I Have A Dream Notes

Earl Warren and the Supreme Court, 1954-55

● Earl Warren was a Supreme Court justice
● During the case Brown v Board of Education, he persuaded other justices that a unanimous decision to
overturn Plessy v Ferguson was needed for a full impact to be made
● Brown I had been the first major attack on legal segregation in the South, and Brown II demanded the
speedy integration of public schools in the South

Victory in Montgomery, 1955-56

● The Montgomery Bus Boycott was sparked by Rosa Parks, the NAACP activist who tested racial
segregation on the public transport system of Montomery, Albama.
● The NAACP sought Dr King as a local black American to publicise the protest
● The Montgomery Improvement Association was founded to coordinate the boycott, for instance by
organising lifts for black Americans
● The boycott propelled Dr King as a civil rights leader, publicised non-violent protest, and led to the
creation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

SCLC and the work of Dr King

What was the main aim of the SCLC?

● To encourage white Americans to participate in the organisation to bring change.
● To encourage all black Americans to seek justice and reject all injustice
● To encourage the use of non-violent protests

Why was it significant?

● From its creation in Montgomery, the SCLC spread across the southern states.
● It acted as an umbrella organisation and coordinated civil rights protests across the south gaining
attention to segregation and civil rights issues
● It was generally successful at bringing about publicity and change, although positive results were limited
initially.

How effective was the crusade for citizenship campaign?

● The crusade for citizenship campaign was an attempt to double black American voter registration.
● The campaign was not very effective due to poor organisation and very limited financial support.

Impact of Martin Luther King up to 1963

What did JFK do in 1963 that showed federal support for the civil rights movement?
● He went nationwide on television to announce that he would introduce a civil rights bill to congress to
outlaw racial segregation.

What is Dr King’s legacy?

● In 1964 he won the Nobel peace prize
● In 1983 president Reagan announced that there would be a MLK day (a national holiday)
● In 2011 a Milk national historic site opened in Washington
I Have A Dream Notes
SNCC
What was the SNCC?
● The student non-violent coordinating committee was a grass roots level organisation that campaigned to
end segregation and achieve equality for black Americans.
● Formed originally by a group of four black students in February 1960
● The youth wing of the civil rights movement

What did it do to aid the civil rights movement?

● February 1st 1960 four black American students entered a Woolworths department store in North
Carolina, sat at an all-white lunch counter and waited to be served
● When staffed refused to served them they sat in until the store closed. This inspired many other similar
lunch-counter demonstrations from feb-aril 1960
● Protests organised by the SCLC and SNCC received media publicity and led to the desegregation of lunch
counters across the south.
● In 1964 SNCC engaged in a major voter registration campaign in Mississippi
● The activities led to the formation of the Mississippi free democratic party which offered an alternative to
the white led democrat party in the state.

CORE
What was CORE?
● The Congress of Racial Equality was founded in the north at the University of Chicago in 1942.
● Like the SCLC and SNCC, CORE believed in non-violent protest

What did it do?

● The Freedoms Rides project 1961 (took desegregated interstate buses from Virginia to Mississippi) to test
the laws on desegregation. (segregation on interstate buses had been declared unconstitutional)

What was the purpose of the freedom rides according to James Farmer (one of the founders of CORE)
● James Farmer said their specific intention was to create a crisis that would force the federal government
to enforce the supreme court decision of desegregation on interstate buses
● Farmer hoped the freedom rides project would provoke white southerners who were opposed to
desegregation to react violently.

How were Farmers objectives realised in 1961?

● At Anniston, Alabama one of the buses carrying the freedom riders was attacked by a white mob and the
bus was burnt
● In other freedom rides CORE members were attacked and beaten by mobs in Birmingham, Alabama and
Jackson, Mississippi
● These events were televised and the national publicity caused uproar
● As a result the Federal Interstate Commerce Commission and the US Justice department were issued
orders to enforce desegregation on interstate buses
● From Nov 1st 1961 all interstate bus facilities such as waiting rooms had to be racially integrated

Tactics and impact of the SCLC, SNCC and CORE

I Have A Dream Notes
What were the tactics of these groups?
● Using non-violent protests to evoke a violent response in racist opponents, especially the authorities,
draw media attention and cause public outrage to provoke positive change for the civil rights movement
How effective were they?
● The placed the difficulties black americans faced surrounding segregation at the top of the political
agenda and forced politicians to act (if what some reluctantly) on legal issues.
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its impact

What did it actually stipulate?

● End to legal segregation
● Desegregation of all public facilities and accommodation
● Federal financial aid given to schools to encourage and speed up the process of integration
● Forbade racial discrimination in all federal programmes- had a big impact on states who wanted
segregation as they could risk losing federal funding

What was its impact- positive or negative?

Civil Rights Act of 1968

What did this Act outlaw?

● Outlawed discrimination on the basis of colour, race, religion or national origin in the rent or sale of
housing
● Outlawed racial segregation in jury selection
● The act made it a federal crime to interfere with voting, work, schooling and participation in federally
assisted programmes on the basis of race or colour
● It also protected civil rights workers from attack, declaring anyone who travelled across state lines to riot
would face fines

Why did it have limited impact?

● Had little impact on desegregating housing across the USA, due in part, to population movement
● White people migrated out of cities to suburbs “white flight” and the black population in cities rose from
6.1 million to 15.3 million.
● Meant inner cities effectively became black ghettos as the relocation of retail parks, malls to the suburbs
mean’t there were limited job opportunities in the inner cities
● Difficult to bring about real change
● 1988 fair housing amendment attempted to tackle the problem

The impact of President Johnson

● Passage of most comprehensive civil rights legislation in history
● Appointed first ever black American cabinet member Robert Weaver and first black American US Supreme
Court Judge

Increasing divisions: the expulsion of white Americans from the SNCC and CORE

SNCC
Explain how and why the SNCC became more radicalised
I Have A Dream Notes
● During the freedom summer when the SNCC engaged in black voter registration across the south many
black americans in the organisation resented the involvement of white students
● Major change in SNCC occured in summer of 1965. Leadership of the organisation became heavily
influenced by two Northern black americans, James Foreman and Stokely Carmicheal. These two activists
ensured the organisation became more radicalized.
● It became aligned to a growing support fo black nationalism and growing disillusionment with the
democratic party

What impact would this have on its chances of success?

● Alienated some white allies and limited their chances of success
● Disillusionment with federal government reinforced when the wite supremist murderers of samuel young
were not brought to justice.

Explain what is meant by Black Power?

●

CORE

Why were black activist in CORE becoming disenchanted?

With the end of legal segregation what became the aims of this group?
Why did white support for CORE dwindle? And later change completely to exclude whites from the organisation?

The Role of Malcom X

pg 144

Martin Luther King: the last years 1966-68

The failure in Chicago 1966

What was MLK trying to achieve in Chicago?

● He wanted to challenge inequality in Chicago where black Americans faced discrimination in housing and
employment.
● He wanted to improve conditions of poverty for Americans and tackle the issue of de facto segregation.
● Tackling poverty was always going to be a huge challenge, especially as it goes against the American
values of the American dream. (in the south MLK wanted to challenge legal segregation which was a lot
easier)

Why did he fail?

● One of the top city bosses in Chicago, the Hon. Richard Daley, stood in opposition King. Mayor Daley
accused the SCLC who MLK was working with of encouraging rioting.
● SCLC in Chicago was poorly organised. Campaign at Gage Park, SCLC were met with hostile white residents
who hurled missiles at the black protestors.

Dr King’s stance on the Vietnam war

I Have A Dream Notes

Why did the SNCC and CORE protest about sending black Americans to fight?

What was Dr King’s view and why did he speak out?

What was the impact of his views on Civil Rights?

The Poor People’s Campaign and the assassination of Martin Luther King

What was it’s aims?

The Immediate impact of Martin Luther King’s death

What was the immediate impact?

What were the further ramifications for the CR movement?

‘MLK was the person most responsible for the improvement in black American civil rights between 1955 and
1965’
How far do you agree with this statement?

AGAINST FOR

● Kings own appeal- challenged

stereotypes (well dressed,
eloquent, well-educated, PhD)
● Bus boycott (national
prominence)
● SCLC leadership- sets
president for other
movements
● Calls out federal government
● I have a dream speech 1963-
Kennedy dresses the nation
and passes CR bill outlawing
discrimination
● Selma march 1965, Lyndon B
Johnson passes voting rights
bill
● MLK ensures this legislation is
enforced
● Palatable for white allies (non-
violent, educated, asking for
what is written in the
constitution), knows the white
people are the people in
power who can legally provide
the change he desires.
I Have A Dream Notes
● Realises he needs to not
alienate white people, instead
challenge racist ways of
thinking and embrace white
allies (letter from Birmingham
jail)
● Figure head for the civil rights
movement, calling out and
putting pressure on governing
bodies but never resorting to
violence.