Australian Curriculum links

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1 Australian Curriculum links Historical knowledge and understanding The US Civil Rights movement and its influence on Australia Topic code Elaborations Historical skills ACDSEH105 Outlining the Freedom Rides in the US, how they inspired Civil Rights campaigners in Australia, and how they became a turning point in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people s struggles for rights and freedoms Identify and locate relevant sources, using ICT and other methods Develop texts, particularly descriptions and discussions that use evidence from a range of sources that are referenced Select and use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and digital technologies Timeline 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves to be free 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 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civil rights organisation The Grandfather Clause, which restricted African-American voting registration, is repealed A series of race riots occurs in Chicago, leaving thirty-eight people dead The Supreme Court bans segregation in US public schools in the Brown v. Board of Education ruling 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 1

2 1957 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 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 Student volunteers called Freedom Riders begin testing state laws prohibiting racial segregation on US buses and railway stations James Meredith becomes the first African-American student to enrol at the University of Mississippi 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 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 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 Rights and Freedoms

3 1966 The Black Panthers are founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in Oakland, California More race riots occur in Detroit and New York, the worst in US history. Forty-three people die 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 Members of the Aborigines Advancement League in Australia call for the removal of non-aboriginal people from positions of power in the organisation As part of a move towards organisations controlled by Indigenous people, the Redfern Aboriginal Legal Service is established in Sydney 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 The Aboriginal tent embassy is established outside Parliament House, Canberra, to lobby for land rights 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 Barack Obama is the first African-American to be elected US president. Rights and Freedoms 3

4 Introduction As the Civil Rights movement in the United States gathered strength throughout the 1960s and protests flared in other parts of the world, Australia began to experience similar struggles and conflicts for rights and freedoms, particularly in regard to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people. While some methods of protest (such as Freedom Rides and Black Power) were directly influenced by the US Civil Rights movement, others (like the Wave Hill Walk-off ) were inspired by workers movements in countries like France. Yet others, such as the Aboriginal tent embassy in Canberra, emerged entirely from Australian conditions. From the mid-1950s to the early 1970s there was great social upheaval in industrialised Western countries. After World War II, long-standing colonial empires were threatened and much of Africa and Asia gained independence. In Cuba, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro led a successful revolution in 1959, while Algeria saw armed revolution against its French colonisers. In France, students protested against the old order and embraced socialism. In several countries the Vietnam War brought human rights and US military aggression into the spotlight. It was in this international context of emerging human, social and political rights that Indigenous Australians became more radicalised in the 1960s. 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 James Willbanks, Vietnam War: The Essential Reference Guide (California: ABC-CLIO, 2013). 4 Rights and Freedoms

5 US Civil Rights movement In many southern states of the US, discriminatory laws, known as Jim Crow laws, segregated society according to race from the 1870s onwards. This included having separate schools and other public places such as cafes, toilets and water fountains for white people and African-Americans. The northern states did not have formal segregation but there were informal social barriers to equal participation in work and politics. The standard of living of African- Americans was far lower than that of white Americans. The US Civil Rights movement peaked during the late 1960s, when massive protests which included people from a range of backgrounds helped to repeal segregationist laws in the South, give voting rights to African-Americans and raise awareness of social problems. The Vietnam War, in which African-American men were conscripted and killed at a proportionally greater rate than other Americans, also brought inequality and disadvantage to the fore. 2 The US movement included a number of highprofile court cases and civil disobedience demonstrations, such as boycotts, sit-ins and marches. (For the most part these were nonviolent.) Notable achievements during this time were the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in employment, and the Voting Rights Act of 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 nonphysical 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 Jobs and Freedom in The following year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in the fight for racial equality. King was assassinated on 4 April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, was a Muslim minister from the Nation of Islam (led by the prophet Elijah Muhammad). He took the Above: Dr Martin Luther King Jr at the March on Washington, surname X in place of Little to highlight the fact that many African-Americans had had their names imposed by slave-owners in previous generations. Malcolm X s father like King, a Baptist minister was rumoured to have been killed by white supremacists, and Malcolm spent time in foster care and eventually prison, where Rights and Freedoms 5

6 he converted to Islam. Although Malcolm X s views changed over time, he is probably best known for his public speaking ability, radical ideas regarding African-American separatism (as opposed to integration) and for calling on African-Americans to react to racism and oppression by any means necessary. Malcolm X was assassinated on 21 February 1965 in Manhattan, New York. On 1 December 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white man, violating Alabama law which required coloured passengers to give up their seats if the white section of a bus was full. Parks act of civil disobedience was an important step in the development of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, through which African-Americans eventually brought an end to segregation on public buses. Above: Malcolm X, Above: Rosa Parks, 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 Rights and Freedoms

7 Methods of protest Sit-ins One technique used to highlight racial segregation in US shops, cafes and other sites was the sit-in, which involved protesters sitting on the ground or floor in a group. One of the most successful cases was the series of sit-ins held in Nashville, Tennessee in 1960, which led to the desegregation of lunch counters. The sit-in was used in Australia also, including in anti Vietnam War protests. Freedom Rides In 1960 the US Federal Government declared that the segregation of interstate buses and trains was unconstitutional. However, in many southern states these laws were not enforced, and segregation continued. Students of different races challenged this in 1961 by riding on public buses together, with serious consequences. The main bodies behind these Freedom Rides were the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC). In some southern states, Freedom Riders were beaten and police protection was minimal. The action brought national attention to the ongoing segregation in the South and inspired similar action elsewhere. Marches The Civil Rights movement was known for its political rallies and street marches. One of the largest was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, which called for civil and economic rights for African-Americans. On 28 August, up to people descended on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC and heard Martin Luther King Jr (leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference) give his famous I Have A Dream speech. Although the march was not universally supported (most notably by Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X), the significance and impact of the March on Washington and King s speech, as well as the involvement of popular singers such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, is believed to have contributed to the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 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 Rights and Freedoms 7

8 Source 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 Activity Read Source Watch the better-known part of the I Have a Dream speech at 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 Rights and Freedoms