THE BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT SWBAT: EXPLAIN THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION CASE. HOMEWORK: EMMETT TILL READING AND QUESTIONS. VOCAB QUIZ IS THURSDAY! DO NOW: DO YOU THINK SEGREGATION IN SCHOOLS STILL HAPPENS TODAY? EXPLAIN.
MOVEMENT TOWARDS FREEDOM AND RIGHTS During and immediately after the Civil War, the US took steps to try and give freedom and equality to slaves and eventually freedmen. Emancipation Proclamation: steps to free slaves. 13 th Amendment: abolished slavery 14 th Amendment: gave citizenship to slaves 15 th Amendment: voting rights to all men
WHY IS THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT NECESSARY? After the Civil War and millions of slaves were now free men, whites found it necessary to take measures to keep blacks “in their place”. Groups like the KKK became extremely popular. Violence against African Americans occurred often and police turned a blind eye. From 1890 to 1908, southern states passed new laws to restrict voting rights. Minorities continue to face employment discrimination. States began passing "Jim Crow" laws, or state mandated segregation. The United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of those in its 1896 decision Plessy v. Ferguson. “Separate, but equal.”
HOW DID AFRICAN AMERICANS RESIST? Resistance started much earlier than the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in Its mission: "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination”. After WWII, African Americans fought for the desegregation of the armed forces.
EVENTS THAT WILL SPARK THE MOVEMENT OF THE 1960S Brown v. Board of Education Emmitt Till Rosa Parks Will discuss tomorrow.
BUT HOW TO STOP SEGREGATION? The NAACP decided to take a stand on segregation but wasn’t sure where to begin as segregation existed just about everywhere in the south. Examples: Bathrooms Water fountains Train cars In the 1950s, the US spent 10 times more on educating white students than on black students. Because of the huge disparity between costs, the NAACP decided to focus on the inequality of segregated public schools.
LET’S ANALYZE What generalizations can you make about where segregation occurs?
Does this look separate, but equal to you?
OPPORTUNITY ARISES In 1954, the father of Linda Brown sued the Topeka, Kansas school board for violating Linda’ rights by denying her admission to an all-white elementary school. This school was 4 blocks from her house. The nearest all-black elementary school was 21 blocks away. The plaintiffs in the case asserted that this system of racial separation, while masquerading as providing separate but equal treatment of both white and black Americans, instead perpetuated inferior accommodations, services, and treatment for black Americans.
THE DECISION Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation as it applied to public education. In a 9–0 decision, the court stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.“ What problems do you foresee with this ruling?
EFFECT Would effect ~12 million school children in 21 states. In the next year, 500 schools desegregated and for the first time in their histories, black and white students sat together. As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This ruling paved the way for integration and was a major victory of the civil rights movement
REACTION Mixed reactions. In Kansas, Oklahoma state officials claimed that desegregation should be no problem. In Texas, the governor claimed it could take years and actively sought to prevent it. In Mississippi, Georgia officials vowed total resistance. “The people of Georgia will not comply with the decision of the court… We’re going to do whatever is necessary in Georgia to keep white children in white schools and colored children in colored schools” - Georgia Gov. Herman Talmadge. How do these reactions relate to the map?
THE COURT ACTS AGAIN In response to slow integration, the Supreme Court acted again. In Brown II, the court ordered that school desegregation be implemented “with all deliberate speed”. President Eisenhower originally refused to sign the bill, but events in Little Rock, Arkansas would change his mind.
CRISIS IN LITTLE ROCK In 1948 in Little Rock, Arkansas, the school board officially approved of desegregation. In response, the governor sent in the National Guard to turn away the “Little Rock Nine”- the 9 black students who had volunteered to integrate into Little Rock’s Central High School. A judge ordered the governor to allow the students into the school.
THE RESULT The Little Rock 9 were subjected to a year of physical and verbal abuse. Were spat on, pushed, shoved, and called names by many of the white students. Melba Pattillo had acid thrown into her eyes. Was also trapped by a group of white girls in a stall in the girls' bathroom and attempted to burn her alive by dropping pieces of flaming paper on her from above. This would just be one of the direct confrontations between whites and blacks in the segregated South.
ACTIVITY: ARE PUBLIC SCHOOLS EQUAL?? With a partner and google, search for the answers to educational statistics. You do not have to write in complete sentences; just fill in the answers. Then complete the paragraph response using the information you found online. You can delete the lines and write in your response in its place.