Why did Civil Rights Move to the
Front burner in the 1950’s?
And why did it calm down?
Key developments
• 1954 Brown v. Board of Education …
– Landmark Sup. Ct. case holding that a state
that had “separate but equal” school facilities
for children based on race violated the 14th
amendment.
– Court relies on the equal protection clause.
– Overturns the 1896 court decision of
__________________.
Today, education is perhaps the most important function
of state and local governments. It is the very foundation
of good citizenship. Today it is a principal instrument in
awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing to
his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any
child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if
he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an
opportunity, where the state him for later professional
training, and in helping him to adjust normally has
undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made
available to all on equal terms.
Segregation of white and colored children in public
schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored
children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction
of the law, for the policy of separating the races is
usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the
negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation
of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law,
therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational
and mental development of negro children and to
deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive
in a racial[ly] integrated school system.
We conclude that, in the field of
public education, the doctrine of
"separate but equal" has no
place. Separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal.
The Legend of Rosa Parks
• 1955 – Refuses to give up seat to a white
bus rider during
• Starts famous Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Why her?
• Why then?
• Coincidence?
Myth v. Reality
• Rosa Parks was a quiet
nobody who
spontaneously sparked a
civil rights movement by
randomly refusing to give
up her seat on a white
only bus.
• Rosa Parks was an
NAACP secretary well
versed in challenges to
segregation. She had
previously challenged
bus segregation
practices. In1943, she
refused to enter through
the back door of a bus,
and became known to
drivers, who would
sometimes refuse to let
her on.
Myth v. Reality
• Rosa Parks purposely
sat in the white only
section of the bus and
refused to move.
• Rosa Parks was
sitting in the first row
of the black section.
When the white only
section was full,
blacks were expected
to relinquish their
seats. Rosa Parks
refused to get up
when another white
boarded the bus.
Myth v. Reality
• Rosa Parks was the
first person to
challenge segregation
laws.
• Rosa Parks was
married, soft spoken
and uncontroversial.
She was selected as
a “good plaintiff” by
NAACP lawyers. A
previous candidate
who was thrown off
the bus was pregnant,
so Rosa’s case was
taken.
Implementing Brown v. Board
…
Easier said than done …
Elizabeth Eckford was one of the
nine black students whose
admission to Little Rock's Central
High School was ordered by a
Federal Court following legal
action by NAACP legal defense
fund attorneys
Give one word to describe her …
What “lock down” really looks like…
What’s wrong w/ this picture?
Nearly Empty Desegregated
School
September 5, 1962, Lincoln
School, Englewood, New Jersey
African American students sit in a
nearly empty classroom in newly
desegregated Lincoln School
during a boycott by students
protesting desegregation.
Why is she so angry?
A young child walks with his
angry mother as she removes
him from Graymont School in
Birmingham, which has just
become desegregated.