Civil Rights Movement - Part 2

Hello class. Welcome to the civil rights movement part two. Remember, we are going to explain key events of the civil rights movement. But as we're going through these key events, we want to think about the fight for civil rights. What does that mean? It's a fight for freedom. Due process, not being discriminated against or treated differently because of your race. And fighting for equal protection under the law. Our first event is the Montgomery bus boycott. Here you see a bus that is segregated that required African Americans to ride in the back of the bus. Well, Rosa Parks refused to move from the whites only section and she was arrested for violating the laws of segregation. Why is that important? It led to a boycott. A boycott is when you refuse to pay for something or do something to make a political statement. When African Americans walked and refused to pay and ride the buses, that hurt the bus system. So it paid off in the end and segregation on buses was ended. All right, here we have doctor Martin Luther King Jr., the head of the civil rights movement, nonviolence, civil disobedience, okay? And what's important to know about this is many people, here he is being arrested again. Many people criticized him and just said, let the courts handle the civil rights issues. All this civil disobedience and nonviolent protest is just causing more problems. Well, he wrote to the people and said, you know what? Nonviolent civil disobedience is the way to make change. And he was going to continue to do that. All right, you have a group here called the student nonviolent coordinating committee. Or sit ins was one of doctor Martin Luther King's form of nonviolent civil disobedience. Here, this is a restaurant that only serves white people. So they are protesting the segregation of this, all right? And they would just sit there all day. People would spit at them, call them the N word. Say horrible things to them, don't milkshakes on them, but they were peacefully saying that I am a human. Excuse me, and I deserve to be served here. All right? Next event, these things also another way to protest segregation were called freedom rides. Here you have people, both black and white who would board buses and travel all along the southeast and protests different segregated areas, all right? And as you see here, they were met with violence sometimes where their bus was actually set on fire. Right? Very important legislation for our last two slides here. President Lyndon B. Johnson with doctor Martin Luther King Jr. in the background signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. What did it do? Prohibited segregation in public facilities, segregation is over. Prohibited discrimination in an education and employment, all right? This is a very important act and legislation and really it was pushed through after the assassination of president John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson was able to really push this legislation through. And lastly, we have the Voting Rights Act of 1965. What did it do? It suspended literacy tests for voter registration, okay? So part of the resistance to equality, especially in the south, we've talked about these literacy tests. These tests that were not even passable. But forced African Americans to take them, and many times prohibited them from being able to vote. Right? It sent federal officials to polling stations where African Americans were being denied the right to vote. The bullying, the racism, trying to stop African Americans from having a voice in their government. Now the federal troops would be there to make sure they got the right to vote. What was the result of all this? What led to a huge increase in African American voter registration in public office. A voice for African Americans and continuing the fight for equality. This concludes our video. I'll see you guys in class.