The Civil Rights Movement: The 1950s

CRM Activists: The NAACP Founded in 1909 initially to protest lynching & discrimination Middle-class organization Works mainly to combat legal discrimination

The NAACP & School Desegregation NAACP attacks grad schools first—why? Less dangerous b/c less overall impact & won’t worry whites over mixing white & black school kids McLaurin v. Oklahoma Regents (1950) Ends discrimination in higher education Effectively kills Plessy v. Ferguson’s “separate but equal” Sweatt v. Painter (1950) Same as above

George McLaurin at University of Oklahoma

Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (May 17, 1954) Earl Warren Governor of CA during WWII, realizes racial discrimination is bad following Japanese internment Mendez v. Westminster (1946): CA school deseg. case under Warren Warren becomes the Supreme Court Chief Justice that will rule on Brown

Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (May 17, 1954) Unanimous decision ruling that “separate but equal” in public schools is inherently unequal Case argued by NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall Orders school desegregation (very vague) Brown II (1955): Gives a few more details Timeline to be “with all deliberate speed”

Effects of Brown v. Board First major test was Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 Gov. Orval Faubus orders troops to block the entrance to the first 9 black students Eisenhower had seen enough Uses the army to escort the students to class Families of black students become targets of violence Imagine going to high school under those conditions

Effects of Brown v. Board Federal troops protecting the first black students at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, September 1957.

White Backlash to Brown The Southern Manifesto Agreement signed by 82 of 106 southern congressmen & all but 3 senators denouncing Brown & calling for forceful, but legal resistance to desegregation White Citizens’ Councils created Local organizations for racist whites to chat Birth of private schools Not subject to Brown ruling, racists welcome Public schools closed

Effects of Brown v. Board on Colleges Autherine Lucy & the University of Alabama Enrolls February 3, 1956 following court order Riots break out, she’s suspended & eventually quits Bama stays all white until 1963 James Meredith & Ole Miss Enrolls October 1, 1962 Leads immediately to riots on campus JFK must use National Guard to restore order

Effects of Brown v. Board Governor George Wallace standing in the doorway of Foster Auditorium preventing the desegregation of the University of Alabama. June 11, 1963.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56) Claudette Colvin arrested for riding up front on March 2, 1955 9 months before Rosa Parks Problem w/Colvin was that she’s 15, dark-skinned, pregnant & unmarried Led by Jo Ann Robinson, E.D. Nixon, & a young MLK King brought in to add “church” respectability to boycott Claudette Colvin Rosa Parks

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56) Incorporates working class The entire black community works together here…very powerful Montgomery public transit crippled by lack of business Victory after 381 days Browder v. Gayle (Nov. 13, 1956): Supreme Court strikes down Alabama’s law requiring segregation on busses

CRM Activists: King & the SCLC Southern Christian Leadership Conference Formed by King on the heels of Montgomery bus boycott in 1957 First real competition with NAACP

For Next Time… We’ll look at the civil rights movement in the 1960s Activist groups and tactics changed throughout this decade Things get a bit more complicated