shortly after JFK's death Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in his memory this law
is monumental in the struggle for equality the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did several things the
first thing it did it was a banned discrimination based on race and employment nationwide employers
could no longer use race as a factor when hired second it enhanced the federal power
to enforce desegregation in schools and in public services this provision on non-discrimination in
the workforce is still used today for women and minorities the civil rights movement had
always been unified around pride in the black identity however as african-americans faced
slow progress the movement began to split apart african-americans had always faced two
types of segregation in America the first was de jure segregation this is segregation ordered
by law meaning state law and federal law that separated people based on race the second was
de facto segregation de facto segregation was not based on law but instead by custom habit
and tradition with the facto segregation blacks and whites would segregate because that's the way
it had always been the new civil rights laws passed during the movement dealt with de jure
segregation but de facto segregation still existed and was hard to fight you would have to change the
minds of people in order to eradicate de facto segregation angry and impatient with the lack of
change victims of de facto segregation turned to a new militancy in the civil rights movement black
people dissatisfied the dissatisfied not only with the white man but they're dissatisfied with
these Negroes who have been sitting around here posing as leaders and spokesmen for black people
and actually making the problem worse instead of making the problem better these african-americans
lived in poverty and in the slums of urban cities their lives were affected by the white flight of
northern cities this is when white families moved to the suburbs and out of the cities taking their
tax revenues with them it left all urban schools and urban housing very poor and in bad shape the
early ones left to live in the cities who couldn't afford to live in the suburbs where African
Americans the African Americans who turned to the new militancy faced police brutality poor schools
and high unemployment rates they lost faith in Martin Luther King Junior's non-violence approach
violent with people who are nonviolent with us we but we are not nonviolent with anyone who is
violent with us and their frustration manifested itself when riots broke out in the city of Harlem
New York and Watts right here in Los Angeles in both cities angry african-americans took
to the streets they looted stores and burped buildings to the ground to protest the plight
of injustice and discrimination in their cities at this point the civil rights movement now had
two phases in 1965 the militancy faction of the movement began to gain momentum leaders
preached black power and an armed resistance new groups began to use alternative methods to
protest this all helps to create new leaders that emerge from the movement this new militant wing
of the movement saw two new leaders rise first was Malcolm X he was a member of the Nation of
the Islam he preached a black separatist view that whites were the source of plight in the
african-american community because of this he felt that blacks who lived separately through
black pride he told blacks to be ready to take up arms is going to be that ballot or the bullet
after we get our people registered we can then organize that voting strength and channel it in
the direction that we'll get immediate results for the benefit of our people we can sleep our enemies
right out of office another leader of the movement was Stokely Carmichael and he was the leader of
snick he taught young blacks to fight for black power and he urged young blacks to seize the
moment with militancy he frustrated Martin Luther King jr. and other moderate leaders who didn't
want violence we have to make a new slogan one people one voice and we have to move as a people
in our neighborhood to control we have to stop reacting and we have to become aggressive we can
no longer stand up and beg anybody for a victory or a concession because I'm here to tell you that
if you beg America for victory he gives it to you it's his victory not yours the new black power
that Carmichael believed in showed itself to the world in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City
to American athletes who happened to be African American raised their fists covered in black
gloves on the medal podium as a sign of protest against discrimination in the United States it
was a symbol of open defiance and an incredibly powerful gesture for the civil rights movement
as the civil rights movement radicalized a new organization called the Black Panthers
organized in 1966 the Black Panthers were a militant group that advocated self-sufficiency
of black communities meaning they no longer learn to rely on white Americans to succeed they
believed more in a separate society for blacks away from whites because whites didn't seem to
help blacks at all the Black Panthers provided daycare food services and medical care in the
ghettos and slums of cities most importantly the Black Panthers are themselves in order to
protect themselves and black communities against police brutality this led to several shootings
between the Panthers and police including two students who were shot dead in a hall at UCLA
this made them hated by whites but be incredibly popular with poor African Americans Black Panthers
preach everyday hate kill right kill the police kill the peeps the moderate leaders continue to
preach non-violence to achieve equality the next phase of the movement was to protest
voting rights determined to show non-violence could work Martin Luther King planned a march
MLK and other moderates descended on Selma Alabama which leads to the Freedom Summer
and the Selma campaign in 1964 snick began a two-year voter registration campaign in
Mississippi this Freedom Summer had college kids signing up for blacks to vote some volunteers
were beaten by angry whites and some were killed in 1965 MLK and the SCLC staged a march in Selma
in support of voting rights like Birmingham the campaign was attacked by whites who beat
marchers the scenes that people saw during this march let Americans to call for new laws now in
order to provide equality for African Americans with President Lyndon Baines Johnson in office
instituting his Great Society programs the civil rights movement achieves several successes the
first is the twenty-fourth amendment to the United States Constitution which officially declared that
poll taxes making voters pay in order to vote was illegal this struck down several southern
state laws keeping African Americans from voting another was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 this
law made voter literacy tests illegal and allow federal agents to travel to southern states to
ensure that African Americans could register to vote and not be intimidated by violence the
last was the Civil Rights Act of 1968 this law outlawed racial discrimination when it came to
housing you couldn't deny an african-american family the right to buy a home if they were good
buyers based on their race with all of this new legislation including the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 LBJ understood the role that race played in American society and that the issue
needed to be resolved my fellow Americans I am about to sign into law a Civil Rights Act of
1964 its purpose is national not regional its purpose is to promote a more abiding
commitment to freedom a more constant pursuit of justice and a deeper respect for human dignity