Civil rights

• In America, the federal government is split into these 3 roles:

  • the federal government makes laws that everyone has to follow.
  • state governments make laws that only those in that state follow.
  • state and federal laws can conflict and state senators don’t always like federal law but they are expected to follow.
• Constitution

  • the most important rules of American government are laid down in the United States constitution.
  • the rules of the US constitution are a check on the powers of congress and the president.
• Supreme Court

  • the Supreme Court is the highest court in America.
  • the Supreme Court has the power to declare a law ‘unconstitutional’ (against the constitution).
• Unconstitutional means against the constitution. (e.g. if a law is unconstitutional, it goes against the most important rules of American government: the constitution).
• The early 1950s

  • across the USA in the 1950s, black americans were treated as second-class citizens.
  • in the south they faced segregation, discrimination and attempts to prevent them from voting.
  • organisations such as the NAACP and CORE campaigned to improve black civil rights.
• Racial segregation in the south in the 1950s aimed to prevent black and white Americans mixing on public transport and in schools, restaurants and other public places.
• Segregation and discrimination in the southern states

  • racist ‘Jim Crow‘ laws were used to segregate black and white Americans.
  • the law stated that it was legal to segregate as long as services were ‘separate but equal’, declared by the Plessy v Ferguson court case.
  • segregated public facilities and services included cinemas, toilets, schools and transport.
  • in reality, services for black Americans were often inferior to those for white people.
• Discrimination and violence in the southern states:

  • the majority of white people viewed black people as racially inferior.
  • racist white officials, including police and judges, were often members of the Ku Klux Klan.
  • the frequent assaults and murders of black people were not properly investigated or prosecuted.
  • black people were not allowed to sit on juries in a court of law.
• Voting rights

  • white gangs physically stopped black Americans from voting, and sometimes attacked them for trying to register to vote.
  • some southern states passed laws making it harder for black people to vote. For example, they used unfair literacy tests to make it harder for black Americans to qualify for the vote.
  • some southern states introduced the ‘grandfather clause’ where voters had to prove their forefathers had voted. For descendants of slaves, this was impossible as they had been barred from voting.
  • sometimes white employers sacked black workers if they registered to vote/voted.
• Civil rights organisations in the early 1950s:

  • NAACP ( national association for the advancement of coloured people )
  • CORE ( congress of racial equality )
• What does NAACP stand for?

  National association for the advancement of coloured people
• What does CORE stand for?

  Congress of racial equality
• The NAACP and CORE made more progress in the northern states, where they had more white support. Both organisations were racially integrated.
• NAACP

  • it was set up in 1909.
  • they fought for civil rights using the legal system and the courts.
  • they defended black people who had been unfairly convicted of crimes.
  • it focused on overturning ‘separate but equal’ ruling.
• CORE

  • it was set up in 1942.
  • they had a smaller membership than NAACP.
  • members used non-violent direct action; they trained local activists in these techniques.
  • they operated mostly in northern states.
  • in early years of the organisation, most members were white and middle class.
• The ‘Jim Crow‘ laws were laws that enforced racial segregation in the south of America between 1877 and the mid 1950s.
• Which laws enforced racial segregation in the south of America between 1877 and the mid 1950s?

  the ‘Jim Crow‘ laws
• What were the Jim Crow laws?

  Laws across the south of America which enforced racial segregation. There were many individual laws under the Jim Crow laws, which made it hard to change every one.
• What was the problem with the Jim Crow laws?

  There were many laws under the Jim Crow laws, which made it hard to change every one.
• In 1896, the Supreme Court used the court case Plessy v Ferguson to declare that racial segregation was constitutional (and legal) as long as facilities were ‘seperate but equal’.
• When did the Supreme Court pass the Plessy v ferguson court case that supported segregation as long as it was ’seperate but equal’?

  1896
• What was Plessy v Ferguson?

  A court case used by the Supreme Court to declare that racial segregation was constitutional as long as facilities were ‘separate but equal’.
• What was the problem with Plessy v Ferguson ruling?

  Rather than facilities being ‘separate but equal’, for black americans conditions were often separate and unequal. For example, black schools were often underfunded compared to white schools and had poor facilities.
• In 1952, the NAACP put five desegregation cases together and took them to the Supreme Court as brown versus the Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas - otherwise known as Brown v Topeka.
• Where is Topeka?

  In Kansas
• Key features of Brown v Topeka

  • Linda Brown was a black American student who became famous after her experiences of segregated school education were used in the legal case brought to the Supreme Court by the NAACP in 1954.
  • the legal case was made against the Topeka Board of Education. It argued that the principle of ‘separate but equal’ in schools was unconstitutional, as it damaged black children.
  • in the case, a key point was that she had to walk past her local white school to reach the nearest black school. Segregated schools made her feel separate and not equal to white kids.
• Short-term significance of Brown v Topeka, 1954:

  • Brown rulings overturned the 1896 Plessy v Ferguson decision, which allowed public facilities, including schools, to be segregated.
  • there was a white backlash and membership of the Ku Klux Klan increased.
  • black students and teachers, and their families, faced threats and hostility in desegregated schools.
  • some good schools for black Americans were shut down.
  • many southern states found ways to avoid complying with the court rulings.
• Long-term significance of Brown v Topeka, 1954:

  • awareness of civil rights issues in the southern states increased.
  • rulings were an inspiration for other desegregation campaigns.
  • white americans moved out of areas where black Americans lived, to avoid forced desegregation.
• Brown v Topeka timeline:

  • 1952: NAACP took school segregation cases to the Supreme Court, claiming segregated schools broke the 14th amendment as they made black children feel inferior.
  • May 1954: the Supreme Court ruled that segregated education was unconstitutional. However, the court set no time limit for the desegregation of schools.
  • July 1954: in the ‘deep south’, white citizens councils were set up to stop desegregation.
  • May 1955: a second court ruling said that desegregation in schools should happen ‘with all deliberate speed’.
  • 1957: 723 school districts had desegregated education.
• Desegregation: the process of replacing racial segregation with racial integration.
• In 1957, at Little Rock High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, nine black students - known as the ‘little rock nine’ - attended the newly desegregated high school. They were treated very badly by white Americans who wanted the segregation of schools to continue in the south.
• The ‘Little Rock nine’

  • following the Brown verdict, a decision was made for school desegregation in Little Rock.
  • about 75 black students applied to join Little Rock high school; the school board accepted 25.
  • however, their families were intimidated with threats if they tried to take their places at the school.
  • at the start of the 1957 school year, just nine students were still planning to register. These students were called the ‘Little Rock nine’ by the campaigners who took up their case.
• Governor Orval Faubus

  • after the 1954 Brown verdict, Orval Faubus, state governor of Arkansas, became a fierce opponent of school integration.
  • in 1958, Faubus closed every school in Little Rock, in an attempt to stop racial integration taking place.
  • this lasted for a year but pressure from parents eventually forced him to reopen schools.
• Where is Little rock?

  in Arkansas
• Events at Little Rock, 1957:

  1. Brown case led to the school board agreeing that Little Rock high school would be desegregated on 3rd September 1957, at the start of the new school term.
  2. the NAACP arranged for the new black students to arrive there together on 4th September.
  3. Faubus sent 250 state troops to surround the school; he said this was to ‘keep the peace’. This blocked the black students entering.
  4. Elizabeth Eckford did not get the message to arrive with the rest. She was targeted by the crowd and racially abused.
• What did the NAACP do to try and help what happened at Little Rock high?

  District judges and lawyers for the NAACP used the courts to challenge Faubus and force him to withdraw the state troops.
• What did president Eisenhower do to help at Little Rock high?

  On 24th September, president eisenhower sent in federal troops, to ensure black students could attend school without being attacked. The black students were finally able to enter the school successfully.
• Presidential intervention at Little Rock high

  • worldwide media coverage of the events at Little Rock high school forced president Eisenhower to get involved, as the USAs image was being damaged abroad.
  • rioting outside Little Rock high after Arkansas state troops were removed led Eisenhower to send in 1000 federal troops.
  • Eisenhower used a presidential order, as he knew congress would disapprove of the decision to intervene in state affairs.
  • while he wanted to avoid using federal powers, he was concerned about white opposition to integration.
• What was President Eisenhowers views on black civil rights?

  Eisenhower wanted to improve black civil rights while avoiding potential violent unrest about racial integration in the Deep South, where opposition was strongest.
• Significance of events at Little Rock

  • hundreds of reporters from local international news stations reported the events. People were shocked by the coverage of how children were being racially abused.
  • there was continued resistance to school integration in 1957. In the south, many schools shut down rather than desegregate.
  • the first black student graduated from Little Rock high in 1958, but fellow white students refused to sit with him.
  • even 10 years later black students attending newly integrated southern schools were subjected to violence, intimidation and exclusion by teachers and peers.