The Civil Rights Movement

Segregation: Plessy vs Ferguson June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy was arrested for sitting in the "white" car because he was black. He deliberately sat in the white car in order to protest the Separate Car Act which segregated the blacks from the whites on a train. The case went to the Supreme Court where Plessy argued that the law violated the 13th and 14th amendments. The Supreme Court ruled against Plessy stating that segregation was constitutional is the facilities were “separate but equal”. The ruling resulted in establishing racial segregation as constitutional.

Segregation: Plessy vs Ferguson Plessy argued the law infringed on his 14th amendment right to equal protection under the law. The ruling was finally challenged ninety two years later in another Supreme Court case, Brown vs the Board of Education. 14th Amendment "no State shall... deny to any person... the equal protection of the laws."

The NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Organization that fought against racial segregation by challenging segregation laws in court. Thurgood Marshall, a future Supreme Court justice, headed the legal section of the NAACP. They challenged segregation laws as unconstitutional based on the 14th Amendment’s provision that “all citizens have equal protection under the law.”

Truman Desegregated the Armed Forces Along with Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in major league baseball, this is seen as one of the first steps of the modern civil rights movement. Having fought to free the peoples of Europe, African American soldiers returned home to segregation. Many decided it was time to fight for their own equality at home.

Brown vs the Board of Education (1954) On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court voted unanimously that the Plessy ruling which established segregation as legal if it was "separate but equal" was unconstitutional under the 14th amendment. The ruling overturned Plessy vs Ferguson as it related to public schools. Yet it did not end racial discrimination in other public facilities. ...We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Supreme Court Decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas

Brown vs the Board of Education (1954)

Brown vs the Board of Education (1954) Justice Delayed

The Little Rock Nine Enforcing desegregation of schools proved a slow and difficult task. In 1957, a group of nine students were chosen by the NAACP to enroll in Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. The students would be the first to enroll in the formerly segregated school following the court decision in Brown vs Board of Education. While eight of the students arrived together and were partially protect by a group of minister, Elizabeth Eckford arrived on her own and the crowd was abusive to her. “Somebody started yelling, “Lynch her! Lynch her!... I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked ar her again, she spat on me.” Elizabeth Eckford, interview

The Little Rock Nine

The Little Rock Nine