Rev 12: Civil Rights Mvmt

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Review Notes: The Civil Rights Mvmt

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Common Qualities of Successful Soc Mvmts

Civil Rights

The Civil Rights Mvmt

Segregation, Jim Crow, Apartheid, etc.

Brown v. Board of Ed. of Topeka Decision

The NAACP

The History of the Civil Rights Mvmt

The History of the NAACP

NAACP-LDF & the Margold Plan

Analysis of Civil Rights Mvmt Success

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Outline on the Common Qualities of Successful Soc Mvmts

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- Project: The Qualities of Successful Social Movements

- Project: The Qualities of Successful Social Movements & the Civil Rights Mvmt

Success for soc mvmts varies according to the particular type of soc mvmt, whether it be reformative, transformative, etc.

A successful soc mvmt:

- is either creating social change or stopping social change, as the mvmt so desires

- leads to institutionalized change w/in society

- leads to change in the lives of the soc mvmt's beneficiaries

- accomplishes their stated goals

- creates a noticeable difference in society

- changes laws, alters policies, shifts attitudes

Many successful soc mvmts have the qualities of effective leadership, positive image, socially accepted tactics, socially acceptable goals, & cultivated financial & political support, & opportunity

Leadership

Successful soc mvmts have effective leaders

Effective soc mvmt leaders:

- understand the legal & political systems & operate effectively w/in them

- are task oriented

- are articulate enough to explain to outsiders what the goals of the group are & why they are reasonable

- have the ability to inspire others inside & outside the mvmt, i.e. are charismatic

See Also: Leadership

See Also: Charisma

- can get people to follow them & do what must be done

- greatly increase the chances of success for a soc mvmt

Image

Successful soc mvmts are respected & the public image of the mvmt & it's leaders is positive

Successful soc mvmts convince bystanders, politicians, & authorities that they are good, honest people who just want what is right

A respected image for a soc mvmt makes it easier for supporters to make their feelings known because people are not overly critical & will generally accept what is said at face value

With a good image, neutral observers of the soc mvmt can more easily be convinced that the mvmt is reasonable or even honorable

Tactics

Successful soc mvmts use socially accepted tactics to achieve their goals

Those mvmts which break the law or find their methods outlawed by the passage of new laws are less likely to be successful, but may still maintain a variable image & manage to succeed

Accepted tactics make it easier for a mvmt to maintain public respect & a positive image

At times, tactics that were illegal or unaccepted have become legal or accepted

Strikes, picket lines, etc. were illegal but became legal in the early 1930s

The legalization of a tactic vastly improves the mvmts chance of success

Protests & marches help get publicity & followers for a mvmt, but they can also harden the opposition into a mvmt

Goals

Successful soc mvmts have goals that

- bystanders believe are just, in the best interest of society, & will not harm others

- persuade bystanders that all society will benefit if the mvmt succeeds

- focus on changing laws, ordinances, rules etc. in lieu of trying to change attitudes, or the beliefs of the general population

- focus on court decisions

- institute change at the fed or state level as opposed to the local level

- demonstrate to the public that the mvmt is consistent w/ the Am ideals of freedom, liberty, equality, etc.

- are vague enough to be linked by bystanders to their sense of justice or democracy

- are specific enough to motivate people

- are such that they do not generate opposition

- convince people that they have a vested interest in the success of the mvmt

- fit into the dominant social ideology of the society

Successful soc mvmts have both short & long term goals

Protests & marches help get publicity & followers for a mvmt, but they generally are not the most effective way to achieve a goal

Protests & marches generally are useful in achieving a goal only when they are so large that they force concessions from the govt or other opposing social unit

Support

Successful soc mvmts gain support by:

- getting resources from a web of other groups, orgs, & institutions

- having goals & objectives tailored to their constituencies so that they do no alienate financial, political or social supporters

- cultivating supporters but are not overly aggressive toward opposing forces since such negativity hardens the opposition & increases the fear in bystanders, thus decreasing their likelihood of offering support

Opportunity

Even if a mvmt has leadership, image, tactics, goals, & support, if there is no historically significant opportunity, the soc mvmt is not likely to be successful

Opportunity is never delivered to a soc mvmt "wrapped up w/ a bow on it" in that it takes good leaders & followers to recognize an opportunity & to translate that into goals to real social change

A major difficulty that soc mvmt's have w/ opportunity is timing: can the soc mvmt mobilize quickly enough to utilize the opportunity

For a soc mvmt, opportunity may be seen in the attitude of the wider public in that the public may be ready for, or desire soc change

Opportunity may center around a historic or public event that raises awareness or makes the public aware of an issue, & thus creates the impetus for social change

Some examples of social events which have, w/ historic hindsight, been said to have been the impetus for a soc mvmt include:

- Rosa Parks being denied the seat on a bus as an impetus for the Civil Rights Mvmt

- men's patriarchal treatment of women in the anti-war mvmt during the Vietnam War as an impetus for the Women's Mvmt

- the Santa Barbara oil spill as an impetus for the Env Mvmt

- the Stonewall Inn in NYC raid as an impetus for the Gay Rights Mvmt

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Outline on Civil Rights

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- Project: A Hierarchy of Rights & Duties

Civil rights are the freedoms & rights that a person may have as a member of a community, state, or nation

Civil rights include freedom of speech, of the press, of religion, the right to own property & to receive fair & equal treatment from govt, other persons, & private groups, etc.

In the US today, people are often concerned w/ civil rights related to minorities & women because of the oppression they have experienced; never-the-less, this concept refers to the rights of all people under the assumption that no one is totally free until all are free

The rights of citizens differ from nation to nation

The Constitution of the US provides the basic rights of American citizens, & laws passed by Congress give additional rights which are called civil rights

Civil rights include freedom of speech, freedom of religion, & freedom of assembly (the right to gather peacefully for political or other purposes)

An example of a civil right is that US citizens have the right to travel throughout the US

An example of a civil right is that American citizens, unlike those of some countries, cannot be forced to leave their homeland

An example of a civil right is that American citizenship cannot be taken away, except for certain serious actions

The US Constitution describes the basic civil rights of American citizens

The first 10 amendments to the Constitution are usually regarded as the US Bill of Rights

However, civil rights are also mentioned in the main body of the Constitution & in later amendments

Each state constitution also has a bill or declaration of rights

Since the mid 1950s, the fed, state, & local govts have passed several civil rights laws

But the courts, especially the Supreme Court, have probably done the most to define civil rights

When Americans raise questions about the extent & limits of civil rights, they turn to the Supreme Court's decisions for the answers

The court often defines the limits of a right by balancing the right of the individual against the rights of society in general

In democratic countries, a person's civil rights are protected by law & custom

The constitutions of many democracies have bills of rights that describe basic liberties & rights

Courts of law decide whether a person's civil rights have been violated

The courts also determine the limits of civil rights, so that people do not use their freedoms to violate the rights of others

In nondemocratic countries, the govt claims to respect & guarantee civil rights, but such claims differ greatly from the actual conditions

In some countries, the people are denied such basic rights as freedom of speech & of the press, yet their constitutions guarantee these rights

Civil Liberties & Civil Rights

Civil liberties & civil rights are refer to the freedoms from certain actions & the freedom to be treated in certain ways

Civil liberties are guarantees in that a person will enjoy freedom from govt interference

Civil rights are guarantees in that all people will have the freedom to be treated equally

Civil liberties would include freedom from govt interference w/ a person's right to free speech

Civil rights would include everyone's freedom to receive equal protection under the law

Natural Law

The idea that people have rights that cannot be taken away began thousands of years ago w/ the theory of natural law (NL)

The theory of NL states that a natural order exists in the universe because all things are created by nature, god, etc.

Everything has its own qualities & is subject to the rules of nature to achieve its full potential

Under NL, anything that detracts from a person's human qualities, or prevents their full achievement, violates NL

The ancient Greeks, the writers of the Old Testament, & philosophers in most ancient cultures stressed that there is a higher law than human law

In the first century B.C., the Roman philosopher Cicero insisted that this higher (natural) law is universal & can be discovered through human reason

The conceptions of NL & rationality led to the belief that govt power has limits, & that people & govts everywhere are bound by NL

The Magna Carta, which the English King John II approved against his will in 1215 placed the King under the law

In 1628, the English Parliament drew up a Petition of Right which claimed that certain actions of the king, such as levying taxes w/out the consent of Parliament, were unconstitutional

NL stressed the duties over the rights of govt & individuals, but in the 1600's as a result of the works of Locke & others, NL began to emphasize natural rights

Locke argued that govtl authority depends on the people's consent

See Also: John Locke

Today, many reject the NL & natural rights theories, believing that all laws, including those guaranteeing civil rights, are simply devices that people find convenient or useful at a particular time

Civil rights have long been protected in the constitutional democracies of Western Europe including France, the UK, Switzerland, & the Scandinavian countries

Personal liberties are also secure in such newer democracies as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, & the US

Many of the newer nations of Africa & Asia have adopted constitutions that guarantee basic civil rights, but unstable govts & inexperience w/ self rule have often led to political arrests, censorship, & other denials of civil rights

Most nondemocratic govts claim to protect civil rights, but in practice, they grant civil rights only when they find it politically convenient to do so

China's Constitution, for example, guarantees the right to vote & assures freedom of speech, of the press, & of assembly, but China's Communist Party completely controls the govt, the newspapers & other forms of communication, & the people may be punished if they publicly criticize the party

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 which states that all people are born free & are equal in dignity & rights

Many experts in international law believe that the declaration lacks legal authority, but most agree that it has high moral authority

The Limits of Civil Rights

All civil rights have limits, even in democratic countries

For example, a person may be denied freedom of speech in a democracy if it can be shown that his or her speech might lead to the overthrow of the govt

A person may not use civil rights to justify actions that might seriously harm the health, welfare, safety, or morals of others

In 1919, US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., wrote: "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre & causing a panic."

A person may be denied a civil right if that right is used to violate other people's rights

Freedom of expression, for example, does not permit a person to tell lies that ruin another person's reputation

Property owners have the right to do what they choose w/ their property

Property rights may not allow a person legally to refuse to sell property to a person of a certain race or religion because the property owner would be denying the other person equal freedom of choice

The specific limits of civil rights vary w/ the times

In time of war, a govt may restrict personal freedoms to safeguard the country

Changing social & economic conditions also cause changes in the importance that people give certain rights

During the late 1800s, most people in the US valued property rights more than personal freedoms

Since the late 1930s, most Americans have shown greater concern for personal freedoms & equality of opportunity

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Outline on the Civil Rights Mvmt

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The US has many minority groups, including blacks, Jews, Asian Americans, Europeans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, homosexuals, & people w/ handicaps

Members of minority groups often have not had an equal chance for economic, political, social advancement, denied suffrage, etc.

Note that "minority" signifies that the group either is smaller in population, & / or has less rights than the "majority" & thus a more populous group, like blacks in So Africa, may be considered a minority

Many persons have been discriminated against in housing, education, & employment, & have been denied equal access to restaurants, hotels, & other public accommodations & facilities

A main goal has been to end such discrimination & guarantee equal rights & opportunities for all people

In everyday usage in the US, the civil rights mvmt is often considered to be the black civil rights mvmt, & while many groups have struggled for increased civil right, this analysis will focus on the black civil rights mvmt

Black Americans, who historically have made up the largest minority group in the US (they are now tied w/ Hispanics at about 13%), have been denied their full civil rights more than any other minority group

The civil right mvmt (CRM) has three phases, including the legal phase, the public action phase, & the militant phase

The Legal Phase of the CRM 1910-1954

The legal phase of the CRM took place mostly in the court system & thus the general population, white & black, was unaware of it

During the legal phase of the CRM, public demonstrations were rare

The legal phase reached it's zenith in 1954 w/ the Brown v. Board of Ed. of Topeka decision by the Supreme Ct. which ordered the desegregation of public schools

See Also: Brown v. Board of Ed. of Topeka decision

The Brown decision brought the civil rights mvmt & the issues of segregation, etc. into the public spotlight & began the public action phase of the CRM

The decisions won in the Supreme Ct. turned the CRM struggle into a national one & pitted racist whites against the forces of the govt

The Public Action Phase of the CRM 1954-1968

There was strong resistance to ending school segregation by whites & it drew in the governors of several states as well as Presidents Truman & Eisenhower

As the resistance to segregation grew, the general public became aware of the mvmt for black civil rights

The black civil rights mvmt, as headed by the NAACP & other groups had accomplished much of what it had hoped to accomplish & thus changed it's tactics from legal action to public action, including demonstrations, marches, & boycotts

Because the Legal Phase of the CRM was unknown to most of the public, many believe that the black CRM began at when King organized the early nonviolent protests

The black civil rights movement began at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery in 1955

The church's minister, Martin Luther King, Jr., organized a nonviolent protest group to help carry out a boycott against the Montgomery bus system

The Montgomery bus boycott came after a black passenger was arrested for refusing to yield her seat to a white person

Demonstrations, marches, & boycotts were aimed at strengthening the mvmt by drawing attention to it in order to attack members & resources & to gain general public sympathy

Demonstrations, marches, & boycotts were also aimed at reluctant social institutions, in effect forcing them to obey newly changed federal laws

By the late 1960s, the CRM had accomplished many of it's goals of integration, which created the conditions leading to the third phase of the CRM, the Militant Phase

The Militant Phase of the CRM 1968-1970s

In general, when any soc mvmt matures, it becomes more moderate & radical members become unhappy w/ the leadership, goals, tactics, etc. & tend to split off into splinter groups

See Also: The Developmental Stages of Soc Mvmts

Young, urban blacks in the 1960s became dissatisfied w/ older, established, conservative civil rights leaders leading to the creation of the Black Panthers & other groups

Fragmentation of the CRM could also be seen in revolutionary demands from some segments of the mvmt

Fragmentation & militancy increased w/ the assassinations of Medgar Evers & Dr. Martin Luther King by whites

While the CRM, the NAACP & other orgs are still powerful today, some believe that the fragmentation & radicalization of the splinter groups as well as the very success of the early CRM has ultimately reduced its power

The Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland

The British & the Irish have been at war for centuries

Today, the Catholics in Northern Ireland claim that Protestants violated their civil rights & discriminate against them in jobs, housing, & other areas

When the govt tried to stop a civil rights demonstration in Londonderry in 1968, bloody riots broke out

Serious riots occurred again in 1969 in Belfast & Londonderry

Troops were sent to Northern Ireland to restore order but failed to prevent further rioting

Meanwhile, the pro-Catholic Irish Republican Army (IRA) & other militant groups carried out bombings & other terrorist attacks

In 2004, there is an effective truce in the Protestant - Catholic conflict in Northern Ireland

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Outline on Segregation & Jim Crow Laws

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Segregation

Segregation is often based on differences of race, religion, wealth, culture, etc. because many people consider such differences highly important

Segregation can occur in almost any area of life & it is particularly evident in housing, education, & employment, & in the use of eating, sleeping, transportation, & other public facilities

Almost all systems of segregation discourage marriage btwn people of different racial, religious, or social groups

In the US, for example, many states once outlawed marriage btwn blacks & whites, but in 1967, the Supreme Court of the US ruled such laws unconstitutional

Segregation almost always involves some kind of discrimination by one group against another

The term discrimination refers to actions or practices by members of a dominant group that limit the opportunities of a less powerful group

See Also: Social Differentiation & Discrimination

The dominant (more powerful) group sometimes uses force, law, or custom to segregate a subordinate (less powerful) group

In time, segregation comes to be considered right, especially by the dominant group

Violations of the accepted code of segregation are considered wrong, & people who break the code are believed to deserve stern punishment

Further support for segregation comes from hostile attitudes & feelings btwn groups

The dominant group typically believes its members are born w/ superior intelligence, talents, & moral standards

Social scientists call these false or exaggerated beliefs stereotypes

The dominant group uses stereotypes to justify its mistreatment of the subordinate group while the subordinate group develops fear & dislike toward the dominant group

Members of the dominant group are expected to have, & usually do have, the best education, homes, jobs, & public services & as a result, their beliefs of superiority are strengthened

Most do not consider the system unfair but regard it as the proper way for society to distribute its resources

Likewise, the subordinate group may have a sense of inferiority that is reinforced by a system that denies it the social, political, & economic benefits enjoyed by others

Subordinate groups try to make up for their low position by developing intense group loyalty & making special efforts to resist & overcome the limitations of separation

Jim Crow

Jim Crow is one form of segregation which is the separation of groups of people by custom or by law

Jim Crow laws, first developed in a few Northern states in the early 1800s, were adopted by many Southern states in the late 1800s

Jim Crow refers to practices, institutions, or laws that result from or support segregation of blacks from whites

The term Jim Crow came into common use in the 1880s, when racial segregation was made legal in many parts of the Southern US

The term Jim Crow originally referred to a black character in a popular song composed in the 1830s

The Jim Crow segregation laws required that whites & blacks use separate public facilities

No detail was too small as seen that OK required that whites & blacks use separate telephone booths, AR specified separate gambling tables, courts provided separate Bibles for swearing in witnesses

Several Southern states adopted grandfather clauses & other Jim Crow laws that deprived African Americans of their voting rights

The rapid spread of segregation laws through the South was supported by a series of Supreme Court decisions

The most influential pro-segregation case was Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 in which the court supported the constitutionality of a Louisiana law requiring separate but equal facilities for whites & blacks in railroad cars

De jure (by law) racial segregation was strengthened by this decision for more than 50 years, during which many states used the "separate but equal" rule to segregate African Americans in public schools & in transportation, recreation, sleeping, & eating facilities

See Also: The Growth of Discrimination & Segregation in the US

Other Segregation in the United States

In the 1800s white settlers took much land from native Americans & forced them to move to reservations

Since the arrivals of whites in the US, most native Americans have suffered political & economic discrimination

As immigration proceeded throughout US history, discrimination against each immigrant group in turn has been common

Discrimination against immigrants has often been accompanied by discrimination against a particular religious or national group

As immigrants become integrated into the national culture, for many immigrant groups, the discrimination they experienced upon arrival in the US has waned

The US has significant immigrants from several nations, including the English, French, German, Irish, Italian, Hispanic, Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, African, as well as people from eastern Europe & SE Asia

During the late 1800s & early 1900s, Congress passed laws to stop immigration from Asia

During World War II, after Japan attacked a US naval base in 1941, thousands of loyal Japanese Americans lost many of their constitutional rights & were imprisoned in detention camps

Immigrants from Mexico, Puerto Rico, & southern & eastern Europe also have suffered discrimination

Segregation of other minorities has generally been less forceful & less obvious

Many Jewish Americans, for example, have been excluded from certain residential areas

Many have also been discriminated against in educational & job opportunities by quotas that limited Jewish participation in colleges & other institutions

These practices have steadily declined since the 1930s, but Jewish Americans still face subtle forms of discrimination

Such discrimination occurs in some social clubs, in political nominations, in promotions to the top positions in large corps, & in other areas

Sometimes segregation is voluntary rather than forced & so sociologists distinguish btwn a segregated ghetto & an ethnic area of choice

A ghetto is, in effect, a prison, because forced segregation gives its people little choice of living elsewhere

The term ghetto also refers to an ethnic area of choice is a community where members of a group prefer to live, though they could live elsewhere

Many US cities have communities of such groups as Italian Americans & Polish Americans.

Most of the pro-discrimination laws were declared invalid by several Supreme Court decisions in the 1950s & 1960s & by the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 & 1968

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Outline on the Growth of Discrimination & Segregation in the US

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During the late 1800s, blacks in the South suffered from segregation, the loss of voting rights, & other forms of discrimination

Black's condition reflected beliefs held by most Southern whites that whites were born superior to blacks w/ respect to intelligence, talents, & moral standards

In 1881, the TN legislature passed a law that required railroad passengers to be separated by race

In 1890, MS adopted several measures that in effect ended voting by African Americans

Laws of discrimination included the passing of reading & writing tests & the payment of a poll tax before a person could vote

MORE SEGREGATION ENACTED INTO LAW

Several decisions of the US Supreme Court enabled the Southern states to establish "legal" segregation practices

In 1883 the court declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 to be unconstitutional

The Civil Rights Act of 1875 had guaranteed blacks the right to be admitted to any public place

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 & the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868, had forbidden the states to deny equal rights to any person

But in 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson that a Louisiana law requiring the separation of black & white railroad passengers was constitutional

In Plessy, the court argued that segregation in itself did not represent inequality & that separate public facilities could be provided for the races as long as the facilities were equal

The Plessy ruling, known as the "separate but equal doctrine," became the basis of Southern race relations

In practice nearly all the separate schools, places of recreation, & other public facilities provided for blacks were far inferior to those provided for whites

DISTINCTION

In spite of the increasing difficulties for African Americans, a number of them won distinction during the late 1800s

Samuel Lowery started a school for blacks in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1875 & won prizes at international fairs for silk made at the school

In 1883, Jan E. Matzeliger invented a revolutionary shoe-lasting machine that shaped the upper part of a shoe & fastened it to the sole

In 1887, Joe Clark & a group of other blacks founded Eatonville, FL which was the first African American settlement in the US to be incorporated

Mary Church Terrell helped found the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 & advised govt leaders on racial problems

Charles Waddell Chesnutt wrote The Conjure Woman, published in 1899 becoming the first major African American novelist & short-story writer

DISCRIMINATION IN THE 1900s

During the early 1900s, discrimination against Southern blacks became even more widespread

By 1907, every Southern state required racial segregation on trains & in churches, schools, hotels, restaurants, theaters, & other public place

The Southern states also adopted an election practice known as the white primary

The states banned blacks from voting in the Democratic Party's primary elections by calling them "private affairs"

But the winners of the primary elections were certain of victory in the general elections because Republican & independent candidates got little support from whites & rarely ran for office

By 1910, every Southern state had taken away or begun to take away the right of African Americans to vote

The Ku Klux Klan also attempted to keep blacks from voting through an increased use of threats, beatings, & killings

More than 3,000 blacks had been lynched during the late 1800s, & the Klan & members of similar groups lynched hundreds more throughout the South during the early 1900s

ECONOMIC DISCRIMINATION

African Americans had little opportunity to better themselves economically

Some laws prohibited them from teaching & from entering certain other businesses & professions

Large numbers of blacks had to take low paying jobs as farm hands or servants for white employers

Many other blacks became sharecroppers or tenant farmers

They rented a small plot of land & paid the rent w/ money earned from the crops

They had to struggle to survive, & many ran up huge debts to their white landlords or the town merchants

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Outline on Discrimination in Other Countries

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HISTORIC DISCRIMINATION AGAINST JEWS

Segregation has existed for many centuries

During the Middle Ages, from the 400s to the 1500s, segregation was especially directed against European Jews

In many countries, Jews had to live in city ghettos

Laws prohibited Jews in the Middle Ages from owning land, joining labor guilds, or practicing medicine or law

As a result, many Jews could earn a living only in occupations avoided by Christians, including money lending & tax collecting

Because of their expertise in all matters financial, the Jewish community was an important part of many societies

The stereotypes & prejudices about Jews related to finances are thus the result of their being forced into financial occupations & the reluctance of the majority to engage in these occupations

Despite the discrimination they experienced, Jewish communities were often quite successful & often this success created animosity w/in the majority community

At times Jews were accepted & well integrated into a society & then they would be violently scapegoated in the form of genocide

SACRED DISCRIMINATION

Segregation also can occur along religious lines, w/ sacred approval

Prejudicial & discriminatory practices often are based, at least in part, on an ideology based in religious beliefs

Prejudice & discrimination was primarily based on nationalistic ideologies of one nation or city state against another until the Middle Ages when Christian religions became the primary ideology justifying prejudice, discrimination, as well as exploitation, imperialism, conquest, & slavery

Even today, the biases inherent in modern religions are still embraced by that particular religion's adherents as true & just while they view other religions' beliefs as not only wrong but evil

It is a sociological fact that every major religion today contains many biased, prejudiced, & discriminatory beliefs & advocates practices in conjunction w/ these dysfunctional beliefs

An example is the complex Hindu system of separation by castes (social categories created by ancient religious laws) in India

For about 2,000 years, the many castes remained strictly separated in almost all areas of life

In 1948, the Indian govt began a campaign against the caste system

Progress has been made in reducing the power of the caste system, but strong segregation continues to occur

RACIAL & NATIONAL DISCRIMINATION

In most countries, segregation & discrimination are based on national & racial differences

For example, Koreans living in Japan are typically segregated, discriminated against, & regarded as inferiors by the Japanese

In 1948, the govt of So Africa established a policy of rigid racial segregation called apartheid

This policy aimed to subordinate black Africans in every walk of life

In 1991, the govt repealed the last of the laws that formed the legal basis of apartheid, & in 1994 the country's white leaders handed over power to a new multiracial govt

But much de facto racial segregation remains in South Africa

THE BEGINNING OF THE DECLINE OF DISCRIMINATION

By the end of the 1900s, racial & ethnic segregation had declined in some parts of the world

Several forces led to increased contact across class, cultural, racial, religious, & national lines

These forces included the end of colonialism, the expansion of literacy, the rapid growth of cities, & protest mvmts by subordinated peoples

Other forces encouraging integration were mass migrations & the growth of transportation systems & of mass communication

The first world nations of Japan, Euro, & No Am have experienced the greatest level of fairness & equity in history w/ regard to civil rights, but obviously these nations still have a way to go

Liberties continue to be expanded & violent & institutional acts of prejudice & discrimination are ever more brought into the public eye & punished

But while civil liberties continue to advance, minority groups (in the sociological sense) continue to experience a second class life in terms of income, education, medical care, etc. because the root causes of prejudice & discrimination are in the economic system, not the religious or cultural systems as it appears to be on the surface

According to the Justice in charge of crimes against humanity in the World Court in the Hague, it is likely that Idi Amin of Uganda will be the last dictator to perpetrate genocide & other crimes against humanity & get away w/ it, w/o being charged as a criminal

Today, criminals who commit crimes against humanity are at least charged & pursued by various international tribunals but unfortunately to date few receive much punishment

At best we can say significant pockets of freedom are developing in various societies while in many other nations continue discriminatory practices & are living tragedies of monumental proportions

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Outline on Apartheid

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COLONIZATION & APARTHEID

The Dutch first colonized So Africa in the 1600s & as most Euro colonists did, they instituted discriminatory practices that abused & segregated the local populations, exploiting tribal conflict to their own advantage

Apartheid was, from 1948 until 1991, the So African govt's policy of rigid racial segregation

The word apartheid means separateness in Afrikaans, one of So Africa's official languages

The ruling whites forces the tribes to live in small enclaves, strictly controlling their access to land, work, travel, etc.

Built on earlier So African laws & customs, apartheid classified every So African by race as either (1) black, (2) white, (3) colored (mixed race), or (4) Asian

Apartheid required segregation in housing, education, employment, public accommodations, & transportation

It segregated not only almost all whites from nonwhites but also major nonwhite groups from each other

It also limited the rights of nonwhites to own & occupy land, & to enter white neighborhoods

The So African government tried to justify apartheid by claiming that peaceful coexistence of the races was possible only if the races were separated from one another

White So Africans used apartheid chiefly as a way to control the vast nonwhite majority

LOCAL OPPOSITION TO APARTHEID

Most So Africans strongly opposed apartheid

Leading opposition groups included the African National Congress (ANC)

Nelson Mandella won the Nobel Peace Prize as a result of his leadership of the ANC & his advocacy of non violence resistance to apartheid even while he was imprisoned by the So African govt for 26 yrs

So African Catholic Bishop Desmond Tutu was also an important supporter of the ANC who was black & had status as an international leader

Mandella was, & continues to be a global symbol for the power of the people, of non violent people, to overcome tyranny of any type, anywhere

Most ANC members were blacks

Btwn 1948 & 1991, large numbers of people protested apartheid by staging boycotts, demonstrations, & strikes

Violence often broke out, & thousands of people, most of them blacks, were killed

INTERNATIONAL OPPOSITION TO APARTHEID

Many countries also opposed apartheid

As a result intl pressure, So Africa grew increasingly isolated in the world community

In 1962, the UN General Assembly urged its members to break diplomatic & economic ties w/ So Africa until apartheid was abolished

During the 1980s, a widespread economic boycott of So Africa took hold

Pressure by soc mvmts, govts, college students, corps, & other interest grps created world wide pressure for the end of apartheid, advocating sanctions against any govt or corp directly or indirectly supporting the So African govt or So African corps

THE END OF APARTHEID

In response to domestic & intl pressure, So Africa began repealing apartheid laws in the 1970s & 1980s

Finally, in 1991, the govt repealed the last of the laws that formed the legal basis of apartheid

But apartheid's effects continues even after the laws were repealed

Today, many blacks & other nonwhites continue to face unofficial segregation & discrimination in So Africa

As a part of the reconciliation btwn blacks & whites in So African, tribunals were set up to deal w/ race crimes, loss of property, etc. that occurred under apartheid

Under the So African reconciliation tribunal, those who came forwarded & admitted race crimes, confiscation of property, etc. were given amnesty, but those who did not come forward could be sought out & prosecuted

The So African reconciliation tribunal has been hailed as a model for resolving race based tensions & addressing wrongs that have historical roots

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Outline on the Brown v. Board Ed of Topeka Decision

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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a case decided in 1954 in which the Sup Ct of the US declared racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional

The full name of the case is Brown et al v. Board of Education of Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas

The Sup Ct decided the Brown case together w/ several others that dealt w/ the same issue

The court applied its decision to all of the cases at the same time but the name of the Brown case is almost always used in referring to the decision

TOWARDS DESEGREGATION

The Sup Ct's decision on Brown launched the legal mvmt to desegregate US society

At the time of the Brown v. the Board of Ed decision, many areas of the US, especially in the South, were racially segregated

In segregated areas, blacks & whites went to separate schools, lived in separate neighborhoods, rode in separate parts of buses, & drank from separate drinking fountains

State laws called Jim Crow laws required or permitted separation in all spheres of life

See Also: Segregation & Jim Crow

An 1896 Sup Ct decision in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson permitted separate railroad cars or trains as long as they were equal in nature

The 1896 decision established the "separate but equal" principle, which later was used to uphold other kinds of segregation in the US

Despite the separate but equal principle which was established by Plessy, segregated social systems were never even close to being of equal quality

THE BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION CASE

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), guided by its chief lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, decided to use the Brown case & its companion cases to challenge the "separate but equal" principle

In the Brown case itself, Oliver Brown, an African American railroad worker in Topeka, Kansas, sued the Topeka Board of Education for not allowing Linda Brown, his daughter, to attend Sumner Elementary School, an all white school near her home

The other cases involved w/ the Brown case were similar suits by black parents from other parts of the country

In the Brown case, Marshall attacked the "separate but equal" rule by arguing that segregation harms minority students by making them feel inferior & thus interfering w/ their ability to learn

In a unanimous decision, the court agreed w/ Marshall & declared that separate educational facilities could never be equal

Therefore, segregated schools violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the US, which requires that all citizens be treated equally

AFTER THE BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION CASE

By 1960, however, several Southern states still had no black students enrolled in public schools w/ white students

Some progress was made in these states later in the 1960s, after a series of civil rights protests & the passage of federal laws desegregating other public facilities

In a number of cases, courts used the principles that have been established in the Brown decision to require or uphold the desegregation of public facilities other than schools

In the 1970s, courts ordered many cities to begin busing students btwn neighborhoods to integrate public schools; nevertheless, many black students still attend segregated schools

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Outline on Integration

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INTEGRATION

The term desegregation refers to the process of ending group separation

The term desegregation generally is used to describe efforts to abolish racial segregation in the US

The people most affected by racial segregation in the US have been blacks though as Hispanics grow in numbers, they too are experiencing increased discrimination

Segregation is not limited to the US nor to bias against racial minorities; it has been practiced in various forms in many countries throughout history

During the course of desegregation, two or more separated groups may begin to act toward each other in new, friendlier ways

Integration is the process that occurs when people are no longer segregated & their relationships become more fair & just as they move away from discrimination

Desegregated situations become integrated when people from different groups accept & become friendly toward one another

THE BEGINNING OF DESEGREGATION & INTEGRATION

The system of legal segregation gradually began to crumble in the 1900s

During World War I (1914-1918), orders for military equipment created a great demand for labor & the demand led to mass black migration from the South to the manufacturing centers of the North

The opportunities for blacks increased as they were brought into the military & the industrial labor force

In 1910, about a tenth of all black Americans lived outside the traditional South while today, more than half live outside the South

Thus by the early 1900s blacks were less segregated by region in that they began to migrate across the nation

MIGRATION & ADVANCEMENT

Partly as a result of this migration, blacks, starting in the 1930s, gained increasing prominence in national politics & a fairer hearing in fed courts

One high point was reached in the 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Ed of Topeka, in which the Sup Ct ruled against de jure segregation in public schools

The court held that "in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal"

In 1969, the court ordered public school districts to desegregate "at once"

Beginning in 1973, the Sup Ct ordered school desegregation in certain Northern cities, where school boards had drawn school district lines that contributed to segregation

The Sup Ct often ordered the busing of pupils to ensure that most schools in a district would have a similar proportion of minority group students

Many white people throughout the country, South & North, opposed busing & other desegregation efforts

As a result of white opposition, judges & policy makers began to issue fewer & fewer orders calling for school desegregation

While Presidents Eisenhower & Kennedy opposed desegregation in ed, they were compelled to promote desegregation by the civil rights mvmts as lead by Thurgood Marshall, MLK, & others

By the end of the 1900's, segregation had again increased in public schools

Large numbers of white residents had moved from central cities to suburbs to escape desegregation

This migration, sometimes called white flight, & growth in the number of private schools left public schools in many large cities w/ mostly minority students

INSTITUTIONAL SEGREGATION

In the 1960s, national attention shifted to de facto segregation, that is, segregation in fact

The racial separation of the 1960s developed more by custom than by law in that segregation, discrimination, etc. were & are now, the result more of structural relationships in the economy, ed, religion, & other spheres of society

Although many laws supporting segregation were declared unconstitutional, racial segregation increased during the mid 1900s because of institutional factors

In cities, blacks were almost as segregated in housing at the end of the 1900s as they were at the beginning of the century

Institutional segregation remained one of the most serious problems facing people of color

Many blacks suffered from a practice called steering, which is also known as red lining, in which real estate agents showed them housing only in areas that already had many black residents

Laws prohibit such practices as steering, but many victims find it hard & expensive to get compensation from courts

ENDING INSTITUTIONAL SEGREGATION

Efforts to eliminate segregation have to some degree benefited middle class blacks

Mid class blacks account for about a quarter of all black Americans, & they have the ed & the skills to take advantage of new opportunities even though they still face discrimination

The economic & political situation has not basically improved for millions of unskilled, low income blacks

In some ways, the poor are worse off than they were in the 1950s

Segregation & racial discrimination have been basic causes of racial riots in American cities since the 1960s

The riots have represented, among other things, a mixture of desperation & defiance & are the result of structural poverty

LAWS ADDRESS SOME OF THE FACETS OF INSTITUTIONAL SEGREGATION

Anti discrimination laws are a major tool for breaking down de facto segregation

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides protection against discrimination in employment & ed

The Civil Rights Act & other laws were passed as a result of the civil rights mvmt's efforts & the riots of the 1960s

Many such laws have inadequate means of enforcement

By the end of the 1990s, many black communities turned their efforts toward creating effective, supportive, separate schools for black children

The curriculum in such schools emphasized African art, music, & culture; the achievements of black African civilizations; & African American history

There were also attempts to create more black owned businesses & self help orgs

As a group, these ed & soc mvmts were known as Afrocentrism

MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO OF INSTITUTIONAL SEGREGATION & DISCRIMINATION

The process of integration is a long & complicated process that results from changes in laws, culture, social structures, ideology, etc.

Integration has progressed in many nations and continues to lurch forward, as well as regress in some respects in the US

After the 1960s, schools & businesses that conducted operations across state boarders were mandated to demonstrate that they either had achieved racial equity or were moving toward this goal under a policy called affirmative action

By the late 1980s, affirmative action was under attack & by the 1990s no institutions other than schools practiced affirmative action

Schools continued to engage in affirmative action under the goal of achieving racial equity in their student bodies

School centered affirmative action was justified on the principle that the goals of ed, to produce well rounded citizens could only be achieved in an integrated env

In 2007 the Sup Ct ruled that schools may not promote the goal of racial balance in their student body

Schools are now prohibited from using race as a criteria in any shape, manner, or form when admitting students

Given that the period of affirmative action is over, integration will continue only as current laws prohibiting discrimination are enforced & as the structural causes of segregation such as poverty are alleviated

Because school districting is primarily based on geographic location, & because people choose to live in a geographic location based primarily on economic factors, it is expected that people will increasingly self segregate in choosing schools

Because ed attainment is a primary factor in determining economic success, it is likely that the 2007 Sup Ct ruling will increase institutional / self segregation & increase poverty for blacks

Under current conditions one can expect the cycle of poverty whereby segregation in housing creates segregation in ed, which increases the income gap, which increases segregation in housing to condition & worsen conditions

Internal
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Outline on the NAACP

External
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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the US which works to end discrimination against blacks & other minority groups

The NAACP achieves many goals through legal action, such as its part in the 1954 ruling of the Sup Ct of the US that segregation of blacks in public schools is unconstitutional

Thurgood Marshall, a lawyer from the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, presented the argument in the case, known as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

Marshall later became a Justice of the US Sup Ct

The NAACP also achieves its goals through legislative action

The NAACP played a leading role in obtaining passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which protects the right to vote

The Civil Rights Act established the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice & the Commission on Civil Rights

The NAACP worked for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids discrimination in public places

The Civil Rights Act established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

The NAACP also helped bring into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protects voter registration

ACTIVITIES

The NAACP has worked successfully to fight discrimination in housing & to strengthen the penalties for violations of civil rights

In the 1970s & 1980s, the NAACP helped win extensions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

The NAACP also led successful efforts in 1972 to increase the power of the EEOC

In 1986, the NAACP successfully campaigned for the US to impose economic sanctions against So Africa because of its system of racial segregation, called apartheid

The NAACP helped obtain passage of an amendment in 1988 that strengthened the Fair Housing Act of 1968

The organization strives to protect the rights of prison inmates

Its investigation of problems facing black military personnel led to changes in the system of military assignments & promotions

The NAACP sponsors a program of voter ed & registration

It works for desegregation of public schools & fights dismissals & demotions of black teachers & administrators that it considers discriminatory

It urges publishers to produce textbooks that provide an accurate account of the achievements & activities of blacks

The NAACP also seeks to reduce the number of students who drop out of school & to encourage & reward academic, scientific, & artistic excellence among black students

The NAACP also acts to reduce poverty & hunger as in 1968, when the organization established the Mississippi Emergency Relief Fund to feed poor blacks in the Mississippi Delta area

Internal
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Outline on the History of the Civil Rights Mvmt

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BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

By the early 1900s, educator Booker T. Washington had become the most influential black leader

Washington, a former slave, had been principal of Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) since 1881

Washington urged blacks to stop demanding political power & social equality & to concentrate on economic advancement

Washington especially encouraged blacks to practice thrift & respect hard labor

Washington asked whites to help blacks gain an ed & make a decent living

Washington believed his program of segregation & hard work would lead to progress for blacks & would keep peace btwn the races

WEB BU BOIS

The chief opposition to Washington came from W. E. B. Du Bois, a sociologist & historian at Atlanta University

Du Bois' reputation rested on such works as The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, 1638-1870 (1896) & The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

Du Bois argued that Washington's approach would not achieve economic security for blacks

Instead, Du Bois felt Washington's acceptance of segregation & the rest of his program would strengthen the beliefs that blacks were inferior & could be treated unequally

As evidence for their position, Du Bois & his supporters pointed to the continuing lynching of blacks & to the passage of additional segregation laws in the South

THE NIAGARA MVMT

In 1905, Du Bois & other critics of Washington met in Niagara Falls, Canada, & organized a campaign to protest racial discrimination which became known as the Niagara Mvmt

Bitter hostility toward blacks erupted into several race riots during the early 1900s

See Also: Race Riots

The Niagara Mvmt, which existed from 1905 to 1910, was an org founded by blacks to fight racial discrimination in the US

At its height, the Niagara Mvmt had 30 branches in various US cities

The Niagara Mvmt failed to win the support of most blacks, but many of its ideas were adopted in 1909 by a new interracial organization, the NAACP

The race riots of the early 1900s were one of the factors leading to the formulation of the Niagara Mvmt which resulted in the founding of the NAACP

THE EARLY NAACP

In 1909, a number of white Northerners joined some of the blacks in the Niagara Mvmt, founded in Niagara Falls, Canada, to form the NAACP

The NAACP vowed to fight for racial equality & it relied mainly on legal action, education, protests, & voter participation to pursue its goals

See Also: The History of the NAACP

Du Bois, a black professor at Atlanta University, led the early NAACP

The mvmt placed the responsibility for racial problems in the US on whites & thus opposed the view of the famous black educator Booker T. Washington, who urged blacks to stop demanding equal rights

Various branches of the mvmt demanded voting rights for blacks, opposed school segregation, & worked to elect candidates who promised to fight race prejudice

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MVMT IN THE 1950s

In 1954, the Sup Ct of the US had ruled that compulsory segregation in public schools was unconstitutional

In 1955 & 1956, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., directed the Montgomery bus boycott

In 1955, the Sup Ct ordered that public school desegregation be carried out "with all deliberate speed."

But many Southern school districts continued to have segregated schools

Many blacks refused to ride in public buses in Montgomery because the law required them to sit in the rear

In 1956, a federal court ordered Montgomery to desegregate its buses

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MVMT IN THE 1960s

But in 1963, Gov George C. Wallace personally tried to halt the integration of Alabama's public schools

In June, he stood in the doorway of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa & refused to admit two blacks

President Kennedy called the National Guard to active duty, & the troops enforced the law in Alabama & across the nation

In September, Wallace tried to prevent the integration of public elementary & secondary schools in several cities

President Kennedy again called in the National Guard, & the black students were admitted

Since 1963, Alabama has gradually integrated most of its public schools

In March 1965, King led a five day march from Selma to Montgomery to protest discrimination in voter registration

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LBJ's Great Society legislation also dealt w/ civil rights

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is considered one of the strongest anti discrimination laws in US history

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 broke down many restrictions that had been used to keep blacks from voting

The Great Society program also included a wide range of efforts to improve the environment

Johnson continued to promote liberal legislation throughout his presidency, but by the end of 1966, congressional acceptance of his ideas had slowed

The country's increasing participation in the Vietnam War had moved attention away from domestic reforms such as civil rights

In 1969, the Sup Ct departed from its "all deliberate speed" doctrine & ordered the integration of all school systems "at once"

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MVMT IN THE 1970s

Major changes in the field of civil rights occurred during the 1970s

Earlier civil rights efforts had involved lawsuits & other attempts to protect individual rights but in the 70s, the emphasis shifted from individual rights to group rights

The fed govt began to enact laws designed to assure rights for groups such as the disabled that formerly had suffered discrimination

The govt began a program of affirmative action which consists of efforts to counteract past discrimination by giving special help to disadvantaged groups

Typical measures included recruiting drives among women & minority groups, & special training for minority workers

The govt required such plans to be set up by businesses that had govt contracts, by other employers, & by schools receiving federal funds

See Also: Affirmative Action

Efforts to help groups that had suffered discrimination raised a number of new civil rights issues

Many people felt the govt violated the principle of equality under the law by giving preference to certain groups at the expense of others

Some white men complained of reverse discrimination, saying they were treated unfairly because of their race & sex

Other individuals believed such efforts were necessary to help the disadvantaged overcome past discrimination & eventually compete on an equal basis w/ white males

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MVMT IN THE 1980s

By the 1980s, public schools in the South were more integrated than those in many Northern & Western states

In 1990, Congress passed the Americans w/ Disabilities Act to protect handicapped people from discrimination by private employers

In 1995, the Sup Ct ruled that a federal program requiring preference based on a person's race is unconstitutional unless the preference is designed to make up for specific instances of past discrimination

The Sup Ct's ruling that racial preference must be based on specific instances of past discrimination meant that affirmative action could no longer be used to counteract racial discrimination by society as a whole

In 1989, the Sup Ct had made a similar decision that racial preference must be based on specific instances of past discrimination regarding state & local programs

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MVMT IN THE 1990s

In 1996, the Sup Ct struck down an amendment to the Colorado Constitution that forbade laws protecting homosexuals from discrimination

In 1986, the Sup Ct had ruled that states could outlaw homosexual conduct

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MVMT IN THE 2000s

In 2007, the Sup Ct ruled that race may not be used as a factor to create student body diversity on school campuses denying that diversity has a positive value in educating well rounded citizens

Supporters of the Sup Ct ruling prohibiting the role of race as a factor in any school decisions believe that finally race has been eliminated as a factor in the American school system

Opponents of the Sup Ct ruling prohibiting the role of race as a factor in any school decisions believe that race remains a factor in Am society & that promoting racial diversity in schools has a positive value for students & the nation

In 2007, the Sup Ct ruled that student expression on illicit drug issues could be regulated by school officials upholding a ban of messages promoting illicit drug use, specifically finding that the "Bong hits 4 Jesus" poster was a violation of school policy

Supporters of the Sup Ct ruling prohibiting illicit drug speech believe that some regulation of student speech is acceptable & in the interest of society

Opponents of the Sup Ct ruling prohibiting illicit drug speech believe that regulation of student speech is a dangerous violation of the freedom of speech

Internal
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Outline on the History of NAACP

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DU BOIS

Du Bois (1868-1963) was one of the most important leaders of African American protest in the US

During the first half of the 1900s, Du Bois became the leading black opponent of racial discrimination

Du Bois also won fame as a historian & sociologist & historians still use his research on blacks in American society

Du Bois strongly opposed the noted African American educator Booker T. Washington

Washington believed that blacks could advance themselves faster through hard work than by demands for equal rights

However, Du Bois declared that blacks must speak out constantly against discrimination

According to Du Bois, the best way to defeat prejudice was for college educated blacks to lead the fight against it

Du Bois was probably the first black to express the idea of Pan Africanism which is the belief that all people of African descent have common interests & should work together to conquer prejudice

In 1900, Du Bois predicted that humanity's chief problem of the new century would be "the color line."

To fight racial discrimination, Du Bois founded the Niagara Mvmt in 1905 which helped establish the NAACP

From 1910 to 1934, Du Bois was editor of the NAACP magazine The Crisis

THE EARLY NAACP

The NAACP was founded in 1909 by 60 black & white citizens & by 1910, the org began to publish Crisis, a magazine about blacks who have achieved success in the arts, business, & other fields

The NAACP remained mostly a northern org until James Weldon Johnson became the field secretary & organizer in 1917

JW Johnson expanded the NAACP into the South & by 1919 it had grown to over 91 K members

During the NAACP's first 30 years, it worked to prevent violence against blacks, unjust legal penalties, & job discrimination

Much of the activity of the early NAACP centered on the passage & enforcement of anti lynching laws

In 1929 Charles Houston became the dean of the Howard University School of Law, a prestigious, black university

Houston turned Howard into the country's top black law school

Howard University became a training school for a generation of black lawyers who were determined to use legal means to end segregation

Du Bois left the NAACP in 1934 & returned to the faculty at Atlanta University

In 1935, Houston became the legal advisor of the NAACP

NAACP IN THE WAR & POST WAR PERIOD

During World War II (1939-1945), the NAACP tried to obtain equal rights for black military personnel & more job opportunities for black civilians

After the war, the association stepped up its long struggle against the policy that treated blacks as "separate but equal."

This policy of "separate but equal," had been established in 1896 by the Supreme Court's ruling in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson

See Also: Segregation & Jim Crow

From 1944 to 1948, Du Bois again worked for the NAACP

After 1948, Du Bois became increasingly dissatisfied w/ the slow progress of race relations in the US & he came to regard Communism as a solution to the problems of blacks.

In 1961, Du Bois joined the Communist Party & moved to Ghana

The NAACP has hundreds of thousands of members & hundreds of youth councils & receives funds from membership fees & from private donations

It has headquarters in Baltimore. It has a legislative bureau in Washington, D.C. The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, which has been an independent organization since 1957, is headquartered in NYC

SNCC

Julian Bond helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced "snick") which has been both a competitor & an ally of the NAACP

From 1960 to 1963, Bond led student protests against segregation in public facilities

Bond helped found the Southern Poverty Law Center & he was the organization's president from 1971 to 1979

The Southern Poverty Law Center works through the courts to protect the legal rights of poor people of all races like the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund (LDF)

THE NAACP IN THE 1980s

William F. Gibson was the board chairman of the NAACP from 1985 to 1995

At the end of Gibson's term, the NAACP's financial & personnel practices under both Gibson & executive director Benjamin Chavis, who was dismissed in 1994 were under internal investigation

When she defeated Gibson, Myrlie Evers-Williams, (1933-...), served as chairwoman of the board of the NAACP from 1995 to 1998

In 1951, she married Medgar Evers, who later became the NAACP's Mississippi field secretary

In 1963, Medgar Evers was assassinated as he toured the South organizing for civil rights & more than 30 years later, in 1994, Evers-Williams played a key role in winning the conviction of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith for the murder

The next election followed months of public disagreement & so Evers-Williams did not seek reelection in 1998

THE NAACP IN THE 1990s

Mfume became president & chief executive officer of the NAACP in 1996 when he resigned from the US House to accept the position

Mfume, a Maryland Democrat, had been a member of the House since 1987

From 1992 to 1994, Mfume served as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, an org of black members of Congress that promotes the interests of blacks

In 1994, he was appointed to the Democratic Policy Committee, which controls committee assignments for House Democrats

In Congress, Mfume promoted the interests of the poor when, for example in 1993 he helped pass legislation that made more people eligible for food stamps & increased the availability of immunizations for uninsured children

Internal
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Outline on the NAACP-LDF

External
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- Project: Comparing Strategies

In 1930, Nathan Margold was commissioned by the NAACP to develop a direction for the NAACP to take in its legal battle to end segregation

The Margold Plan argued that the NAACP should focus their attention on legal cases that would be heard in fed courts & that challenged the constitutionality of segregation laws

The Margold Plan laid the groundwork for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (NAACP-LDF)

Because the NAACP was a political association, it cannot have a tax exempt status for donations

In 1940, the NAACP-LDF was established w/ tax exempt status to attract wealthy donors

Thurgood Marshal (1908-1993) led the LDF through the 1940s & 1950s, focusing on cases that would set legal precedents & would lead to the end of segregation through legal channels

In 1957, the LDF operated independently from the NAACP & most important legal battles were fought by the LDF alone while the NAACP focused on political action & public opinion

From 1938 to 1950, Marshall served as chief counsel for the NAACP & won the Spingarn Medal in 1946

From 1940 to 1961, Marshall was director & chief counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund

Marshall presented the legal argument that resulted in the 1954 Sup Ct decision that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional

In 1961, Marshall was appointed to the US Court of Appeals

In 1965, Marshall was appointed solicitor general of the US, which is a lawyer who argues cases before the Supreme Ct. for the govt

Marshall was the first black justice of the Sup Ct of the US, appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson

As a justice, Marshall took liberal positions on a wide variety of issues, including capital punishment, free speech, school desegregation, the rights of welfare recipients, & affirmative action

The NAACP-LDF brought cases to the Sup Ct that outlawed segregation & discrimination in transportation, education, & eventually every aspect of life in the US

Prior to the Brown v. the Topeka Board of Ed in 1954, Southern states required by law that black children & white children be sent to separate schools & the Brown decision eliminated this school segregation

W/ the Brown victory, the Civil Rights Mvmt was fighting w/ the fed govt against local authorities & politicians who resisted

The Civil Rights Mvmt attacked the law of the land, not the attitudes of the people who lived in it

Changes in fed law made presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, & Johnson allies to the Civil Rights Mvmt against old political powers in the South

The victories of the the NAACP-LDF forced Southern states to change their laws & thus the public action phase of the Civil Right Mvmt shifted to implementation of these laws & the development of customs, i.e. everyday life

By the middle of the 1960s the segregation laws were gone, however many states still allowed discriminatory practices to continue, & these are still fading today

Internal
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Outline of an Analysis of Civil Rights Mvmt Success

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- Project: Opportunities & Goals of the Civil Rights Mvmt

For Locher & other social scientists, the success of the civil rights mvmt is due to SIX factors including leadership, image, tactics, goals, support, & opportunity

Leadership

The civil rights mvmt had determined & intelligent leaders from Du Bois, to Johnson, to Houston, to Margold, to Marshall

The leaders of the civil rights mvmt did not become celebrities & did not promote publicity

The leaders of the civil rights mvmt correctly choose to pursue a path of legal change as opposed to gaining publicity & trying to change attitudes

After the Washington - Du Bois struggle, the leadership of the civil rights mvmt remained fairly powerful & in control of strategy & tactics

Since the completion of the legal battles to end segregation, discrimination, etc. the leadership, strategy, & tactics of the civil rights mvmt have been less effective & united because the opportunities & direction for the mvmt are not as clear

Image

The civil rights mvmt always strove to maintain a professional public image that sought clearly defined, middle of the road goals in harmony w/ American values

Civil rights leaders dressed & acted professionally whenever they appeared in court or in public

When anti communism swept the US in the 1950s, the NAACP-LDF ejected members who even appeared to have communist ties

Du Bois, an avowed communist & founding father of the NAACP, left the org & eventually moved to Ghana, Africa

The ejection of communists from the NAACP was done to maintain the positive image of the mvmt to keep it from being associated w/ socialism or communism

Beside image, the question of communism also impacted the NAACP's goals, strategy, & tactics as discussed below

Tactics

The tactics of the civil rights mvmt changed in each of the phases of the legal phase, the public action phase, & the militant phase

In the legal & public action phases the civil rights mvmt used socially acceptable tactics to maintain their positive image

During the legal phase, all tactics of the civil rights mvmt were legal, while during the public action phase, their tactics sometimes involved breaking the law, but only w/ passive resistance

The legal tactics of the NAACP-LDF proved to be very successful, widely admired, & publicly noncontroversial

See Also: The NAACP-LDF

The tactics of passive resistance & non-violence also proved to be successful, admired, but publicly controversial

The tactics of the militant phase were unsuccessful & were publicly despised & controversial

The tactics of the first two phases of the civil rights mvmt generated public sympathy & admiration for the leaders & followers

The publicity of white police attacking protesters in the 1950s & 1960s helped sway neutral people toward the civil rights mvmt & increased support for the mvmt

The violent urban riots of the late 1960s turned many people against the civil rights mvmt even though these riots emerged spontaneously as a reaction against poverty & discrimination

For the public, the actions of one group can be linked to another, even though there is actually no connection

During each phase, the civil rights mvmt had to react to their opposition which tried to paint them as communist &, or unAmerican

The legal cases brought before the courts, nonviolence, passive resistance & so on were all tactics that even a vehement opposition could not successfully label as communist or unAmerican, despite attempts to do so

Goals

A major goal of the civil rights leaders was to convince the public that their demands were reasonable & fit w/ American values & beliefs

Speeches emphasized the connection btwn the goals of the civil rights mvmt & American values & beliefs

The goals of the first two phases of the civil rights mvmt, the legal, & public action phases, were easily & clearly defined

However, after segregation had been eliminated legally & then largely in practice, the goals of the civil rights mvmt were less clear, & so the mvmt continues today

The lack of focus of the the goals of the civil rights mvmt today is symptomatic of the problem that every social mvmt faces in maturity: once the original goals of a mvmt are achieved, what is to become of the mvmt?

Support

A mvmt's positive public image & clearly defined goals make it easy to obtain support in an open, democratic society & so the civil rights mvmt had strong support in its first two phases

Civil rights mvmt fund raisers were careful not to point our the hypocrisy of supporters who lived segregated lives

Support came from wealthy individuals in the form of money & connections & from middle class individuals in the form of people, work, & solidarity

When urban rioting broke out in the 60s, the support of many liberal & moderate whites was w/drawn

Opportunity

While many mvmts come & go who do have good leaders, goals, support etc., successful mvmts must have the presence of mind to perceive & embrace opportunities in the social env

Opportunity for a social mvmt can be seen in the attitudes of the wider public

Once a mvmt achieves its goals, i.e. embraces an opportunity, then the mvmt has FOUR choices..
- continue on & become irrelevant
- change course to a goal w/o an opportunity & become irrelevant
- change course to a goal w/ an opportunity & become a "new" mvmt
- disband to allow resources to flow to another mvmt

The End

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