Hello and welcome to today's lesson on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

This lesson is part of a broader inquiry looking at why the civil rights movement was more successful from 1960 to '65.

In the course of this inquiry will cover lots of different things, mainly the key events between 1960 and 1965.

But for today, we are just going to be focusing on the Civil Rights Act of '64 and the Voting Rights Act of '65.

And for this lesson, you're gonna need a piece of paper and a pen.

If you don't have one, that's absolutely fine.

Just pause the video now, get everything you need, and then come back when you're ready to go.

Great.

Now, you're ready to get started, let's have a look at the lesson outcome that's on the slide here.

So by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to say, you can explain the importance of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, including the role of Kennedy and Johnson.

And in order to do this, we're going to need some keywords.

For today, we've just got two, act and registration.

An act is a law passed by the government.

So the Civil Rights Act is a law passed by the government, as was the Voting Rights Act.

And registration is the act of signing up to do something, for example, voting.

So vote of registration is the act of signing up to be able to vote.

Now, we've got our key words.

We can get started on today's lesson.

And in the first part of the lesson, we'll be looking at the transition from President Kennedy to President Johnson.

So John F.

Kennedy became president of the US in 1960.

And many have argued that without the support of Black Americans, he would not have won.

This meant that there was an expectation that he would finally address the issue of civil rights.

However, as Kennedy was a Democrat, he faced opposition from the Dixiecrats in his own party, which made it less likely that he'd be able to openly lead a civil rights movement.

But despite his fear of southern opposition, Kennedy supported James Meredith's enrollment at the University of Mississippi.

He gave support to Martin Luther King during the Birmingham campaign and appointed Black federal judges and other Black Americans to his administration.

This created a real sense of expectancy and hope that he would pass an act that would lead to real change.

When Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, uncertainty hung in the air.

His successor was his vice president, Lyndon B.

Johnson, who faced mounting pressure to honour Kennedy's legacy with a Landmark Civil Rights Act.

So before we go on to look at how far Johnson was able to honour Kennedy, we're going to pause, check our understanding and put what we've learned so far into practise.

So firstly, I'd like you to tell me why was Kennedy expected to address the issue of civil rights.

Was it because A, he openly led the civil rights movement? B, he was a Republican who had promised his support to the movement? Or C, the support for Black Americans helped him win the election? Pause the video now, make a quick decision and then come back and press play when you've got an answer.

Excellent.

We know that the answer is C.

He was expected to address the issue of civil rights because the support of Black Americans had helped him win the election.

I'd like you to discuss the following question now.

If you're doing this lesson with someone, you can do it in pairs.

If you're doing this lesson by yourself, then maybe practise articulating an answer out loud.

How had Kennedy shown support for the civil rights movement? So pause the video now.

Have a discussion with the person next to you.

Maybe give each person at least 60 seconds to have a go at explaining.

And if you're doing it by yourself, give yourself a good minute or two to practise articulating a response out loud.

When you've got an answer for me, come back and press Play.

Great work.

Hopefully you said something that included his support of James Meredith's university enrollment, that he gave support to Martin Luther King during the Birmingham campaign.

and/or that he appointed Black federal judges and other Black Americans to his administration.

Really well done.

Now, I'd like you to put what we've learned into practise.

I'd like you to complete the table to show whether each of the following statements is true or false.

If the statement is true, you'll put a T.

If it's false, you'll put an F.

So the first statement, Kennedy became president of the US in 1960.

Kennedy was a Republican.

By 1960, Kennedy no longer feared Dixiecrat opposition.

Kennedy offered no support to the James Meredith case.

Johnson replaced Kennedy as president of the US in 1963.

And Johnson faced pressure to honour Kennedy's legacy.

Pause the video now and decide whether each statement is true or false, and then come back when you've completed the task.

Great work.

Let's have a look at what your completed table should have looked like.

So we know that first statement is true.

He did become president in 1960.

We know the second statement is false.

Kennedy was not a Republican, he was a Democrat.

We know that by 1960 is not true.

He did fear Dixiecrat opposition.

We know that that fourth statement is false.

He did offer support to the James Meredith case.

He was actually instrumental in ensuring that James Meredith was able to enrol and graduate.

The fifth statement is true.

Johnson did replace Kennedy as president after his assassination in 1963.

And it is also true that Johnson faced pressure to honour Kennedy's legacy.

Really well done.

Hopefully you got all those answers correct.

If not, just jot down the correct answers now.

So really well done in that first part of the lesson.

In the second part of the lesson, we are going to be looking at the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Now, as Johnson took the stage to try and win over the US government and get Kennedy's Civil Rights Act passed, Southern opposition was lessened by a widespread desire to honour the work of Kennedy.

As someone who had been in politics for nearly 30 years, Johnson knew exactly what he needed to do.

He was able to use the sympathy for the loss of Kennedy to get enough support in Congress to overcome another attempt at a Dixiecrat-led filibuster.

And the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.

As we can see on the slide here, we can see a photograph of President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

But you might be asking, what did the Civil Rights Act actually do? And the Civil Rights Act brought several changes, and that's the reason it was one of the landmark moments in the civil rights movement.

The act banned segregation in public places.

This included accommodation, courthouses, parks, restaurants, hotels, theatres, and sports areas.

The act also banned discrimination and employment, creating the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the EEOC, who would carry out lawsuits against any place of employment that discriminated on the basis of race, nationality, or religion.

It banned any discrimination in voting and voter registration.

It banned the government from giving federal money to any organisation that still carried out segregation.

And it gave the Department of Education the power to support desegregation in schools.

For many, this was the high point of the civil rights movement, and even more believed it was Johnson's greatest success.

However, there were also some Black Americans who felt the act was just too little, too late.

So before we go on to look at the final part of our lesson, we're going to pause, check our understanding, and put our learning about the Civil Rights Act into practise.

So firstly, I'd like you to tell me why did Southern opposition become lesser an obstacle when Johnson attempted to pass the Civil Rights Act.

Was it A, few Southern politicians were opposed to the act by 1964? B, Kennedy had eliminated most Southern opposition before his assassination? C, many people wanted to honour the work of Kennedy? So pause the video, make a decision, and then come back when you've got an answer for me.

Really well done the answer for C.

We know that many people wanted to honour the work of Kennedy and therefore it was easier to overcome Southern opposition.

So I'd like you again to have a go at starting a discussion.

What did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 do? So if you're doing this lesson with someone else, you've now got a chance to turn and talk to your partner and explain to them what the Civil Rights Act did and you can take it in turns.

If you're doing this lesson independently, you can have a go at explaining it out loud.

And once you've done that, you can even have a go at writing down some of the key ideas that you've said out loud.

So pause the video now.

And if in pairs, you've both had a go at answering this question.

Come back and press Play.

But if you're doing it independently, once you've had a go at nice and clearly articulating it out loud, you can come back and press Play.

Great work.

So I'm hoping that in your discussions or articulating it out loud if you're doing this independently, you were able to include some of the following points: That the act banned desegregation in public places; they banned discrimination and employment; they banned discrimination in voting and voter registration; they banned the government giving federal money to anyone who still carried out segregation; and that it gave more power to the Department of Education.

Really well done.

If you didn't get to include any of those things, you can pause the video now and maybe have another go at explaining it again, making sure you've included these really key details so that you can explain why this was a landmark moment in the civil rights movement.

Now, for our practise task, I'd like you to write one paragraph explaining the importance of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

In completing this task, I'd like you to make sure that you include the following phrases and key details in your response: This meant that, this led to, public places, employment, and voter registration.

So pause the video now.

Give yourself 5-10 minutes to complete this task.

And when you are done, come back and press Play.

Absolutely fantastic work.

Let's have a look at what your answer may have included.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was important because it banned segregation in public places, which meant it was now illegal to enforce segregation in accommodation, courthouses, parks, and other public places.

In addition to this, discrimination in employment was banned with the EEOC created to enforce the acting workplaces.

The act also addressed discrimination in voter registration and stop the government from giving any money to organisations that continue to discriminate.

This meant that many Black Americans can now access better paid jobs, accommodation and schools, as well as other public facilities.

This led to significant changes for Black Americans, as many of the barriers they faced were starting to be removed.

Really well done.

Hopefully you managed to get those key details in there and the use of one of our keywords, act.

Really well done.

Now, we can move on to the third and final part of our lesson.

And in this part of the lesson, we'll be looking at the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

So even though the Civil Rights Act addressed the restriction on voter registration, there was significant opposition in the South and many Black still could not vote.

In Selma, Alabama, only 383 of 15,000 Black Americans had been able to vote.

Several civil rights leaders of the SCLC and SNCC decided they were organised another nonviolent protest to push for further change.

As it was only a year after Martin Luther King had won the Nobel Peace Prize, this protest was set to gain national attention.

On the 18th of February, 1965, a mob of racist white Americans began to attack a group of peaceful protestors in Marion, Alabama.

A police officer shot Jimmie Lee Jackson, a young protestor.

He died in hospital in Selma.

And we can see here a photograph of Martin Luther King giving a eulogy at Jimmie Lee Jackson's funeral.

And it was in response to the murder of Jackson, Martin Luther King organised a 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama's capital.

The 600 protestors set out on the 7th of March, but had made little progress before the Alabama police used bats, whips, and tear gas to push them back to Selma.

The brutal police response was captured and shown on TV around the world.

We can see one of the photographs that would've been hugely publicised at the time.

We can see the photograph of Alabama troops attacking civil rights activists on their peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery.

And remember, this was after the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

After another attempt at the march and the murder of a young white local pastor, James Reeb, Johnson publicly gave his support to the marches and called for a Voting Rights Act.

The third march arrived in Montgomery on the 25th of March with nearly 50,000 supporters.

And we can see a photograph of the aerial view of the march from Selma.

We can see that they had huge support, 50,000 people crossing the bridge marching from Selma.

Now, before we go on to look at this Voting Rights Act, we're just going to pause and quickly check our understanding.

So I'd like you to tell me whether this statement is true or false.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 brought the civil rights movement to a successful end.

Pause the video now and come back when you made a decision.

Great work.

We know that this statement is false, but you need to justify your answer.

Is it false because many Black Americans still could not vote because of continued restrictions on voter registration? Or B, Johnson had not wanted to pass the 1964 Act and opposed it after he became president? Pause the video now and when you've justified your answer, come back and press Play.

Excellent work.

We know that this statement is false because many Black Americans still could not vote because of continued restrictions on voter to registration.

And when they organised the march from Selma, we know that they were met with violent opposition on their first few attempts at the march.

So before we go on to look at the Voting Rights Act, I'd like you to very quickly, starting with the earliest, sort these events into chronological order with one being the earliest event.

Give yourself a couple of minutes to sort these events and then come back and press Play when you're done.

Excellent work.

Let's have a look at what the correct order should have looked like.

So we know that first, Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot and killed by a police officer.

Then we know the first march was violently pushed back by police.

Then James Reeb was murdered following a second attempt at the march.

And then finally, Johnson gave his support for a Voting Rights Act.

Now, let's have a look at what that act included.

So with the success of the march from Selma and the support of Johnson, in August 1965, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed.

The act brought an end to literacy tests and gave federal agents the power to act against discrimination in registration.

By the beginning of 1965, 250,000 Black Americans had registered and another 750,000 by 1968.

With the passing of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, it appeared that the method of nonviolent direct action had worked.

So we've now looked the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and how that didn't quite bring enough change in the issue of voter registration and restrictions on Black Americans in voter registration.

That led to then further protest and finally the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which appeared to prove that the method of non-violent direct action had worked.

Really well done.

Now, in this final part of the lesson, we're gonna put our learning into practise.

But before we do that, you're going to very quickly tell me, what did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 do? There were two key things.

Pause the video and very quickly jot them down for me and then come back when you've remembered them.

Brilliant.

Hopefully you said that it ended literacy tests and gave federal agents the power to act against discrimination in registration.

So really, really well done.

Now, we're going to put our learning into practise.

And in order to do that, I need you to read this statement from one of our students, Izzy.

She says, "Both the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were landmark moments of the civil rights movement, although they did not mean the movement had come to an end.

While both acts made significant changes, the need to introduce the Voting Rights Acts demonstrated that more work would be needed to fully address the barriers that many Black Americans still faced in 1965, especially in the South." So now I'd like you, having read Izzy's interpretation about the importance of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, to tell me how far you agree with it.

I'd like you to make sure that you're using quotations from her response and evidence from your letter to support this answer.

Give yourself 10 to 15 minutes to complete this final task.

And then when you're done, come back and press Play.

Really well done.

Now, let's have a look at what your answer might have included.

So you might have said that I agree with Izzy's interpretation to a significant extent, as I believe she's acknowledged both the importance of the acts and their limitations.

Izzy says that both acts were landmark moments in the civil rights movement.

This can be supported by the fact that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 addressed several barriers that Black Americans faced and gave various government groups the power to enforce these changes.

For example, discrimination in employment was banned and the EEOC was created to carry out lawsuits against any place of work that's still discriminated.

The act also gave the Department of Education the power to support desegregation in schools.

Similarly, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave federal agents the power to act against discrimination in voter registration.

However, Izzy makes a valid appointment.

She argues that the acts did not mean the movement had come to an end.

This is clear in the events leading up to the Voting Rights Act, which showed that a new act could not immediately bring an end to opposition, especially in the South.

The extent of continued violence is evident in the murders of Jimmie Lee Jackson and James Reeb.

Although both acts were landmark moments, they also showed that it would take more work for attitudes to change in line with new laws.

Really brilliant work here.

Hopefully just like our example answer here, you've addressed what she said about the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

Really well done.

If there's a couple of sentences you weren't quite able to get down, feel free to pause the video now and make a note.

So you have done absolutely brilliant work this lesson.

In this last part, we are just gonna be looking at a quick summary of what we've covered 'cause we have looked at a lot this lesson.

So first, we learned that in the early 1960s, President Kennedy was instrumental in the success of the civil rights movement.

We then learned that after the assassination of Kennedy, Johnson was able to pass the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

And this act was considered one of the greatest successes of the movement.

However, there were continued restrictions and opposition in the South.

We then learned that continued restriction on voter registration in the South led the march from Selma in 1965.

The violent opposition faced by those marching led to Johnson declaring his support for a Voting Rights Act.

And finally, we learned that Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

This directly addressed the voting restrictions that were stood in place after the Civil Rights Act.

Really well done for today.

You have done absolutely brilliant work.

I'm so impressed.