lunch counters until the owners caved. The original four students were finally served at the Woolworth’s, where they’d first stood their ground.
Their efforts spearheaded peaceful demonstrations in dozens of cities nationwide as civil rights organizers led demonstrations to protest segregation, discrimination, and voting restrictions. Though these efforts were nonviolent, these protests frequently faced fierce opposition.
Nonviolent direct action increased during the presidency of John F. Kennedy, beginning with the 1961 Freedom Rides, where civil rights activists rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States.
Hundreds of demonstrations erupted in cities and towns across the nation. National and international media coverage of using fire hoses and attack dogs against child protesters precipitated a crisis in the Kennedy administration, which it could not ignore. The bombings and riots in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 11, 1963, compelled Kennedy to call in federal troops. On June 19, 1963, the president sent Congress a comprehensive civil rights bill.
In August 1963, a coordinated March in Washington, D.C., brought more than 200,000 black and white people to demand “Jobs and Freedom.” The highlight of the march was Martin Luther King’s speech, where he continually stated, “I have a dream…”
Congress and President John Kennedy responded by introducing legislation in 1963 to deliver on the long-awaited promises of civil and legal protections for all Americans. After the president’s assassination on November 22, the fate of Kennedy’s bill was in the hands of his vice president and successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, and the United States Congress.
President Lyndon Johnson made the passage of Kennedy’s civil bill his top priority during the first year of his administration. He enlisted the help of the NAACP, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and key members of Congress to secure the bill’s passage. On July 2, 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, which prohibited discrimination in the workplace, public accommodations, public facilities, and agencies receiving federal funds and strengthened prohibitions on school segregation and discrimination in voter registration. It also granted the federal government strong enforcement powers in civil rights, continued the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
On March 7, 1965, the civil rights movement in Alabama took an especially violent turn as 600 peaceful demonstrators participated in the Selma to Montgomery march to protest the killing of a black civil rights activist by a white police officer and encourage legislation to enforce the 15th Amendment. As they neared the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were blocked by Alabama state and local police. Refusing to stand down, protestors moved forward and were viciously beaten and teargassed by police, and dozens of protestors were hospitalized. The entire incident was televised and became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Some activists wanted to retaliate violently, but Dr. Martin Luther King pushed for nonviolent protests and eventually gained federal protection for another march.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 expanded protections to voting and housing and provided new protections against racially motivated violence. The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 complemented these civil rights milestones by attacking the economic inequalities that had long accompanied racial discrimination and exclusion.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which barred employment discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, and national origins, energized the women’s movement to the founding of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966. Activists also convinced Congress to protect such groups as older Americans, people with disabilities, and pregnant women so that they could participate fully in public and private life.
On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on his hotel room’s balcony. Legally charged looting and riots followed, putting even more pressure on the President Johnson administration to push through additional civil rights laws.
The Civil Rights Movement was a watershed moment in American history, a period of profound social and political transformation that continues to shape the nation today.