1. Section 1 Taking on Segregation
Chapter 21 Civil Rights
Section 1
Taking on Segregation

2. Plessy v. Ferguson
1896 Supreme Court case – “separate but equal” does not violate the 14th Amendment

3. Developing Civil Rights Movement
WWII sets the stage ….
New job opportunities for blacks
1 million blacks fight in the war
Civil rights organizations expand

4. Challenging Segregation in Court
NAACP legal strategy – focus on inequality between separation in schools
Led by Thurgood Marshall, examples of success
1946 Morgan v. Virginia – ends segregated seating on interstate buses
1950 Sweatt v. Painter – state law schools must admit black applicants

5. Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme Court case May 17, 1954
Linda Brown denied admission to elementary school four blocks from her home
Segregation in schooling violates 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause

6. Reaction to Brown Decision
1955 Brown II – Supreme Court orders desegregation “with all deliberate speed”

7. Crisis in Little Rock
Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus – orders the National Guard to turn away the …
Little Rock Nine- black students who volunteered to integrate Central High

8. Montgomery Bus Boycott
Dec, 1, 1955 – Rosa Parks refuses to move her seat on a Montgomery bus
Consequently, Ms. Parks was arrested
Martin Luther King Jr. leads Montgomery Improvement Association
Dec. 5, 1955 – Dr. King gives speech and blacks boycott city buses for over a year

9. Civil Rights Act of 1957 Advocated by Senator Lyndon Johnson of Texas
Gave the federal government jurisdiction over violations of African-American voting rights

10. Dr. King Nonviolent resistance- “soul force”
Philosophy came from variety of sources
Jesus- love one’s enemies
Henry David Thoreau – civil disobedience
A. Philip Randolph- organize massive demonstrations
Mohandis Gandhi- resist oppression without violence

11. SCLC
1957 – Southern Christian Leadership Conference purpose “to carry on non-violent crusades against the evils of second class citizenship”
Organization was handled by Ella Baker who then founded SNCC- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

12. SNCC
Uses more confrontational methods than SCLC
Sit-ins, black protestors sit down as segregated lunch counters and refused to leave until they served