XIV. Roots of the American Civil Rights Movement

A. Segregation To divide or separate Is to SEGREGATE

Some segregation is healthy – because it allows us to be different…

There has been segregation that has hurt Americans Isolating People Dividing People Excluding People It is called Racial Discrimination

Public facilities like bathrooms, restaurants, public transportation (busses, trains) and schools were separated for Black and White

Southern states had Jim Crow Laws to restrict the rights of blacks Jim Crow Laws were like the Black Codes after the Civil War Poll Taxes kept blacks from voting Blacks were kept out of white libraries, movies, and Laundromats

In 1896 Homer Plessy, a black man in Louisiana was arrested for refusing to leave the “Whites Only” section of a train and go to the car for black passengers. His lawyer argued that the 14th amendment entitled Homer to “equal protection under the law”.

The Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v The Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that segregation is legal if it was “separate but equal”

But…separate was never equal Black schools were inferior Black schools used the books discarded by white schools Most busses were for white children. If there were no black busses they had to walk…no matter how far.

B. Events in the Movement (Pre-1950) Attempt to Free Southern Slaves 1863 The Emancipation Proclamation- 1865 13th Amendment- Ended Slavery 1868 14th Amendment- Granted Blacks citizenship (equal protection) 1870 15th Amendment- Gave Black men the right to vote Creation of the NAACP - W.E.B. Dubois 1909 Integration of the Armed Forces - By President Truman 1948

1. Brown v. The Topeka Board of Education (1954) In Topeka Kansas, a girl named Linda Brown had to take a long bus ride to a black school each day. A public school was only four (4) blocks from her house. It was for white children only.

Separation tells black children they are not as good as white children If children are separated at a young age, what are they learning? Thurgood Marshall a lawyer for the NAACP who would become the first black Supreme Court Justice said and asked:

With the help of the NAACP the girl’s parents sued the School District Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka Kansas

In 1954 the US Supreme Court decided that “separate but equal” had no place in school because it violated the 14th Amendment White schools had to admit black students right away…

14th Amendment No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges - of citizens; nor – deprive any person of life liberty or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person- the equal protection of the law.

Black and White students could no longer be legally separated.

2. The Montgomery Bus Boycott On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the white-only section of a bus She was arrested -causing blacks to boycott busses in Montgomery

The boycott was led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr The boycott was led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) In December 1956 the busses were de-segregated and black drivers were hired.

3. The Little Rock Nine (9) Even after the Brown v. Board of Education decision some southern districts refused to accept accept black students in white schools.

When people demanded the desegregation of schools, violence broke out. The Police and Army had to keep the peace.

In 1957 President Eisenhower used the US Army, and Federal Marshals to force Little Rock Arkansas’ Central High School to accept 9 Black students Little Rock 9

4. Sit-In Protests (1960) A sit in was a non-violent protest using civil disobedience – ignoring unjust laws College students occupied the White Only seats in restaurants and refused to move Protesters often suffered physical and verbal abuse

The First Sit In

5. March on Washington (1963) On August 28, 1963 – 250,000 civil rights protesters marched on Washington D.C. People around the world saw Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech.