African American History 2

The Integration of Schools

🗓 Post-WWII into 1950s–60s
📚 Legal and grassroots efforts to end racial segregation in public education, culminating in the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruling.
⚖ Challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine upheld in Plessy v. Ferguson.

Pres. Harry S Truman

🗓 President 1945–1953
📌 Took early federal action on civil rights after WWII.
📜 Issued EO 9980 (banning discrimination in federal jobs) and EO 9981 (integrating the military).
💥 First modern president to speak out strongly on civil rights.

President’s Committee on Civil Rights (Executive Order No. 9808)

🗓 December 5, 1946
📌 Created by Truman to examine civil rights violations and recommend reforms.
📝 Report (1947) urged stronger protections for African Americans.

Executive Order No. 9980 and No. 9981

🗓 July 26, 1948
📜 EO 9980: Banned racial discrimination in federal employment.
📜 EO 9981: Ordered desegregation of the U.S. armed forces.
⚔ Marked the beginning of integration in national institutions.

Amendment XIII

🗓 Ratified December 6, 1865
📜 Abolished slavery in the U.S.
🔗 Basis for later civil rights laws and constitutional arguments.

Amendment XIV – “due process” & “equal protection” clauses

🗓 Ratified July 9, 1868
📜 Guaranteed due process of law and equal protection to all citizens.
⚖ Used in civil rights cases to challenge segregation.

Amendment XV

🗓 Ratified February 3, 1870
📜 Prohibited denying voting rights based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
⚠ Undermined by Jim Crow laws like literacy tests and poll taxes.

Justice John Marshall Harlan (Plessy Dissent)

🗓 1896
📌 Dissented in Plessy v. Ferguson, arguing the Constitution is “color-blind” and condemning legalized segregation.
🧠 His views would influence future rulings like Brown.

Charles Hamilton Houston

🗓 NAACP Legal Counsel, 1930s–1940s
📚 Trained Thurgood Marshall at Howard Law
🧠 Designed the legal strategy to dismantle segregation, targeting unequal facilities.

Thurgood Marshall

🗓 1950s–1960s
📌 NAACP chief lawyer; argued Brown v. Board
🧑🏾‍⚖️ Became the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1967)

Nathan Ross Margold

🗓 1930s
📌 NAACP lawyer who wrote the Margold Report, a blueprint for attacking segregation through unequal resource allocation in schools.

Margold Report (1933)

📝 Legal strategy calling for using the “equal protection clause” of the 14th Amendment to challenge segregated schools.
🎯 Goal: Show that Black schools were not equal, thus unconstitutional.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP, 1909)

📍 Founded in 1909
📌 Fought for African Americans' civil rights through court cases and advocacy.
🎯 Legal arm responsible for Brown v. Board and other key victories.

Oliver Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

🗓 Decided May 17, 1954
📌 Landmark Supreme Court case that struck down school segregation.
⚖ Declared “separate but equal” unconstitutional in education.

Linda Carol Brown

🗓 Early 1950s
👧🏽 Young Black girl in Topeka, Kansas, denied entry to a white school near her home.
📝 Her father’s lawsuit became the lead case in Brown v. Board.

Chief Justice Earl Warren

🗓 Appointed 1953
⚖ Delivered unanimous Brown decision: “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
🎯 His leadership overturned decades of legal segregation.

The “Doll Test”

🧪 Developed in 1940s by Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clark
👧🏽🧸 Showed Black children preferred white dolls due to internalized racism
⚖ Used as psychological evidence in Brown to demonstrate harm of segregation.

Doctor Kenneth Clark

🧠 Psychologist and civil rights activist
🧪 Co-creator of the Doll Test, used as evidence in Brown

“Southern Manifesto” (1956)

📜 Document signed by 96 Southern members of Congress
📌 Condemned the Brown decision and called for resistance to school desegregation.
🚫 Part of organized, legal defiance of federal rulings.

The Little Rock Nine

🗓 1957
👥 Nine Black students selected to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
⚔ Faced violent resistance from mobs and state government.

Governor Orval Faubus

🗓 1957
🪖 Ordered Arkansas National Guard to block Little Rock Nine from entering school.

Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower

🗓 1957
⚔ Sent 101st Airborne Division to escort Little Rock Nine into school.

Daisy Bates

📣 President of Arkansas NAACP
👩🏽‍🏫 Mentored and guided the Little Rock Nine

Elizabeth Eckford

👧🏽 Member of the Little Rock Nine
📸 Became iconic for walking alone into a hostile crowd after missing the group escort.

Melba Pattillo

📓 Kept a diary during the Little Rock crisis.
🖋 Quote from her diary shows emotional toll and strength of commitment.

Ernest Green

🗓 1958
🎓 First Black student to graduate from Little Rock Central High.

The Lost Year (1958–1959)

📌 Arkansas Governor closed Little Rock public schools to avoid integration.

James Meredith

🗓 1962
🎓 First Black student admitted to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss)
💥 Sparked riots; needed federal marshals for protection.

Governor George Wallace

🗓 1963
🗣 “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!”
📌 Blocked entry of Black students to University of Alabama; defied federal orders.

Vivian Malone

🗓 1963
🎓 One of two Black students to integrate University of Alabama under federal protection.

James Hood

Integrated University of Alabama with Vivian Malone

Ruby Bridges

🗓 1960
👧🏽 First Black child to integrate a New Orleans elementary school.
🪖 Escorted by U.S. Marshals due to violent opposition.

Pres. John F. Kennedy

🗓 1961–1963
📌 Advocated for civil rights; responded to Southern defiance with federal action.
🗣 Gave Civil Rights Address calling it a moral issue.

Civil Rights Address (June 11, 1963)

📣 JFK’s televised speech on civil rights:
🗨 “The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights.”
🎯 Called on Congress to pass legislation protecting access to public facilities, education, and voting.