How did the legal system challenge segregation in education? L/O – To explain the impact and significance of legal challenges to segregation in the education system

Civil Rights by the 1950s Despite the progress made in Civil Rights for Black Americans during the war, by the 1950s many still faced discrimination in the North and lived in segregation in the South. The war had raised awareness of Black civil rights. Many Black Americans had served in the armed forces and were often treated better in Europe! Many felt society had let them down. The Truman administration had done little to improve equality. Membership of campaign groups like the NAACP and CORE increased, and by 1950 many Black Americans were actively campaigning for equal rights.

Plessy v. Ferguson The problem was that despite the fact that Black People had equal rights under the constitutions 14 th Amendment of 1868, states were legally entitled to pass their own laws. This meant that states could pass laws that discriminated against black people without asking the central government for permission. These became known as the ‘Jim Crow’ laws. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled that individual states could impose segregation as long as the separate schools, hospitals and other services were ‘separate but equal’. Segregation WAS constitutional.

Brown v. Topeka Board of Education In the 1950s, organisations like the NAACP began campaigning to end segregation by using the legal system. In June 1951, Oliver Brown challenged this by going to the State court to try and integrate elementary schools in Topeka, Kansas. He wanted his daughter Linda to attend the local school. This was rejected. Black segregated schools often received less State funding, had poor facilities and in-experienced teachers. They were often in areas hard to travel to. Linda Brown Oliver Brown

Topeka, State Capital of Kansas

Brown v. Topeka Board of Education The NAACP (National Association for the advancement of coloured people) persuaded Brown to try again, this time at the Supreme Court. The NAACP lawyers argued that separate education created ‘low self-esteem and was psychologically harmful as well as restricting education achievement for black students.’ On 17th May 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that all public school segregation was unconstitutional. Brown had won and schools would now have to be integrated.

Effects of Brown v. the Board, 1954 Progress for Civil Rights? Set-back for Civil Rights? All school segregation was now deemed unconstitutional. Ruling did not give a date for integration. Just with ‘all possible speed’. All public schools had to become integrated. 300,000 Black Children attending formerly segregated schools by 1957 Ruling left the speed of integration up to individual states, weakening the force of the law. 2.4 million still in segregated schools. Proved that Civil Rights could be achieved through legal, non-violent means. Most schools in Southern states ignored this ruling. 100 Senators + signed ‘Southern Manifesto’ which opposed racial integration. Overturned the principle of Plessy v. Ferguson which meant other public services should in theory also be desegregated. Caused whites in the South to form White Citizens Councils to stop further integration and Ku Klux Klan began to re-emerge.

Effects of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education The victory in the Brown case meant that in theory, all segregated facilities in education and beyond were illegal and could be challenged through the courts. The case galvanised support amongst the Black community for peaceful change through the legal system. However it also strengthened the resolve of elements opposed to de-segregation within the White Community. White Citizens Councils put pressure on politicians to maintain segregation. The Eisenhower administration did very little to change this.

Effects of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education One example of this resistance to change came in 1956 in Alabama. Under a court order obtained by the NAACP, Autherine Lucy was accepted as a black student by the University of Alabama. White students rioted and the university was forced to remove her. She was forbidden from re-entering the university and it wasn’t until 1963 that black students were allowed to enrol!

Little Rock High School School integration was met with bitter resistance. Arkansas was one state that had done little to integrate its schools. In 1957, the Supreme Court ordered the Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, to let 9 black students attend a white school in Little Rock.

Little Rock High School Faubus ordered his state troops to prevent the black students from attending school. He claimed he could not ‘guarantee their safety’. Faubus only back down when President Eisenhower sent federal troops to protect the students. They stayed for 6 weeks. Despite this, Governor Faubus closed down all Arkansas school the following year in order to prevent integration! It wasn’t until 1959 that he was forced to de-segregate by the Supreme Court.

Effects of the Little Rock Incident By involving the President, Civil Rights became a major political issue. The resistance to integration was going against the rule of law. The event also received worldwide media attention and damaged the reputation of the USA at the height of the Cold War. It also shocked moderate White Americans into supporting the Civil Rights Movement. Black Americans began to realise that relying on the Supreme Court was not enough to ensure equality.

The James Meredith Case In June 1962, the Supreme Court forced the University of Mississippi to accept James Meredith as a student. 320 Federal Marshals were sent to escort him to university. In what became known as ‘The Battle of Oxford’, riots broke out and 2 people were killed. 166 marshals and 210 demonstrators were wounded more troops were sent in and 300 stayed for over 3 years until he received his degree.

Governor Wallace of Alabama: “I am the embodiment of the sovereignty of this state, and I will be present to bar the entrance of any Negro who attempts to enrol at the university.”

How did the legal system challenge segregation in education? L/O – To explain the impact and significance of legal challenges to segregation in the education system Supreme Court rulings over BROWN in 1954 overturned the reasoning behind PLESSY V. FERGUSON of 1896 – segregation was illegal – this increased federal support for integration Encouraged support of Civil Rights Movement and inspired organisations like NAACP to be more assertive in their activism Yet the successes also increased resistance to change, especially amongst Congress and local politicians