NSCC Library: Anti-Racism Resources : Post Civil Rights Era (1976-1999)

Introduction

The election of Richard M. Nixon as president in 1968 and his use of the term silent majority signaled a major shift in American politics at the end of the 1960s. By 1974, SNCC had disbanded and the Black Panther Party was on the decline, and the NAACP lost a major court case in Milliken v. Bradley, when the Supreme Court declared that school systems were not responsible for desegregation across district lines (From Black Freedom Struggle in the United States).

This section will provide resources to connect the historic struggle for equality and equity with the current Black Lives Matters movement and the widespread demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism.

After the Rebellion: Black Youth, Social Movement Activism, and the Post-Civil Rights Generation by Sekou M. Franklin
Call Number: NSCC E-Book
Publication Date: 2014
What happened to black youth in the post-civil rights generation? What kind of causes did they rally around and were they even rallying in the first place? After the Rebellion takes a close look at a variety of key civil rights groups across the country over the last 40 years to provide a broad view of black youth and social movement activism. Based on both research from a diverse collection of archives and interviews with youth activists, advocates, and grassroots organizers, this book examines popular mobilization among the generation of activists - principally black students, youth, and young adults - who came of age after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Franklin argues that the political environment in the post-Civil Rights era, along with constraints on social activism, made it particularly difficult for young black activists to start and sustain popular mobilization campaigns.

Miami Race Riots (1980)

Miami Riots
This segment from the documentary series "Eyes on the Prize" episode "Back to the Movement(1979-1980) looks at the Miami riots of 1980, the first major racial uprising of the post-civil rights era.

LA Race Riots (1992)

Los Angeles Riots 1995
This segment from the documentary series "Black in America since MLK: And Still I Rise" explores the causes, aftermath and legacy of the 1995 Los Angeles Riots.
The LA Riots: 25 Years Later
Looks back at decades of racial injustice in Los Angeles leading up to April 29, 1992. The story is told through a variety of voices from citizens, council members, law enforcement, rescuers and even from those who committed crimes. The documentary provides a historical perspective through a contemporary lens drawing parallels between the racial injustices of our past and present.
No Way to Delay, Trouble in LA
This article presents an essay on a riot in Los Angeles, California after the acquittal of police officers charged with beating Rodney King. The acquittal on April 29, 1992, of four Los Angeles police officers on charges related to the beating of Rodney King set off six days of rioting in the Los Angeles are. Initially the events seemed quite similar to those of the Watts riots in 1965 in that the rioters were predominantly black, the area of the rioting similar, the local police again quickly lost control and had to be supplemented by the National Guard, while the chief of police made hard-line, inflammatory statements about the rioters. As a consequence, official, media, academic, and general public interpretation of what occurred quickly followed some fairly well-understood and conventional lines: either it was another in a long line of familiar black protests against social injustice, and so it was a rebellion or an insurrection of an oppressed people, or once again street hoodlums were using the pretext of political events to pillage and loot and injure the innocent, and so it was a riot. But as time went by, the evident complexity of the events overwhelmed these familiar and easy interpretations.
Can Violent Protest Change Local Policy Support? Evidence from the Aftermath of the 1992 LA Riots
This article analyzes measures of policy support before and after the 1992 Los Angeles riot—one of the most high-profile events of political violence in recent American history—that occurred just prior to an election. Contrary to some expectations from the academic literature and the popular press, we find that the riot caused a marked liberal shift in policy support at the polls. Investigating the sources of this shift, we find that it was likely the result of increased mobilization of both African American and white voters. Remarkably, this mobilization endures over a decade later.

Million Man March (1995)

Million Man March
This clip from the documentary series "Black in America since MLK: And Still I Rise," looks at the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, DC.
25 Years Later: Legacy of the First Million Man MArch
This article reflects on the legacy of the 1995 Million Man March in Washington through the lens of the Black Lives Matters Movement and the racial justice protests of the summer of 2020.