THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Plessy v. Ferguson  Civil Rights Act of 1875 outlawed segregation  Declared unconstitutional in 1883  Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) established separate but equal  Many states passed Jim Crow Laws separating the races  Facilities for blacks were always inferior to those for whites THE SEGREGATION SYSTEM

The NAACP Legal Strategy  By the 1950s, the NAACP is ready to challenge segregation in court  Focuses on the inequalities of public education  Places a team of law students under Thurgood Marshall  Win 29 out of 32 cases argued before the Supreme Court CHALLENGING SEGREGATION IN COURT

 Marshall’s greatest victory is Brown v. Board of Education (1954)  Supreme Court unanimously struck down school segregation  Some districts actively resist the order  Eisenhower refuses to enforce compliance – considers it impossible BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION

 NAACP enrolls nine black students at Little Rock’s Central High School for the school year  Arkansas governor Orval Faubus has the National Guard turn them away  Elizabeth Eckford faces an abusive crowd when she tries to enter the school  Eisenhower calls out the 101 st Airborne to supervise school attendance  Students harassed by whites at the school all year  Leads to the passage of the 1957 Civil Rights Act giving the federal government power over schools and voting CRISIS AT LITTLE ROCK

 In 1955, NAACP officer Rosa Parks is arrested for not giving up her seat on a bus  Montgomery Improvement Association is formed and organizes a bus boycott  Elects Martin Luther King, Jr. leader  Leads to a 1956 decision by the Supreme Court outlawing bus segregation MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT

 King calls his brand of nonviolent resistance “soul force”  Includes civil disobedience and massive demonstrations  Organizes the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in in 1957  By 1960, some African American students think the pace of change is too slow  Join the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee MARTIN LUTHER KING & THE SCLC

 SNCC adopts nonviolence, but calls for a more confrontational strategy  Influenced by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to use sit-ins:  First used at the lunch counters at the Woolworth’s in Greensboro, NC  In spite of abuse and arrest, the movement continues to grow  By late 1960, lunch counters were desegregated in 48 cities in 11 states GREENSBORO SIT-INS

 In 1961, CORE tests the Court decision banning interstate bus segregation  Organizes the Freedom Riders – blacks and whites who sit on buses and use station facilities together as they travel from Washington, DC towards New Orleans, LA  Riders are brutally beaten by mobs and one bus is firebombed  Newspapers throughout the country denounce the beatings  Kennedy sends 400 US marshals to protect the riders  Leads to the Interstate Commerce Commission Act banning segregation in all interstate travel facilities FREEDOM RIDERS

 In 1962, federal courts rule that James Meredith may enroll at the University of Mississippi  Kennedy orders federal marshals to escort Meredith to the registrar's office  Met by thousands of white demonstrators  Federal officials continue to accompany Meredith to classes and protect his parents INTEGRATING OLE MISS

 In 1963, the SCLC demonstrates to desegregate Birmingham, AL  Martin Luther King is arrested, writes “Letter from Birmingham Jail”  TV news shows police led by ‘Bull’ Connors attacking child marchers with fire hoses, dogs, and clubs  Continued protests, economic boycotts, and bad press ends segregation in the city  Later in 1963, Kennedy sends federal troops to force Governor George Wallace to desegregate the University of Alabama  NAACP leader Medgar Evers is murdered in his own driveway  Hung juries lead to the killer’s release TURNING POINT

 In August 1963, over 250,000 people demonstrate in Washington, DC demanding the immediate passage of a civil rights bill  Martin Luther King gives his “I Have a Dream” speech  In September 1963, 4 Birmingham girls are killed when a bomb is thrown into their church TURNING POINT

 Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting discrimination because of race, religion, and gender CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964

 In August 1963, over 250,000 people demonstrate in Washington, DC demanding the immediate passage of a civil rights bill  Martin Luther King gives his “I Have a Dream” speech  In September 1963, 4 Birmingham girls are killed when a bomb is thrown into their church FREEDOM SUMMER