Civil Rights Era 1954-1975

1. Civil Rights Era 1954-1975 A New Beginning

2. Brown V. Board of Education Causes: • Many white schools were closer to their students unlike black students • Linda Brown had to go to a school that was one mile from her house when the closest school was a few blocks away

3. Brown V. Board of Education Cont’d Parties Involved: • The Kansas School Board (and others in the Supreme Court Case) • 13 African Americans, including Oliver L. Brown, Darlene Brown, and Zelma Henderson

4. Brown V. Board of Education Outcome: • Supreme Court ruled in favour of the School Boards, believing that there was equality between segregated schools • Some other states began to desegregate, but not completely or all at once

5. Southern Manifesto • Major changes occurred in the South • Border states integrated white and blacks in school but South states remained segregated • Congress make the Southern Manifesto: Stating that not integrating schools is an abuse of judicial power • The only way to break barriers of segregation is to take one step at a time.

6. Rosa Parks • Rosa Parks was an African American seamstress from Montgomery Alabama. • In Dec. of 1955, she boarded a segregated bus. The African American section at the back was filled. She decided to sit at the front, which was reserved for the white riders. • She was arrested when she refused to give up her seat.

7. Rosa Parks: The Trail • At a meeting at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, was asked to lead a boycott. • On the day of the trial, nearly all the African American bus riders began their boycott. It was to last for nearly a year. • The majority of bus users were African American, leading to bus companies losing a lot of their business. • Rosa Parks was convicted and fined $10. • Dr. Martin Luther King JR. was arrested for sponsoring an illegal boycott.

8. Rosa Parks: Effects • November 1956- the Supreme Court ruled that in public transportation was illegal. This forced bus companies to change their segregation policy. • The Montgomery bus boycott really began the civil rights movement. • Martin Luther King became the leader for the civil rights movement.

9. King Preaches Nonviolence • Dr. Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister who encouraged the use of “nonviolence resistance” or peaceful mean of change • He told people to disobey unjust laws but to love their oppressors and not to fight them • In 1957 King and other African American leaders founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference along with other groups organized to promote civil rights in the South • In 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent resistant strategies and leadership

10. Crisis in Little Rock Confrontation (September 1957) • A federal court ordered that 9 African American students be admitted to an all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas • Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, sent National Guard troops to the school, to prevent this from happening • Troops were removed after Eisenhower persuaded Faubus to obey court order -> African Americans were threatened by angry mobs without them

11. Crisis in Little Rock Cont’d • Eisenhower then sent 1000 paratroopers and 10,000 members of the Arkansas National Guard to surround the school, allowing the students to enter safely • Troops remained in Little Rock for the rest of the year • Central High School was closed for the 1958-1959 school year

12. Crisis Little Rock

13. Crisis in Little Rock Cont’d As the Eisenhower administration came to an end… • Traditions and years of intimidation kept many African American adults from voting • Only 25% of African American adults voted in the South • Only 5% voted in Mississippi • The Civil Rights Movement was just the beginning…

14. Crisis In Little Rock • Eisenhower’s government refused to pass civil rights legislation (fear of creating controversy) • Civil Rights groups turned to Supreme Court for justice • 1953 Earl Warren appointed Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court- taking more of a liberal analysis of the constitution NAACP brought many civil rights cases before the court • Leading lawyer of NAACP wanted court to take away state laws that required racial segregation

15. Civil Rights Legislation • Needed support by the president- but he felt the federal government should be neutral concerning controversial topics • 1957  passed first civil rights law since restriction created civil rights division within Departments of Justice gave government power to seek court injunctions against those denied any citizen’s constitutional rights.