The 1964 Civil

Rights Act
Kennedy and King

Learning Objective
To understand the reasons behind
the 1964 Civil Rights Act

To use the skills of source analysis

to discover how useful one source
is

Recap - Birmingham
1963
In 1963 Birmingham was the scene of a large Civil Rights
demonstration

MLK claimed that it was the most segregated city in the

USA

The demonstration faced severe police violence

The pictures on TV shocked the rest of the USA
President Kennedy told Birmingham to stop segregation
Some historians say it was a success because it gained
support for Civil Rights

Other historians say Birmingham was not a total success

Weighing Up
We have seen that some people

say it was a success whilst others

say it wasnt.

You are going to explain what you

think

These are the arguments for

These are the arguments against

The world was shocked by the

pictures of young people being
beaten and bitten by dogs

It was costly in human life and damaged

support for MLK

The public began to say that they

wanted change

Three northern students were murdered in

Mississippi

The leader of the NAACP in Mississippi,

President Kennedy didnt ignore
Medgar Evans, was also murdered outside
public opinion and ordered an end to his house
segregation
Local black people didnt want
Federal authority was once again
demonstrations because once the leaders
prepared to force states to change
and the press had gone home, they had to
their ideas
live with the hostility of the local whites
You will have five minutes to complete
one of these sentences:

The Birmingham demonstration

was successful because ...
The Birmingham demonstration
was not successful because ...

Research Time
Read through pages 78-82 of the
text book

I have a dream ...

Listen to this speech

from Martin Luther

King given on August
28 1963

As you listen to it, take

notes about what you
hear. What words are
used? What does King
want? What is the
reaction of the crowd?