Section 1
After decades of segregation, African Americans decided to put an end to it Demand for equal rights Very difficult struggle, but achievable Supreme Court had declared segregation constitutional in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 Separate-but-equal was the ruling ◦ Laws segregating African Americans were legal as long as equal facilities were provided for both whites and African Americans
After Plessy decision laws on segregation spread quickly Laws were given the nickname “Jim Crow” Jim Crow laws segregated buses, trains, schools, restaurants, swimming pools, parks, and other public facilities Very common in the South but did exist in other states as well Local communities usually decided on segregation laws De facto segregation- segregation by custom or tradition
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Supported court cases intended to overturn segregation since 1909 1935 won Supreme Court case Norris v. Alabama ◦ Exclusion of African Americans from juries violated right to equal protection under law 1946 Court ruled in Morgan v. Virginia that segregation on interstate buses was unconstitutional 1950 ruled in Sweatt v Painter that state law schools had to admit qualified African Americans, even if parallel black law schools existed
During WWII African Americans began using their power to demand more rights Efforts helped to end discrimination in factories Increased opportunities in military as well 1942 James Farmer and George Houser founded Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Began using sit-ins as a form of protests that started by union workers in the 1930s
1943 CORE attempted to desegregate restaurants that refused to serve African Americans If refused service they would sit and refuse to leave CORE successfully integrated many restaurants, theaters, and other public facilities in Chicago, Detroit, Denver, and Syracuse
African Americans were welcome in military but only if they were segregated They were placed in their own units often with white leaders After WWII President Harry S. Truman began evaluating the situation more closely With the Holocaust fresh on everyone’s mind and how the German’s racism towards Jews escalated so quickly, many began to rethink thoughts on racism here in the states
Threatened with the fact that African Americans would stop volunteering for the armed forces if something wasn’t done Truman decided to integrate the armed forces in 1948 Worried Congress would pass such a bill, Truman used an executive order to end military segregation Executive Order 9981 was signed on July 26, 1948 ◦ Forbade discriminating against military on basis of race, color, religion, or national origin
NAACP continued to challenge segregation in courts after WWII Thurgood Marshall- NAACP’s chief counsel and director of its Legal Defense and Education Fund Focused on ending segregation in schools Supreme Court in 1954 decided to combine several different cases and issue a general ruling on segregation in schools Linda Brown was an African American girl how was denied admission to her neighborhood school because of her race
Her parents sued the Topeka school board with the help of NAACP May 17, 1954 Supreme Court ruled unanimously that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and violated the equal protection clause of the 14 th Amendment Chief Justice Earl Warren summed it up this way: “In the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
Brown decision reversed ideas expressed by Plessy v. Ferguson Ruling threatened the entire system of segregation Convinced African Americans the time was right to challenge other forms of segregation White southerners were even more determined to defend segregation, regardless of how the Supreme Court ruled
Some school districts integrated schools immediately Others were angry and opposed the decision Hundreds of thousands of whites come together to pressure local governments and school boards to defy the Supreme Court Southern Manifesto- 101 members of Congress signed it, denounced Supreme Court’s ruling as “a clear abuse of judicial power” and pledged to use “all lawful means” to reverse the decision
Rosa Parks made decision to challenge segregation in public transportation African Americans decided to boycott Montgomery buses on the day Rosa Parks appeared in court Rise of Martin Luther King, Jr. Dec. 5, 1955 a meeting was held at King’s church, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church He urged African Americans to continue bus boycott
King expressed that protests must be peaceful Only moral way to end segregation and racism was through nonviolent actions King was certain that public opinion would soon force government to end segregation African Americans listened to King and continued protest African Americans refused to be intimidated but refrained from violence Boycott continued until Dec. 20, 1956 when Supreme Court ruled segregation on buses unconstitutional
King wasn’t the only pastor behind the bus boycott Boycott wouldn’t have been successful with out support of African American churches in Montgomery Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) ◦ Set out to eliminate segregation from American society Dr. King served as president Challenged segregation at the voting booths and in public transportation, housing, and accommodations