Chapter 16-1 The Movement Begins Origins of the Movement: (1896) Plessy v. Ferguson means “separate but equal” Said laws segregating African Americans were permitted as long as equal facilities were provided. Jim Crow Laws segregated buses, trains, schools, restaurants, swimming pools, parks, not just confined to the South. Each community could pass laws or they had de facto segregation laws segregation by custom and tradition. Court Challenges Begin. 1909 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. (NAACP) Supported court cases to overturn segregation. A string of court victories pg. 743. Push for desegregation: World War II. Helped end discrimination in factories that held government contracts. Increased opportunities for African Americans in the military.

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). 1942 Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). 1942. Began using sit-ins in segregated restaurants. They sat down and refused to leave. They successfully integrated many restaurants, theaters and public facilities in Chicago, Detroit, Denver and Syracuse.

Question: How had the ruling in Plessy v Question: How had the ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson contribute to segregation?

Answer: The ruling said the segregation was constitutional as long as equal facilities were provided for African Americans.

The Civil Rights Movement Begins: After WWII, African American vets returned home expecting appreciation, when change did not come they were determined to change prejudices led to protests and therefore the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement. Brown vs. Board of Education: Young African American girl named Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her neighborhood school in Topeka, Kansas, because of her race. She had to attend an all black school across town. With the help of the NAACP her parents sued the Topeka school board. May 17, 1954 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

Brown v. Board of Education only applied to public schools; The ruling angered Southern Whites who were determined to keep segregation alive. Some schools integrated their schools, but others adopted massive resistance. Across the South, hundreds of thousands of white Americans pressured their local governments and school board into defying the Supreme Court. States adopted pupil assignment laws that created requirements other than race that schools could use to prevent African Americans from attending white schools. One year after Brown v. Board of Education the supreme court ordered school districts to proceed “with all deliberate speed”. The wording was so vague that many districts keep their schools segregated for many years.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott: Rosa Parks makes her decision to challenge segregation on public transportation. This event called all African Americans to boycott Montgomery’s buses on the day Rosa Parks appeared in court. Martin Luther King led the boycott. He encouraged nonviolent resistance. Following teachings of Mohandas Gandhi. King was certain that public opinion would be won forcing the government to end segregation. African Americans formed car pools or walked to work. Dec. 1956 the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of a special three-judge panel declaring Alabama’s laws requiring segregation on buses to be unconstitutional

What was the significance of the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education?

It made segregation in public schools unconstitutional because it violated the 14th Amendment. It started the Civil Rights Movement to end segregation in all public places. African American Churches. The boycott/movement could not have succeeded without the support of the African American churches and ministers in the city. They served as forums for protests and planning meetings They helped mobilize volunteers for specific civil rights campaigns. After the Montgomery bus boycott demonstrated that nonviolent protest could be successful, African American ministers, led by King, established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. (SCLC) in 1957. They set out to eliminate segregation in society and to encourage African Americans to vote.

What role did African American churches play in the civil rights movement?

They supported boycotts, nonviolent demonstrations and voter registration. Eisenhower and Civil Rights: He believed Brown v. Board of Education was wrong, he felt he had to uphold the authority of the federal government . As a result, he sent send federal troops into the South to protect the constitutional rights of African Americans. Crisis in Little Rock: 1957 school board in Little Rock, Arkansas won a court order to admit nine African American students to Central High, a school with 2,000 white students. A number of schools in Arkansas had already begun to desegregate their schools. The Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, began to campaign as a defender of white supremacy.

Faubus ordered troops from the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the nine African American students from entering the school. The troops surrounded the school, an angry white mob joined the troops to protest. Television coverage placed Little rock at the center of national attention. Faubus had used the national guard to oppose the federal government. A court ordered the Governor to remove the national guard troops. The mob took over. Mob broke school property and beat to A/A reporters, the police had to take the the students to safety. President Eisenhower ordered the U.S Army to send troops to Little Rock. 1,000 soldiers of the elite 101st Airborne Division encircled the school. The 9 students arrived in an army station wagon, and they walked into the high school. The troops remained in Little Rock for the rest of the school year.

Civil Rights Act of 1957. Was intended to protect the right of African Americans to vote. Southern senators tried to stop the Civil Rights Act of 1957 Lyndon Johnson a Democrat, put together a compromise that enabled the act to pass. The Act was much weaker than originally intended but still allowed the Federal Government to be involved in the civil rights debate. The act created a civil rights division within the Dept. of Justice and gave it the authority to seek court injunctions against anyone interfering with the right to vote. Also created the U.S Commission on Civil Rights to investigate allegations of denial of voting rights. After the bill passed, the SCLC announced a campaign to register 2 million new African American voters.

Why did President Eisenhower intervene in the civil rights controversy? What did the Civil Rights Act of 1957 do?

The Gov of Arkansas had used armed forces to oppose federal law The Gov of Arkansas had used armed forces to oppose federal law. He also used federal troops to stop the violence and enforce the law. Created a Civil Rights division within the Dept of Justice, to enforce the right to vote. Created the U.S Commission on Civil Rights to investigate denial of voting rights.