Civil Rights Unit 6

The Segregation System Civil Rights Act of 1875 outlawed segregation in public facilities. Supreme Court overturned law as unconstitutional in 1883. Other court cases and state laws severely restricted African Americans’ rights. Plessy vs. Ferguson Jim Crow Laws Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in a railroad car designated for whites only. Plessy was in fact seven-eighths white and one-eighth black which by Louisiana law meant he was treated as an African-American and required to sit in the car designated for "colored" patrons. When Plessy lost his initial court case, his appeal made it to the US Supreme Court. The Court ruled 7-1 that the Louisiana law requiring that the races be separated did not violate the thirteenth or fourteenth amendments to the Constitution as long as the facilities were deemed equal.

Jim Crow Laws Forbade marriage between black and white. Segregated schools, streetcars, waiting rooms, elevators, railroad cars, public restrooms. Restricted social and religious contact. Facilities for blacks were always inferior.

Segregation in 20th Century WWII set stage for civil rights movement. Demand for soldiers created shortage of white laborers…opportunities for minorities. 700,000 African Americans fought. Civil Rights organizations began challenging racist laws. NAACP(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ) Thurgood Marshall – won 29 out of 32 cases before Supreme Court. Brown vs. Board of Education

Response to Brown Decision The decision affected 12 million schoolchildren. Many districts complied right away. “Southern Manifesto” – 90 southern Congress members denounced the Brown decision and called on states to resist. Little Rock, Arkansas – Central High School results in Civil Rights Act of 1957. Gave federal government greater power over school desegregation and other racial violations.

Dr. Martin Luther King Montgomery Bus Boycott – Rosa Parks SCLC – “Changing the world with Soul Force” Southern Christian Leadership Conference – to carry on nonviolent crusades against the evils of second-class citizenship. Modeled after Gandhi Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) – college student protesters

The Movement Spreads SNCC staged sit-ins TV crews covered the protest showing the ugly face of racism. Sparked sit-ins across the South. Sit-ins forced the desegration of lunch counters in 48 cities in 11 states. They endured arrests, beatings, suspension, and tear gas and fire hoses, but refused to back down.