What factors motivated legally enforced segregation between different skin color groups?
What region of the United States primarily enforced segregation between different skin color groups?
What factors motivated circumstantially created segregation between different skin color groups?
How many United States regions witnessed circumstantially created segregation between different skin color groups?
Between the 20th and 21st centuries, what has changed with both legally enforced and circumstantially created segregation between different skin color groups?
Diversity Level
Early 2000s: Miami, Florida
Example Location: Miami Northwestern High School
Sexuality and Rock & Roll
Quote from Keene, Cornell, & O'Donnell (2017, p. 25.3) regarding Elvis Presley's impact on rock-and-roll:
Rock-and-roll got its name from a rhythm and blues slang term for sexual intercourse.
Presley melded African American rhythm and blues with gospel, country, and pop lyrics.
He developed an eroticized dancing style.
Miscegenation scene from Birth of a Nation (1915) is referenced.
Skin Color and Music Industry
Quote from Keene, Cornell, & O'Donnell (2017, p. 25.3) regarding Sam Phillips:
Record producer Sam Phillips (Sun Records) sought a white man with a "black sound and the black feel."
Phillips discovered Elvis Presley.
Parental Concerns
Quote from Keene, Cornell, & O'Donnell (2017, p. 25.3) regarding parents' reaction to Elvis Presley:
Teenager Ron Kovic's family's reactions to Presley on the Ed Sullivan Show varied.
His sister was excited, his mother appeared prayerful, and his father disapproved, associating Presley with sin.
To avoid controversy, Ed Sullivan ordered camera crews to frame out Presley’s pelvic thrusts.
Rock & Roll Innovators
Little Richard (1932 - 2020):
Known as "The Innovator, The Originator, The Architect of Rock & Roll"
Chuck Berry (1926 – 2017):
Nicknamed "The Father of Rock & Roll"
Elvis Presley's Nickname
Elvis Presley (1935-1977) was also known as "The ? of Rock & Roll"
Images from D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" (1915)
Scenes depicting the riot in the Master's Hall.
A portrayal of the State House of Representatives in South Carolina in 1870, with 101 black members against 23 white members.
A decree requiring all whites to salute negro officers on the streets.
The passage of a bill providing for the intermarriage of blacks and whites.
Emmett Louis Till
Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was accused of flirting with Carolyn Bryant.
She was a 21-year-old European American worker at a family-owned grocery store.
Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam
Roy Bryant and his brother J.W. Milam kidnapped and murdered Emmett Till.
They were found “not guilty” by an all-European American jury after 60+ minutes.
Juror's comment: "If we hadn't stopped to drink pop, it wouldn't have taken that long.”
Segregation in the United States
1940s-1970s: Much of the U.S. was skin-color segregated.
Segregation had been endorsed by the U.S. Government since 1896 (Plessy v. Fergusson).
Plessy v. Fergusson (1896)
Legitimized state governments to enforce "Jim Crow" laws.
These laws segregated different skin color groups from European Americans.
Example: African Americans were required to enter movie theaters from the back and sit in the balcony.
Examples of Segregation
Waco, Texas (1939): "Colored Only" hotel.
Memphis, Tennessee (1939): The Gem Theatre was an exclusive colored theatre.
U.S. Southeast: 1940s: Segregated waiting rooms for white and colored women.
Durham, North Carolina (1940): Bathroom access was often limited by skin color.
Many public establishments couldn’t afford separate facilities.
Additional Segregation Examples
Memphis (1943) and Durham (1940): Segregated waiting rooms at bus stations.
Public and Social Segregation Examples
Separation between different ethnic and skin-color groups in daily life including:
Restaurants
Water fountains
Bathrooms
Swimming pools and beaches
Movie theaters
Residential communities or buildings
Employment
Schools or educational institutions
Educational Segregation
Legacy of Plessy v. Fergusson (1896) and Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education (1899).
Map depicting educational segregation in the U.S. prior to Brown v. Board of Education.
Required segregation
Optional/limited segregation
Forbidden segregation
Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education (1899)
Ruled that the state court's actions (regarding school segregation) were not a denial of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The education of people in schools maintained by state taxation is a matter belonging to the respective states.
Lawsuit basis: 1897 county school ban of “colored” persons even though the 45,000 county school tax was still charged to both African American and European American communities
Delaware State Education Law (1935)
An example of how school segregation laws were designed.
Schools were designated for white children and colored children.
Schools for white children were free for all white children ages six to twenty-one.
Schools for colored children were free to all colored children ages six to twenty-one.
The State Board of Education would establish schools for children of people called Moors or Indians.
Consequences of School Segregation
Unspecified consequences of school segregation.
Poverty Statistics
U.S. Census Bureau data from www.osjspm.org (Office For Social Justice).
U.S. Poverty Threshold: 11,000/year in 2010.
Poverty Rate by Race and Hispanic Origin: 1959 to 2019
Chart shown with poverty rates for Black, Hispanic (any race), Non-Hispanic White, and Asian populations.
Stats from: Brands, Breen, Williams, & Gross (2013). American Stories
Elizabeth Eckford and The Little Rock 9
Elizabeth Eckford's experience on her first day at school in 1957.
She faced a hostile crowd where someone spat on her.
Map depicting segregation status in 1950s
Segregation required (Arkansas: 1957)
Segregation permitted in varying degrees
No specific legislation on segregation
Segregation prohibited
The Little Rock 9: African American students who desegregated Central High School in Arkansas.
Cases: Belton (Bulah) v. Gebhart, Bolling v. Sharpe, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Briggs v. Elliot
Stats from: Brands, Breen, Williams, & Gross (2013). American Stories
Operation Arkansas
President Dwight Eisenhower deployed the military to Little Rock to protect the Little Rock 9.
Soldiers escorted the students to school every day and protected them in between classes.
White Flight
By 1959: 1% of African Americans were attending European American schools.
Stats from: Brands, Breen, Williams, & Gross (2013). American Stories
Location Reminder
Early 2000s: Miami, Florida
Miami Northwestern High School.
Martin Luther King and Malcolm X
Comparison of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X:
Links to speeches are provided:
Martin Luther King: "I have a dream."
Malcolm X: "We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock.", "Who taught you to hate yourself?" & "The most disrespected person in America is the ?."
Malcolm X (1925 - 1965)
Born Malcolm Little.
1946: Arrested for series of burglaries.
Converted to Islam while in prison & JOINED the Nation of Islam.
1952: Paroled from prison.
Served as Islamic minister (in Boston and New York).
1950s - Early 1960s: advocated segregation between African Americans and European Americans and use all necessary means to defend against European American supremacists.
Mid 1960s: Malcolm X broke with the Nation of Islam and changed his aggressive tone and became open to limited integration.
1965: Nation of Islam assassins murdered X.
Quote: "The future belongs to those who prepare for it today."
Montgomery, Alabama (1900s)
A new Montgomery law empowered transit conductors to assign segregated seating sections.
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks (1913-2005) refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus on December 1, 1955.
She was seated in the front of the “Colored only” section and was told to move to the back.