Warm up 3-28

Take out your judicial branch worksheet and pass it to the front.

Please take out a sheet of paper and label it “Civil Rights Standards Notes”

Answer the following question on that piece of paper:

What did Jim Crow Laws do in the South? How did the case Plessy v. Ferguson perpetuate these laws?

Use 351-352 for help

Civil Rights Standards Notes

When African Americans returned home from WWII, they noticed little change in racial segregation.

Slowly, changes are made. 1948 – President Truman

signed an executive order that outlawed racial segregation in the armed forces This allowed blacks and

whites to fight side by side in the Korean War

• 1949 – Federal Housing Act: banned racial segregation in federally financed housing.

What’s the deal with education? 1935 – NAACP began fighting to

desegregate schools. 1950 – Linda Brown, an African

American student tried to register at an all white school in Topeka, KS

Her entry was denied.

Brown v. Board of Education The NAACP helped Brown’s father sue the

Topeka Board of Education Through the appeals process, Brown v. Board

of Education went to the Supreme Court. In 1954, the court said that the separate-but-

equal schools were unconstitutional. Ordered racial integration (desegregation) of

schools “with all deliberate speed” After nearly 60 years of court-approved

segregation, the ruling in the Plessy case was finally overturned.

Sibley Commission

Georgians did not want to integrate. 1955 – General Assembly passed a law

that cut off all state funding for any Georgia school that desegregated.

1960 – General Assembly organized the Sibley Commission to investigate the public reaction to possible integration. By a 3 to 2 margin, Georgians said that they

would rather close the schools than integrate them.

Despite Georgia’s complaints, The Federal government held their

ground by forcing integration. In 1961, the University of Georgia

allowed its first two black students: Charlayne Hunter Hamilton Holmes

• Many Georgians and politicians pleaded with the Governor of Georgia to close the University of Georgia rather than allow desegregation.

Governor Ernest Vandiver Made a campaign promise that he would

never allow school integration in Georgia.

After he was elected, he admitted that he was wrong and integration must be done.

Vandiver asked the General Assembly to repeal segregation laws

Due to his leadership, school integration in Georgia went smooth compared to many other southern states.

1961 – Atlanta City Schools allowed 9 black students into a previously all white high school.

According to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Federal Government refused to send federal funds to any school district that was segregated. Many schools in the south turned down the federal

funds Desegregation of Georgia schools continued,

and by 1971 all Georgia schools were completely desegregated.

Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955 – Rosa Parks (former officer

of the Montgomery NAACP) sat in the front of a Montgomery bus. According to Jim Crow laws, blacks

were supposed to sit in the back of the bus.

• When she was asked to move, she refused and she was arrested and briefly jailed.

• Martin Luther King Jr. staged a boycott of the bus system for the day of her trial.

• Martin Luther King said boycott would continue until :1. African-American passengers were treated with courtesy.2. African-American drivers were assigned to primarily black routes.3. Seating would be on a first-come, first-served basis.

▪ Bus revenue fell 65 pecent▪ In response, Dr. King and 89 other civil rights

leaders were found guilty of violating an outdated law that forbid boycotting.

▪ King was saved when the Supreme Court upheld a district court ruling that made segregation on public transportation unconstitutional.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Attended Booker T. Washington

high school and Morehouse College in Atlanta.

Based on the ideas of Henry David Thoreau and Gandhi, King developed a 4 pronged approach to civil rights: Direct, nonviolent actions Legal remedies Ballots Economic boycotts

King moved back to Atlanta in 1961 and became the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Sit-in: type of demonstration where people enter a public building and refuse to leave until they are served or their demands are met.

Albany Movement In 1961 (6 years after the Brown decision)

schools in Albany, Georgia were still segregated and a small number of African-Americans were registered to vote.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee(a student founded civil rights organization) went to Albany to see if Albany was following federal laws.

They hosted a sit-in at the city bus station by sitting in the “whites only” waiting room. They were quickly arrested.

“Freedom Riders” Blacks and whites formed a group to travel

all over the south by bus to test whether or not these states were following federal laws.

“Freedom Riders” traveled to Albany 500 people were jailed in Albany for these

sit ins, which drew national media attention. By the end of 1961, Albany formed a biracial

committee to study the concerns of the African American community in Albany.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The most far reaching and important civil rights law since reconstruction.

Equal protection clause of the fourteenth Amendment was given greater influence: Segregation of all public places illegal▪ Restaurants, hotels, theaters, parks, schools,

libraries, etc. Prohibited discrimination in business and

labor unions

Voting Rights Act of 1965 Outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had

been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S.

Congress intended the Act to outlaw the practice of requiring otherwise qualified voters to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote, a principal means by which Southern states had prevented African-Americans from exercising their right to vote.

Within 18 months, a million African Americans were added to the registers of voters in the South.

“Black Power”

After the passage of these 2 laws, many thought that nothing further could be accomplished through non-violent means.

Creation of the Black Panthers and Malcolm X became a prominent leader. Preached black separatism, black pride

and black self-dependence Dr. King encouraged these groups to end

the violence.

1968 – Dr. King was speaking to a group in Memphis, TN. Speaking of the many death

threats that he had received, he said:

“It really doesn’t matter what happens to mea now because I’ve been to the mountain top… and I’ve looked over and seen the promised land. I may not get there with you…but we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”

The next day…

Dr. King was shot by a high powered rifle while standing on the balcony of his motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

James Earl Ray was convicted with the murder. 99 years in prison

William Hartsfield Served as the Mayor of Atlanta for 6

terms (1937-1941 and 1942-1961) His leadership made Atlanta the

aviation hub of the Southeast Formed a biracial coalition with Dr.

King to host voter registration drives (to encourage African-Americans to vote)

Hired blacks to work on the city police force.

Helped Atlanta become known as a city of racial moderation

Ivan Allen

Elected Mayor of Atlanta in 1962. Ordered immediate removal of

“Colored” and “White” signs in City Hall.

Integrated the fire department and city government.

Encouraged theaters to start allowing African-American patrons.

Rise of African Americans in Georgia Goverment In 1969, Time Magazine called Atlanta an

“oasis of tolerance” Dr. Benjamin Mayes: First African-American

to become a member of the Atlanta Board of Education

Maynard Jackson: first African-American to be elected as the Mayor of Atlanta

After Jackson Atlanta Mayors were: Andrew Young, Bill Campbell, Shirley Franklin, and Kasim Reed -- All African American

Andrew Young

Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 and as mayor of Atlanta in 1981.

Young won the mayoral reelection in 1985 but was defeated in a 1990 primary bid to become the Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia.