Leaders And Legislation Of The Civil Rights And Black Power Movement

Leaders and Legislation of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements

Identify leaders of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements and their contributions to their respective causes. How did these social pioneers forge the way for this important ratification? What legislation was relevant during these critical times?

Part I

Complete the following matrix by identifying 7 to 10 leaders or legislative events from both the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. The first leader is provided as a model.

Leader and Associated Legislation, if any Date(s) L Contribution

A. Philip Randolph 1941 Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which fought Discrimination His threat to march on Washington to protest discriminatory treatment caused former President Franklin D. Roosevelt to react with new policies on job discrimination.

Thurgood Marshall May 17, 1954 NAACP attorney and later the nation’s first Supreme Court black justice (Brunner & Haney, 2007, Ð'¶ 1). Thurgood Marshall was the attorney for the NAACP in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, that went before the Supreme Court (Brunner & Haney, 2007, Ð'¶ 1). The court unanimously concluded that segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional. The case opened the door for the desegregation process to begin (Brunner & Haney, 2007).

Rosa Parks

December 1, 1955 NAACP Member Rosa refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person so she was placed under arrest(Brunner & Haney, 2007, Ð'¶ 3).. Because of this incarceration, the African American people imposed sanctions on bus transportation until the buses were desegregated Dec. 21, 1956 (Brunner & Haney, 2007).

Martin Luther King Jr. 1956-1968 Southern Christian Leadership Conference cofounder and Civil Rights Leader. Mr. King was not just a civil rights leader he was the creator of civil disobedience organizing civil protests, marches, boycotts, and voter registration (Brunner, 2007, Ð'¶ 4).

Daisy Bates and The Little Rock Nine

1957 The Little Rock Nine Daisy Bates organized the Little Rock Nine (Brunner, 2007, Ð'¶ 8). Nine students were the first African American students to stand up against segregation in schools (Brunner, 2007). They attended classes in an all white school against tremendous odds and paved the way for schools to become desegregated (Brunner).

Stokely Carmichael

1961-1967 Field organizer for FNCC and creator of phrase “Black Power” 1966 Mr. Carmichael gave a speech and later wrote a book calling for “Black Power” (Infoplease [I], 2007, Ð'¶ 1).

James Meredith

June 5, 1966 March Against Fear- “Meredith Mississippi Freedom March” On June 5, 1966 who was the first black student to go to the University of Mississippi, began a march alone to encourage Black people to vote (Stanford University [SU], 2007). He was shot on June 6th by a known racist. When Martine Luther King Jr. heard of the shooting, he began a march from the highway where Meredith had been injured (SU). This March encouraged 650 Black Americans to register to vote (SU).

Civil Rights Act 1964 Civil Rights Legislation This act signed by President Lynden B Johnson “prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin” (Brunner & Haney, 2007).

Voting