KING STUDIOS TRAVELING SUITCASE #1 PART ONE: DE JURE SEGREGATION IN THE SOUTH & THE CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE

With the generous assistance of:

De Jure segregation means segregation encoded in laws. In the American South extralegal violence was also used to support systematic racial inequality.

After emancipation, southern states passed a series of laws requiring racial segregation in all public spaces.

In its famous 1896 decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional. Today, the most well-known aspects of segregation were separate schools, drinking fountains, and buses.

Systematic segregation in the South was often called “Jim Crow,” a reference to an insulting stereotype of African Americans based on a minstrel character named Jim Crow. The system was not only enforced by laws but also by violence, including lynching. African Americans found traveling in the South difficult, and sometimes dangerous.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” schools were unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Because federal enforcement was weak and because Brown v. Board of Education lacked deadlines, segregation continued.

Greater legal equality was achieved through the struggle of Civil Rights activists. Young people pioneered “direct action” tactics in the 1960s Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955 Two Hearts (Otis Williams & the Charms) 1955 Two Hearts (Otis Williams & the Charms) 1960 Greensboro Sit-In 1960 Greensboro Sit-In 1961 Freedom Rides 1961 Freedom Rides 1964 Civil Rights Act & Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964 Civil Rights Act & Mississippi Freedom Summer 1968 Say It Loud (James Brown) 1968 Say It Loud (James Brown) 1968 Martin Luther King Assassinated 1968 Martin Luther King Assassinated 1963 March on Washington 1954 Brown v. Board of Education 1954 Brown v. Board of Education