1. Taking on Segregation
Chapter 21, Section 1 Notes

2. Objectives
Explain how legalized segregation deprived African Americans of their rights as citizens
Summarize civil rights legal activity and the response to the Plessy and Brown cases
Trace MLK, Jr’s civil rights activities, beginning with the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Describe the expansion of the civil rights movement

3. Main Idea and Terms/Names
Activism and a series of Supreme Court decisions advanced equal rights for African Americans in the 1950s and 1960s
Thurgood Marshall
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Rosa Parks
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Sit-in

4. The Segregation System
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Outlawed segregation
Supreme Court overturned it in 1883
Plessy v. Ferguson
“separate but equal” did not violate the 14th amendment (equal treatment)
Allowed Southern states to pass Jim Crow laws (separating the races)
Allowed restrictions on inter-race contact

5. Civil Rights Movement WW2 set the stage for the civil rights movement
Opened new job opportunities
One million African Americans served
Came home and fought to end discrimination
During the war, civil rights organizations fought for voting rights and challenged Jim Crow laws

6. Challenging Segregation in Court
Campaign led by the NAACP
Focused on inequality between separate schools that states provided
Thurgood Marshall argued many of these cases
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Marshall’s most stunning victory
Supreme Court struck down segregation in public schools as a violation of 14th amendment
To be implemented “with all deliberate speed”

8. Reaction to Brown Official reaction was mixed
Within a year, 500 school districts had desegregated
Some areas resisted
Reappearance of KKK
Governor of Georgia – “Georgia will not comply”!

9. Crisis in Little Rock State had been planning for desegregation
Governor Faubus ordered the National Guard to turn away the “Little Rock Nine”
the 9 African American students who would integrate Little Rock Central High
A Federal judge ordered Faubus to let the students attend the school
Eisenhower placed the National Guard under federal control to watch the 9 attend school
A year later, Faubus shut down the high school

10. Montgomery Bus Boycott
African Americans were impatient with the slow speed of change
Took direct action
1955 – Rosa Parks refused to
give up her seat and was arrested
JoAnn Robinson suggested a boycott of the buses
Leaders of the African American community formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)
Elected 26 yr old Martin Luther King to lead

11. Montgomery Bus Boycott
Dr. King made a passionate speech and filled the audience with a sense of mission
African Americans boycotted the buses for 381 days and filed a lawsuit
Organized car pools
Walked long distances
1956 – Supreme Court outlawed
bus segregation

12. Martin Luther King, Jr.
MLK called his nonviolent resistance “soul force”
Influences
Jesus – love one’s enemies
Henry David Thoreau – concept of civil disobedience (refusal to obey an unjust law)
A. Philip Randolph – massive demonstrations
Gandhi – non violent resistance

13. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
SCLC founded in 1957 by MLK and other civil rights leaders
Purpose – carry on nonviolent crusades against discrimination
Used protests and demonstrations
Helped organize a student protest group (SNCC) – Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Challenge the system!

14. Movement Spreads
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) staged the first sit-in in 1942
African Americans would sit at segregated lunch counters and refuse to leave until they were served
1960 – students in North Carolina staged a sit-in at a lunch counter
Television crews covered the protest
African Americans were non-violent, but white resistance was not
Movement spread across nation (sit-ins in 48 cities)