History of the Civil Rights Movement
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0:03 - 0:06I may not get there with you.
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0:06 - 0:09But I want you to know tonight,
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0:09 - 0:14that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.
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0:14 - 0:17Human progress is neither automatic, nor inevitable.
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0:17 - 0:19Welcome to WatchMojo.com,
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0:19 - 0:24And today we'll be learning more about the history of the American Civil Rights Movement.
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0:24 - 0:29The end of the American Civil War in 1865 effectively meant the end of slavery.
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0:29 - 0:35But, African Americans were in for a long struggle before they were finally awarded equal rights.
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0:35 - 0:39As of 1870, all eligible male citizens were able to vote.
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0:39 - 0:45However, blacks were discouraged to by violence and eventually legal stipulations.
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0:45 - 0:51In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled to maintain racial segregation in private businesses,
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0:51 - 0:54in a case called Plessy v. Ferguson.
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0:54 - 0:55Soon broadened to include schools,
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0:55 - 1:01many southern states applied this 'separate but equal' mentality to all aspects of life.
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1:01 - 1:05However, this led to the application of Jim Crow laws,
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1:05 - 1:09which resulted in blacks being treated as second-class citizens.
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1:09 - 1:12Segregated schools, public transit, restrooms,
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1:12 - 1:16water fountains and more continued well into the 1900s.
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1:16 - 1:20In 1909, a group of prominent black and white campaigners
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1:20 - 1:26created the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or NAACP.
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1:26 - 1:31Their goal was to increase racial equality and challenge issues like the Jim Crow laws.
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1:31 - 1:37Unfortunately, it was between 1910 and 1930 that white supremacist group
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1:37 - 1:41the Ku Klux Klan saw its biggest expansion amid increased racial friction.
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1:41 - 1:43Following the First World War,
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1:43 - 1:47the NAACP was devoted to ending lynching by white vigilantes.
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1:47 - 1:50By mid-century, the group became instrumental
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1:50 - 1:54in the Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka court case.
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1:54 - 2:00This class-action suit filed in 1951 asked that segregation in schools be struck down.
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2:00 - 2:01Taken to the Supreme Court,
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2:01 - 2:08the case resulted in the first integrated school in the United States to open in the fall of 1955.
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2:08 - 2:13Encouraged by the decision, the Civil Rights Movement began to hold high-profile boycotts,
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2:13 - 2:17marches, sit-ins and other peaceful protests.
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2:17 - 2:23These included 1955’s Montgomery Bus Boycott in support of Rosa Parks.
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2:23 - 2:25A watershed moment came in 1957
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2:25 - 2:29when a high school in Arkansas admitted a group of African American students,
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2:29 - 2:31nicknamed the Little Rock Nine.
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2:31 - 2:36Protested by fellow students, the governor, and even the state’s National Guard,
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2:36 - 2:41President Dwight Eisenhower eventually intervened to ensure the students’ safe passage.
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2:41 - 2:45By 1962, Universities also began integrating,
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2:45 - 2:49though black students were still met with protests and violence.
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2:49 - 2:52The Southern Freedom Movement continued into the '60s,
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2:52 - 2:56with support from newly-elected President John F. Kennedy and his brother:
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2:56 - 2:58Attorney General, Robert Kennedy.
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2:58 - 3:00The violence of the Birmingham, Alabama campaign
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3:00 - 3:03influenced the President to fully endorse the movement.
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3:03 - 3:09A great change is at hand, and our task, our obligation,
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3:09 - 3:14is to make that revolution, that change, peaceful and constructive for all.
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3:14 - 3:19On June 19th, 1963, he proposed a Civil Rights Bill to Congress,
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3:19 - 3:25which was approved in 1964 after his death with support from President Lyndon Johnson.
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3:25 - 3:29The bill struck down existing legislation that allowed for discrimination,
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3:29 - 3:33and its approval was largely influenced by Martin Luther King Jr.
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3:33 - 3:37and the March on Washington of August 1963.
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3:46 - 3:49Capturing the attention of the media and the population,
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3:49 - 3:54this event attracted hundreds of thousands of people in support of civil rights.
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3:54 - 4:00Following that, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ended the prejudiced voting system.
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4:00 - 4:04Instantly effective, blacks began voting and running for public office.
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4:04 - 4:07However, just days later on August 11th,
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4:07 - 4:13a violent six-day riot in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts resulted in 34 deaths.
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4:13 - 4:19This was indicative of a period of racially-motivated violence that occurred in the mid-to-late 1960s.
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4:19 - 4:24This era also saw the rise of Black Power, led in large part by Stokely Carmichael,
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4:24 - 4:27in opposition to extremists like the Ku Klux Klan.
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4:27 - 4:31This ideology was exemplified by the Black Panther Party,
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4:31 - 4:34which followed the principles set forth by Malcolm X.
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4:34 - 4:40Rising to prominence in the 1950s, his radical ideas advocated militancy for blacks.
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4:40 - 4:42Black poeple are dissatisfied.
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4:42 - 4:44They're dissatisfied not only with the white man,
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4:44 - 4:48but they're dissatisfied with these Negroes who have been sitting around posing as leaders
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4:48 - 4:50and spokesmen for black people
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4:50 - 4:53and actually making the problem worse instead of making the problem better.
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4:53 - 4:59He remained an influential and controversial human rights activist until his assassination in 1965.
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4:59 - 5:05The murders of civil rights leaders continued when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in April 1968,
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5:05 - 5:08and Robert Kennedy two months later.
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5:08 - 5:13Despite racial tensions continuing into the 1990s, progress has been measurable.
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5:13 - 5:17The election of President Barack Obama in 2008 is seen by many
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5:17 - 5:21to be a culmination of centuries of work in favor of racial equality.
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5:21 - 5:23This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed,
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5:23 - 5:28why men and women and children of every race and every faith
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5:28 - 5:33can join in celebration across this magnificent mall,
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5:33 - 5:36and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago
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5:36 - 5:39might not have been served at a local restaurant
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5:39 - 5:45can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
- Title:
- History of the Civil Rights Movement
- Description:
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Beginning with the end of the U.S. Civil War in 1865, African Americans toiled to reach equal status in the eyes of the law. http://www.WatchMojo.com explores the history of the United States' Civil Rights Movement.
- Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 05:53
Alexandre Clemente edited English subtitles for History of the Civil Rights Movement | ||
Alexandre Clemente edited English subtitles for History of the Civil Rights Movement | ||
Alexandre Clemente edited English subtitles for History of the Civil Rights Movement | ||
Alexandre Clemente edited English subtitles for History of the Civil Rights Movement | ||
Alexandre Clemente edited English subtitles for History of the Civil Rights Movement | ||
Alexandre Clemente edited English subtitles for History of the Civil Rights Movement | ||
Alexandre Clemente edited English subtitles for History of the Civil Rights Movement | ||
Alexandre Clemente edited English subtitles for History of the Civil Rights Movement |