Taking on Segregation

Section 29-1pp. 906-915

“…in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate

educational facilities are inherently unequal.”-Chief Justice Earl Warren in the Brown v. Board

decision

The Segregation System • Jim Crow laws kept African

Americans living as second class citizens

• WWII and Civil Rights– New jobs– Served in military– FDR outlawed discrimination

Challenging Segregation in Court• NAACP

– Legal team headed by Thurgood Marshall

– Challenged segregation through court cases

Challenging Segregation in Court• Brown v. Board of

Education (1954) – Outlawed

segregation in public schools

• Brown II (1955)– Ordered

integration to happen more quickly

Reaction to Brown• Little Rock Nine

(1957)– AR Gov. refused to

integrate schools– Eisenhower sends

National Guard to escort students to school

The Montgomery Bus Boycott– First organized

movement to fight segregation

– Led by Dr. M.L. King– In 1956, the

Supreme Court ruled segregated buses illegal

Rosa Parks Interviewed Rosa Parks challenged

discrimination on city buses

Martin Luther King and the SCLC• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

– Promoted • Nonviolence• Civil disobedience

– Methods• Huge demonstrations• Boycotts

– 1957: Formed SCLC Dr. King riding an integrated bus in

Montgomery in 1956.

Martin Luther King and the SCLC• SNCC

– Formed to involve college students in the civil rights movement

– Sit-Ins• Often provoked

angry whites• Won sympathy for

protestors

The Triumphs of a Crusade

Section 29-2pp. 916-922

Riding for Freedom • Freedom Riders

(1961)– Rode buses to protest

segregation – RFK and JFK sent 400

US marshals to protect riders

– Segregation banned in travel facilities

Standing Firm • James Meredith

– Gov. refused to let him enter Univ. of Miss.

– JFK sent US marshals to let him in

Standing Firm • The Birmingham

Campaign– Protestors viciously

attacked by police– Milestones

• Poor blacks join demand for equality

• Moderate whites in north and south begin supporting desegregation

Marching to Washington• March in D.C.

(1963)– 250,000 demand

immediate passage of civil rights bill

– “I Have a Dream” Speech

– Civil Rights Act passed in 1964

Fighting for Voting Rights• Freedom Summer

– Student volunteers register voters Mississippi

– Led to violence and murder

• 24th Amendment: Banned poll tax

Fighting for Voting Rights• Voting Rights Act of 1965

– Eliminated literacy tests– Allowed federal examiners to register

voters