Objectives: Section 3: Voices of Dissent How did the Brown decision affect school segregation and expose conflict over segregation? How was the Montgomery bus boycott a major turning point in the civil rights movement? What challenges did supporters of the Brown decision face?

Brown v. The Topeka Board of Education: Supreme Court Decision (1954) Section 3: Voices of Dissent Brown v. The Topeka Board of Education: Supreme Court Decision (1954) Constitutional Issue: Does the idea of separating races violate the 14th Amendment? Jim Crow Laws in the south separate races in public facilities. Institutionalized segregation. Fourteenth Amendment: pledges equal protection under the law… The law must protect all equally (Only one classification of citizenship) Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) decided that separation did not necessarily mean unequal A number of people appealed the power that states had to segregate students based on race

The Fourteenth Amendment Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Brown v. the Board:The argument of the appellee (The Board of Education) States have control over education (Education is a state rather than federal issue) The Supreme Court in Plessy held that separating people based on race did not violate 14th Amendment rights to equal protection, it merely separates

Brown v the Board of Education: Argument of the appellant (Linda Brown) Segregation created a situation where African-American citizens are denied equal protection. Black schools were consistently inferior (hence unequal) to white schools The appellants presented evidence that segregation violated the 14th Amendment because it was inherently unequal

Headline from Brown Decision

The Decision: States no longer had the right to maintains segregated schools 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.

Southern Resistance In 1955, the court ruled that desegregation should be ordered at all deliberate speed U.S. senators and congressmen signed the Southern Manifesto in protest to the Brown decision Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia called for a program of “massive resistance”- use of state laws to block the implementation of integration Communities would close schools rather than integrate

Key quotes form the Southern Manifesto "The unwarranted decision of the Supreme Court in the public school cases is now bearing the fruit always produced when men substitute naked power for established law." "The original Constitution does not mention education. Neither does the 14th Amendment nor any other amendment. The debates preceding the submission of the 14th Amendment clearly show that there was no intent that it should affect the system of education maintained by the States." "This unwarranted exercise of power by the Court, contrary to the Constitution, is creating chaos and confusion in the States principally affected. It is destroying the amicable relations between the white and Negro races that have been created through 90 years of patient effort by the good people of both races. It has planted hatred and suspicion where there has been heretofore friendship and understanding."

Brown’s First Major Battle: Little Rock: 1957 Federal Court ordered schools in Little Rock to begin integration- accept 9 students Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called out National Guard to block their entrance Federal Court order forces Faubus to remove troops Angry mobs blocked their entrance President Eisenhower calls the 101st Airborne and federalizes the Arkansas National Guard to protect students Faubus closed the schools in Little Rock next year. Re-opened under court order in 1959 Resistance to Brown continues in deep south through the 1960’s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGjNqrQBUno&feature=related Memoirs from Little Rock

The Montgomery bus boycott (1955) Section 3: Voices of Dissent The Montgomery bus boycott (1955) A plan to challenge the segregated bus system in Montgomery Alabama was organized by black community Rosa Parks (NAACP member) chosen to spark a boycott of Montgomery bus company (1 December 1955) Blacks made up a majority of customers A boycott organized to economically challenge segregation A court order would end segregation on busses by 1956 established Martin Luther King, Jr. as a major civil rights leader- non-violent resistance to racial injustice Non-violent civil disobedience based on examples of David Henry Thoreau and Mohandas Gandhi helped people believe they could stand up to power- birth of the SCLC A Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first significant civil rights legislation since Reconstruction

What feelings generated this artifacts?

Hope rather than hopelessness Anger rather than fear How would events of the 1950’s inspire a more broad based and grass-roots movement to challenge the traditions and established power of segregation? Hope rather than hopelessness Anger rather than fear Collective (organized) rather than individual For civil rights organizers to succeed in overcoming the power of racial identity in dividing and discriminating against Americans, what would they need to do?

Discuss in small groups How did the Brown decision affect school segregation and expose conflict over segregation? How was the Montgomery bus boycott a major turning point in the civil rights movement? What challenges did supporters of the Brown decision face?