1. CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE 1950’S

2. The Context Eisenhower –cautious approach –opposed Truman’s decision to desegregate the armed forces –reversal of FDR style of Presidential ruling Earl Warren-appointed 1953 –regret over internment of Japanese in Calif. –Activist attitude Earl Warren

3. Segregation in the 1950s

4. The Context African Americans –like all Americans: high hopes for prosperity after WWII –10% of total pop. –50% living in poverty –continuing flight to the North –second class treatment in sports, business, film, housing –Southern schools: 3-4 X spending on white than black students 100X more on transporting white students Segregation

5. The Context NAACP Legal Defense Fund –team of lawyers –30s/40s: focus on desegregating colleges and graduate schools –Thurgood Marshall

6. Brown v. Board conservative Supreme Court –judicial restraint: court doesn’t promote social justice –judicial activism: court promotes social justice Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka Kansas, 1954-- overturns Plessy v. Ferguson-1896 NAACP and Earl Warren Reasoning: 14th Amendment –segregation takes away equal education opportunity, and “equal protection of the law” –lowers morale and motivation

7. Aftermath of Brown 1955: Brown II: Court order s integration “with all deliberate speed” “my biggest mistake”-- Eisenhower slow to implement Brown Southern resistance –80% of whites oppose –KKK reemerges –white boycott integrated schools –Southern state legislatures sabotage Brown –Citizen’s Councils fear “Reconstruction II” –Virginia 1956 --Massive Resistance Moton, Virginia, English 9 Class

8. Crisis in Little Rock, 1957 Gov. Orval Faubus Little Rock Nine Ike sends in Federal troops Little Rock closes public schools next year Aug. 1959--Little Rock gives in after another Supreme Court ruling Elizabeth Eckford walking through a jeering mob

9. IV. Momentum: Bus Boycott, Montgomery 1955-1956 Rosa Parks 80% of bus users were African American 400 Days! Supreme Court rules in favor of boycott

10. V. Momentum: New Leaders Martin Luther King, Jr.-- Southern Christian Leadership Conference gospel tradition nonviolent principles sit-ins, read-ins, wade-ins students get involved-- Greenboro 1960 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee “snick” Martin Luther King, Jr. arrested for loitering in Montgomery, Alabama 1959