1. Essential Question:
What were the significant events in the history of African Americans before the civil rights movement?

2. Slavery in American History (1619-1865)

3. Slavery in American History
In 1619, the 1st African slaves were introduced in the colonies
By 1660, slave labor replaced indentured servitude as the main colonial labor system:
Slaves worked on tobacco & rice plantations in Southern colonies
Slaves worked as domestic servants in Northern colonies

4. But, the Founding Fathers did not abolish slavery
Before the American Revolution, slaves were present in each of the 13 colonies
The Revolutionary War ( ) changed attitudes towards slavery
By 1804, 9 outlawed slavery
In 1808, the USA outlawed the African slave trade
The Northwest Ordinance (1787), outlawed slavery

5. “King Cotton” became dominant & increased slavery in the South
From 1800 to 1860, sectional tension increased as slavery expanded into the West
“King Cotton” became dominant & increased slavery in the South
1790
1830

6. The Compromises of 1820 & 1850 only temporarily settled the issue
Slavery in America, 1860
Abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, & Harriet Beecher Stowe attacked slavery
From 1800 to 1860, sectional tension increased as slavery expanded into the West
The Compromises of 1820 & 1850 only temporarily settled the issue
During Manifest Destiny, tensions over slavery increased as Texas & the Mexican Cession were added
Sectional events led to Civil War: Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott case, John Brown’s Raid, Election of Lincoln in 1860
1860

7. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 which made the Civil War about slavery

8. Reconstruction & the Jim Crow Era (1865-1954)

9. The Union victory in the Civil War led to the:
13th Amendment (ended slavery)
14th Amendment (citizenship for freedmen)
15th Amendment (voting rights for freedmen)
Freedman’s Bureau & five military zones
The South responded with the KKK & black codes; Reconstruction ended in 1877

10. States with Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow laws created segregation
Poll taxes, literacy tests, & grandfather clauses
Most blacks were sharecroppers
Civil rights leaders WEB DuBois & Booker T Washington fought against segregation laws; the NAACP was formed to help African Americans
In 1896, the Supreme Court declared “separate but equal” in the Plessy v Ferguson case

11. World War I & the 1920s
During WWI, the Great Migration led African American workers into the North; Black soldiers fought in segregated units
In the 1920s, African Americans experienced the Harlem Renaissance
In the 1930s, FDR’s New Deal discriminated against black workers

12. In WWII, the Great Migration helped break sharecropping in the South
World War II
A. Philip Randolph pressured FDR to create the Fair Employment Practices Commission
In WWII, the Great Migration helped break sharecropping in the South

13. In the 1950s, white flight to the suburbs & Jim Crow laws left the U.S. segregated

14. The Modern Civil Rights Movement (1954-1965)

15. By 1950, the United States was a segregated society:
Jim Crow laws throughout the South created a segregated society (de jure segregation)
White flight to the suburbs left African Americans in poor inner cities (de facto segregation)

16. But after WWII, African Americans gained success in civil rights
In 1948, Truman became the 1st president to attack segregation
Truman issued an executive order to integrate the military
He outlawed discrimination in the hiring of government employees

17. Robinson won National League MVP in 1949
In 1947, Jackie Robinson was the 1st black major league baseball player
Jackie Robinson signing his professional contract with Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey in 1945
Robinson won National League MVP in 1949
Robinson won Rookie of the Year in 1947
Robinson made his MLB debut in 1947

18. The modern Civil Rights movement began in 1954 with the Supreme Court decision Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
The NAACP took the lead in civil rights; Segregated schools became their primary target
Their strategy was to use lawsuits to challenge that segregation violated the 14th Amendment
Segregated school districts spend 10 times more on white students than black students
NAACP attorneys successfully challenged discrimination in university admissions for graduate programs

19. Brown v Board of Education in 1954
The Topeka school district denied Linda Brown from attending a white school 4 blocks from her house
NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall used the 14th Amendment to attack public school segregation
Marshall argued that even “equal” schools, if separate, imply that black children are inferior to whites

20. The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Brown v Board of Education (1954) ruled “separate facilities are inherently unequal”
Chief Justice Earl Warren stated that segregation violated the “equal protection clause” of the 14th Amendment

21. The decision overturned the Plessy v Ferguson (1896) “separate but equal” precedent

22. The Brown decision was divisive:
Schools integrated in Baltimore, St Louis, & Washington DC
But Southern state leaders vowed to resist integration & the KKK returned to block integration
At first, President Eisenhower left enforcement of Brown up to states & did not enforce the decision

23. Resistance to Brown
“The people of Georgia will not comply with the decision of the court… We're going to do whatever is necessary in Georgia to keep white children in white schools and colored children in colored schools."

24. In 1957, President Eisenhower was forced to support integration
Arkansas governor Orval Faubus called the National Guard to keep black students from enrolling in Little Rock’s Central High School
Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus

25. Eisenhower sent the Army to force integration for the black students (the “Little Rock Nine”)

26. Conclusions
The Brown v BOE decision was the first major step towards ending Jim Crow segregation in America
The NAACP provided a model for other civil rights leaders to follow by using the 14th Amendment
Resistance to Brown revealed that civil rights leaders could not rely on the gov’t to protect rights
New leaders would soon emerge to take charge of the movement