Growth and Change Part 2

1950-1969The Civil Rights Movement

African Americans- Beginnings of a Struggle

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)-Sought to end laws that kept African Americans from voting-first chapter in Texas opened in Houston in 1912

Primary Election- voters pick the candidates-called “white primaries” because African Americans and Mexican Americans could not vote

African Americans- Victories in Court

Smith v. Allwright 1944with the help of the NAACP, Lonnie Smith, a dentist from Houston took the case of unfair primaries to the US Supreme court and won.

Sweatt v. Painter 1950Heman Marion Sweatt was not accepted to a Texas law school because he was African American. US Supreme court ruled that the school had to admit African Americans.

Other Court Victories for African Americans

Won the right to…-sit on juries-live in white neighborhoods-sit where they wished on buses and trains

Change

Segregation-separating people by race

Brown v. Board of Education 1954-outlawed segregation in public places such as schools.

African Americans- Resistance to Change

Texas Outlaws Interracial Marriage 1956

Governor Allan Shivers stops African Americans from enrolling at Mansfield High School.

It took time for attitudes to change

African American Texans in Public Office

1966 First African Americans elected into the Texas House of Representatives since Reconstruction were:

Joe Lockridge of Dallas

Curtis Graves of Houston

Mexian Texans- Beginnings of a Struggle

1921- Orden Hijos de America (Order of Sons of America) formed in San Antonio-helped get Mexicans placed on juries in Nueces County-forced North Beach to remove a “No Mexicans” sign

-many Mexican veterans faced discrimination once back at home.

Mexican Texans- The Fight Against Unfair Treatment

American G.I. Forum- gained fame by protesting a whites only funeral home

Bias in Education- forced to attend “Mexican Schools”;ended with Delgado v. Bastrop ISD. Some schools punished children for speaking Spanish.

Hernandez v. Texas- court ruled it was illegal to prohibit Mexican Americans from serving on a jury.

Mexican Texans Unite

To gain more strength in the state, Hispanic Americans began to vote as a group.

1960 “Viva Kennedy” Campaign- helped Kennedy win Texas

1963 Political Association of Spanish-speaking Organizations- work led to a city council in Crystal City of all Hispanic Americans

Mexican Americans Run For Office

Henry B. Gonzales- 1956 he won a seat in the Texas Senate; two years later he ran for Governor; in 1960 he became the first Hispanic American to represent Texas in the US House of Representatives.

National Civil Rights Movement

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.- led the March on Washington in 1963

Congress of Racial Equality- (CORE)- founded by Marshall, TX James Farmer; worked to integrate public facilities

Brown v. Board of Education’s separate is not equal ruling was not always enforced

One Person, One Vote

1936- Texas changes its constitution to limit the number of representatives large cities and towns could elect.

1960’s- 30 percent of the states population elected more than half of the senators; a vote cast in a rural town was worth more than a city vote.

Courts in the 60’s began to enforce a one person, one vote rule

Civil Rights and Voting Acts

Civil Rights Act of 1964- sought to end discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, or national origin, to end segregation in public places and job discrimination.

Voting Rights Act of 1965- protected the rights of voters

Focused Writing

What are some of the civil rights gains made in the 1950s and 1960s?

Why do you think the supreme court ruled that “separate” is not “equal”?