The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education marked a turning point in the history of race relations in the United States. On May 17, 1954, the Court stripped away constitutional sanctions for segregation by race, and made equal opportunity in education the law of the land.
What forms did Southern resistance to Civil Rights take?

-      Jim Crow Laws

-      Ku Klux Klan

-      The Southern Manifesto (1956)
Were there any improvements for black people in this period?

Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802 which prohibited, “discrimination in the employment of workers in defence industries and in Government because of race, creed, colour, or national origin.
In 1948, their efforts paid off when President Truman issued an executive order to desegregate the military.
 The NAACP won important Supreme Court victories and mobilized a mass lobby of organizations to press Congress to pass civil rights legislation. 
African Americans achieved notable firsts—Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier in major league baseball.

Why was the Brown case of 1954 such an important legal breakthrough? 

What forms did Southern resistance to Civil Rights take? 

Were there any improvements for black people in this period?

Sources used:

https://study.com/academy/lesson/resistance-to-african-american-civil-rights-during-reconstruction.html

-       A lot of black people migrated towards the northern states from the southern this is known as the ‘Great Migration’

-       The NAACP were forced to purge their ranks as they were accused of harbouring communists. 

-       Black people were fighting for change in many different areas. One example being education. Black teachers were paid almost half the wages as white teachers. 

 

 

-       It declared school segregation as unconstitutional. 

-       The court overturned the longstanding ‘separate but equal’ doctrine which was established over 50 years earlier.  

-       The Deep South still kept Jim Crow. 

-       The KKK was still quite active. 

-       Areas in which black people who were still employed by white people, black voter registrations were very low. 

-       The Southern States defended their right to make their own policies. 

-       President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order 8802 in 1941 after Randolph threatened to have a protest in Washington. This opened national defence jobs and other government jobs to all American citizens regardless if they were black or white. 

-       The Supreme Court ruled segregation in schools illegal in 1954 due to the ‘Brown’ case. 

Increases of membership in organisations like the NAACP after the war due to increased awareness of discrimination

The great migration saw millions of black Americans move from rural areas in the South to urban areas/cities in the North. 

Black people organising peaceful protests to demonstrate their unity and outrage of their inequality.

 

Why was the Brown case of 1954 such an important legal breakthrough?

Raised issues of developmental issues in children caused by segregation – low self-esteem, feelings of inferiority.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court condoned segregation in schools, and as a whole, and enforced integration as stated in the 14^th amendment.

 

What forms did Southern resistance to Civil Rights take? 

Southern politicians signed the Southern Manifesto

Voter suppression for black people

KKK still very active and powerful

 

Were there any improvements for black people in this period?

Black people in the North benefitted financially due to the increasing need for black labour

Executive Order 8802, prohibiting discrimination in the work force was established

Black soldiers served in a segregated U.S military, fighting against regimes that were built on discrimination and persecution. They returned with a new hunger for equality which injected new purpose and determination into the civil rights movement.

 

The war brought economic growth, especially to the Northern cities. This increase in employment opportunity, as well as escape from Jim Crow laws that ruled the Southern states, resulted in the Great Migration of black people moving to the North where there was more freedom and less danger associated with joining civil rights organisations, such as the NAACP.

 

Brown v Board of Education ruled that segregation in education was unconstitutional.  Not only did this overturn the precedent set in Plessy v Ferguson 1896, and the long-standing doctrine of ‘separate but equal’, but it set a whole new one. In Cooper v Aaron 1958, the Supreme Court affirmed this new stance by ruling that any law that sought to keep schools separated was unconstitutional.

 

The success of the NAACP’s lawyers, such as Thurgood Marshall, in the Brown case was a triumph for the organisation that increased its publicity and its following.

Organisations that fought to oppress black people became more prominent; The KKK was revitalised and continued to use intimidation and violence to quash progress of the civil rights movement, while newly formed white citizens councils used economic and political influence to control the actions of black people, as well as white people in positions of power.

 

Legal steps were taken to prevent the implementation of the Brown ruling in the South. The National Guard was utilised by Governor Faubus in Little Rock, and the Southern manifesto was drafted, stating it was ‘a clear abuse of judicial power’ to impose a federal ruling on the states. By 1956, it has been signed by 101 Southern politicians.

In 1948, President Truman issued two executive orders; the first ordered desegregation of the armed forces and the second guaranteed fair employment practices in the civil service.

 

While these orders were not always supported by the general public or federal agencies, they set a new precedent for equality - even at the highest level of government, in turn inciting grassroots initiatives and giving the civil rights movement hope of legal progress and social reform.

 

- The post-war economic boom provided increased employment for black people, mostly in the north where the main industrial centres were and where de facto racism was least present, contributing further to the ongoing Great Migration.

- Black WW2 veterans returned to the US after fighting racist tyranny abroad with a heightened sense of the hypocrisy and injustice of American racist policies and culture, especially when compared to the more tolerant social environments they experienced in Europe.

- With the advent of the Cold War came an intensification of the ‘Red Scare’, increasing suspicion toward Civil Rights groups due to their perceived association with communism and communist sympathisers, resulting in internal purges such as the NAACP’s In 1945. 

 

 

- It was the first successful legal challenge to educational segregation to take place in the supreme court, overturning Plessy v Fergusson (separate but equal) and so creating a legal precedent, set by the highest judicial office, which would facilitate future legal challenges to racist policies. 

- The ruling included Chief Justices, such as Earl Warren, agreeing with assessments of segregation as unfair and detrimental to black people, providing greater political and judicial legitimacy to the arguments put forth by the NAACP and other civil rights groups, namely that black schools were not ‘equal’ to white schools, but were demonstrably inferior.

 

 

- Formation of the ‘Dixiecrats’ - Southern offshoot of the Democrats that disagreed with the party’s anti-segregationist line. 

- Revitalisation of the KKK - increased acts of terrorism toward black people and civil rights activists in the South. 

- Desegregation was circumvented in some Southern states through manipulation of school entry requirements and providing funding to schools punitively defunded by the federal government for remaining segregated.  

- Signing of the ‘Southern Manifesto’ (1956) by 101 Deep South congressmen which asserted that the Brown ruling was constitutional and must be resisted.

- Little Rock 1957 - Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas ordered the State National Guard to prevent newly admitted black students from attending Little Rock’s Central High school. Black students were abused, intimidated and attacked.

- White citizens councils were formed to oppose desegregation.

 

 

- Military was desegregated in 1948 by Truman.

- Increased employment and prosperity due to economic boom.

- Brown ruling started the process of desegregation and, especially after media publication of the Little Rock incident and similar events, helped galvanize Americans into supporting the Civil Rights movement.

- Adam Clayton Powell became first ever black congressman.

- FEPC provided increased employment for black people, but with varying efficacy depending on area.
- Increase in black voter registration  from 2% to 12% by 1947

 

What were the main post-War social changes which affected Civil Rights?

•       As tensions flared between The USA and USSR during the cold war, the fear of the growth of communism intensified, which had negative consequences for the black population. People lived under the pretence that civil rights groups had ties to communist groups and this would lead to social divides due to increased suspicion of foul play.

•       Following the war, America saw mass migration to Northern cities such as Chicago where the foundations of black communities were built. This led to a greater contentment and harmony among the black population as they began to feel more secure within their role in society. This was known as the ‘Great Migration’.

•       As the conflict against fascist, Adolf Hitler, was coming to an end in Europe, hypocrisies in American society were becoming more and more apparent in regard to segregation and class differentials dependent on race. This would lead to an increased amount of protests on racial equality in the USA.

•       Organisations such as the NAACP began to grow in numbers with greater focus being taken upon racial inequality.

 

Why was the Brown case of 1954 such an important legal breakthrough?

•       The case brought to light and afforded recognition of the psychological impact of segregation on children, such as an imbedded inferiority complex.

•       Warren conceded to Marshalls argument that segregation was unacceptable and was of great detriment to the black population. This would lead the further strengthening and legitimisation of judicial rights of black people in the USA.

•       Led to amendments in laws regarding segregation in the public and professional sectors.

 

What forms did Southern resistance to Civil Rights take?

•       The southern states had an upheaval in protests regarding their rights to implement their own policy regarding Racial status.

•       Jim Crow laws remained active in some states until the Civil Rights Act was decreed by Johnson in 1964 abolishing segregation of this nature.

•       The KKK saw a spike in support during a resurgence against civil rights in southern states.

 

Were there any improvements for black people in this period?

•       Following the end of the war, the armed forces were finally desegregated in 1948.

•       Black communities in the North went through an economic boom due to an increase in the demand of black labour.

•       Between 1940 and 1947, Black voting registration grew by a whole 10% from 2% to 12%.

•       In 1954, segregation in schools was lawfully eradicated.

•       Following threats from Randolph, Truman signed executive order 8802 in 1941 banning discriminatory employment practices by Federal agencies and all unions and companies engaged in war-related work. The order also established the Fair Employment Practices Commission to enforce the new policy.

 

 

USA underwent beneficial changes after WW2, such as economic growth, politics, social development and urbanisation. Millions of Black everyday Americans turned in activists and participants as they were aggravated with progress of integration since the civil war, this became to be known as the civil right movement.

The ground-breaking case of Brown v. Board of Education was a pivotal point for civil right as it challenged the constitution that segregation laws based on race alone was unconstitutional and it would be a violation of the fourteenth amendments equal protection clause.  

Former southern confederate soldiers formed the Ku Klux Klan

Groups of senators and congressmen in 1956 signed the “Southern Manifesto” which allowed resistance to racial integration by lawful means

There were white only diners in Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee 

Jim Crow laws segregated black people from the community 

Sports became desegregated after the introduction of Jackie Robinson, who became the first African American baseball player in major league baseball playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

Major Hollywood studios made films raising issues of race. Films such as To kill a mocking bird and in the heat of night. 

Thurgood Marshall became the America’s first black supreme court justice in 1967

Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped forth as a leading national figure who recommended peaceful protests. 

President Johnstone put through congress voting rights and the civil rights act in 1964