The Southern Manifesto (1956)

1. The Southern Manifesto(1956) Sam J. Ervin and others

2. Historical Context • Sam J. Ervin • Senator of North Carolina • Headed two famous committees taking down • Senator Joe McCarthy • President Richard M. Nixon • Condemned Brown Vs. Board of Education • Later changed his mind but continued to oppose forced desegregation.

3. Historical Context Cont. • Southern Manifest • Written in 1956 by legislators in the US Congress opposed to racial integration in public places. • Signed by 96 politicians • Written to counter the ruling of Brown V. Board of Education

4. Intended Audience • Their intended audience was their fellow colleagues in Congress and the rest of America

5. Main Point • The Supreme Court’s decision in the Brown v. Board of Education is a clear abuse of judicial power. • “We regard the decision of the Supreme Court in the school cases as a clear abuse of judicial power. It climaxes a trend in the Federal judiciary undertaking to legislate, in derogation of the authority of Congress, and to encroach upon the reserved rights of the States and the people.”

6. Main Point • The 14th Amendment can not be used as an argument for segregation in education. • “The original Constitution does not mention education. Neither does the 14th amendment nor any other amendment. The debates preceding the submission of the 14th amendment clearly show that there was no intent that it should affect the systems of education maintained by the States.”

7. Main Point • The concept of “separate but equal” actually started in the North, not the South. • “Brown v. Board of Education…originated in Roberts v. City of Boston (1849) in Massachusetts. • “Not only there but also in, Connecticut, New York, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other northern States.”

8. Main Point • Time after time, the Supreme Court ruled it was legal to have institutions and facilities “separate but equal.” • Plessy v. Ferguson • Lum v. Rice

9. Main Point • This decision actually hurt relations between the races. • “It is destroying the amicable relations between the white and Negro races that have been created through 90 years of patient effort by the good people of both races. It has planted hatred and suspicion where there has been heretofore friendship and understanding.”

10. Main Point • Outside agitators threaten the public school system. • “Without regard to the consent of the governed, outside agitators are threatening immediate and revolutionary changes in our public-school systems. If done, this is certain to destroy the system of public education in some of the States.”

11. Background • Southern whites were outraged, and they dubbed May 17 as "Black Monday." Ninety Southern Congressmen issued the "Southern Manifesto" condemning the Court decision as a usurpation of state powers. They said that the Court, instead of interpreting the law, was trying to legislate. Southern states resurrected the old doctrine of interposition which they had used against the Federal Government preceding the Civil War. Several state legislatures passed resolutions stating that the Federal Government did not have the power to prohibit segregation. Other Southerners resorted to a whole battery of tactics. The Ku Klux Klan was revived along with a host of new groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of White People. The White Citizens' councils spearheaded the resistance movement. Various forms of violence and intimidation became common. Bombings, beatings, and murders increased sharply all across the South. Outspoken proponents of desegregation were harassed in other ways as well. They lost their jobs, their banks called in their mortgages, and creditors of all kinds came to collect their debts. Source: The Black Experience in America Ch.11

12. Question • If the Supreme Court did not force integration, would the States have done it on their on and if so when?