Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Movement

14 th Amendment (1868) Reaffirmed state and federal citizenship for persons born or naturalized in the U.S Forbade any state from depriving a person of life, liberty, or prosperity or to deny any person the equal protection of the laws. 15 th Amendment (1870) Grants African American men the right to vote States still used discriminatory practices to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote especially in the South Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) US Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of state segregation law Separate-but-equal standard was constitutional States provide segregated facilities for different races so long as they were equal in quality Facilities such as schools suppose to be equal in reality most schools in South were inferior to white ones National Association for Advancement of Colored People, NAACP (1909) Civil rights organization in the US Focused on legal strategies to confront civil rights issue in early years 1930s NAACP lawyers began challenging separate-but-equal doctrine Sweatt v. Painter (1950) NAACP wins case involving African American attending Law School at the University of Texas at Austin

President Truman & Civil Rights Truman Supports Civil Rights 1946 created the President s Commission on Civil Rights Asked Congress for a federal antilynching law, ban on poll tax as a voting requirement, and a permanent civil rights commission African Americans, especially veterans, demand rights as citizens Congress rejects civil rights laws; Truman issues executive orders: Desegregation of armed forces ends discrimination in government hiring

Hector C. Garcia The Longoria Incident Funeral home undertaker refuses funeral services to Felix Longoria, WWII veteran killed in the Philippines Outraged Mexican Americans motivated them to organize efforts to end discrimination Hector Garcia convinced Texas Senator Lyndon B. Johnson to allow Longoria to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery 1946, García opened a medical practice in Corpus Christi, where he witnessed the struggles of veterans and migrant workers offered low- and no-cost treatment to impoverished patients Outraged Mexican-American veterans formed the American G.I. Forum Fought for improve conditions for Mexican American World War II veterans better medical benefits Years later they fought again poll taxes and school segregation

Thurgood Marshall NAACP s chief legal council was Charles Hamilton Houston, who was a law professor at Howard University and a mentor to Marshall Houston taught him to defeat racial discrimination through the use of existing laws. Focused on most glaring inequalities of segregated public education Houston put a team of law students placed under direction of Thurgood Marshall Marshall was denied admission to the University of Maryland Law School because of his race win 29 out of 32 cases argued before Supreme Court spanning over 23 years Milestone cases such as: 1946 Morgan v. Virginia: declared state laws mandating segregated seating on interstate busses unconstitutional 1950 Sweatt v. Painter: state law schools must admit black applicants, even if separate black schools exist 1954 Brown v. Board of Education: declared school segregation unconstitutional Marshall s greatest victory is Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka In 1967 he became the first African-American supreme court justice

Sweatt v. Painter 1950 In 1946, Heman Marion Sweatt, a black man, applied for admission to the University of Texas Law School. State law restricted access to the university to whites, and Sweatt's application was automatically rejected because of his race. When Sweatt asked the state courts to order his admission, the university attempted to provide separate but equal facilities for black law students. In a unanimous decision, the Court held that the Equal Protection Clause required that Sweatt be admitted to the university. The Court found that the "law school for Negroes," which was to have opened in 1947, would have been grossly unequal to the University of Texas Law School. The Court argued that the separate school would be inferior in a number of areas, including faculty, course variety, library facilities, legal writing opportunities, and overall prestige. The Court also found that the mere separation from the majority of law students harmed students' abilities to compete in the legal arena.

Brown v. Board of Education 1954 Background African American students denied admission to an allwhite public school near homes Thurgood Marshall NAACP lawyer argued the case Decision NAACP lawyers argued that education received by African American students was inherently (by its very nature) inferior Sent African American children message they were not good enough to be educated with others Chief Justice Earl Warren said in the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Courts agreed Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson Marked end of legal segregation in public schools Key turning point in Civil Rights Movement

Earl Warren 1953 President Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren the fourteenth Chief Justice of the United States Warren Court's most important decisions was the ruling that made racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. Another was the "one-man one-vote" ruling that caused a major shift in legislative power from rural areas to cities. Warren viewed crime as mutually exclusive to poverty, education, social conditions, degradation, and standards of law enforcement. He believed crime could be ridden by improving the condition of cities and thus took into account the influential conditions violators lived within. After the reaction to Brown v. Board of Education, Warren thought of the Court as a protector of the public, the means to restore ethics and mind the conducts of legislators.

Reaction to Brown v. Board Resistance to School Desegregation Within 1 year, over 500 school districts desegregate Some districts, state officials, pro-white groups actively resist Court hands Brown II: orders desegregation at all deliberate speed Eisenhower refuses to enforce compliance; considers it impossible

Little Rock Nine Background September 1957 Little Rock, Arkansas School board won a federal court order to admit nine African American students to Central High School School with 2,000 white students; African Americans volunteered to integrate the school in support of the school board Orval Faubus Governor of Arkansas Believed to be moderate on racial issues unlike many Southern politicians Determined to win re-election began to campaign as a defender of white supremacy Ordered AK National Guard to prevent 9 African American students from entering school Elizabeth Eckford faces abusive crowd when she tries to enter school White mob joined troops Event was televised Used armed state forces to oppose authority of federal government Eisenhower Had conference with Faubus did nothing, Faubus refused to provide protection Eisenhower ordered federal troops to Little Rock to ensure that nine African American students could attend school Law was upheld troops stayed rest of school year Harassment continued throughout the school year within the halls of the school; Faubus closed Central High School at end of year rather than let integration continue

Emmett Till Background 14-year-old African American From Chicago Visiting family in Money, Mississippi August 24, 1955 Bragged to his cousins and friends outside country store that his girlfriend back home was white Cousins and friends did not believe him dared Till to ask out white woman sitting behind counter He went in bought some candy and flirted with her some August 28, 1955 Women s husband returned from business trip and found out how Till spoke to his wife Husband (Mose Wright) and brother-in-law (J.W. Milam) beat Till to death Body was so disfigured could only identify by initialed ring Murder of Till shocked people and caused many African Americans to join the NCAAP

Civil Rights Act 1957 1. Civil Rights Act of 1957 Eisenhower believed firmly in right to vote wanted to protect voting rights Civil Rights Act of 1957 intended to protect the right of African Americans to vote Gave federal government jurisdiction over violations of African American voting rights 2. Strom Thurmond US Senator from South Carolina Opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 Conducted longest filibuster by a lone senator 24 hours and 18 minutes long

African American seamstress and local NAACP member Refused to surrender her bus seat to white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama Her arrest led to local African American leaders start boycotting city s public buses Rosa Parks

Martin Luther King, Jr. Pastor in Montgomery Leader of Montgomery Bus Boycott led boycott for 13 months Rallied boycotters at meetings in his church Boycotted case to federal court courts ruled that segregation on buses operated by city violated equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment King calls his brand of nonviolent resistance soul force civil disobedience, massive demonstrations King remains nonviolent in face of violence after Brown decision

Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955 NAACP officer Rosa Parks arrested for not giving up seat on bus Montgomery Improvement Association formed, organizes bus boycott; boycotting segregation on public transportation African Americans file lawsuit, boycott buses use carpools, walk Walking for Justice Elect 26-year-old Baptist pastor Martin Luther King, Jr. leader Get support from black community, outside groups, sympathetic whites Boycott showed that nonviolent demonstration could be successful 1956 Supreme Court outlaws bus segregation

SCLC Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Founded by MLK and other African American ministers in 1957 Purpose Eliminate segregation from American society Encourage African Americans to register to vote Challenged segregation at: Public transportation Voting booths Housing Public accommodations By 1960, African-American students think pace of change too slow