Peaceful protest, 1963 - 1964
Protests in 1963 - 1964 aimed to encourage the The central government in the USA, including the president, Congress and the Supreme Court. to end segregation and improve voting rights for black people. They were non-violent, but the protestors understood that their actions would sometimes trigger violence from supporters of Laws separating black and white people in public places in society.. Even so, they were told not to react to the violence.
The Birmingham protests, 1963
Birmingham, Alabama, was a city that had not desegregated any facilities. A Christian minister who believed in peaceful protest without using violence and who was a key figure in the US civil rights movement. wanted to start a protest there that would receive national publicity. If the inequalities that black people were experiencing were broadcast on television, King hoped it would force the federal government to support civil rights more actively.
In 1963, King organised Project Confrontation, a series of marches and demonstrations. In the first protests of that year, King was arrested. He used his time in prison to write his famous âLetter from Birmingham Jailâ, which defended the actions of the civil rights protestors. These protests, and his arrest, received some publicity, but not enough for King to be satisfied as much as was hoped for when the protests were organised.
Next, under the guidance of King, the student section of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Southern Christian Leadership Conference. A civil rights organisation set up in 1957 based on Christian values that peacefully campaigned against segregation in the USA. led a protest with thousands of school and college students. The authorities reacted and over 1,000 children were arrested alongside older students and adults. Then the A US official responsible for a range of law-enforcement officials., Eugene âBullâ Connor, ordered the police to use violent methods, such as attack dogs and water cannons, against the protestors. Images of the violence made the national news. The campaigners had achieved their aim of receiving national publicity.
President John F Kennedy sent representatives to Birmingham to try to get an agreement between the city leaders and the civil rights campaigners, but violence continued. In the end, the mayor agreed to some Removal of laws that separate people from different races in public places and day-to-day life., as did other southern cities. But segregation continued in many areas of life in Birmingham.
The Birmingham protests had several key outcomes:
- over a thousand students were arrested
- national publicity was given to their cause
- pressure from President Kennedy led to some desegregation in Birmingham
- the president promised he would bring about a new civil rights law
The March on Washington, 1963
During the Birmingham protests, President Kennedy had promised a new law on civil rights.
The major civil rights organisations were determined that Kennedy must stick to his promise and pass a civil rights A proposed new law. When a bill is approved by Congress and the president, it becomes an act and is now the law.. They worked with the federal government to plan a huge march in Washington, DC. The march was organised by A. Philip Randolph.
On 28 August 1963, the protestors marched through the city and then, in the afternoon, listened to a series of speeches at the Lincoln Memorial. This was a significant location because it was here that President Abraham Lincoln had announced the abolition of slavery in 1865. After a range of speakers and singers appeared, King gave his famous âI Have a Dreamâ speech, in which he talked about a time when there would be freedom and his dream of equality for black people.
The march and the speech had a huge impact, as the major news channels broadcast hours of footage. However, some criticised the march:
- Malcolm X was a civil rights activist who believed in violent confrontation. He called the march a farce as he thought it had been set up and controlled by the federal government.
- Leading female black activists, such as Daisy Bates and Rosa Parks, felt that they had been sidelined and not been allowed to play a major role in events.
Freedom Summer, 1964
The Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964 was organised by the An American civil rights group founded in 1942 known for its use of non-violent protest. using volunteers from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee initially promoted non-violent protest. . The aim was to encourage black people to register to vote. Their activities included, but were not limited to, teaching black people what they needed to know to pass the required In the context of voter rights in the USA, tests to prove oneâs ability to read and understand English. In the South, they were used to prevent African Americans, who usually had less education, from registering to vote. and fill in the necessary forms.
When the project began, the campaigners were joined by over 1,000 volunteers from northern states. Most of these volunteers were white college students from affluent families, and they were shocked by the way black Americans were treated in Mississippi. They helped to set up Freedom Schools for black children. These taught a variety of lessons but focused on literacy and civil rights.
However, the reaction from white supremacists was fierce. They beat campaigners and bombed black churches. The violence included the murder of one black and two white, Jewish, volunteers - James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. The campaign brought only a limited number of new voters.
But it did have other successes. The story made the national news and the new president, Lyndon B Johnson, felt under pressure to improve civil rights.
The pressure on President Johnson increased because the students also persuaded around 60,000 black people to join an alternative branch of the Democratic Party, which was the presidentâs political party. It was called the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and was dedicated to improving civil rights. This helped the rest of the Democratic Party to see how important civil rights were to potential voters and encouraged Johnson to support new civil rights laws.