Many northern cities also had de facto segregation policies, which resulted in a significant gap in educational resources between black and white communities. In Harlem, New York, for example, there has not been a single new school built since the turn of the century, nor a single kindergarten – even when the second great migration caused overpopulation. Existing schools tended to be dilapidated and staffed with inexperienced teachers. Brown helped spur activism among New York parents like Mae Mallory, who, with SUPPORT from the NAACP, launched a successful lawsuit against the city and state on Brown`s principles. Mallory and thousands of other parents stepped up the pressure of the lawsuit with a boycott of the school in 1959. During the boycott, some of the first freedom schools of the time were founded. The city responded to the campaign by allowing more open transfers to high-quality, historically white schools. (New York`s African-American community and Northern desegregation activists in general, however, were now grappling with the problem of white flight.) [60] [61] African Americans returned to politics in the South, and young people across the country were inspired to take action. From 1964 to 1970, a wave of unrest and protests in black communities dampened support for the white middle class, but increased support from private foundations.
[12] The emergence of the Black Power movement, which lasted from 1965 to 1975, challenged the established black leadership because of its cooperative attitude and consistent practice of legalism and nonviolence. Instead, their leaders demanded that in addition to the new laws obtained by the nonviolent movement, the political and economic self-sufficiency of the black community be developed. Support for the Black Power movement came from African Americans who had seen little material improvement since the heyday of the civil rights movement in the mid-1960s, and who still faced discrimination in the areas of work, housing, education, and politics. Many popular representations of the civil rights movement focus on the charismatic leadership and philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr., who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for fighting racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. However, some researchers note that the movement was too diverse to be attributed to a particular person, organization, or strategy. [13] King led nonviolent protest marches in one of the most segregated states in the South – Alabama. As the founder and leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), he was asked to partner with the five major civil rights groups to support the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where he delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech and cemented his place in the history of the civil rights movement. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. The following year he founded the Selma Voting Rights Movement and in 1966 he began his campaign for the North in Chicago. Historian Walter Rucker of the University of North Carolina wrote that “the emergence of Robert F. Williams contributed to the significant decline in racist violence against blacks in the United States.
After centuries of violence against blacks, African Americans across the country began to aggressively defend their communities — using open violence when needed. This, in turn, created a real fear of black revenge among whites. This paved the way for African Americans to use nonviolent protests with less fear of deadly reprisals. [282] Of the many civil rights activists who share this view, Rosa Parks was the most prominent. For this reason, Anthony Lewis (1991) argues that the Court`s decision in Sullivan not only changed the law of defamation, but also saved the civil rights movement. More than 200,000 people of all races gathered in Washington, D.C. for the peaceful march with the primary goal of upholding civil rights laws and creating equal employment for all. The highlight of the march was King`s speech, in which he repeatedly stated, “I have a dream… The march was a success, but not without controversy. An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 protesters gathered outside the Lincoln Memorial, where King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. While many speakers applauded the Kennedy administration for its efforts to secure new, more effective civil rights laws to protect the right to vote and prohibit racial segregation, SNCC`s John Lewis took the government to task for not doing more to protect southern blacks and civil rights activists. who were attacked in the Deep South.
In a concurring opinion, Judge John Marshall Harlan II wrote that a sit-in “is as much a part of the free exchange of ideas as it is of verbal expression.” In Brown v. In Louisiana (1966), the court also relied on the First and Fourteenth Amendments` rights to freedom of speech, assembly, and petition to overturn the convictions of several protesters who participated in a sit-in at a public library. As black militancy increased, ghetto residents directed acts of rage against the police. Black residents, tired of police brutality, continued to revolt. Some young people joined groups like the Black Panthers, whose popularity was based in part on their reputation for confronting police officers. Black riots took place in 1966 and 1967 in cities like Atlanta, San Francisco, Oakland, Baltimore, Seattle, Tacoma, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Newark, Chicago, New York (especially brooklyn, Harlem, and the Bronx), and worst of all in Detroit. The campaign was a failure due to the cunning tactics of Laurie Pritchett, the local police chief, and divisions within the black community. The objectives may not have been specific enough. Pritchett held the protesters without violent attacks on the protesters who inflamed national opinion. He also ensured that arrested protesters were taken to the prisons of surrounding communities, leaving plenty of space to stay in his prison.
Pritchett also foresaw King`s presence as a danger and forced his release to prevent King from rallying the black community. King left in 1962 without having won any spectacular victories. However, the local movement continued the struggle and made significant gains in the following years. [121] For NBC`s The American Revolution of `63, aired September 2, 1963, white supremacist W. J. Simmons (1916-2007), president of the Citizens` Council of America based in Jackson, Mississippi, gave his assessment of the civil rights “revolution.” The real battle in Congress required all of Johnson`s political skill. In the face of strong opposition from many Republicans and most Southern Democrats, he resorted to his powerful personal powers. He told Georgia Senator Richard Russell, a major opponent of civil rights legislation, that “if you get in each other`s way, I`ll crush you.” In the Senate, the president faced a filibuster, a prolonged debate that could have killed the entire bill. The obstruction lasted 83 days, the longest in the history of the Senate. But Johnson managed to get the votes to end it.
He worked on phones himself and personally lobbied for it, “twisted arms” of lawmakers who still didn`t know how to vote. By recruiting White House advisers, civil rights and labor leaders, and key civil rights activists to Congress, he went all out to secure a legislative victory.