U SH 1 8 :1 C ivil R igh ts M o vem en t

• Origins of the Movement– Rosa Parks• Refused to give up seat on bus• NAACP used her case to take “Separate but Equal”

(Plessy v Ferguson, 1896) doctrine down• “Jim Crow Laws”

– Laws segregating (separating) whites and African-Americans

Court Challenges

• Norris v Alabama (1935)– Alabama could not exclude African-Americans

from juries • Morgan v Virginia (1946)– Segregation on interstate busses unconstitutional

• Sweatt v Painter (1950)– State law schools had to admit qualified African-

American candidates

Brown v Board of Education

• Thurgood Marshall– NAACP attorney

• Linda Brown– Denied admission to her neighborhood school in

Topeka, Kansas

Brown v Board of Education

• 1954-case goes to Supreme Court• Court ruled segregation in public schools

unconstitutional – Violated “Equal Protection” clause• 14th Amendment of Constitution

– Over-turned “separate but equal”• Plessy v Ferguson (1896)

Southern Resistance

• Supreme Court ordered school districts to desegregate with “deliberate speed”– Wording is vague– Many school districts move slowly

• “Southern Manifesto”– 101 southern Congressmen– Court “abused its power” – Decision must be reversed

Civil Rights Movement Begins

• Montgomery Bus Boycott– African-Americans refuse to ride city busses – Elect Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to lead boycott

• African-American churches – Forums for discussion– Planning headquarters

• Southern Christian Leadership Conference – Formed by Dr. King and church leaders– Challenged segregation wherever it existed

Crisis in Little Rock

• 9 African-American students try to register at a Little Rock, Arkansas, school

• Orval Faubus– Governor of Arkansas– Sent National Guard troops to stop students– Pres. Eisenhower sends troops to support

students

New Civil Rights Legislation

• Civil Rights Act of 1957– Protect rights of African-Americans to vote– Created a civil rights division in Dep’t of Justice – Created United States Commission on Civil Rights – SCLC launches campaign aimed at registering 2

million African-American voters