Civil Rights: North vs South

DETROIT & SELMA

  To be able to argue whether or not it was better in
the North or the South during the Civil Rights Era
Goals for the by looking at Detroit and Selma.
Day  To look at Selma and see the importance it played
in getting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed
Civil Rights Timeline

 13th Amendment- bans slavery: 1865

 Plessy v Ferguson: 1896
 Brown v Board: 1954
 Montgomery Bus Boycott: Dec. 1955-Dec. 1956
 Little Rock 9: 1957
 March on Washington: 1963
 Civil Rights Act: 1964
 Voting Rights Act: 1965
  Selma, Alabama was a city with deeply segregated
laws and policies which were enforced by Gov.
George Wallace

Selma:  In March of 1965 only 2% (300 out of 15,000) of

Selma’s Black population was registered to vote
Background  Because of this the SCLC and SNCC decided to
organize a 54-mile march from Selma to
Montgomery to raise awareness to Selma’s voter
discrimination
Selma: Violence
Breaks Out
 On March 7th, 1965 roughly 600
protestors set out from Selma to
begin their march.
 Upon reaching the Edmund
Pettus Bridge Alabama state
troops and white vigilante groups
rushed the protestors and beat
them with whips, night sticks,
and tear gas.
 This scene was captured on TV
an outraged people and hundreds
more went to Selma to join the
protests
Selma Video

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snx58o2kwoc&ab_channel=NBCUniversalArchives
  On March 9th, 1965 the protestors once again began
their march.
 They made it past the Edmund Pettus Bridge only
Selma: to be turned back at Highway 80 where a young
white minister named James Reeb was beaten and
Continuation killed by segregationists.
 Afterwards Wallace tried to stop the march again,
but the federal courts told him to let the march go
on.
  Following this President Johnson called in the
national guard to protect the marchers and help
them reach Montgomery on March 25th

Selma:  Because of the march Congress would pass the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 that August which
Conclusion guaranteed the right to vote, banned literacy tests,
and set up federal oversight in areas where federal
literacy tests were used.
  In the 1960s the vast majority of Detroit’s police
force was white and there were constant
accusations of police brutality and racial profiling
against the black population of Detroit
Detroit Race  In addition to this, Detroit had taken an economic
Riots: downturn after the auto makers and many people
moved to the suburbs and took their money with
Background them. This lead to mass unemployment in Detroit
 Finally, in Virginia Park (a predominately Black
Neighborhood) there were 60,000 people in less
than 1 sq mi of land.
Detroit: The Riot
Breaks Out
 At 3:35 am on July 23rd, 1967
Detroit police raided a blind pig
operated by William Scott.
 The police were aggressive while
arresting the people in the blind
pig and on lookers threw bottles
at the police.
 This eventually lead to a large
scale riot with thousands of
looters, fires breaking out, and
destroyed businesses.
  Eventually Gov. George Romney will call in 300 state
troopers to help calm the riot down.
 This won’t be enough and Romney will ask President
Johnson to send in federal troops to calm the situation down.
 President Johnson will send in 2000 troops along with tanks
and armored patrol cars.

Detroit: The  They will eventually calm the situation down 5 days later on
July 27th.
Riots End  The riots will leave 7,000 arrested, 43 killed, 1,400 buildings
burned, $50 million in property damage, and 5,000 homeless
 In the aftermath, President Johnson will issue the Kerner
Commission to find out the underlying cause of the riots.
 The Kerner Commission found that underlying
discrimination like police brutality, lack of jobs, and lack of
housing will be the cause of the riots.