The Civil Rights Era
Reading #1: Challenging Jim Crow -
Brown v. Board of Education
Objective…
Summarize the evolution of Jim Crow and the legal challenge to segregation in public schools
Background to CR the Movement…Post Civil War...•The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)...•13th Amendment (1864) - Abolished slavery
•14th Amendment (1868) - “Reconstruction Amendment” ...Addresses citizenship rights & equal protection under the law ... Addresses needs of former slaves following the Civil War.
•15th Amendment (1870)... Prohibits denying a citizen the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
• The Great Migration…
• Double V Campaign…
Background to CR the Movement…
Post WWII: President Truman… – HST: E.O.9981 - Desegregates the military– HST: President’s Committee on CR…
- The report: To Secure These Rights
Recommendations…
- Ending racial inequality
- Voting rights protection
- Ending segregated housing
- Federal anti-lynching laws
- CRs Div. in Justice Dept.
Background to CR the Movement…
Plessy v. Ferguson
– In 1892, Homer Plessy is arrested for sitting in the “For Whites Only” section of a railroad car.
– In 1896 the Supreme Court decides that “Separate, but equal is equal”
What are Jim Crow Laws?
Laws supporting segregation in schools, parks, public buildings, hospitals, transportation , movie
theaters & cemeteries
N.A.A.C.P.National Assoc. for the Advancement
of Colored People
The oldest civil rights organization in the US.
The early goals of the NAACP….
- Ending racial prejudice
- Promoting equal rights
- Gaining the right to vote
- Gaining justice in the courts
- Gaining equal access to education & employment
The early goals of the NAACP were to advance the interest of colored
citizens by… Using the courts to…
- Ending racial prejudice
- Promoting equal rights
- Gaining the right to vote
- Gaining equal access to education & employment
C.O.R.E.COngress for Racial Equality
• Founded in 1942 – James Farmer
• Goal: Promote better race relations & end racial discrimination in the US
• Tactics: Non-violent civil disobedience
A symbolic first…• Jackie Robinson
– 1947 broke the color barrier in major league baseball
Robinson reports to the Dodgers Rookie of the Year
Lloyd Gaines – (1930s)
• Denied admission to the U. of MO Law school • Refused an offer to attend a law school in another state.• The SC ultimately ruled in his favor... “separate, but
equal doctrine” required that MO either admit him or set up a separate law school for AAs.
Brown v.
Board of Ed.
Argued 1952 – Reargued 1953
Decided 1954
Brown v. Board of Ed.• Linda Brown lives 3 blocks from a white school…
Travels 21 blocks to a black school• Denied registration at the white school• “Brown”1 of 5 cases challenging segregation
Linda &Terry Brown walking to
school
Protesting the issue…
Thurgood Marshall
- Argued cases for the NAACP
- Becomes the first AA appointed to the Supreme Court
Chief Justice Earl Warren “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but
equal’ has no place.”
The Second Brown ruling (1955)…
• Assigned responsibility for desegregation to local school boards
• Desegregation must proceed “with all deliberate speed”
•The Brown case did not resolve the issue… 1956: 700 of 10,000 schools were compliant.
The significance of Brown…The Brown case demonstrates that the courts can be used
as an effective weapon against discrimination.
The southern reaction…• Private all white academies created• The Southern Manifesto – 101 congressmen
urged states not to comply
DDE’s view of the Brown decision…
• Privately opposed the decision…
“I don’t believe you can change the hearts of men with laws or decisions”- DDE
