The 1950s

Brown V. Board of Edcuation of Topeka, Kansas 

 

In the year 1954, the Supreme Court was presented with a case about an eight year old African American school girl. Linda Brown wanted to attend an all-white school instead of taking a long bus ride to her school. In this school district, they schools were segregated for whites and blacks. White children and black children were not able to attend the same school. Linda's parents sued in a federal district court and the court found that Topeka had provided farily equal conditions in both the white and the black schools. During the 1950's the doctrine of "seperate but equal" was still in effect from the Supreme Court calss Plessy v. Ferguson. This doctrine means that facilities could be seperated between whites and black, however the facilities had to be equal. The court had found that in Topeka the school for the African American students was not equal to the all white school. The white schools were provided with all new books and supplies unlike the African American school. The all black had ruined  and used books and old supplies. The court ruled unanimously to overturn the decision concluded in the court case Plessy v. Ferguson. The court concluded that in the field of public eduaction, the doctrine of "seperate but eqaul" has no place. The decision emphaized "good faith compliance" and urged the ending of public school segregation "with all deliberate speed". However the Courtdid not specify a timeframe to end the segregation in the public schools. 

 

Little Rock Nine

 

In response to the Brown v. Board of Education desicion, the Little Rock Nine crisis ocurred in 1957, 3 years about Brown v. Board of Education. Nine students place their lives on the line in the unfolding struggle for black freedom and equality during the 1950's. Elizabeth Eckford, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Terranee Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls were the nine students that fought for their civil rights and their right to attend high school with white students. Wednesday, September 4th, 1957, Elizabeth Eckford was preparing for her first day attending Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. About 400 people were gathered at the main entrance of the high school. She was stopped by armed National Guard troops that formed a cordon around the school. They would not allow Elizabeth to enter the school through a side entrance, she had to go through the main entrance. Some people were shouting horrible statements toward Elizabeth. "Lynch her! Lynch her!" was just one example of what 400 people were shouting at Elizabeth. Before she could be harmed by anyone, a bus arrived and sped her away. On September 2nd, 1957, the day before Central High School was due to desegregate, Governor Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to block the school. Faubus clearly did not uphold his positions on school desegregation. Daisy Bates had called the nine students the night before entering high school to arrange a meeting with two white and two black church ministers who would be chaperones for when the students go to enter the high school. However, Elizabeth's family did not get the message due to not having a telephone in their house. On the day of Elizabeth's mobing, the school board asked the District Court to suspend its integration order due to violence and disorder. September 9th, Judge Ronald Davies received a full report on the situation in Little Rock and indicated that the federal government should file a petition against Governor Faubus and the Naitonal Guard commanders. On September 23rd, 1957, all nine black students were with Daisy Bates at her home waiting for the news. The police department agreed to meet Bates and the nine students and provide an escort into a side entrance of the high school. Faubus and the National Guard was charged with upholding law and order in the city, telephoned with a warning that a mob of over 1000 whites was gathered at Central High. When the nine students entered the school, they soon realized that their troubles have not come to an end yet. Over several weeks, the students had received threatening notes, verbal insults and threats, crowding, bumping and jostling in the halls. Segregationists turned their attention and tired to encourage white students to making life of the nine black students unbearable and they will withdrawal from attending Central High. However, they have failed. In fact, no white studnets were never expelled for the actions they have caused. The nine black students survived the school. Ernest Greeen became the first black student to graduate from Central High and Martin Luther King Jr. attended the graduation ceremony. 

 

Montgomery Bus Boycott

 

On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks, a seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her seat on a public bus to a white male who came onto the bus after Parks did. At this period of time, public buses were segregated in the South meaning that African American s not only had to ride in the back of the bus, but also had to give up their seats to any white person who wanted to sit in that specific seat. Ms. Parks was then arrested and taken to jail for refusing to give up her seat and used to policy of civil disobedience, deliberately breaking a law to show that it is an upset. Four days on December 5th, 1955, African Americans in Montgomery began a boycott of the public buses led by Martin Luther King Jr., a minister who had recently come to the Dexter Avenue Bapist Church in Montgomery. The plannd boycott of the bus system quickly developed after the created of the Montgomery Improvement Assoication (MIA).  The black community became angry about Rosa Park's being arrested and bagan to challenge segregation on public buses. During the boycot, boycotters would be physically attacked and so were their churches. The boycott lasted for 381 days during which about 90 percent of the African Americans in Montgomery refused to ride the buses due to the fact that the public buses were segregated. On December 20th, 1956, after numerous threats, arrests, beatings by polic, bombings, lost of jobs, foreclosures, 75 percent in the Chicago based bus company's revenues, laid off drivers, cut bus schedules, rasied bus fares, mounting business losses by local merchants and many more, the Supreme Court affirmed an earlier decision by the United States Court for the Middle District of Alabama in Browder v. Gayle that segregated buses were unconstutional. The Supreme Court ordered that Montgomery to itergrate their bus system for blacks. Finally on December 21st, 1956, the city allowed its black citizens to ride the bus and be able to sit anywhere they pleased. After about a year and a half to demostrate what hug direct action of a boycott could accomplish if supported by the organizational skills of African American churches, the questioning of whether or not judicial precedent, as favored by the NAACP was the most effective tool for social and economic chagned was left unresolved. 

 

Montgomery Bus Boycott Dissemination:

​

Introduction:

The speech by Martin Luther King Jr. about the plan for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This speech was given on December 5, 1955. Which was four days after the arrest of Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama for not giving up her seat on a public bus to a white male. King and many other African Americans were aggravated of being mistreated as if they were worth nothing compared to the white people in society.

Thesis:

Martin Luther King Jr. wanted the people more involved in an attempt to remove segregations on public buses in Montgomery. While he advocated taking action, he also wanted things to be accomplished in a non-violent manner meaning using civil disobedience instead of violence

Key Points:

• The type of government we have in the United States, a democracy, allows people the right to protest for their own rights. King wanted to be sure that the protests he held would not be compared to actions of other groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. MLK chose to approach the problems on the buses with civil disobedience and not to use violence.

• “But the great glory of American democracy is the right to protest for right.”

• ​“What difference does it make even if the president of the United States, and the greatest individual in these United States of America that I know about, if he had gotten on the bus, Mrs. Parks was a lady, and any gentleman would allow a lady to have a seat.” ​

• People in our society are completely forgetting about chivalry and their manners as a person. As a man, it is only polite to give up your seat to a woman. Just because the woman is of a different race should not make any difference if the woman happens to be either white or black.

• In order to fight against the segregation on public buses in Montgomery, Martin Luther King wanted to start a bus boycott and used non-violent actions.

• “That the citizens of Montgomery are requesting that every citizen in Montgomery, regardless of race, color or creed, to refrain from riding buses owned and operated in the city of Montgomery by the Montgomery Lines, Incorporated, until some arrangement has been worked out between said citizens and the Montgomery City Lines, Incorporated.”

• If the African American people of Montgomery refuse to use the bus systems completely, the city would lose a huge portion of their income. This would force them to make some sort of changes on the buses so they could get their business back. King made good decisions with dealing with problems and get people’s attention about the situation.

• ​“Now let me tell you this. You know, it takes money to do what we’re about to do. We can’t do it clapping hands now. And we can’t do it saying “Amen.” That’s not enough.” ​

• King realized the great amount of pressure he was putting on the people of Montgomery to try and achieve integration on the buses. He understood it would cost a lot of money, could take a very long time to reach his goal and require a lot of energy from others, but he was willing to go the distance. People looked up to Martin Luther King Jr. as a determined leader during this hard time and was going to try everything to accomplish something he believed in.

Conclusion:

This document demonstrates all of King’s actions and hopes for the people of Montgomery who rode these buses. All he wanted was equal rights for everyone in the United States , no matter what race or gender. However, back in 1955, this was a huge task to take upon. People were not very quick to treat African Americans with the same respect that they treated whites in this society. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted for about 381 days until finally the  goal was accomplished. The city was ordered by the Supreme Court to integrate its buses. After this boycott, Martin Luther King Jr. was recognized world-wide as the American civil rights leader during the 1950’s and part of the 1960’s.

 

Civil Rights Act of 1957

 

On September 9th, 1957, President Eisenhower signed a bill into a law called the Civil Rights Act of 1957. This act was the kick-start to the civil rights legislative programm that was to include the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act. Attorney General Hebction that ert Brownell orginally proposed the act to the president which marked the first event since the federal government undertook a significant legislative action to protest civil rights for African Americans. President Eisenhower had not been known for his support of the civil rights movement. He made responses to the problems like the Little Rock Issue unlike leading the country on the issue. He never really gave public support to the civil rights movement in the 1950's, because he believed that someone could not force others to changed their beliefs. This new act established the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and empowered federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote. The bill amied to ensure that all African Americans could exercise their right to vote just like whites could exercise their right to vote. African Americans wanted a new division within the federal Justice Department to monitor civil rights abuses and a joint report to be done by representatives of both major political parties, Democrats and Republicans, on the issues of race relations. The law also created a federal Civil Rights Commission with six members with authority to investigate discriminatory condionts and recommend corrective measures. The bill was also created to try and increase the number of registered black voters and stated its support for such a move. If any person was found guilty of obstrcting someone's rights to register barely faced the prospect of punishment as a trial by jury in the South meant the accused had to face an all-white jury as only whites could be jury members. Political support and public confidence for the act had been worn out when President Eisenhower publicly admitted that he did not understand parts of it. The black community were divided regards to the bill. The final act was weakened by Congress due to the lack of support among the Democratic political party.