Plessy V.

Ferguson, 1896
Separate, but equal Supreme

Court decision
Blacks had to use separate

bathrooms, schools, railroad cars, etc Allowed services to be separate as long as they were equal

Changes in the Law

1938- Supreme Court began to narrow

the separate, but equal ideal

equal was supposed to mean equal

1944, 1947, 1953- Supreme Court decisions

declared that the laws that kept blacks from voting in Democratic primaries violated the 14th Amendment

Changes in the Law

1950- Supreme Court ruled that a black law school in Texas was

not equal to the University of Texas Law School

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

1953- Ike

appointed Earl Warren (former governor of California) as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

Brown v. Board of Education, 1954
Unanimous Supreme Court decision

ordered that public schools could not be separated by race Created integration of blacks and whites in public schools

The South Resists

1955- Supreme Court ordered that the

integration of schools was to go forward with all deliberate speed March 1956- Southern Congressmen created the Southern Manifesto
Attacked the Supreme Court decision

Promised to reverse the decision as they

claimed that it was unconstitutional

The South Resists

Only three Senators from the South did not signLyndon Baines Johnson (TX) Estes Kefauver (TN) Albert Gore (TN)

The South Resists

1957- Little Rock, Arkansas school board moved to integrate their high schools
The day before school opened, Governor Orval

Faubus called the National Guard to surround Central High, declaring "blood would run in the streets" if blacks students attempted to enter Federal judge ordered the National Guard to be removed White mob stopped the black students from entering the school this time

The Little Rock Nine

Seventeen African

American students were selected to attend the all white Central High School in 1957 but by opening day the number had dwindled to nine

Federal Government Intervenes

President Eisenhower called in the National

Guard once again, but this time under federal service

Governor Faubus could not block the decision

President Eisenhower then sent in 1,000

paratroopers (101st Airborne) and opened the schools 1958- Governor Faubus closed the schools for the entire year to prevent integration

Rosa Parks
1955 - Rosa Parks was

arrested for not giving up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, AL

MLK, Jr. Nonviolent Protest

Martin Luther King, Jr. decided to take up the

issue of Civil Rights through non-violent protest

Methods used by Thoreau and Gandhi

MLK, Jr. advised blacks to boycott the buses in

Montgomery, AL
The desired effect was achieved as the bus company

almost bankrupted

By 1960- many blacks adopted this policy to fight

against segregation

New Civil Rights Laws

1957- Ike administration passed the first

Civil Rights Act since the Reconstruction

Allowed the Justice Dept. the right to bring

suits on behalf of blacks who were denied the right to vote Significant in that both Republicans and Democrats helped to pass it (headed by Senate leader Lyndon B. Johnson)

New Civil Rights Laws

1960- another Civil Rights bill was passed with bipartisan

support to aid blacks with their right to vote

1960 Presidential Election

Both Republicans

and Democrats supported desegregation within their platforms for the presidential election

JFK and Civil Rights

1962- JFK signed into law a bill that would

desegregate public housing projects supported by federal money JFK created a Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity
Oversight committee for employers who worked

with the government

JFK appointed RFK to aid blacks in their ability to

vote in the Deep South

JFK and Civil Rights

JFK appointed African-Americans Carl Rowan as ambassador to Finland Andrew Hacker as associate press secretary Thurgood Marshall as judge of a US Court of Appeals JFK attempted to create a Department of Urban

Affairs
Rejected by Congress

JFK and Civil Rights

1961- freedom riders rode buses to

protest segregation in bus stations

But

Buses were attacked

and burned by white rioters

JFK and Civil Rights

Fall 1962- James

Meredith attempted to enroll at the University of Mississippi but was blocked by Governor Ross Barnett
Meredith was finally

allowed to enroll which resulted in riots JFK sent in federal troops to quiet the riots

JFK and Civil Rights

1963- blacks protested civil rights

abuses by conducting sit-ins which resulted in desegregation of lunch counters, hotels, and theaters in 300 cities throughout the South

JFK and Civil Rights

1963- MLK, Jr. and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) worked to end segregation in Birmingham, Alabama through non-violent protest
Birmingham police reacted with electric cattle

prods, dogs, and fire hoses Birmingham erupted into violence

JFK and Civil Rights

June 1963- Alabama

Governor George Wallace prevented two African-Americans from attending the University of Alabama
Stated that Alabama

would promise segregation today, tomorrow, and forever Eventually, Wallace allowed the students to attend because of pressure from JFK

JFK and Civil Rights

June 1963- Medgar

Evers (head of the Mississippi NAACP) was murdered outside his home

JFK and Civil Rights

1963- JFK sent a bill to Congress that would

present huge civil rights progress Bayard Rustin organized a march on Washington, D.C. to persuade Congress to pass the new civil rights bill
200,000 freedom marchers gathered in front of

the Lincoln Memorial

MLK, Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream speech Mahalia Jackson led the crowd in singing We

Shall Overcome
Anthem of the civil right movement