Early Civil Rights Movement

1. Early Civil Rights Movement • 1954 – Topeka Kansas, Brown vs. Board of Education. • People and groups involved: • NAACP • Thurgood Marshall – prosecutor that argued to desegregate schools. Later became first Black Supreme Court Judge. • Linda Brown and the Brown Family What happened: Linda Brown lived only a few blocks from a white school, but had to travel more than 2 miles and cross railroad tracks to get to the black school which had few resources and teachers. The family took the case to the Supreme Court and Thurgood Marshall, a lawyer for the NAACP argued that segregation in public schools was psychologically damaging to African American students. He won the case and in 1954, all public schools had to be desegregated. Not all schools obeyed so easily and the battle is just starting to heat up.

2. Early Civil Rights Movement • 1955 – Money Mississippi, Emmett Till Murder • People/Groups involved: • Emmett Till • Roy and Carolyn Bryant • J.W. Milam • Moses Wright • NAACP What Happened: Emmett Till (from Chicago) was sent to visit family in Money, Mississippi. He was warned that things were different in the South, and to be careful. One day, he and his cousins were visiting a general store to buy candy when his cousins and their friends dared him to talk to Mrs. Bryant ( a white woman). Being from Chicago, Emmett accepted the dare and many believe he said “Bye Baby” and or whistled at her as he left the store. This made her mad. Four days later, Roy and J.W. Milam Roy’s half brother showed up at Moses Wright’s place with a gun at 2:30am and took Till. His body was discovered 3 days later. Till had been beaten, shot, mutilated, and tied naked to a cotton gin fan and left in the Tallahatchie River. His body was discovered 3 days later and was unrecognizable except for a ring his mother gave him before he left Chicago. Emmett Till’s murder could be considered the spark of the larger Civil Rights movement. It kind of shocked the nation into action. Emmett was only 14 yrs. Old.

3. Early Civil Rights Movement • 1955 - 6 months after Till’s Murder, Montgomery Alabama, The Montgomery Bus Boycott. • People/Groups Involved: • Rosa Parks • MLK Jr. • Montgomery Improvement Association or MIA • NAACP What Happened: This event was organized and planned by Rosa, MLK Jr. and the NAACP and MIA. After getting on a bus after work, Parks refused to move to the back of the bus for a white man. After arguing with the driver, she was arrested. (Part of the Plan) She was not in jail very long. After her peaceful protest and non-violent message, other Blacks in Montgomery joined together to boycott the public buses until they were desegregated. They would carpool, and many just walked, but everyone worked together. The boycott lasted a little over a year, and when the bus company was going to go bankrupt, they desegregated the buses. Many African-Americans were scared of this tactic and had to be convinced it was the right thing to do. They met in churches for support almost daily, and heard the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and were reassured of their goals.

4. Early Civil Rights Movement • 1957 – Arkansas, Little Rock Nine • People/Groups involved:9 African-American students • Governor of Arkansas – Orval Faubus • President Eisenhower • National Guard • Federal Troops What Happened: Three years after the Brown vs. Board decision, The Little Rock school board announced it would integrate its schools. The Governor was not a fan of this. He ordered National Guard troops to Central High School in Little Rock to block the 9 students from entering. The nine students were: Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Thelma Mothershed, and Melba PattilloBeals. They’re biographies and stories can found here: http://www.littlerock9.com After a day of this, Eisenhower sent in Federal troops to remove the National Guard, and protect the students as much as possible while on their way, in, and on their way home; from school. This continued until the end of the school year. Faubus then closed the entire district the next year. They reopened in 1959 and began fully integrating.

5. Early Civil Rights Movement Just before the Little Rock Nine integrated Central High School, Eisenhower passed the: Civil Rights Act of 1957 – made it a federal crime to prevent qualified persons from voting. It also created a civil rights commission to investigate any violations. The Hispanic Experience – Felix Longoria – Hispanic WW2 soldier killed in battle. His family was not allowed to use the town chapel for burial services because they were Hispanic. The media reported it, and it caused an outrage. Senator LBJ arranged for his body to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. LULAC – League of United Latin American Citizens – like the Hispanic version of the NAACP. Focused on getting civil rights through the courts. Started by trying to end segregation in schools. 1945 – Mendez vs. Westminster School district – segregation in public schools in California was illegal. 1948 – Delgado vs. Bastrop Independent School District – segregation in public schools in Texas was made illegal.

6. Early Civil Rights Movement The Asian American Experience: 1952 – the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed. Chinese immigrants were allowed back into the country for the first time. Still faced racism in neighborhoods – weren’t allowed into some White neighborhoods. Slowly eased by the end of the 60’s. The American Indian Experience – 1953 – Termination Policy – ended reservations on a Tribe by Tribe basis and cut Federal funding. American Indians felt this was trying to destroy their communities, and launched protests and lawsuits. 1956 – Relocation Act – set up procedures to “encourage” American Indians to move to urban cities. Gerald One Feather (Lakota Sioux activist) fought the law, and in 1958, Eisenhower got rid of termination and the relocation act.