FIGHTING SEGREGATION Ch 18 sec 1

I. The Civil Rights Movement Prior to 1954 The movement begins with abolitionists in the colonial period. Opposition to slavery continued all the way to the Civil War. When slavery ended rights were given to the freed slaves, and the government protected those rights during Reconstruction.

I. The Civil Rights Movement Prior to 1954 When Reconstruction ends, so does government support of civil rights. Segregation and mistreatment of African Americans becomes commonplace, and in 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson formally makes segregation the law of the country. After this case, the NAACP is formed and begins the legal challenge of segregation and racial violence in the country.

I. The Civil Rights Movement Prior to 1954 WW2 brings some changes because everyone is affected by the war effort. Truman also desegregates the Army after WW2. Jackie Robinson becomes the first black player in baseball, signaling a shift in American culture of giving more opportunities to blacks, but not necessarily changing attitudes towards blacks.

I. The Civil Rights Movement Prior to 1954 Several court cases were brought to bring down separate but equal in the country, in regards to education. Charles Houston and Thurgood Marshall brought cases that dealt with graduate schools that denied admission to black students. The Supreme Court ruled that separate grad schools were inferior and denied black students a proper education.

II. Brown v. Board of Education The prior court cases only affected a small number of people going to graduate school. Thurgood Marshall decided to shift focus onto elementary and secondary schools. High schools and lower were where segregation made the biggest difference in education. Black schools were almost always inferior, with poor facilities and materials.

II. Brown v. Board of Education The NAACP needed a case to bring to court to fight segregation, and they found one in South Carolina and the Briggs family. Another case was the Brown family in Topeka. Both cases were ruled against the family in the lower courts, which gave Marshall the opportunity to appeal to the Supreme Court. The cases were combined into one and called Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.

II. Brown v. Board of Education Chief Justice Warren knew the significance of the case, and they took the time to do things correctly. Arguments were heard over a two year period, and the justices considered the research about education as well. When the opinion was read, it was a unanimous decision that segregation was bad for education and violated the Constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law.

II. Brown v. Board of Education 21 states had passed laws making segregation legal. When the Supreme Court made its ruling, all those laws became unconstitutional, but there were no guidelines on how or when to integrate the schools. Some states started to integrate, but some decided to fight against integration. Virginia was one that passed laws closing any schools that tried to integrate. But the biggest problem would be in Arkansas.

II. Brown v. Board of Education The governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, claimed that if integration happened there would be a bloody revolt, so he sent the National Guard in to prevent black students from going to Central High School in Little Rock. On the first day of school, 9 black students showed up to attend and were denied entrance to the school. A large crowd of angry whites were outside harassing and assaulting them as they left.

II. Brown v. Board of Education For three weeks they were prevented from going to school, until president Eisenhower sent Army soldiers to escort the students into the school. They were harassed everyday, their lives were threatened, and the one senior had to have a guard at graduation. When his name was called the stadium stayed silent.

II. Brown v. Board of Education The governor continued to fight against segregation, but he failed to keep it from happening. These events did show just how difficult the fight would be, and how deep- seated discrimination could be in some people.

In your notebooks Half page summary of the lecture.