was Brown v Board 1954 a turning point?

main argument

changed the direction of the consitution

what it implied for southern democrats

segregation = unconstitutional

successes of Brown v Board

• it had limited media impact but it did become a turning point

• demonstrated other independent judiciary (supreme court) showed they could be positive with civil rights

  • unlike Congress and the President's was showing at this time

• this ended the vice-like grip of the Plessy v Ferguson precedent of 1896 which had dominated relations ever since

• the Supreme Court ruling led to more liberal verdicts in the future

• the verdict gave many southern black people a belief in the American political system and Constitution

• belief that black people now had tapped out in the system was tapped into by MLK and other leaders 

• it was a vindication of the legal strategy of the NAACP

• the NAACP efforts to bring cases to the Supreme Court laid the foundations for the later mid 50s successes of the civil Rights movement

• the Brown decision signalled the start of a new era

failures of Brown v Board

• in the Deep South further strategies were now developed to resist the expected pressure to change their approach to race

• they developed white Citizens councils Earliest was 1955 aiming to maintain a strict segregation

• the White Citizens Council developed waged economic warfare against anyone supporting integration and defied federal court rulings

  • they were like the KKK without the costumes and lynching

• Mississippi and Louisiana amended their constitutions to aid the retention of segregation: the South was on the defensive

• President Eisenhower showed little sign of upholding the decision made by the Supreme Court in the Southern states Eisenhower was not racist

  • he had in fact in the District of Columbia outlawed any forms of racial discrimination

  • he was reluctant to uphold the judgement as he did not stir up resentment and disorder

• Eisenhower made little judgement on the Brown verdict except to say that he doubted the ability of legislation to change minds and hearts

• Eisenhower had a passive approach and this was illustrated in 1956 when Governor Daniel in Texas brought out his local troops to prevent integration through force 

reaction to Brown

• WCC set up in 1954 in south

• more middle class membership than the KKK but similar aims

• wanted to intimidate AA into not claiming their rights

• members used violence and economic power e.g. pressuring insurance companies to cancel AA policies

• active into the 1960s