Civil Rights
1920
• Women given the right to vote although usually guided by husband
• NAACP (founded 1909) used law; Boycotted movie Birth of a Nation as
glorified the KKK; Over 325 branches by 1929
1930
• 1938 Fair Labour Standards Act; Better conditions including abolishing
child labour, a minimum wage, maximum working hours and overtime pay
Great Depression on Blacks
• national unemployment 25%, black 50%
• Calls for blacks to be fired so white unemployment went down
• Soup kitchens etc excluded African Americans
• Lynchings rose, 8 (1932) 28 (1933)
• Over 350k blacks joined CCC, but that was out of nearly 3m total
• WPA preserved black culture via the federal writers project, collected
interviews, articles etc
• PWA set quotas for min amount of blacks that had to be employed for
construction work
1940
• Truman’s executive order 9981 (1948); Equal treatment and opportunities
for all in the military; All ranks now integrated; Almost all of military
integrated by end of Korean War (1953)
• Double V campaign: victory in Europe against facism and victory at home
against racism
1950
• Brown vs Board of Education (1954); Lead by NAACP lawyers; Lead to the
ruling that school segregation was unconstitutional
• 1955/56 Montgomery Bus Boycott; following Rosa Park’s refusal to give
up seat
• The Little Rock Nine attend Little Rock Central High School in 1957;
encountered a white mob and Arkansas National Guard; eventually completed the
academic year with the help of soldiers, despite violence and harassment
1960
• 1960 FDA approved birth control pills revolutionising family planning
• Greensboro Sit In begins in 1960; started by 4 students at a Woolworth
dept. store who sat a white only counter; the store changed its rule after protests
became large scale and faced media/public pressure
• Freedom Rides of 1961; SNCC protesters used interstate busses and their
facilities that were supposed to be desegregated; all arrested or beaten but
continued
• Cesar Chavez founded United Farm Workers in 1962, led the successful
Delano Grape Boycott, gained better pay and
• 1963 March on Washington; MLK I have a dream speech; 250k peaceful
people gathered
• 1963 Equal Pay Act brought into law eliminating the gender pay gap
• Betty Frieden published The Feminine Mystique in 1963 highlighting the
struggles of middle class women
• 1964 Civil Rights Act; Ended segregation in all public spaces and
discrimination in employment; Proposed by Kennedy and signed by Johnson; Southern
states opposed, one of the longest filibusters held, but still passed
• 1965 Voting Rights Act; prevented voting discrimination; gave equal
access to ballot box, especially in the south
• 1966 National Organisation for Women
1920
• Women given the right to vote although usually guided by husband
• NAACP (founded 1909) used law; Boycotted movie Birth of a Nation as
glorified the KKK; Over 325 branches by 1929
1930
• 1938 Fair Labour Standards Act; Better conditions including abolishing
child labour, a minimum wage, maximum working hours and overtime pay
Great Depression on Blacks
• national unemployment 25%, black 50%
• Calls for blacks to be fired so white unemployment went down
• Soup kitchens etc excluded African Americans
• Lynchings rose, 8 (1932) 28 (1933)
• Over 350k blacks joined CCC, but that was out of nearly 3m total
• WPA preserved black culture via the federal writers project, collected
interviews, articles etc
• PWA set quotas for min amount of blacks that had to be employed for
construction work
1940
• Truman’s executive order 9981 (1948); Equal treatment and opportunities
for all in the military; All ranks now integrated; Almost all of military
integrated by end of Korean War (1953)
• Double V campaign: victory in Europe against facism and victory at home
against racism
1950
• Brown vs Board of Education (1954); Lead by NAACP lawyers; Lead to the
ruling that school segregation was unconstitutional
• 1955/56 Montgomery Bus Boycott; following Rosa Park’s refusal to give
up seat
• The Little Rock Nine attend Little Rock Central High School in 1957;
encountered a white mob and Arkansas National Guard; eventually completed the
academic year with the help of soldiers, despite violence and harassment
1960
• 1960 FDA approved birth control pills revolutionising family planning
• Greensboro Sit In begins in 1960; started by 4 students at a Woolworth
dept. store who sat a white only counter; the store changed its rule after protests
became large scale and faced media/public pressure
• Freedom Rides of 1961; SNCC protesters used interstate busses and their
facilities that were supposed to be desegregated; all arrested or beaten but
continued
• Cesar Chavez founded United Farm Workers in 1962, led the successful
Delano Grape Boycott, gained better pay and
• 1963 March on Washington; MLK I have a dream speech; 250k peaceful
people gathered
• 1963 Equal Pay Act brought into law eliminating the gender pay gap
• Betty Frieden published The Feminine Mystique in 1963 highlighting the
struggles of middle class women
• 1964 Civil Rights Act; Ended segregation in all public spaces and
discrimination in employment; Proposed by Kennedy and signed by Johnson; Southern
states opposed, one of the longest filibusters held, but still passed
• 1965 Voting Rights Act; prevented voting discrimination; gave equal
access to ballot box, especially in the south
• 1966 National Organisation for Women
