U.S. History / Unit 9: Civil Rights and a Changing Nation
9.2 The Movement at Its Height
Notes
- Sit-ins (1960): Black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat at a whites-only lunch counter. Sit-ins spread and led to the founding of SNCC.
- Freedom Rides (1961): integrated groups rode buses across the South to test desegregation rulings and were attacked by mobs.
- Birmingham (1963): police used dogs and fire hoses on young marchers. TV coverage built national support. King wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail."
- March on Washington (August 1963): about 250,000 people gathered; King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.
- Civil Rights Act of 1964: banned segregation in public places and job discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
- Selma to Montgomery marches (1965): marchers were beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge ("Bloody Sunday").
- Voting Rights Act of 1965: banned literacy tests and sent federal examiners to register voters. The 24th Amendment (1964) banned poll taxes in federal elections.
| Year | Law | Main effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Civil Rights Act | ended legal segregation in public places; banned job discrimination |
| 1964 | 24th Amendment | no poll taxes in federal elections |
| 1965 | Voting Rights Act | banned literacy tests; federal oversight of voter registration |
Practice
Which law ended legal segregation in public places like restaurants and hotels?
It also banned employment discrimination.
The violence against marchers at Selma in 1965 most directly led to:
National outrage pushed Congress to protect Black voting rights.
Why did civil rights leaders welcome television coverage of protests like Birmingham?
Many Americans were shocked by what they saw.
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