1. Unit 10: Civil Rights Movement
5.9.16

2. Brown v. Board of Education

3. Definitions De jure segregation De facto segregation
Segregation mandated by law
When public facilities are legally declared to be segregated
De facto segregation
Segregation that is not legally mandated but happens anyway
Segregation of neighborhoods, facilities, etc.

4. Background: Jim Crow Laws

5. Jim Crow Laws State and local laws in the South between 1876 and 1965
Limited African-Americans’ rights:
Tried to limit voting
No inter-marriage
Mandated segregation
Schools
Public transportation
Restrooms

6. Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
Homer Plessy was told he would have to move to a “colored” car on a train
Refused & was arrested
Supreme Court’s ruling:
Upheld racial segregation as long as separate but equal

7. 14th amendment Provides a definition of citizenship:
“Persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States”
Every citizen gets “equal protection of the laws”

8. Supreme Court Background
It does NOT make laws.
It only interprets the constitutionality of previously made laws.
For instance, the Brown v. Board decision does not make public school segregation illegal. Instead, it says laws that segregate schools are unconstitutional, and therefore void.

9. NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Wanted to end segregation

10. Thurgood Marshall
Head of Legal Defense Fund (Lead attorney for the NAACP)

11. Status of black schools in the South under segregation
Atlanta, GA:
$ for blacks, $750 for whites
36.2 black children per classroom, 22.6 white children per classroom
In Clarenden, Virginia: 1950s
Three black schools for 808 black students
Two white schools for 276 white students
Black schools lacked running water, some without electricity
Curriculum
In white schools, students could take biology, typing, and bookkeeping
In black schools, students could take agriculture and home economics.

12. Linda Brown
7 years old
Registered for school at Sumner School in Topeka, Kansas

13. Brown vs. Board
The Brown family sued to protest the segregation of schools
The decision in this case was one of the most important Supreme Court decisions of all time
The decision also kicked off the Civil Rights Movement

14. Key Evidence: From Dr. Kenneth Clark
Dr. Kenneth Clark studied children’s beliefs about race
Thurgood Marshall used this as his key evidence in the Brown case
Watch the clip:
1. Explain the experiment & why it might help Marshall make his case

15. The Decision
Read the decision, then answer the questions on the notes sheet

16. Significance of Brown v. Board
Separate but equal is inherently unequal
Beginning of the end of segregation
Kicks off Civil Rights Movement

17. MLK on segregation:
“There are at least three basic reasons why segregation is evil. The first reason is that segregation inevitably makes for inequality… Segregation sears the soul of both the segregated and the segregator…It gives the segregated a false sense of inferiority and the segregator a false sense of superiority. It ends up depersonalizing the segregated…this is why segregation is utterly evil and utterly un-Christian.”

18. The Little Rock Nine with Daisy Bates, the Arkansas NAACP leader

19. Who are they?
The Little Rock Nine are a group of 9 African American students who started the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

20. The Public Reaction Arkansas Govenor Orval Faubus opposed integration
He ordered the Arkansas National Gaurd to surround Central High and keep all blacks out of the school

22. Federal Government’s Reaction
Judge Ronald N. Davies granted an injunction that prevented Faubus from using the National Guard
Faubus went along with the court order but said the kids should still stay away if they wanted to stay safe
At this point, President Eisenhower intervened

23. Eisenhower
President Eisenhower called members of the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division to protect the students
The nine were escorted back into Central for their first full day on September 25th, 1957, under federal troop escort

24. At School
They suffered constant harassment that included getting kicked, shoved, spit on and called names.
This harassment was so bad the federal government assigned them all personal guards.

25. Film
PBS Documentary Series
Eyes on the Prize
Episode 2: Fighting Back