The Role of the Federal Government in relation to the Civil Rights Movement

The Role of the Federal Government

in Relation to the Civil Rights Movement

(1953-1968)

By: Helena Fernández, Sofía Downie, Paula Velayos, Jayson Figueiredo,

Viktor Abrashev, George González and Juan Aguirre.

SUPREME COURT

PRESIDENT

Federal

Government

of the USA

CONGRESS

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT INITIATED

1963

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

1957

1965: VOTING RIGHTS ACT

1963

1969

1961

Eisenhower

Kennedy

Johnson

1953

1968

FAIR HOUSING ACT

1964

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

1960

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

President

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

RELUCTANT APPROACH

at the beginning of his presidency.

Towards the END OF HIS PRESIDENCY

"Laissez-faire" in a social context:

not the government's task to get involved

in the Civil Rights movement.

EISENHOWER becomes much more interventionalist and proposes two different

Civil Rights Acts:

1957 Civil Rights Act

Bi-partisan committee set up to monitor voting rights of African Americans.

Those found guilty of preventing African Americans to vote would face penalties such as

$1000 or 6 months in jail.

1960 Civil Rights Act

Allows bi-partisan committees to keep records of voter registration in order to be able to monitor

more accurately.

The Acts managed to increase the proportion of African Americans by 3%.

“Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.”

President

JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY

Sympathetic to the Civil Rights movement

from the very beginning.

"There are no ‘white’ or ‘coloured’ signs on the foxholes or graveyards of battle."

Highly advertised phone call to Coretta King

during his presidential campaign (1960).

Appoints 5 African American judges to

federal courts and creates the CEEO.

The Birmingham Campaign (1963) pushes him towards promising an end to segregation through

a final Civil Rights Act. The March on Washington D.C. (1963) reinforces his willingness

to pass the Act.

Kennedy is tragically assassinated before fulfilling his aim.

Coretta King

President

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

Implements a range of measures collectively known as

the "Great Society", aiming at making the USA a

fairer country.

Civil Rights legislation is to be comprised

among the "Great Society" measures.

"The vote is the most

powerful

instrument ever devised by man

for breaking down injustice and

destroying the terrible walls

which imprison men because they

are different from other men."

The Role of the US Congress

FACTS & FIGURES:

1964 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

End to legal Segregation in the South.

73% of USA's SENATORS in favour of 1964 Civil Rights Act.

1968 FAIR HOUSING ACT

1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT

Outlaws discrimination of any form in the

sale/rental of housing, thus addressing the issue

of ghettoisation.

66% of USA's MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

in favour of 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Abolishes the power of local Authorities to outlaw African

Americans from voting.

JOHNSON'S

MEASURES

1965 ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY

EDUCATION ACT

+

1965 HIGHER EDUCATION ACT

Financially helped Southern States + Schools with a high proportion of African American students + individual African American

students at college/university.

Reasons why the Congress acquired a positive attitude towards

the Civil Rights movement:

[1]

The Birmingham Campaign (1963)

Exposed the extent of racial segregation.

[2]

Overwhelming Public Support for the Civil Rights Campaigns

The Congress could no longer oppose the movement.

[3]

Johnson's Expertise

Johnson successfully persuaded members of the Congress (e.g.: Everett Dirksen)

to support Civil Rights legislation.

[4]

1964 Congressional Elections

After the elections, some conservative Southern Democrats were replaced

by more liberal ones.

[5]

Kennedy's Legacy

Johnson convinced the Congress that the Acts would honour Kennedy's unconcluded work.

Washington's D.C. obelisk,

facing Capitol Hill.

Without the interlinked effort of the three institutions

playing a role in the Federal Government, the end of Segregation

might not have been easy to achieve.

The Supreme Court

• Brown Vs. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
• Brown II (1955)
• Browder Vs. Gayle (1956)

Headline: "HIGH COURT BANS SEGREGATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS."

Legally destroyed the basis

of Segregation. Campaigners

later on made use of these

rulings to bring about de facto

change across the United States

of America.

Earl Warren:

His appointment on behalf

of Eisenhower in 1953 was crucial.