Civil Rights Movement for Kids: A History with 21 Activities
Let the ORED Children Lead Early Days the 1950s Let the Gilles lead Segregation laws were the products of prejudice and specifically of racism These laws also increased prejudice by separating people so that they could not get to know one another and learn about their mistaken beliefs Introduction Imagine laws ordering you not to eat with ride the bus with go to school with or marry someone just because you and that per son had different skin colors Segregation the separation of per sons on the basis of skin color was the law of the southern United States during the 1950s This chapter looks at segregation and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement that ultimately dismantled segregation laws The chapter also introduces courageous young people who
dared to challenge segregation and describes their struggles Legal segregation was both a product and a cause of prejudice Prejudice means pre judging another person or group of people without regard to facts For example some adults say that young people are loud and irresponsible That is a prejudice against all young people Racism is a set of prejudices against people whose skin color or ethnicity is different from your own An ethnic group is a group of people who share common customs language values and or national origin Segregation laws were the products of prejudice and specifi cally of racism The laws were made by white men who believed black people were inferior Segregation laws made it easier to be prejudiced because the law gave respectability to prejudice These laws also increased prejudice by separating people so that they could not get to know one another and learn about their mistaken beliefs Back to the 1950s Let's take a trip back in time back some 50 years ago Daily life was different then for children as well as for adults In 1950 girls wore dresses to school and boys wore pants but not blue jeans Children always spoke respectfully to adults They addressed adults by their last names Mr Johnson or Mrs King Most adults also addressed each other formally using last names This rule of respect was broken when white adults spoke to black adults Then the white adults usually called the black adults by their first names Sometimes even more disrespectful ly they would call a black man boy Fifty years ago most mothers stayed at home They took care of their children homes laundry cooking and cleaning Women who worked outside the home had few choices They worked at traditional women's jobs such as a cleaning lady or
office worker teacher librarian or nurse Employed women earned far less than men A COLORED Photography Stan Vachon courtesy of Library of Congress This drinking fountain in Halifax North Carolina taken in April 1938 shows the separation of black and white people in the South before the Civil Rights Move ment Black people and white people were not even allowed to drink from the same drinking fountains Journalist Takes a Stand Ozell Sutton the first black journalist hired to work on the afternoon newspaper in Little Rock Arkansas recalled years later that the newspaper did not use courtesy titles for black women called them Lula belle Joanne I would never write a story using a black woman without calling her Mrs They would go through my copy and cross it out And then the editor called me one day and said Ozell you know we don't use Mrs for black women So that we don't have to go through your paper and cross it out all the time couldn't you just write it according to the policy of the paper I
No according to my OWN POLICY I could not do that Interview in episode 11 Will the Circle Be Unbroken pro duced by the Southern Regional Council Black Americans were even more handicapped than white women in the work market Many jobs were for whites only Black workers were kept in lower paying jobs Even if they were doing the same work as white workers they were paid less Fifty years ago there were no home computers Internet or video games A new technology called television was sweeping the country In 1946 only 6 000 television sets were manufac tured They showed only black and white images By 1953 fac tories churned out seven million sets Color had been introduced though most televisions and most programs were still black and white Parents worried that children spent more time in front of the television than they did on school and home work In 1950 there was not a single McDonald's restaurant in the United States The first golden arches were built in Chicago in 1955 Rock and roll music began with Elvis Presley in the 1950s Adults worried that his wild dancing and music would corrupt children Barbie was introduced in 1959 More than 200 million Barbie dolls were sold in the next 25 years Like all other dolls on the market Barbie was white Black girls found no dolls that looked like them From 1948 to 1952 Harry Truman was president of the United States Dwight D Eisenhower followed him serving from 1952 to 1960 People in the United States were deeply afraid of communism Many people were fired from their jobs because they were suspected of being communists Segregation
