CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE 1950’S

The Context Eisenhower –cautious approach –opposed Truman’s decision to desegregate the armed forces –reversal of FDR style of Presidential ruling Earl Warren-appointed 1953 –regret over internment of Japanese in Calif. –Activist attitude Earl Warren

Segregation in the 1950s

The Context African Americans –like all Americans: high hopes for prosperity after WWII –10% of total pop. –50% living in poverty –continuing flight to the North –second class treatment in sports, business, film, housing –Southern schools: 3-4 X spending on white than black students 100X more on transporting white students Segregation

The Context NAACP Legal Defense Fund –team of lawyers –30s/40s: focus on desegregating colleges and graduate schools –Thurgood Marshall

Brown v. Board conservative Supreme Court –judicial restraint: court doesn’t promote social justice –judicial activism: court promotes social justice Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka Kansas, overturns Plessy v. Ferguson-1896 NAACP and Earl Warren Reasoning: 14th Amendment –segregation takes away equal education opportunity, and “equal protection of the law” –lowers morale and motivation

Aftermath of Brown 1955: Brown II: Court order s integration “with all deliberate speed” “my biggest mistake”-- Eisenhower slow to implement Brown Southern resistance –80% of whites oppose –KKK reemerges –white boycott integrated schools –Southern state legislatures sabotage Brown –Citizen’s Councils fear “Reconstruction II” –Virginia Massive Resistance Moton, Virginia, English 9 Class

Crisis in Little Rock, 1957 Gov. Orval Faubus Little Rock Nine Ike sends in Federal troops Little Rock closes public schools next year Aug Little Rock gives in after another Supreme Court ruling Elizabeth Eckford walking through a jeering mob

IV. Momentum: Bus Boycott, Montgomery Rosa Parks 80% of bus users were African American 400 Days! Supreme Court rules in favor of boycott

V. Momentum: New Leaders Martin Luther King, Jr.-- Southern Christian Leadership Conference gospel tradition nonviolent principles sit-ins, read-ins, wade-ins students get involved-- Greenboro 1960 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee “snick” Martin Luther King, Jr. arrested for loitering in Montgomery, Alabama 1959