Civil Rights Movement 1960's

Now A Days

• "SCLC is a now a nation wide organization made up of chapters and affiliates with programs that affect the lives of all Americans: north, south, east and west. Its sphere of influence and interests has become international in scope because the human rights movement transcends national boundaries."

• Martin Luther King III became president
• he planned to concentrate on racial profiling, prisoners rights, and closing the divide between Whites and Blacks
• He resigned and King's youngest daughter Bernice is the current president

Civil Rights Movement 1960's

Birmingham Campaign

By: Claire & Juliana

• Birmingham was one of the most racially divided cities in the US
• The campaign focused on the desegregation of Birmingham's downtown merchants
• Protests in Birmingham began with a boycott meant to pressure business leaders to open employment to people of all races and end segregation in public facilities, restaurants, and stores.
• The most dramatic moments of the Birmingham campaign came on May 2, when more than 1,000 Black children left school to join the demonstrations; hundreds were arrested. The following day, 2,500 more students joined and were met by Bull Connor, the Public Safety Commissioner, with police dogs and high-pressure fire hoses.

Selma Voting Rights/ March to Montgomery

Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Voter registration and civil rights activity in Selma, Alabama led to the SCLC to recruit African Americans to register to vote in the courthouse
• nonviolent mass marches demanded the right to vote and jails filled up with arrested protesters ( MLK got arrested)
• On February 18, an Alabama State Trooper shot and killed civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson
• In response, over 600 protesters marched from Selma to Montgomery Alabama
• President Lyndon B. Johnson enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965

The initial phase of the black protest activity period began on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks of Montgomery, Alabama refused to give up her seat to a white bus rider. This defied a southern custom that required blacks to give seats towards the front of the bus to whites. When Rosa was jailed, a black community boycott of the city’s buses began. The boycott was led by activist Martin Luther King Jr., who used his oratorical skills and the nonviolent teachings of Ghandi as his tactics.

St. Augustine Protests

• When Civil Rights activists protested segregation in St. Augustine, Florida, they were met with arrests by the Klu Klux Klan
• The SCLC called on Dr. King for assistance
• Their organization sent staff to lead demonstrations on how to respond to groups like the KKK
• The SCLC told the activists that sitting in jail was okay, as long as you were fighting for what you believed in
• On June 11, Dr. King and other SCLC leaders were arrested for trying to lunch at an all white restaurant in a hotel, then were interrogated by White's that used the motel swimming pool as a threat, pouring acid into the water and pushing them into the water when they refused to stop protesting

The March on Washington

A major campaign was launched in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, when nonviolent protesters got in a rut with local policemen with fire hoses and police dogs. This Birmingham clash as well as others led president JFK to push for a new civil rights legislation. By August 28, 1963, these local Birmingham protesters as well as many others culminated in the March of Washington, where MLK gave his "I have a dream..." speech.

SCLC

Albany Movement

• Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• Founded in 1957 by Martin Luther King
• Founded in Atlanta, Georgia, when King and 60 black ministers met at the Ebeneezer Church
• Founded off of Ghandi's nonviolent teachings
• Their goal was to form an organization to coordinate and support nonviolent direct action as a method of desegregating bus systems across the South

The Albany Movement is considered the organizations first major non-violent campaign, which took place in 1961-1962. The purpose of the coalition was to promote desegregation in Albany, Georgia and in late 1961, Dr. King, became involved with the protests. The main goals of the campaign were end both racial segregation and discrimination in Albany. The movement mobilized thousands of citizens attracted nationwide attention but failed to accomplish its goals because of a determined opposition. Even though it did not end successfully, it is credited to to have first used key strategies and tactics within the Civil Rights movement, with methods like sit-ins, marches and boycotts.

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