1. The Civil Rights Movement
Focus Questions:
Identify important court cases of the Civil Rights movement and their outcomes.
Identify Civil Rights leaders and their importance to the movement.
Analyze important events that took place during the Civil Rights era.
Understand the importance of other movements other than that of African Americans.
Evaluate the impact of the Civil Rights movement on U.S. history.
The purpose of the focus questions is to help students find larger themes and structures to bring the historical evidence, events, and examples together for a connected thematic purpose.
As we go through each portion of this lecture, you may want to keep in mind how the information relates to this larger thematic question. Here are some suggestions: write the focus question in the left or right margin on your notes and as we go through, either mark areas of your notes for you to come back to later and think about the connection OR as you review your notes later (to fill in anything else you remember from the lecture or your thoughts during the lecture or additional information from the readings), write small phrases from the lecture and readings that connect that information to each focus question AND/OR are examples that work together to answer the focus question. 1

2. Origins of the CR Movement

3. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
The Supreme Court ruled that the “separate-but-equal” standard was constitutional
States could have segregated facilities for different races, so long as they were equal in quality
1930s- NAACP challenged it

4. “Jim Crow” Laws Segregation laws in place in the South
Prevented blacks from sharing benches, theaters, restaurants, water fountains, or public buses with whites

5. The Truman Years 1945-1953 1947- Jackie Robinson
1948- Truman’s Executive Order
1947- Jackie Robinson became the 1st AA baseball player to join the major leagues
1948- Truman issued executive orders to desegregate the armed forces- set precedence for later legislation

6. Sweatt v. Painter (1950)
Herman Sweatt, an AA, wanted to attend the Law School at UT-Austin
TX said its constitution prohibited integrated educ.
TX created a separate law school for AA, but the SC ruled that the school didn’t qualify as “separate but equal”
NAACP won the case

7. Brown V. Board of Educ. (1953)
Linda Brown was denied admission to an all-white public school near her home
NAACP argued:
Segregated public schools denied AA children “equal protection” of the law- 14th Amendment
Education was inferior- sent the message that AA were not good enough to be educated with others

8. The Brown Decision Thurgood Marshall Chief Justice Earl Warren
Thurgood Marshall argued the case for the NAACP
Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the unanimous decision of the SC:
Decision overturned Plessy v. Ferguson & marked the end of legal segregation in public schools

9. The March to Equality

10. The Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955-56
Rosa Parks
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Rosa Parks
Seamstress & NAACP member who was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery,
Alabama
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Pastor who led a boycott of the city’s public buses
Boycott lasted 13 months- court ruled that bus segregation violated “equal protection”
Boycott showed that blacks could successfully unite