A Short History of Civil Rights

1. A Short History of Civil Rights (The first 400 Years)

2. The Beginning • Begins with the West African Slave Trade. • Slavery is intentionally left out of the Constitution. Why? • Slavery will be an issue that continually divides Americans until the Civil War.

3. Reconstruction • After the Civil War, the Federal Government “fixes” the south, to the tune of military rule, new elections etc. • 13th Amendment ends slavery. • 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship rights. • 15th gives all men the right to vote.

4. Post Reconstruction America • After “mission accomplished” in the South, the army leaves. • “Jim Crow” is the new social order, and black people become 2nd class citizens yet again. But hey, at least slavery’s over. (please note the sarcasm)

5. Plessy vs. Ferguson • 1896- The supreme court hears arguments about the fairness of segregation. • While the case is only about railroad cars, the significance is much bigger. • The court says that segregation is just hunky-dory, as long as the separate facilities are equal.

6. The 20th Century • Many black Americans fight for civil rights and an end to segregation. • While the constitution says blacks can vote, that isn’t the reality. Poll taxes and literacy test, intimidation, etc. keep the voting booths white-only. • While many sought change, their efforts were divided.

7. W.E.B. DuBois and the NAACP • Fought segregation in the courts, with little or no success. • Argued that legal equality had to come first for there to be any hope of financial equality.

8. Booker T. Washington • Formed the Tuskegee institute to help black Americans with job training. • Argued that blacks needed to focus on economic progress now, and that political equality would follow.

9. Marcus Garvey and the UNIA • Argued for “black nationalism,” saying that African-Americans would never integrate into white society, so the answer is to control our own communities.

10. World War I • WWI helped black Americans in 2 ways: • The “Great Migration” to the north provided new and better jobs, and led to thriving black communities where we were allowed to flourish without oppression. • Black veterans returned from Europe with both pride in their national service and experience in a society that included them.

11. The Roaring 20s • Black music, art, dance, and literature become influential throughout the nation and world (Harlem Rennaissance) resulting in new pride in the black community. • The conservative backlash to the modern social changes of the 20s sees a huge resurgence in the KKK.

12. The Great Depression • Since black employees were often among the first to lose their jobs, the economic gains of the great migration disappeared. Also, widespread unemployment added to existed racial tension. • Due to the New Deal, and Eleanor Roosevelt in particular, blacks transfer their loyalty to the Democratic Party for the 1st time since the 15th amendment.

13. WWII • Blacks get war jobs too! • The “Double V campaign” points out the hypocrisy of fighting fascists, but accepting racial laws at home. • A. Philip Randolph • Organizes a March on Washington to protest segregation in defense jobs. • The President signs EO 8802 in ’41 desegregating defense plants. • Was this a good idea?

14. Postwar America • By 1948, Pres. Truman has banned discrimination in the hiring of Federal Employees. • By the Korean War in 1950, he had desegregated the military.

15. Jackie Robinson • 1n 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers hire the first black baseball player in the 20th century. • Why Jackie Robinson? • What does this change in America?

16. Brown v. Board of Education(1954) 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… Chief Justice Earl Warren

17. The Impact of the Brown Case • The most immediate effect of the Brown decision was to strike down the laws requiring segregated schools in 17 states. (Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware) • It also struck down the laws permitting segregated schools in 4 other states. (Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming)

18. The Impact of the Brown Case • The most significant impact of Brown was that it delegitimated de jure racial segregation throughout the United States. • De Jure Segregation: segregation based on law. • De Facto Segregation: segregation actually existing without lawful authority. (in fact; in reality) • The case was also a catalyst for the civil rights movement that resulted in legislation expanding equality for African Americans, women, and others.

19. Brown v. Board of Education II1955 Question Presented: • What means should be used to implement the principles announced in Brown I?

20. Brown v. Board of Education II1955 Facts of the Case: • After its decision in Brown I which declared racial discrimination in public education unconstitutional, the Court convened to issue the directives which would help to implement its newly announced Constitutional principle. • Given the embedded nature of racial discrimination in public schools and the diverse circumstances under which it had been practiced, the Court requested further argument on the issue of relief.

21. Brown v. Board of Education II1955 Conclusion: • The Court held that the problems identified in Brown I required varied local solutions. • Chief Justice Warren conferred much responsibility on local school authorities and the courts which originally heard school segregation cases. • They were to implement the principles which the Supreme Court embraced in its first Brown decision. • Warren urged localities to act on the new principles promptly and to move toward full compliance with them "with all deliberate speed.“ Source: http://oyez.nwu.edu

22. Problems with Brown II“Justice delayed is justice denied” • The Supreme Court “put in charge the fox who had been caught stealing the chickens.” • It was local school boards, the very people who had implemented discriminatory practices at the outset, that were asked to develop plans for desegregation.

23. Problems with Brown II“Justice delayed is justice denied” • The United States District Courts would have the role of supervising the desegregation process. • The judges that sat on Southern District Courts were Southerners and as a result at least initially they tended to be sympathetic with those who had favored segregation.

24. Southern Resistance to Desegregation • The NAACP was not allowed to meet in many Southern states after the Brown case. • The “Southern Manifesto” signed by over 90 members of Congress. This document vigorously denunciated the desegregation decision and encouraged the use of “every lawful means” to resist its implementation. • Leaders in the South built new schools, highways and demolished neighborhoods to artificially divide cities just to preserve separate race schools.

25. Southern Resistance to Desegregation • The first 10 years after the Brown decision, most of the states did everything they could to obstruct and frustrate any attempt to desegregate. • 98% of black children in 11 Southern states still attended all black schools during the 1963-64 school year.