 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson  Separate but equal facilities are acceptable  What facilities did that include? Schools Buses Bus stops Restaurants Churches Water fountains

 Yes, never mandated by law in the Northern states, but a "de facto" system grew for schools, in which nearly all black students attended schools that were nearly all-black  Schools, neighborhoods/communities, and some jobs were segregated by race

 Post WWII blacks continued to fight for equality  Wanted to enjoy the same freedoms as white Americans  Fought in the war, yet could not civil rights/liberties

 America is in the midst of the Cold War  Soviet is communist What are the basic practices/beliefs of a democracy? How are blacks treated following the Civil War until the 1950s? Does this illustrate the beliefs of democracy? Who could use this in their propaganda against America?  America is a democracy  How could we sway nations in Africa/Asia to become more democratic?

 Some progress towards ending segregation began in the 1940s around two issues, but will gain steam in the 1950s  Truman began investigating the conditions blacks were treated in the South  Voting rights 5% of eligible blacks were registered to vote in 1959 in Mississippi  School segregation

 Major Events Rosa Parks Martin Luther King Jr. Bus BoycottsMarches Sit-Ins

 Linda Brown has to travel a long ways to an all black school  Deem school segregation as unconstitutional  “In the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate but equal facilities are inherently unequal.”  This would reverse the 1896 case: Plessy v. Ferguson  Within a year, schools would have to desegregate and become integrated  South resists desegregation laws

 Rosa Parks: Dec  Black seamstress  Arrested, fined $10 for disobeying segregation laws  MLK Jr. helps organize and lead a boycott of Montgomery’s busses  King’s relies on peaceful forms of protest Like sit ins, boycotts Some boycotters are beaten or lose jobs  Form the MIA: Montgomery Improvement Association  Many leaders in the MIA and MLK will have their homes bombed  Lasts over a year  Forced to then integrate public transportation

 To encourage a nonviolent fight against discrimination, King and other African American leaders funded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)  Its student organization was known as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).  Other long-established African American organizations also joined the civil rights movement,  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), used the courts to fight racism/segregation  Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

 1957: Little Rock Nine  Central High enrolls 9 black students  Orval Faubus prevents their enrollment w/National Guard  Eisenhower sends in troops so students can attend school

 By 1957 Eisenhower, with Congress seek to create a Civil Rights Bill  First to be passed since 1875  Bill created a Civil Rights Commission & Civil Rights Division of the Justice Dept.  Would seek/investigate claims of not granting voting rights  Will create a Civil Rights law in 1960

 1959 marches, sit ins, demonstrations & boycotts used throughout the US to protest segregation  1960: college students in Greensboro NC sit in at Woolworths  Why?  Denied service  This “peaceful” would influence other blacks nation wide to protest

 Dr. MLK Jr. had preached non-violent ways to end segregation  By the 1960’s blacks used civil disobedience  Disobeyed unfair laws  How? Sit ins, demonstrations, marches

 Promised, during his campaign, to help blacks get equal rights  His promise earned black favor in the election of 1960  Kennedy appealed to blacks in his call to Dr. MLK’s wife while he was in prison

 Spring of 1961  Civil rights activists volunteer to ride busses into segregated bus stations in the south  May  Freedom Riders attacked by people in Birmingham  Bus was firebombed  Riders attacked  Despite attacks, Freedom Riders continue to travel the South  Would travel state to state  Kennedy uses federal marshals to create order

 James Meredith  Air force vet  Wants to be accepted to the University of Mississippi  States Governor denies his acceptance  1963  Alabama Gov. George Wallace protests the acceptance of a black student to the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa  Stands in the doorway of the school  Wanted to prevent segregation  Again, Kennedy sends in troops  Kennedy now convinced that national legislation must be passed to end segregation

 MLK Jr. leads a demonstration in Birmingham, Alabama  Eugene Connors (police commissioner) orders demonstrators to be dealt with using fire hoses, clubs, dogs  Demonstration is televised  American people outraged  Troops are sent in to restore law/order  People nationwide are convinced segregation is not acceptable  MLK is arrested, put in jail

 June 1963 Kennedy sends a new Civil Rights Bill to Congress  To become a law, Congress has to approve it  To gain support, MLK and 250,000 people go to DC  Known as the March on Washington  Televised event  MLK gives the “I have a Dream” Speech

 Nov : Kennedy assassinated in Dallas Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald  Later killed by Jack Ruby  Johnson promises to continue the fight for Civil Rights  Civil Rights Bill passed in 1964  Equal access to public facilities, parks, libraries, restaurants, theatres  Could not discriminate in education/voting  Outlaws job discrimination  24 th Amendment ratified  Ends poll taxes  Poll taxes had prevented many blacks from voting b/c they could not afford to pay it  Pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 No literacy tests!

 Feb Malcolm X is assassinated  Took a more violent approach towards attain equality  April 1968 MLK Jr is assassinated by James Earl Ray  June 5, 1968 RFK is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan