Civil Rights Movement- part 1

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  • Created by: Rosie
  • Created on: 20-04-13 16:09

Truman- helpful

  • To Secure these rights (1947)
  • Speeches (1947-48);- to NAACP in front of 10,000 at Lincoln's memorial in W. DC saying all entitled to full civil rights, - State of Union addresses reccommending TSTR, all men are created equal pointed out, want good example for Cold War
  • Symbolic actions;- open public housing to blacks, increase federal aid to impoverished, appoint a black judge and governor, establish CGCC, integrated inauguration, desegregate W. DC's airport
  • supporting NAACP in Shelley v Kraemer (1948)
  • condemn attacks on black servicemen
  • risk splitting party and chances of re-election due to dedication
  • mere existence of FEPC
  • end discrimination in armed forces (1948)
  • say legal equality for black's was a basic right
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Truman- unhelpful

  • racist comments and private jokes-
  • only help for votes
  • at first 1945 did nothing significant to help; -no real help for FEPC (lacked funds), half hearted commitments, cautious over controversial issues (re-election)
  • DAR Daughters of the American Revolution refused Adam Clayton Powell's black wife to perform, Powell ask truman's wife to boycott but she didn't, powell and Truman argue over issue, Truman wouldn't receive Powell at the white house
  • didn't end discrimination in National Guard and reserves
  • caused split of Democratic Party- Dixiecrats, hinder CRM with a split party
  • Urban Renewal Programme left some blacks homeless
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To Secure These Rights (1947)

  •  revolutionary reccommendations
  • political suicide but did it anyway
  • called for;
    • anti-lynching legislation
    • abolition of poll tax
    •  a permanent FEPC
    • voting rights laws
    •  end discrimination in armed forces and transport
    •  CR division in Justice Department
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Plessy v Ferguson 1896

  • Homer Plessy deliberately sat in an all-white carriage on a train
  • was arrested
  •  appealed to the Supreme Court
  • they ruled it was legal as long as the facilities were the same
  • The start of "seperate but equal".
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Smith v Allwright 1944

  • Lonnie E. Smith a black voter sued an election official for the right to vote in a primary election
  • supported by the NAACP
  • Thurgood Marshall represented him
  • Supreme Court ruled in his favour.
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Morgan v Virginia 1946

  • Irene Morgan  arrested for refusing to sit in a segregated section of an interstate bus
  • interstate transportation was supposed to be desegregated
  • but it enforced segregation within Virginia's borders
  • Thurgood Marshal was her co-counselor
  • the Supreme Court ruled in her favour saying enforcing segregation on interstate buses was illegal.
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Shelley v Kraemer 1948

  • NAACP and Truman support case
  • protesting rules restricting blacks from buying houses in white areas
  • the Supreme Court ruled in their favour
  • however the ruling was only de facto and proved inneffective.
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Sweatt v Painter 1950

  • successfully challenged "seperate but equal"
  •  Herman Marion Sweatt was refused admission to the School of Law of the University of Texas
  • the case was delayed allowing time to create a "seperate" black law schoool
  • represented by Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP
  • point out the inequality between the 2 schools -teachers, books and resources.
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Brown 1954

  • Linda Brown had to walk 20 blocks to attend an all black school
  •  as opposed to the much closer white school
  •  her father Oliver Brown took the case to the Supreme Court
  • supported by the NAACP and Thurgood Marshall
  •  ended "seperate but equal"
  •  black reaction= increase in local activism
  •  white reaction= signing of the Southern Manifesto to reject ruling
  •  significance= symbolic,
  • Chief Justice Earl Warren was highly sympathetic
  •  but by 1957 mainly de jure change only.
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Brown II 1955

  • Due to little de facto change of Brown
  • NAACP asked Supreme Court to establish a timetable for desegregation
  •  not much action
  •  no-one pleased
    • NAACP thought too vague
    • Southern racists saw as another attack on way of life
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Browder v Gayle 1956

  • Due to Montgomery Bus Boycott not changing desegregation laws
  •  Amelia Browder was arrested for refusing to give up her seat
  • supreme court rule segregation of buses was illegal
  •  supported by the NAACP
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Cooper v Aaron 1958

  • Supreme Court saying states were bound by Court's decisions 
  • states had to enforce decisions even if they disagreed with them,
  • aftermath and reaction of Little Rock
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Daniel v Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 1968

  • Jane Daniel convicted of robbery
  • received a longer sentence than a man would have been given
  • won her case
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Weeks v Southern Bell 1969

  • Lorena Weeks took her employers Southern Bell to court
  • they promoted a less qualified man over her
  •  won case, job and $31,000 in back pay
  • set precedent for women to challenge sexism in the workplace
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Eisenhower-helpful

  • State of the Union address (1953) he called for publicity, persuasion and conscience to help end discrimination
  • Re-affirmed Truman's committment to desegregation of the military
  • Worked against discrimination in federal facilities in Washington and federal hiring
  • when forced into action could be helpful (Little Rock using troops to protect the black children)
  • Employ ex-NAACP member E. Frederick Morrow 1955
  • inadvertently helped the Brown case (1954) by appointing Earl Warren, a sympathiser to the Supreme Court as Chief Justice
  • said he would always support federal court orders
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Eisenhower- unhelpful

  • far less inclined to help than Truman
  • shared typical white fears of miscegnation and feared the emotional strains of desegregating schools
  • ideologically opposed to large scale federal intervention-  rejects re-establishing FEPC
  • Cared more for own political safety-seen dixiecrat split
  • Morrow was only recruited with the black vote in mind, arranged parking spaces, answered correspondance from blacks, White House clerks and typists refused to file or type for him, Eisenhower never consulted with him on civil Rights,
  • didn't meet often with black leaders, criticised by them for inactivity,
  • staff felt leaders over-dramaticised incidents. demanding and ungrateful
  • regretted appointing Earl Warren, initial silence over Brown case, refusing to condemn the Southern manifesto
  • silence over Emmet Till's murder (1955),and Autherine Lucy's expulsion from the University of Alabama(1955)
  • refused federal support for the Montgomery Bus Boycott
  • was forced into action at Little Rock
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