The Movement Begins

1. The Movement Begins

2. Plessey vs. Ferguson (1896) http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_plessy.html • set up a separate but equal policy • Legally segregated African Americans as long as equal facilities were provided for them • “Jim Crow” laws were most popular in the south • In the North, there was de-facto segregation • Segregation by custom or tradition

3. Court Challenges Begin • NAACP supported court cases that dealt with overturning segregation.

4. Push for Desegregation • African Americans began using their political power with the foundation of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). • They used sit-ins as a form of protest in order to integrate many public facilities in Northern cities

5. The Civil Rights Movement Begins • Thurgood Marshall: chief counsel of the NAACP. • Focused his attention on desegregating public schools

6. Brown vs. Board of Education http://crdl.usg.edu/events/brown_vs_boe/ • (Topeka, KS) 1954 • Linda Brown; denied admission to her neighborhood school based on her race • Her parents and the NAACP sued the school board

7. Brown vs Board of Education • The supreme court ruled in their favor • Making public school segregation illegal • Many school systems (especially southern ones) resisted the ruling and kept their schools segregated for years.

8. The Montgomery Bus Boycott • In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus. • In response, African Americans in the city started a boycott of the bus system • The boycott was a huge success • In 1956 the Supreme Court would rule that laws requiring bus segregation were unconstitutional

9. The Montgomery Improvement Association • Formed to negotiate with city leaders in order to end segregation • Martin Luther King , Jr., was the leader

10. Martin Luther King , Jr. • He believed that the way to end segregation and racism was through nonviolent resistance • He urged followers to peacefully disobey unjust laws.

11. African American Churches • Very important to the success of the boycott • 1957, African American ministers set up the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) • Worked to do away with segregation • encouraged Africans Americans to register to vote

12. Eisenhower and Civil Rights • Eisenhower opposed segregation but believed it should be ended gradually • The movement was happening at the time of the Cold War • he believed that segregation would divide the nation in a time when they needed to pull together.

13. Crisis in Little Rockhttp://www.history.com/videos/little-rock-nine#little-rock-nine • September 1957, Little Rock AK school board won a court order to allow 9 African American students to a school of 2000 whites

14. Crisis in Little Rock • Due to violence Eisenhower sent the US army to stand guard at the school for the rest of the year.

15. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 • Intended to protect African Americans’ right to vote • This law created a civil rights division within the Department of Justice to investigate when voting rights were denied.