Eisenhower's 5 key civil rights events

When and what was the murder of Emmett Till (day, month and year)? Outline any key outcomes and presidential involvement too.

When and what was the murder of Emmett Till (day, month and year)? Outline any key outcomes and presidential involvement too.

August 28th 1955

14 y/o black child Emmett Till was Lynched VIOLENTLY and thrown into the Tallahatchie river for allegedly catcalling a white woman. Two (alleged) perpetrators were identified- Roy Bryant and JW Williams- but they were acquitted by an all-white male jury.

To this day no justice has been served but the event did help to boost the already growing civil rights movement.

Eisenhower had no involvement in this case- even after Till’s mother wrote to him he did not respond.

When and what was the Montgomery bus boycott (day month and year x2)? Outline any key outcomes and presidential involvement too.

5th December 1955-20th December 1956

1st December 1955- Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat and is arrested and fined.

5th December 1955- 40,000 black bus riders begin the boycott. It was initially only meant to last for one day but under the leadership of MLK Jr it was able to last over a year! Black people made up to 75% of bus patrons in Montgomery so their absence was deeply felt in the pockets of the bus companies

June 5th 1956: Montgomery federal court rules that segregation on buses violates the 14th amendment

Despite major threats and violent acts such as the KKK attempting to bomb King’s house Eisenhower said very little.

When and what was the issue of the Little rock 9 (YEARS)? Outline any key outcomes and presidential involvement too.

1955-59

1955: NAACP pressures supreme court to pass Brown 2. This gave a timescale for the desegregation of schools and followed the initial ruling of Brown V. Board of education. Many high profile politicians such as Virginian senator Harry Byrd promoted “massive resistance” to this ruling (keep states’ rights as an idea in mind for this case)

September 1956: the national guard is deployed to protect Clinton high’s first black students as they enter the school.

1957: Governor Faubus shuts all state schools in Alabama in “the lost year” to prevent integration. He is supported by the public for this

TV scenes of black children being abused as they attempted to enter schools garnered sympathy, showed that desegregation had to be sped up. Turned into a national embarrassment for Eisenhower as he had to federalise the national guard.

When and what was Brown V. Board (YEARS)? Outline any key outcomes and presidential involvement too.

1954 (1) and 1955 (2)

Ruled that Plessy V. Fergusson (1896) was unconstitutional and stated that schools in particular must be desegregated, had huge support from chief justice Earl Warren but had Eisenhower’s disapproval

Inspired further activism and rendered seperate but equal void. However, the KKK became revitalised and the dixiecrats went mental (southern manifesto)

When and what were Eisenhower’s civil rights acts (YEARS)? Outline any key outcomes and presidential involvement too.

1957 (1) and 1960 (2)

Improved black voting slightly (3% more black southern voters) but Eisenhower did not care for them. Nixon was the main pusher, inspired by a chat with MLK and a visit to Ghana.

Eisenhower’s uncaring nature meant that others around him had to pick up the slack such as Nixon in this case.