Chapter 23

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
 Even though Dred Scott lived in the free state of
Mississippi, he was still a slave.
 Slaves are ‘property’ and Congress did not have the
power to seize a citizen’s property.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
 Segregation is permissible as long as the facilities are
‘equal’.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
 Separate facilities are inherently unequal– cannot
legally have them.
De jure segregation
Definition
Example
Part of the
country
De facto segregation
- Segregation on the
basis of laws
- Jim Crow laws
- Based on
informal norms
- Separation of
races in regards
to housing
- South
- North

Who was Emmett Till? Where was he from?
 14 year old African American from Chicago, IL

What was he accused of doing? What does
the article suggest actually happened?
 Accused of ‘flirting’ w/a white woman– actually
dared by one of his friends to do so.

What happens to Emmett Till?
 Kidnapped and brutally murdered; body thrown in
the Tallahatchie River.

How does his mother react to his murder?
 Very upset– allowed an open casket and pictures
of her son’s body to be sent to Jet magazine for
national attention.

What evidence was there against Milam and
Bryant?
 Eyewitness accounts

What is the result of the trial?
 Found not guilty

Montgomery Bus Boycott
 On December 1st, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give
up her seat to a white passenger, per Montgomery
law.
 Boycott of the Montgomery buses left the
transportation system crippled.
Group
Members
Goal
NAACP
(National Association
for the Advancement
of Colored People
African
- Provide legal assistance to African
Americans– Americans
usually
professionals
SCLC
(Southern Christian
Leadership
Conference)
- Southern
ministers
SNCC
-Young civil
(Student Non-Violent rights
Coordinating
activists
Committee)
- Nonviolent resistance (esp. in the
South) to fight injustice
- Grassroots movement to coordinate
all classes of African Americans to
attain equality

What did the members of the Little Rock
Nine set out to do?
 Volunteered to be the first to enroll at newly
desegregated Central High School.

How did the state of Arkansas respond? What
did President Eisenhower decide to do?
 Governor Faubus used the National Guard to
blockade their way. President Eisenhower
responded by sending in federal troops.

What did the Little Rock Nine face when they
were finally allowed to go to Central High?
 They were surrounded by hostility. They were
yelled at, spat at and had to be escorted the entire
year.

What happened to the students at the end of
the school year?
 One of the students became the first African
American to graduate from the school.

What were the students in Greensboro
protesting?
 The inability of blacks to be served in white
restaurants.

What civil right were they exercising?
 Right to peaceably assemble.

What tactic did they use? How did it work?
 Sit-ins nonviolent form of protest; students would
remain seated until close of business.

What was the outcome of the sit-ins?
 Gained student support– increased media attention.

What did James Meredith set out to do? Did
he have the right to do this?
 Become the first African American to attend Ole
Miss. Yes– school desegregation included public
universities.

How did Mississippi Governor Barnett
respond publicly?
 Tried to keep Meredith out– passed a law barring
admission to those who had committed a crime.

What secret deal did Governor Barnett make?
With whom did he make the deal?
 Meredith would be allowed to enroll, only if
accompanied by federal troops.
 Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

How did southern newspapers react?
 Encouraged the hostility– documented the forced
integration.

How did white southerners respond?
 Rioting, violent mobs

What was the outcome of Meredith’s
attempt?
 Accompanied by federal marshals and troops.
Allowed to attend.

In the end, what happened to James
Meredith?
 Graduated in 1963; later assassinated.

What was the goal of the March on Washington?
 To show support for a new civil rights bill.

Who marched on Washington?
 All the civil rights groups and members of labor
unions and religious groups.

Why did civil rights leaders choose D.C. for their
march?
 Public attention– stage of the legislative debate.

What was King’s dream?
 “All men are created equal”



Passed by: Lyndon Johnson
The Act banned: segregation in public
accommodations.
Goal register as many African Americans to
vote as possible.



Goal pressure federal government to enact
voting rights legislation
The March attempts to cross the bridge
into Selma was met with armed troops. Led
by MLK and members of SCLC. President
Johnson publicly criticizes the event.
Results
 24th amendment Banned the poll tax.

What did the Freedom Riders set out to do?
 Target interstate transportation, where segregation had just
been ruled illegal.

Who were the Freedom Riders?
 Members of CORE– 6 whites and 7 African Americans.

What happened to the first bus on its way to
Birmingham?
 Firebombed

What happened to the second bus?
 Attacked by a mob

How did the local police respond?
 Arrested and sent the riders to jail
Leader
Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr.
Malcolm X
Stokely Carmichael
Bobby Seale and
Huey Newton
Group
Main Idea
Tactics
SCLC
Against physical
and emotional
violence
Nonviolent protests
Nation of Islam
Believed in
separation of the
races
Nonviolence
“black power”–
young African
Americans who
followed Malcolm X
Equality can only
be achieved when
all blacks unite.
Black power= black
violence
Black Panthers
Young militancy
Violence–
embracing of
African American
heritage

Where did the race riots break out?
 Los Angeles, CA

What were the results of the race riots?
 Death and destruction of poverty.

What did people think was the cause of the
riots?
 Racial violence by blacks.

What did the Kerner Commission discover as the
real cause of the riots?
 Growing discord over discrimination.

Malcolm X killed by three members of the
Nation of Islam after a pilgrimage to Mecca
(Islam holy land)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  killed in
Memphis while supporting a sanitation
workers’ strike.

Civil Rights Act of 1968
 Also known as the Fair Housing Act;
 Fair housing practices; could not discriminate on
the basis of race, faith or national origin.

Voting Rights Acts
 Amended the VRA of 1965– strengthened and
made it more widespread.


Affirmative action– reverse discrimination?
Issue of busing
 Should it be used as an integration tool?
 Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Schools
(1970)

Integration of schools
 ‘Poorer’ neighborhoods have ‘poorer’ schools
are all schools equal?