Civil Rights in the Postwar Period

Desegregating American Society

 1950- 15 million African American citizens  2/3 living in the South  Jim Crow Laws govern all aspects of

life  Only 20% of eligible southern blacks

were registered to vote, 5% from the deep South

 Segregation tarnished America’s international image  An American Dilemma by Swedish

scholar Gunnar Myrdal- shameful treatment of African Americans

 Racial Progress after WWII  Northern cities have equal access to

public accommodations  Jackie Robinson (1947)  Sweatt v. Painter (1950)

 University of Texas law school, separate law schools hurt the education of black law students

Montgomery Bus Boycott

  Rosa Parks (Dec. 1955)   Sparked a year-long black boycott of city

buses   Introduction of Martin Luther King Jr.

  Nonviolence principles from Gandhi   Importance- African American no longer

going to submit to Jim Crow Laws

Brown v. Board of Education   Pres. Eisenhower showed no real interest in racial

issues vs. Chief Justice Earl Warren

  May 1954

  Segregation in the public schools was “inherently unequal” and unconstitutional

  Unanimous decision, reversed Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896

  10 years later, less than 2% of eligible blacks in the Deep South were sitting in classrooms with whites

Crisis in Little Rock

  Sept. 1957- Little Rock School Board begins desegregation

  Gov. Orval Faubus ordered National Guard to prevent 9 black students from enrolling at Central High School.

  9 students not allowed to enter for 3 weeks (direct challenge to federal authority)

  Eisenhower sends in 1,000 federal troops and escorted students in the school

Creation of the SCLC

  Formed by King and other civil rights leaders, 1957

  Southern Christian Leadership Conference

  Importance- churches played large role in the civil rights movement, leadership, faith in equality

“Sit-in” Movement   Started on Feb. 1, 1960 by 4 black college

freshman in Greensboro, NC

  Would sit on the “whites only” section of Woolworth’s lunch counter.

  By the end of the week, more than 1,000 supporters joined the sit ins.

  Importance-   Several business owners began changing policies   Success of black and white youths for civil rights

  Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comm. (SNCC)   Trained students in the strategies of nonviolence

Violence of the Civil Rights Era

  The Murder of Emmitt Till (1955)   14-year-old from Chicago, Illinois

  Visited uncle in Mississippi, did not understand racial etiquette

  Claimed to have made comment to a white woman

  Till kidnapped 4 days later, beaten, shot, and his body tossed in the Tallahatchie River

  2 men stood trial for the murder, found not guilty, confessed to the murder several months later

  Till’s funeral was open casket- see what had been done to him- 5,000 people attended