The civil rights movement

Intellectual Foundations

Gunnar Myrdal — An American Dilemma (1944)

  • Exposed systemic racism in U.S. society

  • Identified contradiction between:

    • American Creed (democracy, equality)

    • Reality of segregation and discrimination

  • Provided evidence later used in Brown v. Board of Education

  • Predicted moral reform (overly optimistic)

Black Intellectual Response

  • More pessimistic and realistic

  • Figures:

    • Ralph Bunche

    • Ralph Ellison

  • Argued racism was deeply entrenched, not easily resolved

Legal Foundation of Segregation

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

  • Established “separate but equal” doctrine

  • Legalized segregation (Jim Crow laws)

  • Claimed:

    • 14th Amendment = political equality only

  • Dissent (John Marshall Harlan):

    • “Constitution is color-blind”

NAACP Legal Strategy (1930s–1950s)

Goal

  • Gradually dismantle segregation through courts

Key Leader

  • Thurgood Marshall

    • NAACP chief counsel

    • Later first Black Supreme Court Justice

Key Cases

Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938)

  • States must provide equal education within state

McLaurin v. Oklahoma (1950)

  • Segregation within schools unconstitutional

Sweatt v. Painter (1950)

  • Separate facilities inherently unequal in quality

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Ruling

  • Overturned Plessy in education

  • Declared:

    • “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”

Impact

  • School segregation unconstitutional

  • Beginning of major civil rights transformation

Brown II (1955)

  • Ordered desegregation:

    • “With all deliberate speed”

  • Implementation left to local authorities

Resistance to Desegregation

Southern Manifesto (1956)

  • Signed by 100+ Congress members

  • Opposed Brown decision

  • Claimed judicial overreach

Massive Resistance

  • Delayed or blocked integration across South

Grassroots Civil Rights Movement

Rosa Parks (1955)

  • Refused to give up bus seat in Montgomery

  • Arrest triggered mass protest

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956)

  • Led by Martin Luther King Jr.

  • Year-long boycott

  • Result:

    • Supreme Court bans bus segregation

Martin Luther King Jr.

  • Leader of nonviolent civil rights movement

  • Influenced by:

    • Mohandas Gandhi (nonviolence)

    • Henry David Thoreau (civil disobedience)

  • Strategy:

    • Peaceful protest

    • Moral pressure

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) — 1957

  • Founded by MLK and other leaders

  • Promoted:

    • Nonviolent resistance

    • Mass mobilization

  • Goal:

    • Full civil rights and equality

Federal Enforcement of Desegregation

Little Rock Nine (1957)

  • 9 Black students integrate Central High School (Arkansas)

  • Governor Orval Faubus blocks entry

Federal Response

  • President Eisenhower sends troops

  • Enforces Supreme Court ruling

Significance

  • Federal government asserts authority over states

  • Demonstrates limits of local compliance

Key Themes

  • Legal strategy + grassroots activism combined

  • Federal vs. state power conflict

  • Nonviolence as core tactic

  • Slow, resisted implementation of rights

  • Civil rights tied to Cold War image of U.S.

Overall Trajectory (1938–1958)

  • Court victories weaken segregation

  • Brown decision provides legal breakthrough

  • Mass protests expand movement

  • Federal government begins active enforcement

  • Resistance slows but does not stop progress