Supreme Court Action in the 1950s and 1960s

Appointment of Chief Justice Earl Warren

• more activist supreme court

• positive activism → turning over previous precedents which were against civil rights

• political impact of a sympathetic supreme court is long term and significant

  • Most rulings fall under a liberal stance

  • can overturn all the precedents which blocked activism until 1954

  • ensuring rulings stay in line with a more progressive political ideology

  • giving activists more encouragement to attempt landmark cases

Brown vs. Topeka

• 1954

• Test case to overturn Plessy vs Ferguson 1896

• if the separate but equal doctrine could be overturned, then so could all other segregation laws as they were all created under that mantra

• once the ruling was made, then they could tackle longer term issues such as unequal housing and schooling funding

• unanimous ruling → the separate but equal doctrine had no place

  • accepted the psychological evidence that being educated separately encouraged feelings of inferiority amongst schoolchildren

  • usually accepted as tenuous evidence → reflecting how important it was that the supreme court was sympathetic

• Lending credence, momentum and legitimacy to the civil rights movement

• Thurgood Marshall - respected and capable lawyer for the NAACP since 1935

  • Played on the cold war influence to sway judges

• Overturning the legal base for the Jim Crow era was hoped to overturn the era itself

Impact of Brown vs. Topeka

• Test case combined with 5 other cases to give it the momentum it require to get to the supreme court

• 1955: Brown II ruling that desegregation should happen with ‘all possible speed’

• 1957 - 723 school districts had integrated

Limitations to Brown vs. Topeka

• 1957: only 12% of the South’s 6300 districts had desegregated

• 7 southern states had not admitted any black pupils into all white schools

• 1956 - membership of the White Citizen’s Council increased rapidly

  • 250,000 members

  • membership of the KKK increased - reactionary

  • terrorised and mobbed black children looking to integrate schools

• 1956 - the Southern Manifesto was drafted, accusing the Supreme Court of abusing its power and claiming it would use all lawful means to avoid integration

• 1959 - Virginia closed all its state schools instead of integrating

  • only offered fee-paying private education

  • isolating black children who were victims of the poverty gap

  • ensuring private education remained all white too

• Schools across the south started closing following this example

Teachings from Brown vs. Topeka

• Supreme Court decisions were not significant and could not bring about major change without action from Congress ensuring states followed the ruling

  • Continuity issue - lack of enforcement

• Represented in the Little Rock 9 1957, which convinced activists that only direct action would ensure loopholes were closed

• took until 1960 to integrate Arkansas High

• Second legislation was needed as the first ruling wasn’t respected → power of the south

• no date for issue to be changed by

• didn’t tackle de facto segregation - supreme court rulings still needed grassroots activism

Montgomery Bus Boycott

• 1955-56

• Sparked the mass non-violent movement

• Economic tactics used in a year long boycott

• Black passengers made up 75% of the Montgomery buses’ revenues

• severe financial loss lead to the desegregation of the bus system in Montgomery

• Rosa Parks used

  • Middle aged, respectable, middle class

  • ensuring white revulsion at her treatment - playing by their own values

  • encouraged support and ensured the moral high ground

• Local churches played a close role organising meeting houses and free taxi services

Impact of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

• MIA set up, introducing Martin Luther King into the non-violent movement

• adding Christian values of love and forgiveness to the movement, helping King rise to prominence

• evoked violent white reaction

  • King’s house firebombed

  • Rosa Parks arrested several times

  • introduction of the television - nationwide coverage

  • embarrassing for government and also raising awareness

• King: excellent leader, talented orator, attracted lots of support to the movement

  • not on police records - would be less conspicuous

Bowder vs. Gayle

• 1956

• Second significant NAACP case

  • Supreme Court ruled that transport segregation was unconstitutional

• cited Brown vs. Topeka

Positive outcomes of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

• cohesive community action

• power potential of the non-violent movement recognised

• SCLC founded in 1957 as a result

  • Providing an alternative to the NAACP’s litigation tactics

  • fighting on a new front

  • most push = more momentum

• Directly challenged Jim Crow laws in the South → had not been dared attempted before

• the business lost $1 million

• inspired 20 other boycotts across America

Limitations to the Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Majority of Jim Crowe structures still in place

• the presidential election of 1956 ignored the issue of civil rights

• only that particular bus company affected - not widespread

Positives of President Eisenhower

• 1959 - ruling that closing state schools to avoid integration was unconstitutional

• first time a president had sent troops to the south for civil rights since the reconstruction

• favoured balance and acted when violence occurred - became a tactic of the non-violent movement to encourage violence

• Federal Judgement overruling state protest

• used his position as commander in chief of the armed forces

  • sent 1100 troops to the Little Rock 9

  • Federalised the National Guard so he could enter states

Failures of President Eisenhower

• little personal interest - didn’t want to cause resentment

• hesitancy taken advantage of in the south

• didn’t send troops after Faubus threatened that ‘Blood would run on the streets’ during the Little Rock 9

• only intervened when facing bad publicity and the threat of looking weak

• cared more about international viewership and being personally affronted

• acted when not being proactive would be more politically damaging

SNCC

• 1960

• Student non-violent coordinating committee

• Stokely Carmichael headed it in 1966

  • took it in a more militant direction

Greensboro Sit In

• 1960

• Aim

  • overturn segregation/achieve service in the Woolworths food counter

• Method

  • 4 students enter the counter

  • refuse to leave until they are served

• Groups involved

  • SNCC

  • Method drew the attention of NAACP and CORE

• Impact

  • Desegregated counters in Woolworths and other similar establishments by mid-1960s

  • Campaign spread rapidly

  • 55 cities, 13 states held sit ins

  • over 70,000 sit ins with 3000 arrests

  • showcased the economic power of the black community learnt in the Montgomery bus boycott

  • Whites stopped coming to businesses which had sit ins

  • services desegregated because of worries about negative brand publicity

Freedom Rides

• 1961

• Aims

  • Force desegregation in bus terminals and all public spaces within them

  • challenge the supreme court judgement desegregating bus terminals

  • encourage JFK to enforce legislation

• Method

  • Interracial volunteers ride the interstate buses in the Deep South

  • deliberately using segregated facilities to evoke a reaction

• Groups

  • Organised by CORE

  • joined by the NAACP and SCLC in some states

• Impact

  • Robert Kennedy set up the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1961

  • ensuring enforcement of the supreme court ruling

  • provoked the desired reaction from white racists → publicity and propaganda

  • Bull Connor colluded with the KKK to allow riders to be attacked

  • spectacle of bombing and beating up riders was widely televised

  • beginning the mass movement that included not just black activists but other minorities and white activists

Albany

• 1962

• Aims

  • Desegregation of the entire community of Albany

  • test the ICC ban on interstate travel segregation

• Method

  • started by 9 students

  • Sit ins/jail ins/Boycotts/litigation

• Groups involved

  • SCLC temporarily, giving the movement national recognition with King

  • NAACP

  • SNCC

• Impact

  • did not get the white violent reaction necessary

  • activists promised a discussion of their terms from jail but never received this

  • Laurie Pritchett avoiding confrontation in front of the cameras and paying for King’s bail

  • segregation remained in place

  • SNCC and King clashed over tactics - SNCC thought he was taking over their grassroots campaigning

• Learning

  • Required to attack one specific element of civil rights to make a difference

  • this would set a precedent that could then be applied to the next issue

  • tactic of momentum

The movement from 1955-62

• Tactics starting to develop - non-violent direct action

• boycotts and sit-ins preferred methods

• civil rights groups still in their infancies, causing infighting

• momentum only just starting

• mainly student led

• minimal presidential involvement

  • they did learn that presidential involvement was the key to success in the future

• more at a grassroots level with protests individual and not linked to others across the country

• limited white sympathy but churches starting to become important

• aims too broad

Birmingham Riots

• 1963

• Aims

  • Desegregation in Birmingham

  • an end to employment discrimination

• Methods

  • Boycotts of prejudiced shops

  • boycotting segregated facilities

  • sit ins

  • March on Birmingham → involving school children

• Groups

  • SCLC

• Impact

  • Bull Connor gave them the required violence

  • turned firehoses and dogs on the crowd, including children

  • broadcasted around the world - high publicity

  • embarrassed the Kennedy administration into proposing a civil rights act → JFK giving the June civil rights address

  • King arrested and wrote the famous letters from Birmingham Jail

  • Civil rights movement gained more support from outside the Deep South

  • economic impact weakened segregation enough so King could negotiate the desegregation of stores

March on Washinton

• 1963

• Aims

  • Desegregation

• Methods

  • Public march

  • Speeches from high ranking figures → ‘I have a dream’

• Groups

  • SCLC, NAACP, CORE

• Impact

  • 250,000 attended from all walks of life

  • Lincoln Memorial chosen as an end point as reminiscence of the Reconstruction

  • positive, powerful image internationally

  • white and federal support - JFK briefed

  • all groups working coherently

  • however, the speech did not alter attitudes in congress and the civil rights act was still blocked

  • church bomb 4 days after, killing 4 young girls - it was not over yet

  • Kennedy’s assassination that November

Selma

• 1965

• Aims

  • Voting rights

  • end of voter registration test

  • eg. in Dallas, 57% population were black but only 335 African Americans registered to vote

• Methods

  • Sheriff Clark used to entice white violence

  • March 1 from Montgomery to Selma - 3000 arrested

  • March 2 from Selma to Montgomery faced severe violence from troops on the Edmund Pettus Bridge

  • after the last successful 4 day march, 25,000 attended a speech given by King

• Impact

  • Violence widely broadcasted and outraged millions

  • showed the strength and perseverance of the non-violent movement and the opposing injustice of the white opposition

  • changed the minds of many

  • Johnson used the event to demand voting rights legislation from a cautious congress

  • directly led to the Voting Rights Act

  • pushed group cooperation to its limit - SCLC and SNCC barely talking

The movement from 1963 to 1965

• greater white support and publicity

• still non-violent

• greater participation due to the rise of famous individuals

• Martin Luther King - the secure figurehead

• further dissent between groups

• Police brutality led to Johnson and Kennedy playing far larger roles

• Liberal supreme court ensured these movements had positive consequences

Changing attitudes due to

• Cold War and localised pressure

• groups beginning to network

• the role of King as a figurehead and orator

• the precedents set by the activist supreme court

• the growth of television

• the tactic of encouraging violence

• federal troops being sent to help giving credence

• white supremacist representatives giving the movement what they needed for support

Positives of President Kennedy

• worked with Robert several times to release King from Jail

• Changed his attitudes when witnessing James Meredith/Freedom rides → started getting personally involved

• June address testimony to a genuine conviction

• put political capital in for Johnson to use on later legislation

• successfully tackled most of the protests

Negatives of President Kennedy

• worried about southern Democrat vote

• more rhetoric than practical achievement

• majority of his proposed legislation was blocked by Southern Congressmen

• his brother as attorney general saw the issue as more worth pursuing

• opposed sending troops to the Little Rock 9

• irritated at the distraction from his foreign policy, which was his priority

Positives of President Johnson

• proof of commitment before his vice-Presidency

• High political skill got southern congressmen to support his legislation that Kennedy didn’t manage

• willing to compromise white Southerner vote ‘I have just handed the South over to Republicanism’

• 1964 Civil Rights Act

• 1965 Voting Rights Act

• 1968 Housing Rights Act

Civil Rights Act

• 1964

• federal control over state voting laws

• segregation in all facilities illegal

• federal assistance for the desegregation of public schools

• employment discrimination illegal

  • Equal Employment Opportunities Commission set up - learning from enforcement issue

Voting Rights Act

• 1965

• banning literacy test

• 250,000 new African American voters had been registered in 1965

• 1980 - African American voters only numbered 7% lower than white

• 1965 - 72 elected African American officials in the south

• 1976 - 1944 elected officials

• Powerful blow against state individuality

• federal government could now enforce civil rights in the South

However…

• explosion of rioting during the 1960s

• social problems went unaddressed

• democratic party never recovered the 4 southern states it lost to republicanism

Urban rioting

• Watts

  • Just 5 days after the Voting Rights Act passed

  • ended after deploying 13900 national guardsmen

  • 34 killed and 1000 injured

  • the acute social and economic grievances felt unsolved by the Civil Rights act a year before

  • heavy police brutality

• 38 more riots in 1966

  • 7 killed and 400 injured

  • $5 million dollars in damage

• 1967, 164 more riots

Kerner Commission

• 1968

• set up by Johnson to investigate the causes of disorder

• blamed rioting on:

  • Discrimination in education

  • employment gap

  • housing segregation

• Recommended federal investment to improve ghettoization

• unlikely to be supported as he had already spent a lot of federal budget on creating a welfare state

• Vietnam war diverting resources and attention - Johnson’s and the world's

• many saw the rioting as a law and order, not federal, issue

• Reflecting the poor implementation and enforcement of legislation in the North

Nation of Islam and Malcolm X

• Joined by Malcolm X in 1952

• oratory and writing gift conveying radical views appealing to students and young militaristic men

• attracted 40,000 members by 1960

• promoted the self esteem and pride of young African Americans

• improved conditions in the ghettos with food and education

• criticised for condoning violence and commenting negatively on JFK’s assassination

• adopted a socialist stance after breaking from the Nation of Islam

• Anti integrationist, militant

• attracted less support from middle class

Stokely Carmichael

• coined the term ‘Black Power’ on the Meredith March 1966

  • Turning point in relations between King, SNCC, SCLC → didn’t want them coming to the march

• Separatist - did not want cooperation with white liberals

• urban riots in the north seen as a projection of the Black Power movement and rejection of King

King limitations

• media coverage more critical in making him famous

• failures in Albany focused on long term

• blamed for provoking white violence

• 1966 - 63% of the population disagreed with civil rights protests

• 1967 - 82% disagreed

• assassination triggered rioting in 130 cities

  • undermining his whole ethos

King-centric school of thought

• given the Nobel peace prize and birthday made a national holiday → significant

• ‘I have a dream speech’ - one of the most influential in the whole movement

• heavily influenced the civil and voting rights acts and they were two of the most significant

Non King-Centric school of thought

• Slow burning NAACP approach since 1909 chipped away at the foundations so others could build on it

• local workers and local protests more important

• impossible without an activist supreme court

• presidential figures, liberal opinion, cold war context = all big roles

• rift with CORE and SNCC undermined the movement

• criticised for stealing the efforts of underappreciated activists

  • would walk to the front of protests at the very end

  • join only halfway through

  • bringing his ideology to more militant protests and erasing them

• radicalised after the onset of the Vietnam War 1965 with socialist ideas - lost him much white support

  • split with the white house over the issue

  • could have continued campaigning with them to tackle de facto segregation