19.1.16

Martin Luther King's Campaign

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Martin Luther King's Campaign in the North

The SCLC was shocked by the Watts Riots, and wanted to prove non-violent direct action still worked.

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Chicago

  • The SCLC was shocked by the Watts Riots, and wanted to prove non-violent direct action still worked.
  • Martin Luther King was invited to Chicago to hold protests alongside the Coordinating Council of Community Organisations (CCCO) for fairer housing in 1966.
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Tenants' associations

  • The SCLC helped tenants' associations fight against segregated housing and unreasonably high rents, and started Operation Breadbasket to encourage businesses to employ more black workers.
  • They also planned a Chicago Freedom Movement.
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Riots

  • However, many black politicians opposed the SCLC’s campaigns, and the SCLC didn’t really connect with ghetto gangs.
  • Riots began before King’s planned march through white neighbourhoods could start.
  • The SCLC was accused of encouraging them and state troops had to be called in to reassert order.
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Result

  • The March went ahead and produced a violent white response, but the media weren’t as supportive as they had been in the South.
  • An agreement was made on fair housing prices between Mayor Daley, the Chicago Freedom Movement and the Chicago Real Estate Board, so Martin Luther King and the SCLC left.
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Successes

  • Operation Breadbasket helped increase black employment in white companies.
  • There had been a peaceful protest and an agreement was made.
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Failures

  • King had not been able to stop the violence on both sides.
  • Mayor Daley ignored the agreement he made after King left. Housing prices stayed the same
  • The federal government didn’t do anything about Daley’s backtracking because King publicly disagreed with President Johnson’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
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FBI involvement

  • During the Civil Rights movement, the FBI conducted covert operations called COINTELPRO with the aim of disrupting the movement, which they felt was a risk to national security.
  • These operations included intimidation tactics like surveillance, alleged blackmail, threats, and intimidation.

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1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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