The Civil Rights Movement

1. The Civil Rights Movement

2. Essential Questions • What impact did the Dred Scott case and the Emancipation Proclamation have on the early struggle for civil rights? • Why did the Supreme Court interpret early civil rights laws and the 14th Amendment narrowly in the late 19th century? • What gains did the movement make in desegregating schools and public places in the mid-20th century? • What other goals did the civil rights movement strive for in the middle and late 1960s? • In what ways did the civil rights movement evolve in the late 1960s and early 1970s? • What overall impact did the civil rights movement have?

3. The Dred Scott Case: Origins • Slave whose master had moved him to free territory for several years • Sued for his freedom • Lost in state and federal courts • Case appealed to U.S. Supreme Court in 1857 Dred Scott

4. Majority opinion written by Chief Justice Taney Ruled that a slave wasn’t a citizen and couldn’t sue in court Also ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional The Dred Scott Case: Decision Chief Justice Roger B. Taney

5. The Emancipation Proclamation • Announced by Lincoln in 1862 after the Battle of Antietam • Freed slaves only in “territories in rebellion,” not border states • Signed on January 1, 1863 • Essentially unenforceable President Abraham Lincoln reads the Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet

6. The “Civil War” Amendments • 13th Amendment abolished slavery • 14th Amendment granted ex-slaves citizenship; guaranteed equal protection, due process • 15th Amendment gave African American men the right to vote • Supreme Court ruled these only applied to the federal government A print celebrating the passage of the 15th Amendment

7. “Jim Crow” Laws • Name came from a minstrel show character • Mandated separate facilities for whites and blacks • Black facilities usually worse Laws dictating separate drinking fountains for whites and blacks were commonplace in Southern states

8. Plessy v. Ferguson • Case involved segregated train facilities in Louisiana • Court ruled that “separate but equal” did not violate 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause • Harlan only dissenting justice Justice John Marshall Harlan

9. Booker T. Washington: Believed that blacks should assimilate into the “world of work” by learning technical skills Established the Tuskegee Institute W.E.B. Du Bois: Contended that blacks should receive a liberal-arts education Co-founded the NAACP Washington vs. Du Bois Booker T. Washington W.E.B. Du Bois

10. The New Deal and Civil Rights • FDR’s commitment to civil rights lukewarm • Several New Deal agencies discriminated against blacks • Tenant farmers and sharecroppers protested • Randolph proposed a “March on Washington” A flyer for A. Philip Randolph’s proposed “March on Washington”