APUSH Notes 4/14

Important Civil RIghts Cases of the 1940s

  • The NAACP Legal Defense fund launched a full-scale attack on Jim Crow Laws with these two early Supreme Court cases.

  • Shelly v. Kraemer (1947): If a white family moved out, housing market agents would congregate and agree to not let a black or hispanic family to move in. It was decidedly unconstitutional.

  • Morgan v. Virginia (1946): This is one of the early attacks against “seperate and equal” in interstate buses, where the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional for interstate buses to have segregation. This set a precedent for other important civil rights victories.

Eisenhower and Civil Rights

  • Winning the Presidency in 1952 Republican Eisenhower of Kansas was not constrained as many before him by the Southern “Dixicrats” but he was still hesitant!

Brown v. Board of Education Topeka KS (1954)

  • The case involve the idea of “separate but equal” and featured Thurgood Marshall’s attack on the whole concept that this was ever legal!

The Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955

  • Jim Crow segregation in Alabama extended to City Buses whose ridership was overwhelmingly African-American. SCLC and NAACP planned a boycott to protest these practices.

Desegregation of Little Rock Central 1957

  • The Brown case led to a direct attack on Jim Crow Laws. Eisenhower faced great pressure to enforce desgregation of public schools. The Little Rock Nine forced his hand.

  • Eisenhower decides that the only way that the Little Rock Nine could be protected was with the 101st airborne soldiers in Little Rock.

  • Once the desegregation of Little Rock Central happens, a lot of other schools follow suit.

Conclusion

  • By 1960 the Civil Rights movement was gaining strength b/c leaders such as MLK understood the impact of non-violent protest coupled with economic pressure coudl be very effective.

  • Also, the power of TV and international broadcasts brought heightneed awareness of injustices.

  • However, resistance to the movement was also increasing making the 1960s much more violent.

Freedom Riders

  • They were a civil rights organization that brought attention to the lack of enforced desegregation legislation.

  • Many freedom riders Greyhound buses were attacked by KKK mobs and other racist white crowds.