“If not us, then who?”“If not now, then when?”John Lewis

Brown v. Board of Education, 1954

What is the significance of this case?

1954: separate is not equal Supposed to end dejure segregation Long term psychological consequences

Clarks’ doll experiment No timeline or implementation1955: Brown II “In all deliberate speed” Still waffle on time table

Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does... Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school system... We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

-White Citizens League – Massive Resistance -Southern Manifesto – “abuse of judicial

power” -By 56’ – NOTHING!!!!!!!!

By 1890s, poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses

Jim Crow Laws 1896 – Plessy v. Fergusson – separate is equal 1930s – NAACP WWII - Double V 46’ – Committee on Civil Rights

Legal Challenges to Plessey to show separate is not equal!

Law schools, move to public schools

Why didn’t Brown end discrimination?-limitations of the decision -enforcement -governments in the south resist -social reasons

http://www.cbn.com/tv/1427782020001https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggUt0gJh9U8Gov Wallace

1955: The Murder of Emmett Till1.A fourteen year old boy from Chicago -visiting his cousin in Mississippi2.Till allegedly insulted a white girl in a store – “bye babe”?3.beat him, gouged his eyes out and then shot him in the head. Barbed wire, attached to a cotton gin, was tied to his body and he was thrown in the Tallahatchi river. 4.open casket funeral 5.Two men arrested for the murder were acquitted. 6.The attorney for the men said to the jurors before deliberation, “Your fathers will turn over in their graves if [Milam and Bryant are found guilty] and I'm sure that every last Anglo-Saxon one of you has the courage to free these men in the face of that [outside] pressure."

What to do now? It is more than about JUST segregation…

Government intervention Civil Disobedience & Non Violent Resistance

◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KREQGwC_cFY◦ First 2-3 min.

1955: Montgomery Bus BoycottRosa Parks (43 years old) refused to give up her seat for a white passanger;

Parks was charged with disorderly conducted & finedThe NAACP launched a boycott of the Montgomery bus system, which made the

company loose over half of its income. -courtesy, black drivers, first come seating in the middle - 381 days -MLK and others arrested “conspiring interfere with commerce”

$500-Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

The Supreme Court then ruled in 56’ the Brown applies to buses. City desegregated

“The first lady of Civil Rights”

1957: The Little Rock NineIn 1957, Governor Orval Faubus defied a federal court order to admit nine African American students to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. President Dwight Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce desegregation. When students arrived at the school mobs of white students and parents taunted the black students, yelling at them and throwing items at them. Each student had a personal guard to help keep them safe. Often, schools were desegregated only in theory because racially segregated neighborhoods led to segregated schools.To overcome the problem, some school districts began busing students to schools outside their neighborhoods in the 1970s.

1960: Sit-in campaignOn February 1, 1960, four African American college students from North Carolina

A&T University began protesting racial segregation in restaurants by sitting at “White Only” lunch counters and waiting to be served. Students began to return to the counter each day. 20 people, then 60 people, then 300 people

In April 1960, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, to help organize and direct the student sit-in movement.

This was not a new form of protest, but the response to the sit-ins spread throughout North Carolina, and within weeks sit-ins were taking place in cities across the South.

Many restaurants were desegregated in response to the sit-ins.

1961: Freedom RidesTo end the segregation of bus terminals and test the Supreme Court decision that

desegregated buses, CORE (congress on racial equality) organized black and white students to load buses and travel across the country.

The Freedom Rides began in Washington, D.C. In Anniston, Alabama, one bus was burned and some riders were beaten. In Birmingham, a mob attacked the riders when they got off the bus. The riders suffered even more severe beatings in Montgomery.

The violence brought national attention to the Freedom Riders and fierce condemnation of Alabama officials for allowing the brutality to occur. RFK (the Attorney General under JFK) had to send in federal marshals to protect them.

The riders continued on to Jackson, Mississippi, where they were arrested and imprisoned at the state penitentiary, ending the protest.

The Freedom Rides did result in the desegregation of some bus stations, but more importantly they caught the attention of the American public.

1962: University of Mississippi Race Riots In 1962, James Meredith—an African American—applied for admission to the University of

Mississippi. The university attempted to block Meredith’s admission, and he filed suit. After working through the state courts, Meredith was successful when a federal court ordered

the university to desegregate and accept Meredith as a student. The Governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett, defied the court order and tried to prevent Meredith

from enrolling. President Kennedy intervened to uphold the court order. Kennedy sent federal troops to protect

Meredith when he went to enroll. During his first night on campus, a riot broke out when whites began to harass the federal

marshals. In the end, two people were killed and several hundred were wounded. In 1963, the governor of Alabama, George C. Wallace, threatened a similar stand, trying to

block the desegregation of the University of Alabama. The Kennedy administration responded with the full power of the federal government, including the U.S. Army.

1963: Birmingham (Alabama) Campaign http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLLDn7MjbF0

MLK led a protest in the city since it was one of the most segregated in the U.S. The “kneel – ins” and “sit ins” led to police attacks on the protestors, where upon 3

ministers were arrested. Police used fire hoses and attack dogs on protestors. Many school children

participated in the protests and they were attacked as well. National attention was given to this campaign 4 little girls died when an African American church (16th Street Baptist Church) in

Birmingham, Alabama was set on fire. This was just one of a string of fires that were lit at African American churches throughout the south.

President JFK later said of Bull Connor, "The Civil Rights movement should thank God for Bull Connor. He's helped it as much as Abraham Lincoln."[

September, 1963, 4 Little Girls

4 little girls died when an African American church (16th Street Baptist Church) in Birmingham, Alabama was set on fire.

This was just one of a string of fires that were lit at African American churches throughout the south.

1963: March on Washington On March 28, 1963, over 250,000 people marched on Washington to

demand “jobs, justice and peace”. Approximately 75,000 of them were white. Their goal was to get Kennedy to pass civil rights legislation, The Civil Rights Act

It is where MLK gave his legendary “I have a dream speech” and the march came to symbolize the Civil Rights Movement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs

It prohibited segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in education and employment. It also gave the executive branch of government the power to enforce the act’s provisions.

1964: Freedom Summer – In June of 1964, the NAACP, CORE

and other organizations tried to register as many African Americans as possible in Mississippi (known as Mississippi Summer Project).

Over 1,000 out of state volunteers flooded Mississippi, most were white and from the north.

Mississippi was picked because only 6.7% of African Americans were registered to vote.

During the course of the “Freedom Summer”, 4 civil rights workers were killed, 4 workers were critically wounded, 80 workers were beaten, 1000 arrested, 37 black churches bombed, 30 black homes bombed or burned.

1965: Bloody Sunday: As a result of police killing a non-violent civil rights demonstrator in Marion, Alabama, the black community held a march, which was led by MLK on March 7. The marchers wanted Gov. Wallace to stop police brutality; they were intended to travel from Selma to Montgomery. The marchers continued even after the severe brutality encountered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00xojzOYdz8◦ Bloody Sunday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGQvKiJi4Jw◦ Wallace face the nation

suspended the use of literacy and other voter qualification tests in voter registration.

How would you describe the Civil Rights Movement from the late 50s to mid 60s?

What were the greatest accomplishment?◦ How were these accomplishments achieved?

Would you be satisfied with the accomplishments achieved during this period?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wld4c0jzlwM

Grew up in Atlanta – Morehouse College – Seminary School

1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957

The FBI, under written directive from Attorney General RFK, began tapping King's telephone in the fall of 1963.

Concerned that allegations of communists in the SCLC, if made public, would derail the administration's civil rights initiatives

Edgar Hoover feared Communists were trying to infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement

Actually, the Negro has been betrayed by both the Republican and the Democratic party. The Democrats have betrayed him by capitulating to the whims and caprices of the Southern Dixiecrats. The Republicans have betrayed him by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of reactionary right wing northern Republicans. And this coalition of southern Dixiecrats and right wing reactionary northern Republicans defeats every bill and every move towards liberal legislation in the area of civil rights