The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
Sweatt v. Painter
Explanation:
Isaac Woodard was a war veteran who was going to visit his
family in North Carolina. He used greyhound bus
transportation to get there; on his way there Woodard had a
dispute with the white driver of the bus over using the
restroom. Alarmed and scared the bus driver on the following
stop called in the police. The police took Woodard out of the
bus by force and beat him. Woodard was jailed, but when he
arrived at jail he was hit in the eyes with the end of a Billy
club. When he woke he had lost his vision. He was taken to a
nearby court and was found guilty, fined 50 dollars.
In 1950 the Supreme Court
ruled in a case of Sweatt v.
Painter that professional
schools for blacks failed at
being equal.
This event not only demonstrates the fact that courts are not siding with African Americans, but to be a war
veteran and be treated like an animal demonstrates the severe segregation and hate towards African
Americans. The racial barrier, caused many white folks to be violent, and thus white men never thought that
an African American could talk back, or fend for his life. This scared white folks, that is why when the bus
driver has a dispute with Woodard and understands that he will not back down he immediately called for
help. At this point in time if African Americans were to go against whites there would be a huge social
revolution consisted of white Americans and African Americans; for this reason white folks would constantly
prove their superiority; they would not accept another skin color to be as equal as that of whites. These
types of event were the sludge hammers that struck down barriers where African Americans faced the reality
of the place they called home, and would result in African Americans searching for their civil rights and their
equality. Such brutality would not be tolerated by African Americans and in the end they will be organizing to
find their equality.
The fact that courts were now starting to side with the civil
rights cause shows how politically and socially divided the
people are. This in turn was causing African American
people to want to raise their voices for their rights even
more. Southern politics do not agree with the decisions
courts are making and meanwhile violence and riots are
breaking out in result from these court decisions.
Little Rock Central High School
In 1957 the governor of
Arkansas, Orval Faubus did
not let nine black students
from getting in to Little
Rock Central High School
because of their skin color.
Eisenhower had to send
troops in order for the
children to safely go to
their classrooms.
After the courts ruled segregation unconstitutional, some states
refused to follow the law. They did not accept other races, to think
that a president has to send troops for children to go to school makes
people question what kind of world we live in. In order to enforce the
law a president has to use troops because the racial discrimination is
out of hand and is so deep that African Americans fear for their lives
even in school.
1948
1946
Truman ends Segregation
Explanation:
In the beginning of 1948 Truman
used administrative power to
end segregation in Armed forces
and in civil service.
Truman is the person who starts using his political power to
embrace the rights for African Americans. This not only gave
hope to African Americans, but it also was a direct
encouragement of ruling “equality” statements in courts. This
directly influenced other political decisions to be made based on
the idea of equality rather than racial superiority. Truman
believed in giving equal opportunity to African Americans which
also influenced court decisions.
1950
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
Explanation:
The Warren’s court decision in 1954
consisted of calling the segregation done in
public schools as unconstitutional because
it was not an equal attribute.
This event is a pivotal event in U.S. history because it encouraged many other civil right movements to burst such as
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee. Not only did it
encourage other civil right movements, but it was the first time the government and courts were siding with civil
rights for African Americans. This also led to the cries of the white generations that had constantly practiced
segregation all their lives; these cries eventually would lead to acts of violence such as the burning of the bus that
carried Freedom Riders and the hosing down of Civil Rights marchers in the 1963 campaign of Martin Luther King in
Alabama.
The 1960 sit-ins demanded for
service at “whites-only”
restaurants, transportation
systems, employment centers,
housing, and voter
registrations.
The influence that the courts had given these young
college students to organize themselves and do these sitins were proof that segregation was something that all
African Americans were willing to obliterate. These events
were encouraged from court decisions because they gave
African Americans hope that segregation could be
something from the past and the new youth could change
this new era.
The Student Nonviolence Coordinating
Comitee was a group
established to give more
attention to civil right
causes.
Obviously students were benefitting from not only the
segregation being banned or ruled unconstitutional,
but they were also in search for a better treatment
socially. If the committee is non-violent and is filled
with students or youth sooner or later this committee
will become violent because these people are young
and willing to sacrifice anything for the equality they
deserve especially because they have assistance from
courts and the government.
Francisco Merida
Class 102
Professor Anderson