F
Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement
On March 1, 1968, the Kerner Commission, which President Johnson had
appointed to study the causes of urban violence, issued its 200,000-word report. In
it, the panel named one main cause: white racism. Said the report: “This is our basic
conclusion: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—sepa-
rate and unequal.” The report called for the nation to create new jobs, construct new
housing, and end de facto segregation in order to wipe out the destructive ghetto
environment. However, the Johnson administration ignored many of the recom-
mendations because of white opposition to such sweeping changes. So what had the
civil rights movement accomplished?
CIVIL RIGHTS GAINS
The civil rights movement ended de jure segregation by
bringing about legal protection for the civil rights of all Americans. Congress
passed the most important civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, including
the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which ended discrimination in housing. After
school segregation ended, the numbers of African Americans
who finished high school and who went to college increased
significantly. This in turn led to better jobs and business
opportunities.
Another accomplishment of the civil rights movement
was to give African Americans greater pride in their racial
identity. Many African Americans adopted African-influenced
styles and proudly displayed symbols of African history and
culture. College students demanded new Black Studies pro-
grams so they could study African-American history and liter-
ature. In the entertainment world, the “color bar” was lowered
as African Americans began to appear more frequently in
movies and on television shows and commercials.
In addition, African Americans made substantial political
gains. By 1970, an estimated two-thirds of eligible African
Americans were registered to vote, and a significant increase
in African-American elected officials resulted. The number of
African Americans holding elected office grew from fewer
than 100 in 1965 to more than 7,000 in 1992. Many civil
rights activists went on to become political leaders, among
them Reverend Jesse Jackson, who sought the Democratic
nomination for president in 1984 and 1988; Vernon Jordan,
who led voter-registration drives that enrolled about 2 million
African Americans; and Andrew Young, who has served as UN
ambassador and Atlanta’s mayor.
UNFINISHED WORK
The civil rights movement was suc-
cessful in changing many discriminatory laws. Yet as the
1960s turned to the 1970s, the challenges for the movement
changed. The issues it confronted—housing and job discrim-
ination, educational inequality, poverty, and racism—
involved the difficult task of changing people’s attitudes and
behavior. Some of the proposed solutions, such as more tax
monies spent in the inner cities and the forced busing of
schoolchildren, angered some whites, who resisted further
changes. Public support for the civil rights movement
declined because some whites were frightened by the urban
riots and the Black Panthers.
By 1990, the trend of whites fleeing the cities for the
suburbs had reversed much of the progress toward school
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HAPTER 29
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
F
Evaluating
What were
some accomplish-
ments of the civil
rights movement?
SHIRLEY CHISHOLM
African-American women such as
Shirley Chisholm exemplified the
advances won in the civil rights
movement. In 1968, Chisholm
became the first African-American
woman in the United States
House of Representatives.
In the mid-1960s, Chisholm
served in the New York state
assembly, representing a district
in New York City. While there, she
supported programs to establish
public day-care centers and pro-
vide unemployment insurance to
domestic workers.
In 1972, Chisholm gained
national prominence by running
for the Democratic presidential
nomination. Despite the fact that
she never won more than 10% of
the vote in the primaries, she
controlled 152 delegates at the
Democratic convention in Miami.