Transcript 29.3 early civil rights movement lecture

HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
Section 3: Voices of Dissent
Objectives:
 How did the Brown decision affect school segregation
and expose conflict over segregation?
 How was the Montgomery bus boycott a major
turning point in the civil rights movement?
 What challenges did Hispanics, Asian Americans, and
American Indians face in the 1950s?
 How did writers and scholars criticize 1950s society?
 What problems did poor Americans face in the 1950s?
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
Section 3: Voices of Dissent
Brown v. The Topeka Board of Education: Supreme Court
Decision (1954)
 Constitutional Issue: Does the idea of separating races violate
the 14th Amendment?
 Jim Crow Laws in the south separate races in public facilities.
Institutionalized segregation.
 Fourteenth Amendment: pledges equal protection under the law… The
law must protect all equally (Only one classification of citizenship)
 Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) decided that separation did not necessarily
mean unequal
 A number of people appealed the power that states
had to segregate students based on race
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
The Fourteenth Amendment
 Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the
United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
are citizens of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce
any law which shall abridge the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall
any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law; nor deny to any
person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of
the laws.
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
Brown v. the Board:The argument of the
appellee (The Board of Education)
 States have control over education (Education is a
state rather than federal issue)
 The Supreme Court in Plessy held that separating
people based on race did not violate 14th
Amendment rights to equal protection, it merely
separates
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
Brown v the Board of Education:
Argument of the appellant (Linda
Brown)
 Segregation created a situation where AfricanAmerican citizens are denied equal protection.
 Black schools were consistently inferior (hence
unequal) to white schools
 The appellants presented evidence that segregation
violated the 14th Amendment because it was
inherently unequal
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
Headline from Brown Decision
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
The Decision: States no longer had the
right to maintains segregated schools
We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of
"separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are
inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others
similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by
reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal
protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
Southern Resistance
 In 1955, the court ruled that desegregation should
be ordered at all deliberate speed
 U.S. senators and congressmen signed the
Southern Manifesto in protest to the Brown
decision
 Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia called for a
program of “massive resistance”- use of state laws
to block the implementation of integration
 Communities would close schools rather than
integrate
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
Key quotes form the Southern Manifesto
 "The unwarranted decision of the Supreme Court in the public school
cases is now bearing the fruit always produced when men substitute
naked power for established law."
 "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 system of education maintained by the
States."
 "This unwarranted exercise of power by the Court, contrary to the
Constitution, is creating chaos and confusion in the States principally
affected. 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."
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
Section 3: Voices of Dissent
The Montgomery bus boycott (1955)
 struck a blow against segregation
 Economic challenge to Montgomery’s segregated bus
system
 established Martin Luther King, Jr. as a major civil
rights leader
 helped people believe they could stand up to power
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
Implementing Brown: The Little Rock Nine
 The Brown decision inspired local and state
resistance movements – “desegregation would
mark the end of civilization in the south as we
know it”- South Carolina Governor James Byrnes
 Little Rock implements desegregation plan in
September 1957
 Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus calls Arkansas
National Guard to block admission of nine AfricanAmericans
 President Eisenhower federalized National Guard and
brought in the 101st airborne to protest students
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Voices of Dissent
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The New Frontier and the Great Society
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
SECTION 3
The
American
Nation
Voices of Dissent
Question:
What challenges did minority
Hispanics, Asian Americans,
and American Indians face in
the 1950s?
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HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
HOLT
SECTION 3
The
American
Nation
Voices of Dissent
MINORITY GROUPS IN THE 1950S
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Group
Challenges
Hispanics
discrimination and segregation, particularly in
public schools; continued nativism
Asian
Americans
discrimination ; belief that they did not fit
the American “ideal”
American
Indians
relocation and termination policies;
government pressure to assimilate
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
Section 3: Voices of Dissent
Criticism expressed by writers and scholars
 Conformity
 Mass media sells a uniform-image of the American
dream
 Racism
 Challenges to centuries of racism
 Poverty
 American affluence not enjoyed by many
 Lack of creativity in American mainstream
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
Section 3: Voices of Dissent
Problems of poor Americans
 Suburbs concentrated wealth
 Rural poverty
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falling farm prices
high cost of farm equipment
few farm jobs
By-passed by Interstate Highway system
 Urban Poverty
 Suburban flight… People are able to enjoy comforts of suburban
life and drive to cities for work
 Minimal investments in inner cities- urban blight
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Voices of Dissent
HOLT
The New Frontier and the Great Society
How did conditions in the following regions of
the nation challenge the label “affluence”
Inner cities
Remote rural locations
Indian reservations
African-American communities
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Voices of Dissent
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The New Frontier and the Great Society
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Voices of Dissent