Taking on Segregation US History (EOC) Chapter 21 Section 1 Taking on Segregation US History (EOC)

Lesson Objectives: Explain how legalized segregation deprived African Americans of their rights as citizens. Summarize civil rights legal activity and the response to the Plessy and Brown cases. Trace Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s civil rights activities, beginning with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Describe the expansion of the Civil Rights movement.

Essential Question: In what ways did African Americans fight discrimination during the civil rights era?

The Segregation System

Plessy v. Ferguson Civil Rights Act of 1875 outlawed segregation In 1883, all-white Supreme Court declared the act unconstitutional. 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson ruling was issued: separate but equal would be constitutional. Many states passed Jim Crow laws segregating the races. Facilities for blacks were almost always inferior to those for whites.

Segregation Continues into the 20th Century After the Civil War, African Americans begin moving north to escape racism. Does this mean that there was NO racism in the North? NO! In areas of housing and jobs, both races competed for jobs.

A Developing Civil Rights Movement WWII created job opportunities for African Americans. The United States needed fighting men Armed Forces will be the first area of American society to end discrimination policies. Full integration will be passed under Truman (1948) FDR also ends government and war industry discrimination practices. Once WWII ended, black veterans began to fight for civil rights at home.

Challenging Segregation in Court

The NAACP Legal Strategy Professor Charles Hamilton Houston leads the NAACP in a legal campaign to end segregation. Arguments focused on inequalities of segregation in public education. Law students would help fight segregation. Thurgood Marshall, a famous African American lawyer, would win 29 of 32 cases argued before the Supreme Court.

Brown v. Board of Education What was Marshall’s greatest victory? BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION (TOPEKA) This case was fought in 1954 The Supreme Court unanimously struck down school segregation!

Reaction to the Brown Decision

Resistance To School Desegregation Does this policy work? Somewhat…within one year, over 500 school districts in the US desegregated. Why not ALL school districts? Some districts and some states would actively resist integration…pro-white What would change this policy? BROWN II (1955) Supreme Court ruling that stressed integration with “all deliberate speed” Did Eisenhower force compliance? NO! Eisenhower considered it “impossible” to enforce this measure.

Crisis in Little Rock Arkansas was the 1st state to admit African Americans to state universities…without Court order. By the 1950s, some private groups were also integrating: Scout troops and labor unions. How does this change? 1957: Gov. Orval Faubus had the Arkansas National Guard to turn away 9 African students This group became known as the “Little Rock Nine” Does Eisenhower step in now? YES! He ordered the National Guard and paratroopers to supervise the attendance of these students for the ENTIRE school year. Harassment continued even though troops were present.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Boycotting Segregation By 1955 the issues of segregation were increasing across the United States. Rosa Parks, a seamstress and an NAACP officer, was arrested in Montgomery, AL for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. Montgomery Improvement Association was formed African American community leaders, including ministers, organized a boycott of all buses. Martin Luther King, Jr. was elected the leader of this group. How long did the boycott last? 381 days! More than a calendar year!!!