Civil Rights 美國民權運動背景知識

1、Civil Rights Movement in the United StatesCivil Rights Movement in the United States, political, legal, and social struggle by black Americans to gain full citizenship rights and to achieve racial equality. The civil rights movement was first and foremost a challenge to segregation, t

2、he system of laws and customs separating blacks and whites that whites used to control blacks after slavery was abolished in the 1860s. During the civil rights movement, individuals and civil rights organizations challenged segregation and discrimination with a variety of activities, including prote

3、st marches, boycotts, and refusal to abide by segregation laws. Many believe that the movement began with the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 and ended with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, though there is debate about when it began and whether it has ended yet. The civil rights movement has also been

4、called the Black Freedom Movement, the Negro Revolution, and the Second Reconstruction.Segregation“Whites Only” Waiting RoomA black man is ordered out of a “whites only” waiting room. Separate facilities for blacks and whites were maintained throughout the South from the end of the 19th century unti

5、l the 1960s.Segregation was an attempt by white Southerners to separate the races in every sphere of life and to achieve supremacy over blacks. Segregation was often called the Jim Crow system, after a minstrel show character from the 1830s who was an old, crippled, black slave who em

6、bodied negative stereotypes of blacks. Segregation became common in Southern states following the end of Reconstruction in 1877. During Reconstruction, which followed the Civil War (1861-1865), Republican governments in the Southern states were run by blacks, Northerners, and some sympathetic Southe

7、rners. The Reconstruction governments had passed laws opening up economic and political opportunities for blacks. By 1877 the Democratic Party had gained control of government in the Southern states, and these Southern Democrats wanted to reverse black advances made during Reconstruction. To that en

8、d, they began to pass local and state laws that specified certain places “For Whites Only” and others for “Colored.” Blacks had separate schools, transportation, restaurants, and parks, many of which were poorly funded and inferior to those of whites. Over the next 75 years, Jim Crow signs went up t

9、o separate the races in every possible place.The system of segregation also included the denial of voting rights, known as disfranchisement. Between 1890 and 1910 all Southern states passed laws imposing requirements for voting that were used to prevent blacks from voting, in spite of

10、 the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which had been designed to protect black voting rights. These requirements included: the ability to read and write, which disqualified the many blacks who had not had access to education; property ownership, something few blacks were able

11、 to acquire; and paying a poll tax, which was too great a burden on most Southern blacks, who were very poor. As a final insult, the few blacks who made it over all these hurdles could not vote in the Democratic primaries that chose the candidates because they were open only to whites in most Southe

12、rn states.Because blacks could not vote, they were virtually powerless to prevent whites from segregating all aspects of Southern life. They could do little to stop discrimination in public accommodations, education, economic opportunities, or housing. The ability to struggle for equa

13、lity was even undermined by the prevalent Jim Crow signs, which constantly reminded blacks of their inferior status in Southern society. Segregation was an all encompassing system.Conditions for blacks in Northern states were somewhat better, though up to 1910 only about 10 percent of blac

14、ks lived in the North, and prior to World War II (1939-1945), very few blacks lived in the West. Blacks were usually free to vote in the North, but there were so few blacks that their voices were barely heard. Segregated facilities were not as common in the North, but blacks were usually denied entr

15、ance to the best hotels and restaurants. Schools in New England were usually integrated, but those in the Midwest generally were not. Perhaps the most difficult part of Northern life was the intense economic discrimination against blacks. They had to compete with large numbers of recent European imm

16、igrants for job opportunities and almost always lost.Company E, 4th U.S. Colored InfantryBlack soldiers fought in segregated all-black units, such as this one, during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Almost all black soldiers fought for the Union army, and they served in nearly 500 engagements. T

17、wenty-four black soldiers and sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery, the U.S. militarys highest honor.Segregation and ViolenceKu Klux KlanFormer Confederate soldiers founded the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) after the American Civil War (1861-1865). The KKK used violence and intimidation to preve

18、nt blacks from voting and holding office, and to keep them segregated.Throughout the South, segregation had the support of the legal system and the police. Beyond the law, however, there was always the threat of terrorist violence against blacks who attempted to challenge or even question

19、the established order. During Reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the Knights of the White Camellia, and other terrorist organizations murdered thousands of blacks and some whites in order to prevent them from voting and participating in public life. The KKK was founded in the winter of 1865 to

20、1866 by a former Confederate general to stop both blacks and Northerners from carrying out their government and social reforms. The Klan and other white terrorist groups directed their violence against black landowners, politicians, and community leaders, as well as whites who supported the Republic

21、an Party or racial equality. During Reconstruction only the presence of the U.S. Army prevented massive killings; however, there were never enough soldiers to stop the violence. For example, in 1876 and 1877 mobs of whites, led by former Confederate generals, killed scores of blacks in South Carolin

22、a to prevent them from voting or holding office.School DesegregationDesegregation in Little RockIn 1957 nine black students desegregated Little Rock, Arkansass Central High School, despite strong resistance by many white members of the community. President Dwight Eisenhower called out federal troops

23、 to enforce the desegregation and to ensure the safety of the students. Shown here are six of the “Little Rock Nine.” With them, in the center of the picture, are Thurgood Marshall, then a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Daisy Bates, president of

24、 the Little Rock NAACP.In the postwar years, the NAACP's legal strategy for civil rights continued to succeed. Led by Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund challenged and overturned many forms of discrimination, but their main thrust was equal educational opportunities.

25、For example, in Sweat v. Painter (1950), the Supreme Court decided that the University of Texas had to integrate its law school. Marshall and the Defense Fund worked with Southern plaintiffs to challenge the Plessy doctrine directly, arguing in effect that separate was inherently unequal. The U.S. S

26、upreme Court heard arguments on five cases that challenged elementary- and secondary-school segregation, and in May 1954 issued its landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that stated that racially segregated education was unconstitutional.Montgomery Bus BoycottDespite the threats&#

27、160;and violence, the struggle quickly moved beyond school desegregation to challenge segregation in other areas. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a member of the Montgomery, Alabama, branch of the NAACP, was told to give up her seat on a city bus to a white person. When Parks refused to move, she w

28、as arrested. The local NAACP, led by Edgar D. Nixon, recognized that the arrest of Parks might rally local blacks to protest segregated buses. Montgomery's black community had long been angry about their mistreatment on city buses where white drivers were often rude and abusive. The community ha

29、d previously considered a boycott of the buses, and almost overnight one was organized. The Montgomery bus boycott was an immediate success, with virtually unanimous support from the 50,000 blacks in Montgomery. It lasted for more than a year and dramatized to the American public the determination o

30、f blacks in the South to end segregation. In November 1956 the Supreme Court upheld a federal court decision that ruled the bus segregation unconstitutional. The decision went into effect December 20, 1956, and the black community of Montgomery ended its boycott the next day.Rosa ParksIn 1955 Rosa P

31、arks was arrested for disobeying a segregation law in Montgomery, Alabama, that required her to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. Her bold action helped to stimulate protests against inequality. The blacks in the community organized a boycott of the bus system. The boycott, which was led

32、by Martin Luther King, Jr., forced city officials to repeal the discriminatory law.Sit-insSit-Ins in Greensboro, North CarolinaIn 1960 four black college students walked into a Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina, and sat down at the lunch counter, which was for white customers only. The students waited to be served until the store closed for the day. For the next six days, a growing number of students joined the sit-ins until Woolworth closed its doors. Then the students decided to suspend the sit-ins for two weeks to give stores in the community the chance to d