Early Demands for Equality , , , , , , EQ: How did African Americans challenge segregation after WWII? 1
Civil Rights Movement blacks had rights on paper but not in real life after WWII, minorities demanded change majority of Americans recognized the hypocrisy of our nation 1910 NAACP formed by W.E.B. DuBois 1931 nine black boys sentenced to death for raping a girl who testified that she had not been raped 1948 Truman desegregated the miitary 1955 Emmet Till killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman in MS 2
De jure segregation segregation caused by the law Plessy v. Ferguson Jim Crow laws poll taxes, literacy tests whites were “grandfathered” in and did not have to follow these laws 3
The Warren Court Earl Warren – Chief Justice of the Supreme court expanded the definition of civil liberties, gave federal support to the C.R. movement Miranda rights 4
De facto segregation segregation caused by circumstances poverty and illiteracy kept many blacks from the same opportunities as white Americans This type of segregation was much more prominent in the North and West nicer areas had better schools, parks, etc. 5
Movements Toward Equality Willie O’Ree 1 st Black player in NHL "Fans would yell, 'Go back to the South’ and 'How come you're not picking cotton?’ Things like that. It didn't bother me. I just wanted to be a hockey player, and if they couldn't accept that fact, that was their problem, not mine." Jackie Robinson 1 st Black major league baseball player
Movements Toward Equality Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.) James Farmer sought non- violent means to get Civil Rights (CR) in N.A. in 1942 blacks and whites worked together 28 men – 22 women 2/3rds white Chicago, Detroit followed teachings of Henry Thoureau, Ghandi, and Jesus 7
Movements Toward Equality Brown v. Board of Education, 1954 NAACP funded a lawsuit to end segregation in schools the Supreme Court overruled the states Thurgood Marshall argued the case and later became a Supreme Court justice the “Southern Manifesto” promised to defy the ruling 8
Movements Toward Equality Little Rock Nine, 1957 Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus sent the Nat’l Guard to bar 9 black students from attending Central H.S. in Little Rock Eisenhower sent the 101 st Airborne to escort the students to class for a year! a showdown of state- federal power 9
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Movements Toward Equality Civil Rights Act of 1957 est. permanent commission on civil rights with investigatory powers lacked real power Sen. Strom Thurmond (SC) tried to filibuster it (24 hrs, 18 min) "all the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, into our schools, our churches and our places of recreation and amusement." it wasn’t much but it was at least something and gave people hope for more to come 11
Movements Toward Equality Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955 Rosa Parks jailed for not moving to the back of the bus in Montgomery, AL MLK led a 13 month boycott until the courts made the buses desegregate the buses ran almost empty for months MLK’s house was bombed by the KKK 12
Movements Toward Equality Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Martin Luther King and other ministers organized their efforts voter-registration drives, marches, passive resistance and non-violence 13
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EQ #1 How did African Americans challenge segregation after WWII? 15
" Abraham, Martin & John" is a 1968 song written by Dick Holler and first recorded by Dion. It is a tribute to the memories of icons of social change, Abraham Lincoln Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy. It was written as a response to the assassinations of King and the younger Kennedy in April and June Abraham, Martin, and John 16