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Difficulty: MediumThe Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s

Source: Martin Luther King Jr., Address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Convention, August 1967

"We must face the fact that the Civil Rights Movement has entered a new phase. In the first phase, we won the right to use public accommodations, the right to vote, and the basic constitutional guarantees... But we must now realize that the struggles of the future are going to be more difficult. We are now dealing with de facto segregation, with economic deprivation, with slums, and with the structural inequality of our economy."

The ideas expressed in the excerpt highlight which of the following shifts within the Civil Rights Movement during the mid-to-late 1960s?

  1. A
    A universal transition within civil rights organizations away from nonviolent direct action toward armed self-defense
  2. B
    A broad consensus among leaders to abandon grassroots local organizing in favor of national political party lobbying
  3. A growing focus on addressing de facto segregation and economic inequality in urban areas outside the SouthAnswer
  4. D
    The complete unification of civil rights groups under a single organization to coordinate federal legal challenges

Answer

A growing focus on addressing de facto segregation and economic inequality in urban areas outside the South
The correct answer accurately identifies the movement's shift toward addressing de facto segregation, housing, and economic inequality, particularly in Northern and Western urban centers, following legislative victories like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. This is directly reflected in King's description of a 'new phase' dealing with economic deprivation and slums.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the core subject and context of the primary source.
The excerpt is from a 1967 speech by Martin Luther King Jr. describing a transition from a 'first phase' of civil rights (winning legal rights) to a 'new phase' (addressing economic inequality and housing).
Establishing the historical context allows the student to understand the chronologically changing focus of the movement.
2
Connect the excerpt's description of 'de facto segregation' and 'economic deprivation' to the broader historical shifts in the late 1960s.
Following legislative achievements in the South (like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965), civil rights campaigns expanded to address structural inequality and segregation in Northern and Western cities.
This identifies the correct answer by linking the specific language of the text to historical trends.
3
Evaluate the distractors based on the internal diversity and debates of the Civil Rights Movement.
Options proposing complete consensus, universal transitions, or unification are incorrect because the late 1960s was marked by strategic fragmentation (e.g., nonviolence vs. Black Power), not agreement.
This eliminates incorrect options by identifying the misconception of consensus within a diverse movement.

Key Concept

The shift in the Civil Rights Movement's focus during the late 1960s from legal, Southern segregation (de jure) to systemic, urban segregation and economic inequality (de facto), and the associated strategic debates.
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s

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