HarlemLangston Hughes, 1951

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Brown v. Board of Education

• In 1951, a lawsuit was filed against the

Board of Education of the City of

Topeka, Kansas.

• The plaintiffs were recruited by the

NAACP to confront segregation.

• The case called for schools to reverse

their policy of racial segregation. 

Brown’s NAACP Lawyers

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,

Kansas

•A landmark Supreme Court case that declared

segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

•The decision overturned the 1896 Plessy decision.

•Decided May 17, 1954, the Warren Court’s

unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate

educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Impact 

- Ruling said that separating children by

race denied them equal educational

opportunities.

- As a result, racial segregation was ruled

a violation of the 14th Amendment.

- This victory paved the way for

integration and the successes of the Civil

Rights movement.

Clinton, Tennessee

Reaction To Supreme Court Decision

• "Supreme Court or no Supreme Court, we are going to maintain segregated schools down in Dixie."U.S. Senator Eastland, Mississippi

• “Two, four, six, eight…we ain’t gonna integrate!”—Chant heard outside Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas

De Jure v. De Facto

- The Supreme Court case outlawed racial

segregation in schools. Therefore, by law (de

jure), it should not have kept occurring.

- However, in practice (de facto), segregation

continued in Southern schools. First significant

challenge in Little Rock, 1957.

The Little Rock Nine

• The Little Rock Nine were nine Af Am

students who enrolled in the all-white

Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

• The Little Rock Crisis of 1957 occurred

when Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus

prevented students from entering the

high school.

They were: Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Pattillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, and Carlotta Walls.

The Little Rock Nine with Daisy Bates, 1957

Elizabeth Eckford, Little Rock Nine, 1957

Elizabeth Eckford Facing the Mob

• I recall that the mob "moved closer and closer. Somebody started yelling. I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the crowd — someone who maybe could help. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat on me.”

101st Airborne Division• President Eisenhower sent in troops to

enforce federal law when Governor Faubus blocked the entrance to the school.

• The students got into school the next day.• “Walking into that school that day was

probably one of the biggest feelings I ever had. I thought I’d cracked it.” Ernest Green–What was Ernest Green talking about?

Protesters in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1960

•Before Brown , the Civil Rights movement

(mostly the NAACP) was focused on legal

action, trying to get laws changed through

courts.

•As the 1960s began, the Civil Rights

movement got a different focus. It was

made up of mass action by communities

against discrimination.

Mass Action vs Legislative Action