The Civil Rights Movement in the United States

The Civil Rights Movement in the United States

Données clés

Faculté	Lettres
Département	Département d’histoire générale
Professeur(s)	Aline Helg
Cours	The United States and Latin America: late 18th and 20th centuries

Lectures

• The Americas on the eve of independence
• The independence of the United States
• The U.S. Constitution and Early 19th Century Society
• The Haitian Revolution and its Impact in the Americas
• The independence of Latin American nations
• Latin America around 1850: societies, economies, policies
• The Northern and Southern United States circa 1850: immigration and slavery
• The American Civil War and Reconstruction: 1861 - 1877
• The (re)United States: 1877 - 1900
• Regimes of Order and Progress in Latin America: 1875 - 1910
• The Mexican Revolution: 1910 - 1940
• American society in the 1920s
• The Great Depression and the New Deal: 1929 - 1940
• From Big Stick Policy to Good Neighbor Policy
• Coups d'état and Latin American populisms
• The United States and World War II
• Latin America during the Second World War
• US Post-War Society: Cold War and the Society of Plenty
• The Cold War in Latin America and the Cuban Revolution
• The Civil Rights Movement in the United States

The Civil Rights Movement in the United States was a social and political movement aimed at ending racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans in the mid-20th century. Young people, particularly students, played a crucial role in the movement. They organized and participated in sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and other forms of nonviolent protest to demand equal treatment under the law. The actions of these young people helped to bring national attention to the struggle for civil rights, and their bravery and determination inspired others to join the movement. Some of the most famous leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were young when they became involved in the cause. Their efforts ultimately led to the passage of important legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which banned discrimination based on race in public accommodations and voting, respectively. The Civil Rights Movement remains an important part of American history, and its legacy continues to inspire young people today to fight for justice and equality.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, January 15, is celebrated as Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States. It is a federal holiday that honors the life and legacy of one of the most influential leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. The holiday was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and first observed as a federal holiday on January 20, 1986. It is now observed on the third Monday of January each year and is recognized as a day of service, where people are encouraged to volunteer and give back to their communities in honor of King's message of peace and social justice.

Speech delivered on August 28, 1963 to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential speeches of the 20th century. According to U.S. Congressman John Lewis, who also spoke that day on behalf of the Coordinating Committee of Non-Violent Students. "By speaking as he did, he educated, he inspired, he guided not just the people who were there, but people across America and generations to come.

During Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations, it is common to hear parts of King's famous speeches, including his "I Have a Dream" speech, which he delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. King's speeches continue to inspire people around the world with their message of equality, justice, and nonviolent resistance. His speeches are often used as a way to pay tribute to the diversity and minority rights in the United States and to celebrate the progress that has been made in the fight for civil rights. They also serve as a reminder of the work that still needs to be done to achieve King's vision of a just and equal society. King's speeches are timeless, and his message of hope, love, and reconciliation remains just as relevant today as it was in the 1960s. They are an important part of American history and continue to inspire people of all ages and backgrounds to work towards a more just and equal society.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech was a powerful critique of the racial inequality and discrimination faced by African Americans in the United States. He spoke about the deep-seated injustices and indignities that African Americans were forced to endure, including segregation, discrimination in employment, and a lack of voting rights. However, despite the harsh realities that he addressed, King's speech was also a powerful expression of hope and a vision for a better future. He dreamed of a day when all people, regardless of their race, would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. He spoke of a future where his four children would "not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

After King's "I Have a Dream" speech, the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum and pressure grew on the federal government to take action to end racial segregation and discrimination. This pressure culminated in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned racial discrimination in public accommodations and in employment. The act also provided the federal government with the means to enforce desegregation. Additionally, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed, which prohibited discriminatory voting practices that had been used to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote. The act also provided federal oversight of elections in states and localities with a history of voting discrimination. These two pieces of legislation were significant milestones in the struggle for civil rights and helped to end legal segregation and discrimination in the United States. They were a result of the hard work and determination of Civil Rights activists, including Martin Luther King Jr., and marked a major turning point in the fight for equality and justice for African Americans.

The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was adopted in 1868, provides that no state shall "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." This amendment was intended to provide legal protections for the newly-freed slaves and ensure that they had the same rights and protections under the law as other citizens. The 15th Amendment, which was adopted in 1870, provides that the right of citizens of the United States to vote "shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This amendment was enacted to ensure that African American men could vote and participate in the political process without being denied the right to vote based on their race or previous status as slaves. Both the 14th and 15th Amendments were important steps towards ensuring equal rights and protections for African Americans in the aftermath of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. However, despite these amendments, discrimination and segregation continued to persist, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s was necessary to further advance the cause of equality and justice for African Americans. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped to provide additional legal protections and enforcement mechanisms for the rights guaranteed by the 14th and 15th Amendments.

The United States was one of the last countries in the world to abolish slavery and was the only country in the Americas to have a system of legal segregation and discrimination based on race. Despite the guarantees of equal protection and voting rights enshrined in the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, discrimination and segregation persisted for many decades. Even after the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, many other forms of discrimination and inequality persisted in the United States, including Jim Crow laws, redlining, and mass incarceration, among others. While progress has been made towards reducing racial inequality, the legacy of discrimination and inequality continues to be felt today, and ongoing efforts are needed to address these issues. While the United States was the only country in the Americas to have a system of legal segregation and discrimination based on race, discrimination and inequality based on race, ethnicity, and skin color have been widespread in other countries around the world, including the Americas. In many countries, these forms of discrimination persist to this day, and ongoing efforts are needed to address them.

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Actors for change

African American rights were recognized in the mid-1960s due to the efforts of the Civil Rights Movement, a political and social movement aimed at ending racial segregation and discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement was not a sudden development, but rather the result of decades of organizing, protest, and activism by African Americans and their allies.

One of the key factors in the recognition of African American rights in the mid-1960s was the growth of the Black Freedom Struggle, which was a mass movement that sought to challenge and end segregation and discrimination. Activists such as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and others used tactics such as peaceful protests, boycotts, and civil disobedience to draw attention to the injustices faced by African Americans and to demand change.

Another important factor was the changing political landscape of the United States in the 1960s. President John F. Kennedy, who was in office when the Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum, was initially hesitant to take action on civil rights. However, he eventually came to support the movement and pushed for civil rights legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In addition, the Civil Rights Movement was a response to the broader social, cultural, and political changes that were taking place in the United States in the mid-1960s, including the rise of the counterculture, the feminist movement, and the anti-war movement. These movements helped to create a climate of social and political ferment in which the Civil Rights Movement could flourish.

Finally, the recognition of African American rights in the mid-1960s was also due to international pressure and the impact of the Civil Rights Movement on the world stage. The world was watching as the United States was grappling with the issue of racial inequality, and the actions of the Civil Rights Movement helped to inspire similar movements for social justice and equality around the world.

African-Americans of the South

African Americans in the South were some of the key actors in the Civil Rights Movement. After World War II, many African Americans in the South had returned from serving in the military and were no longer willing to accept the systemic racial segregation and discrimination that they faced.

These African Americans were inspired by the example of other oppressed groups around the world who were fighting for their rights and freedoms, and they began to organize and protest against the injustices they faced. They formed civil rights organizations, held protests and sit-ins, and engaged in other forms of nonviolent resistance to challenge the status quo.

The courage and determination of African Americans in the South, who risked their lives and livelihoods to demand equal rights and justice, was a critical factor in the success of the Civil Rights Movement. Their activism helped to draw attention to the injustices they faced, galvanized public support, and put pressure on the government to take action to end segregation and discrimination.

Without the bravery and commitment of African Americans in the South, it is unlikely that the Civil Rights Movement would have been as successful as it was in bringing about change and securing equal rights for African Americans

The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has played a significant role in shaping the direction of civil rights and equality in the United States, and its policy direction has changed over time, becoming more progressive in some cases.

In the mid-twentieth century, the Supreme Court issued a number of landmark decisions that helped to advance the cause of civil rights and equality. For example, in the 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court declared that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, setting the stage for the integration of schools across the country.

In addition to Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court issued a number of other important decisions during the mid-twentieth century that helped to advance the cause of civil rights and equality. For example, in the 1964 case of Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in public accommodations based on race, color, religion, or national origin.

These and other decisions by the Supreme Court helped to establish the legal framework for civil rights and equality in the United States, and they continue to be highly influential today. The Supreme Court's role in shaping the direction of civil rights and equality remains an important aspect of American history and law.

Domestic and international context

Internal structural changes

The internal structural changes in American society during and after World War II played a significant role in the development of the Civil Rights Movement. As you mentioned, the mechanization of part of the cotton crop led to reduced rural employment and urbanization in the South, which in turn led to a migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North and West in search of better opportunities and greater freedom. This migration, known as the Great Migration, had a profound impact on American society and helped to lay the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement.

The Great Migration not only transformed the African American community in the North and West, but it also helped to increase communication and mutual support between African Americans across the country. The extension of communication and mutual aid between African Americans in the South and those in the North and West helped to strengthen the electoral weight of African Americans in the states of the East Coast and California. This increased political power, combined with the growing demands of the Civil Rights Movement and the broader changes in American society and the world, put pressure on politicians to address the issue of racial inequality and segregation. Over time, this pressure led to the passage of federal civil rights legislation, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which helped to end legal segregation and discrimination in the United States and laid the foundation for a more equal and just society.

In the North and West, African Americans encountered new forms of racial discrimination and segregation, but they also found greater political and economic opportunities than they had in the South. This migration and the changes it brought about helped to create a more diverse and politically conscious African American community, which was better equipped to fight for its rights and demand equal treatment under the law.

With the beginning of modernization in the South, the attitudes of some whites began to change, especially with the arrival of white migrants to the Sun Belt. The increase in economic and social mobility, along with greater exposure to different ideas and cultural influences, led to a reconsideration of the strict segregationist policies that had long been in place. This shift in attitudes, combined with the pressure of the Civil Rights Movement and the increasing visibility of racial inequality, created the conditions for significant changes in the South, including the end of legal segregation and the expansion of voting rights for African Americans.

It's important to note that this change was not universal, and that resistance to desegregation and equality remained strong in some parts of the South. Nevertheless, the Civil Rights Movement and the broader changes in American society helped to move the country closer to the ideals of equality and justice enshrined in its founding principles.

In addition to the internal structural changes in American society, the Civil Rights Movement was also influenced by broader domestic and international developments, such as the Cold War, the growing influence of mass media, and the rise of the Black Power and anti-war movements in the 1960s. These developments helped to create a political and social climate that was more favorable to the demands of the Civil Rights Movement, and they helped to shape the direction of the movement and its ultimate outcomes.

The Cold War and Decolonization

This contrast between the ideals espoused by the United States and the reality of segregation and discrimination was also apparent in the context of decolonization and the fight for independence by many countries around the world. The United States, as a global superpower, was being closely watched by the international community, and the treatment of African Americans within its own borders was seen as a reflection of its commitment to freedom and democracy. This put pressure on the US government to address the issue of civil rights and work towards achieving greater equality for all its citizens, including African Americans. The Civil Rights Movement was part of a larger global movement towards greater freedom, equality, and human rights, and the changes that took place in the United States during this period had a significant impact on the rest of the world.

In 1944, Gunnar Myrdal published An American dilemma: The negro problem and modern democracy. This book was influential in highlighting the inconsistencies in American democracy and was widely read and discussed both within the United States and abroad. It helped to increase pressure on the government to address the issue of racial discrimination and segregation, and to take concrete steps towards ensuring equal rights for all citizens, regardless of their race or color. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s was, in part, a response to this growing awareness and demand for change, and the activism of individuals and organizations that emerged in response to these challenges helped to bring about significant progress in the struggle for civil rights and equality in the United States.

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz pins Navy Cross on Doris Miller, at ceremony on board warship in Pearl Harbor, 27 May 1942.

The Soldier Voting Act of 1942, also known as the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, allowed soldiers serving abroad during World War II to vote regardless of where they were stationed. This act was a response to the propaganda of the Axis powers, which portrayed the United States as hypocritical for promoting democracy abroad while denying it to African Americans at home. The act was a significant step towards enfranchising black soldiers and acknowledging the need for civil rights reform. However, it was just one of many actions taken during this time to address the issue of segregation and discrimination against African Americans in the United States. The Civil Rights Movement, which gained momentum in the 1950s and 1960s, would eventually lead to the passage of significant legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which helped to secure the rights and freedoms of African Americans.

When African American soldiers returned from the war, they sought to exercise their right to vote, believing that the recently enacted legislation would protect their ability to do so. However, white supremacists often used violence to prevent them from registering to vote in their home states. Despite facing ongoing segregation, African Americans began to increasingly resist and protest against it, staging open demonstrations and pushing for change.

The Chicago Defender announces Executive Order 9981.

In the years 1948 and 1949 McCarthyism was in full swing, limiting what black Americans could do. The FBI is dominated by Hoover from 1924 to 1972 being obsessed with communist infiltration in the country; for all blacks who ask for civil rights and demand reforms are accused of communism and anti-Americanism; those who criticize racism face confiscation of their passports.

McCarthyism dominates Congress and blocks any State Department initiative against segregation, as several State Department officials are accused of anti-American and communist activities. On the other hand, Truman had little interest in the black cause, but he was forced in 1949 to pass an executive order abolishing racial segregation in the U.S. military.

The other thing is that in 1949, with the inauguration of the UN headquarters in New York, it will be increasingly difficult for the United States to defend democracy and the free world in the face of the newly decolonized nations of Africa and Asia that will be sitting at the UN.

It will be all the more difficult because representatives will try to travel around the country and will be prevented from having access to the facilities normally available in the States of the South, thereby tarnishing the image of the United States. The USSR will use this segregation as a weapon against the United States.

It is not only the African representatives, but also often those from Asia and the Caribbean. This is something that is beginning to make a bad impression and is creating democratic problems, but international pressure is still too weak to see the US government take action in the South.

The first stages of the fight: from 1955 to 1960

On May 17, 1954, these men, members of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.

In 1954, things began to change for African Americans; until then the Supreme Court had been dominated by Southerners, suddenly it became more progressive. The role of the Supreme Court is essential for all citizens of the United States.

A minor event had major consequences; in 1955 the Supreme Court began debating Brown v. Board of Education; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on behalf of a citizen attacked the separeted but egal doctrine that had been approved by the Supreme Court in 1896.

President and First Lady Kennedy with Chief Justice and Mrs. Warren, November 1963.

This is a very important issue, when the judges are debating one of the supreme justices dies; he has to be replaced. Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren, who was an attorney general and a popular governor in California as well as a Republican, a man of his time, and he felt that justice should evolve with the times and not be as marked as it was before.

NAACP lawyers were able to show that segregated schools lead black children to receive an education that is not equal to, but far below, that received by whites; the Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were illegal and forced public schools to integrate racially as soon as possible without defining legal degrees.

This decision related to the appointment of Justice Warren will have many effects on other decisions made later, Warren will dominate the Supreme Court from 1954 to 1969; during this period the Supreme Court will make several decisions that reinterpret the U.S. Constitution in favor of the excluded.

He not only defended the equal rights of blacks, but also of women, Indians, Latin Americans, the poor, and the disabled, who gained new rights that guaranteed their freedom and equality.

The Supreme Court's decision making segregation in schools unconstitutional is followed by two decisions that make segregation illegal in federal authorities and public places.

This has enormous significance for black movements, as it obliges the federal state to support this decision everywhere in the territory, the federal state must even provide the army to support the enforcement of these new laws and the FIB must also be the guarantor of the enforcement of these federal laws.

After 1954, many blacks tried to enter public schools, colleges and universities, while others tried to get on public transportation, seeing the white response each time as a wave of violence.

Parks on a Montgomery bus on December 21, 1956, the day Montgomery’s public transportation system was legally integrated. Behind Parks is Nicholas C. Chriss, a UPI reporter covering the event.

Rosa Parks in Montgomery in 1955 refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man who was still standing. She was arrested then imprisoned, she is at the origin of the famous boycott of the buses of Montgomery by the blacks during more than one year propelling the young Martin Luther King then 26 years old and the Christian Leadership Conference at the head of the movement for racial equality.

Rosa Parks was not only a modest seamstress, but also an NAACP activist and she knows very well the risk she is taking; for more than a year, blacks will walk to work, eventually forcing integration into public transport.

Demonstrations by supporters of racial segregation in Little Rock in 1959, listening to a speech by Protestant Governor Orval Faubus, in front of the Capitol, against the integration of 9 black students at the town's central high school.

In 1957, in Arkansas, when Little Rock Middle School had to integrate black students, the segregationist governor refused to let nine black youths enter the school, forcing President Eisenhower to requisition more than 1,000 soldiers to guarantee the integration of the school; images of violence went round the world and provoked a great wave of protests while giving the USSR the opportunity to make people forget its interventions in Eastern Europe.

In North Carolina, seating and boycotts took place against businesses that refused to serve blacks, as in Greensboro in 1960; the activists of these movements resumed the non-violent resistance sought by Gandhi, but were beaten by the population and the police, eventually forcing the establishments to accept blacks.

John F. Kennedy became president in January 1961.

In this context is elected Kennedy, it is the foreign policy in particular to face the policy of expansion of the Soviet Union in Asia, Africa and Cuba that interests him, he is also very anxious to keep the support of the votes of the democrats of the southern states, he is not really going to touch the racial question in the south of the United States.

To keep the support of the southern states, he is trying to prevent the Congress of Racial Equality's plan to have a group of whites and blacks known as the "Freedom Riders" travel by bus through the southern states; their goal was to test the southern states to see if the federal state would enforce segregation on buses and bus stations.

The project also had an international scope, as segregation along federal highways also affected African and Asian diplomats who wanted to travel from New York to Washington; in Alabama and Mississippi, Freedom Riders were brutally attacked by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

The case of the Voter Education Project in Mississippi

Kennedy sought to redirect this movement toward preparing blacks to register as voters: blacks were subject to "voter fitness" tests. This route was less risky than the Freedom Riders.

He created the Voter Education Project in 1962 under the protection of the federal government and the FIB, but in Mississippi it shows the limits of Kennedy's commitment to blacks, pushing some blacks to renounce non-violence.

Mississippi is one of the poorest states and a bastion of segregation; blacks who have been fighting for civil rights since 1945 are being laid off, chased off the farms they live on, beaten up and murdered.

Till's mother insisted on an open casket funeral. Images of Till's body, printed in The Chicago Defender and Jet magazine, made international news and directed attention to the rights of the blacks in the U.S. South.

What will begin to mobilize opinion is the lynching of a young black boy in Chicago who was 14 years old, Emmet Till; his mother in Chicago decided to allow the photo of his disfigured corpse to be published by the national and international press.

There was a trial with an all-white jury, and twice the jury acquitted all the defendants; at the same time, it gave a boost to the courage of the blacks in Mississippi who began to demonstrate more directly.

This change will accelerate with the arrival of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) which is another youth organization created in 1960, a multiracial Christian youth movement.

The aims of this movement are not only to register blacks at the polling stations, but also to develop grassroots organizations at the local level that give priority to youth and women. Young people who join the SNCC drop out of school to participate in social change in small towns in the South, they represent the radical wing for the black representation movement that pushes Martin Luther King's struggle towards the centre.

In Mississippi they are going to do a huge job of recruiting communities with assemblies to mobilize people to read, to write, to take charge of their lives deciding to work for Kennedy's Voting Education Project; but the voter aptitude test is facing.

In Mississippi in 1960, only 5 percent of blacks were in a position to vote; when they were not attacked, the candidates on the voters' lists were rejected. A year after the campaign was launched, 63 activists were assassinated without the Kennedy government reacting.

Washington denounces the lack of success of the Voting Education Project, which ceases to provide funding.

In 1963, when a group of students arrived in Mississippi to supervise the Voting Education Program, the FBI began to protect blacks.

They decided to play the game inviting several hundred students from the North and East to force the FBI to protect their Mississippi voting campaign. That's when two volunteers, two whites and a black from the South, disappear. The government sends hundreds of police and FBI agents to find them. It is only two months later that their bodies are found, the two white men shot and the black man tortured to death.

During their search, the FBI found a number of black bodies without opening investigations; this increases the feeling that the whites want to undermine the process of local self-determination; there is a change of strategy and they will do without the protection of the white students taking up arms especially since the FBI does not react to the murders in Mississippi.

Starting in 1953, the violence of the Ku Klux Klan redoubles, as well as that of the police and governors of the South begins to be shown on television screens, making it increasingly difficult to legitimize the UN headquarters in New York.

The great turning point for John F. Kennedy

President John F. Kennedy's Civil Rights Address on June 11, 1963.

Kennedy did not take action until 1963 when Alabama police cracked down on a civil rights and integration protest, mostly youth and school children demonstrating; these events occurred at the same time as a movement for African unity was taking place in Addis Ababa.

The Soviet press seized on this to criticize the United States, and Kennedy made a speech on television calling on Congress to pass a civil rights framework law.

In August 1963, the entire civil rights movement gathered more than 200,000 people for a march to Washington, D.C., leading to a tacit agreement between Kennedy and the organizers to avoid radical speeches in exchange for a framework law that would allow the dissemination of soothing images of the march.

Part of Martin Luther King's visionary speech is in which he portrays himself as Moses to the whole of reconciled America. After Kennedy's assassination in 1963, Lyndon B Johnson, the first president from the South, takes up the torch and obtains congressional approval guaranteeing black suffrage; the story ends with a legislative triumph.

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  The crowd gathered on the mall as seen from the Lincoln Memorial.

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  A participant in the March on Washington.

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  Bayard Rustin (left) and Cleveland Robinson (right), organizers of the March, on August 7, 1963.

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  Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Leaders of the march).

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  Nearly 250,000 people marched, including 60,000 white participants.

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  Leaders arrive late and link arms in front of marchers on Constitution Avenue.

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  March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom program.

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  Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech.

After 1965: division of the black movement

Lyndon Baines Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964. Martin Luther King is behind him.

After 1965, the black movement split with the Civil Right of 1964 which forbids segregation leading to the creation of a commission to control the "segregationist" fact; this is an end in itself for those like Martin Luther King who advocate the fight for concrete equality, socio-economic equality and total integration, however one frankly wants black separatism.

Wallace standing against desegregation while being confronted by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach at the University of Alabama in 1963.

The first page of the Voting Rights Act.

We must not forget that there is a huge difference between blacks from the North, South and West Coast, because the 1965 Voting Act was a victory only for the 11 million blacks in the South, but not for the 7 million blacks living in the ghettos.

We enter a period of riots in the ghettos of the North and California exploding in violent revolts characterized by looting, fires, police and military repression; these years are marked by enormous violence and by murders after that of Kennedy in 1963 by those of Malcolm X in 1965, those of Luther King and Robert Kennedy in 1968.

It is the gulf between the northern ghettos and the suburban villa zones that explains the explosion and the solution that would be a kind of Marshall Plan.

Johnson launches a policy to fight poverty, but at the same time he sinks into the Vietnam War where blacks are killed disproportionately. In 1968, youth revolts shook the world and the United States, leading to the election of Nixon as president.

The deep south is still reacting to all these laws with the candidacy of Wallace who creates an American Independent Party in order to have a segregationist as president, but who fails showing that mentalities take a long time to evolve and that it is necessary to continue to claim rights that are never acquired for everyone.

Annexes

Brown v. Board of Education - les arrêts

• Brown v. Board of Education 347 U.S. 493 (1954)
• Brown v. Board of Education 349 U.S. 294 (1955)
• Bolling v. Sharpe 347 U.S. 497 (1955)