Chapter 9 – The Civil Rights Movement Beyond the South

Resources for Chapter 9 – The Civil Rights Movement Beyond the South

Opening Hook

Documents

Document 9.1 – The Omaha Bus Boycott

Document 9.2 – Dr. King at Los Angeles Freedom Rally 1963

Document 9.3 – The Brooklyn School Boycott

Document 9.4 – Human Rights Marchers in San Francisco 1964

Document 9.5 – Milwaukee Marches

Check for Understanding

Additional Resources

Podcast

Teaching Hard History, “Season 3, Episode 6: The Jim Crow South”
Learning for Justice
https://learningforjustice.org/podcasts/teaching-hard-history/civil-rights-movement/the-jim-crow-north

The series is designed for teachers and offers outstanding background to understand this entire chapter. This episode highlights key struggles for fair housing, quality education, and an end to police brutality in cities like Milwaukee and Omaha, demonstrating the national scope of the fight for Black freedom.

Websites

March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Libraries
https://uwm.edu/marchonmilwaukee/

This digital collection provides primary sources including photographs, unedited news film footage, text documents, and oral history interviews related to Milwaukee’s civil rights history. It focuses heavily on the 200 consecutive nights of open housing marches (1967–1968). Teachers can direct students to the website to share additional stories of the movement with the entire class.

A Tour of the Omaha Civil Rights Movement
Adam Fletcher
https://northomahahistory.com/2018/03/28/omaha-civil-rights-tour/

This site provides a timeline and tour of specific sites associated with the Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, detailing the history of Jim Crow practices in the city and the efforts of local groups like the DePorres Club to combat them long before the major uprisings of the late 1960s. A lesson on the terms de jure (by law) and de facto (by custom or system) segregation can be taught using resources from this website.

Documentary

Crossing the Bridge: The Story of the Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council
Black Nouveau, Milwaukee PBS, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZDfmkhwfO0

This documentary chronicles the Milwaukee Civil Rights Movement from 1965 to 1968. It focuses on the militant direct-action campaign, particularly the 200 consecutive nights of marches over the 16th Street Viaduct (the “bridge”) into segregated white South Side neighborhoods. Screening excerpts from this source adds a rich visual history to the discussion of Milwaukee.

Books

The Selma of the North: Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee
Patrick D. Jones, 2009
View on Amazon

This book chronicles the militant, sustained Civil Rights Movement that took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the 1960s. Simply analyzing the title would foster an interesting discussion. Teachers could share what happened in Selma, Alabama—the infamous march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge to push for voting rights for Black citizens—and compare it to the events in Milwaukee.

The Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North: Segregation and Struggle outside the South
Brian Purnell and Jeanne Theoharis, eds., 2019
View on Amazon

Through a collection of essays, readers emerge with an understanding that racism and segregation were not confined primarily to the South. It documents sustained grassroots civil rights activism across the country, arguing that the struggle for equality was truly national.

A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History
Jeanne Theoharis, 2018
View on Amazon

The book critiques the overly simplified narrative of the Civil Rights Movement that focuses almost exclusively on heroic Southern figures and landmark legislative victories. Theoharis argues that this sanitized history overlooks the radical nature of the movement, the widespread segregation in the North, and the deep unpopularity that activists like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. faced during their time.

Glossary

busing: The transportation of students to schools outside their neighborhoods to achieve racial integration.
coalition: An alliance or partnership of different groups working together toward a common goal.
de facto: In reality or practice, though not officially established by law.
de jure: By law; according to legal requirements.
grassroots: Political or social movements organized at the local community level by ordinary citizens.
militant: Aggressively active in support of a cause, especially political or social change.
open housing: Laws and policies ensuring that housing is available to all people regardless of race.
ordinance: A piece of legislation enacted by a municipal authority; a local law.
police brutality: The use of excessive or unnecessary force by police officers against civilians.
riot: A violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd.
suburb: A residential area on the outskirts of a city.
viaduct: A long bridge-like structure carrying a road or railroad across a valley or other low ground.