DEMANDS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

Rise of African American Influence• After WW II campaign for African American rights

began to escalate for several reasons:• 1. African American Migration

• 2. The New Deal• 3. WW II– Jobs– Holocaust

• 4. Rise of the NAACP– Thurgood Marshall – Plessy v. Ferguson

Brown v. Board of Education

• 1951 Oliver Brown sued the Topeka, Kansas Board of Education to allow his daughter to attend a white only school much closer to his home than the black only school she attended

• Marshall represented Brown at the Supreme Court hearing of the case

• Supreme Court ruled – End of “separate but equal” in public school– Desegregation of schools

Response to Brown v. Board of Education• Mixed reactions– African Americans– White acceptance without support• including President Eisenhower

– Southern fear and anger• KKK activities• “Southern Manifesto”

– Congressional statement that asserted the decision violated state’s rights

Resistance in Little Rock, Arkansas• Governor of Arkansas refused to follow the decision

of the Supreme Court• Posted National Guard troops to prevent nine

African American students from entering the school

• Eisenhower responded by placing the National Guard under federal command

• Also sent soldiers to Arkansas to protect the students

Little Rock Video

Montgomery Bus Boycott• Dec. 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama – Rosa Parks– Arrested on grounds of violation segregation laws

• Women’s Political Council – African Americans avoidance of buses until change in

segregation laws• Martin Luther King, Jr. becomes spokesperson for

boycott