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Australian Curriculum links
Historical knowledge Topic code Elaborations Historical skills
and understanding
The US Civil Rights ACDSEH105 Outlining the Freedom Identify and locate relevant sources,
movement and its Rides in the US, how using ICT and other methods
influence on Australia they inspired Civil Rights
campaigners in Australia, Develop texts, particularly
and how they became descriptions and discussions that
a turning point in the use evidence from a range of sources
Aboriginal and Torres that are referenced
Strait Islander people’s
struggles for rights and Select and use a range of
freedoms communication forms (oral, graphic,
written) and digital technologies
Timeline
1863
President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves to be free.
1896
Landmark Supreme Court decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, holds that racial segregation is constitutional,
paving the way for the repressive ‘Jim Crow’ laws in southern US states.
1909
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded in New
York, led by W.E.B. Du Bois. For the next half-century, the NAACP would serve as the country’s most
influential African-American civil rights organisation.
1915
The Grandfather Clause, which restricted African-American voting registration, is repealed.
1919
A series of race riots occurs in Chicago, leaving thirty-eight people dead.
1954
The Supreme Court bans segregation in US public schools in the Brown v. Board of Education ruling.
1955
In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat for a white man, causing a successful
bus boycott by the African-American community.
Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old African-American boy, is murdered for whistling at a white woman.
Rights and Freedoms Produced by HTAV. © Alister McKeich 2013 11957 The Little Rock Central High School Board votes in favour of school integration; however, the governor of Arkansas attempts to prevent nine African-American students from entering the school. This is eventually overruled. 1960 Four African-American students from the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College stage a sit-in at a lunch counter where they are refused service because of their race. The Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC) is formed. 1961 Student volunteers called Freedom Riders begin testing state laws prohibiting racial segregation on US buses and railway stations. 1962 James Meredith becomes the first African-American student to enrol at the University of Mississippi. 1963 Dr Martin Luther King Jr is arrested and gaoled during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Alabama. He writes his ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail,’ advocating non-violent civil disobedience. During protests in Alabama, the Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor uses police dogs and fire hoses on African-American protesters. The head of the Mississippi NAACP is murdered outside his house. Governor Wallace stands in the schoolhouse door of the University of Alabama before being forced by President John F. Kennedy to allow African-American students to enrol. Thousands gather for the March on Washington, where Dr King gives his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. A Birmingham African-American church is bombed, resulting in four deaths. 1964 A poll tax, used to prevent African-Americans from voting, is outlawed with the 24th Amendment to the Constitution. The Civil Rights Act forbids racial discrimination. Civil rights workers James E. Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman are murdered by white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan. 1965 Malcolm X splits off from Elijah Muhammad’s Black Muslims and is assassinated in retaliation. Dr King leads a fifty-four-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to support African- American voter registration. The Watts Riots occur in Los Angeles, resulting in looting, burning and thirty-four deaths. Influenced by the US Freedom Rides, Charles Perkins leads a bus tour through north-western New South Wales in support of Aboriginal rights. The action demonstrates the extent of discrimination against Aboriginal people in country towns, including refusal of service in shops and segregated cinemas, swimming pools, hotels and clubs. 2 Produced by HTAV. © Alister McKeich 2013 Rights and Freedoms
1966 The Black Panthers are founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in Oakland, California. 1967 More race riots occur in Detroit and New York, the worst in US history. Forty-three people die. 1968 Martin Luther King Jr is murdered by James Earl Ray – riots break out in 125 cities. President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of housing. 1969 Members of the Aborigines Advancement League in Australia call for the removal of non-Aboriginal people from positions of power in the organisation. 1970 As part of a move towards organisations controlled by Indigenous people, the Redfern Aboriginal Legal Service is established in Sydney. 1971 Dennis Walker and Sam Watson open the Australian chapter of the Black Panthers in Brisbane, based on the US left-wing and anti-racism organisation of the same name. They monitor police activity and the number of Indigenous young white men imprisoned. 1972 The Aboriginal tent embassy is established outside Parliament House, Canberra, to lobby for land rights. 1992 Race riots occur in Los Angeles after the police who beat African-American man Rodney King are acquitted. The High Court of Australia hands down its landmark decision, Mabo v. Queensland (No 2), overturning the concept that Australia was terra nullius (‘empty land’) when the British arrived and finding that native title exists over certain lands. 2008 Barack Obama is the first African-American to be elected US president. Rights and Freedoms Produced by HTAV. © Alister McKeich 2013 3
Introduction
As the Civil Rights movement in the United countries. After World War II, long-standing
States gathered strength throughout the colonial empires were threatened and much of
1960s and protests flared in other parts of the Africa and Asia gained independence. In Cuba,
world, Australia began to experience similar Che Guevara and Fidel Castro led a successful
struggles and conflicts for rights and freedoms, revolution in 1959, while Algeria saw armed
particularly in regard to Aboriginal and Torres revolution against its French colonisers. In
Strait Islander (ATSI) people. While some France, students protested against the old order
methods of protest (such as Freedom Rides and embraced socialism. In several countries
and Black Power) were directly influenced by the Vietnam War brought human rights and US
the US Civil Rights movement, others (like the military aggression into the spotlight.
Wave Hill Walk-off ) were inspired by workers’
It was in this international context of emerging
movements in countries like France. Yet others,
human, social and political rights that
such as the Aboriginal tent embassy in Canberra,
Indigenous Australians became more radicalised
emerged entirely from Australian conditions.
in the 1960s.
From the mid-1950s to the early 1970s there was
great social upheaval in industrialised Western
DID YOU KNOW?
During the Vietnam War, African-American soldiers made up 12.6 per cent of American
soldiers despite comprising only eleven per cent the population.1
1. James Willbanks, Vietnam War: The Essential Reference Guide (California: ABC-CLIO, 2013).
4 Produced by HTAV. © Alister McKeich 2013 Rights and FreedomsUS Civil Rights movement
In many southern states of the US, South, give voting rights to African-Americans
discriminatory laws, known as ‘Jim Crow’ laws, and raise awareness of social problems. The
segregated society according to race from the Vietnam War, in which African-American men
1870s onwards. This included having separate were conscripted and killed at a proportionally
schools and other public places such as cafes, greater rate than other Americans, also brought
toilets and water fountains for white people and inequality and disadvantage to the fore.2
African-Americans. The northern states did not
The US movement included a number of high-
have formal segregation but there were informal
profile court cases and civil disobedience
social barriers to equal participation in work
demonstrations, such as boycotts, sit-ins and
and politics. The standard of living of African-
marches. (For the most part these were non-
Americans was far lower than that of white
violent.) Notable achievements during this time
Americans.
were the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964,
The US Civil Rights movement peaked during which outlawed discrimination based on ‘race,
the late 1960s, when massive protests – which color, religion, or national origin’ in employment,
included people from a range of backgrounds and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
– helped to repeal segregationist laws in the
Key leaders
Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Rosa
Parks were prominent figures in the US Civil
Rights era – each had a different style and
emphasis.
King was a Baptist minister who advocated for
non-violent civil disobedience in the form of
boycotts, marches and sit-ins. His tactic of non-
physical resistance eventually demonstrated to
the world the brutality of the US Government,
as police used dogs, batons and water cannons
to break up protests. King is famous for his
oratory, in particular the ‘I have a Dream’ speech,
made during the March on Washington for
Above: Dr Martin Luther King Jr at the
Jobs and Freedom in 1963. The following year March on Washington, 1963.
he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his
leadership in the fight for racial equality. King
surname ‘X’ in place of Little to highlight the
was assassinated on 4 April 1968 in Memphis,
fact that many African-Americans had had their
Tennessee.
names imposed by slave-owners in previous
Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, was a Muslim generations. Malcolm X’s father – like King, a
minister from the Nation of Islam (led by the Baptist minister – was rumoured to have been
‘prophet’ Elijah Muhammad). He took the killed by white supremacists, and Malcolm spent
time in foster care and eventually prison, where
Rights and Freedoms Produced by HTAV. © Alister McKeich 2013 5he converted to Islam. Although Malcolm X’s On 1 December 1955, Rosa Parks refused to
views changed over time, he is probably best give up her seat on a bus for a white man,
known for his public speaking ability, radical violating Alabama law which required ‘coloured’
ideas regarding African-American separatism passengers to give up their seats if the ‘white’
(as opposed to integration) and for calling section of a bus was full. Parks’ act of civil
on African-Americans to react to racism and disobedience was an important step in the
oppression ‘by any means necessary.’ Malcolm development of the Montgomery Bus Boycott,
X was assassinated on 21 February 1965 in through which African-Americans eventually
Manhattan, New York. brought an end to segregation on public buses.
Above: Malcolm X, 1964. Above: Rosa Parks, 1955.
DID YOU KNOW?
Rosa Parks wrote, ‘People always say that I [refused to] give up my seat because I was tired,
but that isn’t true. … The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.’
2. Willbanks, Vietnam War, 5.
6 Produced by HTAV. © Alister McKeich 2013 Rights and FreedomsMethods of protest
Sit-ins Riders were beaten and police protection was
minimal. The action brought national attention
One technique used to highlight racial to the ongoing segregation in the South and
segregation in US shops, cafes and other sites inspired similar action elsewhere.
was the ‘sit-in,’ which involved protesters sitting
on the ground or floor in a group. One of the Marches
most successful cases was the series of sit-ins
held in Nashville, Tennessee in 1960, which led The Civil Rights movement was known for its
to the desegregation of lunch counters. The sit-in political rallies and street marches. One of the
was used in Australia also, including in anti– largest was the March on Washington for Jobs
Vietnam War protests. and Freedom in 1963, which called for civil and
economic rights for African-Americans. On 28
Freedom Rides August, up to 300 000 people descended on the
Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC and heard
In 1960 the US Federal Government declared Martin Luther King Jr (leader of the Southern
that the segregation of interstate buses and Christian Leadership Conference) give his
trains was unconstitutional. However, in many famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. Although the
southern states these laws were not enforced, march was not universally supported (most
and segregation continued. Students of different notably by Nation of Islam leader Malcolm
races challenged this in 1961 by riding on public X), the significance and impact of the March
buses together, with serious consequences. The on Washington and King’s speech, as well as
main bodies behind these Freedom Rides were the involvement of popular singers such as
the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, is believed to have
Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee contributed to the passing of the Civil Rights Act
(SNCC). In some southern states, Freedom of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
DID YOU KNOW?
The US Freedom Rides in 1961 influenced a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous
students in New South Wales to undertake a similar protest in 1965.
Rights and Freedoms Produced by HTAV. © Alister McKeich 2013 7Source 13: ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech
When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the
Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was
to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be
guaranteed the ‘unalienable Rights’ of ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’ It is obvious
today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of colour are
concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad
check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’
Extract from Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s speech to the March on Washington, 28 August 1963.
Activity 14
1. Read Source 13.
2. Watch the better-known part of the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech at www.youtube.com/
watch?v=nFcbpGK9_aw.
3. Note down the key points raised by King in his speech.
4. What point does King make about promises made by the American Declaration of Independence
(1776) and Constitution (1787)?
5. Discuss the significance of the Lincoln Memorial as a backdrop to the speech. What is Lincoln
best remembered for?
6. The speech is noted for its use of the three rhetorical techniques of ethos (moral authority),
pathos (emotion) and logos (logic). Note down examples of each of these from the speech. Might
King’s role as a Baptist minister have affected the first two in particular?
8 Produced by HTAV. © Alister McKeich 2013 Rights and FreedomsYou can also read
