1. Early Demands for Equality
, , , , , ,
EQ: How did African Americans challenge segregation after WWII?

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. Movements Toward Equality
Willie O’Ree
1st 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
1st Black major league baseball player

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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 101st Airborne to escort the students to class for a year!
a showdown of state-federal power

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

15. EQ #1
How did African Americans challenge segregation after WWII?

16. Abraham, Martin, and John
"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 1968.