1. Civil Rights Era & JFK  LBJ (1945-1970)
Early Demands for Equality

2. Segregation Divides America
De jure segregation: segregation by law (Plessy v. Ferguson)
De facto segregation: segregation via unwritten custom/ tradition (north)

3. Early Efforts
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)– 1942: nonviolent protests
1947: Jackie Robinson joins Dodgers
1948: desergr. military

4. Brown v. Board of Education
NAACP mounts challenge vs. segr. public education
Lawyer Thurgood Marshall
Chief Justice Earl Warren
KKK revival

5. Little Rock 9 (1957) Central High School (Ark.) to integrate
9 volunteers
Gov. opposed, called out AR Nat’l Guard
Eisenhower sent fed. troops
Civil Rights Act of 1957: est. committee to investigate civil rights violations
“It is important that the reasons for my action be understood by all our citizens… A foundation of our American way of life is our national respect for law… If resistance to the federal court orders ceases at once, the further presence of federal troops will be unnecessary and the City of Little Rock will return to its normal habits of peace and order and a blot upon the fair name and high honor of our nation in the world will be removed.”
President Eisenhower, “Address on Little Rock,” 1957

6. Montgomery Bus Boycott
Dec 1, 1955: Rosa Parks refused to give up bus seat to white passenger; arrested
Boycott of buses in Montgomery, AL led by SCLC
MLK Jr. (Baptist minister) calls for non-violent protests