Notes on Racial Segregation and the Civil Rights Movement

After the abolition of slavery in 1865, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments granted legal status to African Americans.
- 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery.
- 14th Amendment: Provided black Americans citizenship.
- 15th Amendment: Guaranteed the right to vote.
Despite these amendments, black Americans faced marginalization through segregation and limited access to housing and education.
Blacks were often considered second-class citizens and were segregated in public transport, hotels, schools, and other public places.

Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws legalizing racial segregation in American states from the 1890s.
These laws marginalized black Americans and protected the racial structure of the Southern states.
Defying Jim Crow laws often resulted in violence and death for black communities and individuals.

Black soldiers returning from World War II faced resentment and violence from white mobs.
They were often denied benefits guaranteed to US war veterans under the G.I. Bill.
In 1947, very few VA-guaranteed home loans went to black borrowers, even outside the South.

"Dixie" is a nickname for the Southern United States, particularly the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.
Originally, it referred to states south of the Mason-Dixon line where slavery existed before the Civil War.

1911: Jails segregated white and black prisoners.
1915: White female nurses were prohibited from caring for black male patients.
1927: All schools were segregated by race.
1940: Miscegenation (intermarriage and cohabitation between whites and blacks) was prohibited with imprisonment as penalty.
1940: White and black convicts were not allowed to be chained or sleep together.
1956: Limited access for African Americans to use municipal golf course.

The Confederate Flag symbolized the American South and segregation during the civil rights movement.
It was adopted by the Ku Klux Klan and remains controversial, symbolizing heritage for some and slavery/hatred for others.

The KKK was established in Tennessee in 1865 as a private club for Confederate veterans.
It became a secret society that terrorized black communities throughout the South.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in 1909.
They fought against racial discrimination and segregation, focusing on legal challenges in Southern States.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional on May 14, 1954.
This decision fueled the civil rights movement, leading to boycotts, sit-ins, and demonstrations.
Oliver Brown, an NAACP member, filed a class action suit after his daughter was denied entrance to all-white elementary schools.
The Court agreed that segregation deprived African Americans of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Chief Justice Earl Warren stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

The Little Rock Nine was a group of African American students who enrolled at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.
Governor Orval Faubus initially blocked their entry with the Arkansas National Guard.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort the students.
Ernest Green became the first African American to graduate from Little Rock Central High School in 1958.

Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, arrived alone on the first day and faced a mob.
She was barred from entering the school by guards and faced harassment.

The murder of Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old African American, is considered a catalyst for the US Civil Rights movement.
He was kidnapped and brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white girl.
His mother, Mamie Till, insisted on an open casket to show the world what had been done to her son.